Category: Daily Notes

Its only been two episodes of “My name is Earl” but I think it is hilarious and well written. I always believe in karma and the ‘be/do good and good will happen’ prophecy. Earl hickley (nicely carried away by Jason Lee) who simply wades his life in petty crime gets an spark of enlightenment from an obscure TV show. He decides to take up an arduous task of ‘correcting’ every mistake he ever did in his life. It strikes him that it is all becoz of his karma and quickly creates a list of his unpaid past deeds ranging from littering the streets to sending someone else to jail for a cheap robbery that he failed to complete!

The story unfolds as he tracks down one by one the items in the list and attempts to cleaning up his karma. With such a out-of-the-box theme, the writer has a lot to play with. few though, but the other characters fit quite nicely into the story trying to help Earl close on his deeds. The screenplay is quite slick with Earl’s voice over keeping us engaged with an retrospective views. In a way, Earl is doing what a lot of people would perhaps want to do but would never do. If thats true, then it brings a perfect fantasy series to NBC on tuesdays. No wonder 8 million americans glued to it last night.

Earl is followed by “Office”, an american remake of the hugely successful british show with the same name. I was lucky enough to have watched the british version on bbc last year. But I have to admit that the US version is equally well done. If you want a glimpse into an office where a filthy, jerk, jackass is a boss, ‘The office’ is place to stop by on Tuesdays at 9.30.

NBC has new show coming/in the making that would grant wishes; to individuals or a community. More details here. The calls for wishes boasts that there need be no limit for what can be wishes and that money will not be an issue. I guess we would have to wait and see if this is going to be another reality show where someone would wish for a day to spend with Britney spears. Lets hope it goes farthest into the american society to make a difference.

My insurance company sent me this message that i thought would help everyone, especially those in the US.

—

Emergency personnel are resourceful when it comes to saving lives. Did you know that paramedics often turn to a victim’s cell phone for clues to a person’s identity? When every second counts, you can make their job easier with one simple word-ICE.

ICE is an acronym for In Case of Emergency. Label an entry in the contacts list in your cell phone ICE. Include the name and phone number of the person that emergency services should call on your behalf. The few minutes it takes to add ICE to your cell phone could save your life.

Many paramedics know what ICE means and they look for it immediately. ICE your cell phone TODAY!

—

This may be pretty obvious to a lot but still neat…

1. Go to Google UK .
2. Type the word “failure” in the search box.
3. Click on the “I’m feeling lucky” search button [or check out the first item in the search results ]

This is no fun. Whatever web page that comes up at the top has the largest number of references across the world websites from the word “failure”! Must be a universal honor i guess.

Anyday I would recommend Economist for a serious magazine reader. Today, I was catching up with the back issues left unread because of our India trip. Usually, I skim through most articles and read in detail those the interests me. But almost without fail I read the letters to the editor, more so for the literary style than the actual message.

In July 30th edition, there was an interesting article (someone has posted a copy) on “Intelligent Design“, the opposing theory to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Whoever might have first proposed Intelligent design, but their argument is that everything in the universe and beyond, including we humans, are/were concieved, designed and created by an intelligent designer ‘up there’. A lot of us refer to that designer alternatively as ‘God’. I am no expert in Darwin’s claim or the concept of intelligent design, but I do believe in God and faithfully surrender to the ultimatum.

A lot of Darwin’s (his’ is supposed to be scientific theory while intelligent design is kind of philosophical) supporters dismiss intelligent design by questioning how one could design a system with so many flaws, pointing to thousands of known stupid “flaws” in the system. Sometimes these arguments are indeed unquestionable. One such argument showed up in the letters to the editor of the August 27th Economist and it was witty and funny. I thought I should share it and let yourself answer it based on your beliefs.

