Random Thoughts, Cricket, Movies, Music ...

Moving on to Wordpress

2006-12-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

From now on, i shall be blogging at Wordpress - met me there :).

-- Thyaga

Damien Martyn calls it a day

2006-12-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of Damien Martyn - but i really liked the manner in which he called it a day - leave when you are at the top.

Here is his quote:

"I also said to myself that if I stayed doing what I was doing I may equally lose respect for myself and the friendship of those around me."

Its really tough to leave at the top - hats off to him.

-- Thyaga

Is this my "calling"?

2006-12-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

Only time will "say" :).

Cheers,
Thyaga

Fall is here ...

2006-12-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

View from our bedroom window - classic FALL colors!

-- T

Yahoo! - MSN joint collaboration?

2006-12-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well, the Valley has always loved the news of a Yahoo! - MSN union. So, when Yahoo! andMSN had announced that their IMs could interoperate, it was the first signs of 2 giant foes coming together to fight against a common enemy (Google) :).

Anyway, here is further proof of this effort:

(1). When i was upgrading to the latest version of Yahoo! IM - it told me to close Firefox specifically - i have always seen programs which tell me to close all Microsoft stuff - this is the first time i found an application which is asking me to close Firefox - interesting :)!

(2). The final screen after i upgraded - not much for me to say, eh ?

-- Thyaga

List of coupons ...

2006-12-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Got this link from a Marketing Blog that i regularly read. This has coupon code that you could use for your shopping needs this year.

Cheers,
Thyaa

India powers on ...

2006-11-30T14:06:00.000-08:00

9.2% GDP growth in Q3 2006 - Lage Raho India !

-- Thyaga

Krugle ...

2006-11-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

If you have used Google Code Search and liked it, then u will definitely like Krugle

Search has now touched the "developers"

-- Thyaga

Google Answers went no where

2006-11-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

So - it looks like Google Answers never took off. Recent reports suggest that Yahoo! Answers is far ahead than Google even though it was a late entrant. I think it is primarily because Yahoo! is great to create a community and maintain it - thats what worked for it.

What do ya think?

-- Thyaga

What happened to me?

2006-11-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Long time - no post !

Just an update - I have been terribly busy preparing for the end term exams and presentations and documents at Santa Clara.

Things are easing up now - me happy now amigo !

--T

What happens when you upload a .docx file into Google Docs ...

2006-11-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

This :)

BTW, shouldn't the message say "Google Docs" and not "Writely" - hmmm !

-- Thyaga

Intel's foray into Web 2.0

2006-11-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

So you thought that Intel was a hardware company and had nothing to do with Web 2.0 - ha! - check this out - Suite Two - Intel's foray into Web 2.0 - this is going to be interesting to watch.

-- Thyaga

Google's Risks

2006-11-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

In its latest Quarterly Report, Google talks of the various competitive threats that is facing the company in the future. This has been well documented here - so, i shall spare myself the hard work :).

The one thing that i have always felt - 99% of its revenues come from Ads - now, doesn't that tell u that it could become a 1-trick pony - it desperately needs ways to generate some more super-hits.
Knowing Google, i am sure that they will soon have one.

-- Thyaga

Been a bit busy ...

2006-11-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

I have been horribly busy - class, work, assignments have just kept me too busy - shall Blog as soon as i get my time and sanity back.

-- Thyaga

Going green can also get you "green" notes

2006-11-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Is it a myth that if you are going to be a company that is doing something good for the environment, then there is no way you can make money. Naah - not anymore. Read this Green 50 article and you will see for yourself - going green will get you green $$s too :).

-- Thyaga

Google snaps up Jotspot

2006-10-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

Google is on a massive buying spree. After snapping up YouTube less than a month ago, they have gone ahead and bought Jotspot, the online Wiki company. Though this deal will be lesser than what they paid for YouTube, nevertheless, it clearly indicates Google's growth and expansion policy. They definitely are moving ahead rapidly in the Office 2.0 space and the Software as a Service model (SAAS) will not be far from reality. This is going to be an interesting battle with Microsoft pitching for its Office/Vista 2007 versions and Google luring away more and more customers to a free online platform.

The battle has just begun !

-- Thyaga

Changes needed in the Indian team

2006-10-30T13:06:00.000-08:00

Do people like Viru, Pathan, Raina still deserve a chance in the Indian team? What is surprising is that even in spite of non-performances by these players in the recently concluded Champions Trophy, they have retained their places. What I find a little apalling is why performances in the domestic circuit is not taken into account? - lets bring in some fresh legs and lets see what changes that they can do.

At this rate, our World Cup dreams are just slipping by.

-- Thyaga

Google's new tool for Webmasters

2006-10-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Google has come up with a really cool tool for webmasters - it is called the Website Optimizer. The best part of it is that you can do various combination of pages to see which of the pages gets you the highest ad conversion. I haven't played around with it - but there seems to be quite a buzz in the Blogosphere about this.

If you have checked it out, I would like to hear from you about it.

-- T

Web 2.0 - for real?

2006-10-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you thought that Web 2.0 is not for real, then you will love this site

Enjoy
-- T

Google Docs and Spreadsheet

2006-10-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I had posted on Google's neat marketing trick of promoting Firefox - you can read more about it here. Today, i realized that they are doing it for their latest product innovation - Google Docs & Spreadsheet. Check out their home page now and see the link that I have highlighted:

Its amazing how Google manages to do these small but neat marketing things.

Cheers,
Thyaga

How to make meetings more effective?

2006-10-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today, i came upon a link about how to make meetings more effective - it is very good and it has some of the important points, which i always feel that a meeting should have. My company's website also has a great course (FREE) on how to conduct great meetings - check it out if you can.

-- T

Alternative to Sgstream

2006-10-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine pointed me to this site - for watching live cricket over the Internet at a fraction of the price that other sites charge. It is http://www.desicricketlive.com

I haven't used it yet - so don't know about the quality. If you have used it, then do leave your comments here - would appreciate it a lot.

I plan to use it during the Champions Trophy though ...

-- Thyaga

Omkara - was it worth it?

2006-10-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to wonder what the whole hype about Omkara was about. Was it because it was adapted from Othello - i know many movies that have the same theme but presented differently. Was it because it was directed by the talented Vishal Bhardwaj who was the music director, script writer and director of this movie? - or was it because it had a good star cast of Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi et. al. ?

