Understanding Self at the Japaloupe Farms

This weekend was different. No movie, no shopping, no car cleaning, no work...

Instead, I spent two days at an awesome workshop on "Understanding Self", conducted by Pragati Leadership Institute (http://www.pragatileadership.com/), at the Japaloupe Farms, a few meters from the Talegaon toll booth on the old Pune-Mumbai highway.

I have been heavily influenced by many events in my life, mamy of them negatively, but no single event will probably have such a profound and long-lasting impression as this workshop.

I will be writing about the workshop itself, and many of the gems of wisdom I got from my "guru", Advait Dikshit, but in this post, I just want to celebrate the connection I made with nature at the Japaloupe Farm...

Mummy with 14 day old kiddo :)

Quack Quack Quack...

Horse (why do you always need labels?)

See, I knew you would want a label! Just a beautiful structure, yaar...

Now THIS is the real Japaloupe Farm..

Great Dane with Great Man

Waiting to go into battle on my stallion...

No, No, if you observe clearly, you will realise I was NOT the prisoner! This was a cool team-building exercise...

Yawn, I am bored of these stupid humans...

Naomi... isn't she a beauty?

Aap ka Suroor :)

Excerpts from a website on Aap ka Suroor:

"Himesh Reshammiya’s acting is a revelation. Just like his most exquisite works of music are but an assemblage of simple notes, his acting is also a composition of very elemental histrionic elements. First there is the constipated, eyes slitted intense look. Then there is the Angelina Jolie -Narasimha Rao pout which we are to believe make women go weak in the knees. And of course the passionate eye closing “passing-stool” expression. For variety, he also bites the air and sometimes preloads “expressions” on his face even before the dialogue that is supposed to trigger that expression has been spoken."

Lol.. Lol...

Cup of Tea..

Aaah, what would I not give up today for a cup of tea!

Movie Review: Naqaab

Another of those "conspiracy" movies, a la Wild Things, Naqaab falters in it's weak story, listless screen play, and unimpressive performances. The millionaire (Bobby Deol)and his beautiful paying guest Sofia (Urvashi Sharma - why would he keep a paying guest, for god's sake?) decide to get married - till Akshaye Khanna's entry into her life. Sofia falls in love with him, and walks out from her marriage...

Then the twist in the tale.. And then another, and another, and... you get the point.

Avoid it if you can... not really worth the time and money!

My New Nokia 6300

After my emotionally wrecking mobile breakdown last month, I finally bought a new cell phone - and while it was hard giving up on my 7270, I must say, I am mighty pleased with my new companion!

In shiny steel and black, a 2 inch dazzling screen with the most stunning range of colors and graphics, a 2 megapixel camera with awesome zoom, asynchronous, persistent messaging, an ergonomically delightful keyboard, bluetooth, FM and MP3 player with equalizer, and a memory card to boot, this is definitely one of Nokia's best models till date.

And the icing on the cake? It costs less than 9000 bucks!

Macro-Economics Article 3: GDP and Inflation

This is the third in a series of articles, capturing my notes from Prof Dholakia's lecture...

In this article, we look at the two main objectives of our national policy - growth in GDP, and curbing Inflation.

GDP, the Gross Domestic Product, captures the national income, measured through the concept of production (and not consumption). Remember, income is a flow, not a stock, and hence has to be measured over a period of time. GDP therefore represents how much we are producing in the nation over a given period of time.

Let us take a simple example, where the country produces only three products: cotton (produced value = 100), cloth (150) and clothes (210). Since the final product is only clothes, the GDP would be 210. But this is politically incorrect, since it excludes cotton and cloth, which is equally important to the economy! Hence, instead of the final product only, we measure the value addition (output - input) at each stage. This results in GDP = value of cotton (100, assuming 0 inputs), cloth (50) and clothes (60) = 210, exactly the same as before, but politically much more correct!

The national income, or GDP, is thus the aggregation of value additions in all its industries & sectors.

Let's consider the national P&L (profit and loss) statement. The incomes comes from sales. What about the expenditures? It comprises cost of raw materials, fuel/power, depreciation, salaries/benefits, rent (land cost), interest, taxes AND profits. Why is profit an expense? Think about it this way - you pay salaries to retain the workers, the rent to retain the land, interest to retain capital, and the profits to retain enterprenuers in the industry!

Since the P&L statement is balanced, we can say,

Sales = (Raw Materials + Fuel) + (Worker Cost + Rent + Interest + Profits)

Remember, only Profits can be negative, and this is the risk of enterpreneurship.

Now, Sales - (Raw Materials + Fuel) = (Worker Cost + Rent + Interest + Profits) = Value Addition

Thus, VA, as used in the calculation of the GDP, is not just the profits, but also includes the labour wages, rent, interest generated in the system.

India has Inflation target of 5% and GDP targets of 9% (growth). Let's see what this means.

We know, Sales = Price * Quantity

With increase in rates as above, we get,

Growth in Sales = 1.05 * 1.09 = 1.1445, which is approximately 14%.

What does this mean? It means that on an average, with the targets we have set for ourselves, any enterprise will show growth in value addition of around 14%. To be a leader in this economy, a company/enterprise will need to grow at twice this rate - and with a 28% growth rate over 15 years, the company will grow 32 times what it is today!

Now let's look at Inflation. Inflation is the growth in prices, and the target 5% relates to the growth rate for prices, not the price levels themselves!

The government typically targets the wholesale price index (WPI), which reflects the cost of production of a basket of goods. Consumers, on the other hand, are affected by the consumer price index (CPI), related to the cost of living, and this is what your dearness allowance tries to compensate you for. Remember, the basket of goods considered for WPI and CPI are very different, though there might be some overlap like food items. WPI considers industrial materials, fuel etc, and does not consider services. CPI accounts for rent, services and other items instead.

Obviously, if your company's real inflation is below the national rate, you can take the difference and pass it on to your customers, or rake in the profits!

Now, Money Supply = Price * Quantity. However, remember, money moves and changes hands, and this means that the actual money required in the system is much less. The rate at which money changes hands is called the velocity of circulation, which typically remains constant.

Assuming that quantity also remains constant, it is clear that money supply directly influences prices. To reduce prices, reduce the money supply!

With this, we come to the end of this series of articles.. hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

India's Economic Growth

(Check the earlier article Macro Economics 101 before you start this one...)

The most important objective of the national policy is to increase the growth rate of the economy, represented as the GDP (gross domestic product). This article will give you an exciting insight into the growth of the Indian Economy since independence.

Introduction to Growth

Everyday in the papers, you read about GDP and the concept of "inclusive growth" - a phrase coined by the government to get a buy-in of the Left parties. Growth itself, is always inclusive. If India grows at the existing rate of 8-10% for the next 15-20 years, the economy will bring down unemployment to zero, and result in unemployable people getting trained and employable. This growth, if not sustained though, will only result in sucking out the unutilized potential in the country, and not create more opportunities for training and employing the trainable unemployed.

In the last few years, informal and small/cottage industries have resulted in huge increases in employment - it is interesting to note that the dire employment growth numbers come only from the registered, formal employment sectors like large industries which have trade unions, and hence are the vote banks of the left parties. This is less than 10% of the total manufacturing and services industry!

Check these numbers - employment has been growing at 2.49% per year, while the population is growing at 1.7%. Backlog of unemployedis thus being utilized at > 0.8% per year. In 10 years, there will be no backlog left to utilize. Is this inclusive growth? Decide for yourselves - poverty rates in India are down from > 50% to around 20% today.

