A Disquisition

Of Perceptions

2008-03-10T15:02:00.001Z

So everyone's a potential winner this time. Fisichella will be ending in a points paying position in a Midland/Spyker/Force India when he struggled to end up in the points in a Renault last year. Trulli is as motivated as ever and aiming to fight the front runners. Renault is looking to nip at the heels of McLaren. BMW says they are as quick as the McLaren. Williams head Mr Head says they will be fighting for podiums. Hamilton says McLaren is as fast as Ferrari. Toro Rosso are confident they will be fighting with the mid pack this year.

Ofcourse in the midst of all this, Ferrari are so confident in their car that they have already shifted some resources into their 2009 contender.

So if I were to go on what teams say, there will be 10 teams fighting for the podium and only Super Aguri vying for the last position. Reality will, I believe be starckly contrasting. I still think the pecking order as described in my previous post will hold good, atleast for the initial leg. I expect Renault and McLaren to take a good jump forwards with the start of the European leg.

Only five more days to go!!

Of the Round Up

2008-02-22T11:45:00.003Z

So its been a while since I put in a post. Work and other activities has kept me busy.

No dearth of Formula 1 news coming through. Lot to write about but I will keep this short and stretch my neck out to make my prediction of the pecking order as it stands. Ferrari are undisputably the fastest of the lot, testing times are very consistent, long runs are very impressive and most importantly Kimi is at home. Massa seems to have issues coping with the lack of engine braking and traction control brought about by the ban and the move to the common ECU.

McLaren look good too, but unless they are sandbagging they are still not to the pace of the Ferrari. A good 0.5 seconds off the leading pack lie BMW, Williams, Red Bull, Renault and Toyota - in that order. BMW have sorted out their initial gremlins and their long run pace in particular has been very impressive. Don't be surprised to see them outqualifying a McLaren come Q3. Williams to me have definitely been the team on the move. They have shown some stunning pace to match the BMW. I think BMW and Williams will be the challengers to the leading pack this year. Williams seem to be building on a strong foundation and it would not be unconceivable to think that they could be challenging for wins from 2009. But with the new regulations being ushered in for 2009, this could change.

About 0.3 seconds off BMW and Williams, lie RedBull and Renault. Red Bull under the aegis of Adrian Newey has been experimenting with a funky engine cover and have been posting some impressive laptimes (when compared to the works Renault team). They also seem to have improved their reliability which to me will be the most important aspect of the teams performance this year. Which brings me to Renault.

I am disappointed to say the least. Renault had started work on the R28 way before any of the others (other than BMW perhaps). They had nailed their 2007 problems to two reasons - the change to Bridgestones and the deviation in correlation of aero performance from wind tunnel to track. They have apparently sorted out both but the results are not really visible. Fundamentally the engine the teams are using are still the 2006 spec one since development has been frozen since then. So holding that as a constant, that leaves the two other areas of mechanical and aerodynamic grip as the two areas Renault seem to be suffering.

Renault have confirmed that they have moved the weight bias of the car forwards inline with the front Bridgestones providing less grip than the Michelins. They have also lengthened the chassis. Somehow they still seem to be lacking on performance and I can't help but think that they have faltered yet again. Maybe they are going through the cycle that all teams inevitably go through. Ferrari, McLaren and more recently Williams have all had lean patches and they are all championship winning teams. I actually have a theory on why this cycle exists but I will leave that explanation for another day.

Fernando Alonso looks good in testing in comparison to Nelson Piquet Jr. What worries me though is that there is still no word about Alonso's future. Is Alonso hoping to be paired up with Raikonnen at Ferrari? Much depends on Massa's performance this year. Ofcourse Massa does have the advantage of being managed by one Mr Nicholas Todt, son of Jean Todt - which should favour him. But with Luca di Montezemolo (Head of racing, Ferrari) openly praising Alonso last year, I will not be surprised if the scarlet team is hoping for a dream combination.

The situation at McLaren is going to be interesting too. Heiki in his usual style should take around 3-4 races before he starts showing his real potential. My bet is that before the end of the season Lewis is going to make a Fernando-isque comment when Heiki puts one on him. And on that note, I am really hoping Heiki outguns Lewis Hamilton by the end of this year.

So, that brings us to the last few. The tail. The only surprise here is Honda being at the fag end of the tail rather than the beginning of it. However that is expected. With the arrival of Ross Brawn expect to see consistent improvement in form and a return to top by 2010. Force India under Mallya has set a nearly impossible (atleast as far as I am concerned) task of being on the podium at the Delhi GP in 2010. The only way that can happen is if we have a repeat of Indianapolis, 2005 where Tiago Monteiro took a 3rd in a race where there were only four cars running. In a business as resource intensive as Formula 1, how can Mallya expect his $110 million budget for 2008 to go as long as what the top teams have. To put that into perspective, McLaren paid the same amount as a fine in 2007 and that is a tiny drop in the ocean as far as their net revenue is concerned.

In other news, my mail servers came down yesterday thanks to an issue at the United Online nameservers. Its all back up and running again. I am eagerly awaiting the GT5 release on the ps3

Of the Season

2007-11-02T11:44:00.001Z

So we have had a spectacular end to an equally spectacular season. Apparently, its been umpteen years since a driver going third into the last race won the championship. The media are busy speculating on McLaren's appeal, Max Mosley's stance on the appeal, Alonso's future & the importance of the protégé that is Lewis Hamilton, but what's really happening behind the scenes?

Raikonnen won the last race in convincing style. He is truly a worthy champion. He was not brought into F1 nurtured by one the best racing teams in the world, not put into a race winning car in his first season, not had unlimited funds and resources at his disposal from the age 13 and, something that has rarely been mentioned, not had the disposal of track and set up knowledge from a double world champion as his partner. He is not the first black driver to be on F1's grid nor does he talk about how his dad was laid off from work.

Lewis Hamilton and his apparent success has stunned and irritated me to no dearth. Agreed, had I been living outside the UK I wouldn't have despised him so much, but thanks to the British media, I really really cannot stand him now. It is amazing to read the kind of reports that came out in the British press when all that malarky happened between Alonso and Hamilton. Sure, a double world champion is entitled to feel threatened when he sees a rookie challenging him in what was apparently the same car. Alonso is human after all. But didn't Lewis himself moan after the Monaco GP that he was not being given fair treatment? Why isn't that being highlighted each time the media portrays him as a demi-god.

Make no mistake, I think Hamilton is probably one of the best drivers out there now and will definitely be a world champion, and multiple times at that should he be given the car. But I hate the way he's been riding on the publicity to make a double world champion look like a self obsessed git. Make hay while the sun shines could not have been more true than in Hamilton's case.

Not so bright and sunny though was ITV's F1 coverage this season. It was nearly a religious obligation for them to start all F1 coverage with a picture of Lewis Hamilton in a go-kart. I have never skipped race previews in my life, but this year, thanks to sky+ I only skimmed through the preview. Which incidentally has the following split:

Lewis Hamilton 95%
Jenson Button 4.5%
Rest of the paddock 0.5%

I mean, how many times do I want to listen to JB tell us, 'It was a shame because the car felt quick and we could have definitely challenged for the points'. I am tired. ITV if you're hearing this, please please understand there are 20 more drivers in the field and 9 other teams you can focus on. I don't want to hear only about Honda and McLaren. How many times have you heard about Nico Rosberg, who incidentally had a fantastic season?

I guess there's no point ranting because I'll be stuck with ITV's coverage for the foreseeable future. Moving onto what's in store - Alonso's future is my main point of interest at the moment. McLaren have promised to make an announcement soon. Alonso's options realistically, are Renault and Toyota. Renault being the miser of an outfit that it is, will not give big money. Toyota on the other hand will pay big to drive a car that will never win a race. So will Alonso, suck up to Toyota and try to do what Schumacher did to Ferrari when he joined them? Or will he go back to Renault?

Alonso back in Renault will be a dream. That would mean a proper three (or even four if Heidfeld comes to the party next year) way title fight next season. Renault had shifted their priorities to the '08 car early in the season. I had predicted they would have done well to come in 3rd this year. They did come 3rd this year thanks to a disqualitfication. I think next year will be more positive for Renault but I still don't think they will take the title. It will take more than a year for them to bounce back. Next season should see Ferrari strong again, but I think there will be a drop in McLaren's performance. Its just a hunch, but lets see.

As regards to Hamilton, his latest news of moving to Switzerland to have some peace, someone really ought to remind him that he's no Simon Cowell or Brad Pitt. The success has really gone to his head as far as I'm concerned. I don't believe he's done it for tax evation as there are other ways you could do the same staying in Britain. I think he just wants to make the statement that he has arrived and boy aren't the PR heads having a field day.

In other news, I replaced my Nokia E61 with the new E90 communicator which has been fantastic. It would have been even better had Nokia had the courtesy to provide software updating tools that worked on all PC's. Now, I have to go install the latest firmware from a friends PC since Nokia's software updater bombs out with an Error 1720 on my PC.

I have done an upgrade to my Hi-fi in the form of a quality source! I have gone down the advanced resolution route by buying a DVD-Audio/SACD player and it sounds terrific!

More on the last bit in the next post.

EDIT: McLaren have just announced that Alonso and them have parted ways. BBC Sport reports that Alonso is more likely to join Red Bull!

Red Bull??! Red Bull!? So out goes DC presumably?

EDIT: I have found a fix to the NSU problem after four months! Open up command prompt, run>
for /f %s in ('dir /b /s %windir%\system32\wbem\*.dll') do regsvr32 /s %s
And presto! NSU installs fine. Bizarre..

