INDIASPORA

Movies on movies

2011-12-27T03:59:00.003+05:30

With The Dirty Picture being a hit, everyone is raving about the new found boldness of Vidya Balan, and how she is a Khan, although paid lower than Katrina and Kareena. Mahesh Bhatt cites examples of his own two actresses from Arth to say how actresses, who are not happy to be decorations get paid well lesser than the others - like Hemaji and Rekha, according to him. There are jokes galore (which are another indicator of a film hitting jackpot) - supporting actor nomination for Vidya's bra!

What I found interesting (or annoying) was the lack of factual journalism (again, you say!?) on history of "these" kind of movies. By that I mean, movies made on movies. One journo went home to write that the only movie made on filmdom worth mentioning is Rangeela - cringe!!! So I decided to mark my return to the world of blog, with a few reminders for "those" kind of movies - definitely not a complete list, but most of them well known, and some my favorites.

The oldest movie in this category that I can think of goes back to the '50s - Kagaz ke Phool, Guru Dutt's magnum opus. Very watchable, highly artistic. If any of our current directors can come up with a script partly as original as that one, they should probably be given the lifetime achievement award, immediately!
The next one that comes to mind is Guddi. A different take on the glamorous world, Hrishikesh Mukherji showed us how a Dharmendra can be "not-so-hero-like" all the time! He went to the music department of the movie industry with Abhimaan, using the playback singing as a backdrop for marital feuds. There are recent talks of re-making this classic with Aby's Baby and Bahu, but guys...please spare us the expressionless now Hausfrau Ash trying to pull off a Jaya Bhaduri. As for Abhishek, lets not even go there.
Another movie on movies, which I personally find very endearing is Bhumika. Smita Patil and Amol Palekar under Shyam Benegal's direction - high point of parallel cinema in the 70's.
Another one from the 70's that is probably best forgotten is Chala Murari Hero Banne . The hero was Asrani trying to make it in bollywood, and I leave it at that.
Then there was Rangeela, creating a new star in Urmila, and a big fight between Aamir Khan and RGV. As a director, he tried his hand in this category again with Mast, and as a producer with Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon. Needless to say the latter people dont really remember. Last seen Antara Mali (the wannabe Madhuri) was seen in a youtube semi-porn movie.
Apart from this the two other notable movies in this genre are Om Shanti Om and Luck by Chance, the second being my favorite Konkona movie. It was a role that seems all to easy I guess, but the way she goes through the motion, especially in the last 30 mins of the movie, its just amazing. As for OSO, well it remains one of the highest grossers. Farah Khan decided to try her luck in the movies on movies category again with Tees Maar Khan, but not a surprise that it didnt work - despite "Sheila ki - flaunting - jawani".

That brings us to The Dirty Picture. (K)Ekta Kapoor left her "K"-fixation to the telly world, and started churning out hits - Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, for starters. I think her latest (k)superstition is to have English titles. Whatever the case maybe, she had promised Vidya Balan a National Award for her bold role, and it sure seems that she is getting there without her supporting actor(s).
All eyes are now on Heroine, from the "oh-I-am-so-important" Bhandarkar and "oh-I-am-so-expensive" Kareena. Given that Vidya Balan is now a Khan, because of her new-found "running a movie without a Khan" status, lets see what Kareena will be if Heroine does well? Hit or miss, one thing is for sure, Kareena is on her path to become a Khan in her own right - thanks to a Mr. Saif Ali.

Hum Log

2009-08-07T01:21:00.004+05:30

A year has passed, with the PhD coming to an end, and new job already becoming 5 months old!
Initially, I was busy finishing off the thesis. Thereafter my parents visited me in Germany, in one of the worst winters ever! My sister and bro-in-law also came for 2 weeks, and it was a great new year meeting after many years.
We took trips within Munich and also visited Salzburg - took the kitschiest "Original Sound of Music" tour. But overall enjoyed the time.
Then I had to start preparing for the trainings for my new job. And once the consulting job started off in March, time went by before I was able to realise it was almost 6 months already.

It has been an amazing experience so far - extremely different way to work than at the university. New challenges, new people, new projects every 6-8 weeks. The start was great, and I met some of the best people in my life. Some of my very good friends, I actually met at this training in Holland. It was so amazing to get to know these people, and interact with them. Amsterdam trip was great too. After we all went our different ways, some of my friends came and visited me in Munich,which was very cool.

I have spent most of the project time in London, and got to see a city, which I had heard a lot about. There are so many similarities between London and Delhi. Park Street feels like Connaught Place (I don't know if it Mummy Chowk or Beta Chowk now). The old office buildings spread out on London along roads with huge trees, feel like Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Even the names of many roads are same (Surprise!)- the ones which the politicians didnt think were relevant enough for political mileage.

I am looking forward to this journey, and hopefully, would have bit more time for blogging in the next months.

25 years of Mobile phones and 850 years of Munich

2008-06-15T15:08:00.003+05:30

Mobile phones have existed now for the last quarter of a century, almost the same time as I did. :) But the usability of the mobile phone (or rather Handy, here in Germany) is far more consequential and it has reached magic numbers which fixed landlines were hoping to.
In the same year that is 2008, Munich is celebrating its 850th Birthday. The celebrations have been scheduled for the weekend of 14. and 15. June. Huge stage and road shows and food tents have been organized in the city center. Part of the celebration was also the Open Day (Tag der Offenen Tür) at the Staatskanzlei (Secretariat of the Bavarian state government) on the 14th June. I went there with Bhaskar and Steffen, and was pleasantly surprised at the large number of people hovering around. The building is old but the interiors are apparently very recently redone. The building was damaged during the WWII and was restored recently in the '90s.
After collecting tons of bags, brochures and interesting maps, we went around the building where the Premier minister of Bavaria (Minister Präsident) Dr. Günther Beckstein was meeting with people. Coincidentally, we went to the Staatskanzlei at 15 hrs, exactly at the time when he reached for his public appearance for 1,5 hrs. As we were done with the lower floors and all the various ministries of Bavaria, it was already 1630 hrs when we reached the top floor where Dr. Beckstein was. He was on his way out with his entourage, but somehow he saw me and came rushing towards me. After shaking my hand and asking my whereabouts, he talked to me for 5 mins regarding Physics, Bavaria and the accessibility of the International offices in Munich. There have been pictures taken and I may upload them here soon.
This (5 mins of fame) came a week after an article appeared in the local edition (Garching) of Münchener Merkur about me and my integration into the German society. Also, the Indian connection seems to be a major highlight which has helped me in acquiring job offers from two of the biggest consulting firms. Which out of the two would be the best for my career, I haven't made up my mind on that yet.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Munich!

The Chinese Apartheid

2008-04-01T01:02:00.002+05:30

The way South Africa was kept out of world affairs, the Chinese should be scuttled away from every global forum. The only way this would be ever possible is, if all conscientious nations come together and decide to boycott China. Economics should not let the crimes of one country be punished more than the heinous crimes of the other.
One person who has shown that he can at least do the hard talking is John McCain. If he can deliver on it, is to be seen. Although, he would not be a change for the US in the drastic way that Hillary or Obama would be, his political wisdom and hard talk could be just what the US needed. For an Indian, it probably sounds utterly unthinkable how a Republican would be good for them. Democrats are liberals fighting to uphold Democracies, but they are always in for an amicable solution. To an outsider, it may seem a bit of Gandhism. But in todays times, these ideals are sadly too idealistic. Not that I agree with Bush. Nor would I endorse many of the Republican policies. It is just for this single candidate, McCain, that I think, he could be a hope. A hope in the darkness that engulfs the entire world - from wars, terrorism, economic crises, rogue nations.
As far as true Indian interests are concerned, there is nothing against the alliances with the US. Even if an useless American commie comes to India to support the Indian commies in their fight against American Imperialism, who cares!? Did anyone ever hear of this woman (or was it a man?), Terrie Albano!? They all claim that US is trying to forge an alliance with India, to curb China and keep it in check. So!? Thats bad? Why?
In the last year alone, China has led over a hundred incursions into the Indian territory - into lands which have been recognized world over as Indian. The present government is asking the revered Dalai Lama to basically shut up, so that the Sino-Indian relationship doesn't sour. Have they forgotten, that it was their own leader who gave the Dalai Lama his political refuge in Dharamsala? And would they ask the Imam of the Jama Masjid to shut up so that the Indo-US relations don't sour? As if it doesn't matter where a major Indian immigrant population is staying!
This Indian government has somewhere in the last year made some progressive decisions, made some progress. But just when you thought, that the Congress was able to think outside the box, come the sops and the minority appeasing dole-outs. If they really want to get the young of the country into their folds, then Sonia would have to do more than promising that her son Rahul would follow her party workers to jail in UP. For starters, she should pull the rug under the Left foot, and call new elections. Show to the common man, how the Left bigots are the problems in the system. Maybe then they have a chance to become the second largest party in the parliament. They are shamefully behind the BJP currently and it seems it would be the same the next time around. As Ms. Shobhaa De wrote, slowly seems clear which party the US favors in the next general elections.
Why is that important? Well, in the light of the statement by the next Presidential hopeful, McCain, that Russia should be ousted to make way for India and Brazil in the G8, it seems the US is ready to go the extra mile in undoing the Indian skepticism. The next step could be the Permanent UN Security Council seat. What is more heartening is to see the way China is not mentioned as an entrant, because as McCain maintains, the G8 is not only about Economics - it is about common civil values, an Open Democracy. Its time India realized the importance of democracy too and threw these commies down the trash. As L. K. Advani said, BJP and Congress are not enemies but adversaries. But thats the difference between Left and the others, the Left is an Enemy, of the state and of the people.

A regular feature

2008-03-24T23:48:00.002+05:30

After being absent for a long time, I am writing here almost everyday now. Well, I have a little bit of extra time which I utilize to write here. I would also like to thank someone for writing a comment, although it is difficult to tell because it is anonymous! I would look at the arguments of Mr. Shourie, but I guess the point that I was making was that they should have been actively involved in the process with the government rather than saying a blanket NO. After all, the warmth in the Indo-US relations and the status of the India in the international arena is mainly due to the Look West and Look East policies of the past government.

For the last couple of months now, me and friends try new restaurants in Munich. There have been many good ones and a few bad ones.
The best has been 'Lemar', an Afghan restaurant. The food was a delight, the service and the interiors are great too. A must for people who like spicy stuff like North Indian food. For a change, the taste is NOT tailored to German liking.
The worst was, well an Indian restaurant called 'Sitar'. The food is stale, it seems to be microwaved just before being served and the service is indifferent, bordering on unfriendly.
There have been many good ones as well, like 'Goa', 'Natraj' and 'Sur Bahar' (Indian), 'Man Fat'(Chinese) and 'El Gordo Loco' (Mexican/Colombian). 'Goa' is my all time favorite because of the extremely friendly staff that they have. Also, the ambiance is very congenial and homely.

Last week, I also went to the cinemas after a gap of almost 6 months. We saw "No Country for Old men" but in German and to my surprise, I did understand most of it. The movie was well made, albeit un-understandable! I mean how and why did that guy go on a killing spree? And why did he have to return to kill the wife of the other guy, once he had the money?
Even though I was very proud of my German skills past this experience, I decided to go in for a specific grammar oriented German course. This would start sometime end of next month.

I also finished two books in the mean time, along with reading 'A Suitable Boy' a little further. I read Khalid Hosseini's both books and was really touched by them. I read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' before 'The Kite Runner' and may be that is the reason, why I liked it more.
A somewhat related piece, this NY Times article sheds light on how remittances to home countries could really be a mountain instead of a mole hill. In fact, if there are real and tangible projects for investments for the development of many small little infrastructure details, I think NRIs would be more than willing to give a cut of their wealth. Projects such as schools in rural areas, electrical plants for the different parts of the country. Organizations such as Ram Krishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram, should make it possible to pay donations via internet for NRIs as well. They have more accountability and social responsibility than all political parties put together and I would willingly give them money for social causes than the government any day.

First Quarter Top 10

2008-03-24T03:04:00.003+05:30

10) Pranab Mukherjee : Seemed to be in the background for a long time but then emerged as one who speaks his mind and went ahead getting the N-deal in order when the whiners were still whining!

9) Anil and Mukesh Ambani : The richest Indians, need I say more!

8) Lakshmi Mittal : The man is still well known but nothing spectacular happened in the last months, neither a marriage nor a merger.

7) Shobha De and Vijay Mallya : One is a firebrand columnist/author whose articles on various issues plaguing India have made even the dead politician cringe and the other is poised to put India on the global map, the latest being the F1 atlas. Although Force India finished 12th, it IS a start. As for Ms. De, the articles "Me Marathi" and "Patel Rap", should be in the grade 1 text books.

5) L.K. Advani & Narendra Modi : Advani, with his high-pitched, slow talking, has managed to bring out many hypocrisies in the present day government. Modi on the other hand, steam rolled into the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha, crushing the opposition without raising Hindutva himself, rather the terrorism issue. If only they would seriously get a coherent picture of the needs of the country and support the Cong. government on certain issues (read N-deal), it could garner a major political good-will as well as the tag of an intelligent party.
Safety, sovereignty and secularism are key issues which this government has failed in. With the growth rates which the country had in the last years and the unique leverage of India, the government has failed miserably to take a stance on any international issues of relevance. To top it, they have irritated the Hindu sentiment with Sethu samudram project, Afzal hanging delay and the scholarships for Muslim students. That is NOT secularism - in true sense of secularism, there should be equal laws for everyone - look west! What we have is pseudo secularism.

3) Tarun Vijay : His articles are historically interesting as well as very contemplative. Not that all he writes is perfect and he does have a tendency to harp on the same point again and again. But the columns are very well researched and it brings out a hypocrisy we are living in India, pushing the country to very unsafe territories.

2) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan & Amitabh Bachchan : In Switzerland, I was asked who is the actor who is always called "VJ" in his movies? The answer was simple :)
There is a generation which has watched Bollywood on TV there and recognize Big B. That is true Star Power. As for Ms. Rai aka Bachchan, we are waiting for the Pink Panther, although what happened to the Last Legion?

1) Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar : Big big Stars, both of them in Germany. Shahrukh was always loved by the people here, more so after the Berlinale. And Koffee with Karan is probably the only TV export from India, moreover it is even dubbed in German!

The Sitting Duck

2008-03-21T18:48:00.002+05:30

Here comes the socio-political blog. Mainly on two issues which are current and probably applicable throughout the world. One being immigration and displacement of local population and the related issue of religious fundamentalism, either separately, or in a way influencing these issues.

Kosova has elected to become an independent country and it has been supported by many countries, for what has been called the right to govern by local community. This has had some very angry reactions from either side, pre and post elections. Talking to colleagues from other Balkan states (other than Serbia, that is) one thing becomes clear - there is no clear solution. Macedonia being the smallest of the emerging nations from erstwhile Yugoslavia, has currently a similar problem where there are "new immigrants" from neighboring Albania since the last 50 years and have almost outnumbered the local population, are demanding an independent region from the parent country. Similar stories come from many parts of the world (Turkey and Kurdistan, some African countries) and accepting the Kosovan verdict once, could be a precedent for the other pending problems. It should not, but would it?

Kashmir and Tibet are problems which are nearer home for an Indian, but as one myself, I would argue they are Different! How? Kashmir truly had its local population removed post 1980 due to terrorism, and to have a referendum now would be an untrue representation of the feeling of the "locals". Seeing pictures of homes, schools and colleges and temples which have been targets of the terrorism from a Kashmiri friend who recently visited Srinagar, I was quite upset at the way the Indian government has let the problem hang in air. There is nothing worse than displaced families searching for their roots. Why are they in their own countries, lands treated like visitors? Even worse, why do they have to lose their heritage? And just because a failed neighboring state instigates terrorism and the national government is too lame to call a spade a spade, lest its vote bank evades them. Have they ever thought, that if somebody votes for you because they are banking on you to compromise the national security, they are actually the ones who need to be thrown out? But how would they? They only want the power!

Tibet is another flash-point. Right from the time, the Dalai Lama was given political refuge in India by Nehru, there have been thousands of Tibetans in India. And the ones I know are extremely hard working, honest and very sincere. The government at the risk of losing the "goodwill" of the other monster neighbor and its own commie ally, doesn't do anything at all. Well, if it did nothing that would have been fine, but to not even speak out a statement to maintain peace in Tibet is basically accepting the Chinese position - which they dare not. The politically correctness at the cost of being a coward is too high. China has huge parts of India under their control, simultaneously claiming many other parts as well. When the defense chief says the truth about Chinese incursions, the government basically snubs him instead of accepting the yellow fever. George Fernandes as a defense minister had claimed that China is India's enemy number one. Well, in many cases it has been proven to be the case, whether its the Nuclear proliferation to Pak or the attacks of army positions in Arunachal.

The religious bandwagon jumping to the cause of these "new immigrants" is another institutionalized attack on civilized society. The Al Qaeda has supposedly joined hands with the ex-(ISI backed) terrorists in Kashmir, becoming a bigger force and to have lax security in the country spells doom for all. The recent splurge of attacks and terrorists being apprehended in South India basically reiterates what Vajpayee had said long back in '00, that distance is no security. Well, the speech given to the US Senate proved prophetic with the 9/11 attacks a year later and although US has learned the lesson hard way but closer home, India still needs to learn the lessons. So much is the fear for rubbing a certain section of the population the wrong way, that the entire nation is being subjected to massive National threat. I am sure, that it is only a minority among the minorities which doesn't want Afzal hanged, and it is only a minority which wants the women suppressed in their society.

Why does Indian police not have training collaborations with Israel? Why doesn't the Indian police buy the latest equipments from the European civil societies? Why does Taslima Nasreen have to leave India and blemish the government representing the entire country for being as fanatic as religious fanatics? What do the Red parties want us to believe now, that they still stand for our development? Is it time we ban the nationally damaging Commies, as in the developed west?

Long time no see

2008-03-19T21:13:00.002+05:30

After a long hiatus, I am back! Well, not quite the Schwarzenegger way, but almost. (why?..that comes later!)
In the past months, I gave an invited talk at the Max Planck Institut in Dresden, visited Delhi for 3 weeks during Diwali, then I spent three weeks in February trying to measure at ETH, Zürich. In between, I also published my first paper.

The talk was very well received, we also tried to get a collaboration working, where in I go and measure at their set up and they get samples from us. I would have to clear some details but it should be a fruitful collab. The talk was basically on the paper I had published in the Applied Physics Letters on the donor binding energies of AlAs. In Dresden, I also met Sameer Sapra, who was in Munich for the first year of my stay here. Then he moved to Dresden to be with his wife and now, has moved back to Mumbai, India for a permanent Professor position. Congrats, Sameer!

In Delhi, I reached a day before my birthday and really enjoyed myself throughout the trip. I spent the first 5 days meeting many of my relatives, especially since, many of them I was meeting after 3 or 4 years. Thereafter, I flew with my parents to Hyderabad to meet two other relatives. I hadn't been to Hyd since '92 and it has changed even more than Delhi! Huge malls entailing even bigger traffic problems. Its a hip city, but in dire needs of City re-planning. The newer parts coming up in the High Tech City are magnificent.
Delhi itself, with the Metro, has become extremely navigable, especially from Dwarka. The trains are well maintained and if, the people continue their "well-mannered" traveling, it could be something Delhiites would be proud of for a long time. I sincerely hope that we do not have another Kolkata Metro tragedy on our hands. The shopping malls in Dwarka and Rajouri Garden are not bad, but they could have been a bit more creative with the designs and the landscaping. It is just too boringly square and the parking a mess! But what really made an impression on me, was the prices. If the price of a pair of jeans was making my jaw drop, my mother was calling it "normal" leaving me to wonder, when did 50 € jeans become normal in India!

I came back end of November to a very warm winter (again!). Then I was offered the possibility to fly to the US for the American Physical Society March meeting. I had got invitations from Northwestern University, Stanford and University of Maryland, College Park to give talks after the meeting. Also, it would have been wonderful to meet my sister after 4 years. Albeit, the US Visa officer in Munich didn't think it would be so wonderful! She refused me a Visa on the grounds that I had insufficient reasons to come back to Germany. If I were in a permanent job and had a better salary (well, my current salary is very very good if you were to use current euro to dollar exchange rate!), she would have thought about it. But for her, I was definitely a pure "illegal immigrant" material. How do I explain to her, that washing dishes and laundry for paltry amounts of money is not my idea of an American Dream! Anyway, we have another big conference coming up in July, in Rio. Hopefully, the Brazilians have a more relaxed criterion.

In Zürich, I spent three months, doing basically nothing. Its a city which is very similar to Munich but very different. The similarities are in the orderliness and the cleanliness, but the whole mood of the city is very different. It is a very rich city, with around 35% bankers. The after work party scene is really funny, with people coming in around 6 pm, dancing and then going back to work at 9 pm! I made some good friends at the University where I was working in the group of Prof. Ensslin. But unfortunately, their system was having so many problems with sample stick first and then with air leaking into the cryostat that I got no useful data from the measurement time. I did go one evening to Basel as well, with Miklos, Yashar and Thomas Müller for the Carneval or the Faßnacht. It is a must! Colorful, thematic, vibrant, it really is very enjoyable especially with a group of friends. The language in Basel is even more different than Zürcher Deutsch, which is at least understandable.

Among all this, I have also started applying for jobs. I am interested in pursuing a different field after handing in my thesis, more towards finance. I am enrolling into a German course, specially designed for jobs, finance related having strong grammatical inputs as well. This starts end of April and is necessary because I make very silly grammatical mistakes. Conversationally, I am now pretty fluent and I understand almost perfectly. Writing is easier as well, since I have time to come up with the correct grammar. But, there are still some small things like "in die Küche" or "in der Küche"? My main mistakes come with these kind of conjunctives and genitives.

At last, I also got to meet Stefan Schäck. It was nice meeting him after long, especially with his new long hair (for the Landshuter HochZeit) and chubbier cheaks ;) His PhD work on hybrid cars at BMW seems much more useful than our low dimensional electrons.

The reason for the Schwarzenegger style re-entry? Well, I am going to the fitness center for the past 1 month now regularly and it really is showing up...slowly but steadily. And why no politics in this blog? It would come soon in the next one :D

Indo-US Alliance

2007-09-08T01:17:00.000+05:30

The partnership with US or any other country should be seen as a partnership between "Democratic nations". Any one who opposes this partnership is opposing liberty, free speech and growth. Any country which has chosen democracy and economic open markets has prospered - whether it is the US, West Europe or Japan. The Indian commies' favored choice of China, has also prospered only when it has allowed free markets in zones. If they are so opposed to the military exercises vis a vis the Nuclear deal, they are in principle supporting the Chinese military alliance with Russia and other Central Asian nations - a country which invaded India even after having a peace treaty. That's what they want to be labeled as Anti-National, they might as well be.

A partnership with democratic nations is always beneficial, even though we may not see eye to eye on various issues. It is not important to tow to the line on every single issue with the US, as the European nations have shown, but the health of a country's openness, is what matters for the development. Ask all those who have so-called drained their brain, why they decided to go to the US and not China?

India has long tried its hands at various games of political bigamy with Non-Aligned Movement and a social economy. It just doesn't work, we cannot have balance when we put our feet down on two uneven boats. Although, I am against putting any ban on any political thought process if it is not against the National interests - like they have in the US on communism - if the communists are interested in only hampering a nation's progress, they might as well be dealt with like that. At a time when the economic progress is the boost which is helping the country put itself on the world map, if anyone wants to be productively critical they can still come up with extremely logical and useful solutions to the nitty gritty problems faced by North Eastern Indians or about building more and more airports and making roads on to the mountainous regions, tough to reach today. Not only would that integrate the country, it would improve infrastructure.

The whole argument about belittling our security concerns is also very childish. The 123 pact says that in the event of a " strategically necessary Nuclear test" we are allowed to do that. Without the need of the strategically necessary test, we are quite well placed at the moment and in principle can use this deal as the basis to start processing more and more Nuclear material from within the country such as Thorium for energy resources. That way we have other energy resources, if the need be for another test. I am pained to see the political parties behaving in such a manner just because they are not at the helm of affairs. The past government had a near perfect International Policy and they were the ones bringing India in a strategic partnership with the US which has resulted in deals and War games like this. They should congratulate this government for building on the foundations laid by them, and not oppose them. They should be the first to understand how important it is for like-minded nations to work together against a world slowly being infested with extreme fundamentalists.

