Bijapur: A Quaint Old City

Last weekend we took a road trip to Bijapur, an ancient city that still seems to hold on fast to its historic relics and yet where modernisation is fast catching up. One might wonder why Bijapur, when the sun especially scorches down in all its fury, while better counterparts such as Ooty, Thekkady and Munnar are available. Well, let me hope that it suffices to say that we had our reasons.

We took the sleeper A/C coach from VRL, which seemed a little claustrophobic at the beginning but turned out to be quite comfortable once we got used to it.

Here are a few places we got to visit.

Torvi Narasimha Swamy Temple: It was here that Kumara Valmiki is said to have composed the famous Toravi Ramayana in Kannada. The deity idol is placed way down below in a cave and though the pathway has been tiled and modified, it yet gives one a queer feeling.

We were fortunate as it was supposed to be the week of Narasimha Mahotsav. Since our visit was on a Saturday, we offered coconut, sugar cubes and oil as was customary at the temple and also partook the mahaprasad.

Gopal Krishna Park: Located near the Alamatti Dam, this is a rock garden (not like the Chandigarh one) with life like models depicting Lord Krishna's leelas.

Alamatti Dam: There is also a model of the village that was in existence there before the dam construction began. The village replica with all those mud paths, water tank and the old run down school makes it look almost real. A scenic park near the dam provides a welcome break from the heat. With the Krishna flowing quietly by and the lawns neatly maintained, it is hard to imagine that this very place once housed an entire settlement. We spent quite some time simply walking around and taking in the view.

Gol Gumbaz: No visit to Bijapur would be complete without seeing the mighty Gol Gumbaz. The sheer size of the dome is impressive enough, but what fascinated me most was the famous Whispering Gallery. Even the faintest whisper seems to travel effortlessly from one end to the other. Watching visitors experiment with echoes, much like excited children, was perhaps as entertaining as the monument itself. The climb to the top is through a narrow spiral staircase and can be a little tiring, but the panoramic view of Bijapur from above makes it worthwhile.

Yelagur Anjaneya Temple: Nestled amidst quiet surroundings, the Yelagur Anjaneya Temple offered a welcome sense of peace after the bustle of the city. The temple itself is simple and unassuming, with none of the grandeur of the monuments that Bijapur is known for. Yet there was something deeply calming about the place. We sat there for a while, enjoying the breeze and the silence before beginning our journey back, carrying with us memories of a weekend that was quite different from the usual hill station holiday.

Financial Crisis: Is there more to it than that meets the eye??

The present global recession that began around the third quarter of 2008 has been termed unusually severe, with the recovery very slow and sluggish. The reason being, this time the recession is synchronized with a deep financial crisis previously unprecedented. According to a journal recently published, the bubble of derivatives, leveraging, hedging, and other interlocking Ponzi schemes that began the crisis to begin are still out there, unpopped. 

Top Banks in the US that received federal funding (they refuse to use the terminology of "Nationalisation") have been asked to undergo the "stress test" but to remain quiet, meaning not to publish about their performance.
So much for accountability and so much for transparency and disclosure. Here are the results as published by a network which look very scary.

Here's the report published on Turner Radio Network's blog, - an Online organization, which advertises itself as “Free speech; no matter who doesn’t like it"

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Turner Radio Network Leaks Info on Bank Stress Tests

The Turner Radio Network has obtained "stress test" results for the top 19
Banks in the USA. (Corrections/ clarifications below in orange)

The stress tests were conducted to determine how well, if at all, the top
19 banks in the USA could withstand further or future economic hardship.

When the tests were completed, regulators within the Treasury and inside
the Federal Reserve began bickering with each other as to whether or not
the test results should be made public. That bickering continues to this
very day as evidenced by this "mainstream media" report.

The Turner Radio Network has obtained the stress test results. They are
very bad. The most salient points from the stress tests appear below.

1) Of the top nineteen (19) banks in the nation, sixteen (16) are already
technically insolvent. (Based upon the "alternative more adverse" scenario
which had a 3.3 percent contraction of the U.S. Economy in 2009,
accompanied by 8.9 percent unemployment, followed by 0.5 percent growth of
the U.S. Economy but a 10.3 percent jobless in 2010.)
2) Of the 16 banks that are already technically insolvent, not even one can
withstand any disruption of cash flow at all or any further deterioration
in non-paying loans. (Without further government injections of cash)

3) If any two of the 16 insolvent banks go under, they will totally wipe
out all remaining FDIC insurance funding.

4) Of the top 19 banks in the nation, the top five (5) largest banks are
undercapitalized so dangerously, there is serious doubt about their
ability to continue as ongoing businesses.

5) Five large U.S. banks have credit exposure related to their derivatives
trading that exceeds their capital, with four in particular - JPMorgan
Chase, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Bank America and Citibank - taking especially
large risks.

