Links, Mainly

So, I haven't blogged in a while. While I considered doing so during the terrorist attacks, it would just be a drop in the ocean. I wanted to write about my holiday in Rishikesh, but have already done so in a personal journal article for Express and another publication wants me to write a travel article. And there have been personal things, which in my opinion are never worth blogging about.

Here are a couple of links which you might find interesting though -

- Brown Paper Bag - Actually started by two really interesting people I know, bpb tries to get you the best tips for cool stuff in Bombay. Targetting mainly girls, this blog is so far doing a better job than Trendy.
- Modern Love - at the NYT, Modern Love is one of their best columns in my humble opinion. It is essentially a collection of essays sent in by readers (who turn out to be mainly writers of some sort) based on their experiences of love.
- Tart - Started by Dragonfly's Aashiyana Shroff, this website is an online dessert delivery service. I have tried the cupcakes which are absolutely fab. Not sure how it is on delivery, but there is only one way to find out.
- Shapeways - Sounds fab, upload your design and they print out a plastic 3D thing for you.
- Richa Jha's blog - Ok, so I haven't read too much, but she seems like a freelance writer I would like to read.

My brother's wedding is in a couple of months out of town, which means a lot of travel and a lot of running around. Don't hold your breath for the next post

Full of Hot Air?

Here is something that could be fun and maybe even romantic - http://www.virginballoonflights.co.uk/ ... Sadly the website doesn't answer my question of how many people per ride but lets just assume two :-)

Of course the US has several operators and it seems a much more regular affiar - but Virgin, with Branson's personal interest in ballooning, seems to have the most publicised service.

Any reviews would be welcome!

Bombay Art

Well, I don't quite think there is enough public art or appreciation of public art.... Here is my bit - advertising the lovely paintings on the wall of Lions Docks (somehow always prettier when I am drunk)

Always Look on The Bright Side Of Life

Ending of Monty Python's Life of Brian

Crackberry Schmackberry

I've finally succumbed to the wonder that is push email - though so far have been disappointed that for some reason the service only polls for messages every few hours. Perhaps it might be some setting gone wrong, or the GPRS being a bit shit in Bombay.

In other news I'm desperately close to my application deadlines for next year, wish me luck. Work is keeping me busy as are other activites, so its a wonder that I got this far.

See you soon, assuming my fingers still function after all the addictive email-checking

Holiday Idea

Came across this randomly - Harlingen Lighthouse. Yes, you can actually spend a romantic night in a lighthouse, staring out at the sea. Oh, and they have the option of spending a night in a lifeboat too!

All I need now is a return ticket to Holland.

Salt and Pepper

I had to write about the unfortunate media controversy surrounding James Watson's comments on differences in intellectual abilities based on geographic locations - i.e. the apparent emperical outcome showing Black people to be less intelligent.

And laugh at the stupidness of it all - why the big fuss? All he did was talk about emperical evidence out there that not all races are equally intelligent, and it is unfortunate that that black people - traditionally subject to racist behaviour - were shown to be less intelligent. It doesn't matter what he or anyone else personally believes to be true, as that really wont change with scientific evidence anyway. Why should people be shot down just when they bring up a topic in the lightest possible manner - he was not trying to incite racism, just point out that evolution differs geographically (and hence affects skin colour).

Where was the outrage when he also claimed Black people had a higher libido?

Quick, Hide!

Technology - you've got to love it. And loathe it. Also, since the past few years, fear it too. Not because it's going to take over your life (it already has), but because it's going to pry into it too. Much has been written about Google's meteoric rise resulting in fears about the common person's privacy - with the amount of data Google mines and analyses, they probably are justified. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Oh, and the best example is yours truly - if you google my name, the fourth or so link is to an ancient set of webpages hosted on ntlworld.com. Which is great, but the search shows my cv and there is nothing I can do to remove it from Googles index as I don't have access to the webpages anymore and the dear ISP doesn't really care to address my complaints. Point is, sometimes it is information you put up on the net that could be a problem.