Growth Rates in India

Upto the 1980s, we were growing at 3.5% per annum. While even most of the western economies grew at a similar rate, our rate of growth soon came to be called the "Hindu Rate of Growth". Why? Because in every 5-year plan, the government was promising 5%, for 30 long years, and always under-performing. Yet, the country returned the same family to power, never punishing it for its failures. Foreign observers confirmed that the elections were free and fair - and no one could explain why the electorate was OK with these failures, year after year. At the end they concluded it was because we were a Hindu nation, a population of under-achievement and complacency... a result of the voluntary poverty and renunciation of riches advocated in Hinduism.

Between 1981 and 1990, we targetted, AND achieved 5.5%, and finally caught the attention of the world. Between 1991 and 2006, this had shot up to 6.5%. In the 2001-10 decade, we are targetting 8%, and are all set to achieve a phenomenal 9-10% in 2011-2020.

Why? Because our so called biggest liability - our huge population- is coming to our rescue today. We are the only significantly sized country in the world with a steadily increasing population in the productive 15-64 age band. This will continue to rise till 2026-30, when it might touch a high of around 68-70%.

What does this mean? Larger labour force, falling dependency rates, higher savings - from 30% today, to around 38%. Where will this money go? Into investments - if you want to raise money, you now know where to go for it!

A Bit of History

Nehru strongly believed that trade with the British took away our freedom. His basic tenet for India was self-sufficiency. This, along with his Marx-influenced socialistic pattern of society, screwed India for a whole 4 decades.

Self-sufficiency meant that you should consume only what you can produce. Socialism meant that no individual would be allowed to be big enough to influence economics. If you cannot bring everyone above the poverty line, bring some below it, to achieve a more equal society. These two tenets fuelled his self-fulfilling prophecies - his actions and policies brought the Indian economy down to its knees.

His idea - to protect our freedom, take away the freedom to trade! Consume only what can be produced in India. Put barriers for foreign trade - high import duties, sometimes as high as 600%! Socialism knocked out private enterpreneurship and growth. Policy dictated everything through the license raj - not only what you can produce, where you can produce, but also how much! The government consistently planned for over installation and under utilization - after all, India was a poor country, and we couldn't consume all that we could produce - and we did not want to trade! The country planned for wastage of resources, while all the time maintaining that we were a resource-scarce country!

Trade was disallowed, but aid was OK!

To consume anything, you needed to produce it first. You needed raw materials and heavy industries to produce those raw materials like steel and copper! There was no private industry, so the government created the public sector. Remember, they could only produce limited quantities, and were operating at very low capacities, automatically resulting in high average cost, much lower than world prices. But we did not want to encourage trade! So the government put in exorbitant import duties, sometimes as high as 600%, to make imports and trade unviable!

Now, someone (the government) had to finance these heavy industries since they required huge investments - where will it get the money from? By taxing commodities through customs and excise duties - thereby hitting the very poor it was trying to protect! Indirect taxes, the worst form of taxation, became necessary. The government was also a constant borrower from the RBI, and that meant it couldn't be given autonomy.

Nehru started saying no one would buy from us, and then implemented policies like quotas in production, and high import duties that ensured exactly that - no one bought from India, because we had priced ourselves out of the world market. In 40 years, India's share of global trade came down from 2.4% in 1951, to 0.4% in 1991! Nehru had proved himself right!

The Turn around

The early nineties saw a few events that proved critical in India's turn around story. The Soviet Russia collapsed, and India lost over 25% of its miniscule trade in one stroke. Bush attacked Iraq, and our entire workforce in the Middle East beat a hasty retreat back to India, chocking off a critical source of revenues! At the same time, the imports bill was steadily increasing - specially the expensive oil!

When Narsimha Rao took up the reins of the country, we were on the brink of bankruptcy, and no politician was ready to take the mantle of the MoF. In stepped an academician, an economist, a professional - Dr. Manmohan Singh! (ps: My original article read Dr Manmohan Desai :) Thanks to kartz for pointing it out :))

In his first budget speech, Manmohan reiterated his commitment to the Gandhi/Nehru family - and then uttered the magic words - India would emphasize self-reliance (and not self-sufficiency). No one understood it at that time, but the message was clear - henceforth, we should be able to buy whatever we want to consume. India now had a clear make versus buy choice. While self-sufficiency enforced make, self-reliance allowed you to buy if it was cheaper to buy than to make. And we could buy only if we could sell - India was thus required and encouraged to produce what we could most efficiently and cheaply compared to the world market, and this money could then be used for buying what we could not make!

No aid, but trade!

To enable lower rates - the government needed to open the private sector to areas hitherto restricted to the public sector. This was privatization - and is very different from the left-propagated notion of selling off public sector industries to the private sector! He demolished the license raj - you now had the freedom to manufacture what you wanted, and how much you wanted! He demolished MRTP - the monopolistic and restrictive trade practices act, enacted to promote the socialistic pattern of society by discouraging private enterprise and growth. The planning commission no longer made the yes/no decision - it was now free to think, to plan!

This cycle, from opening up the economy to private players, to increased competition, to reduced costs, reduced import tariffs and trade barriers, to making the economy and industry globally competitive - this is what globalization is all about.

The other objective of the national policy, which goes hand in hand with growth, is inflation. Growth will always be inclusive, as long as inflation is low. The RBI continues to remain in charge of controlling inflation.

In the next article, we will see what our national targets for GDP and Inflation are, and what it means to all of us.

Macro Economics 101

We had an awesome 4.5 hour lecture by Prof Dholakia from IIM A yesterday on the basics of macro economics, in the Indian context, as part of our Arjuna training program.


Here are my notes from the lecture... an exciting journey into the basics of economics, and a peek into what goes behind running a country. While I will not even pretend to be a shade as effective as Prof Dholakia, this is a sincere attempt at giving you a brain dump of what I tried to soak in yesterday!


Introduction to Economics

While management can be called the art of making decisions, economics is the science of decision making, the only social science to have a Nobel Prize. Economics is all about managing (and minimizing) "Opportunity Cost" - the cost of your decisions, the value of the best alternative you have forgone because of your decision.

Government policies can be sectoral or macro. Sectoral policies are for lawyers, they are specific to certain sectors, and its all about the language of specifics of how and what. Macro policies, on the other hand, have a much wider, all-pervasive impact, and it is necessary for managers to be aware of these policies and their implications.

Macro Policies - Fiscal and Monetary

Fiscal Policies are those that directly impact government expenditures or revenues. These policies are not restricted to the central government only. In India, only 50-55% of total revenue collected is by the central government. The state has another 40-45%, while the remaining 5-10% goes to the local government.

The Budget is a comprehensive statement of the government's fiscal policy. The budget is a process. In India, the budget process lasts around 6 months, starting in Oct-Nov, when the Ministry of Finance starts meetings with various stakeholders including industry, academicians, NGOs, customer groups, banks and politicians. At the same time, the government conducts an internal appraisal of the economy, through the Chief Economic Advisor, and this apprisal is presented to parliament 2 days before the presentation of the budget as the Economic Survey. The Economic Survey is really representative of the inside thinking and direction sought to be taken by the government in terms of the budget and the fiscal policy.

The MoF may not always implement the recommendations of the Economic Survey right away, but he is constrained to justify any decisions taken contrary to the recommendations. The MoF typically uses roll-back as a political tool to drive acceptance for other tough decisions that may be taken by the government in the budget.