6) Bank of America`s total credit exposure to derivatives was 179 percent
of its risk-based capital; Citibank`s was 278 percent; JPMorgan Chase`s,
382 percent; and HSBC America`s, 550 percent. It gets even worse: Goldman
Sachs began reporting as a commercial bank, revealing an alarming total
credit exposure of 1,056 percent, or more than ten times its capital! (HSBC
is NOT in the top 19 banks undergoing a stress test, but is mentioned in
the report as an aside because of its risk capital exposure to derivatives)

7) Not only are there serious questions about whether or not JPMorgan
Chase, Goldman Sachs,Citibank, Wells Fargo, Sun Trust Bank, HSBC Bank USA,
can continue in business, more than 1,800 regional and smaller institutions
are at risk of failure despite government bailouts!

The debt crisis is much greater than the government has reported. The
FDIC`s "Problem List" of troubled banks includes 252 institutions with
assets of $159 billion. 1,816 banks and thrifts are at risk of failure,
with total assets of $4.67 trillion, compared to 1,568 institutions, with
$2.32 trillion in total assets in prior quarter.

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To put it bluntly, the entire US Banking System is in complete and total collapse. Wonder where all that money went??!!

Sixth Sense: A Glimpse at Tomorrow's Technology

Here is a presentation on a new technology called Sixth Sense developed by Pranav Mistry & Pattie Maes. Awesome view of what the future holds for us. Check it out.

Sixth Sense by Pranav Mistry & Pattie Maes

This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. 

What fascinated me most wasn't the technology itself but the possibilities it opens up. Imagine walking into a bookstore, picking up a book and instantly seeing "If you like this, then check out these..." projected on its cover. Or pointing at a newspaper article and watching a related video spring to life. Even something as simple as dialing a number on your palm instead of fishing for a mobile phone seems straight out of science fiction.

Of course, like any new technology, there are practical questions. How compact can the hardware become? Will people really be comfortable wearing projectors and cameras all day? And perhaps the biggest question of all, will technology become more invisible instead of demanding more of our attention?

Whether Sixth Sense reaches our homes in its current form or not, one thing is certain. It offers a fascinating glimpse into a future where computers no longer sit on our desks but quietly become a part of our surroundings.

Jai Ho!

[Short Story] Cupid Unusual

His tiny sobs interrupted her dream. 

She woke up with a sudden start and turned to see that he still had his eyes tightly shut and was simpering in his sleep.

 “Maybe a nightmare”, she thought as she checked the bedside clock - 3:45 a.m., it glowed. She got up and walked softly out of the room and turned the latch as quietly as possible.

“Click,” it sounded like someone had rubbed steel over an iron grate.
“God, no!” she muttered to herself as instantaneously her little toddler started his wailing.
“Akash! Akash... wake up. Sumer is crying. Hold him close & rock him please while I get the milk warmed. Aakaaash”
“Whaat..? Oh ok, ok,” he stuttered and tried to clumsily hold the crying baby.
“For heaven's sake! Don’t switch on the light, Akash. He will lose his sleep,” she fiercely whispered on her way out to the kitchen.

 
She heard some murmurs, but there was no time to retort. By the time the baby was fed & put to bed again, it was close to 5:00 a.m. Akash had long turned his back, and his snoring was back in rhythm. Swathi yawned and looked longingly at the bed, but then she knew she couldn’t afford to go back to bed.

By 7:00 the house was sparkling clean with the mix-vegetable paneer curry simmering on the stove, the dough ready to be made into round rotis, and the water-heater had warmed the water for Akash.

Rrriing, riing riing.

 
Swathi ran to the door just to see the milkman giving her his usual wide smile. 

“Namastey bhabhi ji”
“Namaste, namastey, bhaiyya. How many times have I told you not to ring the bell?” she repeated her daily dialogue, knowing very well that her anger was futile since he had already cycled away. 

Sumer had woken up like clockwork and was crying out aloud to announce that he needed immediate attention. Akash was trying to hold him while he was insisting on crawling and jumping out of the four-poster.

The next hour was complete mayhem at the No. 17 household with the vegetables getting a tad burnt, while Swathi tried to contain the milk from overflowing onto the stove and pack the lunch for Akash. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Sumer crawling swiftly towards the open door.

“Aakaash, Aakaash…can’t you hold the baby for a minute?” screamed an exasperated Swathi, lifting a visibly disappointed 10-month-old who was ever fascinated with the outside world.
Something sounding indecipherable came from the bathroom. “Akaash?”
Akash popped his head out of the bathroom, “Good Lord, Swathi, can’t a man have his peace even in the bathroom?”
“It’s fantastic to hear a man crib even when he gets his solid 8 hours of sleep,” she responded angrily. “Am never doing enough for you.” tears were stinging her eyes.
“FYI, I came from work at 11 last night. Oh! Please don’t let those tears come rolling down again,” he snapped.
Meanwhile, his mobile rang incessantly, Sumer soiled his pants and needed a diaper change, and the cablewala was at the door with the monthly bill. 

