new age education

somewhere in the rough terrains of some god-forsaken place in this earth, in the name of some poor "GOD" who must be still recuperating from his mistake of letting adam and eve eat the delightfully sinful apple - 

the new-age teacher is teaching his students the english alphabets,

a for "ammunition", b for "bomb blast", c for "cyanide", d for "destruction", e for "enemy", f for "fundamentalism", g for "grenades", h for "hijack /hostage", i for "intelligent warfare", k for "kill", l for "landmines", m for "mass destruction", n for "nuclear weapons", o for "operation codenames", p for "panic", q for"Quarrel"  r for "revolvers", s for "shooting", t for "terror", u for "underworld", v for "violence", x for "xenophobe",  y for "yell", z for "zeroed in"..

{somewhere in the celestial abode, GOD is reading a blog which talks about how "frankenstein" might have been inspired by GOD's creation of human beings }

the students are all engrossed with the hypnotic teaching methods..the teacher finishes his class thanking his students in the class and those who have joined through video conference..and yes of-course, the course will be published in the net, sold on dvds etc..

the teacher appreciates all the students who have taken their baby steps to destruction..the students are so proud..

welcome to the world of terror..

moneyball - time to question?

mr.k happened to come across michael lewis's "moneyball" - a book on a small payroll baseball team - oakland athletics, who consistently surprised everyone with their performance often overcoming higher payroll teams..much like say our rajasthan royals in ipl..how did they do it was a question everybody wanted to understand..the answer - "Billy Beane", a failed baseball player and posibily, the edward de-bono of sports, who challenged the conventions, wrote his own theory and ultimately exploited "market deficieny" and kept winning..it is quite interesting to read..the fascinating part of the whole part was how beane went about questioning the accepted wisdom endlessly, obsessively and exploited the loop-holes to such a way that every other team started following it..
check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball for more.
after reading the book, mr.k started pondering if moneyball is something that could work in software services?...the premise being "are we measuring the right things"..and more importantly "are we asking the right questions?..
starting with the chronic irritation of attrition and retention and the almost paranoia filled reaction..the general thought is a higher attrition percentage impacts business, but does it stand true all times?...should we move from measuring the impact of attrition on case by case basis rather than a mere number?..should we not start asking the question "does it really matter if this person leaves"? and "how do i replace the end-result this person brings to the table, that i need to replace" ..will our approach to solving the problem change if we ask this question?..
thinking loud on the problem above, if we need to find a solution with least error, then the next question is "are we measuring the correct performance parameters of a person"..for instance, in today's world - most problems we encounter in software services are often repetitions and ideally needs "improvisation to existing solutions" rather than coming up with a brand-new one..and if we do see this statement as a valid happening x% of times, then 'paying premium money to the most tech savvy/intelligent/innovative guy' might not be needed..rather "finding a person who has the traits to trust available information store and ability to understand situations" would be beneficial..now the next question is "how do we find out traits of an individual"..and if we have to do this during hiring, then "is it more important to check the analytical skills/social skills and behavioral traits than his expertise"?..and if a company has to successfully do that, would it make sense then for companies to start tying up with academic institutions and finding potential candidates even during their education than just interviews?..sort of scouting ?..
and if we do establish a system which can consistently tell value of a person and the value should be judged solely by what he/she bring to the business, then are we in a stage to alter their pay structure to pay/value than by designation/experience etc..would it make sense for instance to pay a person who would bring value now and for the next 2-3 years than to pay highly to a person who is bringing equal value now but will not in the coming years?..would it then be a possible strategy to do a forced attrition?..creating situations of discomfort to highly paid people whose individual ROI is decreasing?...
the other area in software services that possibly is not adapted to changing times in using the right statistics is the so called product quality measures?..for instance a lot of productivity measures are still looking at lines of code, defect rate etc,..but in a global model "what ensures good productivity?".. - Constant communication? and are companies measuring it?...increasingly car manufacturers are building different models using the same base targeting different clientele, and software services still hasn't learnt the "art of re usability". would it have been different if firms put emphasis on synergy/communication rather than conventional measures linked to workunits..

is it time to re-look at some of these and quite possibily a possible market deficiency can be exploited to gain advantage. a simple market deficiency one can observe is "people talking too much / too early in meetings"..the chances of looking like an idiot is high..would it not be an advantage to listen to multiple perspectives and use that as a cake over which your perspective can be added as cream.."where is effective listening gone"

Disclaimer: the author does not use any moneyball techniques, but the approach to moneyball is an interesting one.

Epilogue:
Moneyball gave Billy Beane a lot of limelight, but the book's success killed the market efficiency. Beane built his teams by hiring a lot of younger players with low cost and kept winning. Once moneyball became a conventional theory by itself, the richer teams were paying more to these younger guys than Oakland could. So now Billy Beane is tweak moneyball to identify other market deficiencies..he has been quoted as saying "even if something gives a 5% improvement to existing structure, it needs to be seriously looked at".

at the end of it, adaptability is the name of the game..

blogging again..

yes! 10 months since the last post, mr.k has ended his hibernation..it was tough to end it, as it was extremely difficult to find a topic to blog about..so the attempt here is to give a reader a bit of everything thats caught mr.k's eye since the last post..