In India, the "inside lag" - the time taken for identification, recognition, decision making - for fiscal policy is enormous, unlike in China, where opinions and debates do not matter. This inside lag is really the cost of democracy, and the price we pay for the freedom to have and to be able to express our opinions! However, once the fiscal policy is announced (through the budget) the "outside lag" - time for implementation and the effect to register - is minimal or non-existent. Changes are implemented right away, without any delay (change in tax structure, for example).

Remember, fiscal policies come through political process, and they mean nothing without political stability.

Monetary Policies are those that direct influence quantity and cost of liquidity in the system. Liquidity is the ability to settle transactions - any medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value - the money supply. Here, quantity represents the total money in the system, while the cost is represented by the Interest rates.

Democracy has no role to play in the monetary policies of India - this is handled independent of Parliament by the RBI. After 1998, the government of India freed the RBI from the MoF, which now has no executive powers over it, but only advisory powers. And unlike fiscal policies which take a long time to come out with, monetary policies may be changed rapidly, sometimes even a couple of times a day! Formally, there are two credit policy announcements a year - April (busy season) and October (slack season).

Interest rates and exchange rates are now no longer dictated by the RBI - these are now dependent on the market. However, as a player, the RBI can influence these heavily. When the RBI sells its bonds in the market, it sucks out liquidity, and when it buys bonds, it infuses fresh cash into the system. As you can see, the "inside lag" for monetary policy is much lower, while the "outside lag" is much higher - the effects of these decisions, like changing interest rates, have a long term effect, and do not really make any difference in the short term (you will still buy that house you were in the process of buying).

(In the next post - the GDP, and the exciting story of India's growth)

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Admittedly, I am not a Harry Potter fan - even then, I think someone ought to take this trend of fleecing children and their parents in the name of entertainment seriously!

While the previous movies at least had some novelty, some excitement, and some story in them to justify spending the money on the trip to the theatres, this latest offering is a complete disaster. The visuals, though interesting, are just repetitions of what we have been fed a lot of times before, and the story really, really disappoints - all through the movie, you wait for the showdown, the fight, the real stuff to begin - and the curtains come down, leaving you wondering whether the authors forgot to finish the book!

My take aways: Emma Watson, pretty as ever, and the moving photographs, pretty cute!

Movie Review: Grudge 2

Grudge was one of the scariest movies I have seen - very subtle, very effective. Grudge 2 overdoes it, and while it has its moments, tends to get you bored half way through... the end leaving much desired.

Also, didn't help that I was in the second row, craning my neck and manoeuvering hard to get the entire screen into sight, before sensing the futility of the exercise and settling down to seeing half screen at a time :)

UoP Flyover - Now, Fly to Aundh!

The University of Pune flyover is finally open, and one can now literally fly into Aundh - and guess what, once you get onto the flyover, you have 3 different options to get down from it :) The first left prong takes you to Pashan/NDA, the next one to Baner/Aundh, and the third and final one to Aundh/Mumbai. Cool, ain't it?

We visited it late at night the other day, and it looked simply beautiful. The best thing about it are it's curves, and absolutely clean lines - unlike the unwieldy, burly giants that typical flyovers are, the UoP flyover, as well as it's two older and smaller cousins, the ESquare and Agricultural Chowk flyovers, are slim and sexy - and you can't help but oggle everytime you pass them!

While on the topic, have you noticed how the roads in Pune are much better this year? The PMC has taken it's job seriously finally - and inspite of heavier than usual monsoons, motorists are having absolutely no problems, unlike the last 2-3 years, when driving through Pune's roads was akin to life on the moon...

And as you drive by, you will notice that footpaths are coming up all over, clean dividers are making their presence felt, and hitherto single, dangerous lanes are quietly, but surely, turning into beautiful, shaded and tree-lines avenues...

Can you imagine Pune 5 years later? I can... the BRTS buses zooming around, a few sky bus lanes, cycle paths and footpaths with happy, young and old couples, beautiful cars zooming along freshly tarred and cobbled streets... mmmmm.. can't wait to see it!

Joke of the Day

What did Tarzan say when he saw a dead tiger?

Wow, new underwear!

Lol...

Humpty Dumpty

That's my eggy tomato dish, and if you are wondering why that name, well, I don't know! Some names are just names without any interesting explanation!

So.. how do you make a Humpty Dumpty?

Chop three tomatoes, and a large onion. Keep three eggs ready. Take a deep, flat pan. Sautee the onion in olive oil till brown, them dump the tomatoes. Add chlli and turmeric, and a dash of salt. Let the concoction simmer for some time. All the while, mash up the tomatoes till they become a thick pasty gravy.

Now comes the interesting part...

Make "wells" in the onion-tomato paste, one for each egg. Dump each egg into it's well, and let it simmer on low flame till the egg cooks a bit. You might want to keep poking the egg dump a bit to let it cook through.

Finally, add some chopped coriander, and grind some black pepper.. your Humpty Dumpty is ready to be had with whole wheat bread!

On Tata Sky

We got our Tata Sky installation done today. Must say, I am terribly impressed with the whole experience... it was simple and happy!

The first step was ordering the set top box. I called the help line, and five mins later, it was through. The call center quickly passed me on to customer care, which offered me a 4 month free offer if I booked using my credit card. After taking a few basic details, they put me on to an automated system, which prompted me to enter the credit information by pressing buttons on the phone, and I was done.

Two days later, the set top box had been delivered. I called the help desk with the id numbers, and they immediately gave me a few options for the installation itself. I chose Saturday evening.

Saturday evening, the installation team was here - a couple of very pleasant guys, who got down to the task. Clean. Fast. Efficient.

And when I offered them a tip at the end of the job, they refused saying, "We had tea with you, felt very good."

I do not know how things will play out later, but for the experience so far, Tata Sky gets absolute full marks!

Double Whammy

Have you ever wondered how life is stingy when it comes to giving you, but is so enthusiastic about taking it away? How making friends is so difficult, but once you are going down, every friend just seems to walk away like you were a leper? How faith, trust, love is so pricey and difficult to have in life, and yet, so fragile and temporary in most cases?

How your best friends can swear by you, and yet, suddenly, all those promises mean nothing when they decide to walk out?

Take Sourav Ganguly - one day he was a hero, and the darling of the nation. The day he picked up a quarrel with Chappel, not a single person supported him. Suddenly, he was the untouchable, shunned even by his life long mentor Dalmiya? How his team mates suddenly realised he was a bad influence in the dressing room, how the media turned against the "arrogant" cricketer who thought he was king, when this same "arrogance" was heaped with praises when he won the Natwest tournament, and took on the Pakis and the Aussies, beating them at their own psychological games?

Why - why does the world hit you when you are down? Why don't your friends stand by you, why don't your mentors give you that support you need when you really, most need it?

Maybe this is Darwin's survival of the fittest at work - what better way to eliminate you when you are already weak? It's almost like you are prey, the world waiting like a vulture for that first stumble, that first mistake, that first sign of weakness - before it goes for your throat....

Scared? Be so. Only the paranoid survive.

Goa in Pics

Bridge on the Khandepar River

Panaji's Azad Maidan

Fishermen on Coco Beach in Nerul

Lush Green Paddy Fields

Goan Almi

Along with it's better known cousins, fish, prawns and crabs, Almi (mushrooms) is Goa's unique contribution to our gastronomic delights. Extremely rare, these mushrooms sprout from the ground only in very restricted forest areas, under specific weather conditions, for a few days every year.