Of the Move

2007-09-03T16:23:00.001+01:00

So, its been a while.

I have been busy at work, busy moving homes and busy screaming at utility providers who live only to see the day their customer bend over so they could stick 'em up. I have finally moved apartments. This one's slightly larger than my previous one and is in a very nice area. I have tons of restaurants and cafés around. It was nothing short of a nightmare to move, but I have finally settled in. Electricity, gas, water, broadband, sky, BT et al are all up and running.

I also have a much better room to set up my speakers and they sound better and more balanced here. I still need to get a long cable to move my sub to some corner. I need to do some wiring housekeeping since its all a mess and need to get used to the new layout - I can no longer stretch my leg and switch the amp on.

I will hopefully start blogging more regularly now that I am settled in and am relatively free for the forseeable future.

Of Women

2007-07-12T14:22:00.000+01:00

So, this one was long time coming.

It all started when I read an article informing me that Wimbledon prize money would henceforth be the same for women and men. Quite fair on the face of it, isn't it? It was followed by dozens of comments by women who heralded it as a great milestone - a shift from the Victorian era. Some even went on to say, women should be given more money, because in their view, men have been on the receiving end of more money for the past umpteen years and the tide needs to be turned. Reminds me of the 'power equation' on streets I had read in a blog recently.

Bullshit.

Yes, you heard me. Bull s-h-i-t. If at all I despise Wimbledon, it is for doing this. In this world, people get carried away by notions. Women = always deserve more, always see the bottom end of the glass ceiling, always need privileges - at the same time need to be treated 'equally'. Men = satyr's, spoon fed, have the power equations heavily biased on their side and are responsible for stealing away women's dignity.

So, am I of the view that women should be confined to their homes, considered inferior to men and never be allowed to progress the corporate ladder? Absolutely not. I believe in equal rights. I believe in fair play. I cannot believe Wimbledon decided to pay the same money for women when they have less work to do. For the non tennis afficionados, women need only play 3 sets to win a game. Men need to play 5 sets.

This years prize money is £700,000 for the singles title. Let's do some simple math on this, shall we? Men have to play 5 sets - averaging: £140,000 per set. Women on the other hand, need only play 3 sets - averaging: £233,333 per set. That is an astonishing 40% higher rate of return just because you tick F instead of M on your forms!

Equal rights for women you say?

Ofcourse, I can hear voices going, 'Have you ever read any compensation comparison between men and women?' 'Haven't you seen women are paid lesser for normal jobs and this is just a freak occurrence?'

Yes, I have. And yes, I do know - as a general rule, women find themselves on the losing bargain when compared to a male peer doing the exact job. Is it applicable in all industries? By evidence of what I see from having worked for three huge establishments, it is not. I agree in certain industries it can be tough, but it is not *always* true. In fact, I have had women colleagues brag about how they can get work done faster 'cos, well, I'm a woman' - I don't need to elucidate more on that.

Crucially, the point is, men don't get 'reservations'. Men are not 'privileged' to get more money just because they are men - these are not things set on stone, and if women want 'equal' rights, they need to learn to be just that. Equal.

Still not convinced, I see. Take a look around you. You see evidence of this everywhere. I look into the chat channels I have open at work and scrolling down to all channels that begin with 'W', I see hoardes of women's channels. The 'Women in trading' channel, 'women in singapore' channel, 'women's soft ball' channel. Scrolling up to 'M', I don't see a single 'Men's' channel. Makes you wonder doesn't it? If you open a men's channel, say - 'Men in Fixed Income', you are accused of being sexist, but if you open a 'women's' channel, well, that's always acceptable.

Equal rights? Or is there something wrong with the weighing scale?

Moving on to the extremely sensitive subject that is 'Empowerment'. Ofcourse, you rarely hear about empowerment for men - its EMPOWERment (caps because some women I know, believe in emphasising the word under the assumption that it makes more of an effect that way) of women I'm talking about. Face it, today, if I board a bus in India and have a girl point at me and scream, that pretty much spells doom for me. Being the just court that it is, no other justification is needed other than the-vote-of-death by the woman. If it were say, in England, you atleast had a chance or would have been given a chance to justify yourself and even if that wasn't bought, empirical evidence like video footages could perhaps be summoned upon. None of these applies to India though.

Woman screams = you are dead meat.

Its an extremely powerful power to have. This 'power', bestowed on women, assuming every woman would use it wisely and judiciously. But ofcourse, if the world were a righteous utopian place to live in, we wouldn't have secured banks, police and doors, would we? I am reminded of a story that my friend told me. His friend was employed at a small store operating out of a suburb. One day he caught a colleague red handed while she ducked in some cash from the till into her bag. Visibly embarressed, she put the money back in the till and walked away. Few minutes later, she came by and told him that if he attempts to let her manager know, she'll lodge a complaint saying he misbehaved with her.

At first I was shocked when I heard it, but when I thought of it more, the feeling was overcome with one that was more now-why-didn't-I-think-of -that. Its hardly surprising that such power bestowed upon women will be misused. It’s a fact of life and there is no point denying it. Do men have such sure shot powers? I can't think of any.

Lets move away from India and into say any European country. You don't have reserved seats for women in colleges or buses here. In fact, there is absolutely no gender discrimination at all. In India, the previous amounts to women being 'elevated' in the form of reservations and preferential treatment. Over here, it means just that - No discrimination whatsoever. So don't men 'look' at women here? Ofcourse they do. Anyone who denies that obviously implies, Indian men are more perverse than any other men and if that's the case you are dangerously flirting with that thin line between sanity and insanity - Seek Medical Help. Yet, women here still don't need reserved places on buses and trains. Surely, women here are being subject to all the leering remarks, looks, gropes and what nots.

The difference being, here women make themselves heard. You should probably go buy a lottery ticket should you have the fortune of being let off after groping a woman in public here, because that surely would have been one day where the God's are smiling upon you. So, to address such situations in India, is it time well spent to put all your effort into making sure women voice this in public and bring justice to such miscreants or would it be better to address the non sexless nature of the street and consider viable alternatives such as reprogramming men to not 'look'.

As always, I understand there is no simple solution to this. But it has to be understood that there is a thin line between doing what you believe is a good cause and taking it a bit too far. Should seats be reserved for women in buses in India? Yes, they should. Atleast till the average Indian woman find the strength in her to bring any miscreant to justice. Should women have the 'scream' power. Absolutely not. This is something the society should understand and it is definitely not something that can be fixed easily. Should women be awarded the same prize pot as men in Wimbledon? Play 5 sets for the whole tournement and then take your money away. Or better still, blur the distinction between men and women on the court, let there be just one single prize where men and women fight it out together. Now, how many women players will be up for that, I wonder.

Finding a panacea is never an easy job, but one can certainly do it in steps.

Of a Forward

2007-07-10T22:27:00.000+01:00

A 45 year old boss fired his secretary and when he was asked "WHY..??" This is how he explained:-

"Why I fired my secretary"

Two weeks ago was my 45th birthday, and I wasn't feeling too hot that morning anyway. I went to breakfast knowing my wife would be pleasant and say "Happy Birthday," and probably have a present for me. She didn't even say "Good Morning," let alone any "Happy Birthday." I thought, "Well, that's wives for you, the children will remember."

The children came in to breakfast and didn't say a word. When I started to the office I was feeling pretty low and despondent. As I walked into my office, my secretary, Jill, said, "Good morning, boss. Happy Birthday." And I felt a little better; someone had remembered. I worked until noon. Then, Jill knocked on my door and said "You know it's such a beautiful day outside and it's your birthday, let's go to lunch, just you and me." I said, "By George, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go."

We went to lunch. We didn't go where we normally go; we went out to the country to a little private place. We had two martinis and enjoyed lunch tremendously. On the way back to the office, she said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day. We don't need to go back to the office, do we?" I said, "No, I guess not." She said, "Let's go to my apartment." After arriving at her apartment she said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I think I'll go into the bedroom and slip into something more comfortable." "Sure," I excitedly replied.

She went into the bedroom and, in about six minutes, she came out carrying a big birthday cake, followed by my wife, children, and dozens of our friends, all singing Happy Birthday. And there I sat...on the couch...naked.

Of Family Planning

2007-07-03T17:31:00.001+01:00

Sound family planning advice by the NHS.

Of the Mistake

2007-07-02T17:19:00.000+01:00

Darn, I hate it when I have to publicly admit stupidity.

So, I was wrong. Even though I didn't air the thought on this blog, I had betted big time that Renault would get the better of BMW at Magny Cours (Yes F, JA, AS, I can hear you!) I took the risk of sticking in two Renaults in my F1 betting thingum and boy did I get flogged. I saw my ranking plummet from #5 (out of the 20000 odd) to 265, just because of that move. I nearly tore my vocal cord apart when I saw Trulli take Kovalainen out in the first corner. It also saw me hurling obscenities that really didn't make sense.

I had expected Renault to turn the wick up a bit since it was their home grand prix. I had also looked carefully at their Silverstone test lap times which showed they were clearly ahead of the BMW's. In my defence, even Kovalainen admitted after the race that they were surprised that the beamer's were faster than Renault on race pace. Anyhoo, bottom line, I think I just spoilt my chance on winning the prize league unless I can stage a fantastic comeback of sorts.

Away from F1, I have been keenly following the comments on the last blank noise project post. Its amazing to see how people get so one tracked in their mind and thoughts when they pour their heart out into something they believe in. I don't know if the points raised by couple of others and me on the last post there, were issues raised before. Because if they were, then I don't see any effect of them being raised or perhaps they were neutralised by valid counter arguments. Don't have evidence of any till now.