1. hard not to start with the absolutely ridiculous statements by mr.bush and ms.rice..both of them have been recently quoted saying the global food crunch is due to better diet patterns in india and china..mercifully usa is electing a new president end of the year..and yes its quite ironic to see that "the most stupid quote on Rice" has been made someone whose name has "rice" on it
2. since we talked about the upcoming presidency stakes in usa earlier - it would also be important to point out how ugly the fight has been between the democrat candidates. its no holds barred - punch and counter punch..don't know who would be the last man(woman) standing, but it sure makes for interesting "race"
3. and obviously this year - different kind of races are going to be held in beijing - talking about olympic games coming up in the next few months. its already attracted enough publicity with the tibetan protesters disrupting the torch relay to catch the attention of many
4. among the attention of many, no one more significant than the chinese authorities. for first time in sometime, china is holding talks with the Dalai Lama to discuss "autonomy for tibet"..it does look like china is facing the heat.
5. hot, hot, hotter - we aren't talking about any woman here. we are talking about the increasing temperatures and the global warming thats happening around us. for everyone, when you get time - do grab a dvd of oscar winning "an inconvenient truth" by nobel winner al.gore. quite insightful
6. from insightful to "In-Sight-Full". none other than the king-khan. from chak-de to paanchi pass to endorsements every 1 hour to item numbers to the big-daddy of all - IPL. He sure is keeping his fans - santoosht and connecting people.
7. ipl - what is it?. simple - indian Provocation league. in here, its all too simple. a billionaire actress hires a millionaire cricketer who provokes another millionaire cricketer who in-turn slaps him and the guy who provoked starts crying provoking million people to call for action ...and the story goes on..and its quite interesting to note that sreesanth vs bhajji was also wadia vs ambani :)..whats with people named modi..they always seem to be associated with some provocation or other..
8. ipl - indian premier league. they do play cricket to earn their millions and to an extent some of the cricket played has been exciting and yielded surprising results. the finals could very well be "rajasthan vs mohali"..would that not be a huge contest. the surprising royals with "hollywood" warne against the punjab da puttar - yuvraj..it would be a huge match - a royal match..
9. the other yuvraj is also setting himself up for leading the nation..he has been everywhere and quietly stepping up to the throne, and his sister who has an aura about her thats just so intriguing isn't far behind..she visits her father's killer to make peace with violence. interesting/very interesting..no wonder the kids mother was in the time influential people list
10. one list leads to another..mr.k's list of interesting movies..first - jodhaa akbar - a decent movie that one can watch purely for Hrithik Roshan. he is just a "class act". another movie that is "not to be missed" is "the prestige" - absolutely gripping movie about two magicians obsessed with their obsessions..totally compulsive watching the ultra-suave and ultra-talented Hugh Jackman..but the movie of the year was the absolutely simple yet brilliant "jab we met"..little did shahid know that kareena was talking about her meeting saif.."the here becoming zero"
11. and the heroine becoming size zero, well yes ms.kapoor's ultra stylish new power yoga driven look that has become the talk of the entertainment industry..alas her "tashan" hasn't got everyone on her side..
12. and how many zeroes is worth the mansion mr.mukesh ambani is building in mumbai..plenty since its gonna cost him 2 billion..quite interestingly, our PM mr.singh made a remark about how the rich indians are living a lifestyle that is not reflecting the state of india..seems to me that he doesn't have too many listeners..probably talking in italian would have helped.

13. got married, changed jobs, living happy..and tomorrow its "thank god its monday" , so lets stop blogging and get to work before a pink-slip stares down on us..

eight and counting

be warned - this post for a change will not be from Mr.K. It will be from me. Its about me, so to make it simpler, this post will be in the first person.

this july 19th, i completed 8 years as a software professional. thought will steal a moment to pause to look back on how it has been so far and see whats ahead. there have been plenty of things i have learnt over these 8 years. here are some of them.

1. there is always someone better than you and earning more than you..so its no good comparing against others. it is more important to understand where you are with respect to what you were yesterday and to what you want to be tomorrow.
2.it matters a lot that you do the right thing always. it matters a hell lot more that you understand that only thing that is right is the thing suggested by the "powers to be". but what matters the most is you have the "right contacts"
3.the system is what it is. don't fight it. learn to flow with it and live with it and make it work for you.
4.remember, you are never as good as what they say you are. you are never as bad what they say you are. just hold your ground.
5.there is no room for friends,mates,trust and all that. most of them are pretenders. you become one too and don't feel guilty about it.
6.there could be a hundred things going wrong, a hundred people who feel hard done. listen to their woes and say "tough luck". fight only your battles.
7.life doesn't give second chances. seize the opportunities. else you will be left wondering if you get a chance when you reach heaven. it is always tough living with a feeling that "i didn't give it my all". trying and failing is always better than not trying at all.

just to sum up how these 8 years has been to me, i split them in to three parts - 3-2-3. the first 3 was all about learning, energy, results and being happy with an uncluttered mind. the middle two was tough, depressing and reached the lowest point reassembling a "dark night with no MOON around". then the GODS took pity on me and i woke up to the song "Here comes the SUN". it just made me connect to myself and feel the warmth inside. the last 3 years have definitely been on the "more better than bad" side.

whats on the anvil when the 8Th year ends?. - well, i am just going back Home..to the place where it all started.

strawberries, cream, grass and..

let the games begin. yes, ladies and gentleman its that time of the year. July is fast approaching and that can mean amongst many other significant happenings that we would be seeing the worlds top tennis players in their sparkling whites display their talents in the green grass of wimbledon.

wimbledon has always been more equal than the other slams. because of its history, because of its tradition, because it is british..NO, to mr.K, it is matter of simple fact - the lawns at SW19, London have always made the best players become greatest. these are the moments that stand out for mr.k

1985 - "all rise for the king, long live the king". Mr.K's first wimbledon. unforgettable and stands out in the memory till now and will always stand, a blue eyed blond german set foot in the hallowed courts of aeltc..the sparkle in his eyes, the athleticism in his legs, the deftness in his volleys and the start of "boom boom" tennis. yes ladies and gentleman - "King Boris Becker" had arrived

1990 - "all good things come in threes" and so it was the case for wimbledon finals. stefan edberg and King Boris played their last of 3 consecutive finals and what a finale it was. the genial swede played the best tennis one could ever see for first two sets. the King looked listless and helpless. sadness engulfed. then something happened. Boris during the changeover cut his hair, trimmed his stubble in the center court of all places and went on to play the tennis he only can. winners all around. un returnable serve and in no time we were at 4-4 in the final set. what a nailbiter. what a script that these guys wrote. exhilarating quality. in the end the swede walked away with the trophy deservedly. no one lost that day. tennis won

1991 - "oh baby,poor gaby". if ever there was a chance for gabriella sabatini to get one over her former doubles partner in a slam, this was the match. she had beaten her 5 successive times before this match and it looked like lucky 6 was on the cards on july 6. it turned out to be one of the best finals. drama at its best. both women had one set each. it was the final set. gaby had chance to close out at 5-4 with match points, then again 6-5. she did not. she blew it away. she lost 8-6. oh yes, her former doubles partner ended up being mrs.andre agassi, who is the subject of the next highlight

1992 - "punk meets royalty". at the start of the tournament the talk was about this young american. he had been picked by many to become one of the greatest. and yes we did have a young american against a talented croatian in the finals. the only problem was that it wasn't the american everyone predicted - Pete Sampras but rather the young punk from vegas with the game's best return of serve and a stated aversion of grass court tennis. what an incredible talent. wimbledon was one tournament everyone said that he wouldn't win. ironically it was the first that he did and he remains the only player to have all the four in open era. the showman from nevada was the last man standing. what an incredible moment, when he finally fell down on the grass to kiss it and cry. the tennis buddha was born. awesome andre.

