Sunday, September 4, 2011

the sons of fortune

There were those who wrenched from the fists of fate what they wanted. Then there were those who wished but never had. In between were us - the sons of fortune - the right people at the right place at the right time. We got more for less. We had what we wished. We did what we wanted to do. It was too damn easy. No responsibilities, no nerve-testing adventures. We had no back-from-the-cliff stories to tell. Yet we were listened to. Yet we were followed. Yet we enjoyed verdict by default. It was the dawn of a new era. An era where imbalances were aplenty. We were the tilt. We were the agents of cataclysm.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

The drive's not that boring ...

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10.00 Start from home on my Walle. FM surfing begins on music system.
10.05 Akshardham passes by on the right. Metro passes overhead.
10.08 Yamuna flows below.
10.10 Humayun's Tomb is visible at Nizamuddin Bridge traffic signal.
10.15 Old Fort stands proud at left.
10.20 Delhi High Court is buzzing to start the proceedings at 1030 HRS.
10.27 Prime Minister's residence is visible on the other side of the road while I fill fuel at HP station.
10.35 China Embassy does not look that crowded.
10.39 Dhaula Kuan maze is crossed in a single shot.
10.45 Plane passes above while my speedometer shows 120 kmph on Gurgaon Expressway.
10.48 Mahipalpur Warehouse is warming up for the day.
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Thursday, April 28, 2011

e-books my ***

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E-books ! Ha ! When I read lotr on computer seven years ago, I had no idea that a product which is marred by piracy, thanks to its copiability, will one day make the beloved books obsolete. Hence it took me few days to assimilate what Manish told me.

Tell me how a .kindle. will replace the smell of a new book. Can I sleep reading it while my fingers are not ready to leave the thick pages I just finished? They will have a bookmark for sure but will it go oft missing to drive me crazy which page I was at?

I am telling you this technology thing is going out of control. Today it is e-books. Tomorrow they will develop a half an inch wide three inch long hi-tech bottle that you just need to push inside your ass and you will no longer need to poop. That convenient !
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Saturday, March 12, 2011

tolkien's class

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Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to, Sam?

Sam: There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for.
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Monday, February 7, 2011

the reset is close?

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For about 1.728 Mn years everything was going perfect. A committed workforce and defect-free output was trademark. The days were called Satyug. The next 1.296 Mn years were not bad either. There was some slack in supply chain but the machinery ran smoothly. The period was called Tretayug. By the end of it the system started showing maintenance issues. Inventory started piling up in front of input area. Zero tolerence policy on defects was compromised now and then by the workforce which, although totally committed, started demanding salary-hike at par with the market. The phase is said to have lasted 0.864 Mn years and was called Dwaparyug. Then came trouble.

The so called incorrigible Managers fell first into the trap of convenience. In the absence of constant vigil, workers started taking periodic swap-naps while the machine was still running. Defects ran high. Interdepartmental friction was commonplace. Capacity utilization took a deep dive. Marketing team was insouciant. It was as if the entire plant was following the Murphy's law - things were going from bad to worse and then the cycle would repeat itself. The era, popularly remembered as Kaliyug, was a phase of leisure, pleasure, sin & pain and lasted for a good 0.432 Mn years.

Then one day the Plant Manager decided enough is enough. He pressed the cataclysmic reset button that was placed conveniently below his table and all of a sudden life as we knew at the plant ended . True story.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

2010

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Chikmagalur. Belur. Hampi. Vrindavan. Agra. Dalhousie. Khajjiar. Chamba. McLeodganj. Kalatop. Rishikesh. Mussoorie. Panchgani. Chitradurga. Hogenakkal. Hyderabad. Copenhagen. Bergen. Voss. Stockholm. Luxembourg. Brussels. Amsterdam. Bruges. Fredrichshafen. Zermatt. Spiez. Salzburg. Munich. Helsingor. Flam. Godvangen. Oslo.  Jelling. Berlin. Grindelwald. Interlaken. Lucerne. Bern. Basel. Hamburg. Paris. Zugspitze. Pisa. Rome. Venice. Naples. Nice Villa. Monte Carlo. Antibes. Cannes.