Note the author is arguing against intelligent design and presumably supports theory of evolution. “SIR – Why would an intelligent designer place fast-growing hair on adult males? is there some intelligent reason for designing men, but not women and children, to have beards? And if there is such a reason, then why do many adult males go through the trouble and expense of shaving on a daily basis? – Steven Beadle, Arroya Grande, California”

It was so easy to change the clock from 6.30 pm to 9 am today, but my body clock is still swaying at its own will. I guess it will be a couple of days to get back to the two cycles in sync.

The flight(s) back to US was ok. On the chennai-frankfurt leg, next to me on the middle seat was a middle-aged tamil lady who comfortably used my shoulders as pillows for her 6 hour nap! She persisted inspite of my repeated attempts to remind her of my neighbourhood existence! The one good thing was she was candid enough to apologize right before we landed. On the frankfurt-newark leg I was next to a young exchange student from Stutgart, Germany on her way to LongIsland, NY looking forward to a year of US life with a host family here. It was so sweet when she referred to her local gaurdian as ‘host mom’ besides being naive enough to list every item (and its monetary value!) she had brought in the US Customs form.

Walking into the house gave a strange sense of ‘coming back to the nest’. After three weeks of stillness, walking in felt as if i was spy in an alien land. First thing was to water the plants and thankfully, except for one out of the six, all were still live and welcoming. Unpacking the chennai-style-wrapped suitcases followed. Running to the local grocery to refill the fridge with milk, bread and fruits followed next. Leveraging the Indian culture, stopping by at the kind Indian neighbour’s place for hot dinner followed next. A 10 minute browsing of CNN & NBC to ensure the America is still as it was three weeks ago, I hit the bed only to be awake at around 3 AM. While I knew I can’t force the body cyle, I continue to roll around the bed till 5.30 AM and back to work. What sort of man would have time to write a blog on the first day after 3 weeks of vacation when 300 emails is waiting? When you want to brief whats fresh in mind everything else must indeed wait.

I wish I could wrap India for all myself. 3 weeks of vacation has come to an end today and all set to leave to NJ tonight. Eventful trip with a bit of rest here and there through all the rain and sun. Amidst all, I am surely charged up for another year of American life.

I could either write a really really detailed account of the trip or simply say it was worth all of it to come here and carelessly wander around with my fellow Indians. India will never fail to amaze me, the more I see other countries, the more treasures seem to show up here for me.

A week has gone since my last post and another week to go before I head back to NJ. In the past week, two more cities added to my checked list of places to visit. A day in Bangalore and a day in Kumbakonam and hence four nights on the road on buses and trains. The weather in Bangalore was pleasant while in Kumbakonam it felt really hot and humid, no different from chennai.

Two family events packed in a single day forced to spend the entire day at my uncle’s home in Bangalore. The little I saw was a glimpse of horrendous bangalore traffic and the series of high-tech ( a lot of high raised residential i suppose) stacked buildings on either side of the hosur-bangalore highway. With so many people travelling these days, getting a train tickets to chennai or bangalore from coimbatore is perhaps as difficult as finding a timely air ticket from newark to chennai. An 8 hour bus ride from coimbatore to blore costs twice as much (Rs.350 for non A/C!) in the last 3 years. Every travels boasts of ‘Volvo’ pushback coach bus and I wonder if people care for specifically for ‘volvo’, but it must have become either a symbol of pride or a question of business for every travels, literally every, around the gandhipuram circle in coimbatore has neon lights flashnig the words ‘Volvo’ coach.

Most of our time is spent in chatter. I hardly watched TV. Even if I did, there is so many channels these days that I don’t know where to start. In the past I have read some good reviews about some talk shows and other shows on cable, but I hardly remember whats is what. Both at our house and at Harini’s place, they have a beautiful traditional indoor swings right infront of the TV. So in the few minutes I find once in a while to stay infront of the TV and browse, I tend to quickly lay on the swing and sleep peacefully with the breeze.