1997 - "rivalry, what rivalry". the 97 finals was billed as the one for ages. it was the best serve vs best return of serve. discipline vs genius, serve and volley vs baseline and pass. as far as Mr.K can remember, there was only one man playing tennis that day. the other was just to fill the role of losing finalist. the tennis of the winner was as close to perfection as one could get. he was in a zone that he only could reach. what a champion - Pete Sampras

2001 - "thank you emperor, welcome the new emperor". It was the passing of key ceremony. it had to happen. it always happens in wimbledon. Borg to mcenroe, Boris to Pete and this one. it wasn't the finals. it was a quater final match up. the key to the center court was handed over. the young pretender cried at the end of the match after dethroning the emperor. it was a kodak moment. the fans applauded. pete to roger.

2001 - "good goran final arrives". the amiable croat once said "there are 3 gorans ( 3 ;)) - bad, crazy and good inside me". we saw the crazy edition in 92 and 98. the bad one at 92. in 2001, considered as the best finals ever, the good goran finally arrived in the center court. as a wildcard, he conquered many opponents but most importantly he conquered the crazy goran inside him. he finally did what he was expected to do many times and he did it when he was almost forgotten. maybe the good goran shows up only on mondays. yes the final was played on monday. for the record, it was the amiable aussie patrick rafter who endured the pain of losing a wimbledon final for second time in a row. this time in 5 sets.

The King
seven matches mr.k has listed down. but one player stands out the most. pete might be the greatest ever, roger might be the most graceful ever but no one held audience in the center court like boris. from the innocent 17 yr old to the tired old stubbled gent - he grew up in these courts. for him it was his home. it always seemed like it was the place where he left all his demons elsewhere and expressed himself. it was as if it was the only place he felt freedom. it was sheer joy and for people like mr.k it was sheer joy to see the King. it was not about his forehand, his serve, his volley. it was all about his "mystique", his "aura" and his "persona". it must have really been the only place he felt connected to himself. after his last match he went and experienced what he would later quote as "the most expensive five seconds of my life" :)

The Script that wasn't
and about the greatest of all - 7 time champion Pete. he ended his wimbledon in the court they call "graveyard of seeds" and never looked like a champion. it was the perfect script. he made it imperfect by winning the usopen that year. did he have to win the 14th grandslam. he shouldnt have. he should have stuck at 13.

apocalypse today..a new dawn tomorrow

many of you must have heard of the new movie "apocalypto" from the highly controversial mel gibson. happened to read reviews of the movie, which in turn got me thinking about the original apocalypse movie - "apocalypse now" - a movie that is so intensely insightful about " human mind in love with hatred" that it disturbs you. if you have time to rent a good dvd, then don't miss this movie. what got mr,k interested was some of the things the characters in the movie say. reading it and re-reading it, it struck me that quite a few things hold good even for our lives. so here you go - with an absurdly cynical take on some quotes from the movie.

a) on moral ethics - on the ethics that we are taught at our schools, colleges, corporate world and how we figure out that ethics are only for good for boardroom talk - nothing more than that.

"We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "f***" on their airplanes because it's obscene!" - Col Kurtz

b) on the politikos of the world - well, nothing much left to say

"What do you call assassins who accuse assassins?" - Col Kurtz

c) on mavericks - well, for all those people who want to improve the system - don't bother improving it unless you have it in you to go the full circle.

"Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were goin' all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole freakin' program." - Capt Willard ( On Col.Kurtz, who finally gets his reward - death)

d) on those highly committed,successful and lowly paid people - some point of time, all of us can relate to this

"You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill." - Col, Kurtz

e) on most of the leaders of today - ( with due apologies to women )

"who is in charge", "In charge? I don't know, man. I'm just doing what I'm told - I'm just a working girl." - Willard

f) on mission, vision and purpose

"You are fighting for the biggest nothing in history." - Hubert

g) on endings - we humans, everyone of us loves a good ending. we pray, we yearn, we dream, we imagine, we so want to make it a happy ending only to realize that we even don't have the power to write the endings the way we wanted to.

"this is the way the world ends, this is the way sun sets, this is the way brightness dims, not with a bang but with a whimper" - T.S Elliott re-edited by Col.Kurtz further re-edited by Mr.K

but cynicism and darkness also ends only for the sun to shine again and one wakes up to a new tomorrow If.

"do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, if you are losing everything and you never breath a world about loss, if you can fill the unforgiving minute of self doubts with sixty seconds of "hold on", yours is the sun,the stars, the earth, the moon, the universe and everything in it and which will be more - you will be a man,my son" - Rudyard Kipling re-hashed by Col.Kurtz and re-framed by Mr.K

cricket india inc

since our multi millionaire cricketers came back from their Caribbean sojourn with more sun burn than they would have bargained for, there has been nothing left unsaid about the state of indian cricket. even our fellow blogger INF has written a post on his quit watching cricket plans. mr.k couldn't resist the urge to put his thoughts down. staying away from the usual "dissecting what went wrong at world cup" and "who is to blame", this post directs at a 10 point solution to eradicate the woes of cricket in our nation.

1. make the BCCI a corporate body much like american/european sports clubs and appoint a professionally paid CEO/General Manager who is accountable for the indian team's performance
2. have full time contracted selectors / scouts who have the job to select the best team possible all times barring injury
3. have a pool of 30 centrally contracted players - the contracts should be a) a flat amount plus incentive based bonuses based on performance b) provide all professional expenses for players for the contracted time including medical care c) provide clause for re-negotiation of the parameters during anytime of the contract d) retain partial image and branding rights of players
4. hire a "director of player development" whose responsibility is to run developmental teams and make players ready for the bigger stage
5. change the domestic cricket format to have not more than 10 teams at the highest level.
6. improve the facilities and pitches to international standards while retaining the indian feel. have developmental teams visit abroad to help them acclimatise with various conditions.
7. for the indian team, hire a head coach, specialist assistant coaches - fielding, batting, bowling, wicket keeping, a media manager and team manager
8. keep the fan happy - provide for the best stadium experience possible. for heavens sake get rid of no water, no rest rooms, no food, hot sun stadiums
9. get rid of the star system - probably the toughest thing to do in india as it exists everywhere
10. finally, the fans should learn to accept failure as part and parcel of the game and continue to support their team. indian cricket fans, learn from red sox nation.

talking of redsox, their end to years of misery and drought was engineered by a yale educated, young professional GM, who had the strength to do what it takes to "win at all costs".

ps: learn more about theo epstein at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Epstein

i said it, but ofcourse

.. I din't mean it..

why is it that some people have the gift of saying things that they never intended to mean it, how is it that this gift continues to exist with them often?. do they not realize that by being so consistent with it, they are asking their credibility to walk out of the door..and if credibility is not around, how soon before its partner respect is asked to leave..

the following text is excerpted from "The Kite Runner"

"would i ever lie to you, amir agha" . Suddenly i decided to toy with him a little. "i dont know, would you". "I'd sooner eat dirt " he said with a look of indignation.