Best deep fried, they make excellent gravy dishes too!

Available in packs of 100, wrapped in these large leaves...

...they take a lot of hard work, to get them rid of the caked mud...

...before ending up on your plate, to be savoured and enjoyed!

The House of Khandeparkers

While in Goa, we visited the House of the Family of Khandeparkers, in the beautiful river-side town of Khandepar, in Ponda taluka. With 25 bathrooms, over 50 living/bed rooms, and a dozen kitchens, the 50+ year old mansion is home to over 35 residents of the extended family.

The beautiful facade, framed by Ashoka trees

Dinner is usually a time for family bonding, and sharing anecdotes from the day! A 16 seater table means that no one misses out on the action!

An internal staircase provides access to the "Mali" (upper storey)

A typical, Goan Balcao (Verendah)

Global Warming?

Everyone is talking of Global Warming these days - from the threat to low lying areas with rising sea levels, to irregular rain patterns, severe weather, and perishing glaciers...

Closer home, in Nerul, we were shocked to see the havoc wrecked by the sea on our very own favourite village beach. This article is a sad reminder of how turbulent and painful our relationship with nature can be.. or maybe, it's jus a reflection of how mankind is exploiting what he has, and in turn, paying the price for it!

More than 50 coconut trees were uprooted literally overnight, as the sea rushed in more than 10 meters to claim the land as it's own.

Tension writ large on the faces of my cousins, as they discuss the impact

A lone tree, devoid of life, gives up it's fight to survive.

Human greed doesn't even leave this poor fallen tree alone - within a day of the disaster, it's chopped mercilessly to make roof rafters for someone's home!

A fallen coconut tree, awaits it's inevitable fate.

And a similar sad fate awaits this beautiful tree.. even the Ganesha idol installed on the tree will not save it from certain uprooting.

Navi Mumbai - representing the bold, new India

Nat Geo ran this program on Mumbai and Navi Mumbai the other day, in Megastructures. Pretty exciting stuff - on how the two twin cities are coping with the problems of their burgeoning growth.

While Mumbai is looking at skybuses and mega multi-storey flyovers, Navi Mumbai is set to become the biggest planned city in the world, with an estimated population of over 4.5 million residents. From railway stations designed to disperse the large crowds quickly, to catchment ponds with tidal control gates aimed at preventing flooding even in heavy rains and high tides, Navi Mumbai is learning it's lessons from the problems of Mumbai.

As one of the engineers on the program aptly said, we now have the money, the people, the talent, the future!

Tata Sky

We got a couple of Tata Sky connections in Goa - I am a huge fan of it right now, with it's DVD quality picture and sound, very friendly menu and remote, language options for many channels, parallel multi-feeds for news items and sports, program listings, on demand movies, games and lots more!

As soon as I came back to Pune, I ordered a connection for myself - and was pleasantly surprised at the level of customer service I encountered on the help line. Within a few mins, I had entered my HDFC Netsafe card details on the phone, made the payment, and I am now eagerly waiting for the hardware!

Happy TV times are here again!

Crab Dry Fry

Anytime you are in Goa, try the Crab Dry Fry at the Ritz Classic on 18th June Road. Aaah.... some of life's greatest pleasures come in real small packages with red masala....

When in Goa..

...this is what we typically do...

Catch a tall glass of Strawberry flavoured Ice Tea and a Sizzling Brownie at midnight at the Cafe Coffee Day by the beach

Drive 3 kms from home to a city street corner, to feed the left over chicken to our favourite stray dog

Get caught in a sand storm accompanied by biting cold rain and take cover behind a car - then come home and spend an hour in the shower, getting rid of all the accumulated sand

Have crabs and prawns for breakfast, fried fish and prawns and crabs for lunch, and squid, crabs and fish for dinner

Reaching Goa...

After a harrowing overnight journey through heavy rain and blinding fog in the ghats, I woke up in the morning close to the Goa border. Looking eagerly out of the bus from the upper berth...











...I saw the palm trees and green rice fields race by in a blur...












...until finally the sun broke through the dense clouds just as we entered the beautiful city of Panaji, or amche Ponje!

The Story of Mrs Crab and the Village

Caught Mrs Crab crawling across the road with her dozen tiny children (not in pic) on a drive in the city's outskirts last week.


Reona takes a break from driving around...


... to check out this beautiful village nestled in the bosom of the hills.

Discussing the Weather

Lisa and Reona discuss the weather and who will get the chance to go out today evening, while Madhosh looks away, happy to be left alone in the rains!

Another Robert Ludlum - after his death?

Browsing in my favourite bookstore the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find yet another Bourne novel - the Bourne Betrayal. The title said:

Jason Bourne Returns in
Robert Ludlum's (biggest font)
The Bourne Betrayal
A new novel by
Eric Van Lustbader

Isn't it cool? I mean - years after your death, writers want to use your character, and your name, to sell their work?

The book, of course, is OK - it has the familiar feel of a Ludlum book, but it's not really the same!

Sunday Brunch

Made myself a delicious, healthy Sunday brunch - button mushrooms and onion tossed in Nutralite "sugar free, cholesterol free, hydrogenated fats free" butter, with a dash of vinegar, and a sprinkling of chaat masala.

But now I am hungry again - maybe it's time for an apple?

Status Report on the World

OK, OK, the title is pretty awe-inspiring, but this post is really just a few thoughts on what's dominating world headlines, and our lives today... and I guess it's pretty representative of the world we live in, in the early 21st century.

On the world stage, there are only two real issues dominating the news channels and newspapers - The fight against terrorism (dominated by the West's fight against Islamist fundamentalists) and global warming.

After taking on the Taliban in Afghanistan, and seeing a big victory in terms of being able to dislodge the Taliban government and install Hamid Karzai as President, the US took on Al-Qaeda in Iraq - and has now landed in a big soup. The gains in Afghanistan seem to be vanishing day by day. Pakistan's north east lawless tribal areas are a safe haven for terrorists now, and Pervez Musharraf is finding it increasingly hard to get a grip on the fundamentalists in his own country. Iraq is a quagmire, and is slowly moving into a civil war. Palentinians are no closer to peace, with Hamas and Fatah movements both fighting each other, Israel a frustrating bystander to the violence in Gaza. And Islamistes else where, from the south of Africa to south east Asia, are creating fresh trouble. This is also turning into a fight against the Burkha, with many European contries contemplating a ban on the burkha - a judge recently walked out of his court in protest when a Burkha clad lady walked inside.

Interestingly, inspite of recurring bomb blasts and attacks, Kashmir seems to be getting quieter, and tourism is booming in the valley again!

Global warming has finally landed on the world leader's conference table - and in the drawing rooms of every home with a TV. And the effects, whether real of imaginary, are being felt. Pune, for example, is witnessing torrential rains the like of which was never seen a decade back. While some parts of the world are facing cyclones and flooding, as in the Omani desert, Europe is experience heat waves like never before. Flooding and typhoons have ravaged the world, and rising sea levels are threatening coastal cities, especially in countries like Bangladesh.

The world is now looking at China and India to be the superpowers of this century. China, with it's huge population and strict military/communist order is marching on as a manufacturing super-power, while India with it's teeming millions of educated middle class, is showing up as the world's back office and IT/other services provider, as well as in biotechnology and other cutting edge areas. And their large middle class populations means they are a self-contained economy now, with no real worries of sanctions or trade barriers. Russia, which had lost it's edge over the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union, is now flexing muscles amidst a resurging economy, using it's oil and gas reserves to good effect, holding the world to ransom. Iran and North Korea are the latest trouble spots for the US and it's allies, both holding the threat of nuclear weapons, and taking the US head-on.