Everything seemed to happen almost at the same time.

It had started out to be a tiring day, almost as tiring as the past week had been. The initial two years of marriage had been bliss with the framed snapshots, from their several vacations as evidence, adorning their living room. The arrival of their darling son had just heightened their marital bliss, but soon the responsibilities of parenthood started sinking in, or rather bogging them down.

Swathi managed to put breakfast on the table and get the baby’s cereal ready too. Akash carried a struggling Sumer over to the balcony and started to show him the morning birds flying while Swathi slowly tried to feed a spoonful of cereal into his tiny mouth. After all sorts of cajoling, cooing, sputtering & planting telltale signs of cereal all over Akash’s black shirt, Sumer finished his breakfast with a burp. Heaving a sigh of relief, both of them set him down in his toy rink.

“Couldn’t you have put on a T-shirt while holding Sumer, Akash? Now, I got one more shirt added to the huge pile of washing to do”
“Do you need to even tell me what I got to wear and what not to?”
“Well, in that case, you must do your own washing here on”

The air, thick with their growing animosity, forced them to go different directions. Akash changed into a different shirt and started gulping down his breakfast. Swathi started sorting the whites from the pile of clothing to put them into the washing machine.

Suddenly there was a huge commotion of sloganeering and shouts. Swathi carried little Sumer and walked to the balcony to find what the din was all about.
The road below had disappeared in a flood of activists of some kind - angry people sporting colored bandanas, shouting slogans, waving flags.

Akash walked up from behind, “They are protesting against celebrating Valentine’s Day.”
“Oh! hmm”
“Their warped sense of instilling culture by moral policing the youngsters, patrolling the streets against dating couples is simply disgusting,” said Akash vehemently.
“It's really sad to see culture being taken into the stronghold of a few,” added Swathi.

They watched in silence some more of the slogan-shouting mob making their way into the main street.

Most of the neighborhood had come out to their doors & balconies.

“When is Valentine's Day, by the way?” she turned to ask Akaash
“It’s today, silly” he tapped lightly on her head. She turned to catch him grinning. Soon a smile crept into her face too. 

It was one of those special moments when the existence of a unique bond that binds every couple in love shines through. 

He took her free hand and gave it a warm squeeze, making her cheeks go as red as the bandanna of an activist below. 

They turned to make their way into their apartment, reminiscing about the last Valentine’s they had celebrated.

“So do we go out for dinner today?”
“Not if you won’t get my black shirt washed!” he said teasingly, breaking into a run.

“Now, wait till me & my son pound you into a lump,” she laughed, running after him.

[Book Review] It was supposed to be one, but it turned out like this...

I don't know how I seem to manage it, but this is the 3rd consecutive book that I have read in the last month. Now this is no mean feat if you have a 10-month-old toddler to take care of too.

Bah! you say? Sample this - My typical day goes something like this: My little bub is an early riser; by that I mean somewhere around 4:30-5:00 a.m and by rising early, he doesn't simply wake up and smile about. He wails. Now I have to rush down, get some warm milk (at the exact temp, else there go some precious minutes in trying to cool it), and then sleepy feed him. Care has to be taken so he remains calm yet doesn't get too entertained that he loses his sleep, and I don't want to get into telling about a grumpy baby!

From then on it's baby breakfast time (cereal first, appropriate fruit and then a little warm water), baby bath time (get his little pool ready, baby oil, clothes, shampoo), baby medicine time (gripe water, iron/vitamin drops), and then he is ready for a short nap before his lunch. Now babies don't open their mouth, ask to be fed, and burp easily. They cry and fuss around even when they are hungry. And once they are fed, burped, and happy, they want to crawl, climb, pull, push, tap, and poke things which are NOT their toys. Surround them with all the colorful toys in the world and yet their eyes will search for the TV remote, glass flower vases, mobiles, heavy keys, pens. Not to mention the number of diapers one got to change in between. Whew! So there's my point. It's exhausting and a 24/7 job.

Despite all this, the fun of being with your baby is incomparable. When he starts to understand little things you say - like when you say FAN, and he looks up, or when you say No-No, and he shakes his head too, and when you hide, and he seeks you out with a gummy grin it simply warms every damn cockle of your heart.

This has turned out to be the opposite of a book review from what I actually had in mind.

