Karishma Tanna

Karishma Tanna is one of the small screen actresses that I really like! She is tall and has a great smile!

Currently she is working in 2-3 soaps and is a contestant in the 'Comedy Circus' show on Sony TV.
What is also quite unusual about her is her surname: Tanna.

I was not sure which community she belonged to. So I did a bit of Googling and here is what I came up with:
Wikipedia informs us that 'Tanna' is a last name common among Lohanas who are basically a Gujurati - Hindu trading community.

Here are two pics of this cutie (if you want more just Google her name or click here):

51/50 Day

A 51/50 day is the kind of day when everything seems to be falling into place. You feel in complete control as if God had revealed your future for that day.

This comes from an incident which happened to me few years ago. Me and my friends were giving an exam. It was a Master's level module on System Failure that we were being examined on. In that exam we had a Critical Path Method question. The answer to which was 51/50.

The moment, the exam ended, I knew my answer was correct. I just knew it. A gut instinct. Was feeling supremely confidant. So I turned to my friend, who was looking a bit nervous, and said '51/50'. He gave me a big smile and I knew that it was a perfect day for me!

For D

Well Mr. D. Didn't know you or anything about you except that you were 95 years old.
We shared something.

You again reminded me that life doesn't stop for anyone or anything. It keeps on going.

It was my date with death. Thank you for it. It will be remembered.

I hope you are happier where you are now.

Independence Day

I shall never forget this day. 15th August 2007 I gained my freedom. I gained my freedom just like India did 60 years ago.
India was anything but the confidant and strong nation that it is today. It was born crippled with communal tensions and aggressive neighbours. It survived. The nation survived. It went on to make something of itself.

True steel is tested not at time of war but at time of peace. How does it weather the peace? Will it rust into a powder? Will it shine again in times of war? War is but a blink of an eye between two intervals of peace. A mere interlude.

It is in peacetime when future wars are won and lost. As a famous quote tells us:

"At times of peace prepare for war".

War doesn't come upon you after lengthy debates every time. Often it creeps up on cat's paws as you sleep the sweet sleep of life. It stands upon your bed. Looking down upon your face. Relishing in its black heart the pain and shock it is going to cause you. The twist it is going to give your life.

Coming back to India. We find ourselves again in a time of peace. But the next war is always around the corner. The next period of struggle is just over the horizon. Are we prepared? Do the shopping malls and the presence of luxury brands indicate preparation for future struggles or do they indicate the removal of stones from the protective wall to build buildings of pleasure?

Do we, as humans, deserve any peace in our lives? Or are we cursed forever to look out for what is around the bend and best prepare ourselves for it, keeping in mind, that most probably, we will be overwhelmed? There will have to be a certain non-zero percentage of 'acceptable loss'?

This 'acceptable loss' is the price of freedom. It is what allows us to sleep at night as soldiers and civilians alike are killed across India. We know, others die so that we can live, we can buy our cars and our watches and our televisions. But what we don't realise is the fact that as the acceptable losses start eating away at our base, without preparation one day soon, we shall find ourselves being counted in that percentage.

On an unrelated note, I wonder how big a percentage loss is 1cm diameter piece of our body?
Is it an 'acceptable loss'? Strangely enough the 9mm bullet (one of the common calibres) is about 1cm in diameter (since 1cm = 10mm).

Raste ka maal saste mein

Me: coz very few girls think im a normal guy, u see, i dont have a wide choice

lagta hai mujhe apni neelami karwani padegi 'raste ka maal saste mein',

'arre koi to le jao, token amount hi de jaao'

A: this is an interesting thot process being shared with a gal,

if u l ytell this to ne gal other than me, i doubt tht they l call u normal.

Crazy.. Me?

azahar*it is always gud to be a bit crazy for people u care...try it u will understand what m saying

This was a comment from someone.

:D

They want me to be crazier than I am now. Its a first!

But I don't think the world is ready for that yet.

Maybe after I get MARRIED I'll be crazy enough to please 'you'?

;)

The Year of Death

The year was 2002.

The one year of my life when I lost four people I really respected. Four people I really liked.