All across the cities, all sorts of cars have swarmed the roads. With even more motorbikes being sold, no wonder the traffic and pollution has become unruly. Just today I was reading in Hindu about how civic infrastructure development has royally failed to catch up with Auto and real estate boom. There is cell phones every where you see. And so all sorts of local business is flourishing with cell phones providing the quickest channel for information exchange. Every type of service is just a cell phone call away. The best example is the ‘call taxi’ service which I guess has made ‘Auto rickshaws’ run for their money. In the last few times I have used the ‘call taxi’, it has always been cheaper than if I had taken an ‘Auto rickshaw’. But I am puzzled how Call taxi’s use the meters while Autos has traditionally failed to use the meters. Plus, taxi customer service seems lot better: the car shows up at your door step right on dot. If I would do one thing then I would request the call taxi owners to clean up their cars and keep it clean! or may be I am mistaken, the city itself is so dusty that its what is taken for granted.

One day at Kumbakonam is well spent with visits to two temples of Oppiliappan and Swamy Malai. Back in chennai, we are catching up with some shopping and visiting the rest of family and friends.

This is probably the first time I am writing my post from India. It is exactly one week since we landed at chennai and we have already visited three major metros! (Chennai, Calcutta and Coimbatore). Time flies by and with body cycles not yet completely set for the Indian standard time, unusual things such as the inevitable afternoon naps takes up more than we would want.

Weather in Chennai was hot and humid and in the 2 days I was there, we took a late evening train ride in the broadgauge electric trains, which are way better than their predecessors. After visiting Calcutta for a day and half on Aug 7 & 8, I have started to believe that I know less about India than I had thought. “Unruly traffic” is what we experienced for the most part of Monday we spent there. That said, the metro underground train system is world-class and saves thousands of kolkatta souls everyday.

Back here in Coimbatore, Weather is lot better. Warm day and reasonably cool night. Less humid overall. My parents house here in suburbs is still way off the broadband world and so I am managing with some Dial up.

It was a blunder that we forgot to bring our digital camera. Even worse, I forgot to bring my Indian driving license. Folks here tell me that the police have geared up in their public services here and I stand a lot more chances of getting caught than it used to be. So I am staying put for the last two days, simply eating sumptuous meals and sleeping like a drunkard and waiting for the driver to come in before we can go out!

My dad warns me that I should type everything I want upfront before logging into the internet(aka. save on phone bill). I think I should agree and so until next…

A while ago I had whined about how Chennai is not cajoling BMW enough to make them set up a plant in Chennai, of course for the jobs and related prospects, but also for the sheer prestige of it. I stand corrected now, BMW’s India plant finally (almost) ends in Chennai.

BMW likely to set up shop near Chennai

Can we expect something like this picture below, in Chennai?

[Src: http://www.boldts.net]A splendor of modern architecture: BMW headquarters in Munich, Germany. Lets not be deluded by the ‘coffee cup’ infront of the building, its the BMW Museum ]

I was supposed to do my regular blood test on friday and I missed it. I called up to find out what time they open on Monday so I could drop in before I come in to work. “Walk in anytime after 7.30 AM”, the guy on the phone assured. That sounds good to me since I can drop off harini at the station around 7.15 and get this thing done and still reach work around 8 or 8.15.

It is a foggy and dry Monday morning today. The visibility at the Somerville Station was close to zero. And it was already 75 degrees, sultry and humid. As planned, I was driving into the strip mall in Bridgewater where Quest Diagnostics is located. I could smell the aroma of fresh coffee. ‘Bagel Smith’, the shop next to Quest read ‘Brewing fresh for you”…I wonder if it was indeed the flavor of coffee from the brewing pot or if they have a coffee-scented air freshner sprayed around from behind the store. Anyhow, they got what they wanted, there were atleast 25-30 people in line infront of Bagel Smith. That was impressive for a 7.20 AM Monday morning, no matter what their tactics was.

Parking at the closest spot to Quest, I started walking over thinking if I should grab a small coffee myself from smith. I decided not to, considering not even an hour has passed since my last 16 Oz Indian-style Nescafe Taster’s Choice.