A nation such as ours still has a long way to go before development reaches every street corner. Giving everyone an equal chance - and that means everyone, regardless he is a minority or even majority - is a must. Why should only those in the West reap benefits from the brains which we lose to them? Why cant we create opportunities and environments which would draw them back? And why the f"%& do we crib about development and finding friends who would lead you to that path?

Second Quarter 2

2007-08-29T16:27:00.001+05:30

On the way out of Lisbon, we went to Sintra. Old beautiful castles and houses - the natural beauty, alas quite a bit burnt out this summer, is another eye-catcher. Then we went towards Belem, to see the marble sculpted monuments. Then on, we carried on towards Setubal from under the Christ statue "Cristo Rei"on the Pont 25. de Abril. We ate roasted fish at a roadside restaurant in Setubal and then continued down the coast. Then we camped for the first time near the beach , vilanova de Milfontes. The location seems to be real drab, but views are beautiful. Also, during peak tourist season, the place must be bustling. There is an amazing number of flora and fauna in this region, which gives it an unique feel - different from what a person thinks of as Europe!

Thereafter, we continued southwards. During this part of our journey, we discovered the great extent to which people in this part of the world are using wind energy. There are entire fields with wind-mills. We later stopped for a while at Sagres - supposed to be the western-most point of mainland Europe. No wonder, that we found a food stall selling "bratwurst" with the headline - "Letzte Bratwurst vor Amerika". In Sagres, the land is in the shape of a C. At one end is the fort with ancient sundial and an ugly moder gallery construction (Fort Sagres - spend not more than 20 mins, great place to see the sunset though) and on the other end is an old lighthouse with a small chapel for St. Vincente. Ideal for short picnic tours. Then on we moved towards Lagos. Here we camped again for two nights and stayed in a youth hostel on the third night. The camping site was the closest to the inner city, but wasn't the best of places. Somehow it had tons of old Germans in their permanent campers which brought our moods down considerably. We gave some of our clothes to the laundry in this sun-bathed city which made us wait an extra day. The youth hostel "Rising Cock" was good, clean but sadly infested with unruly kids. We had bought a bottle of good green wine, which was used up by these kids for their own use because they had managed to break their own bottle! Mind you this without our permission. In any case, the city was nice. Food was better. We ate sea-food aplenty and also tried Chinese food in a small restaurant. We also tried Indian one night, and I came to believe that Portugal seems to have the best immigrant cooks ;).
Lagos is at all times infested with Brits and this season was no different. So much so, we also got to see cricket at many bars (they were showing the cricket world cup matches). The shops close down during the afternoon and open till wee hours in the night. Among the beaches, the Praia de Camilo and Meia Praia are really great. The huge rocky caves right next to the sea give it an imposing feeling which is just unique!
From Lagos we carried on towards Faro, where we spent another couple of nights. This entire region from Milfontes down, is known as the Algarve. It is known for its cork trees, red rocks and beautiful sunny but rocky beaches. We collected tons and tons of sea shells and sea rocks from this area. In Faro, one day we actually went out to the Island right out on to the Atlantic and launched our boat. We rowed around for about an hour or so and then ate some sandwiches after which we went back to the hotel and gorged on Chinese food. It was in this city that my trip-mate broke a sofa sitting down hard and also pulled out the door knob from the hotel room.
We were booking our hotels from "Lonely Planet - Portugal", which was really really helpful.

Faro was our last stop in Portugal, after which we moved on to Spain again entering into Huelva. We first went to the beaches again at Ponta Umbria. Very very quiet town - we actually witnessed something quite - say routine in a familiar way. A family was returning from the beach with their two children aged about 3 and 7, when we parked the car. The girl who was younger, was playing with her mom - stylish Spanish lady and when they reached the apartment, the lady started talking to her neighbour and then her husband and son also joined them. But in 2 minutes, the young daughter was missing. As expected, they were frantically looking around for her. We were in the middle of this as we were standing right there - maybe for them even suspects. I went around the complex and found the girl, hiding behind a bush in a water basin. I called out to the parents, not knowing which language to speak...The mom came running with tears and slapped the daughter twice before pulling her out. I wouldn't forget the look in the young girl's eyes - she looked at me like I was the one to blame and I had betrayed her.

From there we moved into the industrial center of Heulva, fuelling our car with Carrefour coupons and then drove into Sevilla. Magnificent, beautiful, congested. We spent just one night and a day there, but we saw the most important things. Walked around the town on the first evening and then went to the cathedral on the second day. As Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" says, there is 128 gms of Christopher Columbus there. But what is the most striking is the Giralda - the tower built by the moors from whom this was captured and made into a cathedral. Its height gives it a majestic weight over the entire complex and the views are breathtaking. We were there on a Sunday, so the crowds were a many, but the lines move quite fast and its not so
energy sapping. After the cathedral, we ate at a small lane restaurant with the most obnoxious waiter - he was really in a mood to spit in our food.
In the evening, we drove towards Cadiz - very small but very charming city. Its on a small peninsula. This is where the Spanish, one way driving streets got to their irritating best, and we ended up on the walking zone with our huge Mercedes E class. Needless to say, the people were amused and shocked at the same time. After much nerve racking driving, we ended up in our hotel - small, simple but manageable. The city we saw the next day. It is a very charming city - very white and very quaint. There are no high rises and the food, etc are quite cheap too. From Cadiz we drove towards Tarifa - the southern most point of Mainland Spain. You can see Africa - Morocco and there are ferry rides to Tenerifa which take you there in 45 mins. In this part of Spain, you see sign posts also in Arabic. But what strikes you the most about this city which marks the boundary of Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, is the wind. There are tons of windmills and there are tons of wind surfers. From Tarifa, we drove towards Gibraltar, but weren't allowed entry because I didn't have a British Visa. We met a British woman, calling it Gib and saying it is not really a place we would love to visit. Then on we pissed into British territory through the fence and drove towards Marbells (urgh...UGLY!) and then Malaga. We just slept the night there and then drove out the next morning. We did not see anything in Malaga.
We drove towards Granada through the mountains of Sierra Nevada and saw the highest mountain of the Iberian Peninsula, Mulhacen. The drive is gorgeous and roads are great. These are not paid freeways but unpaid highways but the speed limit is the same as the freeway.
We reached Granada around 4 pm and although our hotel was right at the center of town, we took 2 hours to reach it. The city roads are confusing to say the least. To top it all, we realised on reaching there that Alhambra was no longer accessible by direct ticket entry but had to be booked months in advance on the internet. But thankfully, they have a over the counter ticket sales for a few tickets for the evening show. We saw the most beautiful parts of the palace in the moonlight. That was really really pretty. The hotel we stayed in had an Italian receptionist, who spoke Hindi as she had spent 8 years in India - freaky!!!

From Granada, the next day we drove non-stop towards Valencia. But not without trademark fuck-ups! We drive via Murcia, witnessing the usual small castles on the sides of the highway and huge black bull cut-outs (advertising for Sherry). Then we reached Alicante, and we got lost trying to find a Carrefour for 3 hrs. Then after giving up, we drove on only to find it truly on our way. This meant no stopping at Valencia, and we didn't even enter the city. We drove down directly to Barcelona, reaching at 12 in the night. The hotel was at a pretty nice location. The city is really really great!
Barcelona is a city for the reveler. History, pleasure, views, beaches...an all-in-one city which is friendly and open-minded. This was to be the last stop in Spain and we did manage to see a lot here. The entire first day we walked around town - Sagrada familia, La Rambla, Guell's houses. And the next day we drove towards Parc Guell, a bit outside the city with lovely weird architectural designs. Then we drove a bit northwards towards Costa Brava - bad choice, because the weather sucked. But in any case, the water crashing on the rocks was a great site.

The last morning we drove to Monserrat. The monastery is very charming and although we missed the boys choir singing, the entire experience of a marriage there followed by the Catalan national anthem and then going up the cathedral and touching the black Mary was great. Then we lit candles remembering the dead in our families. One tip about this place - do not miss the food at the restaurant. Its really good and not so expensive! Then we drove up north through the Pyrenees into the only country with Catalan with its national language, the small Andorra. We drove into this country via the only highway connecting it to Spain and on this highway lies the capital city Andorra-la-vella, the shopping paradise because its duty free. We hung around for 2 to 3 hours and then dead tired, started driving towards Carcassone, France. On our way, as we were still in the Pyrenees, we even saw snow. Driving on in the thick of the night, we reached Carcassone, around mid-night, booked into an Etap and then in the morning visited the medieval township. The city is thriving and the castle is well preserved. After having a quick breakfast, we continues to drive towards Munich on a day France was voting to elect their president.
We completed our 1400 kms stretch at 2 am in the morning in Munich. We had hopped on to the freeway after Besacon, as the roads became more and more curvaceous. In Germany in anyway, we took the freeway since its free!

That ended 3 weeks of extreme travel and learning. What really hung on to me thereafter was the way in which Indians have penetrated into the society. In La Rambla, in Barcelona, 90% of the shops are Indian managed and in Andorra, every shop has atleast one Indian worker, if they are not owned by one. Also, the friendliness of Spanish over the Portuguese and French, strikes one as extremely refreshing.

Second quarter

2007-05-13T16:34:00.000+05:30

After a 3 week trip around the coasts of the Iberian peninsula, one needs to write a lot. Sadly, I never got the time to. I gave a talk at the DPG in Regensburg and there, since I was spending a lot of time with the E25 people, befriended quite a few of them. Andre, Michi Scholz and Roland to name a few. Thereafter I left for the Spanish trip on Friday, March 30th. We drove down 620 kms to Besacon, in the middle of the night, racing through the German freeways and reaching there at 6 am. Sleeping for 5 hrs, we left the Etap Hotel and went through the old charming city. The fortress over the city is not maintained though very interesting. Then we drove towards the western coast of France, first we stopped over at Chalon sur Soure -interesting but quite expensive small little town and then for the night stopped at a highway motel at Montlucon. The next day was quite eventful driving for 520 kms with two big stop overs at Hautefort and Perigueux on the way to Arcachon. Hautefort is an old chateaux in a commune of the Dordogne department in southwestern France. It was formerly part of the former province of Périgord. The chateaux is beautiful with illustrious gardens and an extremely bewitching view. The museum inside is nice, can be given a amiss if in a hurry although it doesnt cost anything extra apart from the steep 9,00 € entrance fee to the chateaux complex. Sunday evening is a bad time for walking around town in Hautefort because all the shops and restaurants close down.

From Hautefort, we drove to Perigueux and walked around the central parts of the city - the typical cathedral in a cross shape and the small tiny pebbled ways. The so-called "Roman walls" dont really exist except for a couple of ruins in an overgrown park. Then, we drove non-stop to Arcachon. We arrived late night and for the second time in 3 nights were sleeping right opposite the train station or Gare as they call it in French - first time in Besacon. By then the navigation was not so troublesome with the Microsoft Autoroute coming in handy, although we still had not figured out how to configure this with the GPS mouse which was tracking after connecting to satellites.

From Arcachon, we went to the dunes on the coast at Dune du Pyla. Its a huge pile of sand right next to the ocean. Very serene and very beautiful views. Then we continued along the coast towards Spain through the towns of Biarritz and so on. At a Super U, we bought some ready made food, like remoulade, etc, and it was very good. Sadly, didnt find that again.

France has these huge hypermarche and supermarche which are basically huge super markets, like Carrefour, Super U. They have great prices, good stuff and extremely cheap fuel. And they are everywhere!! Even in Spain...

That evening we crossed into Spain at the French border at Hendaye. There was extreme police control at the border and we tried to use the Spain guide of the Lonely Planet, to book the hotels at San Sebastian. But then gave up after a while as we thought it wouldnt be so tough. We reached San Sebastian close to 7 pm on April 2, 2007 and immediately realised the mess we were entering as far as traffic is concerned. All streets are one way and there is no way of crossing into one road from another without knowing before hand, which way to go. To top it all, the traffic rules set in the Autoroute program we had were all in the opposite direction to the real ones. Another realisation that dawned on us was the non-availability of hotel rooms there. We eventually got a room in Hotel Alamana, which we reached after going through the city 5 times in circles. After deciding to stay there for 2 nights, we went tapas bar hopping---well, to just one of them, which was still open at 10.45 pm. The "still" because somehow in April, not yet a tourist season, bars closed down before 10 pm. The hotel had internet, which helped me get to know the awaiting trauma (coming up in the next few blogs) at work. Also, we downloaded the softwares needed to run the GPS mouse in tandem with the Autoroute software.
San Sebastian is a wonderful city with a wonderful vibe. Very Basque - Spanish, yes, but Basque first! People are very very well dressed and well maintained. One immediately feels the need for blazers and shoes, instead of sneakers and sweatshirts. On the expensive side, the tourist season better be avoided, if the "non-tourist" season hotel reservations are anything to go by. We walked the town thorughout the day, taking the funicular up to the Mont Igueldo. Then stopping over for lunch at a small Cafe Saray and then walking up the natural park to the huge Christ statue on Mont Urgell.

Next day we started in the morning, towards Gijon with a stopover at Bilbao. This time around we got help from the Autoroute starting to speak with us as well. But her navigation was majorly doubted, once she told us on a non paid highway to turn right, which ended up putting us on the paid highway and that too on the way back. Well, after a 40 km detour and 1,15 € in toll, we did land in Bilbao. The Guggenheim Museum is a must. Extravagant architecture, magnificent display. The city doesnt have much apart from this museum and so, we moved on towards Gijon and on the way encountering massive traffic jams (office time rush). We booked a hotel on the way. Spain has excellent highways, which have the same speed limit as the freeway, but arent paid. So, you get excellent mileage for not paying. And, in many cases, the roads are new which only helps.

We reached Gijon late at night in a hotel close to the beach. Having stayed there for a night, we moved out and walked around in the morning. Since we were there a day before Easter, or rather during the Semana Santa - there was a fair in the town. We bought sea salt, honey, cookies, nuts - all fresh, all cheap. Moving on, we went towards Santiago de Compostella and on the way, stopped at an alcove on the Asturian coast and thereafter on Galician coast at Ortigueira. Beautiful!

Santiago de Compostella on a day before easter is a feast for the eyes, soul and mind. Its one of the most holy pilgrimages of the Catholics and there are some very famous foot routes to the final destination of the church. The route we took, albeit by car, was similar to what is known as the Camino del Norte. Its a very beautiful cathedral and the easter ceremonial procession made the trip there truly memorable. We continued thereafter into the night towards Vigo, where we had already reserved a hotel. Another one of those Spanish towns with one-way streets which can drive you bananas, this turned out to the nightmare town for this trip like Nice from the last trip. The hotel we had reserved turned out to be in an non navigable by car road and to top it all, the manager had gone. So, after much quabbling one of us went around and found another hotel which was actually nice as it had internet too. Again the next day as was usual, we had breakfast and started our journey. We visited the Parque Castrelos, an elevated park which gave us a good view over the entire harbour city.

We then continued in one stretch towards Lisboa. Driving through Porto for a while, we saw the old Port wine wineries. It was a 520 km stretch and we reached around 11.30 pm in the night, at a small hotel close to the Bairro alto. The city is nice, with beautiful buildings but in dire need of renovation. Not my choice for the safest town in the world, the city has its charm. There are pockets in town with tons of immigrant population, among them Indians too. These are notorious for drugs, prostitution. We walked from our hotel towards the Parque Eduardo Setimo, then continuing through the Restauradores Square to the Castello and then through the old part of town to the port, and then the Praca do Comercio. The old trams are just tremendously cute - ugly but lovable. We then took the public transport to our hotel. We then went to an Indian restaurant called Tamarind, touted to be the best restaurant in town. The food is just amazing...best Indian food I have eaten so far in Europe. The city needs a makeover, fast and quick. Going from Munich, through the French and Spanish countries, Lisboa doesnt seem to be an European city. Around 20% of the population lives below poverty in this EU nation.

Silence to Silence

2007-05-04T03:09:00.000+05:30

Listening to the soundtracks of Khamoshi (1969) and then Khamoshi - The Musical (1996), I can't help but think of my grandmother. She loved the Kishore Kumar sung "Woh Shaam.." and not only did she have me and my sis sing it for her, she sang along as well. She had a beautiful voice, but as she said, she never felt like getting trained and late in life she did regret that. The stories - all the ones, I heard from her while I spent 3 months with her and my grandfather when my uncle's family was in the US. She climbing trees as a young adolescent, singing and learning the ways to make a home. Then one fine day...after she was awfully ill, she did recover, so well that she even cooked fish for me. And while cutting nails, she was singing..."Baahon ke darmiyan.".
How the days pass..never to come back again.....

First Quarter Report

2007-03-11T22:21:00.000+05:30

Low-rung, Exotic, In Vogue, hackneyed...

Thats the journey that we as a country have been going through, in just about 50 years. From being the country which was viewed as "third world", to being considered as a competitor to US tech business, so much so, that they pass an unanimous policy to counter the Indo-Chinese invasion of Info-tech business by investing more into education and research. There are different features of this country which are making it into the daily lives of people across the world - yoga, curry and bollywood are just a few. The number of Indian restaurants here in Munich are increasing at a pace countered only by the number of Yoga centers. The 'exotic' (oh how I Hate that word!) nature of anything Indian, is all encompassing for most people.

But what has happened and what goes well beyond this exotica is the mark Indians are making everywhere - be it business or entertainment. Mira Nair's The Namesake opened to impeccable reviews and Lakshmi Mittal just got a bit richer. Forbes.com released the billionaire list with more Indians than ever before, and what was even more surprising more Indians in the top 20 than Germans. Agreed, the country still has a yawning gap to reach acceptable GDP figures - but it never looked more reacheable.

This President envisioned a no-corruption model, which no doubt is the need of the day. It would be a pity if he doesnt get a second term. I am not so sure, most young people in the country would be excited to see an octogenerian President again after this energetic although not so young Scientifically inclined President. He gave us the power and strength, the reason for the self esteem which we as a country felt after '98.

Anyway, we should only trust and grow on this pride for our country, which as one can see today only benefits from the different diversities. That is probably the only way to avoid the problems being faced by many other countries regarding racial and minority discrimination. Also, avoiding stagnation would be something the government should look into. Infrastructure building should be the main aim for the government and that would hold the key to future growth.

Starting this quarter, I start a list of the top 10 Indians from across the world - based on their contribution to the Indian society with respect to the work they did and also regarding their popularity with non-Indians.

10. Deepa Mehta & Mira Nair : The twin combo has made films very Indian but very Hollywood-ian. If Monsoon Wedding made people sing and dance, Water has only pushed the point that Indian emotions aren't just frivolous.

9. Mukesh Ambani & Anil Ambani : Brilliance! Thorough planning and great visionaries. Wish they stayed together and hope they come back together.

8. Amartya Sen : Like they say, the name is enough. His Nobel Prize - long overdue - showcased that Indian Universities do produce some gems.

7. SRK & Shilpa Shetty : Well, sounds crazy but ya, he is way better known than Sen - in India or abroad. His movies, not even close to being the best from India, are one of the most popular and ham acting is probably just one of the reasons. As for Shetty, just one reason - BIG BROTHER. Maybe Jade Goody could make some money through Shetty for she is the sole reason for SS being on this list. So much was the publicity of the racism incident, that Ms. Shetty would address the choicest of people on the Commonwealth Day, with the Queen and Blair, and tell the world, how development can take place only through unity in diversity. Way to go!

6. Indra Nooyi : Pepsi CEO ... Yeh Dil Maange More! She has shown the world what emancipation in India can mean to us. Ya, there are still cases of female foeticide but with such examples, I am sure we would be leaping forward.

5. Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan : Jupp! He is still the most powerful man in the Indian film industry. And his family just got stronger. That is if the engagement holds and the marriage takes place. There are so many movie stars in the list mainly because the Indians the world over love their movies and it is through these movies, that the culture transports itself.

4. Manmohan Singh : Strong, articulate and a visionary. He is the man who gave the much needed impetus to the Indian economy as the finance minister. Opposed to what people thought he did have a strong say as the Prime minister.

3. APJ Abdul Kalam : The President of the people. Most respected and most involved president.

2. Lata Mangeshkar & Asha Bhonsle : Surprise surprise. These singing sisters sang for entire generations and are still singing. Asha is the more popular one in the west. Kronos Quartet, Code Red, Sony's Asha remix of Robbie Williams' DJ and now the Brett Lee collaboration. There is no stopping the singing sensation.

1. Laksmi Mittal : The CEO of Arcelor-Mittal showed the world what one can do when he has the will and the vision.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-01-02T00:26:00.000+05:30

2007...now that feels wierd. I have already spent 26 years on this planet, which from my perspective underwent changes such that - proverbially put -it wouldn't be the same place again!

Saddam gone, nuclear North Korea, Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Ethiopian attacks on fundamentalists in Somalia..and closer home, as someone put it, "India Poised" for the next century.

I found an extremely interesting outlook, a great summary to what we need to move towards. As Shashi Tharoor said at UPenn: "Forty percent of the country is illiterate, but it has educated the world’s second-largest pool of highly skilled engineers. It has 18 official languages with 22,000 dialects. What else can you say about a country with 85 political parties, 23 of which are in the government, and 500 ways of cooking the potato? Any truism about India can be immediately contradicted by another.”