1 Friend
1 Grandmother
2 Uncles

Someone once told me that I am a very cold person. I think in 2002 I hit absolute zero.
In theoretical physics at absolute zero temperature a system neither emits nor absorbs energy.
My emotional temperature was just that. I was neither absorbing nor emitting emotions within me.

That was, I feel the completion of my education in Death.
But , then again, when your doing a degree in Death, you only graduate when you die. You always keep learning. See it in new forms around you.

Why did I write this post? Well because today I was struck with a thought: why do we worry so much when we are all going to die one day? What is the source of continuous human progress when human themselves are not permanent.

I remember having this discussion with a friend few months ago. I think it is because we spend so little time alive, we want to leave our mark. Then some people are too intoxicated with life that they don't see death.

Plus there are the social rules that one has to follow which makes us live. From the moment we are born, we don't comprehend the shortness of life. Normally by the time we reach that level of maturity our childhood is over (if you are lucky) and we are caught up in the day to day struggles of adult life. That is what keeps us surging ahead. I wonder do we ever live for ourselves? Especially when we reach adulthood? Or is it always about other people?

I think most of us live because we were born.

Its like we are serving out a prison sentence. The same way prisoners don't have a choice about their daily routine; they get up, shower, eat and sleep at fixed times. Similarly life seems to have a routine. Grow up, prepare for life, get a job, get married, produce kids, take care of kids, prepare them for life, get them settled, grow old and die.


A cynical view but then it is just that, a point of view. One of many that I have on this subject.

:)

The Crow

People once believed that when someone dies, a Crow carries their soul to the land of the dead, but sometimes something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the Crow can bring the soul back and put the wrong things right.

From: 'The Crow' comic book.

I hope when I die, I do meet this mythical Crow and convince him to bring my soul back. So that I can set the wrong things right. I know a terrible sadness shall be carried with my soul. Therefore my chances of convincing the Crow are quite high!

My question to you is, what price would you pay to set wrong things right? Would you sacrifice your essence, your soul? What is the price of your life? What is the price of your soul?

Is your price end of world hunger? Is your price end of war? Is your price the birth of an idea (like Shaheed Bhagat Singh) that brings change?

Would you give up life and soul if the above price was offered to you? Would you really? Or would you prefer to turn your back and continue living?

Die Hard 4: YAAAAAAAAAAAAWN HARDER

Die Hard 4 was not as good as I thought it would be.
In my opinion it is the worst of the series. Before this I thought the second one was the worst but now I can say with confidence, this latest one is the worst.

I think, besides the unrealistic plot (most movies about hacking are SO far removed from reality that you end up laughing!) the whole movie stank of repetition.
Few minutes into the movie Bruce Willis has been shot at, bloodied and bruised!

Die Hard 1 was about few floors in a high-rise building.
Die Hard 2 was about a large airport (say couple of square kilometeres?).
Die Hard 3 was about a city (New York)
Die Hard 4 is about half the US East Coast!
Logically extrapolating...
Die Hard 5 is going to about saving the world perhaps?

All in all the action sequences are good. But the dialogs, situations and acting seems bit repetitive. There is no real 'twist' in the story like there was in Die Hard 1, 2 AND 3.

One thing that is good about the movie is the fact that you see lots of things blowing up. From power plants to aircrafts!

Go watch it 'coz its there in the theatres! But don't expect anything special.

Diamonds! A Girls best friend!

Showing girls best friend... so that I can make a few 'girl type' best friends. ;)

LADIES! Please comment on the designs (they are from Tiffany's). Lets see what kind of stuff girls like these days.

Have been requested to explain what does 'girl type' friends means:

It means human beings who can be categorised as 'females' by anatomical analysis even if in their behavior they are not 'girl like'.

I ain't Alcoholic!

Talking about an old picture with a friend:

Me: that picture was taken in 2003

T: aain u have some drink in ur hand.. so thats one thing that hasnt changed hehehe

Me: :D

n till my liver is working and pocket has money, shall never change,

Machwe will be seen with a drink in hand and smile on face.

Talking about marriage, wishing a friend well:

Me: Hope you find the woman of your dreams this year.

M: tere mu mein teri manpasand daru... (may you get your favourite alcohol to drink*).