"Really? You'd do that? "

He threw me a puzzled look. "Do What"?

"Eat Dirt if i asked you to". I said. Hassan's face changed..........

"But I wonder, if you would ever ask me to do such a thing, Amir Agha", and just like that he has thrown his loyalty test.he'd toy with me, he was testing my integrity.

I forced a smile, "don't be stupid, Hassan, you know i wouldn't". Hassan returned the smile and his was not forced.

And thats the thing about the people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.

--- Khaled Hosseini

and for people who don't have this gift, praise the lord - it's a blessing in disguise

View(Point)s

mr.k loves the english alphabets..the good old "a" to "zee", it is after all the fundamental building block of communication (discounting text messaging or what is widely known as sms )..so i decided to bring about some viewpoints and thoughts (of mr.k ) on some english words..words, which missed the list - well they were simply not thought about. so here you go.

on (A)pple - that which attracted Eve, then fell on newton, keeps the doc(i know someone is blushing ;-)) away, now makes i-pod and more recently i-phone
on (B)irth - the eternal welcome ceremony that is common to all living elements
on (C)hildhood - the phase of life when you looked forward to every new day ;)
on (D)eath - oops, so soon ? :).. the day when you stop judging and you are judged ( if you go to a paradise ( not the hyd restaraunt) or to doomsbury ( smile on my face cause i came up with a word, which sounds like a english village and we all know england is as close to doom we can get in our world)
on (E)nlightenment - that which made siddhartha in to buddha
on (F)ood - that which gets reviewed by everyone and that which everyone can't live without ( could have written about family and friends, but decided not to as it doesnt have a clear definition )
on (G)OD - HE who makes the statement "dont believe in what you hear unless you see" as downright stupid. [ have a confession to make, was so tempted to write about GODDESS instead of GOD, but then i might have had to let a CCD confession out ]
on (H)ealth - the biggest wealth, which everybody ignores till they meet death :D
on (I)ndia - Krazee Kiya re, Krazeee kiya re - that which stands for "chaos is craze"
on (J)ewellery - that which fools think can make women love you more, get a life losers, if your women loves you more for the jewels you buy, then she is "no women" :D
on (K)iss - [ don't go in to dreams now ], the only thing that french are considered to be the best
on (L)ove - something that would befuddle einsteins of this world but would be so beautifully explained by the buddhas,krishnas and us :D [ okay karan johar too ;)]. Since we talked about love, we should also talk about its evil twin
on (L)ust - that everybody has it ( well not necessarily for opposite sex) but loathes to admit it
on (M)arriage - that which is made in heaven, but if you don't respect it could take you to Hell
one more M - on (M)oney - the greatest ever seductress known in the "universe book"
on (N)irvana - seattle rock band ;-) [caught you, you thought i would act philosophical again, didnt you ;-)]
on (O)ffice - where you understand that life is a two faced coin [ up/down]
on (P)rayer - so powerful, that it is more powerful than "power" itself
on (Q)ueen - someone who even the best of Kings are attracted to
on (R)aise - that which you hope for every year during appraisal and that which keeps proving "hope is the most mysterious weakness of mankind(okay woman kind for fairer sex readers)"
on (S)mile - cure for many illness, not patented too, but becoming quite corrupted and adulterated these days
on (T)ax - till this world ends, even if oxygen supply ends, this will continue to exist. it is quite possibily the best vacuum cleaner ever made with the highest suction capacity
on (U)niverse - read Douglas Adams 'hitchhikers guide to galaxy'. he sums it up beautifully that iam not even attempting to disgrace the master
on (V)egetables - when you buy it, you spend energy. when you eat it, you gain energy. didn't you guys read energy is never lost in translation - it is always converted. our good old vegetable proves the theory
on (W)ater - that even the alcoholics cannot ignore. [ thought about writing about wife, but mr.K overruled it as it falls under "to each his own" category]
on (X)erox - company which invented copiers. smart chaps, brilliant invention.
on (Y)ankee - one who thinks he has the GOD given right to Win everything and take everything that is in offer

on (Z)ero - the more you have in your bank account the more happier you are. except that it should not be the first digit.

guess next mr.k would write about 1 to 10..till then take care, make merry and love yourself.

on happenings - normal and normal not..

it has been nearly 2 months ( that is nearly half a quarter ) since mr.k had something to say here, and fortunately or unfortunately for you, ( totally based on your perspective ) some ir-relevant happenings come under scrutiny here.

thought about the happenings of the last two months in, around and everywhere in the world and decided to categorize them in to the normal and the not-so normal. so here we go.

1. the firm has now spun-off and officially it would be two by mid 07.
- it has got most people interested and in-"{some cases" nervous, now that is normal.
- there are people who would have to be part of this new entity, who want to stay back -
now that is not so normal.
- and there are someothers who want to go the other way - normal? not so normal?. or
maybe it is just personal ;P
2. a 3 year old kid of a bigshot in a reputed software firm is kidnapped.
- the parents are distraught and want less media intrusion and media responds in the way
it does "irresponsibly" - normal
- the boy comes back, the parents are happy, the police are thanked and the media doesn't
have a clue as to what transpired ?. not so normal "investigative journalism"
3. britney spears divorces kevin federline (i belive she texted "oops, i did it again" to him to tell that)
- two babies in two years and then irreconcilable differences :)...dare to think of how many
federlines if they were not having any differences :)..really "not so normal" behavior
- hey, the heartbroken kev is now threatening britney that she could have " i had a paris"
moment...now thats so "normal". yes ms.spears you did do it again..and again..and again..:D
4. share music. listen to music. enjoy music
- when you share music with others and they listen and have a good time, its such a beautiful
thing, music does bring a sense of serenity. its a normal thing
- but when it is sharing music that is equivalent to a strange cosmic activity, it is quite 'not so
normal' but this is just 'not so normal' but NICE. very NICE
5. sporting headlines
- the "money grabbing models" who pretend as "cricketers" got thrashed by proteas and
punter pummelled the poms to submission on the first day of the most expected test series
that we have to say "its not just normal, but boring". so much for close contests.
- thorpedo retired at 24. chelsea lose a uefa cup match (barcelona is crying foul) - strange