Anyways, after Wicked Women of the Raj, The Memory Keeper's Daughter and a Collected SPOOK Stories by E.F Benson, I have read this book called - Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon. A very enjoyable, unputdownable, delightful summer read.

Here's a short description - Helen, the main protagonist, has been having an affair with her boss Matthew for the past four years. After one exasperating day, he leaves his wife and children to move in with Helen. This seems like what Helen had always wanted - to have her own man, but soon she realizes that she doesn't want Matthew anymore. She sees things that she never saw before: his nose hairs, his old man sweaters, and his intolerable & resentful pre-teen daughters. Helen starts trying all methods to drive Matthew out.

Anyway, I won't tell anymore... It's unarguably funny, some places very insightful into human nature, and if u can get your hands on it, read it.

Laptop, Kangaroo & Chocolate Walk into a Theatre...

What in the name of the good lord do you think these are? - Laptop, Novel, Kangaroo, Flash, Rock'n Roll, Chocolate... No, it's not some guessing game devised for my toddler but some actual film titles from the Malayalam movie industry! 

This is all about the curious case of recent movie titles. 

"What's in a name? A Rose Is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose," said the famous bard, and our filmmakers decided to take it utmost seriously, I suppose. For where else would you find such ridiculous names for movies?

Now sample these Kannada film titles - 35 out of 100, Jolly Days, Bombaat, 10th class A sec, PUC, Satya in Love.
I'm not asking for deeply symbolic titles, and I can instantly recount quite a few. Just names that leave you with some idea of what the film is about or intriguing, such as the "Quantum of Solace," but even it can be something as simple yet meaningful as "Kill Bill," please.

Now I don't think Tamil & Hindi movies fare any better. It's just that I am unable to get myself to even come up with a list of the ones in other languages.

So do we call this lack of creativity or taking creativity to its extreme? I dunno, but I wish a little more thought is put into selecting the titles of films; after all, these are going to go down the film archives.

And the rate at which names of movies are being selected, I am 100% sure I'll write a random post that'll be made up of only movie names. I'll go on a limb and even say they'll all belong only to the Malayalam industry. Lol 

Days of the Raj

Books, it has been said, enlighten lives like no other. They often conjure up a differnt world of vivid color & images that not even movies can surpass. A world where one can see through the eyes of the protogonist and live through a thousand situations which one would not even have dreamed of. Atleast books have this magical effect on me.

The last book I read was Wicked Women of the Raj by Coralie Younger. Here is an apt summary from Indiaclub: An unputdownable factual account of the zenana world of the rajas and sultans of India, concentrating on the firangi bahus and begums of this veiled world of myths and folklores. This book gives us the stories of twenty different European women who broke society’s rules to marry the heathen Indian princes.

Who were these women? Were they gold-diggers, or hopeless romantics hoping to enact their own Cinderella fairy-tale? Did they live happily ever after? Set against the backdrop of India’s independence struggle, the book has a delicious and potent mix of flavours – the end of the British Raj and the downfall of the pompous and extravagant Indian aristocracy.

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While the entire book is really fascinating what left an undelible imprint on my mind was a passage from this book. Am reproducing the same here with the hope it recreates the same effect for you that it had on me. :)

The raja's and maharaja's lifestyles were the stuff of make-believe: Aladdin's Cave & King Solomin's MInes rolled into one. Peter Pan's magic could never have conjured up such a world; a world that today even the princes look back upon in wonder. The maharajah of Indore could sink his arms up to the elbows in his treasure chest of diamonds; he was the possessor of peerless diamond earrings of 46 and 44 carats each. The maharajah of Baroda owned a seven-string pearl necklace estimated in 1903 to be worth seven million dollors. the nizam of Hyderbad own the 227-carat Nizam diamond and the Jacob diamond of 174 carats, plus a gold coin called the Jahangir Nazarana that weighed even kilograms. The legendary Baroda Royal Pearl carpet offered for sale in Geneva in 1989 was conservatively valued at thirty one million dollars.
The princes kept Rolls Royce in business. It custom-designed the car in every conceivable shape, material and colour. There were gold-and silver-plated models upholstered in the finest silk brocades and woven with pure gold and silver zari.
When the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh invited his French girlfriend Germain Pelligreno out to India for the cold season, he chartered an entire P&O liner for her comfort. On her arrival in Bombay she found an entire train fitted out with luxurious interiors to take her, its sole passenger, up to the maharajah's wedding-cake like palace in Kapurthala that was fashioned after the palace at Versailles.
Princely India was the vision splendid. From the prince's royal ateliers came the finest flowering of indian paintings, sculpture, textile, dance, architecture and music. Without royal patrons, he artistic heritage of India would never had flourished so extensively.

Wow.

Here's my New Year prayer that India regain its lost glory (atleast some of it)and get back to being this prosperous once again.