I really don't know what the fuss was all about - i thought that the pace of the movie was quite slow - probably, it was just me but i definitely felt that the movie needed to move on at certain places. The music is good but the songs are also too many. All in all, IMHO, the movie was not worth the wait - i would give it ** */2 ;-)

-- Thyaga

My famous prediction - Yahoo! will buy Zoho

2006-10-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, you might think that i am out of my mind to predict something so drastic. But i really believe that Yahoo! will soon snap up Zoho simply because it has no visibility in the Office 2.0 space. We have already seen Google snap up YouTube to improve its footprint in the Online Video product category. However, Yahoo! does not need to worry about Online Video because it seems to be getting some good traffic numbers if Comscore's data and Techcrunch is meant to be believed.

In today's Web 2.0 world, the other area where there is a lot of competition but still no market leader, it has to be the Office 2.0 space and Zoho is appearing to be quite ahead of its competitors including Google. Yahoo! is yet to create any buzz in this space, Google is already doing acquisitions in this space and Microsoft already is doing some kind of online Office thing with its Windows Live platform. So, it is a perfect opportunity for Yahoo! to come in and snap up Zoho and nosedive ahead as the leader.

As for the price, i would put it anywhere from $35-50 million and that should be really sweet deal for Zoho.

Any takers? :)

-- Thyaga

Rentometer

2006-10-10T08:23:00.000-07:00

How many times have you asked your friend during a party the following:

"So , where do you stay?" ... "So, what 's your rent in your Apartment Complex?", "Is it a 2 bed room or a 3 bed-room", "2 bathrooms or 3 bathrooms" etc. Once you got answers to all your probing questions, you must have run a mental check on whether or not your friend was getting a good deal or was your friend getting ripped off :).

But now, thanks to a wonderful mashup tool called Rentometer, you just need to ask him/her - "So, whats your address" and you can find out whether or not the deal is good by comparing "visually" with the other properties nearby. Check it out - it is really cool.

Cheers,
Thyaga

Google snaps up YouTube

2006-10-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

[Photo source: http://www.marketingshift.com]

Ok, the deal is done - Google has bought over YouTube for $1.65 Billion. The first thing that struck my fantasy was even if you were a novice programmer in YouTube, you will soon be a millionaire. The best is of course the Sequoia Capital folks – they pump in $11.5 M and in 1 year they make around $495M that’s a real big exit (41x) – dot com days are here!

Amazing stuff - congratulations to all who were involved in this deal.

-- Thyaga

Tale of 2 Koreas

2006-10-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was nominated by the UN Security Council as the successor to Secretary General Kofi Annan.

And on the same day ....

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear weapon underground.

Amazing indeed are the tales of the 2 Koreas - just miles apart from each other.

-- Thyaga

Check out this Keyboard

2006-10-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

If you think that you have seen all that is there in keyboards, you are going to be blown away by this keyboard - check this out:
If you want more details go to the creators of this unique keyboard.

Cheers,
Thyaga

Google and YouTube in acquisition talks

2006-10-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Wall St. journal is reporting that Google and YouTube are in acquisition talks. With Google Video lagging the Network effect of YouTube, it just makes sense for Google to do so. Of course, YouTube uses Google for its advertising network - so, it makes even more sense.

Lets see what happens ...

-- Thyaga

Pakistan Cricket - the musical chairs have started

2006-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pakistan cricket has always been an enigma for me - they always have one the most talented teams which, on any given day, can beat any team in the world. But they have always come up croppers in major tournaments and the reasons are pretty obvious - the behind-the-doors politics that keep playing in Pakistan cricket. The latest is that Younis Khan has DECLINED the Pakistan captaincy because he believes that he is being installed just as a 'dummy' captain.

Here is my take on this:

(1). Younis Khan definitely appears to be a more suave kind of person and probably, some of the powers that run Pakistan cricket might not have backed his captaincy.

(2). Mohammad Yousuf has always wanted to captain Pakistan - in fact, many believe that his conversion to Islam was inspired by that fact because given a choice, a Christian would never be given an opportunity to lead Pakistan

(3). Younis Khan has always had problems with players and officials in the past - Inzamam, Afridi to name a few. But he has always let his bat do the talking and even in the moments that he has led Pakistan, he has always shone as a captain.

(4). Having said all this, i believe that Younis may have lost the plot a bit here. Granted that Faisal Iqbal was grafted in without his consent and probably others resented his presence, he should have just taken over the manted, baited his time and then shown the way with his performances. That is the only way to gain respect - his current tantrum will not go well with this current team members.

This is an unfortunate incident for Pakistan cricket - just when they were slowly getting out of the Oval Test chucking controversy, they are hit with another storm.

Hopefully, they can come out of it.

-- Thyaga

Billy Doctrove out of Champion's trophy ...

2006-10-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

First, it was Darrel Hair and now it is the turn of his partner at the Oval Test, Billy Doctrove to face ICC's music - he has been left out of Champion's Trophy. Of course, ICC believes that there is nothing fishy about that and that Billy's exclusion had nothing to do with the Oval Test match.

How can ICC be so naive or they think that we are naive?

-- Thyaga

Google Groups - page not found

2006-10-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on fire the past week - I seem to be discovering sites going down and pages on websites with the dreaded 404 error (page not found). You could check them here and here. Now, its the turn for Google Groups which released a new look today - some of the URLs are not accessible - growing pangs baby :).

Hope, I don't get any more :)

-- Thyaga

Slideshare server names

2006-10-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Today, Slideshare was Techcrunched but that isn't why I am blogging about this. I was going through their company Blog and i found something really interesting - the names of their servers are named after Bollywood heroines - so for example,

"Ash is a Pentium 4 machine with 2 Gigs of RAM, and is used as a web server. She won Miss World in 1994, and is often referred to as the “Queen of Bollywood”. " ;-)

This is a refreshing shift in trend from the days when servers were named after rivers (Nile, Mississipi, Ganga etc) or Emotions (Happiness, Passion etc) or famous scientists (Newton, Einstein etc).

Do you know of any other innovative nomenaclature for servers? - write in.

Cheers,
Thyaga

Bloglines down but checkout their message

2006-10-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I had Blogged about the pleasant message that LinkedIn shows when it is down :). Today, it was the turn of Bloglines, the Browser based RSS reading website. Check this out:

Now, the question to be asked is - why are these sites going down so often? - hmmm, good point. Any takers?

-- Thyaga

Happy Durga Puja

2006-10-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja at Sunnyvale Hindu Temple

Wish you all a very very Happy Durga Puja.

-- Thyaga

LinkedIn down but checkout the message

2006-09-29T22:41:00.000-07:00

When i went to access LinkedIn today, I realized that it was down. However, instead of the "Page not found", "Server Maintenance going on", "Sorry for the inconvenience" etc type of messages greeting me, I found a page which was telling me the same thing but in a more pleasant way:

Lesson to be learnt - you can be sorry for what you have done BUT if you want to express that to your customer without making them feel bad about you, you just need to express it in a pleasant way - the bitter taste kind of goes off. Neat marketing trick which expresses the message but still keeps your customers loyal. Now, how many businesses do that? - I know of a handful.

