Anant Arora at A a T m A n...conversations with the self

Monday, February 27, 2006

BarCamp hits Delhi!

Enjoy.

http://barcamp.org/BarCampDelhi

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Which one is Mick Jagger?

A recent research study done over a period of 3 yr by an amateur doltish geek suggests that it is now possible to measure the temperament of an motor vehicle driver using a 'temperometer', thanks to the sullen callous pachydermatous traffic conditions in Delhi. Temperometer would use a speech synthesis technique and identify the ribald remarks made by the rake and would give the results at an absolute scale.

It has been observed over a period of time that people who are ill-tempered score high on the scale relatively.

<<.>>

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Anant Arora

Monday, July 18, 2005

Is the ban on smoking in bollywood films justified?

For a change, I was watching TV today. I don't generally like watching Tv coz I believe Televisions are for appearing on, not looking at. Nevertheless, there is this unending and colossal debate going on of whether to ban smoking onscreen or not and unfortunately, the health ministry has ruled out in its favour, thus, opening the pandora's box.

I call this unfortunate for a very simple reason that one can't be taught of what is right and what is wrong, can only be advised. A very simple question would come to one's mind that people here in India are highly influenced and inspired by the protagonists, which further mitigates and proliferates the reason for the ban. Even I am motivated by watching films but one needs to understand and differentiate the right from the wrong. I was highly motivated by "The Godfather" and it seemed like an easy money and a win-win situation to be an antagonist in real life. But, that will not motivate me to be a hit-man in real life!!

A verbalizer in the debate made a very stong point which I strongly believe and that is, open sex is considered bad in our society and thus, the censor board of films never promotes or rather, allows directors to show onscreen sex, no matter how important it is to depict such scenes for the strength of the character,"Look at our POPULATION"!!

Another point one should be deliberate upon is, if smoking is that bad a substitute, why not ban it altogether from the films, public places, cities, towns or the country. We can't do that, I guess 'coz our government earns a lot of incentives from Tobacco firms and it would hinder the growth of our economy.
To put it straight, it seems absolutely unnecessary and obnoxious to ban onscreen smoking. I hope the health ministry is listening.

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Anant Arora

Saturday, July 09, 2005

this and that

Finally, after a long trip for about 3 weeks in Europe, I am back in India. It kinda feels good as towards the end of my trip, I had a nostalgic feeling and wanted to get back home as soon as possible. It was a wonderful experience though, travelling throughout Europe and I must say, I had a helluva great time.

Europe is beautifully articulated in its entirety. Although, some people would agree with me that its also quite a bizarre place to be at. Its a place where you get drenched in the toilet if you do not come out in 3-and-a-half mins, where people do not blow horns even if the defaulter is standing inbetween the road and letting his dog piss on the street. To top it all, toilet water and drinking water are all the same (..as I put it, hagge ka paani magge main).

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it thoroughly and had a couple of those rare experiences. But, no matter what people say about the West, India on my list would still reamin the best!

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Anant Arora

Sunday, June 26, 2005

vrrrooooommmmmm vrrrooooommmmmm.....

Its been a while since i last logged into this blog, actually its been about a month-and-a-half but had no real news/happenings to put in here. I was actually bitten by slothfulness and to add to it, I was not really straining my grey cells as am on a vacation.

Vacation really, but only for about a week now. I am on a euroTrip, am currently in Uk for about a week now and would be heading for Belgium, Holland, Swiss, Germany and France in a span of about 10 days.

For the past one week, I have had quite a no. of experiences . I drove my brother's F360 (Ferrari 360 Modena), tasted the precious red wine (only tasted!), went to a no. of nightclubs (although no strip clubs in the kitty yet). Also, went to Wales last week and had a simmering treat there at the beaches. I am currenty in Leeds and would be heading off to London and then on the euroTrip further.

Uk is quite nice and pleasant for this period of the year, atleast for the Indians but its quite hot for people out here. Its about 20'C (at Leeds) and the day spans almost 19 hrs from morning 3 till 10 in the night. There is not too much of McDonaldization of the society as people feed less on Junk (read: american) food but they have a numerous kinds of chocolates n donuts n wines n especially, the Beer brewed in Uk is of far superior quality than what you get in India.

To sum it up, the quality of life is high, people are far more happier, noisy streets are endemic but nothing to match the Indian culture..

$%^%$^&&&^*More to come!!$%&^%*&^

Friday, May 13, 2005

Is it time for another genocide?