What really scares me though is that Facebook recently announced a policy to allow user data to be searchable via engines such as Google and Yahoo! - to be fair they did have a nice big box on top of every users homepage warning everyone about it. I think it's wrong for a social networking site to allow it's user database to be searched by Google, even if it is just to match names only. But what surprised me was the execution of this new policy completely went against Facebook's old privacy style - i.e. protect the user's privacy unless specifically requested. Facebook asked its users to reduce visibility if they so desired, but that should really not be the case - most users do not know yet that they probably do desire this. However, that scandalous-photo-of-two-girls-you-know-kissing is a bit more important and hence most users would not have reduced their visibility on Facebook.

An example of why this is bad? Ok, so I browse a group of alcoholics who meet every thursday after work for drinks. And this particular person seems interesting given she has just graduated from an Ivy league school I'm curious about in and has a familiar face. Here are the things I've been able to find out about her without adding her as a friend on Facebook + the help of Google:

1) Her high school, names and current locations of her two close friends from school
2) She represented India in a racket sport, and continued playing at university. Lots of details on that.
3) Her visibility allows access to all her photos. Some funny, some not. All morphable in the wrong hands
4) Basics about her family (brother's name and school, dogs entire biography, etc.)
5) Her new job - so now I know where she works.

How hard would it be for some freak to get access to this information anonymously and either harm the subject physically or scar the persons online presence - e.g. naked photos as the top google result on the name.

Honestly, I'm not personally worried or I don't feel it currently is that much of a worry. Purely because most of these things could happen in the real world too - how hard would it be to find out information about someone in Bombay!? But the point is now information like this could be found anonymously. Sure, IP addresses are traceable and if a body is found police can come after you. But it becomes extremely easy to harass someone random you don't even know, perhaps online stalking. With the caveat that this could easily extend to your real life.

As for that girl, I've discovered she goes to the same gym I do so I'm sure I will strike up a conversation someday. Or probably not, given that I don't want to explain how I know certain things a stranger shouldn't know.

Like her favourite drink. I would know, I've never met this person.

Stop the Press

I suppose this is a bit late, but try buying the Sunday (Indian) Express if in Bombay for today, 30th September. In the Mumbai Newsline section is a little article written by moi, my foray into being a writer. Of course, one can always be a part time writer, so it would be an interesting hobby if that did materialise.

You're wondering how this happened? Essentially a friend of mine works in the Express and they apparently do a feature "Personal Blog", a column on people's personal experiences. So she called me on Thursday and by Friday morning she had her column ready! Given that this was strictly experiences and not views (which I keep a collection of) I wrote about my eventful shaving of head, although I would much rather write about food.

Anyway have a look, let me know what you think. Will post a link online if it gets published there, else might just upload the column here.

Disappearing Act

You might have noticed that this Blog now no longer contains Restaurant Reviews - that's because I am pleased to announce a new, spawned Blog dedicated only to Restaurant Reviews:

http://www.mangald.co.uk/Restaurant-Reviews/

Old posts have been copied - unfortunately the dates may not make any sense anymore

Blah Blah

It's been very quiet for a while now, I suppose since the start of the month. I suppose its a lack of excitement due to no major foreseeable events, such as another holiday of exciting travels or anything new in general. That's not to say I am unhappy, just not mentally challenged enough. Or should that be not challenged enough mentally? (smirks to self)

Would you believe I actually care about cricket again. Ok, I'm lying in that I don't really care but I care enough while the world cup is going on. The Twenty over version of it anyway. Yes, call me the cricket-slut that I am, loving it only during the world cup. I do feel the limited-limited version of the game is now closer to other popular sports in terms of the time consumed per match and adrenaline. But I must say it does feel that the sanctity of the game has been smudged a little, but who the hell am I to have a say on cricket. Last night was the final of the Twenty20 world cup, where India managed to just about beat Pakistan by 5 runs.

And I must say, that was a pretty impressive game! India continued with the so-far successful policy of batting first, and seemed like it would stutter when Yuvraj got out (biggest hitting batsman for India). However, it was good to see the team bat well and get a respectable score of 157. To be fair, Pakistan looked to be out of it at 76-6 and it took pretty clever batting by Misbah-ul-Haq to put them back on track. And with two overs and some 20 odd runs to get one got the familiar feeling that India was going to mess things up when it should have won. However, thanks to the two Pakistani batsmen losing their cool (rather than India winning it) they lost their last two wickets with 5 runs to go.