How about you?

-- Thyaga

The cleaner (does not) ring twice ...

2006-09-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys but in my and wife's life, one person plays a very important role - the house cleaner. He is probably the busiest person I have ever met - he carries around a hand written diary and his appointment dates are completely full. You cannot request your own date - he gives you one and then you have to work your way around it. Also, the day he comes to the house, we usually get the morning slot (probably, he is generous ?) and so, we have to get up early, take a bath early, have breakfast early so that he gets the complete house for his team to clean :).

Now, take a cue from this and apply this to any business - what kind of business or product that can you develop that will have customers adjust according to what you do and what you make - not the other way around. I cannot think of many but surely, the branded ones have this luxury to start with. But my cleaner Jose is not even a brand name. What is it that he is doing that is making us behave as complete morons and we seem to be wanting to do it again and again? - the answer lies in the fact that he is performing a task for us that is very basic but very important BUT we don't have time/resources to do it ourselves.

So, the clue then is to develop a product/business that satisfies a very important need of people that they cannot do it for themselves.

Any takers?

-- Thyaga

Nifty Salary Search tool

2006-09-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Indeed today launched a nifty salary search tool - check it out. What i like about this tool is the ability to compare searches (and hence salaries) and then make a decision.

For example, check these out:

(1). Difference in salary for a Web Designer and a Web Designer with Ajax skills

(2). Difference in salary for job postings in Iraq and Afghanistan

(3). Difference in salary for a Product Manager in Mountain View and Fremont

....

Really innovative stuff.

Cheers,
Thyaga

Chappel or Dravid - who is the boss

2006-09-26T16:22:00.000-07:00

Recently, Ravi Shastri criticized the Indian team and said that India's captain Rahul Dravid should start calling the shots and not Greg Chappell. This has fuelled a huge debate in India as to who is really the boss of the Indian team- Chappell or Dravid. I think, this could be an 1-off statement that Shastri might have made because he might have been frustrated with the Indian team's loss. On the other hand, knowing Shastri, I think he might have some genuine reason for believing that something might be wrong.

Anyway, it is disappointing to know the see the way India played. Barring the bowlers
and probably batsmen such as Tendulkar, no one really appeared to be in any sort of form. I really feel that guys like Viru should be given a break for sometime. He should firstly be made to lose weight and get back the inspiration to play as he normally does.

So, what do u guys think about this? - is it Chappell or Dravid who is calling the shots?

-- Thyaga

Power of LinkedIn

2006-09-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Today, i linked up with a fellow student at SCU MBA school. After linking with each other, we realized that we have more things in common - he also started his career at SPCNL in Bangalore and he happened to have an ex Vitalect employee as his former manager.

Small world - made smaller by networking sites such as LinkedIn

Cheers,
Thyaga

Munnbhai Lage Raho - Fantastic !

2006-09-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

We saw Munnabhai Lage Raho, the second in the Munnabhai series and boy! - it is an amazing movie. It is better than the first one and both Sanjay Dutt as Munnabhai and Arshad Warsi as Circuit really come into their own in this movie. The movie preaches the values of truth and non-violence or in short "Gandhigiri" but it is conveyed in the subtlest of manners. It aims to tell you to be good without being preachy. How it manages to do that is basically what the movie is all about. I don't want to reveal the plot but it is one heck of a movie - you will love it from the beginning to the end.

All the characters are very well etched - all the actors perform superlatively. Apart from Dutt and Warsi, Vidya Balan excels as Munna's love interest Jhanvi, Boman Irani is good as the wicked and cunning builder and of course, Dilip Prabhavalkar is great as Mahatma Gandhi. As a closing note, I must mention the performance of Arshad Warsi as Circuit. Seeing him play this role, you know that this man is so immensely talented - he is a natural on the screen and it clearly shows. He was born to do this role and he does it to perfection.

Go watch Munnabhai - in the meantime, Munnabhai ... Lage Raho!

-- Thyaga

Camera to slim you down

2006-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

You thought that going to the gym was the only way to slim down? - how about technology to do that for you, eh? - check out this HP camera, which will slim you down whenever u want to.

Interesting, eh? - does anyone know how to do it with a Cannon? :)

-- Thyaga

India put it across West Indies

2006-09-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Boy! - what a match indeed. When i was watching the Indian batting capitulate to Dwayne Smith, I knew that this match was slowly slipping away. Of course, Tendulkar was there but then he just had Bhajji and the rest of the tail for support. Bhajji played a very crucial innings of 37 that helped bring some kind of solidarity to the team total. Tendulkar was unfortunate to be run out when the ball richocheted of the bowler's hands into the non-striker's stumps. By then, he had scored a classy and crucial 65 runs. This should silence some of the critics who keep questioning his form and whether he is a critical part of the team or not. This also showed what India was missing in the Caribbean.

Of course, the Indian bowlers bowled with all their heart - Munaf, Ajit and Sreesanth all took 2 wickets each. Bhajji proved his class by taking 3 wickets and RP chipped in with the crucial wicked of Gayle. All in all it was a great team effort. India needs to win against Australia to make it to the finals - with this victory, they must definitely have their tails up.

I would like to end this post by a comment that Brian Lara made about Tendulkar after the match:

===

"Sachin is a very good friend of mine," he said when asked whether he was disappointed to be at the receiving end once again. "If he scores runs, it is attractive, a sight to behold. I want my players to learn from a guy like that, he's an exceptional talent.

"Seeing him bat, there's not much you can do sometimes. He is such a perfect batsman that on occasions, you see guys struggle and he does not. I'm happy that he has come back and is scoring runs because such a great player needs to come to the fore. I don't know if he has any doubters in India, but there's definitely not a doubt here. It's nice to see him come back and show his class. I want to see him do that on Friday as well."

===

Go India !

Broadband connection in India

2006-09-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

We are so used to having broadband around us that if the connection goes down for a few hours, we get ravaging mad - no connectivity means - cannot check office email, cannot check personal email, cannot check the latest cricket scores, cannot check the current news, cannot find the directions to a place, cannot find the nearest grocery store - it is as if our whole life is now controlled by the single piece of wire (less) device that is (not) connected to the computer. This is the age of the "connected" consumer and soon there will be wireless connectivity wherever you go.

So, it came as a rude leveller when I read this article about Broadband connection in India. It is a little hilarious but it also gives us a good reality check. I am not surprised by such issues - these are pretty common in India. What is admirable is that in spite of these problems, India has managed to emerge as a technology super power.