In my last post, I pointed out that people can not exercise free will education because of the sheer masses that instill in the process. It has been a joker’s cry for years that in all probabilities (leaving out the exceptions) a rich man’s progeny would remain rich and the poor one’s poor. This does not mean that we eliminate the poor resulting in a tremendous increase of per capita income, and achieving our 2020 dream by 2010.

What I propose is to take up the Nazi model for WWII wherein you sterilize and discourage the poor people from expanding their civilization. Lets take this up with an example, suppose there are 10 people in India, 5 are rich with per capita income x and 5 are poor with per capita income y (by rich, I mean people who can meet their basic needs). Henceforth, the total per capita income of the country accounts to be (5x + 5y)/10. After sometime, (when the individuals reach their maturity date), rich multiply by a factor of 2 whereas poor by a factor of 4( primarily, because they are uneducated illiterates and do not know the advantages of nuclear families). Now, the per capita holds at (10x + 20y)/30 which is considerable less considering x >>y.

Our objective should be to encourage rich for larger families and poor for smaller families. Any dumb creepy vermint can also ascertain from the above facts that a rich offspring would prove to be a healthy and educated entity for the society and since, the country is made up of such cliques, it would definitely prosper.

Monday, May 09, 2005

India Education System is a Farce

For a while, I have been wondering of whether I am an engineer by choice or have I been forced into being one, as that is the only thing I or my parents knew at the time of the completion of my high school. Moreover, does my passion lies in screwing up things coz that is basically what engineers are hired for.

Education system in India is like sportfishing at the nets. You eat what you get. It’s been a pity that the students are not offered free-will education and are forced into whatever one can hang on to. You might blame the sheer competition that one has to rub one’s arse at, but is that the only primal reason or are we not exposed enough to pick our choices. I have seen people coming to me and asking of whether I have been placed in some top-notch MNC that makes (or breaks) softwares since I am at the edge of completing my graduation. I think once you are a graduate, you can easily sustain in this big yap fast paced hublahoo, but here, ‘Everybody wants a job, nobody wants a Career’.

The problem is Everyone wants a stable life, nobody wants to experiment or lead an abnormal life that lacks surety and security. Many of the tech titans that I have seen or heard of, had, at some point of time, put their careers and lives on the line and that is the reason of why they are there. I have said this time and again, If India needs to be counted amongst the zenith, they need to get on with their own instincts, make state of the art products coz otherwise, we would still be dependent on some other country for fulfilling our needs and henceforth, can be manhandled to say the least.

The other major problem with our education system is that, it teaches you how to acquire and memorize, not how to think. The entire game is of scoring high and that gets the balls rolling. The question that one needs to address is, whether India wants people who knows the result z when x is divided by y or who knows why is it z and not z`?

Monday, April 11, 2005

..on a sabbatical

Internet-a luxury or a necessity, was a doubt that I always carried up my sleeves. Of late, I am quite convinced and inclined for the latter. This is also the reason why I am not writing for quite some time, I do not have round-the-clock access to the internet which is showing on my thought process. This shall continue for another month or so after which I promsie to be more insightful (as I have always been)as well as consistent. Till then, Bon Temps..

Thursday, February 17, 2005

India may not develop because..

Its 2005 and I hear everyone around me yelling..'India Shining', 'India Superpower by 2020' and similar proses. I am with the movement and am waiting for the moment when we did something out of the ordinary. But, I still think India may not develop because..

Some noted economists and experts give several reasons of India not on the verge of development. One of the reasons generally given is in direct relation to the population and pollution levels of the country. I do not accord to such arguments. The population rate in the country is declining, labour is becoming more and more knowledge oriented, 65% under the age of 35 and as far as the pollution levels are concerned, do not forget the very fact that the United States, which accounts for the most developed nation for the past decade has much higher levels of pollution (they did not sign the Kyoto protocol, afterall).

But this entry of mine is directed towards what India is lacking and not the other way round. Remember, the greats always say that you need to imitate the leaders in order to be one. That is, you can be a developed nation only if you start behaving like one. One of the major reasons that I find counterfeit is we Indians do not practise what we preach. We change our perceptions to match with the current situations and do not stick to our arguments. To support my stated fact, at one point of time we say lets not buy Reebok becuase its stealing the market from Bata or Liberty but at some other point, we go and do it ourself. I think this is the case with every Indian mainly because we are selfless and mould ourselves according to the situation in hand. Another reason people talk towards the development is the BPO boom. I agree that it is sustaining a few young entrepreneurs and offering them a good salary but we still remain as slaves working for the overseas market. And as I portray it, no matter how fast an ass runs, it can never beat the horse!! Let us not be asses in the race..