*Back home we have this saying for whenever someone predicts / wishes something nice for you. It goes something like 'tere mu mein ghee shakkar' - basically meaning may you get to eat what you enjoy the most (coz you said good words through your mouth.


So people don't think of me as an alcoholic! I just love to drink!

Engagement Rings!

I found these two pictures of engagement rings on my hard disk (don't ask me how they got there!). Really impressed with their design. So here they are:

Job Titles and Bullshit

Was talking about my job with a friend. She happened to mention that the job 'sounds important'.

Which made me realise the fact that more important a job sounds higher the percentage of bullshit in it!

Top Level Domain Names - A Friendly Guide

Top level domains... now what the heck are these and why should I read this post?

Let me answer the second question first...

Why should you read this post?

You will be surprised to know top level domains (TLDs) are encountered by us every time we surf the internet. Equally surprising is the fact that many people are unaware of what they mean (especially those not in the IT sector) and how useful they can be in figuring out the nature of the website (without even visiting it!).
Moreover many websites have names which might give a false or wrong impression, prompting you to click the link. But due to the strict control on TLDs their true nature can be found by just looking at the FULL address.

So read on, it might save you a few useless clicks when you are looking for that important piece of information!


What is a Top Level Domain (TLD)?

Generally domain names (or main website addresses) are of the following format:

www.WEBSITE_NAME.X X X

(e.g. www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, www.amazon.com)

OR

www.WEBSITE_NAME._ _ _.X X

(e.g. www.yahoo.co.in, www.google.co.uk, www.homeoffice.gov.uk)

Now top level domain is the bit (in italics in the examples above) after the main website name (which is highlight/bold).

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority classifies top level domains into three categories but here we will discuss only the two important ones which you are most likely to encounter on a daily basis:

1) Country-code top level domains (ccTLD): used by countries as top level domains. Used by country specific versions of various sites. For example Google UK has the following address:
www.google.co.uk where the ccTLD is .uk similarly for Google India the address is www.google.co.in where the ccTLD is .in. This shows that the site is particular to that country.

Why do you need to bother with country specific sites?
An example to answer the above question: If you reside in UK and you go to Amazon.com (the US version of the site) it will not sell you many of the available products and ask you instead to go to Amazon.co.uk and purchase the product from that site. This is due to copyright and other legal restrictions.

2) Generic top level domains (gTLD): used by particular type of organisation. For example .mil (as in military) is used by the US Armed forces for their websites (http://www.navy.mil/ - US Navy). Similarly .com (as in commercial) is widely used by companies. The gTLD .gov (as in government) is used by US goverment bodies (e.g. www.fbi.gov - The Federal Bureau of Investigation)

These are often combined with ccTLDs to give country and role specific sites. For example all UK government websites end with .gov.uk and for Indian government websites it is .gov.in (http://www.indianrail.gov.in - website of Indian Railways) or for country specific commercial sites such as Amazon.co.uk (.co is same as .com both standing for commercial websites) and eBay.co.in.

USING TLDs

TIP 1:
When looking for government/country related information (such as passport information, visa, tourist information etc.) concentrate on websites with addresses ending with .gov.XX or .gov (for USA) specific to that country. Therefore if you are looking for information on Australia start with sites having names ending with .gov.au. Many commercial websites have an official sounding name such as in the ad highlighted by the red box in the image below.

The website name is www.indianvisaheadoffice.co.uk
What strikes a casual user is the main website name: indianvisaheadoffice which may be mistaken as a Government of India website especially if the user is in a hurry and doesn't read the ad carefully (which doesn't clarify that it is NOT affiliated with the Indian Government and that it is a commercial website!).

But the FULL ADDRESS gives it away! Looking at the TLD we see it is .co.uk which means it is a COMMERCIAL (.co) website specifically for the UK (.uk)

TIP 2:
When looking for products look on the country specific website first (if present). Thus if you are looking for a book and you reside in UK, search Amazon.co.uk first. All the top retailers and brands have country specific websites (for major countries). For an accurate idea of products available in your country go to the country specific website first!
Usually the smaller brands and retailers do not have country specific websites, instead they operate out of a single .com address with or without country specific sections in the website (an example would be www.WEBSITE_NAME.com/uk/some_page.html - pointing to UK specific webpage within a standard commercial website).
Don't worry if you type in the country specific address and the browser takes you to a .com version of the site. Most probably the country specific domain points to the same site with a redirection to the country specific content.