-- Thyaga

Powered By Qumana

Sania to set up a tennis academy

2006-09-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Sania Mirza is going to set up a tennis academy. She has applied for land and resources from the Andhra Government. That just begs the question - has she done anything significant to warrant such a demand? - your guess is as good as mine.

-- Thyaga

Osama's whereabouts?

2006-09-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Its more than 5 years since 9/11 and Osama is yet to be caught. Rediff is running a poll to figure where people think he is. Go and vote now!

-- Thyaga

Durga Puja in the Bay Area, 2006

2006-09-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja is just around the corner. Here is an update on the list of Durga Pujas that are going to be celebrated in the Bay Area this year.

Sanskriti - September 23rd and 24th at Foothill College, Los Altos.
Prabasi - September 30th and October 1st at Chabot College, Hayward.
Pashchimi - September 28th to October 2nd at Sunnyvale, Temple.
Livermore Hindu Temple - September 28th to October 2nd

See u at one of the Pujas :) !

Cheers,
Thyaga

Europe Trip - Paris

2006-09-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

My wife and I visited Europe for a short vacation. In the span of 9 days, we visited London, Rome and Paris. The "Europe Trip" series of Blogs will talk about our travel experiences and any useful tips that I might have to share.

In this post, i shall talk about the Paris leg of our tour.

(1). The first thing that strikes you in Paris is the fact that most people are pretty stylishly dressed - no wonder then that this place is considered the Fashion capital of this world. An average Joe "understands" fashion on average more than the other average Joes of the world.

(2). We visited a LOT of places in Paris - shown below through some photographs:

Seine Cruise

Concorde Point

Arch of Truimph

Champs Elysses

Louvre Museum

Eiffel Tower

Gallery Lafeyette

(3). Fashion industry is HUGE out here - all fashion designers have huge outlets here. Of course, you cannot shop in them if you are a layman :). These outlets are just for "window-shopping" - it is a way to just improve the brand - for example, if you see a shoe at 400 Euros, you will wonder why is it so expensive, but then you will see the brand and say, probably it is worth it - then the next time, you get your salary, your mind will itch to go and buy that 400 Euros shoe. No, thats not how i think - but thats how most Parisians generally think. This was best illustrated by the receptionist in our hotel - most of her eating and shopping recommendations were always in "chic" areas - we got a good idea of where her salary goes :).

(4). People tend not to speak in English - even if they do, it is difficult to understand. Needless to say, you are better off if you know French.

(5). French cuisine is so different than the food that we are used to - we didn't enjoy it too much - so, we just stuck with Italian and Indian food :).

(6). I was surprised at the amount of time people spend in restaurants during lunch time. Most of them had a 3 course lunch and would just take it easy and not hurry back to work. Try doing that out here - in fact, the restaurant waiter will hurry you up here so that he can give your table to another person :). The answer to this actually lies in the EU's work culture - they have 35 hour weeks (US and UK have 40 hours weeks) - really, why are we working so hard here ;-).

(7). The most iconic thing in Paris is the Eiffel Tower and for a good reason. You can see the tower from almost any place within Paris - it is tall, majestic and simply beautiful. It is something that has to be seen to be believed. We were lucky to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower - Gustafo Eiffel was indeed a remarkable man.

(8). Common words that will help you in Paris - Bon Jour (hello), Missuer (Mr), Merci (Thanks)

(9). From what i could understand, most of all famous building in Paris has something to do with Napolean - either he built it or it was built in his honor or he did something on it.

Cheers,
Thyaga

Sachin is back !

2006-09-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

God is back!

Sachin is back and with a bang. He creamed 141* against West Indies in the DLF cup in Malaysia. It is unfortunate that India lost that match due to D/L method but it was Sachin's innings that people will talk about. 141* from 148 balls - 13 4's and 5 6's - you make your own conclusion.

Suddenly, the game of cricket doesn't seem so mundane and ordinary, after all. The God has resurfaced !

-- Thyaga

Europe Trip - Rome

2006-09-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Rome Colosseum

Rome Forum & Palatino

Santa Maria Magguire

Pantheon

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican

Vatican Museum

(3). The food there was just wonderful - totally different from the Italian fare that they dish out here at any restaurant. The pizzas, for example, were soft and so delicious - it almost melted in my mouth :) - yummy !

(4). BEWARE of Pickpockets - they keep telling you that wherever you go. We didn't have to experience this (thankfully) but it is something that is very prevalent there.

(5). Every second shop is a Bistro or a restaurant or a cafe. They just love to eat man !

(6). During the afternoon, most shops and businesses are closed - it is SIESTA time! They open in the evening and then close late night. No wonder, they always seem happy and always ready for a joke ;-)

(7). With these few words, you can conquer a lot of people :) - Senor (Mister), Senorita (female of Mister - NOT MISTRESS ;-)), Gratzie (Thank You), Si (Yes).

(8). The best places to eat in Rome are the cafes but make sure you get an outside table. The weather is great, you can order your food, sip a glass of wine, look at the fun going around and then look at the beautiful person on the other side of your table - amazing stuff !

Next up - our Paris trip - stay tuned !

-- Thyaga

WYSIWYG

2006-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

WYSIWYG - what you SAY is what you GET ;-)

[Photo Source: http://www.emergencemarketing.com]

-- Thyaga

Europe Trip - London

2006-09-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

My wife and I visited Europe for a short vacation. In the span of 9 days, we visited London, Rome and Paris. The "Europe Trip" series of Blogs will talk about our travel experiences and any useful tips that I might have to share.

In this post, i shall talk about the London leg of our tour.

(1). We stayed at our friend Anand's place in Central London. Going by the real estate prices in London, I must say that London is terribly expensive. Nevertheless, i thank Anand for putting us up in a swank apartment in Central London.

(2). We visited a LOT of places during our 2 days there - shown here through some photos:

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Westminister, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral

Buckhingham Palace

Soho, Trafalgar Square, Piccadaly Circus, Leicester Square

(3). The Tube is a very efficient means of transport IF you don't have to carry around any luggage :). This is one thing that we realized in the whole of Europe - they are not very "handicap-friendly". For example, to go from 1 train to another, you would have to go up some stairs and then some down and then finally catch the train. It is doable without luggage but it takes a while to get used to it :).

(4). Chicken Tikka Masala is by-far the most common Indian dish. In fact, this is a menu item even in bars and side-joints.

(5). I was amazed by the amount of alcohol that people consume here. Anand was telling me that in his office, no one works after 5 - they head straight to the bars for a mug of beer and a game of football (soccer).

