The story is same boring story about a diamond trail with lots of abuses and intolerable toilet humor, with the main characters miraculously live to see the day.

However what makes the movie so interesting is it dialogue delivery, sequence of events and spontaneous humor.

It’s definitely not a movie to watch with mature and sensitive audience. But I guess it’s like Japanese food. You either love it or you hate it there… there is no middle path. However kudos to Bollywood for finally making a guy’s movie that does revolve around getting laid or dirty talk which degrades women.

Verdict: Must watch for those who find all this appealing… for the rest it would be the longest 90 minutes of their life (even if they did not have to pay for the tickets/popcorn/parking etc.)

Have you wondered that whenever an unmarried person visits Nadi Sastra center, his/her leaf will not contain any information about his spouse’s name. However immediately after marriage, the leaf has the spouse’s name.

How many guesses will it take to correctly predict a randomly chosen number from 1- 127?

Answer: 7 (clue binary search tree algorithm)

They start with a group of commonly used alphabets and eliminate it one by one to obtain to arrive at the right answer. This coupled up with a few intelligent guesses helps build up the entire persona and predictions. Remember, a human being is a believer by nature. (or believes in disbelief) So irrespective of the information provided, he always hunts for an analogy, clause or an instance where the spoken words are true. That is why even a 2/- newspaper is able to make a quite accurate prediction of one’s day.

I would like up to sum up with the words of one of my friend who once said:
“Astrology is a dangerous art. I don’t know if there is any truth in this science, but there is then the astrologer would know things about me, my thoughts and actions even before I realize those words or actions are even possible. If it is bogus, then these guys can subtly persuade and influence me into acts and deeds that they think I should do without providing any logical bias.”

This is another movie with a interesting story line. Shot in a remote backward village of India, the story revolves around a letter-writer who passionately helps illiterates write to their loved ones. Naturally, the story splits into several sub-stories each revolving around his clients. Although you might feel that some parts of the story are exaggerated, which the author himself acknowledges, but the movie is still quite amusing and unpredictable.

Movie Review: Yeh Mera India

This is a very good Hindi remake of the movie LA Crash 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(2004_film) . Set in Mumbai the story revolves around more than a dozen seemingly ordinary characters, each with a totally different personality, desires and yet in a creatively way intertwined each and every one to create an interesting story where the actions and thoughts of one effect the life of another. Amongst the movies with a social/patriotic message, I should say this movie would be the most interesting one. It makes you appreciate the true India without going overboard with strong emotions.

There is no dearth of innovation.

Carrying portable water from the wells/streams to the house has traditionally been a back breaking job for most women in the villages of India. To solve this problem, Q-Drum was invented. This cylindrical structure has a provision to tie a rope in the center using which even a kid can roll 50L of water on a flat surface.

I have ordered for one such drum for myself and would post the field test results once i conduct them.

I tell you why.

The film story is very different from the game and also sucks (My girlfriend differs on this point).

The action sequence leaves me with a hollow feeling when compared to the game series.

The female protagonist, with due respect, stands nowhere in comparison to Monica Bellucci, who modelled and voiced the game’s female character.

Coming to Mr. Coyle, I don’t know if I have stereotyped him as a comedy genre actor or because of his heavy British accent, I don’t think he could portray the character Tus very convincingly (This, after the fact that he is a theatre actor). Half the time while he spoke, I expected a joke in his very Jeff-like voice.

I don’t know about others, but people who were a fan of the game series or of Couping…don’t go for it. It simply ruined my evening.

I remember at IIM-L, one of the faculty members used to regularly use scenes from Mahabharata (an epic hindu book) to teach us certain aspects of Management, esp negotiation, soft skills and HR training. Another professor screened “12 Angry Men” during an exam. I guess these examples help a lot in reinforcing the faculty’s point of view and explain the students the real life application of the issue being discussed. I wonder how many other schools and colleges also take a similar approach.

I don’t know how many people use linkedin to investigate about the company they intend to invest in, but looks like in the services field I would be using it more often.

Have you also found any other investing use of social networking sites?

Bajaj is one of the country’s largest industrial houses and has expertise in selling overpriced products made from obsolete technology and shabby workmanship. After all how hard can it be to make a water heater? Even if you look at its main industry, Bajaj scooter was made from stolen technology and has been responsible for several thousand of the road accidents. The reason being that the scooter was lopsided, i.e. its entire engine weight was on one side. Net result is that if you brake hard it will turn twist and maim the rider. Its flagship product autorickshaw/tri-wheeler is another example of outdated obsolete technology. It vibrates more than the vibrators, has so little power that one can walk faster and hence it is responsible for bulk of the traffic congestion and air pollution on Indian streets. No wonder South Mumbai and other cities have started banning/restricting their movement.

