stalwart100's Journal

weather's been aweful of late. either been raining or has been gloomy and very cold. Past Novs and Decs have usually been milder/more pleasant and tolerable. Blame it on global warming ?

Met up with Prem Pavan and family yesterday(son Aahan, wife Poorthini). He is here for 2 weeks.A shame could not spend lot more time.But I think that's how life pans out - in college, we guys used to hang out day in and day out and now, spent just 2 hrs, although were meeting after 7 years.Feels very very odd and not right.

Every time I eat breakfast at ChennaiDosa(which now has been twice in a fortnight), comprising idlis and vadas, I remember of my late mom. She was extremely fond of idlis and vadas.Absolutely loved them. In hindsight, I feel I just did not spend enough time with her at all.Family is very very important.

Dabydenko,an unheard of Russian tennis player won the ATP Finals at the O2 arena last Sunday - en route he defeated Rafa, Soderling, Fedex and in the finals, Martin del Potro.
He was imperious and the way he dismantled the greats was a treat to watch.
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weather's been aweful - floods in parts, excessive rains and last night was -6 to -7 in most places.
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shopping @ Tescos yesterday. Bought 2 packs of biscuits. there were 2 price tags against them, 1.25 and 1.48. I spent a few extra seconds in the aisle to confirm I was looking correctly.when at the tills, after scanning, it came up 1.48. so i hesitantly aproached customer service to see what they had to say. It was a matter of 46 pences and I was rreally thinking whether or not to go, but then thought if nothing at least let me make them aware of this anomaly.
The lady walked all the way to that aisle, confirmed what I was saying was right and apologised and handed me back a quid. I was expecting at most 46 pences. But pocketed it and walked away.
Shows that bina maangey,kuch nahin milta,even what you are duly owed(and a bit as was in this case!).

Misc...
watched 'Men of Honour' - true story of racism in American Navy in late 50's.
made for gripping viewing illustrating heroics on part of protagonist and his mentor(sort of) and both men take on the establishment successfully.
Hollywood surely knows how to whip up sentiments.
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also watching couple of Indian soaps(reality tv) of late - the ones usually watched by women (i can hear cries of shame shame), but what the heck...

Pati Patni aur Woh
Perfect Bride

First one is about 5 couples thrown into situations where they have to look after some kids of varying age groups.How they cope with the situation , the kids and how their relation goes through ups and downs makes for interesting viewing.

Second one is about best man winning best lady,twist in the plot is the boy's mom also is in the show.so bickering ,back stabbing, plotting etc etc in full flow.this show especially is about striking balance between being competitive and to tread so that you dont offend someone immensely.
in this exercise you can see dollops of shamelessness and curry favouring.
Fantastic display of gamut of human nature/emotions.
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weather's been really aweful of late. swine flu also on the rise.
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Santu flew to Milpitas,CA for short term assignment last night.i still find the part of

prep for travel/going to new place/adjusting there/logistics of getting to hotel or friend's flat etc etc interesting/unsettling a bit.

response from Subway
to my question on why they dont do Veg sub-of-the-day.

Dear Mr Ghargi,
Thank you for taking the time to contact the SUBWAY® chain.

Currently we offer two vegetarian Sub options – the Veggie Patty and The Veggie Delite. The Veggie Delite is usually charged at a lower price than the Sub of the Day. We are always reviewing our menu and promotions and are currently looking into offering more vegetarian Subs and possibly a vegetarian Sub of the Day.

We hope to see you in a SUBWAY® again soon.

Kind regards,

Peter Mompalao de Piro
Customer Service & Communications Coordinator - Europe
Subway International B.V.

Sunny Sunday thoughts
As autumn sets in, weather plays havoc,quite cold one day, warm the other - thus can see loads of coughers and sneezers on travel to work.Feel quite skeptical sitting next to one, with all the swine flu brouhaha around.