mostly random

a long weekend almost always leads to randomness of most things, particularly thoughts/views. here is randomness itemized

a.there is so much sameness in all tv channels that it doesn't matter which one you are watching at any moment. "same story, different people"
b.remix of music, remake of movies and now re-birth of gandhian values as "gandhigiri". rehashing is so very "in" our times
c.if there ever was a survey on what urban india lacks most. it would not surprise to see "humility, respect and regard, patience" figure out prominently
d.ash is so made up, her interviews are such a drag.sush is showing her age, don't know if "zindagi rocks" but she does.
e.does it make you a better if you are valued more or does it make you nicer if you value something more.essentials have always been valueless. think water
f.it is good to be a good listener, it is good to be nice and kind to people, it is not good to be a good listener and also nice and kind to people. if you are, you just end up being a 1-800-whatever.worse it is toll-free
g.dipika padukone redefines beauty. all hail the queen
h.another lady chairwoman bites the dust. google about computer make HP's problems.how many times in the history have we seen that women power might not be right power. from cleopatra to carly, many have succumbed to femme fatale.many will. men, oh poor men, when will you learn
i.why do human beings crave for whats others. there is enough in this universe to make everyone happy. malcom nash did not win noble for nothing. "game theory, game on"
j.umrao jaan, jaan-e-mann, dhoom-2-big releases all but none bigger than DON. if promos are anything to go by, as Don himself says "it is impossible to catch Don"


ps: did a spellcheck and totally impressed with the new blogger beta spell check. google rulz

five years on

for this post, mr.K sheds his initials and takes the centerstage. he becomes I.

last week most of us would have read or seen in media or heard that five years have passed since the once tallest building in the world WTC came crashing down and gave a new meaning to 911. for many of the most who saw, read, heard it definitely was nothing much to ponder upon. for me, it was different as it made me have a "i was there" moment. so made me sit and post this account of my 911 story

the night before i had stayed up late at office and hence slept and woke up late. it was an important production release day. i had reached nyc couple of months back and all the work has been done and now it was to be moved live production and then everybody could have their heinekens and buds. the earlier night excursions made me miss the path train that i normally used to take everyday. i had to take the next one and maybe it was all destiny that i had to take that, cause the one that i missed was the last one to reach WTC station for that day and most people out of that train were just coming out of the station when the first plane hit the towers. fortunately, i do think that there was none out of that train who got hurt. so i was there in the next train hoping to reach office as early as possible, when the security announced that the train would stop in newport and would not go to wtc as there has been an accident at the destination site. i thought, hmmm interesting start to the day but i did not have any clue as to what is in store, took the train to the 33rd hoping i would get down at christopher and take a cab to downtown manhattan where work was. so i went on my plan. got out of the station and started walking downtown. walking in manhattan has its charm. it is a beautiful thing to do. the aroma of cofi, the bagels, the women, the empire and the wtc. but coming out of the station, the first thing i noticed as did everybody was that there was fire at the top part of wtc. rumors indicated that it was possibly a coast guard copter which hit the building. so i started walking with all vigor with nothing but production release on mind. no cab, just walked and walked till i reached city hall. and thats where i could see fbi officers along with nypd asking people to move away. thats where i stopped and saw the wtc burning and saw someone fall from the building. it was horrific. thats when it hit me that it was not just an accident but something disastrous. i always had my nikon slr with me and i took a picture immediately - (you could see it at the bottom) but then was asked to move by the officers. i had to reach my work but could not walk down broadway as it was cordoned off, so i took the tributaries and reached water street. water is about 6 blocks away from wtc. for the first time that morning, i forgot about production release, stopped at a corner, looked at wtc and wondered - "the guys who built it must have been really good, the building seems to have withstood the hit" and just about when i was giving the full stop to my thoughts, the first building fell down. i gasped, so did many near me - i couldn't fathom what was happening. it was like in movies, the tower fell down on itself and the boulders flew. i was stuck in awe and then realized that i would rather run now. the smoke covered downtown and rubbles on hand, hair etc..ran for a while and took refuge in the nyu building. thats where i could first time feel tension, real tension in the air. trust me, the eyes of everyone out there were filled with nervous energy. plenty of hot college girls but all everybody could think was "what the hell is happening". there was this bearded guy who came running like he had run from hell and he was the first one who told others that this was not just an accident but an act of "T". the tension in peoples hearts rose 100 notches higher. someone turned on the radio and there was the breaking news - "america attacked". 30 minutes we were holed up. the smokes just about cleared, everyone wanted to get out, i was no different - got out only to find the second tower go down. so back we went again inside the building. no one knew what was happening. everybody were thinking surely about GOD. then someone announced that there is a possibility that the whole lower manhattan could explode due to the poisonous gases from the steel structure and everyone need to evacuate as soon as possible. we walked out of the building, headed down. if anyone has seen the movie "siege" it was exactly what it was. only thing we did not have denzel and bruce along with us. i was thinking to myself, should i go along with all these strangers - there was this serbian guy who was totally new to nyc who was asking me directions. i guided him and then told myself the best way to be safe now was to reach the office. i did that and there was absolutely no telephone connectivity working. very few people were there. a lot of them did not turn up based on excellent advise from a certain mr.I from london :). i got a call from mr.I talking about what he is seeing in CNN. i don't exactly remember what i told him but it was something on the lines of "dude, its much more worse seeing it in person and somehow i have managed to reach office, but have no clue how we are going to get home back cause there is no transportation in nyc and we probably have to walk 100 miles to reach new jersey". the next few hours, i had made sure that i had called my siblings who were in other parts of usa at that time to tell them iam safe and also called up Hyderabad folks to inform that most of our guys are safe and sound.

finally after 4 hours or so, we heard the news that path is arranging ferry back to NJ from south street seaport. we got in to it and i can never forget how quickly the new york folks got the supplies. everyone was given a poland spring bottle and chocolate cookie. on the ferry, all we could see was smoke - there was one guy who was telling i never ever took a pic of wtc, always thought i could do it tomorrow and now there would be no tomorrow. in my case, that was probably the building that i took the most pictures - unfortunately one of them happened to be in it burning. just two weeks back, i was with few other guys at the top of the wtc and on that ferry cruise, it was all different. nyc had lost its charm. people had lost lives.

