Salim Must Die – Mukul Deva

Recently read this Indian thriller. Normally Indian writers don’t feature with the likes of Ludlum, Sheldon or Forsyth when it comes to thrillers and definitely don’t feature in my ‘to read’ list. But Mukul was a pleasant surprise. His book is simple, easy to read, fast paced and doesn’t get too caught up in the clichés most Indian writers fall prey to. The plot is relevant and more so today, frightening and completely believable. The line between fact and fiction often blurs and this makes the premise even more frightening.
Flip side – Gets too preachy and technical at times but doesn’t become too boring. Ending is a little lame and expected.
Recommend reading if you are a fan of thrillers.

BRIC has become CRIB. Which is what every one invested in these economies are doing.

Manager

Being a manager is like being a goalkeeper. The only thing people will ever remember is not that you delivered flawlessly many times but that one time when you failed.

Helpline

I was feeling a little depressed one day, so I called the helpline.
It turned out that the helpline was routed to some call center in Pa*istan and they got very excited when they heard that I was feeling suicidal. They asked me if I knew how to drive a truck.
Well, what the heck.

Tata Nano

Nano - small car, big personality.
Nano - small step for the automobile industry. Giant leap for mankind.
Nano - is like a diamond. Sometimes priceless things do come in small packages.
Nano - means 'One Billionth'. Literally will help realize dream of owning a car for billions of people.
Nano - a 'huge' salute to tatas.

Indian traffic police and flying car

One of the most sought after inventions of this decade was the flying car and it was unveiled and tested successfully. More details at the link below.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215901270
Sometime in future, a conversation between traffic havaldar and flying car owner will go like this.
havaldar: thamba thamba
owner: sir, kya hua
havaldar: lison dikha.
owner: checking the glove compartment for lison and car papers.
havaldar: daru marela hain kya? FUI (flying under influence) ka charge lagega. chal 10,000 nikal.
owner: sir, road pe to iska fine sirf 1,000 hain. yaha pe itna jyaada.
havaldar: maila....mere ko bhi hawa main latka diya hain aur poochta hain fine itna jyaada kyun. saala apne demotion hua hain isi liye SI bola hawa main latak ke traffic manage karo. nikalta hain ya hawa hawai banau.
I can imagine bribes going sky high, pun intended, with the launch of commercial flying cars.

Before and After

The old saying is - before marriage a man is incomplete, after marriage he is finished.
The new age saying for professionals who are running in the rat race to become the top dog is - Before blackberry a professional is incomplete, after blackberry he is finished.

Happy Holi

Yeh silsile yuhi chalte rahe,
Aap aur hum milte rahe
Gham ka suraj aapki jindagi se dhalta rahe
Rango se aapka daaman guljaar rahe
Khushio se aapka jeevan bharta rahe
Yeh silsile yuhi chalte rahe

Rang barse..........
Wish you all a very happy holi.

Name

What's in a name, so said Kalidas in Shankutalam. Ok, just kidding, it was by Shakespeare but again, what's in a name. Now that we are done with today's PJ here is the serious issue.
Grew up in Madras and then one fine day, one of the politicians decided to rename it as Chennai. This opened the floodgates for all others who decided that names kept by the British was not acceptable to Indian sensibilities (like women exercising their freedom in a pub is not acceptable to ram and shiv senas) and therefore all cities have to be renamed. Thus, Bombay became Mumbai, Bangalore became Bengaluru etc. However, this is old news and not what this post is all about. For some reason, Madras did become Chennai in my head and in all subsequent conversations but Mumbai and Bengaluru remain Bombay and Bangalore. In spite of living in these cities for considerable time. Does it mean that Chennai brings out the characteristics of the city but for other two it has to be the anglicized names only? Or is it that Madras was never the right name for Chennai? You decide. I have.

Technology

Why is that when you really require technology it fails. There are a lot of reasons which make murderers out of people. Add one more - technology failure.

Conspiracy theory

A terrorist attack is a great fodder for all closet conspiracy theorists to come out, rack their brains, get all philosophical about and come up with reasons, rationales and theories regarding the attack. In short, people with no work get swamped. The recent theory from yours truly is that the recent attack on Sri Lankan cricketers was the brainchild of the ISI to divert the attention of the world from the Nov 2008 Mumbai blasts. Their excuse can now be that they are under siege by terrorists in their own country, how will they control anything which happens outside. Another theory is an extension of the above. Now, they can look to US for help against terrorism by letting US deploy troops in Pakistan and for letting them do that get billions of dollars aid for economic development which generally translates to sponsoring more terrorism. Like manufacturing is the industry for China, IT and services for India, terrorism is for Pakistan. They promote terrorism and then look for aid from others to curb it. Great return on investments considering the damages is generally hundreds of millions of dollars but the aid run into billions. Now that is a lesson in capitalism. So many precious lives were snuffed out is accidental and in the larger scheme of things incidental. After all, the population of the world is approx 6+ billion.
I hope Obama will act a little wisely and not fall for this act. Instead, he will take a strong stand which might be painful in the short term but over a long term will help break the back of the terrorists considerably and lead to a safer, peaceful world.

Home

I moved to Mumbai in 2006. Until then, I wasn't a very big fan of Mumbai. I was a hardcore Chennaite. I have been living in Mumbai for over two years now. I visited Chennai in early 2008 and for some strange reason didn't feel that attached as I was before relocating. I assumed that Mumbai is my new home and maybe I don't feel the same way about Chennai anymore. So in my hierarchy the order of homes became:

1. Mumbai - current residence
2. Chennai - grew up here
3. Bangalore - studied here
4. Sikar - born here

However, I visited Chennai and Bangalore last week and the love for both the cities is totally indescribable. It was love at first sight again. The familiar prickly heat, sweat and grime in Chennai and the crispy morning chilly wind in Bangalore brought back memories of a life which grew and evolved in these cities. That's when I realised the true meaning of the phrase - home is where the heart is and the heart truly belongs to Chennai. So, the new hierarchy is (the true order and was distorted temporarily).

1. Chennai - grew up here
2. Bangalore - studied here
3. Mumbai - current residence
4. Sikar - born here