‘Jesus’ Phone

iPhone, Apple’s latest gizmo thats set to lauch on this friday in US, and begin a new saga in the world of mobile telephony, is one delighting piece of technical innovation, if the reports are to be believed. iPhone, which has been named as ’Jesus’ phone by bloggers, is a sleek device comprising of an video iPod, a cellphone, web browser, camera (only stills), alarm clock and a palm organizer.

There has been a lot of hype around this gadget and critics say that despite it’s flaws it has more or less lived upto expectations. It’s expected to launched in India early 2008. Though as of now one can only speculate about the INR cost, in US the 4 GB version is gonna cost $500.

Have a look at this bheri cool NY Times video on iPhone, it makes you fall in love with it!

and click here for some more interactive graphics. 

Tags: iPhone | apple |

Da Taj Code

I recently read somewhere the following as a brief intro to Taj Mahal, the endangered world wonder of India:

“In Agra, we will witness the world famous Taj Mahal built by the Moghul Emperor Shahjehan in 1630. Legend says the tomb was built for his Queen Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child. The death of Mumtaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight. Construction of the Taj began in the same year and was not completed until 1653.”

Even as I was reading this, I knew it was not the complete truth. Can mourning really do that to your hair? I was not convinced… so I had to do some - ahem - research and finally I found the blatant truth. The truth, which was never told before.

So here you go with the real story of Taj Mahal:

Shahejahan was a li’l finicky, correction: in fact a finicky to the core, when it came to being prim n proper. It’s said that he took longer than Mumtaj to take bath, and get dressed everyday. Some people say, the reason behind this was that he had employed pretty women who helped him take bath, then do make-up and get dressed, and in the process he ended up undressed more than getting dressed. anyway, that’s besides the point i was trying to make. sorry for deviating from the subject.

He’s said to have executed many of his makeup women, for slightest of mistakes. Like once, one of his hairdresser gave him the Hitler haircut and moustache. He was happy with the cut until Mumtaj saw him in that avatar and she could not help but ROTFL for few hours. This angered Shahejahan so much that he ordered to hang his hairdresser, when she(the hairdresser) asked for mercy - he told her to grow a similar Hitler moustache within a week, else be killed. As you’d understand being a girl she was not able to grow a mush and she was killed a week later. Sigh! If only they had Kaya skin clinics back then!!!!! After that Shahejahan spent two months in exile, to grow his hair and mush and only then he faced Mumtaj and his junta. (This probably explains why the said hair style is not known as Shahejahan haircut, but is named after Hitler - who, as a matter of fact, was born much later).
 
anyway, so when Mumtaj died while giving birth to his 14th child, he was soooo sad … so sad that he even skipped his appointments with his hairstylist for hair coloring, and when he finally came out of his room after few days of mourning, his hair were all gray. Everyone who knew Shahejahan knew immediately that he was really really really heartbroken. So heartbroken that he forgot to color his hair. This, everyone noticed, was an act of a great lover. No man (a king) had loved a woman (among many of them) like this ever before. He truly loved Mumtaj.
 
Some say, that choice of white marble to construct Taj Mahal is also symbolic of gray hair that Shahejahan wore those days.
 
Thus goes the story of Taj Mahal - the symbol of true love.

Tags: Taj Mahal | India |

Chew Tobacco and WIN BIG!

Its World No Tobacco Day today. I had clicked this interesting hand written poster at a pathology lab in Kanpur few days back.

What better day than today to post it up on my blog.

Since the picture quality is not that great, I am going to translate the contents of this Hindi poster in English. It says:

Attractive Prize Scheme
for those who chew tobacco or Pan Masala.

1. First Prize  - Mouth Cancer
2. Second Prize - House of illness
3. Third Prize  - Trip to Hospitals
4. Consolation Prize - Problems in opening mouth.

Place to find application forms: Local Pan shop
Cost of Application Form (Tobacco): Rs. 1 to Rs. 6
Venue for Prize Distribution: Cremation Ground (Bhairaon Ghat, Kanpur)
Chief Guest: Yamaraj- The god of death.
Audience: Us and you
Last Date: From Prize distribution till Terahvi (13th day from Death)

Note: People in waiting list should wait for few more days.

Heheh.. I hope Sarcasm has it’s effect on people. :)

Tags: world no tobacco day | Kanpur |

Cricket : Just Do it!

One of the best cricket adverts I’ve seen lately. Nike makes a big impression on Indian TVC space. Watch out Adidas & Reebok!For more on cricket adverts this worldcup season, checkout my detailed post on DesiDabba.

Tags: Cricket | Nike | India | Commercials

dekho, phool aaya hai…

“yaad hai, ek din mere meij pe baithe baithe
cigarette ki dibiya par tumne
cchote se ek paudhe ka ek
sketch banaya tha
aakar dekho, us par phool aaya hai.”

.                        - Gulzar. Koi Baat Chale.

