Apt quote

Saw the following quote in today's HT, Mumbai edition:

Children use the fist
Until they are of the age to use the brain
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

It is quite appropriate for the recent happenings in Mumbai when MNS workers beat innocent and hapless persons, whose only crime (!), was that they were unemployed youths and from U.P. and Bihar. What a shame!

When I saw the news images in a TV news channel last Sunday, my initial reaction was of disbelief and a open mouth. Can this be happening in our age! Then I was siezed by anger and impotent rage. Violence of any kind, and especially to a fellow countryman, is deplorable and should not be happening.

Now Mr Raj Thackeray has been arrested and sent to jail for two weeks. Hope the child in him will stop using his fist and start using his brain. Attention seeking tacits will not work for ever. And justice will prevail. I still have faith.

Update: The following picture appeared in Today (Oct. 22)'s HT:

Link to the news story.

Green and peaceful

My work place

Picture of my desk, at my office. Sent from my mobile. Just for testing.

45, not out

Today I turned 45. For better or worse, only time will tell. Maybe for better, I hope.

I was pleasantly surprised to know that I share my birthday with Sony Ericsson. SE was established on October 3, 2001. Happy birthday Sony Ericsson and happy birthday to me. No wonder I have a soft corner for Sony Ericsson. My present phone is SE 580i and my previous two phone were too SE (K750 and W610). And so will my future phones be. I always recommend SE phones to my friends.

Now about me. It is bit scary that I am just five years away from half century. Am I not too old to be a blogger! I wonder, but who reads my blog, except me. And sometime even I also don't. But seriously, yes I should now start paying more attention to my health, my attitude to life and watch out what I eat.

This year my daughter gifted me a small glass-cased Lord Ganesha. It it sitting on top of our computer desk. I was quite pleasantly surprised to receive this. Maybe she wants me to turn spiritual or maybe she thinks I am turning old and Lord will take care of me, if I do not take care of me !!

It is W580i now

My new mobile phone is now Sony Ericsson W580i (black boulevard) . I purchased it today. And am quite happy about it. It is a slider phone

My birthday is on October 3, and as always is the practice is with me (gifting myself something), I thought this year I will gift myself W580. Actually I wanted to purchase the big brother of W580, which is W595, but I do not know when it will hit the Indian markets. As is the case with new models, W595 may also be steeply priced for first few months.

I do not had any much problem with my previous SE 610i phone, except that its navigation keys were a bit hard. The keys of W580i, both navigation and numeric, are quite soft. And it has a bigger screen and better resolution of 320 x 240. Also, W50i has built it pedometer, which keeps on counting the steps taken by me. It is quite useful to see much I am walking everyday and how much calories I am burning. So far, I had no problem with my new phone. It is quite good. The only thing I am missing is dedicated media on/off key on the side. Anyway, one does not get everything in a mobile phone.

I purchased it from Alpha Electronics, Irla, Vile Parle, Mumbai. It is supposed to be a landmark for the mobile phone/gadget lovers. My friend Ajay has been to Alpha previous and gone ga ga over it. So I went with Ajay today to Alpha. I was hoping that I may get W595 there. I had read in a SE blog that it is released on Sept. 29. The person at Alpha told me that it has not been received by them as yet. Since I wanted a new phone as a birthday present to myself, I made a quick decision to buy W580. And it seems to have been a wise decision. This phone is too good. I will write my detailed impressions about it later. Let me get used to it and enjoy it now.

Ya Ali

Last Friday, I visited Minara Lane, Mohammed Ali Road, which is famous for delicious food, in the month of Ramazan, for some yummy food. I have been going there, for some years now, but alone. Every year, some of my friends promise me to come along with me, but drop out at the last moment. So I end up going there alone. I look up to this annual visit as an yearly pilgrimage.

I have a favourite place at Minara Lane, called Marhaba, which I find quite good. It is a small place, but the food here is quite tasty, especially baida roti and mutton rolls. This time, I clicked some pictures, which are below. The prices are also quite unbelievably cheap.

[Click to enlarge]

[Click to enlarge]

Since I had gone there quite early (around 6:30 p.m.) and it was not yet Iftar time, I could not eat anything there, and got some items parcelled for my family at home, who also share my likeness for tasty food.

Not to be missed on the Minara Lane is Phirni, which is put in a small earthen pot and Malpua. I clicked this picture of giant malpuas being fried at Suleiman Usman Mithaiwala.

The ambiance and the aroma of yummy food is the reason which takes me to Minara Lane every year. When it comes to yummy and tasty food, everyone stands united, I think so.

My blogging friend, Kusum Rohra, has also visited Mohammed Ali Road last weekend and written a post about it.

A guide to eating places at and around Mohammed Ali Road is here.

A pact

Last week I made a pact (unsigned one though) with my daughter, aged 11, that I will pay more attention to fitness and will walk more. Daughters have a way to get their dad do the right things in life.