TIP 3:
If you are still confused about a particular website then go to http://www.who.is and type in the full website address to find out registration information about the domain name.

Click here to view the WHOIS information about my website (www.pisceslab.com)



FINALLY
A full list of ccTLDs and gTLDs can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains

The BIG Chivas Regal

Bin is our Bar

The Dust-bin Drinks Club

Yummy, the final drink!

'I'll be back'

I have tried to explain the simple concept of happiness to my friends many times.
It is quite simple:

Your happiness is in YOUR hands, you have the power to make yourself happy or to remain unhappy.
Every SECOND you remain unhappy is because you ALLOW yourself to remain so.

That is the simple fact. People will argue and talk about how they can't 'help it' or their 'circumstances are bad' or that 'you don't know how it was' or sometimes 'not everyone is as strong as you'. But I just tell them one thing. I'm not telling you to be happy. I am just telling you that YOUR happiness is in YOUR hands. If you want to make yourself happy, you can do that! It might be tough as hell but it CAN BE DONE!

In fact the main problem is not becoming happy but remaining happy. That is very tough! But I am sure if you have a half decent bunch of friends, I am sure you won't have to TRY very hard to remain happy!

Another thing to try for the times when you are unhappy, is to forget your happiness/unhappiness and make others happy. Don't become a cry baby. Make a difference instead in someone else's life. It will have the dual affect of making you forget your issues and making someone else feel better!

Tell life 'I'll be back' just like Arnold says it in T2.

Yeah! I'll be back!

Cursed By Beauty

This is a still from the movie 300.

It is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Bit straightforward action, yet full of mystery. This is a picture of the 'Oracle'. The title of the song that plays in the background during this scene is 'Cursed By Beauty'.

It is an amazing song! The soundtrack on the whole is quite good. Listen to it if you get a chance.

The title of the song 'Cursed By Beauty' comes from the fact that the 'Oracles' were always chosen from the most beautiful girls born to the Spartans. Thus they were cursed by beauty to become Oracles and spend their entire life with the hellish Ephors.

Can beauty be a curse? In India definitely.

Subzero00

I was talking to someone a few days ago about chatting on the net. They happened to mention Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC is the grand-daddy of modern-day internet chat systems.

It was the only service accessible from the 'VSNL Non-graphical Student internet account'. Services like Yahoo Messenger and ICQ were only accessible from the 'VSNL Graphical internet accounts' which were quite expensive in those days.

I still remember my first IRC chat. That was my first on-line chat. First time I chatted for about 4-5 hours. It got me hooked! I met many good people there. Out of that long list of people there is only one person that I am still in touch with.

But what I remember most clearly is my first on-line nickname: Subzero00
The double zeros at the end because the nick Subzero was already taken.

I got the nick from the video game: Mortal Kombat (TM) which has a character named Subzero. The speciality of the character was a 'freeze' attack. My friend, who was a Mortal Kombat (TM) fan, was able to complete the game with this character only. Obviously used to be my character of choice when playing the game.

Those IRC days were fun.

There is just one thing I miss from those days. Melissa Smalley living in the state of Georgia, USA. I never actually met her but we did exchange a whole lot of emails and a few letters. She was a very special friend. Hope where-ever she is now, she is happy and content with life.

Chatting / Chat rooms are the way-stations (i.e. - a stopping place on a journey) of the present.
We go and share our thoughts with other people. Make them friends for some time. Then we loose touch. All this happening in the slip-stream of life.

It is most interesting to see where these threads meet and where the separate and where they meet again!

:)

The Newsreader and The Student

There was once a student. Not of a particular subject but let us say of life in general. This being a short story, age and location of characters is of no consequence.

The student liked listening to a newsreader on the radio. Everyday the voice of the newsreader would strike out across time and space and reach the student through the radio. The student in turn would, like one of the 'faithful' always take out time to listen. To make out the subtle nuances in the newsreaders voice. Trying to pick-out signs of emotion, stress, happiness and anger in the carefully controlled tones of the newsreader. The voice streaming through the speaker was all that the student had to discover the person behind it.