Imperfectly translated in English as:

“remember, the other day while sitting at my desk
on a cigarette pack,
a tiny plant
that you had sketched
come and see, a flower has bloomed on it.”

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

The life whispered in my ears, I don’t know exactly when, but it did. I am sure of that. It said ’see, the flower has bloomed’.

And since then I’ve been restless. Restless, in an enthused way. My eyes bright with anticipation. searching.

Trying to find that cigarette pack, that page of my notebook, that blank margin of a news paper, that shiny glossy cover of a magazine, even that wall of my childhood room …

..where I could have scribbled that tiny plant. I clearly remember sketching a plant somewhere. It looked pretty. Tiny and promising.

I always hoped it’d have flowers on it someday. And now that it has, I cant seem to find it. But I will. Very soon. I hope.

I am positive. :)

Oof!

“I write. I write that I am writing. Mentally I see myself writing that I am writing and I can also see myself seeing that I am writing. I remember writing and also seeing myself writing. And I see myself remembering that I see myself writing and I remember seeing myself remebering that I was writing and I write seeing myself write that I remeber having seen myself write that I saw myself writing that I was writing and that I was writing that I was writing that I was wrirting. I can also imagine myself writing that I had already written that I would imagine myself writing that I had written that I was imagining myself writing that I see myself writing that I am writing.”

- Salvador Elizondo / The Graphographer

lifted from Oof ya!

Musaladhaar

I was sleeping away to glory this morning when I heard a distant beep, subconsciously I decided that it was my cell phone which beeped because of some incoming text. While my eyes were still closed, my hand reached out to the side of my bed to retrieve my cell phone and even as I thought of opening my eyes, something told me “don’t spoil your sleep for that stupid message, it’s gonna turn out to be a spam sms”. I paused, and only then another voice from within said, “read it on, it’s gonna be good”. So I voted in favor of positivity, and half opened my eyes to read the text, it was from a friend and read only one word “Musaladhaar “.

I smiled and tried to look past the slit between the drawn curtains on my window. It seemed like very early in the morning, though i could not smell or listen any rains. So I looked up the time, it was around 9 am. “WOW!” I thought aloud about sleeping till that late :) I got up and ventured into my balcony and looked at the sky…. it wasn’t raining yet, but the clouds looked like a face just about to burst out with laughter….

Suddenly some sense prevailed and I decided to pickup clothes left for drying in the balcony. These clothes were hanging out there for just about 2 days now. “Lucky buggers”, i thought , “this time they are getting back to cupboard pretty soon”. I picked up the news paper, went back to balcony and looked around, there was something special in the air today.

I felt positivity filling up my lungs. I felt happy. “Great times are around the corner“, I murmered to myself and just then I felt a drop fall on my forehead, and then on my hand … it was raining.

  I feel great today, and the best part is that I feel so for no apparent reason. :-) Life has been good, but then there is always scope for it to get even better. I don’t exactly know what to expect from life, but I surely feel that something great is just around the corner.Hope. Joy. Happiness. Musaladhaar.

“Good times begin with a good sleep” I thought, and jumped into my bed to catch another sweet nap.

:o)

————————————–

* Musaladhaar , for uninitiated, is a hindi word which signifies heavy rains.

** The pictures that you see above are from my very recent amaaaaaazing road trip to Ladakh….. and before you start asking about the travelogue and more pictures, let me assure you that it’d all be there in the very next post. :o)

L.A.U.

Life As Usual.
Sine curve.
same ol' Routine.
2003 Kanpur-Delhi Shatabdi Express.
Mom's visit.
yumm Food.
"is there someOne?".
loads of Pampering.
"who is She?"
dusseri Aam.
"there Must be someone!"
a Lonely visit to past.
"let Me choose."
increased Interest in football.
"duh! yoU are impossible."
lots of Work.
2452 Delhi-Kanpur Shramshakti Express.
back to Canteen.
late Nights.
world Cup.
friends to sHare thoughts with.
hiGh expenses.
all time low bank balance.
big plans for a new High.
loW oxygen.
nEw f.r.i.e.n.d.s
packed Bags.
sunScreen.
sleePing bags.
adVenture extraVegenza.
no moBile.
no interNet.
no bloGGing.
a whOle new wOrld to be explored.
expecting pUre delight.
anticipated absolute KadKi*.

………..

…….

See ya all…

.

* for the uninitiated 'kadki' is a term which  signifies the state of being penniless. Wait for the formal announcement of "AmitKen Welfare Fund", after I am back. I am counting on generousness of you guys. ;-)

What does it mean when guy touches girls?