BOOKS

1) Finished reading the mammoth book 'Watching the English' by Kate Fox. It was funny how I decided to start reading it, because I watched someone on the tube the other day reading it,and then I thought I got to read it. The author's style of writing , command over the language and use of words - is masterful. Makes for delightful reading. Only complaint is the size of the book,400 odd pages.

The author dwells on the details of the quintessential English characteristics (reserve, politeness, class system,weather talk,pub culture,football violence etc) trying to find out root cause of why English do as they do. Found it a delightful journey ,reading the book.She concludes saying the root cause of all this is "social dis-ease" and why this is so,she honestly says she doesnt know,which is fair enough. I would like to term it as culture of a nation and it's very difficult to pinpoint the exact reason as to why something is that way.

2) Started reading 'The 30-day MBA book' by Colin Barrow. Author says it is unwise to spend loads of money to go get an official MBA degree.Most of the material is available online and apart from the creme de la creme of the colleges, others are bit s*** (probably true !). The book equips the reader with basic knowledge about the various disciplines like marketing/economics/business law & history/acccounting etc.
I am really finding it an interesting read.have started reading the less-arcane topics first. Hope i can digest the more arcane subjects.

MOVIES
1) TAKEN starring Liam Neeson.very decent and engaging thriller.there were also Bolly style bits,which they could have done without.
2) 13B - Hindi movie starring Madhavan.a supernatural thriller.Starts off very promisingly, falters in the middle and ends well.had read decent reviews about it which made me watch it.

books
1) The art of travel - Alain de Botton

beautiful concept but made for tough reading (wasn't a pleasure)and abandoned it half way.
when we picturise a holiday destination, our mind deliberately omits the mundane stuff that goes along with the picturesque scenes at the destination.
We only picturise the beautiful things.Talks about relevant points during train/air journeys.Alas, the writing style was not very crisp and did not make for interesting reading.

2) Dan Brown's latest, most-awaited (and captured attention worldwide leading to record sales), The Lost Symbol.

surely not a patch on The Da Vinci blockbuster, but still captivating nevertheless. Loses steam for about 100 pages, is dragged a lot, unnecessarily.
But hats off to the author(he's gotten some stick by critics for this book) for having researched in such detail.
I would say 3 / 5.

Misc.
Switched over to O2 broadband from BT.
The experience with both these could hardly have been more different.BT being unimaginably s***, whereas O2 pleasantly efficient, keeping customer informed at every milestone, through Email and SMS and much cheaper.
Switch on itself was very smooth and no issues at all so far.
Had to go through lot of pain to get MAC off BT, a mighty frustrating experience.Deliberate ploy not to publish the process for getting MAC. had to wait for 20-25 mins on the phone, before getting connected and then they palm me off to another number. what a pathetic attempt to make customers not switch over.
Is it the fact that the bigger the company, the more inept the processes are?To some extent, true.

Harsha Bhogle irritates me to no end. He is one of the cricket commentators in the ongoing Champs Trophy cricket in SA. Yesterday during SA vs Eng match, when SA on verge of defeat, he rubbishly says the mens magazines' subscriptions will go down now in SA.....bamboozles me.
Indelible blot on IIM A,this bloke is.
Maybe I am too harsh, but let's say this is not the first instance of his stupidity.

Watched DIL BOLE HADIPPA - rubbish movie. Totally meaningless.good music.

Feels good to pay 11.74 when your bill comes to 21 quid, courtesy a 50% off Pizza Hut voucher.
we had been to lunch at Pizza Hut this afternoon.

Have got this week off - just doing nothing. hasd to burn the hols - waking up 9ish, breakfast,reading Tom Friedman's "The world is flat". very good read so far. Anu finished reading "The lost symbol" and did not think of it too highly.Then do some DIY(ish) things around home/garage. Leisurely lunch, stroll in town centre/visit to B&Q, Focus etc etc.
Havent been doing any exercises/runs for past few days,as was not too well Mon/Tue. got to pick myself up.

musings
Yesterday , 15th Sept 2009- completed 12 years in IT. Feel like a veteran now and 1997 feels like some 20-30 years ago.

