Idle musings

There were two test matches going on today. One involved India against Australia, in Brisbane. What was more interesting was the other test match in Galle, Sri Lanka ! It was an advertisement for test match cricket. If you want details, do see http://www-ind.cricket.org/db/ARCHIVE/2003-04/ENG_IN_SL/SCORECARDS/ENG_SL_T1_02-06DEC2003.html England needed 323 in the last innings to win. England never threatened to look at the target seriously. Earlier, Sri Lanka had won the toss and batted first. Today, England were staring down the barrel of the gun as Chaminda Vaas got into the act first and then Muthaiah Muralitharan took over. 323 as a score to chase in the final innings was always going to be tough. However, there was an engrossing contest as their batsmen fought to the best of their ability to keep their wickets intact even as Murali wove a web of off breaks, top spinners and the occasional leg breaks. On the personal side, there was carpentry work going on in the afternoon at my hou

    I have almost recovered from a viral fever that weakened me no end. It was the worst case of fever that I have suffered so far. When the fever was at its peak, brushing my teeth in the morning made me feel so tired, it felt like I had climbed Mount Everest AND completed a marathon ! What is worse, I passed on the bug to my parents. Now, while I was on the mend, my father was beginning to show the symptom of extreme tiredness and my mother was also tired. To buy medicines for them, I decided to drive and get them.     In the first week of October, we celebrated "Ayudha Pooja". This is a day when all tools (including vehicles) are spruced up and worshipped. I had begun to feel the effects of the fever on that day itself. It was with some effort that I completed the rite. Since that day, my motorbike lay untouched.     To get the bike started was an effort. It was a good two weeks since it was last driven. I needed to use the choke and then try once or twice more to keep

    There is construction activity going on at home.     It has started a couple of days ago ; yet, I feel that a lot of progress has been made. Where there was a long and open terrace, I see high walls. Seeing a construction at close quarters for the first time, I notice small things that I never could imagine earlier. For example, I saw the masons use a plumbline (at least, that is what I think it was !) to see that the walls are as vertical.     Then, there is the way that bricks are moved. From practice, the man standing downstairs throws a brick to another man standing downstairs. we stay on the first floor ; so, this second man casts the brick upwards. The woman standing there neatly catches it and moves her hands a little in the same motion as she catches it to see that the brick is hurled to the man who is actually laying the bricks. The entire transfer of the brick is done in seconds and it strikes me that this is also teamwork in action !     Practice has also helped the man

    On Thursday, 4-Sep-03, I thought of a simple solution to the increased traffic problem after the rain in my city : I came home driving in the rain !     It was not as simple as it sounds.     When I saw the rain outside the windows at work, I actually turned back and decided to go later. On a second thought, I felt it was better I left in the rain. If I waited for it to stop, I would be joining the majority of two wheelers who would leave after the rain reduces or stops ! Turning my back on the comfortable office interiors, I revved my bike into action and set out into the rain.     It was terrible ! The rain was actually a heavy drizzle. However, as I opened the throttle on my bike, the coldness of the rain seeped into me, numbing me in a matter of minutes. I flatter myself that I can withstand the cold as good as anybody at home, if not better. Yet, the coldness of the rain was something that I could not bear. It didn't help that I didn't have my rain coat.     Th

    The traffic was bad last week on the roads. One reason for this was a pleasant one : there were regular rains in the city. Vehicle owners here prefer to wait until the coast is clear (!) before venturing out. So, everybody has the same idea at the same time, leading to traffic clogging ! This is particularly true of motor bike drivers, who don't venture out in the rain - like me :-))     The second reason why traffic was bad was not so pleasant : there was a VIP visiting town. So, there were policemen in the main roads I travel and signals that were manually controlled and worse, traffic diversions and the resultant driver confusions and road rage !     Today was the beginning of a new week. There was little rain during the weekend and the VIPs (it appears) have gone. The climate was cool in the evening when I started for home from work. Hopefully, I opened the throttle on my bike, as I hit an open stretch of the road. It was bliss : there was no rain and better still, no sign

    On Independence Day, I accompanied two cousins and my sister-in-law to a bird sanctuary around 100 km. from my city.     I thought that there would be none among us who will get snacks to eat. I purchased savouries by Haldiram, milk shakes in tetra-packs, biscuits and assorted cookies. What I had not anticipated was that one of my cousins would think of exactly the same thing ! So, what we ended up with, for the brief journey were :     * Sponge cake, thanks to the thoughtful cousin     * A packet of milk for my niece, thanks to her mother, my sister-in-law     * Apples enough to keep 12 doctors away     * Sweet limes to drive ALL incipient colds away     * Crunchy Lays chips, of which everybody ate at least one, because no one can eat just one, courtesy the thoughtful cousin !     * Lays chips with a tangy tomato flavour, of which everybody ate at least one, because if we didn't, it wouldn't be fair to the Lays advertisers, courtesy the same thoughtful cousin     * Savouri