Approaching close to the corridors, I noticed something that didn’t make any sense. The damn line was indeed infront of BagelSmith but lead into Quest doors! 30 people lined up for blood test? on an early misty morning, when half of America is still fast asleep dreaming for a better President? There must be something wrong; This must be a special discount day or something …

“Free Blood Test”^{1                                                                                          1} With fully paid blood-test for two adults. Nothing is free is America baby!

So I gave up; instead of breaking my heads figuring out a reason for the long line. After a moments contemplation, I decided to stay in line and take the test anyway. Surprisingly, it didn’t take much longer for my turn. In exactly 18 mts of wait, I got called in by a lady, who I suspected to be of Indian origin. I usually don’t care and never ask-None of my business.

We exchaned greetings and as soon as I gave in my prescription, she read it in a jiff and exclaimed “Are you from South India?”.

With my groomed and parted hair style, a deceptively studious look and my brown skin, her question seemed like a slam dunk. With a tiny little smile on my lips, I said “Yes :)”.

I didn’t ask but she responded “I am from Gujarat”. She went right to work and was pretty quick in taking the blood samples. Done, in less than 5 mts.

Now that we have established a mother-land bond, I figured I will ask her. “So whats the big deal with so many people showing up so early on this monday morning?”.

Looking baffled, she said “excuse me, what?”.

I figured I overdid my language skills so I corrected myself and asked “Why long queue on monday morning?”.

She smiled “Oh! its not monday, its everyday. Fasting, you know?”

“Fasting?” I didnt quite understand that.

“Did you eat?”

“Oh yeah! I just had my breakfast, is that ok?”

“Yes, for your test, you are ok, don’t worry. For them, you know, they got special tests so they have to be empty stomach”

Oh! that fasting. Got it. Great, that makes sense.

“You know, lot of people go to work and must eat, so they come early. Its like this every day”

I suppose I was uninformed. Thanks to that lady, I now know whats not a good time for me to visit Quest the next time.

A quick and simple history of America using animation. If you are like me, you would certainly learn a thing or two.

Animated american history in 10 mts or less!

Remember to turn the sounds ON for narration. There is more to it than narration though. Click around for details.

I can hear the fireworks feebly past the windows. They remind me of the incident the other day when I was in my weekly Toastmaster’s meeting where I was given a table topic : ‘What does July 4th mean to you?’…I thought for a few seconds and said ‘fireworks!’ and then went on to speak for less than 2 minutes on why July 4th meant colorful firework shows, driving to visit friends and having fun shopping and so on. Towards the end of my short oration, I did remember to mention that since I ain’t an American citizen, July 4th has been more of a happy long weekend holiday to me than a reminder of American Independence! I walked back hoping I hadn’t offended anyone. Thankfully, at least 2 others (Americans) seconded me by saying July 4th meant exactly the same things I had mentioned and more. I felt lot happier.

Everyone at lunch the other day were asking me about our planned trip to India in August and naturally it started off which airline, how long is the flight, where do you fly into etc type questions.

I explained them that I am flying into chennai from Frankfurt and flying back to Calcutta for something and flying back to Chennai and then taking a train ride to coimbatore, my home town.

“Oh! Train ride? 9 hours? must be exotic?”

“hmm…not really!” …”we will just get on and sleep our way to coimbatore”

“Sleep? in the train? Why would you go by a train then?”

“Well…to get to city B from city A”

“Oh ok, you mean you can’t take a flight from city A to B?”

“you…could…!!!”

I sensed that this was going somewhere.

“Then…Why don’t you take it? Don’t you want to spend time with your family man?”

“!@*&^@(*&@)*(&!)(&*~&$@*&^!…I don’t know, I didn’t seriously think about it I guess”…my heritage comes to rescue…”Its less expensive if you go by train!”

“Oh ok. That makes sense. How cheap is that really? I am just curious how much a flight ticket cost when compared to train?”

