Idle musings

NEW YEAR GREETINGS ==================     This is the last day of 2004 and I am writing this in the evening. I wish you and your family a happy new year in 2005, as the last few hours of 2004 tick by. POEM ====     As the year draws to a close, I will end with an inspirational poem that should serve as a balm for the hurt of the old year and at the same time as a hope for the new year. The upper case letters are my embellishment, to emphasize the message.     It is taken from http://www.villagehero.com/motivational-poems.htm . Don't Quit When things go wrong as they sometimes will; When the road you're trudging seems all uphill; When the funds are low, and the debts are high; And you want to smile, but you have to sigh; When care is pressing you down a bit Rest if you must, but don't you quit. Success is failure turned inside out; The silver tint of the clouds of doubt; And you can never tell how close you are; It may be near when it seems ...

    Last week, my wife Suma and I visited Kerala from 22-Nov-04 to 26-Nov-04. We stayed for a night at Cherai Beach Resort ; two nights at Munnar and one night in a houseboat in Lake Wembanad. It was an unforgettable experience - for all the right reasons ! My impressions of the trip are written below.     CHERAI BEACH     ====== =====     We stayed in a cosy cottage with a sit out that looked out into the backwaters. Suma suggested that we spend some time in the sit out and that is exactly what we did in the night. The night was silent and the lights of a moving boat far away, returning from fishing (perhaps !) emphasized the silence. It was peaceful and just the panacea for our ears and eyes, which are more accustomed to the noise of the city.     Before that, we went to Fort Kochi in the taxi that was to be ours for four days. Shaukat, our driver took us along Bazaar Road in Kochi. The road is narrow, but goi...

CAR, BIKE AND THE RAINS I have a car to drive now. I learnt driving a car in the beginning of 2004, but learning to drive and actually driving one's own car are two different things ! I am now better at driving the car than when I first got it more than a couple of months ago. In my own judgement, there is some way to go before I become happy about it. My parking skills can improve and I don't have the comfort that should come when one drives a good car. .... and my car is the best in the world, of course :-)) .... Never mind the Maybachs and the Mercedeses of the world ! Apart from the psychological feeling of discomfort, the fuel bills of my car shocked me in the first month. As a result, I happily return to the motorbike during the weekends. In a way, along with me, my car gets a break during the weekends :-) .... and my motorbike and helmet, conversely, come alive during the weekend breaks ! The rains are heavy in my city this year. It is when the rain pours in the evening...

       BANDIPUR WEEKEND TRIP     I am seeing photos of a trip to Bandipur last week, on a photo CD. Bandipur is a forest sanctuary around 180 km from home. Our family went there last week. As I see photos of a gorge that we saw, its beauty takes my breath away. After the rains, there was a lot of greenery on the road to Bandipur.     We enjoyed the drive and the scenery. In fact, on our way back from Bandipur, we stopped to take photos amidst the paddy and wheat crops and also in a spectacular, yellow marigold field. I feel that Wordsworth must have seen a sight something like this when he composed "Daffodils" :-) If you wonder what I am talking about, see http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/63.html for details.     Seeing the photos now, I recall our experience during the weekend.     The first sensation that comes to mind is the freshness of the wind in the jungle ! The feeling of th...

THE SMILE In the night yesterday, it started raining while I was in the lift at work, waiting to get to my bike. In the lift, a couple of people talked about the rain and about driving in the rain. My colleagues and I exchanged looks of dismay. Driving on my motorbike in the rain would not be easy ! As I slowly took the bike out to feel the intensity of the rain, I was caught in two minds. In first gear, I brought the bike to dead stop, paused and reflected : should I wait for the rain to pour and blow over ? Or was it worthwhile to drive into the light drizzle ? If I waited, after the rain stopped, there would be a lot of vehicles on the road, leading to traffic jams. If I left now, I would be drenched as it appeared that the rain would not stop quickly : it was a steady, incessant rain. I also needed to make a purchase at a mall for a friend. That decided it for me. I let the clutch engage and much to the consternation of my fellow colleagues, I drove into the rain. That sounds gran...