(The following was published on the Times of India website, by Joydeep Bose)

Many of us grew up being told by our elders that if we didn’t shut our eyes and go to sleep within five minutes, Wee Willie Winkie would come through the grilled window and spirit us away. It’s politically unfashionable these days to instill such fear in children; child psychologists warn parents that their apparently harmless stories could leave young, impressionable minds scarred for life.
It’s ironic that the West, from where these treat-kids-with-kid gloves notions originated, is now trying to scare their children and grown-ups with stories of the near-mythical Indian (in the US, Indian now pretty much means us, not Red/Native/American Indian; and to some Americans, we probably look a lot scarier than the Apaches and Mohawks in Westerns).
American kids are routinely warned by their teachers that if they don’t take their science and math seriously, the Indians and the Chinese will beat them to the best colleges and jobs in America. (Recently, a bunch of students from an Ivy League college visited TOI, and one of the students freely admitted that her mother, a high school teacher, was using such scare tactics.) And it’s not just American kids who are being beaten with the Indian lathi—their fathers are being quietly bullied by employers into putting in extra hours without a murmur: either that or their jobs will move to India.
But honestly, while these stories help boost our egos, they’re part of a continuing storyline—just that with every telling, they gain momentum.
The real story of 2006 is that we’ve gone from thinking small to thinking big. At home, businessmen like the Ambanis have dreamed big, and backed it up with great execution. Also, individually, Indians have made a significant impact abroad. But collectively, we’ve been reticent about making a splash on the global stage.
Indian businessmen, notably providers of software and BPO services, built their reputation among cost-conscious American companies as suppliers of cheap and reasonably reliable labour. They undercut American competitors by squeezing out a dollar here, shaving off a few cents there. Once they had their chappal in the door, they began to upsell, offering greater width and depth of service.
But through all of this, the nature of the relationship between India and the West remained that of supplier and buyer. Then, about three years ago, Indian businessmen began to break the mould by venturing overseas to acquire companies. By 2005, the trickle had swollen into a spate. Still, deal sizes remained mostly modest: a hundred million dollars here, a couple of hundred there.
We’d like to believe we were prescient when we titled our front-page editorial on January 1, 2006 and our special 22-page pullout the same day ‘A Leap Year For India’. India and Indians have finally made that leap—of faith and finance. Lakshmi Mittal’s dramatic acquisition of Arcelor in the face of every possible odd, and his unquestioned dominance of world steel, is one more milestone in the rise of India as a global power—it doesn’t matter that he built his empire in foreign lands. Regardless of whether he considers himself 25%, 50% or 100% Indian, the one thing he has done is give Indian businessmen a large dollop of can-do confidence. Ratan Tata may or may not have drawn inspiration from Mittal in boldly bidding for Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus, but what is indisputable is that it underlines a dramatic shift not only in the Indian psyche but in the way the world views India. (A century ago, Jamsetji Tata’s steel aspirations were met with scorn, most famously by one Sir Frederick Upcourt, who pronounced, "Do you mean to say that Tatas propose to make steel rails to British specifications? I will undertake to eat every pound of rail that they make, if they do that." Wonder if old man Upcourt ate steel or humble pie.) Even before the Mittals and Tatas, a growing number of Indian companies had begun acquiring entire blocks of transnational corporations with bids of $500m-to-$1.5bn.
Raising money is no longer a problem for Indian companies—the world’s top investment banks and private equity firms are lining up to give them billions of dollars. Across the globe, there’s acknowledgement that in addition to being smart, clever and hard-working, Indians also make brilliant entrepreneurs and managers, capable of running not just small and medium businesses, but the biggest of corporations in the toughest of conditions.
BIG ISN’T LARGE ENOUGH
We are at an inflection point: Suddenly, Indians are no longer scared to think big, act big. Our sense is that this is just the beginning. You are likely to see more multibillion dollar bids out of India. There was a time when businessmen here would say, the Indian market is big enough, why do we need to go abroad? Suddenly, even the world is not big enough for Indian ambition.
There’s possibly a deeper, more subtle message in all of this: Indians appear to be becoming less risk-averse. Many of them are shedding their middle-class mindset and are becoming more adventurous—from the size of their home and car loans, to their choice of jobs, to the way they live their lives. Consider (a not entirely representative case): the Ruias of Essar are in a mouth-watering situation where they can sell their 33% stake in Hutch Essar and make some $6 bn in cash (about Rs 30,000 crore); yet they are prepared to turn their backs on that kind of crazy money and instead buy out their foreign partner Hutchison’s 67% in the belief that they’ll make even greater money later. Some might say they’re being foolhardy, even greedy, but you can’t deny that it takes a risk-taker’s mentality to play such a hand in a game where the stakes are heart-poundingly high.
It’s not just Indian businessmen, large and medium, who are flexing their recently pumped-up muscles. The BSE sensex has soared from 9500-odd points at the beginning of 2006 to 14000; multicrore salaries have become so common that they’ve ceased to be news; real-estate prices across the country are going through the roof; the Indian telecom market is the fastest growing in the world; our so-called B-cities are snapping up Mercs and churning out crorepatis faster than Delhi and Mumbai; and our GDP is expanding at a scorching 9% plus. If the optimists are to be believed, the economy could turn in double or near-double digit growth rates for the next decade. The logic is simple: conditions here are ripe for sustained explosive growth; it’s happened in China; why can’t it happen here? There are huge, huge differences between India and China, but a little bravado never hurt.
The nuclear deal with the US has only reconfirmed India’s status as an emerging superpower. The fact that Bush pushed so very hard for it, and that it sailed through the Senate without a debate and the House of Representatives with a landslide margin is a clear sign that America’s need to have India as an ally overrides bipartisan politics.
Combine our new-found economic and political clout with our increasingly influential diaspora and our status as a global soft power or superwower (from Bollywood and Indian art to yoga and spirituality), and Brand India is on a roll like never before.
Yes, 2007 could well be the Year of India.

A LIFE LESS BEAUTIFUL
At the same time, we can ill-afford to turn a blind eye to the grim reality that lies beneath the glitter and gloss of an India poised for glory and greatness. Some of us would like to believe the twain shall never meet, that we can continue to live our parallel lives without ever having to confront the other, less shiny India—the India that is routinely devastated by floods, droughts and terrorism. But the serial blasts in the first-class compartments of Mumbai’s suburban trains have served as a terrible reminder that life is not as neatly compartmentalised as we might like it to be.
We can also either choose to dismiss the recent display of Dalit fury as a random, isolated incident, or treat it as a symptom of a greater problem. There is enough evidence to suggest that communal and social ferment can set a country back.
Another big source of worry is the collapse of governance and the erosion of our institutions. Corruption is at a high, faith in the ability and inclination of our politicians and bureaucrats to run an efficient, honest and just administration is at a low. The months-long crisis over illegal constructions and sealings in Delhi is but a case in point. The judiciary has had to fill the breach on almost every major issue of the day, largely because the executive and the legislature have abdicated their responsibilities. Not that the judiciary doesn’t have its own problems; the pile-up of cases and the time taken to dispose of even petty disputes makes for depressing reading.
As a paper, we have advocated that government’s role in business should be minimal. We have favoured disinvestment, opposed over-regulation. We have said that instead of running businesses, government should channel its time and money into ensuring efficient delivery of education, healthcare and infrastructure. Sadly, that has not happened.
Our state-run schools and hospitals are in a shambles, and infrastructure has become a bottleneck. The well-heeled—who constitute TOI’s readership—can afford private schools and hospitals, and we can gloat about foreigners flocking to India for everything from botox to heart transplants, and about Indian educational institutes setting up campuses abroad. But vast swathes of our population do not have access to the most basic needs (and rights)—civic amenities and a decent education. Quite apart from the fact that it’s the right thing to do, even selfishly, it’s good for the economy, especially if we are to work our billion-plus population to our advantage.
As it is, we are seeing the beginnings of a big talent crunch. As the role of intangible assets—skilled workforce and intellectual capital—grows in the economy, so will the demand for trained manpower. In a world where talent’s become the most sought-after asset—a big venture capitalist recently told us, “money’s at a discount, talent’s at a premium’’—India was seen as an inexhaustible source of both high and low-end labour. But the inside story is somewhat different. There’s a desperate stampede for skilled people. It’s great news for employees, but the fear is that the looming talent deficit could act as an impediment to growth. Hole-in-the-wall teaching centres are mushrooming to cash in on the soaring demand for professional degrees and diplomas, but the quality of education is, for the most part, abysmal. Government and the private sector need to figure out ways to fix as well as expand our education system. And please, let’s cut out the anti-English rhetoric. It’s our English language education, together with institutes such as the IITs and IIMs, that has helped give us a global competitive advantage. Let’s not allow any short-sighted, self-righteous politician to blow it.

THE RISE OF CIVIL SOCIETY
Increasingly, there’s a sense that India’s ticking in spite of its babus and political leaders. Indeed, the role of public opinion in bringing Jessica Lall’s killer to justice holds out hope that civil society can make an enormous difference when it chooses to. Also, we now have a powerful instrument in the form of RTI (Right to Information); we need to leverage it to the fullest (even as we try to protect it from babudom’s attempts to dilute it).
Starting today and continuing through the month, The Times of India will seek to highlight areas of hope and despair. We will bring you the big picture, as well as reports from the street and field on inspiring stories of men and women who have looked adversity in the eye and made the world around us a better place. Along the way, we hope that with your feedback we can put together a few transformational ideas and solutions for an India whose only real obstacle to progress is itself.
It is a matter of great pride that India has produced such people as Amartya Sen, Indra Nooyi and Zubin Mehta. But deep down, we know that we haven’t tapped even a fraction of our potential. It will be the modest endeavour of this paper to help realise that potential.

Christmas

2006-12-24T04:37:00.000+05:30

When everything is supposed to be frozen, everything is supposed to be chilly...well, in reality the winter has actually just started settling in. For the first time in this December, the temperatures reached negatives last week. And, with Christmas around the corner, this weather would be welcomed for a change, not unless you are Daniela Huber.
A Bavarian by birth, and secretary to Prof. Amman by profession, she is one of the many friendly souls in the institute. She was my initial help to communicate with Irmgard, as she speaks little but manageable english. But, what she really really hates is the winter. Many a times, she is planning to take the Indian citizenship...if only for the sun! And, she calls me a German for my hatred of the summertime here, and whole-hearted acceptance of the winter :)
This weekend and week thereafter is kind of wierd. There are hardly any people working at the institute due to the holiday season, but because everyone is on holiday now, I am covering for them and when they return, I take a few days off!
Last week we had a visitor in the institute from Dresden, an assistant Professor, Jens Müller who is interested for a collaboration. Very interesting talk and interesting conversation. Anna, Matt, Jens and I went to Weihnachtsmarkt and then for dinner to Ratskeller, under the Marienplatz. I had a Schweinshaxe...well, lets just say, it was sufficient :D
A strong recommendation : Watch "The visitors", a French movie about guys from the middle ages landing up in modern times. Hillarious....

"Toll"wood!

2006-12-06T02:20:00.000+05:30

After my birthday, came another birthday...mother of all birthdays! Prof. Gerhard Abstreiter celebrated his 60th birthday on Nov 27th, and WSI had arranged an extremely interesting event. There were 20 mins to 45 mins presentations from world renowned physicists, some of them doctoral students of Prof. Abstreiter himself. There was an evening event recapitulating his life in physics, which was showcased by Prof. Jörg Kotthaus, followed by Bavarian dinner catered by his home town cooks. I had to photograph over the entire day, which turned out pretty nice ;)

And then came another friends birthday on the 30th, when we ate a Spanish dinner - extremely nice. I also learnt packing gifts for the first time. Learnt about the entire German ritual of birthdays. Very special! On that weekend, made another friend, who had come over from Hannover to meet my friend. We went to Tollwood - an extremely interesting conglomeration of anything which is interesting. The Food Plaza has food from all sorts of places, and the shops are host to not just folk stuff from here, but majorly showcase India. Textiles, handicrafts, Natraj statues, Ganesha statues, 'Om' artifacts, marble elephant sculptures, bed sheets, cushion covers, Gujarati embroidery stuff, Oriya applique stuff...well, its kind of a gamut of folk art from India, on display here.

Then, on saturday, we went to the Planetarium in Deutsches Museum. Excellent show, and even more of a spectacular view outside from balconies on the 6th floor. The souvenir shop of the museum is wonderful! I mean, the books, the games, the various stuff there, is so amazing, I could hardly keep my hands off most of them.

I would love to go back to both these places, and now with winter on the anvil (frankly, hardly!!..the temp hardly has gone below 10°C yet...pretty unusual for this time of the year), there would be many more opportunities.

New Year and New World!

2006-11-18T19:52:00.000+05:30

The Birthday came and the birthday went...what was left was a lasting memory. For the first time ever, there were real "celebrations", meaning both during the day and later in the evening. At work, Lucia surprised me by baking a cake and bringing it. I cut that with the entire group singing Happy Birthday :D And this time around, Prof. Abstreiter joined us as well. In the evening, I got an electric shaver as a gift, and an evening dinner. Very calming.

But some things never change, I still continue to race with time to get the abstracts done, this time for the American Physical Society Meeting '07. Although this could have been done way back, we in our group believe in "waiting till the end". But this conference also means a delay to my trip to India. There is also a conference of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesselschaft thereafter and then there is the EP2DS in Genoa and then the MSS and so on.

A new great site : http://rajshri.com

One can see the old movies, songs, music videos all for free and that too broadband. India's first broadband portal. Dont miss the "Maine Pyar Kiya" or the "Om Shanti Om" kiddie video. Pretty Nostalgic.

Changing Equations

2006-10-10T19:36:00.000+05:30

Card carrying members. Exclusive N5. Clandestine treaties. NPT. Maverick Leadership.

Words which could easily compete for the "word of the year" title this year. And no prizes for guessing what makes this year the year of N-word for India, 8 years after the major tests were done - the Nuclear deal, still on the floors of the US Congress and the Nuclear Tests by North Korea, which may jeopardize the deal. The Iranian threats may just be a catalyst for all those who are advocating against the deal. Well, if the deal falls through, it would showcase again for all to see, the narrow minded approach to International issues of the West (talking about which, are the stooges ready to go ahead with their deals on the military know-how sharing, which they were promising all along? - seems most of them merely wanted to jump onto the band wagon along with the US). If they arent able to distinguish between fanatics and a democratically elected government which all along has shown restraint, it's quite a predictable reaction from a coterie of countries which wasnt able to see beyond their Cold war buddies for a whole era. To set the records straight, India has never clandestinely pursued its Nuclear agenda; the country was always open to the world, remained a non-signatory to the NPT, because it truly believed that this treaty was unfair to the developing countries. Its not a fault of ours, that the security satellites of the global watchdog couldnt see the on-going preparations for the test for 3-4 weeks before the test. And the weapons tested werent bought ready made from another country, but were truly developed indigenously over a period of a quarter century, after the first tests were done in 1974.

There has been a lot said and a lot written about the tests. I agree these were unwarranted and uncalled for, given the neighbourhood they have. On the other hand, they were asking for an assurance from the US for not attacking them - while continuing talks, initially they said dual party, but later agreed for the 6 party as well, on denuclearization - which they didnt get. If the US had reservations about them not sticking to their promise, then this assurance would have anyway fallen through and US would have to go back on its word - but that would not have been the first time in human history. And what were the 'oh so powerful' CIA satellites doing?

Here I have put together some information which I collected over the past few days from various sources (TIME Magazine; CNN; Unclassified part from the report of the Commission to Assess Ballistic Missile threat to The US; writings by Larry Everst, Chidananda Rajaghatta, Rashmee Roshan Lall)

A storm of predictable – but probably ultimately pointless - protest from Europe rained down on Pyongyang's reclusive regime on Monday. In what some observers described as "monumental hypocrisy" from Britain, whose prime minister recently announced he would be replacing the ageing Trident nuclear weapons system, Tony Blair condemned North Korea's reported first nuclear test as "a completely irresponsible act" and warned of "international repercussions". SURE! And now their new Army chief is seeking to pullout from Iraq. Nuclear weapon states have not lived up to their NPT obligations either, for example the undertaking to move towards a treaty on general disarmament. The United States provides about 60 tactical B61 nuclear bombs for use by Germany under a NATO nuclear weapons sharing agreement. The weapons are stored at Büchel and Ramstein Air Bases, and in time of war would be delivered by Luftwaffe Panavia Tornado warplanes. This violates Articles I and II of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), where Germany has committed:
"... not to receive the transfer from any transfer or whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly ... or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices ...".

Describing North Korea as "one of the world’s leading proliferators," Bush said it had supplied technology to Iran and Syria, but he omitted mentioning Pakistan, Washington’s client state which has a better-chronicled record of nuclear and ballistic missile trade with North Korea. This although, in 1998 at the Report tabled on the Ballistic threat to the US, chalked out under Donald Rumsfeld, it has been reported that :

"Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons that employ highly-enriched uranium andconducted its first nuclear weapon test series in May 1998. A new Pakistani nuclear reactor has been completed that could be used for the production of plutonium. In addition to its nuclear weapons, Pakistan has biological andchemical weapons programs. Chinese assistance has been crucial to Pakistan's nuclear weapons program." and further down...

"North Korea also poses a major threat to American interests, it is a major proliferator of the ballistic missile capabilities it possesses--missiles, technology,technicians, transporter-erector-launchers (TELs) and underground facilityexpertise--to other countries of missile proliferation concern. Thesecountries include Iran, Pakistan and others."

For the record, about India the report says

"India is rapidly enhancing its own missile science and technology base. Many Indian nationals are educated and work in the U.S., Europe and other advanced nations; some of the knowledge thereby acquired returns to the Indian missile program (with the people returning back). While India continues to benefit from foreign technology and expertise, its programs and industrial base are now sufficiently advanced that supplier control regimes can affect only the rate of acceleration in India's programs." The report however concluded that all military technology, including the ICBM developed by India, would not be for intimidatory purposes, but only as a "military strategic deterrent".

A week after Pakistan exploded nuclear weapons in 1998, the wife of a North Korean diplomat, Kim Sa-nae, was killed in Islamabad. She was reportedly part of a 20-member North Korean delegations of engineers and scientists invited to witness the tests. No autopsy was carried out, though she was shot. Her body was taken out of Pakistan in a C-130 military plane incidentally, the same plane that A Q Khan said was used to transport plans and equipment for a nuclear bomb. The plane, according to sources tracking the Pakistan-Pyongyang nexus, reportedly went back with P-1 and P-2 centrifuges, used to enrich uranium to weapons grade. The cargo, according to reports, carried drawings, sketches, data and depleted uranium hexaflouride gas. One thing Monday's test proves is that Khan's legacy lives on. It has brought the spotlight back on the Pakistan factor and Khan's nuclear Wal-Mart is back in the news. The Pak-North Korea link goes back to the 1970s. In 1971, Pakistan asked North Korea to provide artillery and rocket launchers during the war with India. But by the 1980s, the relationship had entered the realm of ballistic missile cooperation. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Pakistani and North Korean engineers and contractors worked together in Iran to develop missiles. In 1991, Pakistan asked for SCUD missile technology from North Korea. A Pakistan military delegation travelled to China in August 1992, but a group broke away and went to Pyongyang, including Aslam Shahid of Khan Research Laboratories. They negotiated a $50 million deal for rocket motors, guidance systems and control and testing equipment for 10 missiles. In 1993, Benazir Bhutto as PM visited North Korea and signed a number of defence agreements. Khan visited North Korea in October and November 1997 with a 10-member team. North Korea reportedly sent 11 consignments of Nodong 1 missiles from January 1997-March 1998 through special flights. The deal was paid for in hard currency, given Pyongyang's perilous state.

Iraq's use of poisonous gas in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War has been repeatedly cited by Bush and Condoleezza Rice, as justification for a "regime change" in Iraq. Now it has come out that a covert U.S. operation aided and abetted Iraq when it was using chemical weapons against Iranian forces and its own Kurdish population.
The New York Times (8/18/02) reported that, according to senior military officers with direct knowledge of the secret program, U.S. officials "provided Iraq with critical battle planning assistance at a time when American intelligence agencies knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war." It's long been known that the U.S. gave Iraq satellite intelligence to prevent an Iranian victory. But the Times article includes new information revealing the extent of U.S. involvement: "More than 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency [DIA] were secretly providing detailed information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for airstrikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq."
This Pentagon program continued even when it became clear that the Iraqi military "had integrated chemical weapons throughout their arsenal and were adding them to strike plans that American advisers either prepared or suggested." U.S. plans in fact were made knowing that Iraq would use chemical weapons. William Blum, author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2 and Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower , writes about how the U.S. knew about and helped Iraq get biological weapons. Blum writes, "According to a 1994 Senate Committee Report: From 1985, if not earlier, through 1989, a veritable witch's brew of biological materials were ex- ported to Iraq by private American suppliers pursuant to application and licensing by the U.S. Department of Commerce." The deadly mix included anthrax, botulism, and E. coli bacteria. According to Blum, the Senate Report states, "that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."

And what now? Bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, US is not actively considering any military option against a country that is impoverished but has a well-equipped million-man army facing a much smaller contingent of US troops stationed in South Korea. As always, the TIME Magazine headline right after the tests, caught the entire situation "North Korea calls the US's bluff"...

State of Denial

2006-10-06T23:48:00.000+05:30

Bob Woodward - Hats off!

After 5 yrs of 9/11 to start up the debate again on the world's most discussed issue requires some courage and credibility (which I would assume he has). This at a time, when most people are driving the US up the wall anyway regarding the Iraq war. Well, his book is mainly focussed on that issue and then he goes on to point his finger at the establishment for that as well. Funny that it comes on a day when an US Mariner has pleaded guilty on charges of perjury (and is being charged for murder of an Iraqi civil) and another Danish soldier has died in Basra. So much for the "truth" about the war.

Today, the Israeli colleagues of mine at this conference in Dresden told me that they were more than ready to return the Gaza Strips and West Bank to Egypt and Jordan respectively. But these countries arent ready to accept them because of the problems. Wow! Did we know that? Roni was quite critical about her own country and its stand on the Palestinian problem for the past several decades. She blames this mis-treatment of the Arabs in Israel as an important reason why this problem has come where it has.

During this conference, I have met many people from the field of Quantum Hall Effect, but the predominant direction is theoretical and that for me after 5 days is a bit too much to take. Matt left today and would be away for a week performing "Copenhagen" as "Heisenberg" in Vienna. Our poster was quite well received and we got very good feedback from the participants here. While on the conference, we were also taken to Bautzen - a small town close to Dresden for a half day trip. The claim to fame is that its 1000 years old, also it has a political prison from the Cold war era. There are about 11,000 Protestants and about 5000 Catholics and some 4000 Serbs. The road signs are in German and Sorbian (also called Lusatian Serbs). There is a church of St. Peter and St. Paul which is shared between the Catholics and the Protestants by a 2:1 ratio. The Sorbs are also mostly Evangelical or Catholics. On Thursday we walked into the touristy parts of the town and there we met this old couple from Augsburg who told us how the city was completely transformed with the money pumped in from the West. We also went to some portions which are mostly for students and have a lot of pubs. But, along with these also come the some freaky people, skinheads, punks and the black leather guys. In one these streets, there is a Vietnamese restaurant and while we were passing this, some guys came and rapped on the windows and in German, warned the guy and asked him to leave in an intonation, which did kind of scare a lot of us.

During this trip, Matt told us about the changing scenario in the US. North Korea has said that they would test the Nuclear weapons in the wake of extreme pressure from the US! This was also what pissed off Matt and was saying that when Bush says " May God be with us"...its fine...but when the Iranian president says the same...its fanaticism!..Well, Matt welcome to American hypocrisy! ;) Ya, agreed...not all the time...rather not most of the time.

US has one of the most positive societies and it is way easier for any individual to come in and percolate into the society - unlike Germany, or other European countries. London may be an exception, where loads of multi-ethnic societies are co-existing. Their policies regarding their own country and their defense strategies for their own country - Homeland Security - are commendable and in the face of the heightened threat, should be replicated in most countries, if they still havent been. But what I find extreme hypocrisy is the attitude to act as the Global Police and that in some way is responsible for them to becoming a target for various unfriendly finger-pointing. What is preached needs practise and so, if the war against terror has to be won, every single source needs to be quenched. Most countries with safe umbrellas from the US should refrain from being the pacifist and playing the do-gooder. When the brick actually falls, its mostly too late.

Ex PM Vajpayee had said exactly this at the US joint Congress session on 14th Sept 2000 -" Distance is no protection, understand the crisis facing the world - dont focus only on a single face of the problem..." It fell only on deaf ears. Then as they say was history...

Bridge On the River Isar

2006-09-24T21:01:00.000+05:30

Walking down one day I went to the bridge on Isar, was a wonderful place. As is usual, we took loads of pics and then came back home. One weekend, there was also hiking to Wendelstein. Its a wonderful place and we took the Bahn up to the mountain and hiked down. And eventually on the Conference trip to Ringberg, I hiked again from Wallberg to Setzberg and then to Risserkogel. I pretty much was dead on return to Munich. After two days of continuous talks and then staying awake till 3am each night, one doesnt really have too much energy to go for the hike, but we still did. And then for dinner to Braeustueberl, Brauhaus Tegernsee. Excellent place...richie rich people and extremely reasonable prices.
Claudius is back after a year and a half and now we are measuring while I am running around trying to finish the poster for Dresden. 17th October onwards the semester starts as well, so there is a huge amount of things piling up and frankly the birthday looks pretty boring as well - nothing unusual! :)
October 21 is diwali and hopefully I would have time for myself a little bit to enjoy that one :)!

And now that the TIME Magazine issue on India Inc. is available for reading on the net, go through this and see how the world looks at us. Mira Nair's article is especially interesting with the nuances of being at a foreign university tugging at the hearts. The comment about "the country being run by more people like us" is truly and rightly so :)

Fall 2006

2006-09-17T06:12:00.000+05:30

The weather slowly is now moving towards the chilly...amid all this work is progressing at a breakneck speed. There was Würzburg, then Stuttgart and come Monday, I would be at Tegernsee. There have been extremely encouraging results and very good feedback from Prof. Abstreiter. Matt is also very happy - although I have still not understood him. He doesnt want me to send an abstract to the March meeting of the APS - reason : lousy -tickets are expensive.