Its ofcourse, heartening to see people doing things for the greater good. I personally don't have the time (beeep) nor the energy (beeep) for it, and for that reason I find arguing on it not really the best option as far as I am concerned. Atleast they do something about it, while I'm here on my lazy arse. But then, I can't help but think that one day I will probably be standing on a bus, lost in thought only to be brought back into reality by a screaming woman who thought I was giving her the 'looks'. Worse still, I do not want to walk on a street that is ..

--

Oh, the wonders of technology. I had my RSS reader just alert me on a new post on the 30 odd feeds that I look at, and wonders of wonders, its from the blanknoiseproject blog. And by golly, its an interesting post. Almost completely based on the 'looking' debacle. I am quite disappointed that its not by the author of the previous post though. I was particularly interested in some of the expressions the author had used in her previous posts. Perhaps it’s a joint effort.

A lot of valid points there, but I could sum up my reaction to it in one line. The author ends the post with

"Looking" is not always a neutral, innocent act.

Yes. Looking is not *always* a neutral, innocent act.

And in that light, does it deserve a place beside touching and groping? Maybe so, maybe not. Would you put suspected assault in the same category as manslaughter? Depends on how you look at it.

Both ways, I am glad the blog has atleast attempted to draw some vague lines on the realms of 'no looking'.

Of the |Oxymoron| Project

2007-06-28T07:41:00.000+01:00

http://www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

P said...

Hello,

I must admit, this comment has got nothing to do with this particular post. With this blog being positioned as an open forum - self help, if I may say so, I thought I should express some personal views on the same.

I think the concept as such is fantastic. I absolutely love the idea of the 'Taking legal action' section. But there are certain things that I really cannot get my head around. One of which happens to sit right on the top banner of your blog. Among the 'No' list is 'looking'. Now, I am not sure what exactly you mean by looking, but if it is more of the perverse kinds, I am quite confident 'looking' isn't the exact word for it.

And if the forum did intend to use the word 'looking' for what it meant - "the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually". I cannot help but feel that it is a step taken too far.

I can understand most of the others, though admittedly some more than the others. An example being 'staring' - These are words that need a context to justify it being up there on a banner. No staring, on its face, is not something I find justifiable. However, one may argue, the context should be obvious, self explanatory - especially with 'Eve Teasing' being mentioned on the banner.

Not that I am being a pedant, but a cursory glance on the content of the banner of this blog does give me wrong notions about the ulterior motive behind a blog dedicated to a worthy cause.

Perhaps a classic case of never judge a book by its cover

Cheers
P

Author said...

dear p . the idea of 'looking' has been brought up several times. Many a Blank Noise meetings have questioned why the word 'looking' must be included.

It's simply because it is not in the verb, but in the adjective. it could be in even how one is glancing. how are you looking at me? or glancing? or touching? or brushing?

the way someone looks at you can strip your dignity. We all know that staring is rude/ bad manners etc- but think of staring that dismembers the body, objectifies it withuot the consent of another stranger.

P said...

Hello,

I do understand the latter half of your reply, the strip your dignity bit. But I am at loss with the adjective explanation. Surely, me looking at the girl standing across the street because she had a mask and a bandana on does not fall into the confines of eve teasing or anything even remotely to do with it. I may even look (visibly more petrified though) at a guy wearing pink trousers and a polka dotted shirt. Looking can be framed to be an adjective in both the above cases.

Which brings me back to my original point, isn't context the most relevant thing here? However, I do realise this is too trivial a point to pick on.

Author said...

1. it is not trivial. it is not trivial because every single day we are almost stripped naked with eyes. eyes that just look. glance. stare. assert power.

we dont say all form of looking leads to violation- but the intention is communicated to the receiver. This is an extremely private act that is know n and understood by the doer and the receiver.

we by NO means are saying- stop looking- but we are saying we know who's looking at me and how.

its important to acknowledge the power structures between strangers that can become visible through just 'looking'- no it is not trivial.

It isnt as black and white either. The street isnt sexless. We are continously looking at each other but when does the look cause discomfort? When and how are boundaries crossed/ everyday?

post coming up -

P said...

Hello,

I am sorry, but perhaps I didn't frame the last sentence of my previous post correctly. When I wrote trivial, I was implying, me picking on 'no looking' in a pedantic fashion. It was not for a moment to suggest such actions, when justified to be of the nature you specified are trivial by any stretch of imagination.

I could write on this forever.

Of Music

2007-06-27T16:33:00.000+01:00

1984:

I was gifted my first keyboard. A white two octave keyboard with dummy keys and tiny white buttons on the playable area. I still vividly remember the tiny red leds that showed me which key I was pressing.

1985:

I got my first keyboard with actual keys, tones and rhythms. It was a Casio SA-20 with 100 tones memory and 60 beats, it was pure luxury compared to its predecessor.

Fast forward to 2002:

After 12 years of formal training, countless performances under various junior, school, college orchestra's and competitions, I decided to put an end to something that I so dearly cherished. Circumstances of which, in retrospect, was not justified and was based on specious line of thoughts.

Today, June 27th, 2007, I decided to shift the tide. After spending almost 6 hours overnight researching on new music workstations, I finally put in an order for a Korg TR61 workstation keyboard. I have never seen the keyboard in flesh, never used it, but I have trusted my gut instinct, the hoardes of reviews and product spec to spend a fortune on an instrument that is so dearly knitted into the fabric of my life.

Words cannot express how very much I am looking forward to it arriving at my doorstep. I am pretty sure I will spend the next two days refreshing the order status on the website to see when its being despatched and then later, the delivery status with the courier.

Without being overly maudlin, it is amazing what such a small thing can do to your spirits.

T minus two days... And counting.

Of Young Khaled

2007-06-26T20:44:00.000+01:00

Metallica | San Francisco Symphony

Eclectic.

London Symphony Orchestra | Deep Purple

Cheb Khaled, Khaled Hadj Brahim. Rai singer songwriter.
Jean-Jacques Goldman. French singer songwriter.

Very few things in life sound just right.

And when they do, they sound like this.
(Youtube clip)

Its been over 10 years since my affair with this song started. This particular version is from the infamous 1,2,3 Soleils concert in Paris. I could hear this on loop all day. I could hear everything from 4:17.00 (3:03.00 if your player counts down to zero) till the end, even longer.

I only understood the song once I got to hear the Arabic bilingual edition that Khaled produced for his album Sahra.

The song's lyrics are about a woman named Aicha, who is being wooed by a man. He promises her pearls, jewels, poems, and other luxuries and romantic things, to which she replies:

Keep your treasures

I'm worth more than all that

A cage is a cage, even if it's made of gold

I want the same rights as you

And respect for each day

I don't want anything but love

My affair continues. Undiminished. Unfazed.

Of the break

2007-06-25T15:48:00.000+01:00

Its been a while since I got my act together and posted an update. I'll tackle this update on two fronts -

Me

I have let change catch up on me and with a generous helping of the leap-of-faith pill, I resigned from where I was working and joined another 'bulge bracket' investment bank. What that does mean is that I no longer work in the city, but in the ever so popular, glamourous corporate jungle that is Canary Wharf. When you walk out into Canary Wharf, its almost as if your office walks out with you. Its not until you get off the DLR/tube back home, do you realise you're out of office. Canary Wharf to me is just that, one huge office floor masquerading as a world of its own.

Bottom line, I hate it. Liverpool Street, with meeting rooms that overlooked St Paul's and the London eye were so much better, not to mention more picturesque. My office ended just where it should end, at the revolving door and turnstiles. Now my office is an expansive Canary Wharf all the way across the docklands and about 300 meters from home. Eerily close.

I like my new job though, so that's something of a solace.

Sometime back I had posted a post on updating my gadgetry. Here is where it stands now. Out went the Xbox, 6 games, extra controller and remote control for a paltry 34.99. Yes, don't remind me. In came the ps3 with extra sixaxis controller, bluetooth remote and 60 quid monster HDMI cables. After a whole two minutes post setting the ps3 up it dawned on me that my then 32" Sony LCD was just not good enough. A week later, I had a brand spanking new 40" 1080p capable Sony Bravia W2000 LCD weighing a kazillion tonnes and a house, sitting on my TV stand. Now, this TV is absolutely fantastic. Brilliant.

I also changed broadband providers to BE. I am now truly on the information superhighway. Download speeds of 24 megs and an upload speed of 1.3 megs. One week into getting the connection I realised my laptop with its 802.11b card was just not fast enough for the connection and I had to buy a PCMCIA 802.11g card. Now it all works perfectly fine.

Sometime last week, I walked into an audio shop hoping to walk out with a KEF sub woofer, only to find that they didn't have black. The only other colour available was maple and that didn't exactly go with my décor (Yes, I heard you! No, I'm not turning homosexual)

Formula 1

Most of what I told in my earlier posts holds true. I did get the 'Raikonnen outshining Massa in the race' wrong though, well, atleast so far. Renault seems to have bounced back and I expect a lot more from them. Heiki has bounced back brilliantly and Alonso is on the cusp of bouncing back. Guess its no big shock that McLaren will run away with the constructors title this year. I want to stick my neck out and slate Renault for third place, but I will wait for two more races before I say that. Especially in the light of the following.