All in all a fun match, and I have to say watching it at Henry's was a pretty good idea. The crowd was good looking (as usual), the music good and the thoughtfulness of the two brothers meant the people sitting had a pretty cosy evening. However, what surprised me the most was the celebrations on the streets after. Yes, it was a world cup, but It was the limited version of limited overs cricket. And the first world cup of its kind. Obviously I'm the only Grinch in town, you should have seen the streets last night. Absolutely packed with cars and people waving flags all over. It was like.... like... winning the Champions League or something as important!

In other news I am now officially indifferent to most of my friends. It's not that I don't care about them, I just don't care generally. Too much effort to talk, keep in touch, Facebook, email, text, etc. So the ones who are still getting attention, good on you. I was just counting the people who I don't really know what to speak with and the list has gone beyond my 10 large fingers. So anyway, I guess this is a sort of apology to the ones who I haven't been keeping in touch with.

I must say though, I do intensely dislike Ganesh Chaturti as it surely must be the only festival in the world where one wastes 10 bloody days not working very much. It really is a bit of a coincidence that my staff decide to be ill during these 10 days, especially the peons. I'm not against religious celebration, but does it have to be for so long? Although I'm not complaining today, it is the last day and hence most offices in Bombay are shut. Mine isn't, and I can see the foolishness in that. None of my staff have turned up, and I probably should head home after lunch. So essentially, a waste of a day as I didn't enjoy the holiday and didn't get any work done either !

But strangely, I don't care and I'm suspiciously happy. Must be the patriotism kicking in.

Fairness Creams and You

Ok, so I haven't bitched about anything in a while but that's because I've been relatively happy playing Championship Manager (01/02) and other activities more social in nature. If anyone knew me from about 4 years back you would be familiar with my addiction to Champ Man. I remember, on one of my birthdays I had forced myself to stop playing a few months prior to that, hence I craved for Champ Man. So I actually sat there playing the game all dal while my friends were over to wish me. How unfair for them, but I did warn them beforehand that I was going to play Champ Man and would hence ignore them. That doesn't make me a bad person.... Right! ... Right? And now that I think about it lying all those times about feeling sleepy so I wouldn't have to talk on the phone was probably not the best thing to do. Sigh... I do take solace in the fact that I am clearly not the only addict.

Anyway I did happen to watch the Simpsons the other day after work and happened to see 3 fairness cream adverts during an advert break. So that's 3 out of about 4 adverts. Unbelievable. These products have annoyed me for years - Fairness Creams and of course the relevant advertisements. My first recollection of fairness creams comes from that annoying advertisement of Fem fairness cream in the mid 90's for women - anyone remember the shady stalkers peeking through the girls window and singing "Fem, Fem se.... gori gori!"? *Shudder*.

It annoys me to no end that companies are actually allowed to make (and market) such products. And it annoys me that these products must have demand for them else firms like Fem would not survive and new ones would not mushroom. The sad part is the obvious underlying racism that is apparently inherent in every self-respecting Indian. But the worst has to be the idiots who, due to this racism, feel the need to buy such "beauty products".

Now I don't really know or care to know whether these products genuinely work but I suspect not - I'm no biology expert but I hardly think Michael Jackson's surgery could have been avoided by using such creams instead. I would hope not, to be honest, as it would allow me to laugh at all those stupid consumers. But even if they did, how could firms think it is ethically fine to promote racism by portraying fair men and women as more successful, smarter, and of course more likely to attract the opposite sex.

I suppose the root cause is that racism is so prevalent in Indian society. I can't even count the number of times some aunty might disapprove of a potential arranged marriage match as "she/he is too dark" - they won't look good together. Lets be honest, after 5 years of being married to that bitch it would not make things any better if she were fair. Or worse if she were dark. But arranged marriages are a whole different topic. Point is, it seems to be OK to discriminate based on skin which really does worry me - Society as a whole can never be able to rid itself of an unfair stigma unless a majority feels it is wrong. Which requires a large movement against it, a backlash or revolution of sorts to raise awareness and stir public opinion. Legislation would normally help too but not in a country where corruption is so prevalent (and besides, it usually is the after-effect of such a movement).