She (my daughter) and I go on most Sundays (when it is not raining) for an evening walk to our nearby park. Last Sunday, she mentioned that I am paying no attention to my health and am expanding in the middle. She said at least I should walk to railway station in the morning and evening instead of taking an auto rickshaw. Well, I tried to explain to her that it is quite difficult to avoid taking an auto in the morning as I do not want to miss my beloved 7:20 a.m. local train and the time seems to be flying the morning. Like a good daughter she understood but said what about evenings? Certainly in the evenings there is no hurry and I can certainly walk home. Well this stumped me. She is right. This set me thinking why I am taking an auto rickshaw in the evening and not walking from railway station. The distance is certainly walkable.

Next she asked me how much I pay per trip to and from railway station. Since I take a shared auto it comes to Rs. 5. She made a quick calculations and said if I walk from station to home every evening I will be saving Rs. 1300/- every year (5 x 5 = 25, 25 X 52 =1300), and every penny saved is a every penny earned. She said, or rather ordered me, that from tomorrow I will be walking from station to home every evening, and as a proof that I had walked I will deposit Rs. 5 with her every day, which she will be saving. Well, this seems to be quite good and practical suggestion. I readily agreed and since last Monday I am walking from station to home in the evenings. Now let us see if I am true to this unsigned pact in the coming days. I hope I will be. And I should be.

A sad story

[click on the picture to enlarge]

I saw the above news item in today's HT, and it really moved me. Sanath Singh, who used to work in Mumbai as a security guard, had decided to leave his job due to harassment by Raj Thackeray and his men,and moved to his native place in Bihar. The recent Bihar floods swept away all his possessions and he and his family is now living in a relief camp.

As a Maharashtrian by birth, I am sorry Sanath Singh.

Together for 18 years

This is Ajay

This is Ajay. He is The system administrator in our Department, and also my good friend. Ajay introduced to me to many useful mobile goodies like Google Map, Gmail for mobile, Google calendar for mobile etc. etc. (all these are available at m.google.com) Thanks Ajay for keeping me up-to-date on the new technologies. Ajay has answer to all my Linux and mobile-related questions. Thanks Ajay for being such a helpful person around.

And this is my second post from my mobile. I am loving to blog from mobile.

Recent Writings on Kashmir

Recent unfortunate happening in Jammu and Kashmir are in news for many days now.

Here are some notable articles about Kashmir issue by some prominent intellectuals:

1. Land and freedom by Arundhati Roy
2. Think the Unthinkable by Vir Sanghvi
3. Independence Day for Kashmir by Swaminathan A. Aiyer

All these articles are worth reading.

First post from my Mobile

This is my first post sent from my mobile (SE 610i). Configuring it on my mobile and sending was just so easy. Sony Ericsson Zindabad. BTW, the picture above is of my son, who sportingly agreed to be photographed for this post.

Bioscope man

By Indrajit Hazra
Publisher: Penguin India
Pages: 308, Price: Rs 299

Finished reading The Bioscope Man by Indrajit Hazra a few days ago. Mr Hazra writes a weekly column in the daily newspaper The Hindustan Times. The book made for some good reading. When I had spotted this book at my favourite Bookstore, the name Indrajit Hazra sounded familiar. Then I realized I read his column in the Sunday edition of HT.

The start, in particular, was quite funny and hilarious. Though some time the book tended to get dense and I lost track of the going ons. I found the chapters entitled `Interval' which occurs between chapters, quite uncomprehensive and off the track.

The book tells the story of Mr Abani Chatterjee. In fact it is written in the first person and Abani is telling us his story. [bioscope, dictionary.com, informs me means an early form of motion-picture projector, used about 1900.] So it is story about early times of movies, and the story is set at early 1900s, when the movies used to be silent. What I found funny about the story is that Abani Chatterjee, like his fater, is shown to be personal disaster prone, and what happens to him, off the screen, could well have happened in a movie. This particular sequence of Abani meeting his personal and absurd disaster is quite well written and is very funny. Here is an extract `I panicked. Instead of turning the tap off and proceeding to explain matters, I tried to move away from and towards her at the same time. In the process, one of my legs caught the other and fall on her like a lizard that had just lost its grip on the ceiling.'

What I also like about the book, besides its beautiful cover, is the font used in the book. The chapters entitled Interval, had different font, which is also very good. Also the books is typeset in one and half space, which made for easier reading, especially in the train, while commuting, where I read most of this book. I wish all the books had beautiful font and one and half spacing to add to the reading pleasure.

A detailed review of the book, which appeared in the Hindustan Times, is here.

My new mobile?

Sony Ericsson has unveiled three new walkman phones yesterday -- W902, W595 and W302. W595 looks to be good. I will certainly buy it when it becomes available in India.