I cannot think of any reason why this business house survives or why anybody would want to buy its products.

Holi is round the corner but that does not mean that I should start eating artificial chemical poisons. I oppose the use of colors because of these 3 reasons:

1. These are chemicals which are harmful for the body
2. One sub-standard and poor quality food articles are adulterated with artificial colors
3. It cheats the consumer because colors give a false impression of quality and enable the merchant to charge extra for the sub-standard products.

All packaged food item need to carry a health warning if they contain colors, preservatives and other harmful substances. I think its high time that restaurants esp. the ones that charge exorbitant costs also need to carry statutory warning for their malpractices.

Like the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, over the years, I moved from the need to be able to write correct English, to the need to be able to crystallize one’s thoughts and express my ideas and viewpoints. Now this blog often serves as a vehicle where I can store my opinion. Over the past 5 years I have seen my viewpoints being changed. What is even better is that more often than not the regular reader or someone who stumbles into the website will contribute his view points and either refine or totally change them. So this place has become a kind of a melting pot. As far as possible I try to reference the source and make the facts discussed in the blog to be as accurate as possible. There have been many instances where my view took a complete U-Turn after these researches and comments from the viewers.

E-Nagar is a team blog and every person in the team has a different reason to be here and of course a different viewpoint. We don’t advertize on the blog or derive any revenue from it. On the contrary we pay quite a sum every year for the domain name and the hosting of the website.

A lot of people blog to generate traffic, however I could not get myself into doing that. Also my writing style is not engaging enough that I can retain my viewer’s attention. However I feel that the quality has improved dramatically over the years. I try to have as much variety in the blog as possible and usually restrict the length to 200-400 words so that it is not too long and torturous.

This post is to celebrate over 8000 user comments and nearly 1400 blog posts over nearly 5 years.

My assertion was:
a. The store managers are earning more because they are good at their job and their skills are more valuable than others. It is not that the tax payer’s money is being used to pay an incompetent public servant, these high school drop outs receive a share of the profit they make for their establishments.

b. Not all pilots are having a hand to mouth existence. We are probably comparing the worst pilots with the best highschool drop outs. It must be noted that most high school drop do not get promoted.

c. The moral ground that since I have spent more hours at school and college, I should be paid more is also not valid. In most universities the students have a more leisure lifestyle allowing them to party, have a part time job and long vacations. While working in a sweatshop Is far more straining.

d. The moral assertion is further weakened by the fact that often it’s the society and not the individual that bears the cost of education. The wages of the professors, the scholarships, tuition fee grants/waivers, support for living expenses, subsidized accommodation and travel all comes from the taxpayers.

e. Lastly it should not be forgotten that many people forego their university degree. This could be because the employer might think that they are too overqualified for the job or because their degree has no relation with the job they are applying for. As a result the surveys are never able to correctly capture their statistics.

In The Odyssey, another great hero, Odysseus, has a chance of going to (and returning from) the underworld, land of the dead. There he meets the ghosts, or shades, of many near and dear ones and converse with them all. What rattled me completely (and caused undue attention, since I was reading in the middle of a class lecture) was what the shade of Achilles told Odysseus. I quote from Robert Fagle’s translation:

“No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus!
By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man-
Some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive-
Than rule down here over all the breathless dead.”

Despite getting what he wanted, the hero longed to change his decision! I can’t understand why. I think Bill Watterson put it in a rather amusing one line – “How can something seem so plausible at the time, and so idiotic in retrospect?” Seems the so-called modern dilemma of the grass being greener on the other side has ancient roots.

Modern Phrase
i Slow and steady wins the race
ii Between the devil and the deep blue sea

What The Odyssey has to offer
i …Slow outstrips the Swift!
ii Scylla to starboard, dreaded Charybdis off to port

Will keep updating this post as I come across newer ones…

PS: I wanted to open an account in this branch, but was told this branch exclusively serves female customers.

A more verbose review can be found here

The guy in the book
is just like you
a genius,
loving life to the core,
Crazy enough to try the impossible
and
Succeeds every time
and
Never Finished …….

All the Best.

When was the last time someone captured the essence of you so accurately and was actually able to put in words?

Juno

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young teenager (Juno) makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child. She plans to bear the child for adoption and the entire movie starts from pregnancy and ends with delivery of the child.