To make this easy, I'll translate the following F1 talk into normal speak. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Renault technical director, Pat Symonds:

Q. Since the start of the season, you have spoken in detail about how the team has been solving its performance problems. How is that work progressing?
PS: The first thing to say, and it's an important point, is that the work is progressing. Of course, it is never fast enough - we all want to be leading championships and winning every race, and you're never happy until you are doing so! But we take a lot of comfort from the fact that after a poor start to the year, we are pulling it back so rapidly. Other teams are not having a great season, and not pulling it back as we are. There is plenty to be proud of in what we are doing.

>> Normal Speak - We have some idea about what's happening but we are still at sea trying to understand why we are where we are.

Q. Looking ahead to the French Grand Prix, how will the circuit suit the R27?
PS: Magny-Cours is known as a very smooth circuit - although the new final chicane now gives the cars a severe pounding. It's quite an aerodynamic circuit, with some good fast chicanes which need a responsive car. The challenge is very different to that of the low-medium downforce tracks in Canada and the USA.
If you look back to circuits like Barcelona, we were struggling there at the time, but since then some very positive steps forward have been made. So I certainly believe our performance will be better, but we are still working on the car, still trying things, and hoping for a good race in France.

>> Normal Speak - I'll be surprised if we make it into Q3 in practise and finish in the top 8 in the race.

Q. Finally, what do you expect the second half of the season to hold for Renault?
PS: There's plenty of activity at the factory, that's for sure. As we better understand the problems we have been suffering from, we are able to improve the car. There will be enhancements for France and Britain. And that's in addition to continue the push with our normal development processes. There are a lot of new bits coming for the car, and you can be certain that we will keep on fighting.

>> Normal Speak - We've given up hope and now with the technical changes in the aero department, we have given up on this years car and are looking at developing our 2008 title contender.

So, that’s it for now. Over and out!

Of Renault

2007-05-14T13:04:00.000+01:00

I hate to gloat, but Renault F1 president Alan Dassas just announced that Renault should be targeting third in the constructors championship. Sometime back, in fact some time way before the season started, someone else (:)) had said the same thing!

Its amazing how much conclusion one can draw by looking carefully at the laptimes. After the first race I had predicted Renault were a good 1.5 seconds down on Ferrari even though laptimes suggested otherwise. We had Fisichella making a statement couple of weeks back stating that they were 1.5s of Ferrari. I had concluded that McLaren were almost half a second off the Ferrari and that still holds true.

All of that is good, but what about the future? I think Renault will come good in the latter half of the season. Monaco should see Ferrari and McLaren fight it out well because of the nature of the circuit. RedBull will give Renault a good run for its money and may even upset one of the BMW's, should reliability gremlins stay away. Kovalainen will come good after the next race. Hamilton will not win the drivers title and Alonso will stage a come back. A fantastic one at that.

Big screen tv.. check
Popcorn.. check
Gloating rights.. check

Let the show begin.

Of Melbourne

2007-03-19T10:15:00.000Z

All is well in Formula 1.

Really? I mean, didn't Ferrari just reel in an astounding victory? Didn't the McLarens look terrific? Didn't Renault disappoint big time? Didn't Kovalainen have arguably one of the worst debuts I've ever seen?

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Ferrari did win. McLarens do look good, both car and driver line up. Renault did disappoint and Kovalainen did have a torrid start. But, all of it were expected. Since the end of the 2006 season I have been talking of how Renault should see this year as a year to regroup. It will require a mammoth effort from them to come out trumps in the 2007 season. They are after all, fallible.

The Ferrari's are in a league of their own. The McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh was quoted today saying that the McLarens were probably two tenth down on the Ferrari. I'm sorry, but did he forget to watch the race on Sunday? Or was there something wrong with the timings on his screen? The Ferrari looks a good second ahead of the McLaren. Not to steal its thunder, the McLarens do look good, especially the driver line up. Hamilton was mighty impressive but I still have this feeling that we are going to see him falter with his driving style. Alonso to me is a complete driver. Racing is not about thrashing your car lap after lap. Racing is about careful planning, knowing when to push and when to hold your cards close to your chest. And Alonso does that beautifully.
I was mighty impressed with the BMW. Reliability problems aside, they look fantastic. I have always considered BMW to be my second favourite team after Renault. If they sort out their reliability issues and if their drivers get their act together, I can see them giving McLaren a run for their money! The on-board shots from the BMW look stunning, that car is immaculately balanced, almost as good as the Ferrari.

And finally, we come to Renault. I should probably cut to the chase and say that they have disappointed. They are in my opinion around 1.3 seconds off the pace of Ferrari. Catching Ferrari is going to be close to impossible with the kind of budgets Renault operate with and if they do, I would be shocked. I liked Briatore's remark saying he was utterly disappointed with Kovalainen's debut. It was horrible. He spun, ran off the track and was doing rubbish lap times. I hope he gets his act together at Malaysia.

Fisi was once again disappointing. Fisi has been arguably his best at Melbourne and even then he needed a wake up call during the race. Granted he didn't have a fantastic car, but thats the difference between a good driver and a really good driver. A really good driver can get a wee bit more than what his car is worth. Fisi just isn't in that league. I hate it when Pat Symonds tries to cover for Fisi and make statements such as 'Fisi had a very good race'. No, he didn't! His race was just average, and considering this track to be one where he usually scores a lot of points, his performance was mediocre! And mind you, its only Melbourne and Indianapolis where Fisi can show himself to be an average driver. During the rest of the season he's just not F1 material.

So, having said all that, here are my predictions:
- The law of averages will catch up with Hamilton. We will see him crash out in a race, very soon.
- Kovalainen will come to his class and beat Fisi sometime before the mid of the European leg of the season. I expect him to put in a good performance in Malaysia and if not, then definitely in Bahrain. If he fails to impress in Bahrain, I think Renault have more problems than they would think.
- Renault will make a small step towards BMW (Ferrari, McLaren, BMW being the pecking order) in the Malaysian GP. They will make a bigger step in the first race of the European leg.
- I expect to see Raikonnen thrash Massa during raceday.

There are some more predictions I would love to make, but I'll save them for after Malaysia.

Of fooood

2007-03-05T13:33:00.000Z

Couldn't have put it any better ;-)

Of the 2007 season

2007-02-28T14:49:00.001Z

Its been quite sometime since I last posted something. Looking at my last post, I was predicting on the new Renault livery and it looks like I had that nailed *gloat gloat*.

More importantly, we are onto the final round of testing before the season starts and boy, is it bad news for Renault. Ferrari and McLaren are noticably faster. BMW is fast but have reliability issues and even Williams look promising to a certain extend. Looking at the testing results and the testing programs they were on, Ferrari and McLaren are quite close in pace and are in a league of their own, closely kept honest by BMW. A further 5/10th away lies Renault, Honda & Williams. Toyota, Redbull, Toro Rosso form the next set.

This could all change though. Renault are traditionally known to stick to reliability tests and not to do pure performance runs over the tests, but I still don't see them fighting the likes of Ferrari and McLaren. BMW could improve vastly if they solve their reliability problems. Honda with their new earth livery could spring a surprise towards the latter half of the season. Renault really have to take this as a transition year. I have been saying this all throughout last year. 2007 will probably see Renault 3rd or 4th in the constructors. They have to look ahead to Nelson Piquet Jr. instead of Fisico in 2008 and launch a proper title challenge.

Performance aside, the new Renault livery brings mixed emotions. The car is beautifully designed, and probably amongst the best looking of the'07 lot, however the paint job leaves much to be desired. Maybe its a matter of getting used to it. The earth livery launched by Honda, though ugly, sounds an interesting concept. A thought that did pass by is to have a picture of the new Ra007 sitting in the pits being refuelled. 12 gallons of petrol per second going into a car with an 'eco friendly' livery that gives you 3 miles to the gallon. Oh, the irony.

Come what may, this season promises to be very exciting. The likes of Kovalainen, Hamilton and Kubica should provide for some explosive young talent while Raikonnen and Alonso lock horns for the drivers championship.

Of the new Renault

2007-01-23T14:16:00.000Z

Im excited!

Its the 23rd of January, 2007. Tomorrow, the new Renault R27 is to be released to the world. The new car is the dawn of many things new. The change of drivers, the new engine regulations, safety requirements and perhaps most importantly from a Renault point of view, change to Bridgestone rubber. It also brings with a change of title sponsors. ING, the dutch bank has replaced Japan Tobacco as Renault F1's title sponsor.

The real reason for my excitement actually goes slightly beyond the fact that the new R27 is going to be revealed to the public tomorrow. Its going to be revealed with its new livery. Gone are the aqua blue colour palette that Mild Seven brought with it and in will be an all new colour scheme. I can finally buy Renault merchandise that I can wear in public without thinking twice!

I expect them to be one of the two below:

1. Dark blue, Yellow, White and tinges of Orange
2. Yellow, White, Dark Gray and Orange

Dark blue and orange are derived from ING's colour scheme and the canary yellow, white has always been the traditional Renault colour. Renault ran their cars with the dark blue colour combination a week back during the tests (shown in pic). However, their trucks are painted in the yellow, white combination. So there's a case being presented for both, but I would put my bet on the yellow, white combination on the sole reason that its easier to paint a car, than a truck ;-)

The all new renaultf1.com site is to be launched tomorrow too, presumably to account for the new colours. This also means I can get a decent Renault wallpaper put up on my PC. I was always against using harsh colours like aqua blue as my wallpaper.

Fingers crossed, the car looks to be a stunner, I hope the colours do justice to it. With some luck, I might be putting in my first t shirt/shirt order in with Renault tomorrow this time.