They couldn't meet. They wouldn't meet. Or would they? The student did not care. As long as the voice came through every night the student would know that the newsreader was alive and doing well. The student cared for nothing except the well being and the happiness of the person behind the voice. The one voice which called out across the night. Never failing. Always faithful.

One day the student came to know that the radio station the newsreader worked in was closing down due to financial problems. It would cease broadcasting from midnight of the 19th of February said the news.
The voice of the newsreader, pronouncing its own fate, did not betray the slightest hint of emotion to the untrained ear. But the student knew better. The student could feel the pain and the sense of loss right through the words. The tone of fear is quite clear and distinct to the trained ear.

It was a time of mourning for the student. All was lost. Hope was not easy to come by. The future looked bleak and black. Then one day the student realised that the newsreader would definitely get a job in some other radio station. The newsreader would be back! Maybe this time not reading out the news but giving the weather or the round-up of the newspaper headlines or the sports update! Anxiously the student scanned radio channels for few weeks. Often listening to two or three stations at once. Listening for that familiar voice.

But the newsreader's voice did not appear on any of the local radio stations. This broke the student. The student went into a fit of anger. Cursing everything around. Cursing the newsreader for creating the dependency and then taking away the support. Blind rage coloured with frustration surged through the student. It burned through the body and the brain like a fire through dry wood. The student couldn't eat or sleep. Sometimes the student couldn't even breath.

Weeks turned into months and the student regained some sort of peace. The fire of anger had eaten all there was to eat and then died down. Then one day as the student was walking down the street there came a familiar voice. The voice was bit different but the student knew it was the newsreader! It had to be. Wild desperation seized both the mind and the soul of the student as the search for the source of the voice began. The newsreader had to be found!

The student looked around trying to locate the source and realised that the voice was coming from one of the houses along the street. Once that was known the house itself was easy to locate.
The student stood at the door of the house. Now confused what to do! You can't just knock on the door of a strange house and ask who the voice belongs to. Before the student could decide how to proceed the voice stopped. Steps were heard approaching the door and the door flew open in the face of the student surprising both the person opening the door and the person standing outside it.

As the student tried to piece together an explanation for standing outside the door like this, the person who had opened the door, recovered and asked in an even voice: 'Can I help you?'. Everything froze around the student as the newsreader spoke again, this time asking with a faint note of annoyance: 'Can I help you? Are you lost?'

The student could just reply 'You are the newsreader!'. The face of the newsreader clouded over with suspicion and the door started closing. The student cried 'Wait! 8th of July!'. The suspicion on the newsreaders faced changed into confusion and then curiosity. The door stopped closing but did not start opening again.

The student knew, the next words had to be the RIGHT WORDS at the RIGHT TIME. Nothing less would do. 'What happened on the 8th of July last year?'. Now the newsreader's face registered shock. The door started closing again. 'Wait!' cried the student as the door slammed shut. Minutes passed as the shock of the meeting passed through the body of the student. Then the door opened again. This time the newsreader looked a lot more relaxed. The voice spoke once again to the student. It asked: 'Where did you get that date from?'. The student replied with the truth: 'Your voice had a raw edge to it, the only time it had such a painful note in it, in the two years I have been listening to your broadcast'.

'You got that from my voice?' asked the newsreader now intrigued.
'I feel the connection between us, sometimes words are just what we have, one has to make do with them' replied the student, now both calm and excited, the heart hammering away.

'That was the day....' the newsreader began and then stopped. Surprised with the response. Then began again: 'Why am I telling you this!'.

'I prayed to God for your happiness every time I heard the sadness in your voice' said the student in reply. Suddenly the student felt drained. The strain of past few months and of the sudden meeting came crashing down. Facing the newsreader felt like facing the Sun in a desert. Darkness settled around.

As the student's heart froze in its cage, words came out of the half closed mouth: 'Why do you cry?'

The newsreader replied 'Why do you study my pain?'

The student answered 'I never got used to the bland taste of happiness, pain has so many different flavours'

Between the Green and the Grey, Lies a world!

Bristol, July 2007