(6). I realized that soccer was far more popular in England than cricket. I saw 4 pages of coverage for football but only a tiny section for cricket in the Times.

(7). London definitely has a great night life. We stayed up late one night at Trafalgar square, Piccadaly Circus and the adjoining areas - boy! - the mood was just festive throughout the time. Loud music, lots of people, lots of eating places - it reminded you of Times Square to a certain extent. SFO on the other hand sleeps at 11:00 :(.

(8). A quick point regarding the airports - London has a lot of airports - Luton, Gatwick, Stansed and of course Heathrow. If you plan to take any cheap flights out of London, then it will most probably be out of one of these smaller airports - we flew out of Luton to Rome, for instance. Make sure that you arrange for appropriate transportation if your flight is at weird times - there are a lot of private buses/coaches that leave from Central London that go to these airports. We used the Green Line coach to catch the early flight from Luton.

Next up - Our Roma Trip ! - stay tuned.

-- Thyaga

Home DSL Connection is down

2006-09-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

My home DSL connection is down and well, i feel pretty handicapped by it. What i find interesting is a message when you call up SBC Yahoo! Tech Support - "......If you are having connection problems, then ...., you can also check our website for additional details ...."

Thats a double whammy indeed! - some thing that Seth Godin could use in his Marketing lectures :)

-- Thyaga

Europe Trip - 1 : Airlines, Security, Airports etc

2006-09-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

My wife and I visited Europe for a short vacation. In the span of 9 days, we visited London, Rome and Paris. The "Europe Trip" series of Blogs will talk about our travel experiences and any useful tips that I might have to share.

In this post, i shall talk about the various airlines that we travelled in, the type of security in airports today etc.

(1). We travelled by Icelandair from SFO > London (Heathrow) > SFO. This was one of the cheaper airlines and i was actually quite impressed with the airlines. The service was good and the staff was friendly. Basically, Iceland serves as a bouncing hop between Europe and America and thats how they market themselves. Food is actually quite bad (there are NO vegetarian choices by default). I also found that the leg space was larger than found in normal airlines.

@ the Reykjavik International Airport, Iceland

(2). From London Luton to Rome, we travelled by Ryan Air. They advertise cheap prices but take it with a pinch of salt. You need to pay extra for any luggage that you check in. Also, the size of the hand carry on baggage is extremely small - in fact, we had to check in our hand carry on baggage. Flight was good and on time.

(3). Rome to Paris and Paris to Luton - We travelled by Easyjet - this has one of the biggest presence in Europe. This is completely modelled on the Southwest airlines. The planes are clean and well maintained. However, the flight was delayed after a random security check at Paris airport. Again, since this is a cheap airline, you can't do or say much :).

(4). Security in airports have gone up in a big way - no liquids, no gels, no cosmetics etc can be carried in the carry-on luggage. However, i didn't find consistency in the security checks in different airports. Luton airport had a serpentine queue for security checks. But we almost breezed through at the Rome airport. I guess, we still are far from being perfect.

(5). We booked all our flights through Kayak and all our hotels through Venere (both of these are highly recommended).

-- Thyaga

My Blog is on vacation ...

2006-08-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

with me :) - shall be back in action after September 10th.

BYE BYE

Till then,
Good bye !

Thyaga

Amitabh Bachchan on Hrishikesh Mukherjee

2006-08-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hrishikesh Mukherjee
[Photo Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk]

Hrishikesh Mukherjee, one of India's greatest film directors passed away yesterday. The best part about his films were that they were so close to reality - Anand, Chupke Chupke, Abhiman were some of him immortal films. Here is Amitabh Bachchan's tribute to him ...

May his soul rest in peace.

-- Thyaga

The ball tampering controversy - my view Part II

2006-08-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ok - the controversy is just turning into a soap opera now. I had blogged a post earlier about my views on this controversy. Now the situation has turned completely different:

Inzamam's hearing has been postponed till the end of September - this gives Inzy some time to concentrate on his cricket and also for the lawyers to present the cases (of course, this also means that the axe is still hanging around Inzy's head).
ICC sensationally released the email exchanges between Hair and the ICC chiefs - i think, this is the most unprofessional of the ICC - Hair had clearly sent the email in confidence and i think ICC has betrayed that. According to the email, Hair had offered to quit if ICC were to offer him $500, 000 to compensate him for his future matches, that he would have umpired had he not retired.
Malcom Speed, ICC's chief executive then made a statement that Hair's career may be over now.
Hair then hit back at the ICC saying that his offer of the $500,000 was made at the behest of ICC.

One thing that has come up as a result of this unfolding drama is that the wonderful cricket of cricket has taken a back-seat and matters off the field have taken precedence.

I would rather worry about the "Men in Blue" rather than the "Men in White".

-- Thyaga

O'Reilly Code Search

2006-08-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

Remember those early years when you used to read the O'Reilly books and learnt some cool programming tricks but then you were always lazy to not "type in" the code to check it out? - that problem does not exist anymore with the release of the O'Reilly Code Search which searches from over 2.6 million lines of code from these books.

This is indeed a dream for software programmers - enjoy!

-- T

Kodak Photo - why do i need to join to see the photos?

2006-08-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

I received an invitation to view photos that my friend had uploaded on Kodak Photos - but i can't view the album UNLESS I register - this is the biggest mistake marketers make. They force something on customers expecting that they will do something - it doesn't work that way. It is a bit like the superstitious FAQ writers that Joel Spolsky wrote about in his Blog yesterday.

-- Thyaga

Monetizing the Blogosphere ...

2006-08-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

2 years ago, the Blogosphere was exploding - there were the early adopters who took to Blogging and have been active at it ever since. Many of these guys in fact, make significant revenues just by Blogging. Imagine, sitting in your chair and writing about anything that you like and yeah! - make a lot of $$s too :). Here is a nice Blog Post on the monetizing of the Blogosphere.

Interested? - then start off ...

-- T

India's Independence Day at Nasdaq

2006-08-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Nasdaq celebrated India's Independence Day - this shows the growing importance of India as a trading partner.

Amazing!

-- Thyaga

The ball tampering controversy - my view

2006-08-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

End of a Test or beginning of a controversy?
[Copyright: Getty Images, Source: http://www.cricket.com]

Over the past few days, the cricketing world has been rocked by a ball-tampering fiasco where umpire Darrel Hair accused the Pakistan team of tampering with the ball. This incident occurred on the 4th day of the 4th test at the Oval Cricket Ground. He awarded 5 penalty runs to England and had the ball changed. After the tea interval, the England batsmen walked out to the middle along with the umpires but the Pakistan players were nowhere to be seen. Hair soon declared that Pakistan had forfeited the game. You can go through the details here ...