Yes, I know. The cheap thrills of life that I look forward too. :-)

Of my Break

2007-01-22T16:20:00.001Z

I've been working a cumulative of 3 years now. I've worked in the outsourcing industry for one of the largest companies in the world, have worked in R&D for the largest mobile operator in the world and now work for the investment banking arm of the world's largest wealth manager.

In that small tenure of three years, I have witnessed multiple working styles, contrasting work environments, ethos and culture. From the aggressive go get Americans to the methodical Swiss. Reflecting back on time, I wonder why is it that the work culture in India stands drastically different to what I see here. No, it isn't different in a bad way, its different in the way apples are different from oranges.

I have not heard any of my colleagues or friends back in India ever tell me that they are taking a 6 month sabbatical from work to go on trekking or to spend time with their family. Working is carefully knit into our social fabric that its expected to be the duty of every individual. You rarely hear of a student out of college taking a 6 month break out in the Alps climbing. Back at home, you join work the first Monday after college. There are no two ways about it. In fact I never even thought off a break between studies and work, I automatically assumed that work is the next logical step to studying.

Now that I reflect back on times, I wish I had taken couple of months off after my masters. I finished my masters on a Friday and I was at my desk at work on the Monday following that. Ofcourse, since I have plans for another degree in the horizon, I may still be able to take that much wanted month or two off, but I still wonder why I didn't think of it. And by a month off, I mean a month to myself and the people I care about. With no worrying about what the future holds for me or having people nagging behind my back about me being in a state of joblessness. Its my life and I have every right to do what I jolly well please to.

Ofcourse, reality is a good furlong away from practicality. But, I intend to put this into practise after my next degree. I want to take two months off from everything and go all around Europe. I want to be, as cliched as it sounds, that free bird with absolutely no strings attached. I want to be with the people I want to be, I want to sleep when I want to, wake up when I want and eat when I want to.... I want to roam around jungles, mountains, streets and cities. I want to walk taking things day by day, not planning even for an hour ahead or worrying about how my finances are going to be three years down the line....

This is perhaps the moment someone should pinch me and wake me up from my dream...

Of the Revamp

2007-01-19T15:29:00.000Z

So I'm stuck here for the weekend because I called off earlier plans by friends to go watch a ballet on Friday and spend Saturday paint balling. In retrospect, a very bad decision.

Anyway, I have however decided to look into revamping much of my gadgetry at home. For someone very interested in these, I don't really have a very impressive list of gadgets. I don't have any of the third gen consoles. Yes, no 360, no Wii and no Ps3 - although the latter is high on my list when it officially makes into the Europe Q3 this year. I don't even have a proper DVD player.

Few months back I had invested in a pair of Mordaunt Short floor standing speakers and coupled them to a Cambridge Audio amp that seems to work wonderfully. I have my simple set up of my Sony Vaio Z1 coupled to a 17" Sony LCD, a vanilla keyboard and a Logitech MX 310 precision mouse. Somewhere in between all this I have a 300GB firewire external hard disk, 2x 4-port USB hubs (my laptop unfortunately isn't USB 2.0), a 802.11g/bluetooth compatible wireless router with a 2Mbps internet connection, a Sony PSP, an Xbox hooked onto the router through ethernet for Xbox live. The Xbox also serves as my dvd player. And finally my 32" Sony LCD tv.

I have already set the ball rolling in the revamp process by upgrading my keyboard/mouse combo to the Logitech diNovo Cordless desktop. My old keyboard was a shocker. Had horrible ergonomics and the key feel was horrible. I think I'll still find myself using my Mx310 mouse as my main mouse and keeping the cordless mouse elsewhere in the room for those lazy moments. I have also upgraded the headset that I use extensively for voice chatting to a Logitech premium headset that includes active noise cancellation.

Now, the to-do list. I have to shift from using my laptop as my primary computer. I need to buy a good desktop that can run Vista. I am looking at customising some Dell XPS box's for my primary machine, and then use my laptop when I am say watching tv. I am also seriously considering getting an Apple Mac Mini to serve as my media center at home - hook all of my 60GB of music into it as well as copy all my Divx's from dvd's. I have to also shift away from my 17" screen to a 19" screen - real estate is absolutely vital in the things I do, from working on Macromedia Flash to remote desktoping to work where I have multiple 19" screens. So, a display upgrade is pretty essential, though I would do it only after I have my desktop in place. I have to shift from my Orange broadband connection to the Sky package that gives me 16mbps. This actually works out cheaper for me because I am on a Sky package already and the only thing that deters me from doing it is that I'll have no broadband for about a week while they switch my connection.

I need to buy a good CD player for my amp set up. I have currently hooked it up to my external sound card to play mp3's, but I know I can't realize the true potential of the amp and the speakers without hooking it up to a good CD player. I have shortlisted a Cambridge Audio, Marantz and Technics CD player for this. I also have to upgrade the speaker cabling to a better quality one after I get my CD player. The cables I have now come in at £1.5 per meter. The one I'm looking at is closer to £4.8 per meter but offers better sound characteristics.

I have to shift away from using my Xbox as my dvd player. Its noisy, has poor picture quality, the remote sucks and the interface is appalling and most importantly, it does not play video CD's. I have to get myself a good DVD player. I have been recommended a particular Panasonic model in the market that have a fantastic chassis facilitating excellent picture quality. I will have to seriously look into that. Besides that, I need to replace the Xbox with the Ps3 as soon as it hits the UK markets - my wallet's going to take a serious beating with that purchase.

So there, a bird's eye view of the things that need a change at home. Ofcourse there are more things that I want to add to this list like upgrade to a bigger LCD tv etc, but I consider that a vanity in that tiny sitting room of mine :-) Oh, reminds me, I also have to buy a very good pair of earphones/headphones - so its either the e4c/Grado this time around.

Hopefully I'll have all of the above in place by Q3 this year, by when I'm sure, I'll be ready for another revamp :-)

Of India

2006-12-06T12:03:00.000Z

08:25 Student gets off a congested bus on an even more congested road and runs down to college
08.32 Student knocks on the door
'Sir, may I come in?'
'Its 8.32 - You're early for the next class'
'Sir, I got stuck in traffic'
'Yeah - we've all heard that. Get out'
'Sir, please...'
'I said get out!'

This is what the Indian education of today is based on. I know its a very harsh statement to make but a peek at the education system in other countries have definitely shown me the starck differences.

If you have been through a science degree in India, you can relate to the following - Did you ever have any essay that you had to submit where you had to reason for/against a theory? In my four years of engineering, I never had to. Ofcourse, I had several essays to prove a theory - a test of how well you can mug, but never one to reason. Never an essay where there is NO right answer. There is a good answer, and there is a better answer. No essays where you had to think, come up with a solution based on what you think is right and wrong.

The Indian education is still stuck in the Vedic world where the teachers have the power to do anything. Its all about a big book and how fast you can mug the whole book up and reproduce with the least errors. Chanting slogans come to mind? We are in other words, the perfect human photocopy machine. We're taught to respect teachers like God. We are encouraged to not question them or their theories. The phrase you see on fine print on most competition posters, 'Judges decision shall be final and binding' have not been any more true.

The problem stems from schooling. I had to mug up Hindi poems when I was young. What good has come of it? a 11 year old learning a Hindi poem by heart - and reproducing it word for word on his answer sheet to get all of the 10 glorious marks. CBSE prides in having a 'well balanced' course material. We learn Civics - about the Indian government and the legislative assembly and what not - something that put me off world politics even to this date, we learn history - about how some king in some province of India fought with another king who had a disability but made up in skill - Yawnn..., we learn Physics - were we have to mug up derivations, definitions, theries. Yes theories - I had a teacher who used to cut half mark for every wrong word in a theory. So I could know what the theory is about, understand it much better than say Kid B, but if Kid B had managed to learn the theory word for word by heart without understanding a word of it - he gets more marks.

Doesn't all this mean that the Indian education system has lost the very essence of education? What we have now is a set of 18000 mass human photocopy machine producers spread all over India. We attend the 3 or 4 customary years of college, learn something here and there - master the art of mugging stuff or for some the art of micro xerox and then end up with a sheet of paper claiming you are a graduate. Our ticket to the world.

Its little less wonder then that Indians are perfect at repetitive tasks - Call centres, back office, operations. And by that same logic, it is less wonder that India has close to zilch presence in R&D save a few graces by pharma companies. If India is to become a true economic powerhouse, if the real 'India shining' dream has to come true, it is in the fundamentals that a change has to be made.

The current education system has to be reviewed, R&D should be ramped up - more importantly scholars should be given an opportunity/incentive to stay in India to do their research than go the Western way. We brag about our IIT'ians. Every single IIT'ian I know is working in the US for a US firm in the view of living their permanently. After coming through such a heavily subsidised education system, I really don't see any reason we should be bragging about IIT'ians conquering the world. The only word that comes to my mind is 'Parasite'. Earn a degree on behalf of the Indian tax payer - earn your ticket to the American dream and live it that way. Sure there are the odd cases here and there, but the vast majority would fall in line with what I said above.

And on top of that you have the Indian press taking cues from the British press - sensationalism. Every heading I see starts with 'India shining', 'India teaching the west a thing or two', 'More jobs for India'. True - the sensex is at an all time high and still climbing, true we are seeing a dawn of Indian companies snapping up foreign counterparts, true India is probably second on the list after China on most international firms - but how long can we sustain this? Even people outside India have begun noticing the disturbing reality of the widely acclaimed Indian education system. If we want to sustain it, its the basics we need to get right. We need a solid education system - not a mass broiler farm. We need R&D, we need the right infrastructure and we need an incubator to new ideas and creativity - not blindfold teacher worship and muted ignorance.