Today the Oktoberfest started as well - pretty much a drinking version of any festival in India, down to the Giant wheel and even the motorbiker in the "death trap", biking on the walls. What was different was the people's clothing. And of course more order ;)

India seems to be really big on the world map currently, even the Frankfurt World Book Fair has India as its theme for this year. Little surprise that Dell setup their first manufacturing unit in India. And to think of it, all of this basically started after 1998 - after the second series of Nuclear tests done by Vajpayee government. Nuclear bombs made in the country with indigenous technology - for the protection of the country and for standing in the world on the same platform as the others. India never has and never would, hopefully, mould its policies to appease a big brother. Thats when the true face of democracy and diplomacy takes full shape. Maintaining a tight rope to appease the masses and the world allies is way tougher than to make policies "in line" with a country which pumps money for re-building. The diversity of political parties and the possible coalitions make the choice quite reasonable. The people do not have to stay bound to a scenario where one coalition is ready to lick the ass of a particular country and the other coalition licks the ass of the other.

The weather isnt the only thing falling - moods fall too :) Due to the extreme stress from work and certain tussles in daily life I went through a major upheavel, only to later realise this wasnt worth it. I could, should and may focus more attention on myself...if only....

Paris blues

2006-08-26T18:58:00.000+05:30

In case you think after the previous blog that we continued on our trip to Paris, thats not the case. This one is the blonde Hilton girl. As we progressed on Thursday we decided to go towards Toulon and on the way stop at St. Tropez. We got down at St. Raphael and went into the store of the vacation "Decathlon"-nice sport related stuff for cheap. But then I committed my biggest fuck up - we drove on for the entire day but really less because, I had by mistake taken the wrong route towards Frejus and Vidauban instead of going through the coast. St. Tropez happened to be extremely crowded and then we went to a coast a bit off St. Tropez and then the fight for a room began again because it was starting to rain. We drove on to Toulon, looked at the military ships and tried the Etaps again. No luck! Then we drove towards Marseille and on the way found an excellent hotel near Gemenos. We had in the day bought 1 kg of Apricots for 1,50€....now compare this to the Swiss price!

Then we went towards Marseille the next day. But we tried to find a place to stay first so that it would not be a repeat of the last times. This time we found something near Sausset-les-Pins, near Martigues. That evening we lazed around and went to Martigues and drove around. Then we came back and there was the rain again. We stayed on in the car and watched Prime. Excellent movie and the setting was great. The next day was saturday and we went to Marseille and stayed there for the entire day. We saw the main highlights and as had turned out to be the running joke of the trip...I had to find the Tourist office. :D Then on our way back to the camp, we went to Carrefour - a hypermarchee or a supermarket. I paid with my credit card and then the chaos which followed was phenomenal. They wanted an ID and my passport was in the car. Problem was they didnt understand English and our French was a bit more than non existant. After haggling for a while, they let us leave but the tone for a low evening was set.

The next day we drive to Camargue - a natural reserve of salt water plains. There are special horses and birds from that region. We went into the town of St. Marie de la Mer, nice place with the worst public toilet ever. On the way back we drove to Arles - an old roman town with an arena and a theater among other things. When we left Arles for our camping, I managed to drive us away from the actual path again but not so far.

Next day we left the camp site and went towards Avignon, old Pope palace place. Spending an afternoon around the town, we drove on using country roads up north. The feelings were mixed, that of the trip coming to an end and that of going back to Munich. All along the Ms Hilton gave us company cooing "Stars are blind". We had dinner at a Casino Supermarchee and then rested only after reaching Geneve at around 2 in the night. We slept in the car on the main road of the city. We walked down to the lake once. Then in the morning we went for a coffee to the cafe on that road and eventually drove on towards Basel along the Lake Geneve. The drive was wonderful because I kept myself busy doing various things :) Then from Basel we got on to the German Freeways and managed to reach Munich in 4 hrs .. it was quite a stretch as the drive was of around 440 kms.

One thing which I would always remember from this trip is that life is unpredictable, and we should live for the moment and learn to enjoy that rather than brooding over the future. Another thing is that French red wine is way better than German red wine. The drivers in South of France are real hazards to humanity is the other experience from this trip.

But if I were to capture the holiday in just 5 things they would be : shitties smelling of piss, oceans, Decathlon, driving and RT....:)

August Odyssey

2006-08-25T01:41:00.000+05:30

Well almost! When we started out from here on the 12th morning in a Mercedes A class rented car, we didnt know the journey would be this far - according to the meter reading , and also, that we would extend it.

As was our planned journey, we went towards Kochelsee and stopped...saw the rainy mountains and then getting sick to the stomach with rain, decided to move on. Here I must add, this was only the second time that I was navigating sitting next to the same driver twice in a row. My skills as navigator are unenviable to put it mildly and that was the reason we landed up at Kochelsee in the first place, because we wanted to go to Starnbergersee actually :D Then we continued to Walchensee and then to a village which was really picturesque. Stopping we took loads of photographs which we basically did at the drop of hat anyway.

Then driving on towards Italy we drove into Ötztal where we had our lunch and stopped by the tourist office to pick some info. We were about 20 kms from the border of Italy, very close to the pass. For those who may have heard of it - there was a man from early ages found in his full clothing, fully preserved in the Glaciers of Ötztal about 15-20 years ago and named Ötzi.

What struck us as a nominal thing during the lunch, turned out to be the turning point of the trip. The car was not allowed to be driven into Italy as it was Mercedes, although it was the smallest one. We were kind of absolutely dumbstruck and couldnt figure out much, kept driving in the pre-planned direction but then came up with something really brilliant.

We decided to go through Switzerland into the south west coastline of France - Cote d'Azur. Till the first evening we drove till Zernez in Switzerland, and stopped on the way at Scoul. I saw for the first time Orthodox Jews in beards and black blazers and hats! Pretty site ;) We booked ourselves into a Pension called Hotel Piz Terra Garni sharing the washroom with the others on the floor. Zernez has a nice historical touch to it, and we found in the hotel books telling the history of how the Swiss Army was formed and the possible explanation of their presence in Vatican.

Morning came and we kept driving west. We proceeded to St. Moritz, the chill in the air nothing what I would expect from August. And the next hours had even bigger surprises for us. We made a record of passing 3 passes that day. Julier Pass, followed by Oberalppass and then Furkapass. Furkapass happens to be the second highest pass of Europe. There we got a snow storm as well. That was it...it made our resolve to land into the oceanic temperatures even more!! Driving down we continued through beautiful landscapes and vineyards stopping near Sion for a pizza. That place had the worst singer to offer with pizzas, I could have gone up and hit him on his head - if there werent old people dancing to his awful singing! :( And apricots were on sale for 7€ for 1 kg...remember this! We tried our luck with the youth hostel at Sion, but found it to be a bit expensive for what they had to offer and then we continued into France - but not far. We stopped at a small hostel at Chamonix, the town nearest to Mont Blanc. That was probably our most disgusting overnite stay :D Well, the toilet stank..but later to our disgust we realised all the cities stink...

After breakfast we drove on south and for the first time in our trip after leaving Germany we took the freeway. Initially we tried to get a peak at Mont Blanc and we failed because it was rainy and cloudy, and then from Albertsville we took the freeway till Grenoble. Then we came back on the country roads and drove towards Lac de Serre Poncon. On the way, we stopped and ate a couple of cans for lunch. To drink cafe we stopped at a small town of Jausiers. This town has the most disgusting - well not really, that was still to come - but ya, one of the most disgusting public toilets I have gone to in Europe. By the time we ascended on to Cap de la Bonette, it was almost 1800 hrs. This is the highest pass in Europe - and there are bunkers made from the time of Napolean. Excellent place. We descended down towards Nice and drove on. What we didnt realise was the pace at which we were crossing the towns. We crossed Carros and then we realised it was almost 2130 hrs and we had no place to stay. After going to Etap Hotel in Nice and other places on Promenade d' Anglaise we realised we had no chance to find any accomodation. We went over to the freeway towards Cannes and then stopped over at a Rest stop.

After resting for 6 hrs or so we drove again and tried to find some campings. We found a nice camping ground at Auribeau about 25 mins drive from the coast. Then we went to Cannes - saw the famous Festival palace and the streets and the old hotels. Then walking around for a while, we drove back and went for dinner to a nice restaurant near Le Trayas.

Next morning from the camp we went towards Monaco and Menton. As is usual during the peak travel season, there were enormous number of tourists and the roads blocked, because we were not travelling on the freeways. After suffering extreme traffic, we eventually reached Monaco. This place is way better than the rest of South of France, which basically has by now Shitties - not cities. We saw the many hundreds of yachts of many famous people and the castle, ate a pizza and drove towards Monte Carlo and Menton. There we had excellent sea food and nice time in the beach, walked till late and eventually drove back to the camping. Here I must add my navigation skills were becoming a burden for the driver as we kept progressing into the trip. He didnt throw me out just because of who he is. Wednesday came to an end and so did a major portion of our trip.

Conference et. al., 2006

2006-08-05T18:56:00.000+05:30

The third conference of the year for me ended yesterday at Würzburg. It was the 17th International Conference on High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductors. The talks were interesting - barring a couple of undecipherable Russian and Japanese speakers, the location beautiful. When I reached on the 30th, I wasnt so happy as this was my first conference with just Nebile and Marco - with whom I also shared the hotel room. But at the end of the week, it was pretty comfortable and I did feel a bit of an attachment to the city. This was majorly due to some people I met at the conference and befriended.
Before I left for Würzburg, on Friday the 28th, I started working at 8.30 am and was there at the institute till 1 am in the night with Matt and Narayan. After a small screw up with the magnet - letting in air while still pumping, which in no way slowed us down - we continued till we had completely cooled the magnet. Then Narayan and I ordered a taxi, but that was nowhere in site and I even refused the offer for a lift from Stefan Birner. :( Then somehow, we managed to hitch hike with some semi drunk party mongers from Machine Bau till Donnersberger Brücke. I walked back from there - thats a night I am not forgetting so easily. Eventually I was back there on Saturday to pull out my sample.
Then sunday I left for the conference after booking my ticket amidst a lot of rain on saturday evening. At the Hauptbahnhof, I met a Pakistani tourist who had come here from Karachi via Paris. Very interesting to talk to...and believe me for a while the thought that he was from THE country didnt strike me - he asked me for help and help I did.
The train journey was horrid - although the beginning sweet with some one to accompany till the train. There was no ACs in the train and the old ladies refusing to open the windows - just in case they die of the draft! The 37°C outside did little to help. :(
Hotel Strauss is on Juliuspromenade of Würzburg, walking distance from the Hauptbahnhof. Reached there at 5.15pm because the train was 45 mins late...then met Nebile and the Stuttgart team - went hiking and then ate by the Altebrucke. 30 cm Pizza with a drink for 6,50 € isnt a bad deal ;)
Then the conference started on Monday - met people from Holland, the group which I would like to collaborate with and another group from Switzerland, with whom I am collaborating. Also, met Matthias Fehr, a student at the TUM, who was there presenting his work he had done in St. Petersburg in the last 10 months. Most of the time during the conference I was with him, because Matt talks a lot of Physics - which I dont understand after the evening :D Nebile also became a much better friend - I had never had the opportunity to interact with her like this before. But what became even more clear in this trip than before was that Marco isnt someone I could really get along with. Lucia is right when she says, he isnt grown up yet. One of those, who value their own opinion more than anyone. After the lunch with Lloyd, Uli, the dutch group and Matthias - where most people discussed Israel and Lebanon saying Israel was in principle wrong and I was the only one supporting Israel - he seemed to be a little peeved with the fact that others became impassionate when off the table. After all its an issue, and we are all entitled to our own views - which we exchange and learn. We cannot fight over it - else what is education worth!
He took out his frustration by switching to German the moment we were out of that place. Since Matthias speaks much better English, I was communicating mostly in English -although I spoke a lot of German during the evenings and with others. This supposedly made no sense to Marco, who in not so many words said he would much rather speak English with Matt, as he learns something - from me he doesnt learn any English...well, tough luck Marco - people dont piss me off and get forgotten about...I would have this in my CPU for a while.
India seemed to be a huge attraction for loads of people there, with lots of question and 3 Indians - Tapash Chakraborty ( from Uni Manitoba), another Indian from NEST Italy and me. Surprisingly all bengali! But Tapash refused to answer in Bengali when I asked him something, and eventually stopped talking..wierdo.
At home-I mean Munich- Bavarian government seems to be trying to woo Bollywood now, with an RTL series on Bollywood and also, Bavarian Alps being offered for Bavaria-wood as they would like to call it. At Brienzesee, where I went, there seems to have been some shooting. So much so, that there are ferries offering Indian food. I saw even an Aishwarya ad in a Longines shop.

Sex, Food and Videotapes

2006-07-27T17:33:00.000+05:30

No, that fortunately hasn't been the fate of my life..yet! Although surely that doesn't seem to be a sad spate of affairs..(I can actually see most heads nodding :D) Have been pretty busy with loads of stuff..a couple from the headline (you are free to take your pick, which ones!).

The heat here is tremendous, along with the humidity. Yes, I know...Ich komme aus Indien...so, I should be used to this...but believe me, there is no way one can get used to heat. To top it, there are no Airconditioners or fans ( interestingly, here they are called Klimaanlage and Ventilator respectively, and we thought, ventilators are found only above the doors :D). That restricts the excersice one can have; my gymming has gone down tremendously - although now I have a sports bag that I got as a gift from a very dear friend. Actually I was searching for something like that on eBay - after being introduced to the entire concept. Well, what I haven't put up here, is a fuck up which I did with the entire Internet auction thingy! I saw posters for 1€ on eBay and bid on 4 of them. What I didn't see was, the shipping cost was 30€ each! That was hidden and then I had to retract my bid - not always the best thing to do, but necessary at times.

Last Friday, Bhaskar's father passed away. Very upsetting news. I could never have expected that when I last spoke to him in May. He had called up from the airport and said, that he would call up from India. That never happened...Life is so short - we don't even realise when it would be the last we meet or talk to someone. When I spoke to Mamma (my grandmom) in Jan 2006 - she had said it is the last time I was speaking to her as she was too tired having climbed the stairs, but I didn't take it seriously. And then suddenly a week later, I could never speak to her ever again......

July 15th was the "Tag der Offenen Tür" at Infineon and so, I went there with Rahul and Debangana and met another Indian couple - Shraddha and I forgot the guy's name..oops! Nice people...Hade huge amounts of food at Rahul's expense and then went for grilling with another set of friends. Got kind of tipsy at the end of the day. And the next day met Matthias - went to see an apartment at Nordfriedhof, and also went around the Street Life Festival in Munich. That day we walked from Nordfriedhof to Hauptbahnhof, and then I walked from Hbf to home. Also watched quite a few films in the mean time - Bride and Prejudice, One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, A Home at the End of the World, Object of my Affection, Memoirs of Geisha, Sweet Home Alabama, Four Weddings and a Funeral, some other Brit movie.

In the following weeks, Matt and I came up with an interesting story for our doping efficiency of the AlAs doping series Max had grown for us. Very gratifying to have a poster acceptance at an International Conference. This one is at Dresden, to be held in the first week of October, 2006. There is just too much of travelling now - Würzburg is coming up, then a road trip, then Stuttgart and then Dresden. What I didn't mention yet though is a trip to Switzerland.

Last week I went there for some days. I was very tired with work here and needed a break and with a friend, having booked a car (Black VW Touran) - which surely only he could drive (thank god for the small mercies, although I feel awful being so useless). We went to Meiringen - a small town, as picturesque as it can get. The house where we stayed was in the middle of the valley overlooking mountains and the bed room was in the attic - idyllic as someone said. We got there around 2.30 am on July 20th and then the first day, we went to Aareschlucht (really, its a German speaking area - didn't they realise it sounds similar to another place on the human body - where many people love going as well). Its a ravine around the river Aare and where there was a glacier earlier. Now there is a train through a tunnel running parallel to the river through the mountains. Then we drove to Grimselpass and even beyond to Oberaarsee - breathtaking. Views which one would not see anywhere else on earth. Next day was rowing time - and again the look of Brienzer See is typical Switzerland for the Hindi Movie buff - lakes, mountains, and greenery...wow! Eventually on Saturday we took a 19th century steam train up the Rothorn and got caught up in the worst hail storm I have ever seen while hiking down. The cow shit all over the mountain didn’t make our hike less slippery :-( Also we almost stepped on about 30 salamanders sitting on the trail and enjoying the rain a little more than we did. Sunday, on the way back, we stopped and went down into the waters of the Bodensee. Even before I wanted to get wet, the algae-covered entry point ensured that I slipped and wet my pants...quite literally!

As most of the people I was with during the trip were cyclists, the conversations would taper off in one direction.The cycling jargon filled conversations got to me after a while. I mean, as I joked, I could now write an amateur’s guidebook to surviving among bikers. My lack of knowledge of the German language in its entirety was a drawback as well. To top it, these guys in Switzerland speak kind of an interesting dialect, and when they do speak Hochdeutsch, its pretty funny. Could be they learnt their German on the ups and downs of their natural terrain and it reflects in their speaking – sounds more like a song with highs and lows!

I came back from this entire getaway with a Swiss knife (ORIGINAL- mind it! ;)), with an experience into Switzerland, with immense knowledge about biking, with a first hand experience of rowing. But what I would cherish the most is that I came back with memories – memories of joy, memories of happiness, memories of togetherness, memories of bonding. Life is too short – live it….and live it with people you choose to do so.

Mikala's visit

2006-07-09T01:11:00.000+05:30

After exactly a year, Mikala visited Munich again and it was just so amazing to meet her again. Still the same fiercely straightforward girl that I knew her to be, she hasnt changed one bit. It was so refreshing to meet her. Sadly, the evening didnt have everything to perfection, with Germany being literally pushed out of the World Cup on the edge. Italy played well, but not well enough to be the only winner.

Also, as the practical course I was teaching for comes to an end this week, there is a barrage of students lining up to take their colloquiums with me. With a large pile of new samples ready to be measured, life isnt so much of rest anymore. Although I foresee some coming my way in the next couple of weeks.

Ying celebrated her Diplomfeiern with us last week, and Matt did the honors by paying for all of us. The Spanish restaurant we tried was excellent. Very nice ambience and even better food. All you can eat night of Paellas wasnt a let down. :) Thats the night when I announced my road trip plan through Italy to Matt. And surprisingly, he didnt quite shrug it off. He said ok, and Nebile also announced her plans of a week holiday in August.

Rest is going on fine, with my waist line coming down a little from 32 to 30 what with all the gym training.

Twin State NY and WB

2006-06-26T19:46:00.001+05:30

Amid all the euphoria and the hectic lobbying for the Nuclear Deal, one may have missed the news about New York and West Bengal, forging a twin state relationship status. The State Assembly seems to have approved the project envisaging a cooperation in Education, Culture, Healthcare and Economic growth among other things.
So soon senator Hillary might be the theme for the Durga Puja's!!

"Relativistic" problems

2006-06-26T19:46:00.000+05:30

Everyone who has the opportunity would and does dominate. I would be really surprised to find people who dont. But in a relationship, that doesnt go down all too well. I mean, there are people who even enjoy being dominated! But, thats a separate issue all together.

When two people decide to proceed with a relationship, it is the responsibility of both of them to pursue it. Otherwise, the lop sided affair lasts for some time or rots for a long time. It would hurt the most, when one is persuaded into believing that it is a priority, but eventually is rejected at every given opportunity. Rejection isnt always in terms of verbal diffidence, but the act of making oneself aloof for the other is enough. For many, the act of beginning a relationship is a sceptical issue - understandable. But, to harbour feelings and then overcoming them without traversing any distance is easier, rather than to be giving in, going some distance and then being left to face the tides alone.

Professional career would be a big issue in this respect. Many people wouldnt mix the two. Better still, many prioritise career over a relationship. But that doesnt mean, its not possible to have a relationship. The important thing is to juggle in the correct manner. Howsoever, it would not give anyone to repeatedly verbally shoo-away someone away, when they want and when they think, their use of that person is over.

But as with everything, life isnt roses and life isnt perfect. One needs to learn, adapt and move on. To think there would be someone perfect coming their way would not solve things. To live with imperfectness and to learn from it, is what life has in store. At the end of the day, what is committment without a little bit of spice, a little bit of salt and pepper. Sun shines when the clouds move away, and without the clouds we would never appreciate the sun as much as we do. And as a very dear German friend says, there are no truths, just viewpoints!

Weltmeisterschaft

2006-06-25T20:58:00.000+05:30

World Cup has come and how!? The entire country is gripped in this fever. I am not quite untouched by it myself. I havent been able to watch a lot of matches, but the ones I have, have been really interesting and good ones. I watched all the German matches. Their team is really playing well now, having had a shaky start winning against Costa Rica 4-2. But their convincing win against Sweden, should shut the critics. Now, the Quarter Finals against Argentina would be an extremely well fought match.

Already "Klinsi for Chancellor" slogans are doing the rounds, Klinsi being their coach, Jürgen Klinsmann! Wonder, what they would say when they win the Cup? Surely it would make for an extremely great party to be a part of! :)

Here is a sampler from a different perspective, quite literally as the pic has been taken by a friend.

The city was "rot, gold und schwarz" which are the colors of the flag. An interesting perspective which I hear, is that if football is what is required to bring back the Pride of Germany back, then so be it! I am personally supporting their team, but thats because technically it is my home team now and then, with all the friends of mine currently being German, the decision was a tad bit easier. ;)

The good news for work is that my samples seem to be working. And, I am these days, reading a lot of factual international relations documents along side my own stuff. This keeps mind working on a lot of stuff, not just Aluminum Arsenide!

Naseeruddin Shah's debut project as a director releases in a while, and Krrish released to a tremendous response, with the usual silly fans trying to emulate the Superhero. The music of Yun Hota to Kya Hota is nice, typical Viju Shah stuff, and after a gap, it does sound nice.

Never say Goodbye!

2006-06-18T16:16:00.000+05:30

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna - thats the latest offering from the Karan Johar camp. Supposedly the best performance to date by all the actors. Now haven't we heard that before. Well, the music is good, but too reminiscent of Kal Ho Na Ho. Where's the party tonight sounds way too similar to Its the time to disco and the title track to the sad version of the title track of KHNH. There is even a clone of the Pretty Woman track here. The only track which is a good listen is Mitwa.

But the title is thought provoking. You really dont know what to say good bye to. In life, we get immensely many choices. What is the one we take? And, in taking so, do we actually rule out all the other possibilities for ever?

Gerd studied Informatik for 6 semesters, out of which he did 4 semesters at a Uni and then shifted to TUM for the other 2. Then he worked for 1 year. He needed to do only 3 more semesters, before he would have received the Diplom in Informatik. But he dropped out. He chose to pursue Medicine. He changed his city, his set up completely. The reason he cited was that when he was working for AIESEC, he realised he wanted interaction with people rather than sitting on the computer.

Today, Bhaskar - my Indian neighbour, as he is known in my German friend circles - came to know that his father is in semi - coma state in the hospital in Delhi. Now he flies to Delhi tomorrow and he doesnt even know when he would come back, if at all he would.

Life isnt roses, all the time and life is not chatting and meeting, and eating and roaming and oh yes, spending time on bed. There are things, we never realise - but when they happen - we are jolted back into reality. I had once told Mikala - that I cant change, I really prioritise my work over relationships. I know its wrong but I cant change it. What she said, hit me so hard - "what the fuck do you mean, you cant change?"...I dont know if I still implemented that into me. What I know is, the time is running out......

Indian Diaspora and the White Man

2006-06-17T21:09:00.000+05:30

Well, that was the basic aim of starting this blog. The diasporic Indian community has grown by many folds over the past years. I myself, have joined the leagues. When I took this name, it was well, my own. And, over the past 1.5 years I noticed that Chidananda Rajghatta - who for the record is my favorite columnist covering US for TOI - has also taken this title for his column. So much for patronising! :)

I was going through a blog post, by another of those "White skin syndrome" conspirators. Here is the jist of what he wrote:

Of course it is a white man's world! The current madness to ship every manufacturing to China is a good example. Even sceptics will agree that things are totally hopeless there in terms of human rights, exploitation, democracy etc. But if an Indian (Mittal) wants to take over some of that business in a fair game, that is scandolous! We will even let the company go to dust but not let it be rules by a brownie! The fact is countries like england, holland, france and so on are still living on the loot from their colonial days. England reduced the richest country in the world (India) to one of the poorest by sucking all it's resources. Almost half of the GDP used to be send back home to england during those days! There are innumerable ways they have learned about us from 300 years of rule that they can and will use against us. It is easy to start communal riots, terrorist uprisings, petty regional disputes etc etc which jam the economy.

