What movie do you belong in ?

Fight Club!


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
brought to you by Quizilla

BTW did I tell you that I have seen this movie couple of times and really enjoyed it. Click here for more on Fight Club

Fahrenheit 9/11

Yesterday I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. A great documentary.
Michael Moore the director argues that, embarrassed by its failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice and at its own family links with the extremely wealthy Saudi Bin Laden family, Bush launched a war on Saddam. He takes aim at the Bush administration, whose tenure has been distinguished by unparalleled arrogance and incompetence.

Bush's rabbit-in-headlights expression while at a children's literacy event, getting told about the second plane hitting the towers are worth a watch. A clock appears in the corner of the screen, as the minutes tick by and the president keeps reading My Pet Goat, not knowing what to do.

The most powerful moments in the film are those that humanize U.S. troops, several of whom are shown criticizing the regime.

Don't miss it at any cost.



Click here for some fun with Dubya !!!

Monday Blues

How I hate Mondays. Getting into the working mood after that big break is really tough, especially if you don't enjoy your work. ( No, don't start jumping with your assumption that I don't enjoy my work :-} )

Well, bought a new connector for my Guitar pick-up, as the old one refused to work. Installed Fruity Loops on my PC. I must say that this software rocks. You can create loops/music/beats using Fruity Loops. Did find some time to take out my Guitar and wipe the dust. But that's all I could do on the Guitar front. Maybe some strumming is in store today, once I get back home.

Yesterday was wasted on a hopeless bunch of 12 guys who have found themselves in the Indian cricket team to their amusement.

My Guitar Memoirs

Friday, the most awaited day of the week. No special plans for the week. Just planning to take out my good old Guitar from the shambles and strum a bit.

The very mention of my Guitar takes me back to those days in BITS where I spent the most memorable four years of my life. It was third year in Engineering. The most important year academically. Never really made a big difference for me though. I was hell bent on learning Guitar. John my good friend was the lead guitarist of the college band. He was pretty good at it. He promised that he will teach me and SamT on weekends. Sumukh aka Kullu had bought this new Guitar from Delhi and had got some nice bashing from his parents for doing everthing except studies at BITS. He was hoping that some one buys the Guitar before we head for our summer vacations because he didn't have the guts to carry it home. He found a perfect buyer in me. Atul Gupta our beloved wingie also had a Guitar in his rooms, the only problem with his Guitar were the strings. Only two of them. Even now I can't control laughing when I am reminded of Atul playing his two string Guitar.

I was a proud owner of a new Givson.  John our master used to teach us chords and tabs of some easy to learn songs. We were always in awe, John used to play Guitar without any effort, as if the Guitar was just an extension of his body. I learned my basics from him. Actually he taught a great deal about Guitar and the music theory. Then I had made my mind to give considerable time to Guitar learning once out of that concentration camp they call BITS. But after I left campus it never worked. Once into a professional life and you know how things are. Never found the time to change the rusted strings forget about learning some new stuff.

 

How Napolean Died?

I am frustrated to core. Lost and Confused. Really don't know whats happening. I need a change. Maybe that will sort out things.

Its strange how easily we get bored with things. What would have been a novelty yesterday becomes a drag today. Is there a permanent solution for this problem? If you are aware of it then please let me know. I will be indebted.

Waiting for the weekend, so that I can do some soul searching. Maybe come up with some answers for the problem.

BTW if you are confused and wondering what Napolean has got to do with this, click here.

No time

Really finding it tough to sqeeze some time from my hectic schedule to blog a few lines. My blogging frequency has suffered a lot because of this, the last self-blog came almost two weeks before and after that it has been forwards and some links all the way. At times a sofware professional's job becomes real erratic with no fixed course and time.

BTW saw Lakshya. Good movie. I never knew that Hrithik Roshan can act so well. Really loved the rock climbing stunts. Christopher Popp's cinemetography was awesome. Akhtar senior did a pretty good job with the dialogues and songs. Music of Shankar/Ehsaan/Loy is decent. I liked the "Agar mein kahu" number. Akhtar junior once again proved that he is a class director, but again I feel that Lakshya won't be a mass film just like Dil Chahta Hai. Eagerly waiting for his next movie.



For all you M. Night Shyamlan fans....Check out the following link
http://thevillage.movies.go.com/main.html

 

Why the Russians excel in chess..!!!

After months of negotiation with the authorities, aTalmudist from Odessa(city in the erstwhile Sovietnear the Black Sea for those unfamiliar with "TheOdessa Files") was granted permission to visitMoscow.He boarded the train and found an empty seat.
 
At the next stop a young man got on and sat nextto him. The scholar looked at the young man andthought:This fellow doesn't look like a peasant, and if heisn't a peasant he probably comes from thisdistrict.If he comes from this district, then he must beJewish because this is, after all, a Jewish district.On the other hand, if he is a Jew, where could he begoing? I'm the only Jew in our district who haspermission to travel to Moscow.
 
Ahh? But just outside Moscow there is a littlevillage called Samvet, and Jews don't need specialpermission to go there. But why would he be going to Samvet?He's probably going to visit one of the Jewishfamilies there, but how many Jewish families arethere in Samvet? Only two - the Bernsteins and theSteinbergs. The Bernsteins are a terrible family,and a nice looking fellow like him must be visiting the Steinbergs.
 