My take on this whole episode is this:

(1). Darrel Hair has repeatedly courted controversies and his record with Asian countries has particularly been bad. He was the first to openly no-ball Muralitharan for chucking and that opened a can of worms regarding chucking and recently ICC had to amend its laws for chucking. ICC seriously needs to look into this "anti-Asian" attitude of Hair.

(2). When the incident happened, the person who should have taken charge of the situation was the match refree Mike Proctor - but he did none of that.

(3). Inzamam did the right thing by carrying on play till tea instead of taking a decision in haste and walking out as Ranatunga famously did in Australia. Over tea, Pakistan protested against Hair's decision and I think, they were right in protesting against the decision. There was no substantial proof of ball tampering even though there were 26 Sky TV cameras in operation !

(4). Hair's decision could have been provoked by Duncan Fletcher - he had gone to meet the match refree in the morning to voice his suspicion. The match refree could have informed Hair about it and the result was there to see.

(5). I think Hair's decision reflects more of a policeman attitude rather than of a judge, a view publicly pointed out by Rashid Latif, Imran Khan, Ranatunga etc.

(6). From the looks of it, it seems that Inzy may be banned for 4 Tests and 8 ODIs - if that is the case, then the Pakistan team should show solidarity towards their captain and simply not play the ODIs in England.

(7). Its time ICC looks into the repeated complaints from the Asian block and give them proper respect that they deserve.

-- Thyaga

Amazon choking under too much load

2006-08-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I had blogged about how Yahoo! Maps might be choking under too much traffic load. Check out what happened when i went to Amazon today morning to check out a Canon Digital Camera !

2006-08-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Metcalfe's law might be wrong

2006-08-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Most of us who have used the Internet or have done some amount of communications courses or heard about the "Network effect" in business, have heard about the "Metcalfe's Law". One of the most laws that are taught in Business schools, it says that the value of a communications network is proportional to the square of the number of its users. However, a new IEEE study seems to think that this is not true. Read on ...

Tale of 2 cricketers

2006-08-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

2 years ago, when India toured Pakistan, India had unearthed a star - Irfan Pathan. He wrecked the Pakistan batting line-up with relentless ease. One of the players who struggled repeatedly against him was a player known as Yousuf Youhana, one of the very few "non-Muslims" at that time to play the game. Come 2005 and Yousuf Youhana embraced Islam and become Mohammad Yousuf. Ever since that, his performances have gone up the roof.

Currently, Yousuf is touring England and has 3 Test Centuries on the trot. On the other hand, Irfan Pathan is struggling to make it to the Indian Test Team now and in fact, was dropped for most of the Caribbean Test Series. As they say, cricket is after all a confidence game. Of course, for Yousuf, it might seem that there are reasons more than confidence as well. All said and done, Yousuf is in the form of his life right now.

-- Thyaga

Energy Efficient VCs :)

2006-08-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Recently I had Blogged about how Sun had saved a cool $700-$1000 per server once it decided to go "green". Here is another article that talks about the activities in that sphere - looks like VCs are now funding anything that will save energy - going green is the new catch-phrase nowadays.

Any takers?

-- Thyaga

Mini Microsoft or Blogger problem

2006-08-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

When I went to Mini Microsoft today, I found this on the screen:

No idea what this is - some header information is messed up? - or is it the Growing pains of Blogger?

Any idea?

Google launches FREE Wi-Fi in Mountain View

2006-08-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

Firstly, it is a pleasure to be in the vicinity of one of the most innovative hi-tech companies around :) - Google. The latest news is that they have installed FREE Wi-Fi in the city of Mountain View (where my office is located).

Well, firstly this is great news. Just like the Open Source movement made code FREE for all developers, Google is making Internet Connectivity FREE too. So, really “all 10 thumbs up” for that :).

So, what could be the impact of this:

(1). Companies like T-Mobile which use Starbucks as their channel to provide Wi-Fi connections and also charge for it, are going to be the biggest losers - the Starbucks down the road has so many “developers” drinking coffee and hacking away on some code :). From now on, they just have to pay for the coffee !

(2). Although the connectivity is free, you will definitely be sharing the bandwidth - so, be cautioned about the security issues here. Your Boss may not like the idea that you are
communicating your Web 2.0 hacks and ideas through this shared bandwidth - ouch ! Otherwise, this is indeed a great idea.

(3). Here is the detailed interactive map of all the 380 access points.

Starbucks with Google Wi-Fi anyone? - I will be there :).

– Thyaga

SGStream Alternatives

2006-08-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

The triangular series between India, Sri Lanka and South Africa has started and I am still trying to figure out some alternatives for SGStream. An anonymous post on my Blog pointed me to http://www.cricketspot.com

I would appreciate if I could get more choices so that I can make my decision.

-- T

Sun making money by going "green"

2006-08-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was reading Jonathan Schwartz's recent Blog post and he talks about how going "green" had helped Sun to reduce the cost of their servers by $700 to $1000. Now, that is a substantial savings indeed. My first reaction is how can this help my company - i mean, how can a Internet software startup do with "green" so that it can get in the "green" ($) bills.

Any ideas?

-- T

Happy Independence Day

2006-08-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day to India and to all my fellow Indians

-- Thyaga

India's VC investments on the rise

2006-08-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

India's VC investments seems to be on the rise. Most VC firms are now setting up "India" specific funds and obviously, many well known Indian entrepreneurs are now joining in as partners. Here is a good Blog post that covers this in depth.

Shabaash India!

-- T

Innovation in Web 2.0 world

2006-08-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today, we talk about Web 2.0 and how the control now is in the hands of the users. But read this excellent Blog post (and i agree to whatever she says) - innovation needs to be able to create "new" needs and not "meet" unmet ones.

-- Thyaga

Srinath on Pathan

2006-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Pathan: Hair cut might prove lucky?
[Photo Copyright: Getty Images]

Srinath, India's ex fast bowler thinks that Pathan will come good soon and that the current loss of form is just temporary. Pathan, who had risen to become India's numero uno fast bowler, has undergone an amazing lack of form. His confidence is obviously not there and it showed in his performances in the Caribbean. As one of India's biggest hope in the World Cup, it is important that he strikes form fast and hits the ground running.

Go Pathan !

-- Thyaga

Yahoo! choking under too much load

2006-08-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I was printing out maps and directions from Yahoo!, I repeatedly kept getting Server Busy messages. Now, I have seen this occasionally in Google (especially in GMail because of the amount of Ajax that they use in that :)). Probably, they were trying something new at that time (which is odd because it was during lunch time when most people would like to use the Map service anyway). Here is the screenshot:

So, is it that these services are not scaling up enough or is it that the number of users are on the rise? Write in ...