MBT Seepz campus - with trepidation and uncertainty, had started this journey 12 years ago.
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Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" is finally out now. I had thought of reserving for half price at one of the high street bookstores (9.5 £) but then dropped the idea as I aint such a big buff. I read yesterday that Asda were selling for a fiver....Went in last night and picked a copy. Today Amazon are selling for 4.99.
Amazing what they can do, when the RRP is 18.99 £.
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India beat SL in a tri series ODI finals - finally winning a finals (got a poor record in the finals).Tendulkar dazzled with 138 to setup a mammoth 320 and SL although started well,lost wickets and still managed 270 odd, courtesy poor bowling/fielding.

I still maintain Irfan Pathan needs to get back.and bowling needs to look like
Zaheer/Ishant Sharma/1 spinner(Bhajji or the Orissa bowler or Amit Mishra)/Irfan Pathan/One of RP or Munaf or Sreesanth or Praveen Kumar depending on conditions.
And batting: Sehwag/Gambhir/Tendulkar/Dravid or Raina/Yuvraj/Dhoni

If conditions demand that they bolster batting,then Pathan can be dropped for getting in both Dravid and Raina.

But Pathan needs to play more regularly - is the bottomline
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US Open Finals -
Kim Clijsters made the most amazing of comebacks and won the finals, also beat both the Williams sisters on the way.! Hats off.
fedex vs Argetine Martin del Potro(20 year old) in the finals. who would have given the boy a chance...certainly not me.But how wrong he proved the whole world.Fedex was over confident in my opinion and treated his opponent lightly.
Potro beat Nadal in semis and Fedex in finals - can it get any better than that?
Sounds ominous to these two.Tennis probably needs it, however much your heart goes out to Fedex, the genteel champion.

ISRO lost radio contact with Chandrayaan-1 after 10 months in orbit. no doubt a big disappointment, but it has done 90-95 % of what it was supposed to do , according to Mr Madhavan Nair, the chairman of ISRO.

more details on http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/30/did-isro-goof-up-in-chandrayaan-life.htm

but looks like ISRO over-promised when there was no need (no other country's lunar spaceship lasted longer than 7 months). Still extremely proud of Bharat Mata.

Reading festival this year from 28th-30th. Traffic and crowding began on Thursday. scores of uni. students arriving from various parts of the country. common theme: skimpily dressed girls and brash boys and lots of beer.(Reminds me of "UMaHe").

Buffet brekkers at Chennai Dosa today(amazing that for 3.75, they can serve you unlimited idli,vada, dosa, poori,upma and pongal with sambar and chutney - How's it cost effective??).
Quality and service much beter than Wembley. Complimented the owner and told him to keep it up.

Autumn is upon us - has been much colder since past 2-3 days. Weather change happens here in a day, as in it does not gradually drop from say 25 to 20,it happens in a day.

Misc
It pains to see disintegration of BJP. Over past few days, there have been one too many a quibble.
All started with senior leader, Mr Jaswant Singh writing a book and eulogising Mr Jinnah and blaming Sardar Patel/Nehru for the partition(aur koi kaam nahin tha kya boss??). He was expelled from the party which was felt as very harsh by senior leaders like Yashwant Singh and Arun Shourie.Now the party is running like headless chicken and running to RSS for guidance or so it appears. There are also clamours of shift in leadership.

Also,they are raking the 1999 Kandahar incident now and making Advani out to be a liar.Was googling for it and stumbled on a pro-BJP link.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/DisplayContent.aspx?ContentID=145600&URLName=The-truth-behind-Kandahar

What I feel is that it was ocmpletely unnecessary to 'ukhadofy gade murde',and surely Advani cannot be lying ???

Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao
Been watching this Indian version of 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here2 for past week or two and found it quite rivetting once you get past the usual gossipping and inane things.Fantastic study about individuals and tells a lot about a person.

My observations as below

Marc Robinson(fashionist) - thinks himself as uber-cool. Not a good leader, cannot keep the pack together, but attracts people(weaker than him) to him, and makes it look fashionable to hang out with him.Bowed out during one of the challenges beaten by a woman.
Anaida(singer?) - Likes to pick a quarrel, but best quality is stands upto bullies and not afraid to even matters out with them. Seems no nonsense lady, made of stern stuff.Tries to brainwash audience at times.
Chetan (soap actor) - Physically strongest. Huge presence, but weak mentally. Zero leadership and likes to be led rather than lead. Wastes his presence.Picks fights unnecessarily and emotionally very weak.
Jay (soap actor) - nondescript character.Utter waste.Zero presence, surprisingly keeps winning the challenges.
Mona(actor?) - manipulative,but clear communication.Does not know whether to stand upto bullies or to side with them. Indecisive and wee immature.
Aman(actor) - one guy who is out of the quibbles.Doesnt side with anyone and stays to himself.Neither a leader nor a weakling, but have seen shades of assertiveness.Maybe manipulative, but comes across as clean.
Akash (soap actor) - worst of the lot.short tempered, rude with ladies, full of expletives, foul guy, goading on others to side with him and fights with others, mostly with women.
Kashmira Shah(actor) - bitches a lot about others.Gossip queen.Not interested in leading or calming things.Headstrong and quarrelsome.

My vote would be for Aman, one reason among others stands out. He admitted n camera that he is short tempered and because of that has had issues in life, and when he came on the show, he was determined to curb it and stay cool and has done that from what I have seen. Takes a lot to do that and also does not side with any gang which is again commendable.

Misc
Aussies suprisingly lost the plot and their heads and went 1-2 down to England, thus Eng regained the Ashes from the old rivals.Neither side played half as good as in the heady 2005 series.
English media going ga-ga as usual, wait till they've played Saffers or India , eh?
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Another deployment, another series of errors come Monday morning, looks like it is the norm and nobody even is perturbed by it now a days.As they say, it is BaU.
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Back in India, it is very painful to see BJP disintegrating.Gone are those days when you used to respect the party for their stalwarts and educated/dignified people.
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There is talk that "technically" the recession is over in the west. France and Germany among the european countries already on the path of recording +ve GDPs, and apparently US/UK not far behind.
Not convinced that actual growth will start before early next year.

Misc
Was on the Wii after ages - batteries had even run out on the remotes !!Bad at tennis,boxing was not bad, WII FIT was also good.My WII age is too high,need to get my a*** off the sofa more often.
Have been going for morning runs when the weather has been good (i.e. not rainy) - can do 20-25 mins at one go. Then walk a bit and then again run for few minutes.

so , it looks at the moment 25-30 mins run and 30-35 mins walk.
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Was tidying up the garage yesterday and also lawn mowing(how boring).Watched "EMI", a lacklustre Bolly movie.
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Happy 62nd Independence Day to all.On the 14th night, the movie 'Legend of Bhagat Singh' was being aired.we were discussing that the souls of Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries would be looking down upon us and saying "desh drohis...gaddars- gaining education in India and serving another land". Something to think about.

Movies
Kambhakht Ishq - absolute waste of a movie. wont go into the details. showcases the worst that Bollywood can produce.
U Me aur Hum - Ajay Devgan and Kajol starrer. First hour is a waste, second hour quite emotional when hubby realises his young wife has Alzeihmer's disease (goes to quite lengths to describe the attributes of the disease) and how he comes to terms with it and cares for her.
Frost/Nixon - was a good thriller of a movie(Dont know much about Watergate, but know that it was a "Presidential" scandal a la Indian Bofors). Great performance by the actor who played Nixon (Langella somebody). But the climax was a let down for me. the much anticipated verbal duel between the two did not happen at all, and Nixon only broke down because of his own guilt and not being able to carry the guilt life long. He did not break down due to frost's intelligence.