Now, if you are already wondering what the hell is this crappy-sounding post about? then let me give you some perspective. A knowledge thirsty and curious soul living on this very same earth where you and I exist, asked this question to who-else-but-Google, and Google, among many possible answers threw my blog as one of the search results. As luck would have it, this curious soul actually descended on my blog, looking for the answer. I feel so sorry about the fact that my blog might have disappointed him, for it surely does not answer this important question. So this post is an attempt to try and find the answer to this question, the ultimate truth, which if revealed can shake the very basis of humanity.  (ah! common i added that line just for some effect, a la - Da Vinci Code ;-))

I wonder if even the Almighty had thought of this question and its answer in advance, before he created humans. Perhaps this is how it all how must have happened: When Adam, first touched Eve, she shirked him away saying 'What?', and poor Adam didn't have clue as to what his response should be. So he went back to the Almighty, and asked 'Oh! My lord, please tell me what does it mean when a guy touches a girl.' Almighty, who was sitting on top of white clouds, scratched His head for a while then referred to His notes and when He could not understand His own hand writing, He shook his head and started to answer directly in a philosophizing mode. This event was the first ever Live Telecast in the history of human kind. The Almighty kept talking, and Adam listened and grasped every word of this free flow of knowledge.

Now as Adam was only interested in responding confidently to Eve, after he touches her next, so he just listened carefully and did not care about documenting or recording it. So after Adam answered Eve, and she was as expected satisfied, this invaluable knowledge was lost forever.

I am not sure if you realized that there is one major difference in the question Adam asked to the Almighty and the one asked to Google. Adam specifically asked: 'What Happens when a guy (Adam/singular) touches a girl (Eve/singular)?'. However this time around when this curious soul looked for the answer on Google, he had taken into consideration the fact that complexity of the world has increased manyfolds since the time of Adam & Eve. So he asked: 'what does it mean when guy (singular) touches girls (plural)'. So you see the question this time around is much complex.

Those who have studied E.R. Diagrams at some point of time in their school/college would be able to understand that Adam's question was about a One-to-One relationship, however the question posed to Google was One-to-Many. It could have been even more complex had he asked about a Many-to-Many scenario.

Looking at the complexity level of problem, and the fact that I am no match to the Almighty who has already answered this question once - I'll try to break it up in smaller and simpler questions, and that perhaps can help one reach the conclusion.

We are here talking about one guy, touching several girls, and the meaning each touch has. See! It depends on lot of factors, like - why is the guy touching girls, how is he touching them, and also where is he touching them.

'Why' can have several possible answers: out of love, out of lust, out of disgust, out of curiosity, just like that, experiment.

'How' also have many possibilities - in a pleasant way, in an unpleasant way, in a way that irritates, in a way that tickles etc.

'Where' is the most important factor - and whatever the answer to above two questions is, the choice of where can make or break everything.

So you see, if the answer to the above three questions is put together, one can perhaps make out the meaning of a guy touching girl(s). Hope this analysis takes you somewhere close to answer, if you are the one seeking it.

However, without much delay let me add a word of caution, and THIS REALLY IS IMPORTANT: whatever the meaning of a guy touching a girl is, what actually matters is what it means to the girl. And it's really the meaning that the girl derives at that very moment without even going through the analysis I presented above, is what determines the reaction of the girl.

If you are lucky the reaction can be the girl touching you back - in form of a kiss or in form of a slap.

So! There..

‘Not Winning’ is called ‘Losing’ and not a ‘Draw’

Staying awake till 3.30 am for two consecutive days only to see a winnable test match ending up in a draw, is not a good feeling. And you feel even worse when you see that the captain of your team is not sad for not being able to win the match, instead he is busy patting his and his team's back for staging a comeback in the game. Ass.

Lack of strategic leadership and pathetic pace(?) attack of Indian bowlers, is solely responsible for not being able to pull up a victory which was very much there to be grabbed. I am in a highly depressing and cribbing mode, and can blurt out a lot more about last night's loss (yes, i call it a loss - not a draw). But I'd rather encourage you to read Gaurav's blog, as he is feeling the same pain and anguish as I am, and every word on his post echoes my own feelings.

Though I always believe that the playing 11 are to be utilized in best possible way to win the match, and any excuses for some players not being in the team are stupid - but this time I felt that Irfan Pathan and/or Bhajji's experienced presence, however outta form or low on confidence they might be, would have certainly made a difference, specially with a drained out VRV Singh taking ages just to reach his bowling mark and a visibly trembling Shreesanth.  

In continuation with the subject of my last post, the ICC is totally silent on Lara's inappropriate behavior on the ground yesterday. It's only a guess how ICC would have reacted if it was an Indian player who was at fault.

Update : 8th June'06

As I had suspected towards the end of my post, ICC has actually gone ahead and fined Sehwag 20% of match fee for excessive appealing, however Lara remains untouched for his dramatic and unsportsman like behaviour. Siddhartha at Cricinfo has very rightly pointed out the double standards of ICC. This, I suppose is the right time for BCCI to flex it's muscle and stand by the team, but would they?

Tags: | cricket | test cricket | indian cricket | International cricket council | BCCI