the next month and half was gloomy and dark. f16 were on nyc skies, men in uniform everywhere and swiss air went bankrupt :). this meant i had to get some weird crazy travel plans made , which made me travel via dubai. it was again another round of tension that BA told me that my luggage would not have a thru transfer to IA in dubai. i had one hour between the flights and i had no clue what to do except pack everything in my cabbin baggage. i still laugh when i see that it was 15 kgs hand luggage i carried that day. so there i was all set to fly out of nyc when cnn reported that afghan war has begun. all bridges in nyc were closed :). and my i-94 expiring that day. somehow BA did not cancel the flight and i reached JFK. they also made me happy by saying that they would do a through check in. i called up my siblings, told them things are just fine, sitting in the lobby sipping coffee and talking to a guy near me about something he wanted. next thing i notice there are 5 people waving their badges and taking the guy i was talking to for detention. it was all too much for me and all i wanted was to get in to the flight. they had sniffer dogs on my flight and finally it started an hour late. and i can't explain how much of a relief i had that day when finally after transiting via london and dubai, i reached hyderabad.

ps: 5 years later, i had again gone this time to usa. happened to work with a guy who used to work with cantor, who fortunately went late to his office that day only to see there was no office anymore and lost lot of his friends. and Ground Zero looks like a automobile junkyard. pity to think that there stood once the world's most inspirational building.

mr.k and his 26 "mortal heroes"

in many ways, this post is a sequel to the previous one, after dishing about superheroes and why we need them, thought process shifted direction towards "mortal heroes". another that was running amok on the brain cells was what if i was forced to name one "mortal hero" for every english habit, would we have that many..so this attempt is to use every english alphabet ( for the fear that i would end up not using 24 )

its easy to find "mortal heroes" everywhere - quite a lot walk this earth, but in the next few blocks of writing, i am going to restrict them to mr.k's sports heroes and list out his 26 headliners.

lets start..
A - the first alphabet is very simple to fill..look no further than the las vegas punk kid who grew up to become sexiest buddha man sports ever knew - Andre Agassi - bandana, broken marriages, bald head, blistering return of service. winning a challenger event one year and the french next year, if thats not heroic, nothing is (anil kumble ran a close second)
B - could have said Boom Boom Boris quite easily but have to give it out to Brett Favre - american football's mean tough quaterback. months after losing his father and brother-in-law and hours after finding out his wife has cancer - leads his team to divisional title - simply stunning
C - chrissie, chrissie, chrissie..has women's tennis ever seen a more demure player, elegance coupled with that single minded determination to be the best. where are players like evert anymore
D - it would have been easy to say the Don, but having never seen him play its got to be Derek Jeter. even the die-hard boston red sox fan would find it difficult to fault the yankee captain for anything, not even his growing celebrity list of ex-girlfriends
E - eeeeeeee ?...eh???..
F - world cup 2006 went to italy and one man made it possible more than anyone - Fabio cannavaro. his initials might be "F" but there was nothing "F" about his performance, it was a straight "A++"
G - the pigeon of ancient delivered mails accurately, the pigeon of australia delivers his overs accurately - glenn mcgrath - stand up and salute this guy
H - easy to choose, Harry Potter :)..he is the star of Quidditch. no seriously for all the bribery allegations, no captain lead his team as respectfully as Hansie Cronje, GOD rest his soul in peace
I - once the playboy pathan now turned the pitiable politician, but in between the two roles, he dorned the role of pride pakistani many times - captain marvel, Imran Khan Niazi
J- Justin Langer, just for the sheer number of times he has got hurt in his helmet and continued to battle - short in stature, tall in grit
K - still the only captain to have won the WC for India - the haryana hurricane - kapil dev nikhanj, if only he could do better commentary
L - livestrong lance
M - martina (both hingis and navratilova), michael(both jordan and schumacher), muthaiah, magic all are heroes, but the best of them is the one who made the horse prancing all over again, schumi made F1 what it is today - all rise for the KING
N - N for nobody :). (though mr.k did think of nadia comenci for the perfect 10 and natasha zverava for the imperfect 6-0,6-0 )
O - obi wan kenobi and his jedi trix with the light sabres :)..or maybe oliver kahn with his goalie tricks
P - sorry patrick, i simply loved the way you played tennis and you looked - but Pistol Pete is the MAN (14 grandslams and that stunning wife to boot) not bad not bad at all
Q - well Q becomes Q? and mr.k does not have any A for that
R - one is a poetry in motion, GOD wielding his tennis racquet to create beauty and the other is a wall that stands tall - Roger and Rahul, thank you for all the beauty
S - so many so many - Steffi, Stefan, Shane, Sachin but for a "waugr", you need a waugh - steve that is and who can forget the Udayan thing he does so well.
T- in wild wild Woods Tiger prowls.in a sport where along with the white balls the players are also predominately white, this man changed it and now owns it. a true hero
U - U, i mean U all, ofcourse all of you out there are heroes in your own right
V - Sir Viv Richards. the nonchalance, the brute, the arrogance, the talent and yes - the Queen bestowed him with knighthood
W - the sultan of swing - dire straits were thinking about wasim akram
X - mr X
Y - Y is not there anYone.?
Z - the one with the enlightened head, paris -19 98 - the head knocks in two goals that knock down brazil, berlin - 2006, the head knocks down not the ball but mad marco, what an end to the most fascinating frenchman of all time, the butt(well headbutt, you perverts) that mortalised the divine Zizou - Zinedine Zidane

and that ladies and gentleman were mr.k's picks and you can observe that we could use more than two letters in our daily lives

why we need superheroes...

in america, there are republicans and then there are democrats. in england, there are conservatives and there are labours.in india there are....hmmm...well forget it - there are just so many divisions and sub-divisions that you need to make your brain a calculator. with so much diversity prevalent in people, mr.k is convinced that if you ask anyone if they like peter parker, clarke kent, bruce wayne or they would prefer their masked versions (spiderman, superman and batman), there would be an unanimous reply.."give me the masked one anyday"

we love heroes - those who protect you by fighting wars, those who stand up for truth, those who are winners in sporting arena..but our love grows super-sized when it comes to super-heroes. why do we adore our super-heroes so much? why do we want them to succeed at all cost? why as kids we wished that we were them?..why as adults we are frustrated that we are not them?

is it our inability to face up to troubled times?. is it our greed to have everything easy in life? are we finding it hard to accept our weaknesses? is it a need for us to be loved by everyone?

probably we are embarassed by our misgivings, probably we are shy of our feelings, probably we are scared of our emotions, probably we need a hideaway...

or it might be just a simple reason - it allows us to dream, to fantasize, to forget all our pains, to fly..to rise..to shine and to win..

it is the reason, why we love when batman when he solves the riddler. it is the reason, why we love superman when he de-flexes the lex luther, it is the reason, why we love spiderman spin many a web on the bad men..

super-heroes give us hope..a hope that will make us commit to ourselves to "float on"..and we don't want them to stop giving us hope..

it is why we all would love to see "apna" sachin score a boundary that will make us india the world champions next year in the carribbean..it is why we are energised by seeing srk say "iam the king" in don and wish for don to be a super-hit..