I am waiting for the time the Americans would be begging every single individual, who is obtaining a Visa for the US, to stay back in the Untied States and not come back and the time when Indian Embassy would be denying Visas to Americans saying that they fear that the American would go to India and immigrate forever. That would be a point where I would say out loud, "India has developed!!"

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Conjunctive Disjunction or Disjunctive Conjunction

It looks paradoxical either way. We, Indians have a very unique way of obeying people (atleast, we do obey) i.e. whatever we are called for, we just go and do exactly the opposite. I recall a very famous saying that goes like:

My idea of success is to listen to the best of the advices
available and then go and do just the opposite!

Recently, I was visiting a friend near my house in Delhi when I came across this: "Dekho!! Gadha peshaab kar raha hai" (read: Look, This ass is peeing over here!) written on a house-wall. I was wondering of why people write such things on walls. Maybe, because the place where this was written is quite secluded and thus, a good place for people to pee since, there were no closets around. But, what caught my attention was not the fact that such a remark was scribbled on the wall, but the fact that why the heck did the writer wrote that the person who is peeing is an ass and in order to insult him, added for the on-lookers to tease him. Couldn't he have written "Micturating here is prohibited!". But then, we Indians never follow instructions ('there wouldn't be so much of road accidents and traffic-jams in Delhi had people followed one').

I though maybe I could improve upon this. Instead of using a conjunction for the person peeing at the wall i.e. dekho! yeh gadha hai AND yahaan peshaab kar raha hai (read"This is an ass AND is micturating here"), it should have been "dekho ! ya to yeh gadha hai ya yeh yahaan peshaab kar raha hai" (read: Either this guy is an ass or he is peeing here), it would have been mathematically correct, as you call the convict either an ass or a liliputian piddler if he is disobeying either. But, in the 'original manuscript', the person may not be an ass or may not be weeing there.

I hope this is not an act of McCarthyism!

Monday, January 31, 2005

What is L.I.F.E?

I have been pondering for a while as to know of what life is, why do people live (and not die), what is my aim in life and all sorts of such not-so-sane thoughts. I call my thoughts insane as they aren't commonplace and the society admits that all the things that are abnormal and do not go hand in hand with the decree of the society are insane. And since, most of the people that live around me do not give a damn to such thoughts, I call them not-so-sane.

It was one evening that I was discussing with some of my colleagues when the tick of the subject 'life' l/k/t-icked everyone. I was in the line of fire and I, very succinctly responded,"Life is an onion.....because you peel away layer after layer to find nothing at all". Was that a thought I really appreciated or was it to just make a point? I still don't know. I recently read that Life is what we are and why we are the way we are. Again, this is quite a paradoxical speculation because on one hand, it says nothing and on the other, it says everything.

Lacking the ableness to answer the question, the deliberation not turned towards the 'aim of life'. Again, when everybody had finished and nooked towards me, I said,"My aim in life is to die because that is the most difficult thing to do for any 'sane' individual", and we have been taught by our ancestors to always go for the hardest and the most difficult path 'coz thats where you'll find success at the end.

I think these are some of the thoughts that everone should think over (and that is why they are here on my blog). Somebody has said that life is short ("Is that individual insane? I can't think of a single thing that's longer than that!") and one should collect all his thoughts and ideologies in this short period of time. See, I have once again taken you for a ride.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Is out mind-set or is our mind set not to accept the mind-set!

When I talk of mindset, I mean the preconceived notions that are imbibed within us, which are not liable to change, no matter how forceful the beseiged environment maybe. Who cares of what the govt. says or how stringent the laws are, we'll still throw the refuse cans on the street, bribe the policeman for not wearing the seatbelt of the cars or jumping over the street light, always be ignorant of the people around and talk (read: shout) in leisure, waste fuel (the bus on the depot on which I was travelling stood ignition turned on for almost 30 mins before moving on) after all, the government is paying for it ad infinitum. Dont we, the literate genre of the 21st century understand a simplefact that it is for our own good to accept changes and not for our neighbours (read: Pakistan).