…curious? details…details…

“hmm…let me think…perhaps, flight costs 2500 bucks and train around 500, may be, I am not sure”

“You are not talking dollars, are you?”

“oh no, I would say the air ticket comes to about $60 and train around $15…”

Yikes..@%^$@&^%@()*!^*%#…why am I going this far into the details????

“Just $60? for a flight that would save you 9 hours? I think you should fly man”

“hey, you know what, I have a meeting at 1, I have to go, I will see you upstairs!”

Upstaris, I kept pondering about all the questions I was asked…..Don’t know….Guess, I want to be an Indian when in India!

Apparently there has been a sudden surge in the visitors and their comments to one of my earlier posts on ‘Chidamabara Ragasiyam’ series on Sun TV. Whatever I had written about 7 months ago still holds absolutely true (This is still the only one that we watch in Sun TV!) about this thriller series. Except for a couple of weeks, we haven’t missed a wednesday night. Its only getting better as the final episodes are beginning untie the knots of a ‘obsessed’ killer(s?).

Thanks to one of the visitors, kalaa, who pointed out to me that there is an online forum to discuss about the series and to catch up the story line if I happen to miss any. This is wonderful.

Chidambara Rahasiyam – TV Serial – Updates and Discussion.

One of the recent insider info post for the last episode reads…“when that guy tells somu that mahadevan and the other guy comes and they probably killed the boy. Somu thinks back to the incident where Mahadevan’s girlfriend’s dad dies. You know when Somu and the guy are eating, and he suddenly dies. Then Somu runs to the middle of the house, and the girl says “appa I am coming”. You should notice at htis point that the whole scene is B&W, but in teh back of teh house they show the violin in color. This was an indication that mahadevan was there. “. This is cool man, I wasn’t smart enough to catch that violin piece, I do remember wondering why Somu is thinking about something…

Infact, after spending a few minutes reading thru some of the observations, insider info and tit bits in the forum, I am simply more psyched to watch every episode even more closely and carefully! If you have been following the series at least for a few weeks now, you will know exactly what I am talking about…others, you better skip this post!

Perhaps, Nagaa should start thinking about a community portal for his productions and build a dedicated fan website. Though I don’t watch his other series, ‘Idhu Mattum Ragasiyam’, I hear from folks I know that its equally captivating.

One thing common between me and Batman is we both like the color
Black. Aptly so, that color rules every screen of the new and much
expected comic-book flick – “Batman Begins”. We made a crude decision
to sacrifice our weekday evening ( and my fav ‘Chidambara Ragasiyam’
in Sun TV, which I have only missed twice!) for an exploration of how
batman is beginning his saga. As the name implies, the movie focus is
more about how the boy by name, Bruce Wayne, the heir of the stinking
rich Wayne empire, became a dark knight ‘Batman’. Since I went in with
a bit of expectation on hi-end action, I had wait for almost an hour
or so until the real batman comes into life and action. Besides the
movie runs for a full Bollywood style two and half hours, so that
still left us with hour and half of true batman adventure in the city
of Gotham.

Christian Bale, who plays the black hero, lives up. Dressed up on the
Batman gear, he looked stunning and ferocious. He was just as normal
and handsome as he could be without the gear. The story is shot in the
comic-book city of Gotham, which you can imagine to resemble close to
Manhattan or Chicago. The action sequences were not that great as one
would expect from a 2005 movie but were good enough considering they
intentionally wanted to keep it as close to the comic-book reality as
possible. Batman’s car, also referred in the movie as, Tank, is
ridiculously cool. No model, mo make, no color, no mirrors, no wind
shields but does everything you can imagine in a mobile toy.

For a beginning, Batman makes a big splash and its worth a trip to
your local theater or better yet, watch it in IMAX. I don’t have to
tell you to scout the web (aka Google) for batman begins pictures or
at batmanbegins.com.