In India itself, times have never been better. From cell phones to Mercedes cars, even rural and small-town India is joining the party. A news item reported today that Ludhiana and Kolhapur have the highest per capita Mercedes' in the country. Kolhapur itself has more than 500 hundred! An awesome road network is coming up, huge malls springing up in every nook and corner, and the real estate and stock markets are booming like never before. Forex reserves have balooned up to almost 200 Billion USD, a 2000 times rise from the early ninetees when India had to mortgage it's gold, and was forced to take the economic reforms path. IT services and manufacturing, automobiles, pharma, telecom - India is riding it's success in not one, but multiple ways.

Judicial activism, the right to information act, and an aggressive press and a vigilant society is leading to some serious convictions of politicians and public figures, hethereto immune to the law. Corruption may not be out, but it is definitely on the wane.

Yes, we still have lots to do, and for every Indian, this is a time to stand for your country and help her, rather than criticize the system and run off to the West. With the number of Indians coming back swelling by the day, it's almost LS to say you are planning to take flight and become a NRI!

For some lighter moments now... a judge in the US sued his laundry cleaner a whopping 57 Million USD for losing his pants and causing him emotional trauma, by not living up to it's "Satisfaction Guaranteed" promise. Thankfully, all is not lost in the US - he lost his case and was ordered by the court to pay the court expenses. India's prez-to-be talked about how a dead Baba came to her and gave her divine premonition of the good days to come. Saurav and Sachin are still batting for India, and recently broke the world record for the highest number of century stands.

And I am on a weight-control diet and lost 2 kgs in one month...

Movie Review: Die Hard 4

Bruce Willis at his indestructible best saving America from a "fire sale" - the complete breakdown of governance and law and order through a coordinated attack on all the country's systems - transportation, utilities, law enforcement. That's Die Hard 4 for you.

When the US government ridicules one of it's brightest computer geeks for suggesting that they overhaul the country's computer security systems, he rebels, and plans to break into the US government's central data banks to deal them a severe blow, while raking in millions for himself. He enlists the help of all the country's top most hackers to come up with the necessary software through an online competition for the geeks, and then eliminates them, one by one, as his plan goes into action,

But one of them, in the care of Bruce Willis, survives, and the two get together to thwart the devilish plan before it is too late.

The movie has breathtaking action, though many times it would put even Rajnikanth to shame by its sheer preposterousness :) How about bringing down a copter by flinging his car into the air? How about a F 35 fighter jet, with hover capability, taking on a large truck, going after it with missiles, bringing down and entire web of flyovers - him walking away from it? Some awesome car crashes, some good close combat, a litte humour, and a very pretty daughter - the movie may be a little over the top at times, but definitely makes a good weekend treat!

Music with Lisa

A wet, rainy Saturday... empty roads, covered with green canopies of baby leaves... a light drizzle... the wind softly whispering to you... you know you are safe... you know she is with you... you can talk to her... you can let go... you know she will take care of you...

Lisa has been my best friend for 7 years... never letting me down... never complaining.. rain or sun, night or day, I know I can depend on her... she understands my fears, she shares my happiness, and she gives me strength when I am alone and scared... she takes me in her fold... telling me I will be fine... she holds on tight.. never letting go...

The undulating beats of her heart and she responds to your slightest touch.. she reads your intentions.. and responds... the soft, sensual motion as you ask her to turn... hugging the ground... yet letting go... caressing the ground with her soft ballerina moves.. yet, never losing control.. the soft rubber on the wet tarmac... the sweetest music in the world.. as she tells you, she loves you...

And you know, life's gonna be fine again...

Book Review: Freakonomics

Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner is an interesting book that will make you think twice about the way this world works, before accepting any explanations.

For example, what has the best effect on reducing crime? Education, larger police force, tougher laws, or abortion? How much effect does parenting have on kids? Is parental influence stronger, or peer pressure? Do real estate agents really work for your best?

The authors believe that you can find out the answers to these questions, and every other question about how the world works, if you know what to measure and how to measure it! Yes, at the end of the day, it's all about numbers. The answers can be quite surprising! And long held beliefs can be proved wrong.

Let us take the example of crime in the US. In the 1990s crime had risen to such a level, that President Clinton gave the country a 6 year deadline to control it, else predicting the country would descend into chaos. Contrary to all expectations and predictions, crime suddenly started dropping, from a predicted 100 percent rise, to just 50 percent of what it used to be. One can assume this was due to higher police presence, but take the example of Denver and Washington DC. Both cities have a similar sized population, but Washington has three times the police officers, and eight times the murder rate! One can argue that the increased police committed the increased murders!

The authors describe, through measurements and statistics, how the legalization of abortion in the 1970s ultimately led to a decrease in the number of kids who would be born to poor, unmarried women, and it is this drop in population of the "crime-prone" population that resulted in the dropping crime rates in the US.

The authors present a few fundamental ideas:

1) Incentives - positive or negative - economi, social or moral - are the cornerstone of modern life. And understanding them is the key to solving every problem in life.
2) Conventional wisdom is often wrong
3) Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes
4) "Experts" use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda
5) Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes this complicated world much less so!

Interesting book - definitely worth attention. At the least, it will make you realise that every coin has not even just two, but potentially a lot more sides!

Diet Diary

2.1 Kgs in around 15 days

Not bad, huh?

Ripley's Believe It or Not: Diet Diary

1) I am losing weight - 700 gms in 10 days
2) I am losing weight - and here comes the surprise - from my right side!

No, I am not kidding! I swear I verified every possible way. My body seems to be burning fat from one side, forgetting the other! And as a result, the tire around my waist seems to be deflated on one side only :)

I knew you wouldn't believe it....

Time Capsule

There was an interesting news item yesterday about a time capsule that was opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US after 50 years - but the organisers were disappointed to find that the concrete vault built to withstand nuclear attacks couldn't keep out moisture, and the beautiful 1950s Plymouth Belvedere car had been converted by rust into a pile of junk. Sad.

Reminds me of my own attempts at creating time capsules - I used to collect "interesting" stuff into a school compas box, and bury it into the garden, waiting for it to turn into treasure one day. Unfortunately, my curiosity and greed always took over, and the treasure ended up being unearthed a couple of weeks later - needless to say, I never got around to selling it to a museum!

Interestingly, just yesterday, I found this box of coins - 2 rupees, 1 rupee, 50, 25 and 10 paise, and even a 1 paise coin in it. Now that's probably what the museum is looking for!

Healing Fats!

Contrary to polular belief, you don’t need to be concerned with the quantity of fat in your diet, rather you need to be concerned with the TYPE - and saturated fat is not the real enemy. Saturated fats, found mostly in animal products like butter, cheese and fatty meats, are not as dangerous as you may believe. Saturated fats offer a number of health benefits and play many important roles in the body. Some vegetable oils (coconut and palm) also contain saturated fat. Coconut oil, therefore, is a particularly healthy choice.

Trans-fatty acids, formed through a process called "hydrogenation", are found in processed foods and fried foods. Trans-fatty acids are much worse for you than saturated fats. Not only can they raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and lower HDL (good) cholesterol, but they have also been linked to heart disease.