To quote a recent incident, sometime back I had gone to a village to do some sort of a study for my project and on conversing with the villagers, most of which were farmers, I exclaimed and talked at length about the advancement in technology and the need for computers in the following decade. But, they were not willing to accept any alteration to their lifestyle and wanted to be left as they were. Is that beacuse of the insecurity of their livelihood or they just do not want to change? I recall a saying that goes like," Change is not necessary, survival is not Mandatory". In case of the former, the so-called techno savvy government that promises a healthy living for all, could not give so much amount of a confidence to farmers as to try out something that might lead to their own betterment or the people still follow the contemporary feudal system, to put it for the latter? In both the cases, what I believe and state responsible is the mind-set of the people. No matter how much a country is developing or accepting outsourced business processes, it wont be able to sustain if the mindset of the the people is not willing to change and move on with time. I may be wrong in making such a futile statement or non-affirmative in holding its truthulness, but something somewhere has gone wrong which is stopping the people to adopt the tao of change.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Rendezvous with Britney..Speared

How would you feel if you are taken for as an intruder in your own land? I'll be abashed, for the least. Sometime back, I had a friend from London who was on her vacation to India and on her leisure spree, she dropped by. We went to the local railway station to get her tickets cancelled. Since she is a British and I, too, have a sort of European looks (I abhor it when people tell me that; after all, I am a true flag-waver chauvinist who belives in ideal jingoism), we were being trated like we had come from some far-off farm land. I was standing on the bus stand with her when the following incident happened.

Two people chittering-chattering in a car in their local language and chewing pan masala, called me and asked in a typical marwari-angrezi ishtyle,"Where are you coming from?". I shot back, straight-faced, in English,"..from the station" to which they responded,"no..no..we mean, from which country."I chortled and replied, this time in hindi (as to make an impression),"I am a localite". One of the guys replied, taking it as an act of utter witticism,"are..yeh to hindi bhi bolta hai" (read: 'this guy speaks Hindi as well'). I was shagged and fagged and fashed on hearing such a comment. Aren't we sophisticated and bred enough such that we can't accept a blonde in the local street of ahmedabad or we are too carried away as to unaccept the phenomenon of 'change'? No matter how much the Business Standards or the Fortunes chuckle about India's rising economy but I don't believe we can be an economic power with such a rabish kind of attitude. The problem is not with the development, or modernization or globalization, for that matter but with the mindset of the people, which is not liable to change. I am afraid but this is one quality which can hinder India from being a first world nation.

(More on mindset in the next article)

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

So-called Knowledge based society

I am observing a catalytic change in people around me these days. As they are becoming more knowledge savvy, they have started to debate just over anything. And most of the time, people do not have a concrete argument to make but since, the topic is close to their heart, they argue it out. I conclude two things out of this. Firstly, most of them lack objectivity. This means that a point that can be explicated in two sentences takes ten and still, the point remains unclear. Secondly, people are becoming more conscious of the fact that knowledge is very important (read:essential) for survival in this so-called knowledge society.

I just read a news article on Indiatimes.com and it talked about the e-diary of a Delhi girl and her experiences of an adventerous trip to Goa last fortnight. I was unable to comprehend of why the article was there in the first place and even wrote the following to the Editor, Times of India:

To,
The Editor,
Times of India,

Respected Sir,

I am very disappointed to see that the contemporary journalists these days
have a freewill offering and are publishing things like a Delhi Girl's
Diary. This gives an impression that the journalists do not have anything
concrete to post on the newspaper and that, they lack objectivity.

Warm Regards,
Anant Arora

The question one should have at the back of their mind while deliberating upon an issue is: Is there a reasoning behind your argument or an argument behind your reasoning?

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Google is not bug-free!!!

I have been pro-google for sometime now, but the faith has suddenly started shaking after using two of the google's closely associated softwares: Orkut and Blogger. I had found quite a no. of bugs in Orkut but since it is still in beta phase, never complained.

It has been over an hour since a spam comment has been posted on my blog and am unable to delete it..can't find the 'Delete Comment' option anywhere. I have suddenly realized the importance of Software Engg. principles and have even started appreciating it, especially the importance of testing and designing phase; testing for the 'delete comment' option does not exist and designing for, even if it does, it is not user friendly at all coz even a computer geek like me is unable to find it. Conclusion: Google's web log for certain is not bug free.

Friday, December 31, 2004

Water Water Everywhere, Not a drop to Drink.

The recent Tsunami hit has had a devastating effect on the people of South-East Asia. Over 100,000 ppl. hav been reported dead and several others are missing. Critics have started arguing the fact that Nostradamus’ prediction is poving out to be correct; I don’t accord to that but we are in a peril for sure. Many do not know, but the disaster has had such a ravaging effect that it has even altered the boundaries of India; Indira Point being the southernmost tip has been completely submerged leaving kanyakumari to take its place.