And in the beginning he had started by saying that he would try to give a logical reasoning...so much for it! Well, anyway. I try to play a Devil's advocate here...god, do I love that word or what! ;)

I do not agree in principle with what he has to say. Yes, every country and country men need to be patriotic. But why pit the whites against the browns? I am currently in Germany - to be precise, Bavaria - true blue blooded region and here, the common man, average guy on the street would probably side himself happily with an Indian, Japanese or even in some cases Chinese, but not a Polish! Is he more brown than me. As Matthias said, the Germans have a very sympathetic view - which in English would mean - friendly view (get used to german english, dudes ;) ) of the Indians. Another issue which I dont agree is that the British and the Americans would be jamming the economy as the boom in Indian economy is what would sustain their economy. Remember the South East Asia crash!? It led to the US markets also being affected. In the wake of that, the sanctions against a safe bet India were slowly lifted and the American President also came calling. Now that I am writing this, there has already been another visit by the next President.

The issue of Mittal is not about White against Brown. It is about conservative Europe against the world. Western Europe is very well developed in terms of Economy, but the mindset of many regions is that of the early 19th century or even earlier if possible. Luxembourg would not want its Steel company in hands of anyone other than native Europeans. I doubt if they would have given the bid to anyone from the US as well.

The issue of British plundering Indian wealth is true. No doubt. And the colonial powers still progressing on the money they made out of their empires is indeed ironical. Some "progressive" thinkers claim that countries cannot keep blaming their past for their non performance and that the begging syndrome should stop. Well, I just want to say something to the "blah blah" crowd, take it up your asses! We arent begging, we are asking for what was ours and taken away, according to the records. How about the 80 yr old Queen returning our diamond, rather than dressing herself up like a snow-woman? If the US and erstwhile USSR could take money from West and East Germany for their re-union, because these two superpowers had "maintained" the affairs of these "oh-so" troubled neighbours by putting nukes on the borders and then floating soldiers all over, then why shouldnt we get compensation for the rampage done by the Brits for 250 years or so? Who paid the compensation for the JallianwalaBagh? Who paid the compensation for the plundering of the stones from Taj Mahal? Sadly we never raise these issues apart from fighting over why did this actor support this dam and the other one say something else!

But think of it this way...inspite of all the problems you listed, our country is posting an economic growth which would put the whiteys to shame. Slowly but steadily these issues would be sorted out, is my belief. At the end of the day, all a man needs is food. When everyone is well fed and progressing...which is what we are "slowly" inching towards...why should they bother about which temple to be built where and which mosque to be broken down?

South Asian neighbours themselves need to realise that if they stand together, their powers are enormous. I dont know if the efforts of China and India to perfom as "Chindia" is genuine or not. But if it is then it really is a step in the correct direction. If the countries need to progress, then they should rise above fielding opponent candidates for posts like UN Secretary General just for the heck of it. India, from my point of view, has come some distance under Atal Behari Vajpayee and now Manmohan Singh to cut itself off from the hyphenated relationship with Pakistan and to establish individual one to one relations with the US, Britain, China and France. Russia was always an Indian patron.

What is interesting is the way the consensus in the US has been building on the Ind-US Civialian Nuclear Deal. If reports are to be believed then the deal is near fruition. There are theories on how, US is manipulating the country for its own needs. Well, so did the Russians during the cold war. The whole idea of NAM was somewhat absurd in the time when both our neighbours were heavily lopsided. There are also theories on how this particular deal would be a problem since, China and Russia would then get a freeway to ship off their Uranium to Pakistan and Iran respectively. This indeed could be a problem. There are definite safeguards in the Indian Nuclear knowledge spectra which are just not there with these two Islamic Republics. But what strikes me as an anamoly is how did China become close to Pakistan? Werent both of them proclaimed members of the opposite gangs in the Cold War days? Also, Russia has had problems with Chechnya which is mainly the Islamic segment. Then, their association with the Iranians is somewhat strange again!

Long break

2006-06-15T17:29:00.000+05:30

Work was too much, so much so that this monday on 12th, I kept measuring till 12 in the night. I had to catch the last bus from Watzmannring in Garching. The bus was at 12.10 and the place is about 2,5 kms from WSI. So, run I had to...
Reached home at 1.30 am and realised that the keys were in the laptop bag which I hadnt taken with me because I had to run. Then Bhaskar gave me refuge for 4 hrs, after which I returned to the insti at 6.30 am on 13th. And then I was measuring till 11.30 pm.
This when the entire nation is gripped with Fußball fieber...more infectious than bird flu..:)
I watched the first match at Chinisischer Turm on the big screen with Daniel, Simon, Simone, Dominique, Michael, Allen and so many of Daniel's friends, with a German flag on my face and one in hand. And the match yesterday, Deutschland vs. Poland, was the next one I watched. I am supporting:
Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Croatia : in that order.

Brazil...hmm..gimme a break!!!

In the meantime, I also went to Braunschweig to visit Mamu and there spent the 4th and 5th, saw the city, was great. Much quieter than Munich, but as big. Then on 5th we went to Wolfsburg, saw the Autostadt, and also went to the Herzog Ulrich Museum for paintings. Beautiful! Also met Gerd there and talked about his progress at Mainz.

The weather is beautiful, 31 °C continuously...amazing!!!

And at last, I have internet back at home...sharing with Erika and Jiang. Pics to be uploaded later..

Juice...:(

2006-05-29T17:39:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, we end up with things which become disgusting that its hard to believe that we did in the first place acquire them. That can be said for friends, good friends, relationships, things which we use and Juices as well! On Friday, I bought a juice pack because I needed one but what I didnt need was an "experiment". PLUS had just one variety available and that was - hold your breath, or rather your tongue - Banana and Cherry mixture. It tastes much worse than it sounds. Reminded me when Dodul Mamu had brought us Rhododendron juice from Manali and we fed that to the visitors, without ever trying the juice for a second time.

Saturday, I made 'chingri maachher malai curry' at Rahul's place with ample assistance from Debangana. It came out extremely good. And then he had brought this wine...some 12,5% stuff which all but killed me! I had a head ache and well felt pretty tipsy..:D The food was good and so that helped me get over it. Then we watched 36 China Town...good concept but a bad execution. And then me and Debangana had a tough time explaining Rahul what exactly do we mean by a hit or a flop and why, a movie even though is well made is a flop sometime and sometime if even its a good story, the movie is made badly.

Have to give a viva exam today to a couple of groups...kind of a boring job. Schaumerma' Well, that was a faux pas..someone told me yesterday that my saying this is equivalent to the American "Whatever" which in principle means...go take a fuck but i am not about budge! ;) So have to check myself from saying it more sparingly :D

What I forgot was that last Thursday was a holiday and Bhaskar and I went out to take some pics outside. The weather wasnt the best, but the pics didnt come out bad either. Here are a couple of samples, one from the Friedensengel and the other the flowers at Englischer Garten. For more, you guys need to wait till I sort them and put them somewhere accessible to all, like yahoo. Also booked my tickets for Braunschweig to visit Mamu next weekend from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. It was quite a pain to get the tickets done as although I asked for übernachtung, he ended up giving me from the morning and then also wanted me to stand the entire journey from Munich to Hannover and then onwards, I would probably have a seat. What is funny is you have reservations for the ICE but not for the RE, so from Hannover to Braunschweig I have no reservation, hin or züruck!

While eating with Bhaskar, these days we are laughing a lot. The reason being downloaded versions of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge which I dont know where he manages to get from. But they are really interesting and some of them are very very funny - but not all, obviously. The Narendra Chanchal take of Gabbar was hilarious and so was the Ladies Cricket Match commentary. Another one which I really liked was the Mental Asylum parody.

Mediocrity rules...

2006-05-25T14:33:00.000+05:30

What else should I say? I mean, there are so many news and media channels-in a way good that no one can take the public for granted. But just to make news, these guys make heroes out of the utmost mediocre guys. The hype surrounding any one is so unbelievable. And to think of it, the real heroes and legends in their hey days never even got so much as publicity.

Himesh Reshammiya...man, I am still searching for the guy who coined the term every dog has its day! He must have kept you in mind for it. The way you hoot, it makes singing seem like a term coined for the deaf. I even read from a co-member of a yahoo group-who by the way is making the next Sanjay Dutt-Arshad Warsi starrer in Bangkok, that Himesh is the only music director in the industry who gets payment directly from the music companies and the producers dont have to shell out a penny, because the music companies have such faith in him. Imagine! I also ran into an article when I was in India, where he compared his singing to Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I mean, if the fact that he calls his "piss beginning" sounds singing is not an insult enough, he even dares to draw parallels with Legends. Well, the fact is media is publishing it as well.

Aishwarya Rai (as an actress), Shahid Kapur, Vive(i!!)k Oberoi, Jenifer Aniston...all the birds of the same feather. Having delivered one or two hits, they are treated as untouchables by the media. Some of them, arent even half as good as they are touted to be. The others like Rani, Preity being compared to these guys is like comparing the grass to a tree. Come on, after 10 years, does anyone still have any doubts about Ash's acting? She cannot for the sake of christ act...apart from a shrilly dialogue delivery or a plastic smile! And about the other two guys, well, the first one seems to be ok, but he is just beginning and to claim he is the next big thing...well, gimme a break. The Oberoi Boi, is really not so good...and I am being polite here. Why do these guys assume that their heritage would give them acting skills which people would have to bear with. To add to this, the entire media outcry he created with Salman's phone calls, etc, was such a sham! Jen, well, all my sympathies but after a wonderful career in Friends, she should restrain from complaining about the TV...and to think of it, she doesnt yet have a big hit on screen!

And the innumerable new music directors..well, what cud I say..I am just quoting an example here..I read a news article saying the music of Corporate is mind blowing...and when I heard it...well well well...5 of the songs are basically 2 songs with a dance, asia and an Easy Mix attached!! And 2 other songs are basically 1 song with another sad version to it. This is classy music ... I guess we have forgotten what Music is! Its very upsetting to have the media brainwashing us on music which is so low grade and the same reviewer had called the music of Parineeta less than ordinary! huh!?!

Just because it is a Madhur Bhandarkar film, doesnt mean its great. His Chandni Bar was good, but Page 3 was so cynical and Satta...man, the worst ever. Media raise these directors to levels of godhood based on just a couple of films. I mean, just because Page 3 was a film about the media, they immediately made it into a legend.

Anyway, there are things which arent always perfect..but life goes on, just that if the dues were given to the correct people...it would have been a bit more deserving.

Pat on the back for the goverment at last

2006-05-22T18:24:00.000+05:30

No No No...not for the reservation issue, but this time totally diverging away...Tourism.

The Indian government has managed to put up a website, compiling all the websites of the state tourism boards. Have a look, in my opinion its well maintained and well done. Hope they update it!

Tour India

Kuchh yaad rahein.....

2006-05-22T15:12:00.000+05:30

Well, not that she is dead, but yesterday all of a sudden realised what a waste the gem of an actress Aruna Irani has been. And how did I realise? Remembering Saaz. Only and only she could have been a perfect match to (sometimes overhyped) Shabana Azmi in the sister tale, with her undertones and he underplayed eye expressions. The performer had given another sterling performance in Beta, which not many people remember apart from the Dhak Dhak!

And now on the current issue of the reservations. There are "rumours" of a death of a resident doctor of AIIMS and that the media is forbidden to bring this out. But there are already reports about this on the website of NDTV.

Doctor's death

Yesterday walked around seven kms around the city with Matthias and enjoyed the amazing weather. Now measuring again..

Crossover??...Wake up dude!!

2006-05-20T19:56:00.000+05:30

Chatting with Nikunj one doesnt realise is really a surreal experience!! :D Why? Well, not only does one learn a lot but also, it makes me more and more aware of the world which I would like for me! Sounds wierd, right?

Well, today while talking on the reservation issue, the point of the brain drain came up and I think the politicians, who are trying to gain moral high ground on the issue should be barred completely from taking treatment outside the country. Lets see who pushes for how much reservation.

Yesterday, I was asked by Daniel (Spanish guy from E22) why we dont go in for small countries instead of the large country. Merits would be rapid growth and easier solutions to local probelms, but in my opinion, it would not be The India we as a whole envision, if we are broken apart. The country is what it is because it is as it is. The massive growth rates are a result of hugely (and well, more or less) homogeneous distribution in the states. The democracy (well, there used to be something like that) ensures homogeneous distribution, unlike China. And, so thank god for the small mercies that we are not being governed by Europeans (touché!!).

Going through the movie list of Sarika (actually, started with the film Sacred Evil and then rolled on and on), landed up on a list of Shabana Azmi on IMDB. And guess what? I am sure most of you guys are not aware of a film called Nuit Bengali,La. Directed by Nicolas Klotz and released in 1988, it has Shabana and Supriya Pathak along with a many Hollywood and French actors. And guess who plays the lead in the film? Hugh Grant...opposite Supriya Pathak...Aishwarya, well...she is stuck with the B grade Dylan McDermott ;)

A Pic to Remember

2006-05-20T17:44:00.000+05:30

This pic is one I was searching for a long time and eventually found it. One of the few ones, where she isnt looking too done up, this is taken right after the Kajra Re shoot, and so the massive kajal is still on. As I was telling Nikunj, the christmas tree that she was dressed up as, it would have taken ages to drop all the make up.

And, by the way that is Aishwara Rai.

The reservation issue is really becoming big and why shouldnt it? If the Politicians have their way, we could all rot in heaven as long as their votes are safe. The letter from Dr. Kiran of AIIMS being circulated as a forward is perfect in bringing out the correct situation. I am putting it on here, in case, people jump on here and end up reading it:

Friends,

Dear friends please spend some time to read this. U can make a difference.As u all guys know that there have beeen lot of protests going on againstthe raise in reservations. All of us stuggle for months and years to makeour dreams come true; No body in the government is bothered about that. Thisnew policy of govt ll be a major road block in the development of our nationand creation of a caste free society. I want to share some developmentsoccurring here with respect to this issue.Abt 2 weeks back the Students Union ( SU ) of AIIMS ( UGs and Interns )started the protests. they held peaceful march. Their main demand was tomeet Honbl. Arjun Singh and to express their concern regarding the hike inreservations. What they got in return. Water canons, tear gas shells andLathis. Some of the interns who were beaten were my friends and i could seetheir injury marks. Worse, some were girls. Sad isnt it ? Well next few daysdue to their constant struggle they could get to meet Dr Arjun Singh. Nopositive response was obtained. He however promised that before sending thebill to cabinet, he would inform the SU. The students continued to boycotttheir classes. Other medical colleges of delhi also joined. We ResidentDoctors of AIIMS however were not actively participating. We wore blackbadges and attended few rallies.12 th May saw a new beginning. Our medical students were brutally assaultedby Delhi police. Injured were brought to AIIMS. Fracture hand bone, headinjury, blunt trauma abdomen with intra-abdominal bleed; > 300 students weremanhandled including girls, stuffed in buses and taken to police station. I remember the dialogue from RDB. This incident will prove to be a final nailin coffin for our Congress Govt. At around 3 pm the Resident DoctorsAssociation ( RDA ) of AIIMS announced an indefinite strike. All JuniorResidents ( Acad or Non-acad ) & Senior Residents boycotted. Protest rallywas organized that day.13 th may was the worst day in the history of our Indian Independence and socalled Democracy. Medical Students of Mumbai were beaten like animals.Infact animals also are never treated like this. Every body would havewitness the brutality of the Mumbai Police.17 - 18 year old medical studentswere beaten up. Future of our country treated like this? And these are thesame Police Men who come to our OPD and ask for peferential treatment. Shameon them. And listen to what Bhujbal said on TV. I thought we need a real RDB now. This incident triggered the suppressed fire in each and everyindividual. We at AIIMS went on INDEFINITE HUNGER STRIKE from 14 th morningjoined by medical students from MAMC Delhi, Lady Harding, RML Hosp, RohtakMedical College . Slowly the fire spread to diferent states of our country.You know what happened in Blore. Calcutta, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Gujrat,Himachal Pradesh, Kerala boiled in protests. Students of Delhi University (BSc BCom...) also joined the strikeThe hunger strike in AIIMS continues. More than 100 students and residentsare sitting in the heat since 14 th morning just on plain water. Believe mewe slept in the open last night empty stomach. Its only when rain startedpouring we had go inside the audi and slept there.The IMA has announced comlete medical bandh today ( 15 th may ). Doctorsfrom all over delhi have come to AIIMS and are holding protests. IITs andIIMs have joined the strike. Even patients and their attenders were of fullsupport towards this cause. One man said," My father is admitted in NSdepartment and is fighting for his life and death, but i declare that i haveno objection with ur strike. I support ur movement and the cause for which ure fighting. Our country needed this."All of us know what is right and what is wrong. Having said that i feel thateach one of us should follow our conscience. I ve written this messagebecause i felt there are many of who might not be aware of the exactsituation. I request each one of u to please forward this to all ur friends,Medicos or Non-medicos. Every common man needs to be aware of the injusticeand should be involved in this effort.This Movement will be a revolution in our independent country and will bethe most significant event after the British Rule. It ll be the cause forthe rewriting of Indian Constitution where just and meritorious people arenot singled out and put to taste the adversities and someone else enjoys thebenefit.The government cannot hide its inadequacies in providing equal opportunitiesto the under priviliged in rural areas by increasing the reservations. Theyhave ruled the country for so many decades and if in this time they are notable to provide equalilty in primary and secondary education for in diancitizens they cannot mask their failure by providing reservations at eachand every level. Its ridiculous. The whole issue of reservations was apolitical gimmic of the present govt to garner votes.Its time that things are not taken for granted by any one. Let it be asenior minister police or anyone else. Whole of our nation needs to getaware of the amount of hardwork and sacrifice we put to achieve our dreams.We should not allow anyone to make a mockery of our struggle in future.Thank U Friends.

Dr Kiran,Junior Resident,Internal Medicine,

All India Institute Of Medical Sciences,New Delhi

Appendium

2006-05-18T22:34:00.000+05:30

A small addition to the article already written.

Indians in Antwerp

Cannes, the Indian flavor

2006-05-18T17:07:00.000+05:30

The week is going on like a dream! Well, thats what I would say after the results which I am getting are pretty much encouraging. An idea, which I had regarding my samples was something, Matt also liked and we would probably implement in the coming days. Fingers and toes crossed, schaumerma' ;)
When you have a dream, there are bound to be nightmares and so it was in the middle of the week. Another failure with a relationship! Well, its ok...probably was for the best. After all this time, hopefully the contact wouldnt sour out.
Yesterday, had a nice discussion with someone and it was quite interesting. After a degree at "THE" Fletcher school at the Tufts University, he sure knows what he is talking about regarding world politics. And to share the similar views as his regarding German present mindset and the India-China growth sectors was pretty interesting.

As for the main news today,was going through the website for the Cannes Film Festival and the hype is all around The Da Vinci Code, although its outside the competition. Saw that some 80 odd companies from India are participating. There are the movies as well, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Marigold (at last its releasing, Salman's hollywood venture) and Provoked ( Ash's second venture, hopefully the better one!). But there is one more movie which has representation from India but its not been talked about. A movie high on the list for the Palme d'Or contendors, Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett has Mahima Choudhary and Shilpa Shetty as well...yeah!! I had bloody no clue! So, lets keep our fingers crossed for the next best thing to happen to the world...INDIA...Jai Hind :)

Beautiful Weather, Horrible Time

2006-05-12T18:47:00.000+05:30

The weather here is really great now with a lot of sun and light winds. Temperatures are around 23°c. I mean, one cant complain!
Also, last week the teaching sessions started where I am taking the "Optische Abbildung" experiment for the students. Last week they were pretty good but this week, they were so bad..I could have cried! :(
Along with that, my measurements are running and normal life here going on as usual. Mamu comes to me tomorrow for 3 days and so look forward to it.

Here, they have published this week the Der Spiegel with goddess lakshmi on the cover with the face of Angela Merkel...could you be more blasphemous!? ;)

A small addition...the Chanda chamke from Fanaa is the redone Yaara Yaara from Hum Tum, which wasnt there in the movie..I didnt put it down here earlier. But knew it right away and then I see it on Musicindiaonline written there, after I had told that to someone...well, shit happens!

Herzlich Wilkommen

2006-04-29T18:42:00.000+05:30

bin wieder züruck in Deutschland!
Well, thats the way..I like it...aha aha! :D After coming back here to Munich, am back to my German and as Irmgard said, my Deutsch improved over these three weeks...from now on the posts wud be in German ;-)
Hell, no!

So, the status report for now...after another zussamenscheißing session with Matt in which in the end (as usual...) he blamed himself and Joel for the status of my project! But what is good is that I have samples to measure and better still the Pisa sample...is back here. So, measuring and listening to Pyare Mohan ... Nachenge intezaar mein...what a shit of a song..but catchy like doom!
Went to Salzburg over the first weekend I was here, but only for a short time..it was great - one of the best medieval towns I have seen, and when the company is fine, everything is good ;)
In the evening on Sunday, went to ISKCON temple with Ying and Schosch (how the hell does he write his name!!) It was nice and then went to McDonalds for an ice cream. Ying...if you are reading this...officially I crown you the "Viel-fress" of the insti! God Bless you for your eating abilities ;) Schosch agrees I am sure (and so do you!)
Friday the 28th...great day! My first at the gym and aint it cool! Did the lower body and stomach excersices and feel so refreshed thereafter! Waiting eagerly for the next friday.
Saturday measuring here..in the insti...listening to Fanaa...an album to have on the shelf for sure..sad that JL splitting up! And I managed to see RDB at last..Rang de Basanti that is. Aamir is good but at times felt he was over doing it! For me the performance of Soha was a stunner. No pressure whatsoever of performing with seasoned actors, Aamir, Kirron Kher, Madhavan or Waheeda Rehman!

Now something which happened in india and since I was not really writing there...The reservation quota being raised to 27% for OBCs..well..need I saymore for the state of country's pride- the IITs - in the next 4-5 yrs if these shit filled heads of the politicians have their way! I have an example of Jhangi Ram who was with us inIIT ...there was also Zhwala in our class...an ST. But he was so good, he would have gotten in on his merit anyway. And the SC - JhangiRam -managed his way through with utmost difficulty.
And then there is the example of Kallol Roy from IIT Kanpur, EE. He joined before I left school and left the IIT after I came to Germany. And all he had amassed, during the 9 years he spent there was a BTech degree and yes, of course a notorious "fan" following, because he probably knew the insti better than the Director!
so long! back to my sample now!

NRI in India...Non resident Indian for the uninitiated!

2006-04-03T23:13:00.000+05:30

On a pause..since I am in India..I am taking a break!

So more here after I become an NRI again..Not required in India! :D

When People Beckon

2006-03-14T16:40:00.000+05:30

Its amazing how I got no time whatsoever to write here in the last 2 months. Today as I sit at home just waiting to kill time, I got an email saying someone was upset that this site almost died. So here I am back to updating this.