Tthe day has finally come, rather earlier than we were expecting. I got the official admission offer letter from NYU Sterntoday 🙂 I was holding my breath until I read the first word of the letter…’Congratulations!…’. I knew what was going to follow. Incidentally I was talking to Harini on the phone as I opened the letter and as soon as I read the first word I shouted to her “Huh! I got it!!!” She had no clue.

After all, I have been waiting for this day for the past 6 months for it has been a tough ride for the past six months to work on 2 GMATs, 2 gruelling application processes(NYU & Rutgers), 3 demanding essays, several recommendation letters, a whole lot of visits to the local bookstore and a delightful experience at the Indian consulate in manhattan to get my graduate certificates authenticated. I must also add the broken promise to not watch movies! But the fruits of the efforts have paid off and I am really excited to have come this far. It is a whole new beginning from now onwards but truly a significant turn in my life that I am hoping to make the best of it.

Quite a few people stood by me during the whole process for all of whom I send my heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

We saw Erin Brochovich yesterday. It is an old one though, but glad we had seen now rather than never. It is a compelling story of a real woman who literally betted her life and family for the sake of a californica community and chemical company’s villanism. Surprisingly, the movie is so wonderfully crafted ( directed ) that one would be surprised that such a story is still captivating and engaging. Not for a second we felt boring or taking a break. When I watched real Erin talk on the DVD’s Bonus section, it was a moving experience. The real Erin in fact shows up in the movie as a waitress serving Julia Roberts (Erin in the movie) and the kids dinner where real Erin finds it hard to believe a trivial experience from her life being casted to the details right infront of her eyes! Kudos to Julia, she excels. Another interesting DVD waiting at my living room : Run Lola Run (german).

The last two days has been HEAT days, brewing at 87F. Not wanting to waste the Sun, we wandered around the town of Chester for their Craft Show. All hand-made arts and crafts, beautiful and tempting. We escaped the temptation to fall into the American trap of ‘buying things that you absolutely don’t need!’. But life here is trying to escape out of these shopping nets anyway…everyday.

As I am sitting here on the 3rd floor of our house and it feels like all the heat in the house is rounding up next to me blowing at my face. I feel the stuffiness, but I have to admit we enjoy this lot more than the freezing sub-zero killers of Jan and Feb. Heard that its hitting 110s in parts of India and people are dying ( someone said Sunil Dutt himself was a victim of sun stroke!)…Lets pray for some mercy from the God of Light.

In this internet era, a good habit or not, I am yet to figure out, I don’t spend time online during the weekends. I know countries get erased but then I have grown to like staying away from computers at least two days a week.

This week was truly a long weekend with lots of activities and am glad we stayed home to do all that. Lots of drama in the world of basketball. A few seconds ago, Phoenix came back from being 3 down to keep the series alive. A splendid effort, especially the fourth quarter and the final minute. Yesterday, my alma mater team, detroit pistons played a pathetic game to lose two in a row only to expose their vulnerability. I have begun to doubt them; Reminds me of Indian cricket team.

Lots of physical activities around the house from cleaning up the garage to fixing up some of dying indoor plants. In that process I learnt about Miracle Gro and how it is supposed to do wonders to our indoor plants. Man, this country is indeed great. Think of anything, there is a solution, a tool, an expert and a local shop to deal with it. As I was wondering what I should do if I really find a problem with no solution out there, I realized that I should invent the solution, manufacture it, market it myself and become a millionare overnight after reading this intriguing article from the current issue of business20. [need subscription or use this newstand buyer access code B2JUN9420 and login as a new stand buyer with your email id and this code]

I swiftly read two books for free spending few hours this afternoon at our next door Borders store. I could speed-read “Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That’s Changing Your World” in an hour or so since most of what is being said was what I already knew. A few tit bits were worth it, otherwise, its NOT a book for someone who have read a blog before least not for someone already bloggin!. The other little book ‘The Present’ from the famous ‘Who moved my Cheese’ crew was a nice read though the essence of the book was worth 1/2 a page.