So that's it, I live in a society of racists who are pretty open about it. Ever since I've realised the relevance of racism by living in London I've always thought it would be stupid, backward people who thought that way. I'm not proud of it, but I remember my mum being a bit scared of a large black man while walking home in London. However, it turned out that she was equally scared of a drunk white guy the next time we were walking home so I just tell myself I don't have a racist mom - just a scared one.

Now that I think about it, India actually is a nation of mostly conservative (i.e. narrow-minded) people who would not like people from geographical regions or "communities" other than their own. There are always instances of lovers having to break off their relationships as their families cannot accept that the potential bride or groom is from another community.

As for me I admit to discriminating against people who are "ghetto" or dare I say it, "coolio" or just "black", but thats because they don't speak coherent english and wear their jeans below their bums. And I really don't want to see a display of horny dry humping on the dance floor. Essentially, too many things I don't want to see or hear forced upon me. If I meet someone who is black but does not perform the above activities I would be quite happy to talk to them. So no, it isn't because of colour. And I do lump Rap, Hip Hop, RnB and similar genres of music into "black" music, which I realise is probably not ideal. "My bad".

So the question is how does one change peoples attitudes? I'm a firm believer that urban areas with their multi-cultural population stand a better chance in overcoming such stigmas. So essentially encourage people to live in different places with different people. And the other option is Education - tackle the problem before it starts. I would think those are the best two options. A well-travelled, educated person should not be so close-minded. Right?...

You would be surprised how well travelled and well educated people still think it is OK to discriminate against people based on colour or where they come from.

It isn't.

Death Cab for Cutie: Passenger Seat

Love the song - couldn't even concentrate on the video.

Passenger Seat

I roll the window down
And then begin to breathe in
The darkest country road
And the strong scent of evergreen
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

Then looking upwards
I strain my eyes and try
To tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites
From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.

"do they collide?"
I ask and you smile.
With my feet on the dash
The world doesn't matter.

When you feel embarrassed then i'll be your pride
When you need directions then i'll be the guide
For all time.
For all time.

Death Cab For Cutie: Your Heart is an Empty Room

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJUYhLGxxwM

Just love the Video.

Sorry, I'm just a romantic fool.

Rain Rain Go Away?

Frankly, I'm loving this. The weather - it's beautiful. Soft, gentle monsoon rain bringing with it a cool breeze and the gorgeous smell of plants you can getonly this time of the year.

And if you drive along the promenade (either Marine Drive or Worli), the sea looks stunning. Dark, daunting clouds hanging so low and the sea so rough you feel they're merging. You can't see very far through the mist and the rain. Perfect weather for some nice corn while lying in bed listening to the rain and soft music.

And this, my friends, is a man who did and probably does, dislike rain. But then again London has what I would classify as annoying rain. It just doesn't have any point to it - constant drizzling but no real progress to a full fledged shower or retraction so that one can walk peacefully.

I don't care if this messes up all my metallic possessions, but the nicest thing about monsoons is when you switch off the air-conditioner in the morning, due to the rain outside you get water droplets dripping from walls and mirrors and anything that would stay still long enough.

This is why old school Hindi films have romantic scenes in the monsoons. It really is so perfect. There is some charm to this time of the year, everyone seems to be happier (perhaps its the holidays due to flooding) and calmer.

Shame I am stuck watching the rain from my desk as I (should be) study for my GMATs. Which of course is in three weeks and I feel under-prepared, as I should.

At least I'm sitting at my desk in a damn good mood.

Photography Exhibition: Versus

When: April 16-22, 2007
Where: Hacienda Gallery, Kalaghoda
Who: Jimit Shah & Adil Jain
Website: Inayaart (You can order prints online)

I've always been fond of photography and currently prefer it to traditional art, mostly because I have yet to really appreciate the skill and thought that goes into paintings. I much prefer photos because they capture a moment of time and an event or a place that is real, that may not ever happen again. And usually the best photos require an eye for noticing unique things that normally one would not capture (cheesy tourists smiling anyone?). So far on the downside have not been able to see as many exhibitions as I've wanted. Best one probably being Yann Arthus-Bertrand's exhibition of pictures of the Earth from the Air. And the occasional exhibition at the Tom Blau gallery.