After the last entry, a lot happened and a lot also didnt..:)
I visited Erlangen and a part of Bayerischer Wald. It was beautiful and the experience worthwhile. Then was preparation time for Mauterndorf, Austria for the winter school. Although before leaving, I was extremely scepetical about spending so much time with work people, in the end the experience was great. There were some sour moments with some people but eventually, I realised it was mostly because of the mis-understandings and also, sometimes because of the fact that they actually had nothing against me, but another person...who did hang around me most of the time.
The winter school was from Feb 13th to 17th. We left München on 12th afternoon with the TU Bus and reached after about 3,5 hrs of driving. The conference was great. Lot of good talks and lot of motivation! And to top it, I won the bowling competition and the same day came to know that I had a paper coming out - for the work I did with Debu.
The week also gave me a nice friend in Simone...my new Niederbayerisch lehrerin ;) Still gaining my fluency in "Schumermo', denn seng ma' scho' ". Also Robert Schulz was a nice guy to meet, who I had heard about as he did his diplom in our group. Jörg from Hannover also hung around with us, for whatever reason ;)
Then the next weeks were a bit over worked, because before I leave for India on 23rd, I have to shop, had the Wildschönau seminars and then also to send an abstract to HMFC Würzburg. But that all is still getting done.
Wildschönau was good, I presented my talk to the entire group on Sunday 12th in the morning and the other 2 days were spent listening to talks and playing snow balls...when Anna threatened to not grow any more samples for me because I hit her 3 times :D Learnt Schapfkopf..the National game from Bayern as they call it. Prof. Abstreiter was also more accessible and he said a nice thing..."you can say 'you' to me!" which means...du in deutsch :D
In between went for dinner with Matt and others one day as we were planning to watch a play but didnt manage the tickets. Bhaskar's father is here after he shifted in to the appartment below my house. There were records made because of the levels of the snowfall! Public transport getting disrupted and everyone I know sending me pictures they have taken of the snow! "unglaublich"..:D
At present getting all the things done before leaving. Today I went to Kreisverwaltungsreferat to get an extension of the visa. But in the morning today they are taking only appointments and so I have to go again in the afternoon!! :(

Long Pauses

2006-01-28T14:59:00.000+05:30

These long intervals in my blog articles are reminiscent of the Art house films which were churned out in the name of quality cinema in the early '80s. The Arty products now are in much better position to sell their views and their content because of mainly the bigger Bollywood actors ready to plunge into them and also because of the growing market for films like Mr. & Mrs. Iyer.
Anyway, life went on after the last blog entry. Christmas was dull but had a nice time with Louis at "Pizza Hut" ;) We went around the city and churches and eventually had dinner there. And then the next week was really calm and quiet with not many people at the institute. So, work was fine and then, Silvester abend was also quiet nice.
In the morning, I went to the zoo for the first time with Tristan and Julian (his sister). It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and followed it up with a coffee at Mc Donalds. In the evening they came over to my place, we played around with Google Earth and then I went to the silvester party at Studentenstadt at Ying's party :)
Fondeaux was for dinner and it was a lot of fun. Came back at 4 am in the morning home. And then on the 1st of Jan, went to Tristan's house in the evening.
Matt was back on the 2nd and so again there was some work. Slowly things started hotting up.
Then the next three weeks were probably the worst since I came here. The depression of a breaking relationship was hard to handle and this entire thing culminated in a pretty harsh chat with the other person...eventually I felt better as then I knew that there is now no going back, at least for the time being..
Meanwhile, watched Yuva and Paheli at home as I had totally cut down on my going out. Went out twice to Bettina's house with Gerd. It was their usual Thursday WG dinner. Was a lot of fun and I came to know what influence Bollywood has here. Maggie knew Amitabh Bachchan's family tree and Julian knew the songs of Asoka and KKKG by heart!
In the meanwhile, I went to dinner with Stefan Schäck to Pizza Hut a couple of times. This was after we had already gone to the Vietnamese restaurant with Ying, Jürgen, John and Kersten. We had decided to go to a greek place and ended up going to this vietnamese place. All was fine except the service was way toooooo slow and then the ultimate screw up! They gave us fortune cookies and ying said we shud burn them...only thing we were short of burning down their entire place.
Its always interesting to chat up with Stefan, his insight into people is marvellous and what surprises me at times is the interest people (men even more!!) have into the lives of other people..MEN GOSSIP too and big time at that!! We discussed about our institute...people who have active dislikers...and what he said to me was heartwarming..he said I have a strong fan club! ;)

Last sunday, I went skiing to Bayerischzell with Steffen. It was a ten kilometer crosscountry skiing range and I managed pretty ok...exhausting but worth it :D Then, I must also mention that I did fall down a couple of times. This was better than the Ice Skating I did at Olympiazentrum, for the fact that I was aptly dressed. Didnt get too wet because of the skiing trousers I had which Gabriel gifted me :D
So...now a new and improved life structure...eating healthy, as shopped crazy at Lidl and now also feeling much much better after the horrible break!

Although work is getting too much..its unbelievable how I login in to my office comp for the first time only after 5pm almost everyday. I was there at the institute repeatedly till quite late and once I was coming back with Lucia and when my bag was in her car outside, while we ate at the Greek restaurant, the bag froze..better than my hair freezing which happened when Gabriel was here. Also, Anirban's wife is here and thats why had dinner at Sameer's place last week. Was nice.

The rest is routine...got in touch with Arunabh after long time..and ya met Steffano after almost a month again on the U Bahn, we are in the same department and travel from the same U Bahn station everyday but didnt start talking till last month and now we met yesterday again. Its nice talking to him...Well, requires an Italian to keep me quiet ;) and maybe Lucia and Mikala :D
which reminds I also participated in the Nature Jobs Journal writing competition with Mikala, waiting for the results.

And now at the end of the blog I realise, there were three Steffans are i discussed here..all three different with different spellings. And a fourth one I didnt yet mention, whom also I met in this period...Stefan Furtmayr...

Gaane Anjaane

2005-12-26T18:21:00.000+05:30

the last year was a good year for hindi film music, I mean the lyricists can go take a walk but atleast the music was good! Well, cant complain too much about the lyricists as well because, Gulzar came up with BnB and Paheli, which werent all crappy..Then Javed Akhtar with Mangal Pandey was great as well. But, Parineeta's lyrics and music made really one sit up!

Now that the year is over and done with we have a good review available and Kajra Re is the undisputable numero uno song of the year! Alisha Chinai gets her first big big film music hit probably after almost 20 years after Kate nahi kat te from Mr. India. This year also had a nice track from her initially in Tinka Tinka from Karam and last year we had Dil ko Hazaar bar from Murder, all were hits but can not be compared to Kajra Re. This is also after a long time she is singing for a first league actress, I mean all this while her songs were being used for item dancers or the actresses still struggling with the first rings :)

Among the male singers, Kunal Ganjawala had a great time with Kaal, Salaam Namaste, Neal 'n' Nicky and Kyon Ki.

Interesting how english use in the lyrics are becoming a trademark - Pretty Woman started it and now we have Ankh Ladiye and Halla re having...I wanna show my body, groove the night away! ;)

Another feature which is not very interesting but extremely boring for me is becoming increasingly common. The likes of the new music directors- Pritam, Vishal-Shekhar and Himesh Reshammiya - are giving music to probably two to three songs in a film and recycling them as Remix versions again and sometimes two types- club and lounge (!!!) and so you have 6 songs from 3!

Waiting for the soundtracks from Dhoom II, Umrao Jaan, Salaam e Ishq and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK). After, KKHH, KKKG and KHNH, the musical taste of Karan Johar cannot be doubted but what I fail to understand is why all of a sudden, Jatin-Lalit has been sidelined by all the top banners, when they delivered big big hits for all of them! I mean JP Dutta has stuck to Anu Malik after the disastrous LOC but the chopra's and the johar's seem to be more unfaithful!

And while at it, somehow Rani seems to be really not the flavor for the journalists. Its ridiculous how, after BLACK, Paheli and Bunty aur Bubli also, she has to be under the shadow of Amitabh Bachchan. No doubt he delivered a great performance but hers was no mean feat. The papers were all agog about him and his son when people should have written her name the first thing. At the Golden Globe, three of the Indian films, BLACK, Paheli and Veer Zaara were up for consideration for nomination and the papers ran the headline saying Amitabh was resposible for the three of these! Well, look a little from the top...Rani was also there in all three and delivered pretty much the stellar performance as one can get. I wouldnt be surprised if they neevr mention her in the same breath as Madhuri, but I think in today's industry the only heroine to be able to draw an initial becoz of her name is Rani - which is no mean feat as according to another clothes shedder who also calls herself an actress, only two things sell in Bollywood - Shahrukh and sex...Rani is with one in a couple of movies but I guess has really nothing to show for sex :)

Ghar aaya mera comp!

2005-12-18T19:57:00.000+05:30

updating this after hell of a long time..but not much happening anyway ;)
I mean apart from parties, visitors and plans for more parties..nothing else! :D
The Christmas season is really at the height...today is the 4th. advent. the entire city is decorated..its really looking very pretty with the christkindlmarkts all over the town. The glühwein kiosks and the small christmas decoration all over the place makes it look even prettier!
We had a feuerzangenbowle at our institute..basically burning sugar cones coated with rum over a can of wine with oranges and watched the movie from 1944. This was on the december 8th. It was really great..had a lot of fun! and then Gabriel visited me here from the dec. 10th till the dec 12th. Saturday went to the christkindlmarkt and in the evening..which was gabriel's favorite part...drinking. Tried Cognac for the first time. It was good.
Then on sunday went ice skating..schnittschuhgelaufen..fell down some 7-8 times and hurt myself but then after the first hour was quite ok.:)
managed to somehow balance and go till the center and then skated for a while...but the week after that was hell, had caught a cold due to the wet pants and also, the falling had caused immense pain :(
After the skating, Gabriel and I met with John,Kresten and Michael at Mathäser and watched Narnia. Nice movie, especially very nice scenery. It seemed they really tried hard to stick to the book as the movie was really fast paced!
Monday, Gabriel went for skiing and I was at office. That was the day my laptop arrived :D But we never had anytime to go through with the comp as by the time I came home it was 9.30 and his train was at 10.40pm. And he being he, managed to purchase a nice looking sweater from Wormland but brought it along with the theft protector and we had a tough time removing that shit from the sweater!
Then onwards, my life in my appartment hasnt been so terrible;) The Ripley series I have been reading is stuck at the last book because, when I am home, I rather sit on the laptop. Now I even have Saaz on Musicindiaonline :)
At the Geeta Jayanti on 4th Dec, I met Bhaskar Bannerjee, he has come as a computer analyst from Wipro Gurgaon to O2. As it turns out...I really seem to know the 3/4 of Delhi...he turned out to be a friend of Sukumar, a Venky junior and also a Masters student from IIT K when I was there! He is now taking an appartment in my building and that would be nice as would have something to pass my time :)
On December 21st was the Weihnachtsfeiern in our institute. It was great...and the food and the fun is amazing :) I learnt another Bayerisch sentence to add to my kitty...Schatzie sei mein Zwetschgendatschi..and saying it to Michael Scholz was even better ;)
On 24th, the weihnacht, had dinner with Louis at Pizza Hut, was nice with christmas carols being heard from the churches!
some pics

cinema cinema

2005-11-18T15:16:00.000+05:30

Last few weeks I feel I have been to the cinemas more than I have in a given year in my life till now!
After Batman Begins, I saw Bewitched with Jürgen and Ying at Mathäser. Shit movie but a must see for Nicole Kidman fans as she looks gorgeous. The plot is horrible. Then I watched Wallace and Gromit: The curse of the ware rabbit as a double feature with the old Wallace and Gromit TV series at the Cinema with Gerd and Ulli.Extremely funny, brilliant comic timing and the clay-mations were just great.
Then I saw Elizabethtown with Mischa at Cinema..kitschy movie with Kirsten Dunst coming out as the winner :)
Next I saw Legend of Zorro with John, his girlfriend and his boy friend at Mathäser. Pretty nice watch. Great action with funny dialogues.
And eventually yesterday I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Mischa. I guess sticking to the book is great but then they had to run over the book like crazy to keep it taught...tuff but ya a fun watch. And Emma Watson...wooh...what was she doing in the past movies..here she is really coming into her own as the character of Hermione! ;)

Life....jo bhi kahe!

2005-11-15T19:31:00.000+05:30

When today I got the email from Daniel telling me about how is grandmother was sick and how even in the hospital she was concerned about their health more than her's...that was the start of the day!
Got very nostalgic about Mamma and dadu :)Then worked with the Mask Aligner and also attended the prüfung for Karin and Prof. Abstreiter's lecture!!
Today the Kreissparkasse people have said that my kredit karte work has been processed and I should get it next week...cant wait for it!

It so much fun with the weather these days..really cold like yesterday and suddenly pretty warm today!

Was thinking about the most irritating characters on screen...the one which came to my mind immediately was : Jackie Shroff in devdas!! gawd..cud he be more irritating!

Geburtstag zum Viertel eines Jahrhunderts

2005-11-10T18:33:00.000+05:30

ya..today is the 25th Birthday and .. yes am missing home!
But here we have a huge celebration planned in the afternoon as Irmgard had her Birthday on the 7th and Daniela on 28th of October..so we are giving a party together!
There is cake which Lucia baked for me, then sekt which Anna gave me and Anna Fontcuberta has brought some Spanish cakes. Then I have some Orangensaft and the laddoos I have brought from Iskcon. Irmgard has quite a few stuff as well!!
Wait for the pics ;)

The Birthday started with raja dada calling at 12.45 am and then Didi calling at 8 am..then loads of emails, e-cards and telelphone calls later...am still waiting for some more! :D
was a bit surprising for me when many people in the institute who didnt even know me so well, wished me...sweet! :D

Chalte Chalte

2005-11-07T23:52:00.000+05:30

Now the next operation is scheduled for 23rd Nov and before that have my Birthday to tackle :D
Last week at the Temple was Diwali and Govardhan Puja...it was quite good..92 types of food items!
The Indian community in Munich seems to get bigger and bigger now. Last week met an Indian lady at the institute who has joined the Engg physics at TUM and would join Ralf Mayer for a project or so. Married, she is from Maharashtra...near Nagpur.
The weather here though is getting colder every minute and this week the nights have been a killer.
I made the changes in the house this sunday before going off to the Govardhana Puja with the bed going to the store room and the cleaning being done full throttle. But the Postbank ghost is still hovering around as they havent yet sent all the money from their account to the Kreissparkasse account. :(
The Reisekosten is also a heavy duty price...I have not received the money for the Schloss Ringberg trip even after one and a half months now. Initially the lady was krank and secondly they gave me less money than I was supposed to get and on complaining...nothing was given!!

Rest, work is fine but really a lot of the lab work is quite boring but now that next week I would have my mask...I am getting excited about it!

2005-10-25T21:00:00.000+05:30

left wisdom!

Lots of things at one go!

2005-10-25T20:30:00.000+05:30

Lots of things happening in my life such that I could not even write a line here. Firstly, I started making my Mask in Autocad which was taking almost my entire time and then other things kept coming in and in...like SEM training and then doing it on my own for practice and realising what a screw up I was! :D
But its ok now, doing quite well.
End of August, Aurel and Zoltan had come over for a week and 3 days respectively. We went to Schloss Schleißheim and Olympia turm. Was a nice reunion.
In September end had slight fever and then was diagnosed for lack of Vitamin D and with that had throat infection and could not open my mouth. Eventually it was all sorted out with the Left side wisdom teeth removal on the 30th of September. In between also went to a conference to Schloss ringberg, followed by the Betriebs Ausflug.
Was a lot of fun...but missed out this year on the Oktoberfest because of the dental problems, which are going on till Nov end, when the right side wisdom teeth get removed.
In between Matt wasnt here for 2 weeks as he was in US...but before leaving he told me something I didnt like abt my work..but well, maybe he realised that and soon enough apologised..probably Joel leaving was too much for him to take! ;)

So, preparing for the birthday now...2 weeks to go...and now some good pics for u all! :D

Italian Sojourn II

2005-10-25T19:48:00.000+05:30

This one is extremely late. The Kroatian trip was great as you have already read. The pics are here for you all to see..
Croatian pics :

link1

Italian pics :

link2

One evening Angelo had bought "clean" Mussles for cooking but we had a tought time cleaning all of it as they were extremely dirty...all of us had these wierd tools for cleaning them..I was cleaning the shells with these metallic handle of a pan!
Look at the common architecture in Korcula and Verona, due to the rule their by the Venetian empire..

Italian Sojourn..albeit in Kroatia...1

2005-08-16T16:39:00.000+05:30

After 4 months in Munich, I went on a vacation to Croatia with Emanuele and his 7 other Italian friends, all from the fashion capital of Milano. Emanuele and I started from the institute on 5th at around 2 pm and went to the Slovenian Embassy to collect my transit visa...which cost me more than the visa for ten days in Croatia!
Then through the Auto-Bahn we drove towards Salzburg and while we were still there within the official perimeter of Munich around Giesing, Emanuele came to know that Andrea (his elder brother) has had his daughter Martina they were expecting around 14th of August. So it was already a good start to the vacations!
We went through Salzburg to Villach and then turned towards Udine in Italy. There we were met by the other 7 friends of Emanuele. We ate something at the Autogrill there and then continued our journey to Croatia, through Slovenia, where I got the first stamp on my Passport. Emanuele calls that a game where I can get most stamps on the Passport!! It was about a 2-3 hour wait at the Trieste - Slovenia border before we could reach the check. It was already about 11 pm when we entered Slovenia. Then after about 30 mins of driving through Slovenia, we crossed over to Croatia. I was extremely sleepy by the time we were driving big time in Croatia. Emanuele was driving the whole time and Angelo was the third person in the car. (Seat Ibiza)
Around the turn at which we were supposed to go towards Split, our car was stopped for Police control to check for the tobacco and drugs...thankfully they didnt stop Checco's car! And this check led to us being delayed and so, we were kind of lost...and eventually found the others back. The one thing which I forgot to mention at the start was that AutoBahns in Germany are much better for you to be driving on because you need not pay! In Italy you pay as you use; in Austria, you can buy 10 day passes...and in Croatia and Slovenia, its the same rule as Italy.
Then we kept going on through Croatia...and I was sleeping on the backseat..when I got up we were near Sibenic, where there was the beautiful bridge we were standing on. This was followed by a short halt at a small roadside Cafe, for an Espresso which is only a Caffe!!
After this we kept driving for another couple of hours before stopping near Split to discuss how to enter the small part of Croatia which is beyond the border of the Bosnia-Herzegovina. I didnt have a transit visa for that country and so, was a bit worried about the passage but there is no problem as it is just a small region around Neum which you can pass if you are going to Croatia.
The entire Dalmatian region of the Croatian beaches is extremely beautiful accentuated by the mountains on one side and the sea by the other side. We then drove till Ston and then on to Prapratno where we camped at an AutoKamp...which was infested with Italians and Germans. Made friends with a German family from Chemnetz and another French family.
We visited to Dubrovnik on Sunday evening on 6th. It is a walled city and was affected pretty badly by the war in the '90s. The walk on the wall was very beautiful. The walls around the city has been built around the rocky seashore. The city has been declared a UNESCO World Culture site and why not! The city is beautiful in every single aspect. Its called the "Pearl of the Adriatic". We ate there...I ate Calamari (Squids) for the first time in my life...it was pretty good and also had White Wine...for that the lesser said the better!
Then on Monday, I started getting my first swimming leasons and that too in pretty cold Sea waters! :(
Tuesday these guys went to Medjugorje to see the place where Virgin Mary had appeared to 6 students. I stayed back and walked to Ston which was not a very good idea as the road was extremely dangerous...no walk way and the cars were speeding at 70-80 kmph and it was on the mountains. On the way to Ston I got a lift from an old couple from Hungary who had been to India..and so reached pretty fresh. Then walked on the great walls of Ston. It is very nice albeit exhausting. Then ate Shrimp Risotto at a restaurant. Then walked to the Solana Salt making site, which is the oldest in Europe. The only Souvenirs there are worth 37 Kunas( about € 5) so I made myself happy with my Paparazzi act of taking pics!
Then I came back walking only to go back to the restaurant atop the hill...with the Frech man - Dominique.
Wednesday we went to Korcula...about that...next blog!

Nostalgia

2005-08-03T18:39:00.000+05:30

After a week of light food with the dal and bread am back to eating normal food! Had a stomach infection which must have been due to Mensa food coupled with so much fat(in my eagerness to put on weight!)...but now that am alright...cooked Chilly Chicken after found an easy recipe from my aunt and Anna and Lele were treated to it!:D
Today though am feeling extremely Nostalgic...about Indian movies and songs and on Music India Online found extremely good collection of the Non-film songs...found Salona sa sajan, Ranjish e sahi, Yun saja chand...wowowow Asha is just great! And also found this site with Runa Laila versions :
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/10/s/album.3595/
On another website about Yashraj movies, found the Vijay songs..forgotten, some of them were good. Also, going through that Tabloid of a newspaper, TOI found an article on the dolled up women in Hindi films, apparently sparked off by the Vari Vari girl...Rani Mukherjee. There was reminded of the Utsav songs and the Amrapali songs...cant wait to get back to India to buy the CDs now!

Weekend of Culture

2005-07-18T18:12:00.000+05:30

This part of the world is culturally really very active..its possible for a person to go to an Opera, Music Konzert or a choir rendition every day of the year...or if you are interested in the Museums, then we have that too in plenty here!
This weekend I got a flavor of both with Emanuele and his friends, Italian, Spanish and so on! :D
On Saturday, went for the Näpolitanisch Musik Konzert by Napolincanto...really kool stuff! The songs seemed to be very Spanish to me...and then I was told that southern Italy was ruled by Spain till about 1600 and therefore, it is culturally very similar to Spain and not so much to Northern Italy. What was the biggest difference was when the singer invited the audience to become a part of the songs and sing few lines...how these things are different in different cultures!
At the Alte Pinakothek, that is the Old Art Musuem which I visited on Sunday with Alberto, who is from Spain - doing a PhD in Physics...saw similar influences in the art from Italy from that era. A similar painting which hangs at Salarjung Museum in Hyderabad, also was there at the Alte Pinakothek, by the Italian Painter...Michel Marieschi(18th Century). Both the paintings are about these roads and whenever you move to any side of the painting, the roads appear to turn towards you!
The various works of van Dyke, El Gruco, Murillo and some other very famous German painters were also there and you could make out that these are very famous as I had seem them before!
After this had lunch at an Indian restaurant 'Swagat', pretty good food...learnt from Alberto that Spain is not so cosmopolitan. It opened up only about 30 years ago after the dictatorship so, they donot have so many immigrants.Except from the Southern America. But of late they have immigration from Bangladesh and Pakistan and of course, China!
He said not many people have a perception about India...neither good nor bad. But he imagines that within the next two to three years, people would want to get a good perception. As it is the western media is not all agog with India...there is a slow but sure rise in the curiosity towards India and Indianness...

2005-07-11T13:37:00.000+05:30

Steffan, Juergen and Suzy making the wierdest Ice cream I ever had...with Liquid Nitrogen!

2005-07-11T13:36:00.001+05:30

Jose on top of things...well here you just see his shoes!

2005-07-11T13:36:00.000+05:30

Emily and Dave : Drunk Duo

Viel Spaß

2005-07-11T13:29:00.000+05:30

This Friday was the Sommerfest of WSI and it was amazing fun! Lots of games..small ones are called Olympia and then there was Football, playing which I damaged my right leg :( but still it was really a lot of fun.
And then on Saturday there was the Christopher Street Day at Marienplatz...whatever that is...because, I got stuck in the crowd and it was NOT fun!! On sunday went to Pinakothek der Moderne and contrary to what I had expected, it was good. I went with Nina and Gerd and learnt a lot about the German Politics at the Der Spiegel Cover Exhibition. The politics of CDU and SPD..sounded a lot like BJP and Congress, in that order.

US ...or them?

2005-07-07T17:08:00.000+05:30

Interesting aricle : (TOI, by chidananda rajghatta)

When India's defence minister Pranab Mukherjee arrives in Washington today, he will be feted as a representative of America's latest 'ally'. There will be tall talk of selling sophisticated arms such as Patriot missiles and F-18 jets (not just yet), gushy remarks about the strategic partnership the US wants to build (but does not) and other such pabulum.

But in their hearts, American officials neither trust nor care for India — our use for them is as a counterweight to China. No dual-use items and no nuclear technology — unless we checkmate China. On the one issue that won't cost US a red cent — UNSC membership — they will play games. Like the "two or so" formulation they have arrived at. If they can identify Japan as one candidate, why not the other?

What has India done for the United States that we should do anything for you, an American scholar asked me recently. Not much, other than giving you the best minds of our generation, I said. A few days later, I chanced upon a copy of a National Geographic of 1946 vintage that was an eye-opener for me.