    I saw the picture "Dev" on the day before yesterday at a multiplex.     It was the first time that I went to the only multiplex in town. My friends had said that the acoustics were horrible - and I can confirm that now ! In the middle of "Dev", I heard music from another hall alongside ! The ticket fares run into three figures and though the facilities are good, they certainly don't do justice to the high ticket rates. As soon as there is good competition or after the novelty wears off, I expect that this multiplex will see tougher days.     Here is my review of the movie itself !     "Dev" is a movie that has come from the heart. Govind Nihalani directed the hard hitting "Ardh Satya" in the '80s. This one is in the same vein, but (in my opinion), diluted. The picture begins with the disclaimer that there should be no parallels drawn with real life incidents, but as the director has himself disclosed in an interview, the s...

THE SPIRIT OF "THE OLD MAN"     Some time ago, I read a story "The Old Man and The Sea", by Ernest Hemmingway. It has been praised as one of the best short stories ever written. For a short story, it is long at around 100 pages. The story is simple, but the lessons are infinitely more profound.     The tale is of an old fisherman in Cuba who has not caught a fish for more than 50 days. Still, the old man perseveres in going to fish in his small boat. One day, he finds that he has caught a huge fish, as if to compensate for all the long days without any catch. The fish is so large that he cannot kill it immediately. He sinks the hook in but the fish leads him beyond the area he usually fishes in and he takes up the challenge of killing it.     A contest springs up : there is the fish's desire to stay alive and the old man's wish to have the fish, particularly since he has returned home empty-handed for many, many days. Without any signs of fr...

    I went with three friends at work to a jungle lodge this weekend.     It was a good break from the routine and I find now, after returning, that this was something necessary. A routine is good, but it is only when one breaks from it that one realises how stifling it can become. I understand the meaning of "comfort zone" in this sense now !     We left on Saturday morning. The local FM station played good hits to put us in a peppy mood for the trip. The road was good and we had brought cassettes of music that all of us liked. So, there was the well-engineered car, there were four men eagerly looking forward for an adventurous weekend and there was the road. It didn't get better than this !     The journey was fun. We were amazed at how helpful people are when we asked for directions. In fact, at one mofussil town, the traffic policeman walked across the road and told us the route.     It was past lunchtime wh...

THE MATCH - AND AFTER     After 7 years, there has been an Indian team touring Pakistan for a cricket series. The one day series got off to an eventful start. See http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2004/mar/13india.htm for details.     It was clear that the players felt the sense of the occasion. The Pakistani opening bowlers bowled far too many wides and no-balls, which would be discussed at length during the day by the cricket commentators. However, the Indian openers also felt the nerves, I thought. There was bravado in Sachin's shots, but a lot of it appeared put on. Sehwag was almost sedate in comparison, initially. The unconvincing opening made me feel that the bowlers could get an upper hand. In fact, Inzamam-ul-Haq said that had the bowlers been more disciplined, the moisture in the wicket might have caused more problems to the Indian batsmen. As it was, there were a couple of close shaves : a catch off a no ball and a dropped catch ; Sachin and Sehwag b...

    Today, I shopped at what I would say is our city's equivalent of a "Mom and Pop" store.     Flashback to 14 years ago, almost to the day, when we entered a newly constructed home, in what was then the outskirts of our city. It is customary to spend three nights in the new house. We settled down to spend the first of three nights in the new house. There wasn't any furniture in the house and the construction was not completed yet. So, there were quite a few things we missed in that time, whether it was a comfortable bed or tasty food. Still, whatever we lacked during those three days, it certainly wasn't mosquitoes !     After a terrible first night, we decided to scout around for mosquito repellants the next morning. In our search for shops, we found a small shop with the shopkeeper and a lady, presumably his wife, talking amiably to their customers. We found the mosquito repellants in another shop, but we returned to the new shop some da...

AN EXAMPLE OF THE VISION OF PRESIDENT DR. A. P. J. KALAM     I like to listen to FM radio when I am driving. Now, if I get to listen to a song I like when I am driving, I boost the volume up. It is not often that I find myself turning up the volume only to hear voices of radio jockeys or those in the advertisements speak. Yesterday, a song came on my favourite FM station that I did not like.     I changed stations immediately and heard a voice expressing a vision for the country that "kept me locked" to the station. In fact, while I drove, I was conscious that part of my attention was on the speech that I was listening to. It was with a conscious effort that I had to pay attention to the road ! What was the power of the voice and the vision that kept me engaged for nearly a quarter of an hour ?     The answer to that question lies in the date today : 26-January, Republic Day in India. This means yesterday was 25-Jan and the voice I heard was...