This Sunday Jimit (in my friend's Family) and Adil Jain held a preview to their exhibition and it was really good, both had the common theme of deserts. Jimit's photos were of Rajasthan, and covered mainly architecture which make it look like a place worth visiting. The most stunning I thought were a quartet of photos of Blue Houses that were absolutely gorgeous, the only downside being you really need to buy all 4 and put them up in a row or at least 2. However, my favourite had to be the landscape photos he took at 5.30am in low light with some camera tricks (no photoshop effects) which produce a spectacular blur of colours. See what I mean here, but really you want to see the full blown version to see it how it should be.

Adil Jain put up photos of the Namibian desert, all landscape. They were all stunning, but my favourites were the black and white photographs at the entrance. I loved the way the clouds and the dunes had a shadow effect that was mesmerising. Honestly, just go see it (I can't find the photos on the Inayaart website.

All in all the prices are attractive too (15-25K), but sadly I need to save up to afford that. Lets see if Jimit can cut me a deal, if anything remains unsold after the exhibition. Unlikely.

Russell Peters Gig

A fair few Indians would be familiar with Russell Peters, a Canadian stand-up comic of Indian origin. He's been touring India for the past few days and after doing a show in Bangalore is now in Bombay for the weekend.

Since I wasn't "feeling well", my brother and me decided to leave early and head to St. Andrews Auditorium in Bandra for the 5pm show, and of course due to traffic didn't make it till 5.45! The opening act was some ABCD who was average, funny if you like props and re-enactments of scenarios.

Russell Peters was on for an hour, and it was actually fairly impressive. Started off with a few prepared jokes but soon that disappeared and he interacted with the audience a fair bit. We had the ill fortune of sitting in front of Sameera Reddy and her sister, who were just way too loud and enthusiastic even for a comedy show. Bar a few overly racist and graphic jokes it was a very good laugh, and an educational experience too. Apparently the word for penis in Persian is "kheer". A coincidence? (an Indian sweet dish goes by the same name)

Of course since this was in Bandra, we had to follow up with a meal at Don Giovanni's which was unforgettable. Not a bad way to spend the evening I think, just wish someone would start a Comedy Store of the same calibre as the London one

Blistering Barnacles!

Forgive me for the reference to the ancient comic series Tintin (I wonder if kids these days still read it). But you would too if you were me. Just go have a look at the lineup for the V Festival 2007 weekend which I can't attend (being geographically challenged).

Headlining:
Snow Patrol
The Killers
Foo Fighters
Goo Goo Dolls
KT Tunstall

JJB Arena:
Damien Rice

Channel4 stage:
The Fray
Manic Street Preachers

Tickets are sold out within a day, of course. But for anyone I know who is going, just don't tell me how good it is Please. If there is a guy up there, he must hate me. Clearly enough to NOT block access to this sort of information.

Coldplay: Fix You

Can't get it out of my head. Not as romantic as you would expect from Coldplay I suppose.

Lyrics taken from coldplaying.com

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
when youre too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what youre worth

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears streaming down your face and I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Roger Waters Concert: Mumbai

The last concert I saw was a Pakistani band "Jal" along with this South Indian chap Sivamani, who plays fairly experimental drums + other instruments. Quite a riot as far as concerts in Bangalore go. Still, not the same as David Gray, Foo Fighters or R.E.M (my last three concerts)

So it was quite a pleasant surprise to read about Roger Waters (ex-Pink Floyd) coming to Bombay, and the concert tonight was one of the best I've ever seen. One must note that although I like Pink Floyd I've never been the greatest fan, mostly due to lack of time to sit and listen to them properly which is needed with this band. So given that fact, it is even more impressive that I really loved the concert even if I knew only about 4 songs played.

It had everything one would look for from an artiste performing live - great energy and crowd interaction, stunning visuals and a brilliant set. Oh, and a giant pink pig shaped balloon (?) which had scribblings all over it which was released into the wild / atmosphere. Bizarrely, even a 15 minute interval in the middle!