Of Google Browser Sync!

2006-11-20T12:08:00.000Z

I made a shocking discovery over the weekend. I will let the following email I wrote to Google labs explain it:

Hello,

I am an avid user of Google Browser Sync and have found it to be really useful, till yesterday.

Firstly a bit about my setup -

I use Google Browser Sync to sync between my pc at work and office. I have not logged in anywhere else (luckily).
I had a friend of mine come over day before yesterday and he signed out of my Google Sync account and signed into his. After which he signed out and I signed again. To my dismay I found that Google Sync has somehow managed to combine both our bookmarks. I had only instance of Firefox running at that time on my pc.

I shut down my pc and switched it on later in the evening to find that although Google Sync said it was logged into my account, when i typed gmail.com it took me straight to my friends email inbox. Today I logged into Google Sync from work and I find that when I open google.com, yahoo.com, statcounter.com (and more sites) it automatically logs me in as my friend. I am actually able to access account details etc. Sometime back I found out that when my friend logs into his PC (on which I have never used my accounts) he's able to login to my accounts.

I find this an extremely scary proposition should I use Google Browser Sync anywhere lest I send out all my bookmarks, stored passwords, cookies etc. Furthermore, I can't even let anyone else logon using their google accounts to the browser sync on my PC for fear that they'll get all my details.

I hope something will be done about it at the soonest. I have screenshots to help and am willing to send any other details if need be.

My Google Id: XXXXXXXX
My friends Id: XXXXXXXX

Kind Regards

I will post an update as and when I receive news from Google, but for the time being I suggest people refrain from using Google Sync on any other PC's.

Of being Torn

2006-11-15T12:53:00.000Z

Of the Nokia 8800 Sirocco

2006-11-10T14:59:00.000Z

So, I finally got a new phone and chucked my Nokia N90 brick. The N90 was a fantastic phone. However, what it had in function, it lacked in form. It had an amazing twist action and a 2MP Carl Zeiss lens that clicked some brilliant pictures provided the ambient conditions where right. It was all well till I dropped it 2 months ago outside Cochin airport to find that I had successfully managed to crack the outer shell of the lens. Since then a combination of finger prints, dust and pollen has not allowed me to take a single decent picture.

The other gripe I had about the N90 was that it did not have a vibrator (Will the women stop chuckling please). Yes, that's right, what was Nokia's best N series phone till the N93 came along, didn't have a vibrator. I had to leave it on low volume ring at office which I found really irritating. The phone weighed in at 170gms which was close to the weight of most PDA's and they couldn't put a vibrator in. The keypad was amazingly ergonomic though, the screen resolution was excellent and it was quite well built too.

But alas, it was a big phone. A brick as most of my colleagues named it. So yesterday I went and bought myself the Nokia 8800 Sirocco edition. To date, I remember every single phone I had - Samsung SGH600('99), Panasonic GD90('00), Nokia 8210('00), Nokia 8310('02), Samsung Blue Eye('02), Sony Ericsson T68i('02), Nokia 7250('03), Sony Ericsson K700i('04), Sony Ericsson P910('05), Sony Ericsson K750i('05), Nokia N70('05), Nokia N90('06) and now the Nokia 8800 Sirocco edition. So, it would be fair to say that I've gone through quite a bit of phones and I'm in a position to give a decent review on this phone.

From the offset, I was impressed. The box of the 8800 Sirocco was stunning. It looked fantastically good and it had that luxurious aura about it. The phone came default with a matching dark metal finished bluetooth headset and cradle. Besides that I got a leather pouch (one without a clamp, finally! I hated the clamps), a leather surface wipe, a spare battery and a redesigned adapter. The phone looked stunning. It had a dark highly polished finish with an anti scratch Sapphire coating. If it looks good in the picture, believe me, it looks much better in your hand. The finish rivals the interiors of a Rolls and wouldn't feel out of place in the Presidential Suite of the Burj ul Arab. The sliding mechanism was made from ball bearings used by Porsche. Having tested a friends regular 8800 I was so glad Nokia had redesigned the keypad to make it more ergonomic - text messaging is much easier on the the Sirocco edition. That said, I still maintain that the 7250 had one of the best keypads I have ever used.

Nokia has produced a special firmware for the Sirocco edition and it does look different. The inbuilt themes are good, the 'designer' ringtones are quite nice but I really don't find them amazingly good as claimed by the brochures. The display is well lit and clear. The font layout of the software is nice and easy on the eye. You have individual font control for all settings which is nice. Besides that it has all the basic features that any Nokia running on an S40 platform has.

One thing that I can't find material on but I know has some good work done on is the voice clarity. I don't know if its because of a better speaker, better circuitry or some other gimmickry - but the voice clarity is fantastic on this phone. It really does feel clear and does not have the low quality digital feel about it. The reception seems to be good, I had reception on the platform of the tube station where I normally frequent - something I didn't have on the N90. The leather pouch supplied is very useful and I think I'll be using it continuously.

The cradle that came with the phone is something to behold. It comes matched to the colour of your phone. I went for the dark version and my cradle is dark too. It has this pulsating floor light that comes on and it looks fantastic. Basically the whole base of the cradle lights up in a dim white color when its switched on. It pulsates/stays on depending on the charging mode. That said, its not really what you want when you're asleep and the cradle's on your sidetable. You have an option to switch the light off.

From initial impressions, I think I'm going to suffer on battery life. It looks like I will have to charge it every night or else switch between batteries. But Nokia has upgraded the 600 mah battery that was on the 8800 to a 700mah battery on the Sirocco edition, which is a plus. The power save modes are also better than the regular 8800 which should probably give me some respite between changing batteries often. Speaking of which, removing the battery from the case is like wrestling a Bull. Its quite impossible. The 8800 Sirocco comes with an upgraded memory module and has 128MB of built in RAM as opposed to the 64MB on the regular 8800. Considering that it does not take SD cards or external media, I don't understand how Nokia can put just 128MB onto the most expensive phone in their range (barring the Vertu ofcourse, but a diamond encrusted phone is not something that I would want to buy even if I had all the money in the world). 128MB is just not good enough, it might have been sufficient 2 years ago on a high end phone but not now. The 2MP camera did a decent job at taking pics, however there is no in built flash (Do I see a new'er' special edition coming? Possibly) Picture quality was good but I still feel Sony Ericsson produce better camera phones than Nokia.

Its hard to hold the 8800 Sirocco without smudging it with fingerprints. It almost wants you to wear a velvet glove each time you touch it. You get this feeling that you are handling something precious, something that was built out of fine craftmanship - a classiness that you don't get with other phones. I also noted that the bluetooth headset supplied was actually a good one and not the low quality ones that you normally find supplied as part of standard accessories. The leather surface wipe is a life saver and you will be using it very frequently.

So, that's my 2 cents on the 8800 Sirocco. I think its a fantastic phone with a few glitches that could have been ironed out by Nokia. But then, you can't have it all, can you?

Of the Apple Guy

2006-11-10T09:33:00.000Z

Apple fires 'smug little twit'. No the other one.

Apple has decided to dump its 'Mac Guy' advertisements posted earlier here and here, because the character is a 'smug little twit'. According to Radar Online, the advertising campaign was designed to show a PC guy and a Mac Guy talking about the advantages of their different systems. Of course the Mac Guy was supposed to win the argument.

Alas while viewing audiences felt that while the Mac Guy may have proved his case, most of them wanted to pummel the smug little twit into a coma and jump on his bleeding body until the cops arrived.

In fact most of them liked the PC guy, John Hodgman, better, which was not really the point.

The Mac Guy was Justin Long, whose agent has confirmed that he is no longer hawking Macs for Apple and was getting on with his memorable film career. When the ads came out, Seth Stevenson, ad critic for Slate, complained that Long was just the sort of unshaven, hoodie-wearing, hands-in-pockets hipster we've always imagined when picturing a Mac enthusiast.

He said Apple was parodying its own image while also cementing it. This is of course a bad thing when most people perceive Apple's main weakness is its brainwashed, smug fanboy base who send abuse to journalists who write stories they don't like through anonymous accounts in case their mummies find out.

Of the Funny Schitt

2006-11-09T10:20:00.000Z

Of the Veyron - II

2006-10-30T13:18:00.000Z

I am at great loss trying to understand what psychopathic, nutter of a person would do such a thing to a Bugatti Veyron. So, what more does he/she have in the garage - a pink glitter studded Harley with a cuddly bunny in the front and laced satin seats?

Of the New Template

2006-10-27T15:07:00.005+01:00

Finally got around to upgrading my old blog templates to the new blogger templates. Have applied minor tweaks to the old template, re adjusted the layout dimensions and changed the type face on some text. Think it still needs some fine tuning. On the downside, after the migration I have noticed that some of my posts have line spacing problems which were not there with the earlier template. Will have to sort that out soon. I have also made sub domain changes so that this blog is now accessible at http://blog.pauljohny.com

On to F1 news. As expected Ross Brawn has resigned. End of another era. Lets hope that with MS's and Ross Brawn's departure, Ferrari for once will start looking at playing it the clean way. Highly unlikely though. Nonetheless they will still remain ranked 11 in my 2007 list and ranked 12 in the 2008 list (Since we have Pro Drive entering as the 12th team).

I can't believe Ferrari were granted permission to supply engines to a third team. When will the FIA learn that there are people who read the rules and understand them just as well as they do. The rules clearly state that any major manufacturer cannot supply more than one team with their engines. The FIA have obviously considered Ferrari as an independent team, which they are clearly not. Oh, that list of reasons to hate Ferrari never stops growing.