People have contributed generously to the cause and are working hand in hand with the govt. in bringing the situation back to normalcy. But, people in Andaman are claiming that there isn’t a drop of water to drink and ironic as it may sound, people have started dying of thirst, leave aside the disaster. It is quite irate to know that the govt. is doing anything and everything they can to take the situation under control but mindlessly. Did not the bureaucrats give it a thought that people would be needing some fresh water to dwell on; and that they can put a fresh water pump at several places seeing the fact that saline water is ubiquitous at the site and it would only be needing a desalinization system? I admit the fact that people in India are quite sentimental and take everything to heart and hence, are contributing generously but it would be fruitful only when the money is used heedfully.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Google is GOD…But for how Long?

This is the third war that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and Microsoft’s Bill Gates are fighting. Schmidt has lost to Gates on the earlier two accounts, once when he was the CEO of Sun Microsystems and second, when he was the CEO of Novell.

When you draw a comparison of how Gates shuts down the business of his counterparts, first thing that comes to mind is the browser war fought between MS and Netscape. In September ’95, when Netscape was the undisputed leader in Browser business, they were sitting pretty thinking Gates does not have the potential to innovate and can only imitate, thus it would always be catching with Netscape but won’t be able to surpass it. Netscape had gone public a few months back and sitting pretty on the revenues, Gates turned up the war and Netscape…was closed. Google has parallel qualities of what Netscape had then, they have just gone public, high revenue, brand recognition ad nauseam.

Microsoft is quickly catching up with Google in search business, launching last month a search engine that is designed to answer questions posed in everyday language and to serve results customized to user’s geographic location. To add to it, Microsoft sits on a pile of $50 Billion in cash, and if they get serious with the search business, and you have every reason to believe that they will, Google would need a smart and cagy flawless strategy in order to sustain. The big question is: Can Google do it!

Kabhi Pardes Kabhi Swades...

I m just back after watching ‘Swades’ directed by Oscar nominated veteran, Ashutosh Gowarikar. I have always seen the Hindi movie directors flaunting with the script such that they are able to make a complete family loving sentimental reel, this one was yet another toast.

The theme of the movie is personally quite close to my heart. It hits a very major cause that is often ignored by many, that of India’s poverty and under-development. And since the time that chauvinist feeling has popped in me I have always started propagating and deliberating the issues of India’s development. I know some call India a dead toad for no matter how much you beat around the bush, you can’t give life to it; still it is my motherland and I just can’t afford to ignore it.

I liked the movie for mainly three reasons: The cast, the music and the jingoism that has been portrayed. One thing that really bothered me was the fact that the US, especially NASA was very much highlighted in the movie. Might be because Ashutosh has realized that this flick also has a potential of being an underdog, if nominated for the Oscar and by including a little bit of foreign clippings, he might just make it thru. Is Ashutosh Listening?

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Email, SMS and Telephone: All are in the race!

People are seduced with technology to such an extent that they do not know whether to use the old fashioned ‘hello’ devices (mind you! the wireless technology is rocking the world upside down) or stick to much in-fashion stuff in the form of SMS and emails. A recent study says that, “young people are getting stressed out by technology and are logging off completely”. I think the more advanced a technology becomes, the more it’s a waste of time. I can see people sticking and being glued to their computer sets or itsy-bitsy devices in the form of cell phones the same way as they did with telephones in the retro.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Gandhi's Seven Deadly Sins

People have always been morons, a piece of disgusting shit. And for ages, humankind tried to find a conceptualized system wherein they could channelize their spiritual shortcomings. The system had to be profound, vast such that it could take into consideration varied forms of disgusting behaviour. It also had to be simple enough such that an illiterate peasant can also understand and induce in himself a feeling of guilt. And thus came up the seven deadly sins- Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth. I fear how the people that laid down these deadliest sins forgot to include Ignorance, for it is the cause and many of the other sins are effect.

Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in modern social and political activism, considered these traits to be the most spiritually perilous to humanity.

Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Science without Humanity
Knowledge without Character
Politics without Principle
Commerce without Morality
Worship without Sacrifice

These attributes present the ethics and morals of a nobleman that Gandhi was. But sometimes, I wonder if the Gandhi, who framed the above traits as perils to humanity, would have thought differently had he been existed in the Modern world. And for his sake, I add two more to his pile that would complete my nine deadly sins of this era.

Reading without Understanding
Learning without Questioning