But whyis he going? The Steinbergs have only daughters, so maybe he's theirson-in-law.But if he is, then which daughter did he marry? Theysay that Sarah married a nice lawyer from Budapest,and Esther married a businessman from Zhitomer, soit must be Sarah's husband. Which means that his nameis Alexander Cohen, if I'm not mistaken. But if hecomes from Budapest, with all the anti-Semitism they have there, he musthave changed his name.
 
What's the Hungarian equivalent of Cohen? Kovacs.But if they allowed him to change his name, he must havesome special status. What could it be? A doctoratefrom the University.
 
At this point the scholar turns to the young man andsays, "How do you do, Dr. Kovacs?""Very well, thank you, sir." answered the startledpassenger. But how is it that you know my name?""Oh," replied the Talmudist, "it was obvious."

Swaminomics

Check out this site !!!
It gives all the articles written by Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar .

For the uninitiated the author writes for TOI and ET. The article in Sunday Times is also known as Swaminomics !!!

TAXATION

Got this forward....

You've heard the cry in the past "It's just a tax cut for the rich!", and it is accepted as fact. But what does that really mean?

  The following explanation may help.

  Suppose that every day, 10 men go out for dinner. The bill for all 10 comes to $100. They decided to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, and it went like this:

  * The first four men (the poorest) paid nothing.
  * The fifth paid $1.
 * The sixth $3.
  * The seventh $7.
  * The eighth $12.
  * The ninth $18.
  * The tenth man (the richest) paid $59.

  All 10 were quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner
said: "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the 10 only cost $80.

  The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

  The first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But  how should the other six, the paying customers, divvy up the $20 windfall  so that everyone would get his "fair share"?

  They realised that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted  that from everybody's share, then the fifth and sixth men would each  end up being paid to eat. The restaurateur suggested reducing each  man's bill by roughly the same percentage, thus:

  * The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).
  * The sixth paid $2 instead of $3 (33% saving).
  * The seventh paid $5 instead of $7 (28% saving).
  * The eighth paid $9 instead of $12 (25% saving).
  * The ninth paid $14 instead of £18 (22% saving).
  * The tenth paid $49 instead of $59 (16% saving).

  Each of the six was better off, and the first four continued to eat for free, but outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

  "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He

  pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10!"
  "That's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too.
  It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

  "That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!

  "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

  The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner. The nine sat down and ate without him, but when they came to pay the bill, they discovered that they didn't have enough money between all of them  for even half of it.

  That, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Document Reviews

How I hate to review documents !!! Almost spent half day on reviewing a design doc. Boy, was it nerve breaking ? Booze is a necessity today.

Personality Quiz

Try this personality quiz ....Its really amazing and gave me accurate results. I am impressed....

Lost For Words......

...is exactly how I feel. I have not been quite myself in the last couple of week. Lost and confused. Everything is fine on the superficial level, but deep inside I miss something which I don't know. Sounds really crazy. But thats the way it is.

Its high time I decide about my long term goals. To take or not to take CAT is the BIG question in my mind nowadays. Haven't given it a good thought though.....

All I can think right now is the amazing lyrics of one helluva song by arguably the best band in the world......

Lost for words

I was spending my time in the doldrums
I was caught in a cauldron of hate
I felt persecuted and paralysed
I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies
Engulfed in a fever of spite
Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades
Like shadows into the night

To martyr yourself to caution
Is not going to help at all
because there'll be no safety in numbers
When the right one walks out of the door

Can you see your days blighted by darkness?
Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?
Stuck in a world of isolation
While the ivy grows over the door

So I open my door to my enemies
And I ask could we wipe the slate clean
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win

Trip to Tikona Fort

Started from Pune at around 9:30 AM. Took the expresshighway to Lonavala, and reached Karla caves at around 11:00 AM. The place was too crowded and I was a bit disappointed, we decided to shift our outing location to Tung/Tikona fort. After almost two hours of frantic journey around the Pawana dam and Kale colony we reached the base of Tikona fort. We decided to change there and carry our lunch with us.

The fort is of pyramid shape and hence popularly known as 'Tikona' or Triangle. It is also called as 'Vitangagad'. The fort is almost 3500 feet high. One can reach 6 Kms to 'Tikona Peth' village from Kale colony - near Kamshet. 'Tikona Peth' is the village nearest to fort Tikona. The trekking is tiresome. There are few monuments on the fort to see like the big doors, the temple of 'Trimbakeshwar Mahadev', a water tank and few caves of Satvahan era. The view of Pawna dam and other forts like Tung, Lohagad and Visapur is beautiful.

We took almost one and half hours to reach the top. After reaching the top using the slippery and high stone steps we realized that we shouldn't have climbed those steps.
Had our lunch there. Mom had cooked some Methi Paratha and Aloo subji. We were about to finish our lunch when it started drizzling. We decided to descend as it was getting late. Going down was much more tougher as compared to climbing up. Part of the trek was real slippery because of the continuous drizzle. Everyone was soaked in mud and really dirty.

We decided to head for a waterfall which is on the other side of the Pawana dam. I knew about this place because of my last trip to Bedse caves with my office team. After reaching the waterfall everyone just jumped into it. Me, Yogesh and Dada climbed the hill for more fun. As we stood under the water which came down heavily on us, I felt as if all my fatigue was getting washed away with the dirt. Soon we were summoned by mom and dad to get ready as it was getting dark. On the way to Pune we stopped at "Bhajan Singh's Dhaba". The chicken handi was delicious. Reached home at 10.00 PM. I slept within a minute of hitting the bed.

To conclude.... the bath at the waterfall near the Pawana dam was the high point of the trip to Tikona fort.