——-

Another good movie to watch is Presitige

This is a movie about the dark side of obsession. 2 rival magicians (showmen, not real abstract stuff) are desperately trying to unravel the secret behind the other guy’s tricks. In this quest, they use treachery, deception, lies and ultimately bring destruction to themselves and the people around them.
My response after watching this movie. I need to watch it again!

the 6 characters were:
Saif Ali Khan …. Ranvir Singh (bada Bhai)
Akshaye Khanna …. Rajeev Singh (chota bhai, a waster)
Katrina Kaif …. Sophia (Saif’s sexy secretary)
Bipasha Basu …. Sonia (she and Saif love each other, yet she marries Akshaye)
Anil Kapoor …. Robert D’ Costa (police inspector who would bore you by eating fruits and cracking PJs)
Sameera Reddy …. Mini (Anil’s bimbo secretary)

Here is how the story goes (don’t read if you want to watch the movie)
There are 2 step brothers. Younger brother is a waster while the elder brother is a gambler. The elder brother has a beautiful secretary, who also happens to have a crush on him, and also a girl friend whom he intends to marry.

Now the insanity begins:
The younger brother likes the elder brother’s girl, so the elder brother sacrifices his love for him.
Then the younger brother dates his bhabi and makes a proposition. They will together kill him and share the spoils of a 100M$ insurance between the two. The girl agrees, but promptly reveals the entire plan to the Saif (elder brother). However, moments after that she pushes Saif off the roof. He takes the fall and his dead body is shown and verified by the Police Morgue.
At this point the movie looks like a bit complicated movie on human greed.

Then enters Anil Kapoor. He and his bimbo secretary would bore you with their PJs. So much that the guy sitting next to me started snoring. During investigation it was revealed that Saif is married to the hot secretary (kaitrina Kaif) so all the insurance money would go to her. But immediately after that the scene changes and you would find the younger brother (akshay khanna) sleeping with Kaitrina. Then Anil Kapoor steps in and proves that the Kaitrina’s marriage was fake and Akhsay bribes him to get the insurance money. Bipasa Basu (Akshaya’s wife) now discovers that she has been double crossed and by some twist of fate, mistakenly ends up paying a contract killer for her own assassination. Then out of thin air Saif Ali Khan rises from the dead and saves Bipasha Basu, who immediately falls in love with her. then instead of killing his younger brother with the revolver that is in his hand, he challenges him for a car race. …. ….

And the plot thickens revealing many more twists and turns.

Whenever while surfing/reading documents you come across a new word, all you have to do is select the word and click on the icon. A simple box will pop out and will give the meaning of the word.

BTW for the environmentally conscious, Morgan Stanley has printed a nice green book which is worth a peep.

After reading the budget, I was wondering what is the tax rate on Umbrella.
Honestly, the only correct answer is:
“It depends on who is asking.”

The tax rates depends on whether it was made by a big industry, cottage industry or a medium industry.
It depends on whether the umbrella was fold-able or not. If foldable, then how many folds does it have.
What fabric it was made from silk, polyester, plastic.
Was the cloth imported or domestic.
If domestic, then was it made in a hand loom, a power loom. By an Indian company or a MNC?
Were the components assembled in Mumbai (or developed regions where it rains) or some arid backward regions of Rajasthan?
…..
…..

The list goes on.

Why do Indians make everything so complicated?
Does it really help and serve its purpose?

I would have really helped if the Budget was a 2 page document
1st page is the balance sheet, explaining how, where and how much were the taxes collected and spend
2nd sheet: a simple addendum stating the difference from the last time.

1) Word Documents have tracking feature which records who added what and when.
2) Online documents can be typed in a Twiki (enterprise Wiki) which tracks the changes.
3) I put all my code and scripts in CVS (Concurrent Versions System)

However sometimes some text files or scripts escape these processes and I have a hard time tracking and undoing the changes there. In that case I use WinMerge (or VIM-Diff) It compares the text of the 2 files and highlights just the lines which are different. Hence making my job of reviewing the edits much easier.

As far as possible, I like to have a version system. I enable tracking on all Word Documents, I have Twiki

All you have to do is
1) go to their website
2) Type in your mailing address and request for CDs of Ubuntu 7.10 ( also called Gutsy Gibbon). Ubuntu will ship the CDs for free (they will not even charge you for postage/handling)
3) Insert the CD into your machine and boot it.

The entire OS (along with all its packages) can be run directly from the CD and requires no installation. If you like the Operating system then you can opt to install it (it takes 5 minutes) else all you have to do is remove the CD and your machine would be back to normal.