The animations and psychedelic videos were very impressive, and perfectly matched to the lighting and on stage fireworks. Even more impressive was the bits when they were just (apparently) experimenting - the one bit that stood out was on of the chorus girls doing a solo bit which was extremely intense and difficult. He played a mix of songs before the interval, then after the interval played the entire Dark Side of The Moon and a few more mixed songs in the encore.

Which brings us to the only two things that were lacking - first was lack of "concert ambience" usually associated with a Pink Floyd / rock concert. It was just too civilised - not enough obsessed people screaming and pushing and just generally being a bit loony. Hell, the crowd didn't even really demand an encore, the band just came back on their own after about 3 minutes (of presumably a pee break?) Second was the political expression - mainly the anti-war and anti-Bush sentiment in both animations/pictures as well as this song which he recently wrote (Leaving Beirut). Whereas I am quite against these things myself, I just prefer leaving my music and politics separate or at least not make a mention of it more than once or twice. I realise it's "cool" to be anti-establishment but honestly even mention of Bush or Iraq just lulls me to sleep given how over-mentioned the topic is.

The only song of note that I thought was missing was "Hey You". My favourite Floyd song is "Wish You Were Here" and singing along to it just gave me goosebumps. Which served as a reminder of how much I miss walking around listening to my Ipod and just forgetting the world.

Greatest Ever?

This stems from a discussion which stems from a widely held belief that Muhammed Ali is one of the greatest sportsperson (in the world) ever. Even Google thinks so.

Honestly I have nothing against Mr. Ali as I have not watched him (and boxing) enough to comment on his skill, ability or achievements. But I have objection to this claim based on two basic principles I think should guide the choice of a greatest sportsman -

1. The greatest sportsperson should play a sport that is followed worldwide and as an indication of it involves worldwide (or something close to) participation.
2. A player that shines out in a team sport should be given greater weightage than an individual sport, purely on the assumption that its harder to outshine peers as well as competitors rather than only competitors.

The first is a compelling reason to reject boxing due to the fact that it does not seem to have worldwide participation, or if you believe Wikipedia, it does not even have any organised governing it. Notice I don't mean a sport more popular than another should be one to have our winner, only a sport popular enough to have worldwide participation (perhaps easiest measure would be whether it has a World Cup, or has adequate tournaments all over the world.

Secondly, it is much harder to impact a team game than it is an individual one so my vote would go for a sportsperson that played a team game. Football immediately comes to mind, but other examples would be cricket, rugby, hockey, baseball, etc.

I have to admit though, a survey or award for greatest sportsperson would probably still go to Mr. Ali for his political views, for being an inspiration to african americans at the time and since then, and lastly for being the (undeniable) best in his sport. He would get the popular vote but for me he shouldn't be greatest sportsperson ever.

Ho hum, can't go changing the world.

Unveiled: my DVD Collection

From now on stored here -> DVD_Library.xls

Why?

Because I keep "losing" DVDs to "friends". There's even a column listing out people whom I've lent DVDs too. Yes, that makes me a bitter miserly bastard. But I love them like my own children (the difference being I can actually toss one against the wall and get away with it)

It has the additional advantage of being good for analysis. For example, what does it say about me that only roughly 7% of my DVD's have been classified as Comedy? Did I hear a bitter miserly bastard? Of course, the TV Series make the figure a lot more respectable, but still an interesting thought.

T's & C's

Bit of honesty - I've never quite got the point of blogs. So in effect, im going to experiment to see if this has any useful purpose - jotting down random observations or thoughts, but nothing too personal. I always thought people who jotted down personal things on a diary or blog probably didnt have friends to talk to. i don't , but thats incidental ;-)

should i talk about everyday stuff - what i am upto? or more thought provoking stuff? or even the amateur reporter style of reporting on events?

I guess i can try each and see what works best, feel free to make suggestions

Re-birth

Lets hope it goes better this time!

Judas

... I hear you say. but wait, there is only the one of you. maybe two if you count manish...

Don't fear, this probably will not last very long, as any of my ex girlfriends will testify.

But this is a blog that was spawned from http://vjogi.blogspot.com

I shall still be the other half of that blog, i am certain.