Healing fats are oils that contain Essential Fatty Acids.

What Are Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)?

The word 'Essential" is used because they are something our body can not produce, we must get these Essential Fatty Acids from outside (from food or supplements). The essential fatty acids are two of the most important of all the essential elements, ranking right up there with protein, as protein and the EFAs work hand-in-hand with each other. Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) - are the building bricks of our health.

What does EFA accomplish in the body?

EFAs are involved with producing life energy in our bodies from food substances, and moving that energy throughout our systems. They govern growth, vitality, and mental state. They hook up oxygen, electron transport, and energy in the process of oxidation. Oxidation, the central and most important moment-to-moment living process in our body, is the `burning' of food to produce the energy required for life processes. EFAs are also important in oxygen transfer, hemoglobin production, and control of nutrients through cell membranes. They markedly shorten recovery time from fatigue. And EFAs are also key in preventing damage from hard fats. EFAs are anti-sticky and tend to disperse them. EFAs play a part in almost every function of our body, far too many to list here.

What is hydrogenated fat?

Hydrogenation is a way of making vegetable oil harden at room temperature. Small particles of nickel or copper are added and the mix is heated to very high temperatures under pressure for up to eight hours while hydrogen gas is injected. This process destroys the essential fatty acids in the oil and replaces them with deformed trans fatty acids. These trans fats formed by hydrogenation are unnatural and as a result the human body is not well-equipped to deal with them. They also compete with essential fatty acids for absorption in the body. This blocks or delays the work of the essential fatty acids, creating deficiencies and imbalance throughout the metabolism, including fatty deposits in the arteries.

Use only cold pressed (expeller pressed) nonrefined oils, (keep refrigerated) and non heated and not exposed to the light or air. No margarine (margarine is made from hydrogenated fats, and refined oils, that why it is hard). Margarine is one of the worst foods you can eat. No Hydrogenated Fat ( HF ) (HF is made from trans fatty acids). Use no oils from supermarkets , they are heated and refined (EFA are removed). The most dangerous fats are typically found in margarine, shortenings, and heated oils.

The important Omega-3/Omega-6 ratio

The goal is to increase your intake of the omega-3 fats found in fish oil, and reduce your intake of omega-6 fats.

The primary sources of omega-6 are corn, canola, safflower and sunflower oil; these oils are overabundant in the typical diet, which explains our excess omega-6 levels. Avoid or limit these oils. Omega-3, meanwhile, is typically found in flaxseed oil, walnut oil, and fish oil. By far, the best type of omega-3 fats are those found in that last category, fish. That's because the omega-3 in fish is high in two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. These two fatty acids are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. The human brain is also highly dependent on DHA - low DHA levels have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's. Researchers are now also linking inadequate intake of these omega-3 fats in pregnant women to premature birth and low birth weight, and to hyperactivity in children.

In summary,
1) Consumption of fish oil is highly encouraged as a key ingredient in improving your health. Extra virgin olive oil is great too. Coconut oil is also great, if you use the fats for frying.
2) Do not use refined or hydrogenated fats - these contain trans-fatty acids that are the real problem! Avoid margarine, avoid sunflower.

Udo Erasmus' book, "Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill", is recommended reading!

Olive Oil for Cooking!

Another strong recommendation - switch to Olive Oil for cooking.

Olive oil is a natural juice which preserves the taste, aroma, vitamins and properties of the olive fruit. Olive oil is the only vegetable oil that can be consumed as it is - freshly pressed from the fruit.

The beneficial health effects of olive oil are due to both its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and its high content of antioxidative substances. Studies have shown that olive oil offers protection against heart disease by controlling LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels while raising HDL (the "good" cholesterol) levels.

Olive oil is very well tolerated by the stomach. In fact, olive oil's protective function has a beneficial effect on ulcers and gastritis. Olive oil activates the secretion of bile and pancreatic hormones much more naturally than prescribed drugs. Consequently, it lowers the incidence of gallstone formation.

But while all types of olive oil are sources of monounsaturated fat, EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil, from the first pressing of the olives, contains higher levels of antioxidants, particularly vitamin E and phenols, because it is less processed. Olive oil is clearly one of the good oils, one of the healing fats.

Expensive, and takes a few days of eating to get used to the different flavour, but switching to olive oil might be one of the best decisions you will ever take!

Green Tea

A diet suggestion for everyone - whether or not you have weight control problems. Have green tea. Any time you feel the need to take a short break and have something, don't reach for that heavy milk-and-sugar tea of coffee from your office machine. Instead, keep a pack of green tea sachets with you. Get hot water, and dip one in it for 1-3 mins, and then have the slightly flavoured hot water. No milk, no sugar.

Scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke. To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful: cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels and cariovascular disease.

In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque.

So what is green tea? What sets green tea apart from other teas is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in preventing and fighting various diseases.

Any disadvantages? Only one - insomnia, because it has caffeine. But hey, remember, it is only 30-60% as found in coffee, so unless you have never had coffee, and as long as you don't have the tea just before you go to sleep, you will be fine!

So, what are you waiting for? Go grab your green tea, today!

What Life is it, If There is no Time to Stand and Stare

Can you guess where this is?








Next time you drive around our city, take a moment to stand and stare and you will be amazed to see how beautiful it is...

Movie Review: Fantastic Four, the Rise of the Silver Surfer

It seems to be the season of sequels. ROTSS is packed with lots of fantastic animation, some pretty funny moments, and the beautiful Jessica Alba, and does a good job of providing some great entertainment, perfect for a lazy weekend.

For those who do not know the Fantastic Four, it worth going to the trouble of seeing the first movie where these 4 normal people are afflicted with a strange cosmic energy that gives them their fantastic powers - one is blessed with the ability to extend and twist and bend himself almost limitlessly (aka the Boom Boom Boomer guy - did they copy the concept from our chewing gum guy? :)), the second has the power to create tremendous force fields and become invisible, the third is converted to a "rocky" creature with tremendous strength, and the fourth has the ability to convert himself into a roaring, zooming comet-like ball of fire.

The movie contains some pretty cool SFX - the opening credits scene, tracing the journey of the Silver Surfer to Earth, is one of the best ever I have seen. The solidification of the sea off Japan, the draining of the Thames river, and the helicopter crash is very well done.

In the sequel, the fire guy comes in contact with the Silver Surfer from outer space, bent on destroying the earth on behalf of his master, and this encounter gives him the ability to switch his energies with those of the others. And at the end, he uses ALL the powers of the Fantastic Four to fight the enemy - but finally it's Jessica's caring nature and sacrifice that convinces the Silver Surfer to fight on behalf of the Earth, and repel the advance of the outer space "gobbler and destroyer" of planets.

Movie doesn't rate as Fantastic, but definitely worth a watch.

News for The Week...

1) Rakesh Maria, the guy who cracked the Mumbai Serial Blasts case is Mumbai top cop - and the fruits of his labour are sending the criminals into labour right now!
2) India might soon have her first woman President - the US still doesn't have one!
3) Teenagers in the US will have to pull up their pants, or get fined - no more will we have to see those underwears in full glory and pants held in place by sheer will power!
4) India might soon get F1 - do we really need it though, with over 1500 crore needed in investments!
5) I have lost half a KG after around 2 weeks of diet and walking - and I am feeling great about it!

Quote of the Day

It's not important that you know what not to do, it's more important that you do not do what you are not supposed to do. Siddhesh Bhobe, inspired. :)

Diet Diary

Some more updates from my Mission Diet...