The fact that India provided tens of thousands of soldiers to the Allied forces is well known. But India — admittedly, British India — also supplied jute, coir, burlap and other material that tied into Allied war effort. There was buffalo hide and goat skin. Textile factories in Bombay turned out parachutes, machine shops in Calcutta fabricated grenades and bren guns, and Bangalore made US war planes as far back as the 1940s.

There was Indian manganese ore which went into the making of steel used for American armour and guns. Peanut and coconut oil went into making of glycerin, the basic ingredient for explosives. Oil from cashew shells was used as an insulating film for induction coils and other delicate electrical parts on marine and aircraft engines. The rare earths in the sands of Kerala went into making titanium, used on American navy vessels. By one account, India provided $640 million worth of material (in 1945 prices).

There were three items from India that were particularly critical to the US. One was mica, which was till then used in India for ornamental purposes. Americans found mica useful for aircraft spark plugs, radio condensers and other electrical components. Since India was the major source of mica in the world, they convinced the ruling Brits to form a "Joint Mica Mission" to fly sorties out of India.

Then there was block talc used in talcum powder, which the Americans found could be crystallised and machined with great accuracy for use in electronics. The best such talc at that time was known to exist in Sardinia, then in Axis hands. Then the Americans heard of a quarry in Udaipur that produced even better talc. They were on to it in a jiffy. By far the most critical element the US took from India was Beryl, a gem found in the Rajputana hills, which they used with copper and aluminium to make them hard as steel. American fighter planes were equipped with beryllium bronze bearings, which lasted ten times as long as those bearing traditional copper alloys. Indian beryl, alas, also had another use. It was used in the atomic bomb to start the flow of uranium neutrons to produce nuclear fission.

Terrible, isn't it? We were guilty of proliferating nuclear material to the US and providing it with dual use items. Shame on us. Perhaps, Pranab Mukherjee should apologise to Donald Rumsfeld for our trespasses.

South Asia...

2005-07-05T13:48:00.000+05:30

The most interesting aspect of living outside your own country is undoubtedly the fact that you can try to gauge the view about your country and region from others. And these days, the best known thing about India is its movies!
Although, some find it cheesy, some are loving it...ala McDonalds'! The proof lies in the Top 50 Movies for this week in Germany..The 2nd, 9th and 43rd position are Main Hoon Na, Kal Ho Na Ho and Dil Se respectively..
Thats not all...most people have seen atleast one or two Indian movies and most of them like them!
And now...there is the spelling bee also from our country...
Way to go!!

2005-06-28T14:01:00.001+05:30

my sample

2005-06-28T14:01:00.000+05:30

MBE Lab..

2005-06-28T14:00:00.000+05:30

Garnix samba dance..it was great!

Two weeks!

2005-06-28T10:15:00.000+05:30

Yes two weeks passed before I have found the time to write now here at the blog page!
Two weeks in which one of my friends (actually, friend of a friend from India) called me unfriendly and unhelpful..:D yes, there had to be a day like that too!
Weeks in which my real measurement stuff started and I started spending days in the lab and not just the days but nights too..two days I left after the watches at the institutes were being seen only by me and Matt! One day we went for Batman Begins after the measurements..and the other day had food at Matt's nemesis food junction...McD's!!
Weeks in which I made Rajma for the first time..and das schmeckt gut! Mikala and I had it yesterday as well..she also liked it! Weeks in which I saw the university festival here in Garching..called Garnix.
Weeks in which I saw the biggest, costliest and one of the most expensive Operas of all times performed at Olympia Turm..it was Poccini's last Opera..Turandot...amazing is not the word for it...it was out of this world!!!Ying had invited us for the Opera because she was performing in the Opera...so we got tickets worth €128 for free!! :DD
Weeks in which I realised what it is to be confounding heat in this city without fans and ACs..:((Its so bloody hot ..I practically have no energy left in me...these guys here are having a nice time laughing at me..but the fact is it is hot!!
As usual Joel is not coming on time and I need to wait for ages to learn how to do measurements at the downstairs He 3 sorbtion unit..

2005-06-13T15:06:00.001+05:30

The decent people! :)

2005-06-13T15:06:00.000+05:30

Olympia Turm..why doesnt he jump!!

2005-06-13T15:05:00.001+05:30

getting wet at KarlPlatz Stachus

2005-06-13T15:05:00.000+05:30

Sommerfest at MarienPlatz

Saturday Fun

2005-06-13T14:51:00.000+05:30

Its become imperative to have fun on Saturday and thanx to Gabriel and Hermann who came here on Thursday, I could go to have fun!
Friday we all went to Roma the Italian restaurant in Garching and had pizza! There with Hermann discussed the topic which is so hot here in the institute these days...EU reconstruction of work policies and the effects due to globalisation on this part of the world! India in my view is rising like the walking Elelphant...the amount received from Taxes is abominally low and still government spends money from own coffers to fill in the social sector. This sees a development means there is huge money in the government pockets..But I hope this government does some heavy duty tax restructuring to get more number of people to pay taxes..its currently as low as 2.2% !!!
So we had some graph for EU and US development compared to the India-China curves for the next years...and it was interesting to hear all different views!
On Saturday, we went to OlympiaTurm and had some kool fun! See pics for more!

2005-06-10T15:05:00.000+05:30

Herman with the fake strawberries hanging out..:D

2005-06-10T15:03:00.001+05:30

me eating...Matt looking away and Gabriel's nose intruding!

2005-06-10T15:03:00.000+05:30

Enjoying the Butter chicken..ahem Turkey!

Sehr Lecker Butter Hühn!

2005-06-10T11:40:00.000+05:30

The weeks are passing by really fast! It is June and psychologically after the scarring Heat thoughts from India for June...I am having a tough time convincing myself its not actually too hot! The temp here is 13°C and so you see no scope of the last June's summery type clothes and escapades with Nikunj and Arnab..and Sumit!

After about 5 weeks now, I have got pretty much known at the ISKCON temple..and the guys there are also pretty friendly. Although there is not so much cooking these days as they have quite a few helpers..but still it is fun to go there and play the 'manjira' during their bhajans!

This thursday it was decided to have a group dinner. Ying did all the arrangements and I chose Butter Chicken to be cooked...so Thursday evening I went with Johanna and Clemens to do some shopping for the stuff; Ying and Lucia had shopped earlier and since they didnt find chicken too much..they brought Turkey! So..it was basically Butter Turkey! But frankly I was cooking non-veg food for the first time and they found it extremely good..sehr lecker!

Gabriel also returned on Thursday evening...with Herman(a French guy..not the Indian one) and it was that Ying and Claudius had to leave..so we had place for two people! It was extremely well received! At the table and later we had a lot of fun planting fake strawberries onto the strawberry plant of Ying which refuses to flower!
Later Olaf and another guy from the Stutzmann group also came and they were pleasantly surprised with so much food and also participated in the eating session!

2005-06-08T18:55:00.000+05:30

Marien Platz with impending Rain

Weather Bother

2005-06-08T18:45:00.000+05:30

The weather here is something which I have no clue about...It was almost 29°C on Friday last and then became 13°C for the past couple of days. These fluctuations have just left me completely dumbfounded and a bit cold! Yes, I did manage it again...caught a cold. Although the Medical system here works in a different manner. The doctor did a blodd test on me to confirm whether I had Bacterial or Viral cold! And since I had a viral cold - there are no medicines, just warm water with orange drink!
My Sprach duo partners are doing well too - Steffen Auer meets every Tuesday and Dirk every wednesday. And I think this way the language is getting better too.
Also, with Tobias I decided to go running every saturday morning. But the day we decided, the next saturday it was raining! :)
Work wise, yeah got quite a bit done in the lab with the set up and also some demonstration with the Dilution Refrigerator. Now have to learn the growth and the 2-D elctron system stuff.
Chalte chalte: Heard Aishwarya is doing the Gayatri Devi bio-pic with J.P.Dutta! Hopefully this time the audience likes his film more than LOC..and doesnt treat Aishwarya as the Refugee..

2005-05-27T17:27:00.000+05:30

My Comp :D

Two Weeks of Hard Work!

2005-05-27T13:34:00.000+05:30

So another week comes to an end. And a real hectic one! After cooling the magnets over and over again we kept on realising that somehow, we were messing things up and the magnets had to heated again and again!
But eventually now, both magnets are in good shape and are running well.

Last wednesday, I was sitting with Matt right behind the racks of the measurement for the new magnet and Matt was going 'oooh..oooh...oooh..' and I was like 'yes yes yes'. You perverts...I was sitting behind the new magnet system's measuring rack and bolting things up, Matt was sitting right next to me and trying to get the wires into the holders. We were both not really getting very succesful but when we did...we had the sound which accompanies creation!
Heard 'Bunti aur Bubli' and 'Parineeta'..amazing soundtracks. Must buy or atleast must hear for most...Nikunj, not your stuff, the sound and the lyrics are not going together!!

Must say Rani Mukherjee is climbing the stairs of superstardom in some fast fast fast maneouvers..Black, Bunti aur Babli, Paheli and I guess some 2-3 more amazing movies!! Phew, she is doing much better than Kajol did at this stage of her career!

so, now you guys know exactly how much amazing amount of work I am doing here! :D
Hard(ly) working! :D

Dumping Donnerstag

2005-05-19T12:52:00.000+05:30

what happened today morning was so funny..and thats why this rejoinder to the earlier blog.
I have the alarm put on my watch for 7.30am and today when it rang I just shut it to sleep for a few minutes more..but when I got up it was showing 9am :O
so I scampered to get ready and had my quick frühstück. That time my watch was showing 9.50 am...and ran to the U-Bahn station as the next bahn was at 10.03 am. On the way i thought there were far too less number of people! But at the U-Bahn my horror was confirmed...it was 6.55am :D and so...I was way way way ahead of schedule!! I came nonetheless to the institute and reached arnd 7.35am...
By the way I travel using a Grüne Karte which is valid only after 9 am...so u see i did something not entirely correct!

The reason why watch screwed up..heheheh...it was kept right next to the handy and guess their signals got mixed up..oh sorry mortal folks..u wudnt understand otherwise...my watch is a radio controlled one!

Picture perfect

2005-05-19T08:36:00.000+05:30

After about a month and a half, I thought it was high time to get a mobile. So, with Gabriel I went to the two main service providers - T-Mobil and Vodafone and after listening to their various schemes and offers, we both got so confused that we ended up leaving without a handy! In the end I thought it was nice to have a mobile with a kamera, whether it has nice MP3 playing capacity or not..

so went and got the order done for the vodafone but those guys are such big screw ups..the didnt tell me that they didnt have the handy i wanted instead they gave me the numbers instead!:O but after a few days of fighting and hankering I did manage to get a rental phone which is quite good but the one i want is better! This one is a sharp GX 25..and i want a Sony Ericsson F500i!

On Friday, 6th..Matt and I went to watch the movie 'life and death of Peter Sellers'..good movie but a bit over done...too satirical! :(
And this Friday did nothing in particular..but then on Saturday after Handy hopping..Gabriel and me wanted to catch a movie but it seemed we would catch a cold instead because the rain just wudnt stop and somehow we just missed the movie wherever we turned up!
But the shock came a week later when Matt said...ya tune ur ears...oh sorry i meant eyes...he said that I shud loosen up a bit and become funnier!!! Cud u beat that and I thought I was one helluva brain retard?!? But neway, I had my revenge when I said Helium shud be He 2/4 not He 4/2 because 2 is the atomic number and that is written on the downside and 4 upwards, so one shud never lose touch with reality and be grounded so..2 should be spoken first!! He had it...the expression was worse than I had seen on either Shantanu, Tapish or Nikunj's face...and when he spoke he said..'the lustig indischer strikes again' (guys..do some german word searching..for starters..lustig means funny!)
Not much happened tho' till saturday when Herman came who is a mixture of Tapish's temperament and Shantanu's demeanour. Stayed over on saturday night at my place because he could not contact his landlady and then I took him to his house on Sunday. What was funny was that on Saturday night even Gabriel turned up and he also stayed over..albeit in the storage room i have on the upper floor after we both went bar hopping..tried Tequila shots..with salt and citrona..well as i say terrible stuff for which u have to pay!
Monday afternoon I went to Herman's place and his frnds from Germany had also come so met them...but strangely he hasnt called up since then!
Went to dinner with Mikala yesterday to the same place where I had gone with Avishek ont he first day in Munich and then took her to my place. Then walked her to her place where we had....Apfelschorle. (I know you guys have a perverted imagination)

Work wise its hectic as usual because the Helium systems needed to heated and cooled and something went wrong and we had to heat again and now wud try to cool...seems to be running parallel to the weather..Kabhi Chilly kabhi Sun!

Snoring Beauty :(

2005-05-06T11:00:00.000+05:30

Thursday Last, I met up this Desi from the Munichmela.de website. He is doing a post doc at LMU and so was quite close to my house and dropped by. Also had dinner at my house..yes, I can cook enuff now to feed others :D. And on Friday I had my Masters thesis presentation. It was pretty well receieved...but I must confess I started a little nervous becoz didnt have time to prepare in the morning. Sebastian needed some help with the He 3 evacuation from the system. Helped him and also learnt a lot...and in the end had just five minutes before I started the presentation. About 25 people attended and I was asked around 5 questions..It was pretty funny too!
Then in the evening watched Black with Gabriel..excellent movie with fine performances..and then came to the insti on saturday to check mails and also prepare the Comp config listings..and then went back to Munich with Gariel..and that was a fun nite..had food at Burger King and then Gabriel had heard abt this Müller straße being a good pub joint from some place and so he took me there. To our horror and amusement it turned out to be one Gay joint! And after the fiasco on his bday where i was kind of over the top with the 700 ml of wodka..this time i refused out and out becoz he didnt have any reason i cudnt refuse to! But at the end of the day u cannot not have drinks here...its kind of very rude to refuse!
Things i have tried:
- Sekt : alrite..like champagne .. with orange juice...at this profs party where he was celebrating the birth of his son.
- Wodka: yuck...had abt 700 ml in 45 mins...and that too neat!!! I dont remember nething after my fist glass of 200 ml..but Gabriel says i had 3 more glasses...after which i went to sleep on the floor...he put me on the bed..and in the morning i got up with the worst headache and giddiness ever!
- Beer: bad allergy (thank god!)
- Cocktails : best of the worst...the taste of alcohol is kept to the minimum and hence u dont feel the sick taste and u get to choose from the range of other tastes u want! had chocolate colada and the very famous 'sex on the beach'...both were equally disgusting but better than neat stuff..(Gabriel and Matt'S suggestion!)
Then he stayed over at my place on Saturday night becoz he had missed his train...and boi o boi..i have just one observation: Snoring isnt an Indian bastion...know what I mean!!!?
On Sunday, went to the ISKCON temple at Weidenmayer straße..nice place and the people are prety nice too..but as with the Elder F.... these guys can get on ur nerves when they start to pressurise u to come every week! I reached arnd 2pm and then helped them cook the dinner...but I cudnt eat dinner myself becoz I was to go to Rahul Mukherjee's place, a Bengali family I came in contact thru Munichmela. Nice people and fed me a lot of doi maach and kosha mangsho(lamb curry!!)
Even they offered Wine..but thankfully you can easily refuse!!!

This week started on a beautiful note with all my EC cards and other bank stuff coming in on time! So..now all set...planning to take the Mobile by the nächste woche..oh come on..thats easy its next week buddy!

By George!

2005-05-02T23:14:00.000+05:30

Indians are lucky they know how Mahatma Gandhi looked. There have plenty of footage showing him walking briskly on spindly legs and joking cheerfully with a toothless grin.

Americans aren't that lucky. The father of their nation pre-dated the moving picture by a century. Even Abraham Lincoln missed the cut.

Now an Indian-American computer scientist is going to help them figure that out. Karnal-born Dr. Anshuman Razdan, director of the Partnership for Research and Spatial Modeling (PRISM) and professor of computer science at Arizona State University, will give George Washington a "virtual makeover" using 3D computer modeling.

Dr Razdan will use artifacts, including Washington's life mask, a bust made by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, a life-size statue in Richmond, his dentures, eye glasses, clothing and shoes, for the purpose.

"We will work with anthropologists and artists to arrive at the final outcome," Dr Razdan explained in an interview from Tempe, Arizona.

The Indian scientist, whose sisters studied in the same school in Karnal as the astronaut Kalpana Chawla's,said his team comprised a Canadian and a German, and that it was an interdisciplinary task.

They will come up with three life-size figures of Washington, to be displayed in 2006, at his home in Mount Vernon. The figures will show Washington as a young Virginia surveyor at 19, Washington on horseback as commander of the Continental Army at 45, and Washington taking oath as president at 57.

The so-called "Three Georges" project is said to be the first that will forensically "de-age" an individual by computer modeling. Among the challenges Razdan's team is facing is to develop deformation technique and explore the bone loss that must have resulted from Washington's early loss of teeth.

So would it be possible to reconstruct Tipu Sultan (who would be a contemporary of George Washington) and Shivaji Maharaj using these techniques? That depends on the amount of material available, says Dr Razdan. Portraits are not always dependable.

2005-04-28T13:38:00.000+05:30

Neuschwanstein castle

Its a New Day...its a new world

2005-04-27T10:05:00.000+05:30

Friday Last, Matt announced that he wanted to have a Party becoz my Nostrification was done..phew! sadly nobody came..except Matt, Joel, Ken(Joel's Japanese room mate) and me(how surprising!)..after they had dinner..I had mine at home..Matt wanted to 'shoot' some...well...Pool. (what did u think!?)
He kind of taught me how to hit the shots..but still, we lost..how ironic!
Then after loitering arnd Schelling Straße for another half hour or so..they decided it was time for (more) drinks and so off we went to this UniLounge and I was a mute spectator..the same day was also the UniFest (something which I dont know what it was!)So Gabriel wanted to go there and we had planned that he wud come to my place arnd 12 in the nite and then we go to the Fest. But (thankfully) the fest was at some morbid place called Lehel which was kind of far from my house..so after he came we dropped the idea.(yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!)And he didnt stay on for the night, rather went back to WSI only to re-appear the next morning when we were to go to Neuschwanstein - a beautiful palace built by König Ludwig II but he spent only some 117 days in total there and probably never slept there! Its quite picturesque and very touristy!
Thru' the munichmela.de website found a fundoo Indian shop called Kohinoor..how apt..one of the best Indian stuff which is not there in India anymore! There bought loads of spices, etc and then also 4 movies for 4€...Kuchh Kuchh Hota hai with Black and Lagaan with Dil Chahta Hai.
Dont have a comp yet so...updating this page takes a while and dont know when I wud get one...Hail Matt!
One request to all who read these craps that plug in, on and off...do chip in ur comments...makes it more interesting for me to write something! ;)

India Avatar 2

2005-04-22T16:51:00.000+05:30

Small additions to the previous post

Ash makes it to the Times list of top 100 most powerful people in the world for a second year in a row - see, I dont quite loooooove her but the fact is she is getting the country noticed in her own right and lets just give her that!

India avatar

2005-04-22T16:24:00.000+05:30

After the disastrous last week..this one was way too good!
Well, I shifted to the new house on the 15th which also happened to be the Bengali New Year and it definitely was a good beginning. There were somethings in the house which needed, some still do, to be attended to - but I am not complaining. The location of the house is a killer. Even when I was getting bored to death on the weekends with nothing to do, I just walked out on the street and it was always so vibrant.
I went to enquire about the Handys (they call 'Mobiles' that here!) and wasnt pleasantly surprised to find out that they needed an EC Karte for that..which meant I needed a Bank Acct. I am not laughing! Neway on my return path, I was stalked (believe me) by this guy who was from the Church of Jesus Christ(did we have churches for other people too!?) and called himself Elder F...... He gave me a long lecture on why I should join them because then I would be able to listen to the prophecies. Well my point is maybe I have interpreted my prophecy as working in the Material world and the guys who have the other will have the other prophecy so why not let every one interpret their own prophecy? Had a discussion on this with Matt as well and although I agree with him completely when he says that organised religion is kind of the virus, I dont quite support the questioning of another person's belief. Its alrite to let the other guy believe in whatever he wants to. Especially now that I am in Bavaria...its an extremely Catholic state and many people wear their religion on their sleeves(or so I have heard..) But all said, I dont quite mind that, as long as you dont come upto me and coax me into it! - for this I must hail Nikunj - the guy who taught never to get into the discussions which have no end and also never to get drawn into the temptation of telling the other one your 'peace' of mind!
After all this, I went to a Festival of India which was being celebrated to mark Ram Navami on 16th. It was organised by the München chapter of ISKCON. What impressed me was that the number of non-indians far exceeded the Indians and all the programs were by Non-Indians. The image of this British lady who has taken the name of Kala Kanta Devi performing Bharatnatyam in full gaeity is something I would not forget ever. While eating the prasadam there I was sitting right next to an old Bavarian lady who spoke broken Hindi and refused to speak to me in anything other than Hindi. It was really an amazing feeling to see your culture transcend borders across the globe. But one important thing I realised is that if you know your own culture well and have learnt to appreciate it...only then can you appreciate the culture of others.
Wednesday the 20th, I got my Visa extended for one year and at the Visa office, the person who was just before me in the queue was an old Japanese lady who had worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lucknow during 1966-68. She just would not stop telling others around us about India. Yesterday on 21st, I bought the microwave which I so badly needed. The price was just about 50€ which seemed to be alrite for a 17 liter micro-cum-grill.
Now the only paper work left are the Bank and the contract, but they donot seem to far.
For the Visa extension I needed to get my Insurance done from the Technike Kranken Kasse which is the government insurance and the person who did it, spoke little english and so Matt had gone with me. That guy kept saying how Indians and Chinese have already started to take the world in...havent I heard that before!? But wait...I heard that in India and then there was always the counter-point that this remark was being stretched out of context and India was no-where on the map...It doesnt seem so out of context here - once you see it being spread out slowly but surely!!

Spiced up!?

2005-04-13T01:53:00.000+05:30

Today was probably the worst day in my entire life...let me start on:::

I went to the Univ office for the Nostrification...I hate that word more than any other now!...and if the trip wasnt bad enuff (I was stuck in a traffic jam and when the jam cleared, I realised I am on a wrong bus...and then walked back abt 1 km to change buses), the lady at the office refused to accept the xerox copies because....believe it or not...they were not 'biglaubigged' or whatever that word for certification is...These were xeroxes from the Original which i got frm home yesterday and then were certified by the Head of the Physics Department of this same University. The Lady at the office told me.."Herr Dasgupta, you are from india and this certified in Germany, we cannot accept that!" - How simply put and how logical it sounds! So my simple query was...what would you accept. I laughed my heart out at her answer..she said any Church!!! and then she said she was serious..I paid a silent homage to Galileo...and then asked her if all churches do that..she said obviously not.."you must look for a church which does!" And then her neighbour in the next cabin says, that is also not valid since the church is in Germany and the certificate is from India...didnt she just tell me that...The only option was to go to the Indian Konsulate in Munich (Thank god for the small mercies - they never had the Indian Consulate outside Bonn and Berlin till 3 yrs ago!) Then I called up my guide using a payphone from the campus in which I put in 2 € but talked for only 0,50€ and then after breaking my head over the machine realised that I donot get back any change from this machine! Then my guide gaveme the address of the Indian Konsulate and then I went there...who said over the phone they wud do it in 5 mins..but when I reached there...hahahahah...they accept my application, take 24€ and say bye come at 4.30pm!!!!
So...all I had to do for the next 5 hrs..I was loitering all over Munich...saw places wud never wud..But I also had to pay my Landlord today..see everything happens together...entropy always goes to a maximum when there is a disturbance. So..went to Stadtsparkasse Munich and that is the highpoint of the day when I got to spend about 40 mins with this girl who looked exactly like Drew Barrymore...but sad...she doesnt speak much English...after abt a months lesson I wud give a try again becoz that branch of the bank is quite close to the house I am shifting to ..:D
Then after that was done...I had 3 hrs left..and then I saw the Isar and then some more and then some more of it!!
But neway at the end of the day the Indian Embassy gave me back the documents..and guess what the Head of the Consulate turns out to be my college senior..he said if I would have gone to him in the morning directly he would have done it right away..Now I am supposed to get dreams about who is the Consulate General of my country is!!
And then the lowest point of the day came - I took the escalator to go up at a subway station and halfway down it stops and then starts going up...I returned to the top of the station..it was so stupid...and then went down again by the stairs. In all this...missed my subway..and the next one was 20 mins later!! :(
There were quite a few things happening by the sidelines..which are noteworthy..the calling card I buy refuses to work for one!