Live in the present. Now. Focus on what is happening now.
Learn from the past and let it go. Make the present more effective with lessons from the past.
Plan for the future. Act now so you can get what you want in future.
Live with a purpose which will connect your past to present to future.

The book runs less than 100 pages, I would not recommend buying it (unless you cant remember those four things) but an hour, a coffee, a quite bookstore, and a sunday afternoon would do it for anyone.

In between all this, I was able to wrap up my app for Rutgers with an essay on an ethical dilemma faced in life. I thoroughly enjoy this process of applying to business schools that I would honestly recommend any curious one to give it a honest shot, even if you are not really planning to do anything with it. It puts you into a retrospective mode to inspect your own life and goals that you wouldn’t, I certainly wouldn’t, do otherwise.

Came across Jikku Blog by Ammani in UK. Crisp but provoking. I wish I could write so succinctly without making my blogs as big as this one is!

“In the end, we are all the sum total of our actions. Character cannot be counterfeited, nor can it be put on and cast off as if it were a garment to meet the whim of the moment. Like the markings on wood which are ingrained in the very heart of the tree, character requires time and nurture for growth and development.

…day by day, we write our own destiny; for inexorably we become what we do. This, I believe, is the supreme logic and law of life. “ – Madame Chiang Kai-Shek

In retrospect, the above statement isn’t totally new. But the statement, “Character requires time and nurture for growth and development” means so much in so little words.

Think about it from another dimension.

Eat juicing oily food and lays chips, ice creams, drink gallons of caffenie & alchohol, gulp kilos of butter sweets every day; the end result is inevitable. Junk In; We will make a junk out of ourselves. Choose to eat carefully, we will make a healthy human out of ourselves.

The world is full of junk today. We breath, see, hear, talk, feel and fully live in more junk than ever before. It has come to a point where we are completely lost that it is virtually impossible to identify what is not a junk. If parents are in the state of plight, imagine children and their future. Without writing a story out of it : ( which a million others have already! ) :

Choose what you see, read and most importantly, how you understand and react to what you see & read.
Choose very carefully what you say & hear. Even before the rest of world listens to us, our subconscious is. Like it or not, we are giving hints to our subconscious mind about our future by our words and actions.
Choose how you spend your time and how you feel about those actions. Fly a kite, Take a swim in a lake, Walk up a hill, Talk about colors to a blind child, Write a peom and read it to none, Escape from the mechanics of the modern world….Laugh as much as you can and love yourself piously.

Just being yourself, being happy and being a human intself is an accompolishment. Anything else we might do beyond that is more needed for the rest of the world than ourselves.

[ – My interpretation of the inspirations I got from the audio-version of the book : “Seeds of Greatness” by Denis Waitley – which I highly recommend to everyone (Most libraries in US will have a audio copy). ]

Dr.Kulandaiswamy, writes a blatantly open op-ed in yesterday’s Hindu about the current state of affairs in India’s higher education system, specifically private colleges and the university affiliate system.

“…because universities alone have a continuous flow of young and fresh minds and an atmosphere highly conducive to talent and creative effort. “

Unfortunately, India’s colleges and universities are a far cry from this. The government, general public and the younger student community have the least awareness and understanding of how and why universities play a major role in ‘creation’ and ‘innovation’ aspects of a society. Isn’t that what our Indus valley ancestors envisioned? “The world’s first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.” Yet, as an unexpected cosequence of a copy-cat modernization, the value of higher education is lost in a few thousand years of transformations. Prof.Kandaswamy rightly points out that India’s university system sorely lacks the research backing, both in terms of the funds, skilled teachers as well as the professional and industry support.

However, I do believe there is an inordinate amount of talent in college-going youth of India. Given the right amount tutorship, mentoring and guidance, wonderful things can be achieved. One of my ambitions in life is to cater to this. I also know a lot of people who feel the same. I think it is time to get into some kind action and just do it. I need to remember, ‘Now, is the best time for a baby step’.