1) Started having green tea in office - pure tea, fresh from the gardens, in a dip dip pack, without sugar, without sugar free, without milk - aahhhh, it's heaven! Green tea is a very good antioxidant!

2) Walking upped to 50 mins a day, at around 4 kmph. Always after dinner, between 1030 to 1130, followed by a hot steam bath (before getting back to blogging :))

3) Olive oil for cooking.

4) Lots and lots of fruits.

5) Addiction to www.calorieking.com - try it out, you get awesome diet data on every possible food in town! Also, a habit of checking every food packet for dietery information.

6) Light breakfast in the morning, usually some juice and fruit, to get the metabolism running.

7) Cut down on eating in restaurants, and if indeed, then prefer grilled/tandoori fish.

8) Still no Pepsi. And now no ice cream.

Movie Review: Shrek 3

When the king of Far Far Away, the kingdom of the fairy take characters, dies, Shrek goes in search of Arthur, the heir to the throne. Meanwhile, Charming captures the kingdom of Far Far Away with his witches and villains. Shrek comes back, only to be captured and sentenced to death, before Arthur and his other friends rescue him and they convert all the villians and witches to good people! Shrek and his wife finally retire back to their swamp and raise a family...

The animation is fantastic - and in the opening scene, you start off believing it's not an animated movie after all! The detailing and emotions on the faces of the characters are so well done, you would be forgiven for thinking it's real after all. The legs of the Merlin are another example of some lovely rendering.

For me, the Puss in Boots takes the cake. He's cute, he's naughty, he's a smart ass - and you just fall in love with him! Seeing Cindrella, Rapunzel, Snow White and other characters in one movie was like reading a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew two-in-one thriller :)

I haven't watched the previous two Shreks, but I thoroughly enjoyed Shrek 3.

Link to CNBC Interview

You can watch my CNBC interview on Google Video at this link

Worth Remembering?

Ever wondered how your brain chooses what to remember and what to discard? How seemingly irrelevant encounters with irrelevant people, who pass your way just once in your life time, are etched in mind forever, while entire relationships are easily discarded and dispensed with?

I have many of these seemingly irrelevant memories, permanently etched - some in black and white, some with audio, some flashes of conversations...

The number 4777, reminding me of this person who ended up being a good friend later - her bike was numbered 4777. More than a decade later, 4777 never fails to remind me of her! A conversation with my uncle, when I asked him to give me four words in English ending with "dous" (tremendous, hazardous, stupendous and horrendous) - and when he couldn't, teasing him about him being an English professor but not being able to answer my question! A 4-day science camp when I was in the 9th standard. Getting my finger hurt in a chest of drawers - and telling myself - I am now going to have a sister - yes, I was less than 3 years old then, but I can still feel the pain in my finger when I think of it - I know the exact spot I was standing, and the exact position I was looking from. The day I topped the board exam, when I met my neighbour in the morning, and he wished me, telling me I had topped - he was just a clerk, but he knew before most others did - and I did not believe him! Rushing back home from the beach, my parents, me and my sister, the four of us on our Bajaj scooter. My first accident when I tried my brakes a little too hard to see if the scooter would skid - and yes, it did!

I have been writing a diary since the early eighties - did not finish some of the earlier ones, but have every single day of my life recorded from 1st Jan 1987. Reading the diary is an awesome experience - it's like one sentence somewhere can just open a torrent of memories in such amazing vivid detail! Wouldn't it be awesome if we could somehow record and "render" our memories - wouldn't that be close to immortality?

A Pant Worth $67 Million

(From ABC News...)

A Washington, D.C., lawyer is suing an area dry cleaning business for losing a pair of his trousers. The business owners claim they have his pants, but he's pressing ahead with his suit.

A $10 dry cleaning bill for a pair of trousers has ballooned into a $67 million civil lawsuit. (Yes, you read it right - $67 million! And CNN reported yesterday that he has reduced that to something like $54 million!)

He says that he has endured "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort." He says he was unable to wear that favorite suit on his first day of work. He's suing for 10 years of weekend car rentals so he can transport his dry cleaning to another store.

"People in America are now scared of each other," legal expert Philip Howard told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit. "That's why teachers won't put an arm around a crying child, and doctors order unnecessary tests, and ministers won't meet with parishioners. It's a distrust of justice and it's changing our culture."

The ABC News Law & Justice Unit has calculated that for $67 million Pearson could buy 84,115 new pairs of pants at the $800 value he placed on the missing trousers in court documents. If you stacked those pants up, they would be taller than eight Mount Everests. If you laid them side by side, they would stretch for 48 miles.

Movie Review: Ocean's Thirteen

Sequels are generally a bad idea, unless it's the Ocean series.

Ocean's 13 is awesome. George Clooney just gets sexier as he gets older. His on screen chemistry with Brad Pitt almost makes you jealous, and when he smiles that mischievous smile of his, eyes twinkling, aah... George Clooney!

The plot revolves around Danny and his team taking on the challenge of pulling off an impossible casino heist to get even with Willy Bank who cheats their friend Reuben. It's complex and has a dozen different sub-plots in it, which packs the movie with loads of excitement. Pay attention to the dialogues - the humour is subtle, and very smart! The end is fun, but you cannot help but wish it went on and on...

A must watch!

And till then, see you till I see you!

Me on CNBC TV18

I got my 2 mins of fame on CNBC TV18 today - an episode on The Future of Software Development, where I talked about the challenges of project management, the need for integration, and how a tool like Microsoft VSTS can make all the difference. The "sound bites" were shot a few days back at Persistent.

See my earlier blog for more details :)

The episode will be telecast again tomorrow at 6.30 pm

Interestingly, this wasn't my first appearance on prime time :) I appeared on MTV way back in 1997 with Cyrus Broacha, when he visited IIT Bombay and found us in the mess and asked me something about food - I do not remember what gyaan I gave him back then :)

We also appeared on a local Goa News Cable Channel, when our Narkasur band was the center of attraction. See this blog for more.

Post number 200

:)

Quote of the Day

Sometimes it's not the "what to do" that matters, it's the "what not to do". Siddhesh Bhobe.

Diet Diary

Here's my progress report so far :)

Days: 6
Stopped white bread, rice, sugar - only brown bread or roti
Stopped Pepsi and ice creams
Cut down on eating out
Stopped coffee in office - replaced with water
Brisk walking 45 mins a day
2 Cod liver oil tablets twice a day

Weight lost: 0 gms

How to Eat Less and Enjoy More

1) Slow down the process - if you eat around 70 calories of the right fats (six walnuts, twelve almonds or 20 peanuts) around 20 mins before a meal, you can trick your hormones into believing you are already full. Remember, ghrelin reduction takes about 20 mins to kick in, and 65 calories to stimulate. When you sit down for your meal, you would have already started the process of being "full" and you will eat much less. That is also the reason you should eat slowly.

2) Fibers are great because they slow down the process of food moving from the stomach, and make you feel full longer and hungry lesser. Thus, in addition to decreasing insulin and controlling blood sugar, fiber also reduces calorie intake. Start with 1-2 grams and slowly increase to 5 grams. Oatmeal, cereal, whole grains and fruit, are great sources of fiber. Preferably, take it in the morning for breakfast.

3) Take smaller portions on your plate.

Obesity isn't only about Food!

Some wierd causes of obesity:

1) Deodorants - some of them contain chemicals that disrupt metabolism! Avoid those that contain aluminium or polychlorobiphenols.