~ bring on the mask

what were you thinking mr.johar

have an honest confession to make. mr. K was waiting for KANK. was quite intrigued by the publicity and bollywood opening up to extra marital affairs and all that. added to it was the fact that SRK was in the movie and mr.K believed that SRK would finally silence the talk about big B and make the canvas his own. mr.K had read bad reviews of the movie but was still looking forward to seeing the new dharma productions magnum opus

after watching (okay guys, i typed tolerating) the movie through the whole length of it, i have to admit, it is my favorite pick right now - not for the oscars, but for one of the worst horrors in indian cinema history.

1. srk - looked old..was in a spiteful mood throughout the movie..his character Dev (is he worth having such a name after this performance) was soul-less and brain-less.. what was srk thinking, when he signed up for this movie
2. big B - don't think he needs to do such roles to make more money..wasn't funny at all mr.AB
3. preity zinta - is no more pretty and has no more zing..tried too hard to show she is a (pretty) gal..what a waste
4. rani - less said the better..
5. ab baby - extremely matured performance, the only positive in the movie..stands tall and stands out tall for his acting
6. karan johar - with the story he has scripted, it is quite easy to understand why he is a queer..
7. the story - such a flawed concept..no one really understands why srk and rani are not happy with their partners..

after seeing the movie, have to confess that the reviews were rather generous..if you are totally pissed with someone and you want them to have a good evening - gift them tickets to this movie..if you have plenty of time on your hands, stay away from KANK..

~alvida

when more is less

"it all starts with an introduction..it all starts with innocence..it all starts with intrigue
it all grows like garden..it all flows like fantasy..it all makes you wanting more
it all ends like it did in eden..it all ends embarassing you..it all ends with you being eaten..."

ever wondered how HE made us all so different in every conceivable manner and yet gave us all one similar trait, that entertains HIM endlessly...endless evolutions and countless creations and one constant force that binds us all - "We all Want MORE with a M..."..and "We all end making our lives LESS with a L"

how do we humans - born with such absolute innocence - live our lives like lunatics wanting everything more with so much naivety ..how do end up being so ignorant that we complicate all things not realizing its the simplicity that made the ride an happy one..and how do we end up not able to find the innocence lost..

ever thought about it ?...

well you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it's really good
you're gonna want a bigger room
and when you're in the bigger room
you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started in your little room da da da

-- white stripes

after "three" days

its not a movie title - its just the number of days that has passed till the 2006 edition of the soccer world cup was kicked off in Munich. so after 72 hours, these are some of the thoughts that are refusing to die..

1. whats the bigger worry in german camp now.."is it their young defence, who look like who can leak a goal like a new born baby anytime" or "the supposed clash between the inspirational ballack and the once inspirational klinsmann..hopefully for germany's sake, this doesn't turn out to be like chappell-ganguly spat"..
2. germany can score..and bring on ballack and they can score at will..
3. england played like true englishman - dull, dour and dumb..their post match interviews were also in-sync with their english spirit..whine whine and whine more..
4. argentina play football like vienna orchestra...with their genius riquelme conducting the orchestra and the rest playing to his tunes perfectly..imagine what would happen when messi steps in to spotlight..
5. "Go oranje"..thats my "uno" team for the world cup...they dominated their possession but their attack lacked bite and let me down..mr.k is chewing his nails and worried if oranje can beat ivory coast and argentina..
6. portugal played well..score sheet does not justify their talent..they can go deep in to this tournament..but don't expect them to win.
7. good job by the carribbean team..at least they are better than their cricketing brothers..

what to watch out for
azzuris...can they put their match fixing scandal behind them and gel together..mr.k has long been an admirer of the azzuris, ever since the "divine ponytail" dazzled in the 90 and 94 editions..lady luck has not been kind to the boyz from the "shoe shaped land" but this could be the year..after all when they last won the world cup in 1982, some of their key players like rossi were banned for match fixing..if totti can play as well as he does when entertains the crowds of rome, the italians have it in them to win the world cup..

so after three days, i am not complaining, two of the my four favorites - dutch and argentina have won and the two remaining - italy and spain look strong..

forza italia..go oranje..viva argentina..exult espana..

footnote - did roger federer blew his chance to win all four..:(..

jesus, now what did we do..

here we go again..another movie got its boot - not only by critics but also the "so called religious morality groups". we ( mr.k and i ) are talking about ron howards critically panned movie adaptation of dan brown's "the da vinci code". the movie has been banned in quite a few states in india as most people ( read "the guys who are bothered only about votes") claim that the movie distorts biblical history. the movie claims that Jesus married mary magdalene, who gave birth to HIS kins. this truth - the book (and hence the movie) says has been hidden from humans for ages. it goes on to suggest that there is an existence of "templar knights" who guarded JC's descendants and the church went on a violent spree to extinguish these knights and hence the truth.

this controversy (no one knows if there is any truth to it) is an headache for the church to handle, but the truth of the matter is it is far too much of an headache for indian politcal system. wonder why the countries in europe, americas and australasia don't seem to have a problem with the movie, but India does. when the POPE in vatican does not go on any media asking for the ban of the movie, bishops in India do. are these guys talking their mind, or they talking what they have been asked to by the so called "secular" politicos of our country. whatever be the source of this protests, it seems to have achieved its cause and the movie has been banned, depriving of many cine-goers to get a glimpse of the beautiful audrey tautou ;-) {forget the movie, it is not much to talk about }. if JC did bear children and someone like ms.tautou was a descendant, one thing i can say is JC and MM ( Mary Magdalene for clarification) must have been very beautiful people.

as the movie gets banned these are the few things to ponder..