Carlos Ghosn has reiterated Renault's commitments towards F1. If only he had done this a year ago, Renault would have gone into 2007 with a two time world champion.

Had a very productive argument about whether it makes business sense for LVMH to go after Aston Martin, today. Had some really good insights from some people who are actually working on the deal since the place I work for is advicing Aston Martin on the deal. Think I'll write a complete post on it sometime soon.

Finally, something I stumbled upon in the news.

The moral: Never open a joint account!

Of the World Champions

2006-10-25T12:25:00.001+01:00

It’s the end of what has been the most exciting Formula 1 season that I have seen in toto. Renault have claimed both the constructors and the drivers title yet again, being the only 4th team in the history to repeat a double double. A considerable feat considering that they only joined F1 as a full manufacturer in 2001.

Looking forward to 2007, the future looks rather bleak. Several things work against Renault here.

1. Move to Bridgestones: With Michelin quitting the sport and the move to Bridgestone tyres, all the current Michelin runners are expected to suffer just the way Toyota did when they did the jump. Moreover, the head of Bridgestone's F1 programme has been moved to another division. He is replaced by two senior Bridgestone personnel. One, the tyre engineer for Michael Schumacher and the other, the tyre engineer for Massa - Little has to be said about the dire consequences this pose for other teams.

2. Driver line up: Lets face it. Renault has probably the worst driver line this side of Williams. Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, BMW & Honda feature a much more impressive line up. All of this is down to the fact that Renault decided to resign Fisichella. The last race stands testimont to why Fisichella shouldn't be in Formula 1. He had the new E spec engines which were much more powerful than Alonso's engine and still came in 4 positions below Alonso. How can Renault ever thrust the role of the senior driver to him? Kovaleinen much be relishing the prospect of kicking Fisi's arse come 2007. Speaking of which, Heiki will probably be the only saving grace next year for Renault. He surely holds a lot of promise and time will tell as to how he progresses on to being a full time driver. Incidentally, Heiki has done over 16,000 kms of testing in 2006. More than any other driver in F1.

3. Engine/Aero spec: Ever since the mass dampers were banned, Renault have been on the backfoot. They still haven't bounced back from that setback. The R26's front suspension was designed around the mass dampers and its loss was a bitter blow to its performance. Its quite clear that Ferrari are far ahead in terms of raw pace over the past few races. I am hoping that the R27's new front suspension without the reliance on mass dampers would help Renault narrow that gap. Another worrying issue is that their new spec engine - the E spec was raced only in the last race and thus was not submitted to the FIA for homologation. It’s the D spec that went for homologation.

Its not that Ferrari has no issues. Michael Schumacher has retired - we all know how pivotal he was to the Ferrari revival. Looks like Ross Brawn is taking a sabatical and further changes are expected with the arrival of Kimi.

However, I still think the advantage lies with Ferrari going into 2007. 2007 should be damage control time for Renault. A time to regroup and launch a bid for the 2008 championship. I would think it would be a job well done if Renault were in the top 3 at the end of the 2007 constructors championships.

Of Google

2006-09-26T16:45:00.000+01:00

A passing thought.

Every tom, dick and harry I know are on the hate Microsoft bandwagon. I don't particularly fancy Microsoft myself, but have you ever heard of Google haters? No, you haven't and I wonder why.

Granted Google search revolutionised the search industry - to a point that google is now not just a company, but a transitive verb. But how about their other offerings? Gmail is a great idea that is dogged by performance issues. I rarely use Gmail myself and I still find that I can't access my mails half the time due to performance/capacity issues on google's end. Orkut is plagued by capacity issues, I cannot stand the no more donut for you message anymore, especially when Im trying to post a scrap. Blogspot.com looks like it has a tie up with all the shrinks out there, frustrate users - make them run to shrinks - don't get it? Try posting a comment on a blog hosted on blogspot.com.

And its not like they are the biggest out there, myspace.com and Hi5 are far bigger than orkut, yet they don't have the problems that orkut seems to face. Same with blogspot.com. Even if you take Google's bread and butter - Search (and through that adwords and adsense) - Google search is plagued by arbit sites hosting links to other sites (link farms as they are called). Google search is just not as sharp as it used to be. There are conspiracy theories floating around the net saying that Google has not addressed the issue of 'link' sites because they in turn only generate revenue for Google at the expense of a misled link for the user. Compare that to yahoo search or dare I say the newly launched Microsoft live search, the former does a brilliant job and imo gives better results than Google. For a company that is amongst the most profitable tech firms ever, I find it hard to believe that Google does not have the resources to iron out these issues.

Now if all that wasn't enough, scout around the net a bit to find the amount of info Google has on you, you would be truly amazed. Every move they make, every segment they enter is aimed at gaining more info about you, be it the new online pay service competing with paypal or the Google sync feature aimed at remembering your bookmarks - Google wants to know more about you. Now, Im not sure about the vast majority out there, but if a ruckus can be thrown at Microsoft for storing information about where a user is based to validate their Windows XP copy (Microsoft was sued and had to pay an insane amount while agreeing to remove that piece of functionality) I don't see any reason why Google can get away with all this. I am not comfortable with one company knowing so much about me, and I believe there are more like me out there.

So, Google haters anyone?

Of the Renault seat

2006-09-21T10:29:00.000+01:00

Testing resumes, Piquet Jr. tops the times at Silverstone. Renault blows another engine. Hamilton does a shakedown.

Looking at early signs, I hope Renault bosses are squirming in their seats regarding their decision to resign Fisichella for next season. Its not too late, I say. Axe him, put Nelson Piquet Jr. in, they have Ricardo Zonta as an experienced third driver now, they are not going to surmount a title challenge of any sorts next year with Fisi driving the first Renault. They lost Alonso unexpectedly, time to do some damage control, regroup and set aim for the 2008 title. With Piquet and Kovalainen driving, there will be two talented and deserving drivers driving the Renault.

Fourth engine blow up in 2 weeks. Must say, things don't look very good for Renault at the moment. I am hoping the blow ups are due to components they are testing for the first time and not standard parts of the new D spec engine.

Time will tell.

Of the 2006 season

2006-09-18T13:27:00.000+01:00

The 2006 F1 season could not be poised any better. Its been ages since F1 has had two rivals worthy of the championship fighting it down to the wire. Brings back memories of the Hakinnen vs Schumacher battles.

Although it could be argued that FOSU (The Formula 1 Script Unit, ie, Bernie & Co, who sit behind the scenes and decide how the championship should go) had a major role in this years battle, this season is probably the most exciting season I have seen for over 5 years. It is indeed sad though that Formula 1 has been making news for all the wrong reasons with people finally beginning to voice opinions about the validity of certain decisions.

Alonso's penalty at Monza was by far the most ridiculous decision I have ever seen. Race drivers with over 20 years under their belt could not understand how Massa was impeded by Alonso. Lets delve a bit into this. Massa claimed he lost 3/10's because Alonso was in front. 3/10's on top of Massa's qualifying time would have given Massa pole position. Now, here is where things get interesting. Massa was carrying more fuel than Schumacher, so is he saying that, in Monza, arguably one of Schumachers favourite circuits, he drove a qualifying lap carrying more fuel than Schumacher and bettered his time? Okay, for a moment, lets think that he actually did something like that, shift to the race, Massa's fastest lap in the race was 5/10's off Schumacher's! That is by no means a small figure, half a second is miles in Formula 1 terms. There was no Alonso in front of him to 'impede' him, so where did his pace vanish? The only possible thing that can be inferred from the whole episode was it was a pile of horse poop.

Ferrari complained, FOSU was looking for something to pull Alonso and Renault down and they obliged, as if banning the mass dampers mid season wasn't enough. Alonso on the other hand drove a brilliant race, to come through from 10th to what would have been a third place. Had he not had the qualifying problems and the subsequent penalty, he would have been definitely fighting for the win at Monza. On the other hand, Renault seems to have their hands full with the new D spec engine. Three engine failures in less than a weeks time put a rather bleak looking blemish on the bullet proof reliability that Renault have shown so far. I hope they iron out the issues and come back all guns blazing like they did in China last year.

Monza was a sad day for Formula 1 and I hope the powers to be have noticed that they cannot continue this bias towards Ferrari and expect the paddock to keep quiet. The reaction from Pat Symonds, widely regarded as probably the most gentlemanly of all in the pit lane, said it all. To see him furious, to see him react to the penalty, was all it took me to realise how hurt they were.

I wish Alonso hadn't reacted so much to the incident, he has handled controversies well till now, but now, he has put himself on the bubble. Should he catch himself on a tussle with Schumacher on track and should anything happen, Alonso will be branded a bad loser, on the other hand that would pave way for Schumacher to retire 'gracefully' (yes, the degree of which can be contested, more on that in my next post).

2006 has been a significant year for Formula 1, the end of an era, the end of Schumacher, the end of multiple tire suppliers, the end of engine developments.. and this era should bow out in style, paving way to a new F1 devoid of manipulation, devoid of politics and for that to happen Renault has to win.

Renault need this win, all the F1 fans need this win, a truimph of true racing spirit over unfairness. I hate Ferrari for all that they have done, but this time I want Renault to win not because I whole heartedly root for them, but because I want it for motor sports, for Formula 1, for the sport that I have grown to love and cherish.

Of the Microsoft?

2006-09-18T11:40:00.000+01:00

Microsoft had to come back with something! :-)

(Courtesy: PG. Cheers!)