-- T

The "Think Different" campaign

2006-08-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

It is 2006 now - yet, the "Think Different" campaign that was launched by Apple under Steve Jobs continues to be one of the best marketing campaigns ever launched. It converted Apple from a struggling computer company to a global powerhouse. Here is a great link - http://www.electric-escape.net/node/565 about the entire campaign.

I remember seeing a larger than life billboard of Satyajit Ray outside Mosconi Center with "Think Different" written at the bottom right - i thought that the idea was really cool.

I am sure all of you might have seen the ad campaign - which one do you like the most and why?

Write in !

-- T

Dada in the 30 member probable's list

2006-08-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Dada: False Lifeline?

Yesterday the Indian 30 probables for the Champions Trophy was announced and well, 3 well-known figures from the past - Saurav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble find themselves in the list. Though VVS and Kumble still feature in India's test teams, Dada and Zaheer have been out from both forms of the game.

This is indeed an interesting team selection but knowing the Indian selectors only too well, I know thaqt this is actually a false lifeline for Dada.

-- Thyaga

Web 2.0 Video from Michael Arrington

2006-08-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here is a good 24 minute video documentary created by Michael Arrington from Techcrunch. He is interviewing the CEOs of some of the hottest Internet startups.

[Video Source: http://www.techcrunch.com]

Enjoy it!
-- Thyaga

Web 2.0 companies slideshow

2006-08-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a comprehensive list of all Web 2.0 companies
http://web2.0slides.com/

Click on the first link on the LHS and then click on the Play (>) button

Enjoy

Thyaga

India needs to invest more on infrastructure

2006-08-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

The latest Confideration of Indian Industry (CII) report says that India needs to invest more on its infrastructure if it wants to maintain the current level of economic growth. The CII said that India was expected to spend about $47bn on infrastructure in the fiscal year to March 2007, a figure which needs to be doubled to $84bn a year by 2012. Read on ...

I totally agree to whatever has been said in the report. Today, Bangalore is considered the next Silicon Valley of the world, but the roads and electricity problem that besiege the city are causing increase pain and anguish amongst the companies there. Some of them such as Infosys and Wipro have already threatened the Government that they would quite Bangalore if the infrastructure was not improved. It is not only Bangalore - in Chennai, it is the water problem, in Kolkata - pollution, in Delhi - it is the extreme climate and Mumbai - just way too dangerous now to stay!

It it time the 3 economic musketeers of India - MMS (PM), PC (FM) and MA (EA) get together to chalk out a plan for the country. As for the acronyms, try to figure them out - if you cannot, then leave me a comment and I shall let you know what i am trying to say :)

-- T

Internet Grammar entering everyday lives

2006-08-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

People who are used to chatting over the Internet are used to acronyms and wrong use of the English "txt" :). For example, LOL, IMHO etc may seem right from the Hebrew dictionary for a common person but for an avid Internet / Chat user, these mean "Laugh out Loud" and "In My Humble Opinion" respectively. So, it was no surprise when an Ohio woman's license plate application of "nwtf" was rejected. To her, it meant "NorthWood Tree Farm," the business she owns. Apparently the youngsters at the motor vehicle bureau identified it more closely with internet usage of wtf, usually meaning "what the f***."

Internet Grammar, it seems, is "NHTS" (now hear to stay! LOL :))

-- T

Inspirational stuff ...

2006-08-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

If you wanted to be an entrepreneur and want to do something good by yourself, then this is something that you should look at this inspirational video

-- Thyaga

Good Lord!

2006-08-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

A devotee in South India has donated diamond earrings worth Rs 1.1 crore to the Tirupati Temple. Read on...

-- T

China Beach - a Global Warming effect ?

2006-08-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Somewhere below these people is a beach !
[Copyright: http://www.dailymail.co.uk]

An estimated 200000 people flocked to the beach in the Northern Chinese resort of Quindao as temperatures soared. Read more ...

But in Southern China, a typhoon was creating havoc - weather patterns have gone completely crazy. How much do you think is a direct effect of Global Warming?

-- Thyaga

Great site on Product Marketing

2006-08-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

My wife forwarded this a great link about Product Marketing to me. Actually, the author Daniel Shefer has a website of his own and most of his articles are out there. Check it out when you get the time - it is worth a read if you are interested in Product Marketing.

-- Thyaga

Wikipedia - amazing source of information

2006-07-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

Have you guys checked out Wikipedia? - the online Encyclopedia. It is such an amazing source of information - from academics to current issues to MBA stuff to sports - you name it and it is there. The best part of this is that it is a community based site and so, the information builds up as more and more people submit content - amazing concept - a perfect example of a Network good.

Check it out - it will definitely turn out to be useful :).

-- Thyaga

Google Scoop - Blogger accidentally discovers new features

2006-07-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

A blogger discovered evidence of several new Google features such as Google Events, Google Guess, Google Online Assessment, Google Real Estate Search, Google RS2, Mobile Marketplace, Local and Weaver yesterday that hint at the company's product direction. Read on ...

Wi-Fi network in Mountain View - now, thats NICE :-) !

-- T

Tips for Cooling Off

2006-07-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

[Canvas: "Cooling Off" by Donald Curran]

As the world comes to grip with the heat wave that is engulfing America and Europe right now, here are some tips to keep cool during these times. Its amazing how simple these tips are and if done diligently can make us feel more comfortable during these times.

Cool off

-- Thyaga

ICC launches World Cup logo, mascot and schedule

2006-07-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

[Copyright: http://www.cricket.org]

ICC has officially launched the World Cup logo, mascot, World Cup trophy

The ICC has officially launched the World Cup logo, mascot, World Cup trophy and also the schedule. This was done in New Delhi yesterday by officials of the ICC and the members of the Organizing committee. The fact that it was done in New Delhi goes to show how important India is as a market for the success of the World Cup. Read on ....

World Cup ticket bookings close on Monday - July 31st

2006-07-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

The first phase of ticket bookings for the World Cup will be over on Monday, July 31st. If you have not yet applied for it, then this is the best chance for you to do so. Details on how to purchase tickets can be found here.

-- T

Himesh Reshammiya - is he really so good?