2) Air conditioning - Your body can lose fat trying to make you warm or cool - avoiding the AC can be a great way to lose fat!

3) Stopping smoking - Nicotine helps the fight against fat!

4) Your mom - nothing you can do about it! The older she was when she gave birth to you, the more likely you are to become obese.

Interesting Fact

Your small intestine is approximately 20 foot long. Given the folds and the crevices, the absorption area is 1000 times that!

Movie Review: Raqeeb

Pathetic script at the start. But if you sit through it, and through Tanushree Dutta's fat thighs, you might just enjoy the suspense towards the end!

The Day A Mobile Conked Off...

A sleepy, normal Sunday in June 07, in the bustling metropolis of Pune, India. A DISK (double income single kid) family has just wrapped up lunch, and is preparing for the afternoon siesta - you guessed right, the family is Goan, and the lunch did consist of fish curry rice, followed by mangoes.

12.35 pm: He picks up his cell, notices that it is dead. Damn! What if someone was calling him? He quickly sets up the charger, and plugs in the phone. And tries booting the cell - the cell flickers on, but hey, something's wrong! There is no welcome message, the cell switches off instead!

12.36 pm: He is beginning to panic. Flickes the switch on a couple of times, rams the charger pin in so hard, the phone squeals in pain (OK, that was an exaggeration), and tries again. No luck!

12.38 pm: A dozen more tries later, this time having tried playing with the battery, and the SIM, and his daughter's barbie doll, he accepts that his cell is dead!

12.53 pm: 15 agonizing meetings have passed by. He is starting to get more and more jittery. What about all those tele marketing calls he must have missed? What about all those "download kijiye aur jitiye" SMSes that would be vying for his attention? And what about all those friends who would be dead worried by now? Remember, at an average of one SMS every 5.5 mins, he should have sent atleast 3 by now!

12.54 pm: He begs his wife to lend her phone for 5 mins. She refuses.

12.58 pm: He begs again, this time she relents. After all, 5 mins is less than her mean time between SMSes.

12.59 pm: He makes a note of important cell phone numbers, and then tries messaging his friends. It's a hopeless situation - he cannot make sense of the Samsung UI! After all, he has been a Nokier all his life!

1.03 pm: Close to a state of desperation and depression, he hands back the Samsung. Life seems very bleak now.

1.07 pm: He has a brainwave. He goes online, and sends out a spurt of SMSes through mail! Thank god - atleast his friends won't fret to death now!

1.25 pm: He has had enough. He dresses up, takes out his car, and goes mobile hunting.

1.35 pm: He has checked every possible shop in town - but remember, it's a lazy Sunday and everyone has downed shutters! He cannot believe it - shouldn't cell phone replacement be part of every town's disaster management plan???

1.46 pm: Dejected, and demoralised, he is back home. Clueless. Scared. Worried. Sad

1.56 pm: Another brainwave! SOS!!! Out goes a flurry of SMSes in the world wide web, calling all samaritans for help! Can you lend me a spare cell phone?

2.03 pm: The first offer of help! His friend lives just around the corner, and offers to lend him her spare phone.

2.07 pm: He has the spare phone in his hand. He switches batteries, and lo and behold, his cell switches on!

2.08 pm: The first SMS goes out... life is back to normal.

Mentor

A mentor is someone you trust and admire and believe in - only as long as he does and says what you want him to do! The moment his advice and action go against your wants and needs, he ceases to even be a friend :)

Putting in 110 Percent

Had a discussion with my friend on this the other day - while I may have blogged about this before, wanted to put in a quick comment again...

What is important is that you give in your 110 percent to everything, not take things lightly, not let go of your focus. What is NOT ok though, is to expect quick results! Get impatient! There is a difference between working hard, and expecting hard! Success will come to you, as long as you have focus, commitment and work hard. And at the end of the day, when you put in your best, that's the sweetest success by itself!

Friends and Best Friends

Some senti stuff that was forwarded to me... thought it was nice! And so true!

Friend: calls your parents by mr. and mrs.
Best friend: calls your parents dad and mom.

Friend: never asks for anything to eat or drink
Best friend: opens the fridge and makes herself at home

Friend: asks you to write down your number.
Best friend: they ask you for their number (cuz! they can't remember it)

Friend: borrows your stuff for a few days then gives it back.
Best friend: has a closet full of your stuff

Diet 101

In the next few posts, you will get a good introduction to dieting... simply because I chanced about this great book on Dieting (YOU on a Diet), and well, not that I really NEED a book on dieting, or a diet for that matter :), but hey, you know, one should ALWAYS read new things!

OK, OK, first, let us get some basics right, and some myths shattered!

1) Don't watch your weight, watch your waist! Every body has it's own ideal weight, and that depends on a lot of factors including bone density! The metric to watch, therefore, is your waist. For women, the ideal waist is 32.5 inches, for men, 35. This should be measured at the belly button.

2) Starving yourself is the WORST form of dieting. Why? Because the moment you start starving, the body takes this as a sign that famine is on the way, and starts actually building up fat stores in your body!

3) When you lose weight without exercise, you lose both muscle and fat. When you build weight without exercise, you accumulate only fat! Hence people who try losing weight through crash diets, give up after some time, and add a lot more fat!

4) A high protein diet (chicken and fish) can help you reduce weight. Your body needs to use carbohydrates (excess of which is stored as fat) to break down proteins.

5) The hypothalamus in the brain is the area that looks after your wants and desires (hunger, thirst AND sex :)) Sometimes, drinking lots of water and having lots of sex can actually satisfy the body's hunger pangs! I am serious!

6)There are two chemicals in your body that affect your eating and dieting - CART (cocaine amphetamine regulatory transcript) and NPY (a protein called Neuropeptide Y). CART stimulates hypothalamus to increase metabolism, reduce appetite and increase insulin to deliver energy to muscle cells rather than be stored as fat. NPY has the opposite effect - it decreases metabolism and increases apetite.

7) CART and NPY are driven by two hormones in your body, leptin which influences CART, and ghrelin, which influences NPY. As you grow older, there are lesses leptin receptors in your hypothalamus - which means you feel less satisfied after eating, and hence tend to put on more weight. When you have stress, you have more of NPY and you tend to eat more! Get the connection?

8) Ghrelin works every couple of hours, sending hunger signals to the brain. Leptin is more long term. Thus, if you can get your leptin levels higher, you can beat those pangs easily. That's also another reason why smaller regular meals can actually help curb weight - it negates the build up of hunger pangs and it stops the body from accumulating fat deposits.

9) Nuts are excellent as regular snacks - they make you feel satisfied and kill your hunger pangs. On the other hand, High-fructose corn syrup, usually found in soft drinks, do nothing to address your hunger pangs, and make you want to eat more and unable to shut off your apetite.

That's all for diet 101 - watch out for a lot more in the coming days! And yes, watch your WAIST!

Movie Review: Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Why would you watch POTC 3? Only if you are a die-hard Johnny Depp fan. Or, if you are completely in love with Kiera.

As in POTC 1 and 2, Jack brings some brilliant moments to the movie - but you have to sit through 3 long, mostly boring hours, of tentacalized, barnacalized and slimy creatures, and grimy pirates. The visuals - well, let us just say that in this day and age, this much is expected. The script - brilliant with Jack, long winded and boring otherwise. The plot - too complicated, and seriously, the movie is twice as long as it should have been!

Try and avoid it, you will not miss too much!