1. the movie was going to be released most likely only in multiplexes - where people of learned origin frequent and must surely possess enough intellect to understand its fiction
2. the movie goers were probably going to be spending more time debating on "book vs movie - which is better" than the "the biggest lie that was told to the world"
3. surprising that women groups did not want to press for the movie to be shown, as the whole idea behind leo da vinci's philosophy was that "feminine divinity" was deprived of its value by "the power hungry men"..
4. our politicians are useless and run our system like mafia
5. its going to be good time for movie piracy :)

my personal take on this thing is that we just don't seem to make crazy decisions based on religion and will continue to do so..ensuring we remain a "intellectually under-developed nation"
after all as tom hanks says to ms.tautou at the end "do you really want to tell the truth, do you really want to throw doubts in to the minds of millions faith, do you want to shake the very foundations of the system"?.. let me answer to that a) in the context of christianity, no - let the doubts not permeate the faith b) in the context of indian political system, what do you guys think?

Jesus, are you having a nice laugh up there with the games people play :)

so which animal are you ?

few days back, Mr.K was treated to a very nice blog "On Humans" by Mr.Monologue (http://mindless-monologue.blogspot.com/).. it was quite an irony, that when Mr.K was reading the blog, he was also listening to Pink Floyd's 1977 - "the forgotten album" - animals.

animals was roger waters' most personal take on "us humans". inspired by Orwell's "Animal Farm", waters came up with a brilliantly written masterpiece. it was darker than the dark side of the moon, lyrically stronger than "the wall". the orchestration in the album was brilliant, the guitars was terrific and yet it failed miserably - the failure that made waters hide behind the wall..

Mr.K has his own views on why it failed but first lets look at what waters was talking about. the album metaphorically looks at humans as three groups of animals..
a) sheeps - the mindless, powerless people who get abused day in and day out and don't even realize that they are abused, they have become slaves to the abuse and quite enjoy it,
b) the dogs - the greedy, ever hungry, ruthless and materialistic ones, who will do anything to get to where they want. these people don't have feelings or emotions. they work only on a materialistic level.
c) the pigs - these are the most interesting breed - the ones who are in abundance in this world, that waters called them "three different ones"
the grade a kind are the supersmart, superevil, sauron/chancellor palpatin kinds - those who prey with others minds, the ones who train dogs and get them to do the things for themselves
the grade b kind are the hypocritic, gutless, integrity and value less, "the ones who will sell themselves for their own benefits"..in short these are the ones who are the most pathetic of all humans..they are in one word "untrustworthy"..remember they are hypocrites, so they give inconsistent opinion on similar happenings in different ways for their own advantage..the ones that you have to fear the most, cause there are so many around you and you get to know that you were around one, only when you get hit by a tornado.
the grade c kind are the "dirty ones". the ones who entertain themselves at others expense..they think dirt, they eat dirt and they live in dirt..and make others lives a misery by constantly throwing dirt..
the one thing that waters says that binds all these three kinds is that "they are all ones who understand only feelings/emotions that matter to them and get overtly sensitive, when things upset them but they are just so blind to what happens to others..they, my friends are the most vile"..and they are constantly evolving to be much better in their job :)". of them the lyrics go..

"Ha ha charade you are.You house proud town mouse,Ha ha charade you are.You’re trying to keep feelings off the street.You’re nearly a real treat,All tight lips and cold feet,And do you feel abused?'

for all its truth, the album did not sell much because it was far too abusive of ourselves and us humans can never take that. we have so much problems/pains in our lived that we need an outlet for our joy..and Mr.K had his thoughts turned to joy by two things..one the way the monologue ended
"some of the more educated-and-the-so-called-well-bred people from all over have left me disappointed and shattered my faith that educations makes people more thoughtful, it is incidents like these that make me happy for mankind"

and the other - jack black on tv..tell you what, while you figure out "what kinda animal you are " {my thinking is most of us are polymorphic - but lets just try not to be pigs }", let me go get myselves some more of mr.black and smaller pleasures of our lives..

Cuban,Precious..

one of the blogs that Mr.K frequents is www.blogmaverick.com. this particular blogger has a curious mix of writings on digital media and nba, an extremely odd mix some would say. at first glance, it would look like some "maverick"s ranting..but keep reading and you get fascinated. more so once you realize that the blogger goes by the name "mark cuban",the billionaire owner of Dallas Mavericks and HDNet - the guy who made so much money during digital boom of the late 90's. his mode of travel - my friends - a cool personal boeing that would give mr.president some food for thought..

an interesting thing that happened last week was a blog post by cuban..cuban has always been someone, who is shamelessly forthright. never one to hide this thoughts and a strong believer of the "land of liberty's first amendment". in the post, cuban let rip his thoughts on the way nba playoffs officiating works..the gist of it was that nba was being too socialistic trying to reward a lot of people and ending up screwing up the system. what happened after this post was more interesting..

a) the powers that be in nba fined cuban 200,000$ dollars for his blog comments..
b) the officials then went far too soft on the mavs's next two games against the spurs and the mavs find themselves one win in their homecourt short of western conference finals..

this was one killer corporate strategy, wasnt it - rant and sound like a whiner but float seeds of doubt on your opponents - lose the battle, but win the war..sun tzu would have been proud of our maverick..come across like an idiot, boot yourself a bill of 200,000$ and end up winning 10 million dollars for each game win cause the officals are afraid to piss you off now..the most striking thing about this is the medium used - "blog". dare i say friends, do we have a new media that has the potential to rival media houses..people like cuban are taking it to the next level, so don't stay behind - get yourself a nice drink and setup yourselves in blogspot and blogaway ;)..

<>

the other unrelated part of this blog now deals with one of the most endearing and at the same time, most hated character in the history of english fiction " gollum smeagol"..the embodiment of "multiple personality disorder, bipolar, schizophrenic, twin faced .." there is a lot out there to know about gollum's story and his love for "his precious"..but what does provoke some thought is "He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter - LOTR". makes mr.K wonder if all of us did have a "gollum inside their smeagol".. a gollum that is created by desire, attachment and wants..we all have our "precious" and we all have our "we needs it, we needs our precious, we hates it, we hates thieves" times..

the precious is laughing and making a fool of us..find a hobbit soon to destroy it..:)

ps: have added a wonderful blog in the more blogs section. - it is run by a pal and ex employee of the firm..way to go labnol - labnol.blogspot.com