Movies
* You dont mess with the Zohan - Adam Sandler comedy(sic). Watched in fwd. mode. Utterly forgettable movie.
* Eden Lake - Gritty, taut british thriller. Couple on a weekend trip to a remote place get terrorised by group of chav/uncouth youths.Very well sketched.
* LuckByChance - first time director Zoya Akhtar has done a wonderful job. Very good movie.Great performances by Farhan Akhtar, Konkona S Sharma, Rishi Kapoor etc and is typical illustration of how Bollywood works.Hats off to the director.

Weather's been aweful.Was Raksha Bandhan yesterday. had a day off - we were at Shubha's.

Another release gone in last weekend and more crap delivered.When will the management wake up and get things 100% right the first time?

little time
There is so much knowledge to gain/books to read - sometimes it gets to me and I start getting anxious that I am missing out on stuff.

sathnam sanghera
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/sathnam_sanghera/article6720805.ece

In response to this I had sent him an email(Beacuse Times was not posting my online comment) and his reply as well below.
========================================================================
From: "Sanghera, Sathnam" <sathnam@thetimes.co.uk>Add sender to ContactsTo: "Prashant Ghargi" <ghargi_prashant@yahoo.com>

Hi. Sorry you didn't like my piece - but I don't expect people to agree.
Do post your comments online if you fancy

All best

Sathnam Sanghera
| The Times |
1 Pennington Street
London
E98 1TB
www.sathnam.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Prashant Ghargi [mailto:ghargi_prashant@yahoo.com]
Sent: 21 July 2009 15:36
To: Sanghera, Sathnam
Subject: Your article dated 21/07 in the times

Hello Mr Sathnam,

I read with great disappointment your article on the Bollwyood industry
(The Times - dated 21st July 2009) and must mention that I took great
offense in what the high handed article goes on about.

For a start, you need to recognise the population of India is 1.1
billion plus, so that means there are people of all types(low , medium,
high, super high IQs) just like any other nation, only thing is that
numbers will be much higher in each category. So the industry has to
cater to all strata of society, so naturally rubbish is also churned
out, which caters to some section of the society.
To dismiss it all off with a wave of the hand is sheer foolishness and
shows one's immaturity.
It is good to criticise but not without knowing the myraid cultures that
live in India.

There are people who live on daily wages, what use is it to them to make
an intellectual movie or a superior quality movie. A small budget movie
with average quality sound/dialogues etc etc is more than enough for
them to forget their daily woes and struggles of life. They come out of
the cinema hall with a smile on their face. Is that not good enough for
you?

I find this exteremely ridiculous for people of Indian origin, who are
born in Britain to try and condescend Indian movie industry.Regarding
the movie Lagaan, may I remind you that it was in the foreign films
category for the best foreign film award in Oscars, but did not get
selected.So, why not go on and say they are all rubbish?

Regards
Prashant

Misc
Am reading 10-10-10 by Suzie Welch. Not a bad book at all.Makes for interesting reading.
It's all about what you value /prioritise in life, emphasises that you dont have to make impulsive decisions, but gives you tools to sit down and note the immediate, short and long term effects of your choices and aids you in making the best choice.

Movies:

Naked Gun - fun as ever.
The Curious case of Benjamin Button - very long movie, goes on ever so slowly.But I liked it, nevertheless. A bit sad and emotional, but etched out well.

Misc:

Had a tiler in a week ago to do some bathroom wall tiling work. Had a laminate fitter come in to replace carpet with laminate in the hallway/living room areas.Essence of these jobs (which many people here do a DIY) is one requires lot of patience and care to do them well, and is LOT of work.If someone says it is an easy job,then he is joking or showing off !

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