Indian Medical ki Jai

2005-04-11T01:35:00.000+05:30

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/business/worldbusiness/07health.html

CHINDIA...interesting, right?

2005-04-10T16:49:00.000+05:30

Found this article in TOI online recently....

India and China. Two ancient civilisations, two emerging superpowers with lots of history behind — and between — them. But when Chinese premier Wen Jiabao kicked off his trip to India by flying into Bangalore rather than Delhi on Saturday, it was clear that history was the last thing on his mind.

For China-watchers, who can spend hours discussing the nuances of every signal emanating from Beijing, the message was loud and clear: "Forget about politics and the past. We want to do business together, and jointly forge a brave new world."

It's a world that the rest of the globe seems to be bracing for, albeit with some apprehension. Business tycoons, statesmen, commentators all talk about how the rise of India and China is reshaping the global order. Invariably, both countries are mentioned in the same breath. No conversation about one can end without the other being referred to. The hyphenation is complete.

Just the other day, Singapore's former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who's usually been dismissive of India vis-a-vis China, told a seminar that both countries would shake the world as they spread renaissance across Asia. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates recently told a conference of US governors, "I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow." Pointing to the sheer number of graduates in China and India, particularly engineers, Gates warned, "In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind."

New York Times columnist Thomas L Friedman, author of The World Is Flat : A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century , writes that "in India and China lies a tale of technology and geo-economics that is fundamentally reshaping our lives much, much more quickly than many people realise..." Friedman terms this new era Globalisation 3.0, a concept very similar to The Great Reverse described by economist Clyde Prestowitz. The first wave of globalisation occurred in the 15th century, thanks to Portuguese and Spanish explorers. The second wave began around the founding of the US, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. The Great Reverse began in the 1990s, coinciding with China and India getting on to the capitalist freeway.

Jairam Ramesh, author of Making Sense of Chindia, points out: "In 1950, the debate was over China or India. In 2005, the debate is on China and India. That's how far the two nations have travelled. It will be a while before they can take on the US in terms of hard or soft power. But their emergence as demographic giants and economic dynamos will have implications for the rest of the world."

In India, the discussion has largely centred on how the two countries stack up as competition, with much breast-beating about how far behind India trails. But there's an increasing interest in the potential benefits of cooperation. Foreign secretary Shyam Saran was in Beijing recently to prepare the ground for Wen's visit. It was decided by both sides that India and China would not approach each other as rivals but as partners whose joint clout could alter the world order in their favour.

A senior MEA official says India's advances in IT software, combined with Chinese advances in hardware, could create a perfect partnership. The Chinese can learn much from India about the services industry, technical and managerial know-how, and developing a world-class private sector.

In comparison, India would do well to emulate the Chinese in developing infrastructure, manufacturing and providing basic education. Besides, both countries are huge markets for any number of goods and commodities. If they were to collectively negotiate, they could extract very favourable deals from most producers.

Sure, border differences persist. But neither side is getting frantic. Geographical, legal and security features are being identified. Once guiding principles are announced during Wen's visit, the two sides will probably get down to the nitty-gritty.

On other political issues, differences have narrowed. On Kashmir, for instance, China used to lend vociferous support to the Pakistani position. Today, its responses are far more nuanced.

C V Ranganathan, former chairman of the National Security Advisory Board who has also served as ambassador to China, sums up: "One of the less reported facts over the last few years has been the steady growth in understanding between India and China. China is readjusting its policies to Pakistan, so they impinge less on the growth of Sino-Indian relations. Ultimately, they want stability in this region. The issue of nuclear and missile transfers to Pakistan is more complicated. But while China will not dilute the quality of its relationship with Pakistan, the past links between the two countries are unlikely to continue. Besides, China's economic and political stakes in India have increased."

So is the time ripe for a strategic alliance between the two countries, the creation of a 'Chindia' that could rock the world? That could be a long way away, specially given the Indian wariness about even a free trade zone. But as the Chinese proverb goes — and never was it more appropriate — "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Confessions of a tired mind

2005-04-09T17:42:00.000+05:30

How time flies we have no clue...The second week in München and it feels like yesterday I was in IIT D doing my Masters. The interaction with the group increased and what I really like about this place is precisely what scared me initially, that is to go for lunch together. It was scary to think how everyone would be eating and so much of etiquettes to be followed!
Although more or less I feel I am settling down, there are quite a few things still that need to be taken care of - Bank acct and the student registration - which were the two out of three things which I started with! After a torrent of information regarding the registration - some wierd thing called nostrification here which is basically the accredition of the Masters degree - it came out that I had to ask for my original to be sent. I even spoke to this guy at the Indian Embassy and somehow these guys at the Govt jobs are so well trained, that they dont modify their functioning whether in India or Abroad!!Bank guys...hmm...they keep asking for more...Must have been an ancillary of Pepsi!(for the lesser mortals...Dil Maange More)
But the most interesting thing is about the German courses that I am doing..these are unofficial courses being administered by the ppl arnd me. Now I can speak atleast a few sentences in German and even abuse in german :D
The secy here says that i surprise her so much and if i go on like this..i wud speaking fluently next week. Altho'these are not without giving these guys here a good laugh for their hardwork. The workshop training was to be done around Thursday, and the notice there reads 'Nicht alleine...' meaning dont work alone. But I somehow pronounced it as 'Nackd alleine...' which meant work alone if Naked!! And then when I went to Ikea with Lucia and Michi(her bf) on the way back, I forgot the stuff I had to collect from Irmgard (the secy), which was Mitarbeiter Ausweiss (ID) and I said Mitarbeiter Ausfluss - it means diseased excreta! All this is not without some laughs for me as well. My name has become a cocktail - from Shiffahi I made them stop at Shiv and they were only too happy to oblige but to my horror..now my name is Schiff - if u didnt know, it means the Ship!!
The latest addition to my vocab is Scheissglumpverugtz....shit crap dead :D
Yesterday nite went and collected the contract for my house for I would be paying abt € 600 lesser per year than calculated. The guy from whom I take that place is a nice guy and helped me quite a bit. Gabriel comes in handy for the german as usual. After returning we saw 'Magnolia'-Tom Cruise, Jullianne Moore, Melinda Dillon. Nice Movie, altho' a bit long but very interesting!
By the way..what has surprised me the most till now here is the info that these guys have about India. There are extremes, some guys feel, we can buy Elephants for a few Euros and that we in india have only one written language - so I am here to shock them. But what is of interest is that many , believe me, many have a very open perspective about India. Like Gabriel says, till 5 yrs ago all they knew abt India was once in three months about Kashmir and natural disasters and Now..India is in news atleast once a week for its booming economy. Also, there is an increased campaign about Indian Tourism with the Incredible India billboards on Munich U-Bahn stations. In the Latest Pope Issue of Newsweek, there is an ad by Singapore Airlines about tourism in India - although, the Ad is in disgusting taste..a caricature of the hugeness of India with Arab clothed dark skinned guys in front of an elephant which is standing in front of the desert palaces...and there is a singapore airlines hostess, quite fair skinned..I never knew South East Asians were fairer than Indians!

In the same magazine, in an article on Travel 2005, there is a mid sized article on Mumbai and how Indians are getting rich and buying good property. Feels good when you read about your country in good light. And that dispels a lot of wierd imaginations which ppl like Matt have. Saturday last there was a Neo Nazi and Anti Nazi demonstration at the Marienplatz. The Neo-Nazi were 300 and anti were about 6000 and thru some conversation Matt says, that oh for Shivaji its not such a big issue...in his country he sees 300 ppl daily on the buses!! which is so ridiculously untrue!!!

Weekends of Lore

2005-04-04T21:39:00.000+05:30

saw two movies in two days..."Tuck Everlasting" and "Blair Witch Project"...tuck has always been a favorite and was nice to watch that movie again. Alexis Bledel probably getting much coverage than what she gets in "Bride and Prejudice" and ya...altho' like no one ever recognises her by her name, I have to stress on this.."Gillmore Girls" guys!

Blair witch project...well its a nice movie...not as scary as i thought..but its a nice line of movie making-i wud call it something on lines of 'Da Vinci Code'-neo-fiction based on facts but going way beyond them.. see this

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mblair.html

Got my Bank acct papers done today so by the end of the week I shud have my acct working...and I shift arnd next week...for now work..

MAKEOVER

2005-04-02T16:34:00.000+05:30

So, I did ultimately start off my journey as a PhD on the 24th of March, 2005. Left home and everyone I was so accustomed to behind in New Delhi and flew by Lufthansa to Munich...for the record the food was very very good..and there were chicken seekh kababs for ppl who wanted non veg!
To add to the feeling I was already under...which was a cocktail (yeah me already into the München lingo!) of sadness, excitement, uncertainty(I would explain that later again)...they show "Finding Neverland" which is one of the saddest films I have ever watched.
Neway I appeared on the Munich horizon just a day before the looooooooong Easter weekend started here. So, thankfully Dr. Grayson who would be my supervisor here would be had arranged for another group member to take me out shopping...Lucia Steinke, she took me to this departmental store close to the insti (where I would be staying for the next couple of weeks)...The departmental store 'Lidl' had everything I had been told to buy by Mamu and that too for like dirt cheap rates.(19 grocery items for € 16.50!!!)
And then the weekend started..On the 26th, I walked to Lidl to buy some more replenishments after which when I came back, I realised that there was actually someone staying in the room next to mine..:D Its a guy from Holland and his name is Gabriel ... nice that he does a good job of German!( He has like told me a zillion times probably already that Dutch people can speak Duetsch well...) So, went to the Duetsche Museum on Sunday, 27th...enjoyed the trip..walked like crazy and cudnt finish the entire museum becoz the place is mammoth! There are some 19 sections..and We cud do only 8 and that too only fleetingly!But the trip was fun..there are no buses here to the Insti on Sunday and we had to go like 4 kms to the Garching Höchbrück U-Bahn station.So, Gabriel suggested he bike and I sit behind him (Most people already know...I cant BIKE!)...which I did and then we returned via the same route later in the evening.
Then Matt returned on tuesday, 29th and then there has been no looking back..I came to know whatss it like to start all over in a new place...what with the dean 'nostrifying' my masters degree before I get registered as a Phd student. Then the Bank account..Matt suggested I shud open it up at Postbank but they seem a tadbit slow as they are taking ages to send me the contract to sign and open the account. Without a credit card and a bank account its difficult to live here. :( Thankfully Matt is quite open to giving (or so I believe) and I already owe him €189.
Then started the journey into the world of Munich Appartment searching...but believe me its an over-hyped thing that u donot get good appartments in Munich central area for decent rates..I did and that was just my third attempt..altho' first two were complete fuck ups...The first was at Deitersheim, which is a village up north of the Insti and it was only € 210..and the second was at Ottobrun for €310..but they are to Munich what Afghanistan is to India(well commuting wise..duh) With Gabriel I managed to navigate to all these wierd places to search for these appartments. But the third one I saw..was perfect..little short - abt 20m²- but centrally located at Schelling Straße and priced pretty economically at € 365 with the washing machine in the cellar and a beer garden just outside the building...no I havent started yet! :D
After the trip to Schelling Straße (well, actually Blütenstraße to be precise) Gabriel and me went for dinner and we were quite hungryyyy...looking for a pizza place we ended up at a typical Bavarian Restaurant. We ordered what looked nice on the menu card and when we got it...well...
They had baked huge portions of the pig and somehow even the skin was roasted...and the pig part gabriel had , had the number on it! so we somehow ate whatever we cud..

then Gabriel took me to a pub for the first pub experience in Münich...it was nice..but too damn smoky and hot..
we ultimately came back arnd 11.30 pm after walking from Garching Höchbrück..

well going fast and steady..
more laters

Will and Gayzzzz

2005-02-23T21:39:00.000+05:30

When you know for certain that you are leaving in a week or two to start your Doctoral research which would take its toll on you, you try and optimize the time you spend before that. I don’t think watching “Will and Grace” qualifies as quality time but what the heck, that’s the best I can manage right now, what with all my friends out of town - the one’s in town busy with their to-be’s, and the ones I am trying to be busy with…well that’s another blog right!?
The day starts with breakfast and my most awaited time of the day is …guess what…1800 hrs to 1930 hrs and then again from 2200 hrs to 2300 hrs…the schedule, oh need u ask –
‘Logan family’ followed by ‘Full House’ and then ‘Friends’ and in the night at 2200 hrs, there is ‘Friends’ again and then ‘Will and Grace’!
Yesterday, watching W & G was an experience..the episode was the one where all four main characters decide to do stuff they never could do in their normal course of action. Will asks Grace to have his child, and Grace says that’s not fair as he just wants a baby because he is not into a serious relationship and not even trying to get into a serious relationship as he is scared of the commitment. That is the reason for him wanting a baby so that he can shower his pent up love on the child. Great stuff…to have your mind spinach chewing!
I started wondering is this a good enough reason to bring a newborn into the world. More importantly, since Will is gay, it was completely a new dimension on the Gay family progression…but somewhere in my heart, I felt nice. They have a life, and kudos to the producers for bringing up a hot potato of a topic and handling it wonderfully. Will , the guy – Eric McCormack – is really a wonderful actor…and a gay you can actually take upto your parents unlike Sean Hayes who only at times evokes some laughter. The favorite character though is Megan Mullally….. Karen is delectable!

Munich - 30th Jan 2005

2005-02-15T20:29:00.000+05:30

Built by monks, and hence thy name Munchen..that’s Munich. At the heart of Europe, the city is all what an oriental would like when entering the western world. It’s a cosmopolitan city with amazingly sincere people and it looks like a dream. This short trip was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had in my life - right from the time I started on my journey to the center of Europe till the time I reached the center of my universe, my home.
The route I took was via Paris, Charles De Gaulle. Air France gave a scare of a food on the flight – there was a “curry” of cauliflower, cottage cheese and peas cooked in milk and cream…should I actually go on? But thankfully it was a late nite flight and so I was sleeping all through it with a newly wed couple next to me on their way to Atlanta ‘almost’ singing “koochiee koochiee hota hai”!! We landed in Paris at 6 am and then waded through to another terminal to catch the next flight to Munich. Although it was early morning the airport appeared geared up to face any number of people. It’s a whopper of an airport and the walk from one terminal to the next one was a straight 15 minutes even at that early hour.
Even on the flight to Munich from Paris, I realized that this was going to be an interesting trip and the people are really hospitable. The couple next to me this time round was on its way back to Germany after a trip of Atlanta – and the lady was really sweet. Friendly and talkative, she talked me through the entire city.
Its an amazing feeling when you go from 20 C to –5 C and step directly into the snow and that too for the first time in your life that you see the snow…:D
After reaching Garching, a small village near Munich, where I was supposed to go, I got ready quickly followed by my friend who stays there and then we went out in search of food. I reached on a Sunday and Germany being highly religious, everything and I mean everything remains closed on the day of the Mass. As always US comes to your rescue when you least expect it to, and we got a sumptuous lunch at McDonalds’. My only grief was to part with close to 10 Euros for a meal for which in India I pay about 2 Euros! On the way to the city, I got a brief glimpse of the outskirts and there a re some very interesting things to be seen there - the upcoming Soccer World Cup stadium for one. The U-Bahns are a commuters delight and they do not let you down on the punctuality front as well.
Since we didn’t have any place to go to because everything was closed, I decided to venture into the churches and it proved to be quite a trip to move in and out of these divine places. The architecture is amazing and the interiors are beautifully done. There is so much history in each of the churches and each of the buildings, like the one under which a shopping arcade has been built near the Karlsplatz. It was built in 1544 and then bombed during the World War II on the 24 April 1944 and then rebuilt in 1953. The entire walk through the City center, from Rathausplatz through Frauenkirche to Odeonplatz gives you a feeling of…well, I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like Renaissance happened yesterday and then the market liberalization happened but everything remained untouched.
A vibrant ‘Gothic’ city resplendent with all the colors of modernity having kept the “McDonaldization” at bay!

India Giving

2005-01-10T23:28:00.000+05:30

The Indian Government recently refused any foreign aid for Tsunami relief but later clarified that it would consider taking help on a case-to-case basis. The self-respecting nation that we are (?), we quickly took this as an opportunity to flaunt our National Pride. Do we realize how many foreign NGOs are actually working on the ground and how much dependant we are on their help? Our NGOs are not equipped to handle any disaster on this scale and we should not feel any kind of shame in accepting any kind of help that is coming in. But I feel the whole government point was twisted way too much, the refusal was for the foreign aid and not foreign help. The difference would be that while the former is the monetary donation of the ‘developed world’ the latter would be assistance in managing the aftermath of this tragedy.
Today, as a country, we are quite sufficient to support the grief stricken families with monetary and material assistance. This is evident from the 50 million Rupees given by the government and the other 30 million Rupees contributed by the commoner. Need of the hour though is the disbursal of this amount and this being put to use correctly. In terms of the management of the fallout of this massive mishap, there is no denying the help of the foreign aid workers from International Red Cross and other organizations. It would be easy to judge that monetary help was not required from the aid donors and hence, it was a wise decision to let the money go to the more urgent needs in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the likes.
What this entire donation campaign has turned into, in India, is a story in itself. Need we see Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukerji with Manmohan Singh, mobile throughout the day and static the next day morning? Well, I guess we do; for once, to look at our screen gods and goddesses do something that we need to emulate! But others try to cash in on this in another light - great photo-op and a likely boost to impending releases. The amounts can be kept under wraps otherwise this starts looking like an auction market where the highest donor takes all.
Another thing, which the celebrities could do, is to avoid distracting the focus from the tragedy onto themselves. By making trips to the villages and camping there, the administration could be hard pressed for resources to cover them rather than the families.
Indian companies are not really well known for their philanthropy. But among the generous companies, the Tatas have always gone ahead and made a contribution very quietly to help build cities after Latur, Uttarkashi and Bhuj. Maybe its time to have more donors from the industrial sectors.
India is currently reveling in the stories of the ordinary man turning into a hero and the heroes turning into super heroes by their contributions! What is today’s sorrow is a forgotten tale tomorrow. This has always been the case. They always evoke a painful memory but the contributors never really followed up the causes. But what happens to those tragedies that plague our everyday society? Is an all-overpowering Tsunami needed to awaken our social consciousness? There caste based, gender based and even other natural atrocities being handed out to the downtrodden every single day. What are our stars and the commoners doing for that?
The time may not still be ripe enough for calling out aloud - ‘India Giving’!

Hare Krishna Movement

2005-01-08T23:39:00.000+05:30

How is it that in a few short years “Hare Krishna” has become a housefold name around the world?
The movement that started in late 1960’s by Srila Prabhupada has now taken in so many devotees and has grown to be one of the largest philosophical movements across the globe that it seems to have existed for years. It is difficult to imagine a septuagenarian, who traveled from India to the US by a Ship on which he suffered two heart attacks just to spread the holy maha-mantra in the Materially opulent West. He not only succeeded but also made this an entire movement that inspired many great personalities like Pandit Ravi Shankar, ex-Beatles members George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In recent times millions have learned how to chant the Hare Krishna mantra and experienced true, spiritual happiness. The movement now popularly known as “Hare Krishna” movement was started as the The International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON and presently has temples and ashrams is almost all the major destinations in the world such as New York, Barcelona, London, Sao Paulo, Manila, Durban and Canberra. Most of the temples and centers all around the world have the “Hare Krishna Sunday Feast” which includes pure vegetarian banquets, talks from Bhagvad Gita and Shrimad Bhagvatam, plays, films and music every Sunday.
In Prabhupada’s words, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare is the transcendental process for reviving the original, pure consciousness, which gets tampered by the illusory material nature in which we become more and more entangled. Although we are engaged in a hard struggle to conquer nature, we are ever more dependent on her. The word Hara is the form of addressing the energy of the Lord and the words Krishna and Rama are the forms of addressing the Lord Himself.
George Harrison says that everyone is looking for Krishna, some realize and some do not. He says by chanting the maha-matra one inevitably arrives at Krishna Consciousness and sums it all up by saying that the proof of the pudding lies in the eating! The Bhaktivedanta Manor, a seventeen-acre estate outside London, purchased by George in 1973 was donated to ISKCON for use as a temple and yoga-ashram.

“By chanting the names of the Lord and you’ll be free
The Lord is awaiting on you all to awaken and see”
- “ Awaiting On You All”
from the album All things Must Pass

Great Cities never Sleep!

2005-01-04T20:22:00.000+05:30

Wondering where to travel for the next holiday? Well, worry not…here comes the list of the best tourist cities compiled by the Travel and Lifestyle Channel of Discovery Network. These are based on a host of factors such as the cleanliness, people friendliness and nightlife.
The 10th tourism friendly city happens to be Stockholm. The capital of Sweden, sure knows how to maintain a strict discipline along with the tourist friendly nightlife. Then on 9th is the Irish capital Dublin famous for its coffee shops and the book reading clubs.
The 6th spot goes to the Olympic city of Sydney. Neat and clean, it’s a great cultural melting pot.
The top 5 are not unexpected but surely surprises are packed here and there. Bringing up the rear is the romantic Roman holiday. The Amphitheaters and the fountains sure do beckon any and every body in the world. The 4th spot goes to Brazilian Rio-de-Janeiro. The Jesus atop a hill is among the most seen sculptures in the world.
The top three stock the biggest surprise element. The gay Paris comes tottering into the top 3. The lavish gardens and the beautiful buildings are charms the tourist cannot do without. The 2nd most favorable city for the tourists is the cultural capital of the world and arguably the most traveled city on Earth – the Big Apple – New York City. Many people felt that this city had to be right at the top. The Green lung Central Park adds to the aura of the most recognizable buildings in the world.
But the best is yet another Olympic city of Barcelona, Spain. The sea and the beautiful architecture make this city a heavenly abode for the tourists and dwellers alike. The weather plays its part in winning the hearts.The no-show of the Asian cities is mainly due to the lack of sanitation and also the no-show of the nightlife in most of the cities. In most South Asian countries, nightlife gets equated to “Girlie-action”, according to most tourists. The facilities available for the visitors are not adequate. Also to certain extent many great places are not even publicized.

EMERGING INDIA

2005-01-03T21:35:00.000+05:30

May be this would have been a better campaign caption for the erstwhile government than India Shining. But looking at the lifestyle profile of Indians in India in the past year or maybe two, it doesn’t seem the media managers committed a huge mistake other the odd grammatical one!
True there are still miles to go before we take our names in the same breath as Germany and Japan as far as the development quotient is concerned but we sure have come a long way from the early 1990's. When you see the odd three-wheeler driver carrying the latest model of Mobile, there is something that needs merit. Skeptics call it a city centric phenomenon; maybe it started out as such. But it won’t remain that way forever. We need to see the development as a ripple effect, which needs to originate somewhere. I wouldn't be wrong if I said India's got its second Independence in 1992, after the Economic Liberalization policies were implemented. It took about 5 years for the entire process to reach the common man in the cities. It will be another couple of years for the market to encompass the Rural India.
The present government with its Left-centered formation should be better equipped at handling the progression of this progress into the suburbs and the rural areas, but only time would tell how they do it. While removing the economic disparity between urbani-zens and rural folks-wagon, efforts should be made to bring up the latter and not deprive the former. Indian consumers are known to be one of the most intelligent of the lot. “Cup-o’Noodles” was bought by a handful and then the cups refused to fill up. The shoe market is another case in point; although initially the foreign sneakers’ market did not take off, but now that people realized the pay-but-use longer advantage, there are innumerable brands and yes, not all of them are doing well.