I am quite happy with current Walkman Phone, W610i, but its screen is quite small, and W595 has 2.2 inch screen with resolution of 320 x 240. Hope it will not be priced high. I expect it to be priced in the region of 12 K in India. Or Maybe higher. Let us see.

The other two Walkman phones, W902 and W302, seems to be higher and lower end phones, respectively.

The full product detail about W595 is given here . This phone is successor to W580 phone, which I had almost bought, then I saw W610i and had fallen in love with its good looks.

Samosa power

Hindustan Times reports

Some of the toughest troops in the world have fallen in love with Indian culinary delights. In an outstanding endorsement of Indian menu, chicken tikka and samosa have become the staple diet for the Israeli Defence Forces.

I am amused. Yummy food zindabad.

Adventures of a bunch of keys

This happened to me yesterday. I was late, as usual, leaving home for office. I catch 7:20 a.m. train everyday and leave, please believe me, at 7:12. Catch an Auto rickshaw 7:15 and am at station at 7:18.

Yesterday was no different, except that it was a Friday and I do not bring lunch from home on a Friday, hence no need to take shoulder bag. I transfer all my usual stuff, keys bunch, headphone for mobile etc. to my trouser pockets. I did the same thing yesterday, but was late by a minute and was already in panic that I will miss my beloved 7:20 train. It had happened on many Fridays that I had left my keys bunch at home. So when I felt hot (oh God, when will it start raining again), I took out my handkerchief to wipe my sweating brow and then, I realized that my trouser pocket was feeling light which means I had left my keys bunch, once again at home. Okay, I said to myself, I will call home and get this confirmed and feel stupid on one more Friday. I called home from the train and and my wife informed me coolly that no, the keys bunch is not there at its usual place, I must have taken it and that I should not leave home in such a tearing hurry. Okay Okay, I said I will not do so in future. But where are the keys bunch. It contained my office key, my desk drawer key and also our home key. I began to panic. And started to sweat. I called home again and requested my wife to look carefully at home, I may have dropped it somewhere near the usual place. No, she informed me, the keys are not be found near its usual place.

My only hope was that I must have dropped it from my trouser pocket, while taking out the hanky. If it has dropped out of auto, then it is lost, and if it is dropped inside the auto, then I may get it back. I tried to recall how the driver of auto looked and draw up a mental picture of him. I had travelled in his auto for the first time.

Needless to say I spent the whole day, that is yesterday, at office, in sort of panic and at self-blame game. And left the office early, at the earliest opportunity. I scanned all the autos at station, where I get down usually, for the auto driver of the morning. No luck. All the drivers were fat, while the Man I was looking for was quite slim.

There was only one way, by which I could get back my bunch of keys. The only way.


Today being a Saturday, was an off day for me. But I acted if it was a Friday and left the home at usual time of 7:12 a.m. Reached the main road and, please believe me, after few minutes yesterday's auto rickshaw driver passed by, I could not believed it and the driver also recognized me and stopped. I went across to him said I travelled in your auto yesterday and before I could finish he took out my keys bunch and handed it over to me. He explained that the next customer, after I had left, had spotted the keys bunch and had handed it over to him. I was, of course, overjoyed. I took out some money from my wallet and handed it over to him, as a reward for him. And thanked him many many times.

So miracles do happen. Personally, I do not believe in miracles, I depend on them!

Thank you Shri Honest Autowalla and thank you unknown, alert. he or she, who spotted my keys bunch.

Firefox 3

Firefox is the best web browser. period.

Firefox 3 will be released on June 17, 2008. Please pledge to download it on that day and help create a Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours. I have already pledged to download it, and so have 18,858 people from India (at the time of writing this post). So come on, pledge to download Firefox on June 17.

You can pledge by clicking here.

Walking with the Walkman

I have been using till today, Sony Ericsson K750i mobile. Today I traded it for a new mobile which is Sonry Ericsson W610i. I was quite happy with K750i, but wanted a new phone. I was quite sure that my new phone will be a Sony Ericsson and a walkman series. Though Sony has quite a number of phones in walkman series, but some of them are either slider or fold phones, but I wanted a candy phone. And my search ended with W610i. It is quite a beautiful silm phone. It has great sound quality, both in built in speaker and in stereo headphones. So I look forward to walking with the walkman and listening to great music by RD.

Pancham UnMixed

Pancham UnMixed: An Unending Journey, is a film-documentary on Rahul Dev Burman, by Brahmanand Singh,. The world premier of this documentary will be at ArcLight Hollywood, Los Angeles on the 26th April, 6.30 pm.

Oh can't wait to see this documentary when it is released in India.

A trailer of the documentary is below.

14 years, without

Today is 14th death anniversary of Rahul Dev Burman. Today is the day of mourning for Panchamda's fans, like me. His songs are still with me, and will always be with me. I have been listening to song `Haye Re Haye Tera Ghungta' from movie Dhongee, today morning. What a song! The video of the song is below. Note how Asha says the word Ghungta in the song.