Last week, I saw a good picture "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer" on a private television channel. This blog contains my impressions about the movie. The story is basically one of confronting and overcoming ingrained prejudices. Mrs. Iyer is a mother travelling on a bus journey with her son Santhanam. She turns to Raja for help during the journey and an initial rapport builds up between the two. Later, she learns that Raja is a Muslim youth. A communal riot breaks out and they stay in a police bungalow together. Both learn more about each other and realise that the prejudices that they have are not based on fact. The picture won a couple of National Awards, and the one that immediately comes to my mind is the Best Actress for Konkana Sen. I feel that she deserves it : she looks and behaves like a Mrs. Iyer ! However, in my opinion, her mother Aparna Sen deserves the kudos, equally. I don't know if she did win the Best Director Award. It is in the small details that the movie really com

    Yesterday was the second time that I tried bowling, thanks to a cousin.     The first time was a couple of years ago. On that occasion, my first fear was that I would not be able to lift the ball ! As a result, I think I might have knocked all of four, yes 4 pins (count them !) down in the 20 chances I got !     I went home that night convinced that the bowling lanes were rigged. The other possibility that crossed my mind was that the bowling ball was bewitched. It seemed to have a fatal attraction towards the gutter ! The game, I decided, was fit for big built Americans with nothing better to do than throwing an ungainly ball at some awkwardly placed bottles ! Yes, grapes were sour that night !     Yesterday was considerably better. To begin with, I had two foot faults. My cousin advised me to swing my arm and that worked. Things had to get better and they did ! I knocked down more than 4 pins on one attempt itself and suddenly, life wasn't such a bad thing after all ! My bowl

    From 12-Jun-03 to 20-Jun-03 I was in Dubai, at my brother's house. I spent the mornings lazing around in the house, reading a novel. I honestly don't know what I enjoyed more : the peace and quiet and absolutely carefree mornings or the drives that my brother, sister-in-law and niece took me on during the evenings :-) Anyway, this was my first visit to the city and this blog contains my impressions of the city.     My first impression of Dubai from the air was that it looks like any Indian city. It took me 15 minutes of driving from the airport to see that this wasn't just any Indian city ! The Dubai roads have clearly marked lanes and signals. More importantly, the car drivers know and stick to the lane discipline. It's funny that 50% of the population in Dubai is from the Indian sub-continent, but traffic discipline is decidedly "un-Indian", i.e. better than in India :-) It appears that the strict law enforcement in Dubai has resulted in better disciplin

On Saturday, in the morning, I went to a Chartered Accountant's office. The decor of the office portrayed an impression of solidity. The colours were earthy and there was a stone-like finishing to the walls. The furniture was tastefully done as well. The staff there was young, polite and knew their Information Technology. I heard one of them ask how a particular report could be generated. Another one of them had a problem with the PC. "Yes, I know the network is up, but I cannot see anything here", was the comment offered to a trouble-shooter technician. He went into another room and said that the server was up. It must have been a minor problem, the man went away quickly and the office resumed its ambient level of conversation soon. As I awaited my turn, the sound of the fan was a comforting one. It is summer and the weather is HOT ! To see the blades of the fan turning, hear its comforting sound and, above all, to feel the circulation of the breeze was a pleasant sensat

    I saw the end of Star Trek Voyager on the day before yesterday. I have become more than a casual fan of the serial. One of the reasons I like the serial (or so I tell myself !) is for the ideas it introduces. I have mentioned what I like in the entire Star Trek series in my previous blog. Another aspect that I find in the serial is that there are lessons that I find I can apply in my life as well !     Of course, it is actually the other way around. The creators of the serial and the screenplay writers borrow lessons and incidents from life and depict it on the small screen, extrapolating the incidents. Still, the way the packaging in the serial has been done is to my liking !     The final episode of Star Trek Voyager illustrates what I mean. The starship Voyager is originally adrift 70,000 light years from home. The story of the serial is one of an odyssey to come back home. Along the way, there are adventures, enemies and friends to be made. The protagonists face problems and ov

NOTE:     I had originally written this blog in another site. Since that site is no longer accessible, I am uploading it in this blog at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/ using (or attempting to use) the same date as the original blog dates. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-     I am a fan of Star Trek. This blog contains my impressions on the serial, as a whole. If you want to learn more about the show, go to http://www.startrek.com .     When television was first launched in India, one of the highlights of Sunday morning (before Ramayana and Mahabharata, of course !) was Star Trek. For many aficionados of Star Trek, the original show (TOS) is the best of the series. After TOS, there have been four other in the series, viz. Star Trek : The Next Generation (TNG), Star Trek : Deep Space Nine, Star Trek : Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise. In India, TNG and Voyager are currently being shown in private televisions channels. I can comment only on these, in this b