2006-07-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

First, the facts - out of the top 10 songs in Hindi song countdown today, at least 6 of the songs are composed by Himesh Reshammiya. Even A.R.Rehman during his Roja/Bombay days was not as popular as Reshammiya is today. The last year has seen Reshammiya crunching hits after hits - from Aap Ki Kashish to Aap Ka Suroor to the latest Jhoom Jhoom. Even as I write this, the newer movies today definitely feature a track or two composed by Reshammiya. As if that is not enough, the movies promos nowadays show a heavily bearded Reshammiya along with his trademark baseball cap crooning away on the mike. Of course, that is just to grab your attention - he just draws the crowd - the movie has become a secondary reason now.

Is he really that good?

But that begs the question - is he really that good? - my wife despises him completely. She cannot take that nasal crooning for more than a couple of minutes. I have been a bit adventurous actually - i went ahead and burnt a CD consisting of his hit songs from last year. My theory on music is this - listen to a CD again and again. Then give it a break - if the desire to hear it comes back again, then you know that you like that song. (its similar to the "If you love someone, let them free .... "). With this experiment, I know that I cannot live without listening to the songs of Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman :). Anyway back to Reshammiya - after listening to him for exactly 3 times, i decided that I have had enough. Its been more than a week and i don't have too much of an inclination to go back to it. Probably now I will because I have blogged about it and so, I might as well listen to it again :).

That still does not discount his success - obviously, people are attracted to his unique nasal / Sufi voice - there seems to be something in his voice that is making people listen and the cash registers ring. For the producers thats what matters. Rehammiya of course, is just lapping it up - he is already set out on his world tour and he will be in the US soon.

If you guys have your opinion on him, feel free to leave a comment.

-- T

Tremendous Heat Wave going on

2006-07-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Since the beginning of last weekend, US and more specifically California has been under a severe heat wave. Over the weekend, temperatures hovered around 105 degrees on average in California - boy! - it was excruciatingly hot. I have never seen it so hot here - probably in India but the humidity factor in Kolkata would probably cool the temperatures a bit. Here, the lack of humidity makes it completely dry and so the heat is "hot and dry" heat - the worst that you can get.

Naturally, the power consumption has gone over the roof and the state is finding out ways to cope up with this increase in power consumption. The one thing that strikes me for sure is that environmentalists are now going to be strengthened in the continuing debate over global warming - Al Gore surely might end up running for the Presidency again :).

Chill out !

From regular tea to instant tea

2006-07-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

First, there was regular tea (granules or leaves). You had to heat it in the vessel, add milk and then your tea would be ready. Remember Brooke Bond ads? -
"Paani Ubalo, Patti dalo, Doodh Shakkar milao and aur pee jao ..."

Then came the Tea Bags - remember "Dip Dip Dip and its ready to sip" ? - it saved u the trouble of heating the tea leaves in water. But you still needed to put in hot milk / water

Then came Gold Chai packets - where the step of adding milk was completely removed. You just need to add hot water.

Now comes the next step - the instant tea from IIT Kharagpur. You need to put the tea and water and it will automatically start heating up - amazing stuff indeed. Read on ....

Cheers,
T

Sachin & Mongia return to the Indian team

2006-07-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

Sachin and Mongia

[Copyright: Getty Images and http://www.cricket.org]

Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Mongia return to the Indian National team for the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka. While the former's selection was a mere formality, Mongia has been rewarded for some consistent performance in the County circuit. India has been desperately looking for an all-rounder to balance its 1-day team but it is yet to have someone who can do that job on a consistent basis. Mongia might be the answer that India is looking for - he bats well, has been taking wickets regularly in the County circuit and is an excellent fielder. Although he has got his chances in the past, he has not taken full advantage of those. So, this is yet another golden chance for him to cement his place in the side.

The team (from):
Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Mongia

Cheers,
Thyaga

BCCI, Twenty 20 and Sidhuism

2006-07-19T13:27:00.000-07:00

Will tournaments such as these become common fixtures now?

[Copyright: Sussex Cricket ]

Recently, India agreed to participate in the Twenty 20 World Cup to be played in South Africa next year. India was not ready to join this tournament but then there is the pressure of the media, ICC and the rest and India had to succumb to it. I don't know how much change this is going to bring about in India but Sidhu, as usual, had something to say about it:

===

"If one-day cricket was pyjama cricket, then Twenty20 is underwear cricket."

"This cricket is like a burger, you can have it once a week but for a whole meal, you need to return to Test cricket. More than once a week, and it will give you a tummy ache"

===

Cheers,
Thyaga

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

2006-07-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

[Copyright: http://www.northernsun.com/n/s/5151.html]

Another Tsunami has struck the Indonesian belt and more than 300 victims are dead. But this has not even made any news because of the apparent tension going on in the Middle east. Lebanon/Syria/Iran combined to attack Israel and obviously, Israel is attacking them back - situation has become so bad now that some of the politicians are really scared that this could start off another World War - Iran has nuclear weapons and its Prime Minister is more than willing to pull the trigger at any time!

The last few weeks have seen some really tragic events - the blasts in Mumbai, then the bombings in Haifa by Lebanon's rebel group Hezbollah and finally the Tsunami

Can we have some peace now or do we sing : "All we are saying is GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"

-- Thyaga

Mithunism - the religion of Mithun da

2006-07-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

Enigmatic Mithun da

If you are born and brought up in West Bengal, then you must know by now - no matter how many angry young man roles Amitabh Bachchan plays and how many chocolate candy roles Shahrukh Khan plays - one man has always reigned supreme amongst all of them - the one and only Mithun Chakraborty a.k.a Mithun da. His movies have always opened to full houses in Kolkata - no matter how bad the movie was. Mithun da, the enigma that he was (is), always had a bumper opening for all his movies.

So, for all you Mithun da fans who grew up dancing to "I am a Disco Dancer", "Jeena bhi kya hai jeena" with the music tapping from Bappi da's magical (but lifted) orchestra, here is something to enjoy - Mithunism :)

Cheers
-T

Mango Pulp - amazing

2006-07-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we had been to a friend's house and for dessert, he treated me to "Aam Rus" or "Mango Pulp" and it was absolutely delicious. Needless to say, i already bought 1 tin from the nearest Indian store. Here is how it looks just in case anyone of you wants to give it a try - trust me, it is really delicious.

Enjoy!

Department of Toxic Control - California

2006-07-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we had been to a friend's house whose wife turned out to be an environmentalist. She told us about a website where you can track Toxic wastes in your community in California - you can see the history of what types of chemical factories were there in your area, did the city clean it up or not, when was it done etc. This is extremely useful if you are going to buy a house or rent an aparment and want to make sure that the area is absolutely clean. Needless to say, they are having a tough time buying a house because not many areas in the Bay Area (it is not possible also) is absolutely clean - but nevertheless, it is a good website to know about.

http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/GetInvolved/My_Community.cfm

Cheers,
Thyaga