The entire interface is fast and simple and does not occupy much space. You can upgrade the kernel, install/remove software without any REBOOT. It comes with pre-installed Open Office (so you do not have to pay for Microsoft Office), Firefox. So essentially you can be up and running in 10 minutes.

Simple isn’t it? Hence no wonder that its logo also says “Linux for Humans”

Cons:
Although it looks and feels like a Linux, regular users of Fedora /Red-Hat might find it real hard to get used to. Primarily because its command line interface is not very strong, the scripts and the usual commands are either not there or are under a different name.

PS: If anybody from Bangalore has any trouble in getting their hands on the CD, they can always drop by and use my CDs.

To say Saawariya is a crappy movie would not be correct. Horrendously Ridiculous comes close, but it doesn’t really capture the essence of the absurdity that this movie is. After watching this movie I felt like tying up Sanjay Leela Bansali alone in a room, forcing him to watch a cockroach chase a spider round-and-round a water fountain for 3 hours. That too in blue light. Because seriously, that’s what this entire movie is. It’s two grossly untalented kids, who probably got kicked out of college for lack of attendance and ended up on this set to spend the rest of the day. And for the love of God, I can’t figure out why the whole movie is in blue! Maybe the director was trying to get every frame half-black half-blue so that the WinZip compression would work better to save some electrons, what with all the global warming and all. That’s the best explanation I could come up with, because nothing else can explain the lack of daylight (or plain light, for that matter) in this movie.

- Forwarded by Payel

Also since I am hooked to applications like citrix , VNC and telnet server, I find it very cool to control several other desktops using my own workstation.

PS: If you do not have a broadband service/high speed internet, please do not bother with this post.

—-
Feeling Bored?
here is a cool windows trick to trouble your sibling who always manages to snatch the computer when u want it.

Dish TV/DTH/TATA SKY

Advantages:

1. Corporate working benefits: 24 hour call center, online and telephonic support, trained engg. Etc.
2. You never ever get grains/ants/ noise in picture quality or in sound.
3. All channels provide same picture and sound quality, important when you invite friends for a cricket match and your TV is showing Jassi Jaisi seamlessly but makes you wonder if sachin is batting or harbhajan on ESPN?
4. As long as your TV receives electricity you can view programs, not depending on electricity or wire failure from operator.
5. View what you like and pay only for that. You always get free viewing for few channels as a part of promotion.
6. Channel numbers are set by service provider and they don’t change for whatsoever. So don’t waste finding Sony TV while half of the Big Boss is over.

Disadvantages:

1. Bad reception during moderate and heavy rains, especially if accompanied by lightening. In India this is more common but surprisingly this also happens a little less frequently for Sky London, I had expected technology to be more mature and reliable here but in vain.
2. You don’t pay you don’t get service, no excuse to ask the collection guy to come over next Sunday, because there is no collection guy.
3. If you want few channels from different companies, you land up paying a lot more for ex.

a. Sony TV, SET MAX, SAB TV = 100 Rs. (figures are for example only)
b. ZEE TV, ZEE Cinema, ZEE Music, ZEE Smile = 100 Rs
c. Sony TV, ZEE TV – you still pay Rs. 200.

Plus any regional channel is not guaranteed and if they have it in offering it will cost you more.

4. Slightly delayed reception for ex. if 2 TVs are playing a football match, 1 equipped with local cable and other with Dish. You will see a goal in local cable first, though the difference is only 2 to 5 seconds, for few it may be a prestige issue.

Local Cable

Advantages:

1. As long as your TV and cables distribution system receives power mostly you will enjoy good reception whether it is raining or snowing outside.
2. All channels in the world for set price. You watch it or not you get it – sounds like benefit if you are born Tamil brought up in Karnataka, married to a Andhra girl and have interest in Sports and Hindi Movies. You get it all dude.
3. You see Zedan kicking the goal first on your 21” flat CRT compared to your neighbor with fancy dish TV and 42” plasma, makes you feel proud.

Disadvantages:

1. From Cable strike, government strike, no electricity to death of cable network owners 103 year old great grand father, you are responsible and hence you bear the consequences no TV reception for you for a day.
2. “Cable cut ho gaya Sir!” I hate when they say that. What do I have to do with it? Don’t we pay for you to maintain these things? Your Sunday is spoiled helping in kitchen.
3. Grains on at least 25 % of the channels at any given time. Feels like pouring some Beygon on my TV.
4. I just sorted 110 channels and grouped them by categories and languages, 2 hours well spent. Next morning “BANG” the guy sitting in control room was just playing for fun and changed all your setting, so you can see “Sanskar TV” on 1, followed by “ESPN” and “Alpha TV Punjabi” What happened to my settings?