Thinking of You, Dad

I see flashes of you smiling benevolently at me when I made a mistake, smiling indulgently at my office banter, shaking in good mirth when I lost to you at a game, and smiling sheepishly when you were wrong & I was right.

I remember those rainy afternoons when the four of us played "Rummy" and when we sisters used to gesture to each other on the sly & cheat you. And yet you somehow always won. 

I remember the times when you cooked masala dosa or poori-masal for breakfast and left mom fuming over a terribly messy kitchen.

I remember the umpteen arguments we have had and the number of silly fights we have fought.

I remember you waiting for me at the gate for my return, with an expectant look like that of a child.

I remember the customary once-a-month family dinner outings, the same restaurant and the same-old orders, and how we used to argue about how much to tip.

I remember those old anecdotes & stories of your childhood that you would narrate so hilariously.

I remember you telling the history behind those antique silverware or the story behind the winding alarm clock.

I remember you taunting our poor knowledge of English grammar and questioning us incessantly on Gerunds, participles & infinitives.

I want to hear all of it once again. I yearn to get some more of your worldly-wise advice in your loud, booming voice. I wish I could wind the clock back....Ah! I wish

The world is celebrating Father's Day, and I am thinking of you.

It's Father's Day, and I am missing you, Dad. Wish you were here.

I And My Story - Personalization Gone a Step Ahead!

Here's a business idea which makes me feel shucks-why-didn't-I-think-of-that! So this company offers comics or illustrated books wherein the storyline characters are all personalized by you. So you can have a storybook for your child which goes something like - "Niya goes on a treasure hunt..."

Wonderful way to lure children back to the world of books and create a healthy habit of reading in them. Brilliant guys.

IandMYStory.com - Imagine a book where your child becomes the star of the story, making reading enjoyable. The story comes to life with the child's name, age, hometown, family, friends, and uncles & aunts all being part of the adventure.

Not entirely original but fantastic adoption of concept. Hoochymail uses a similar concept to create personalized erotic fiction (eyeroll). Just wondering how feasible it's going to be to customize & print each & every book. But then my knowledge of the printing & publishing industry is minimal.

Am so interested to see if this concept of personalization is going to open up new industries. 

Top Five Diaper Brands

Having a baby inadverently means changing diapers umpteen times a day. It's also among the most important things one shops for & for quite some time to come. Having tried almost all the available brands in Bangalore for my son, here is a list mothers-to-be might appreciate.

#1. Pigeon Diapers - The best that I have seen till date. Soft, cloth-like-feel and a little more pricey than the rest, but totally worth it. Available at Apple-of-my-i, The Junction, Urbanite and other select outlets only. Japanese make.

#2 Nice Baby - The first diaper that my son used. Amazing fit, very comfy and never gave any kind of rash to my baby. We used to travel all the way to Mallya hospital to get our monthly stock since it used to be available at Mallya Hospital's Pharmacy alone. However it has been discontinued for some time now since they took up Pampers distribution. Made in Canada & imported here, I don't think its available anywhere else.

#3 Bella Baby Happy - Not a bad choice considering the rest of the brands available.

#4 Huggies Active Baby Ultra - The only huggies type that suit my baby's need among the rest of their products.

#5 Wipro Babysoft - Good design and sizing but very strongly perfumed, these diapers are fine to be used just for potty time.

Pampers is the worst of all diapers and will never recommend them for anybody. The edge of the re-adjustable tapes are very hard and cut into the baby's thighs. Very badly designed and gets soggy within 2-3 wettings.

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"

********************************************************************

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.

********************************************************************
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.