Of the Mac - II

2006-08-28T23:39:00.000+01:00

(Double click on the picture to start the ad)

(Double click on the picture to start the ad)

(Double click on the picture to start the ad)

Keep them coming I say.

Of the tourniquet

2006-08-18T00:13:00.000+01:00

Tourniquet [noun]: device used in first aid to the injured and wounded, to compress an artery and stop severe bleeding.

Feeling tired
By the fire
The long day is over

i tried to kill the pain
but only brought more
i lay dying
and i'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal
i'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming
am i too lost to be saved
am i too lost?

The wind is gone
Asleep at dawn
The embers burn on

my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation
my God my tourniquet
return to me salvation

With no reprise
The sun will rise
The long day is over

my wounds cry for the grave
my soul cries for deliverance
will i be denied Christ
tourniquet
my suicide

Something isn't right

2006-07-30T18:33:00.000+01:00

Title's usually began with an 'Of'. This time it doesn't, because as the name suggests, something isn't right.

I have been an avid F1 follower since 1996 and a Renault F1 fan since 2002, long before they displayed any realistic chances of winning a constructor or a drivers title. What fascinated me at the beginning was their ability to get off the line quicker than anyone else, the quick starting Renault's as they were called. There was something about that particular trait of the team that struck a chord in me. Further research into the teams history and their modus operandi made me a complete fan. They were modest, focussed and most importantly not flambouyant like most other teams in the paddock - something that has made me express my unequivocal support for them no matter what, for all these years.

Ferrari have now won 3 races in a row. Michael Schumacher is just 11 points away from eclipsing Alonso from the lead. Ferrari, a mere 10 points away from Renault. Call it yet another a conspiracy theory, call it sheer lack of ability to take a defeat, but something just isn't right.

Here's my case:

1. The most obvious question. How is it that Renault have suddenly found themselves wanting in pace? Their straight line speeds seem fine, but their overall pace is just not there. All of this happened in a matter of 4 races. Yes, Ferrari has improved, but how is it that Renault with a newly updated engine and a new aero package has found absolutely no improvement in pace.

2. On the penultimate lap today, Fernando Alonso posted his best lap of the race. Strange, very strange. He was being chased down by Fisi, but was that the reason he posted a personal fastest lap on old tyres?

3. So, lets assume Ferrari did climb up the ladders very quickly, brought Massa to speed, walloped Renault by demolishing the performance advantage the latter had over the first leg of the season, all in a matter of 3 races - granted the Ferrari is quick - but Renault seemed to be struggling to match the pace of even McLaren, Honda and Williams. For a team that won last years drivers and constructor championship, one who's on the helm still as far as the standings go, it is quite incredible that they are going backward, instead of staying stagnant or lurching forward.

4. Renault have repeatedly emphasised that they will not go conservative this time as opposed to last year. So how does this fit into this picture? It was almost as though Renault never got into Mix - 5 (best performance setting on an F1 car. Each driver is usually allocated x% of laps in which he can drive the car at its peak, ofcourse pushing that number would compromise reliability).

5. Alonso has been repeatedly beaten by Fisichella. After qualifying yesterday I was of the opinion that Alonso must have had more fuel than Fisichella - hence the difference in grid positions, but as the race unfolded, I was proved wrong. Which brings me to another point. Lets take Alonso's and Fisichella's performance over this season and analyse them individually. Following are the race positions held to date.

Alonso: 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 5 2 5
Fisi: R 1 5 8 6 3 6 4 4 3 6 6

Now, if you look carefully you will notice that in Fisichella's case, there really isn't much deviation from his usual pattern of race finishes. Consistently in the mid tier points scoring position (Yes, whether he really should be driving that Renault at all, is a totally different question altogether).

Alonso's result however tells a different story. The '5 2 5' at the end may seem like a missed beat, a one off, but the manner in which they were attained is quite alarming. He was totally out driven and one among those two fifth positions was at France, Renault's home ground.

6. Renault conceded that they had a major tyre blistering problem today. However, none of the other Michelin teams experienced the same. Now yes this could be because Renault opted to choose a different tyre from the rest of the pack, but how was a blistering problem this severe not detected earlier? Is it just the unexpected heat at Hockenheim?

7. Quotes from the Pitpass editor:

".. on the penultimate lap, Fernando Alonso posts his best lap of the race. Odd, very very odd"

".. however as we head to Hungary one cannot help but wonder what has happened at Renault, because to this seasoned eye, something doesn't seem right"

Quotes from Grandprix.com:

"How can one explain such a situation. If it is down to tyres, how come fellow Michelin-users McLaren and Honda were quicker than the Renaults? How could this happen when Renault said that it had the biggest aerodynamic update of the year and expected to go quicker than previously?"

Is it the mass damper issue?
Is it because Briatore hasn't signed his contract for next year?
Is it the musical chairs for the Renault driving seat next year?
Is it because the time has come to distance Alonso from the development process of the car because he leaves to McLaren next year?

or... is it Bernie playing puppet master?

Something just isn't right.

Of a Mixed Bag - II

2006-07-29T09:49:00.000+01:00

Disquisitions - technically incorrect. Reason: concise.

- GM Renault & Nissan looking to join hands. I thought the world of the same car being rebranded/badged differently was already here. If the deal goes through, they might as well call the combined firm the Microsoft of automobiles.

- (A post that should have come up long back) Have you ever wanted to record a conversation on your mobile phone? Here's a tip - ALWAYS put the phone on silent before you venture into recording the call. If you are wise enough to record the call in the first place, you should also be wise enough to understand that the second you start recording a very audible (and distinguishable) beep is sent to the party on the other end. Would take someone really thick on the other end to not realise that the conversation is being recorded. So when playing 'smart ass', do justice to the role. The same applies to putting a call on loudspeaker. Anyone with basic knowledge of acoustics can detect the feedback from the loudspeaker.

- Public sector banks in India (sans a handful) go on strike opposing outsourcing of their jobs. Do I hear someone say 'taste of your own medicine, India?'

- WTO talks collapse, finger pointing starts. Now, seriously, what's the big surprise in that?

- Microsoft to release Zune, dubbed the 'Ipod Killer'. Rumour has it that it is to debut with 2 sidekicks, one of which could be the 'xbox2go' - Microsoft's venture into handheld gaming. Microsoft has officially said that it will let all Zune users download songs they have already downloaded from iTunes for free. Rumours also suggest that the Zune will be preloaded with content.

- Petrol prices reaching record highs, policy makers scampering to increase taxes and levies - Exxon Mobil reports near record profit of $10 billion in one quarter. Now apparently, Exxon Mobil has invested $211 billion as opposed to the $201 billion it has earned so far. I'm not very convinced. Why are they buying back shares then? Why aren't the policy makers forcing them to re invest in renewable energy sources instead of buying back shares.

- Indian government bans access to blogs - Need I say more on how ridiculous a decision that proved to be? Now I have gone through all the 20 URL's that have been blocked by the Indian government. Had there not been a ruckus about this in the first place, would I have bothered?

Auf Wiedersehen.

Of Diet Coke & Mentos

2006-07-17T19:29:00.000+01:00

Of the Enhancer

2006-07-09T15:02:00.000+01:00

“Enhance your male-hood”

I have been literally inundated with emails of late that are of the same nature as the quote above. Why they chose me as a subject is a matter that I am still trying to get my head around. So, here’s a reply I’ve composed to all my well-wishers out there.

Dear Male Organ Enhancer,

Thank you for your unsolicited email. There’s nothing more that boosts ones moral than to read the subject ‘Stop being just average’ first thing in the morning.

It is with great regret that I would like to inform you that for the following reasons, I would like to deny your ‘life changing’ offer.

1. If I needed an enhancer, I would jolly well google you up and come directly to you. You really don’t have to send me a pic of something that looks like part of a horse’s anatomy juxtaposed on to a 5 footer with a glee on his face.

2. Contrary to what you think, ‘Jack and his beanstalk’ does not inspire me. In fact, it sounds scary because the last thing I want is a 5 year old climbing up and down my anatomy in search of a castle.

3. And no Mc’adorn’alds, I do not wish to ‘Supersize’ my meat. I’m happy the way it is, thank you.

4. To those ‘scientists’ at work at FantaSize, your equation ‘Force + tablet = Growth’ sends shivers down my spine. If anything, that equation is going to put it to ‘sleep’ forever.

5. Virility, you need to further elucidate on ‘Will make your woman scream’. I really don’t want her to scream because she feels like I’m driving a sledgehammer up her.

6. And lastly to those wise cracks at Penhancer who asked me if my woman’s ever turned around and said ‘Is it inside yet?’, yes she has, but in my defense, it had nothing to do with the context you were implying!

For the above reasons (and more), kindly refrain from sending me details on products/services I am not interested in. Would save you the effort and save me valuable space in my mailbox.

Cheers
P

Of the Portugezer

2006-07-06T11:41:00.000+01:00

As any true Englishman knows, the English national football team's traditional crash-and-burn in the World Cup is never as a result of its own shortcomings.

Previous top quality excuses have involved excess heat, unexpectedly low atmospheric pressure, the wrong kind of grass on the pitch, players' concerns over the political situation in East Timor, etc, etc.

Mercifully, though, the 2006 debacle can be attributed to just one cause: "cheating goofy england hating portugezer" Cristiano Ronaldo whose shameful protestations at Wayne Rooney's treatment of Ricardo Carvalho led to the normally even-tempered Liverpudlian's expulsion from the match.

To add insult to injury, Ronaldo then scored the winner in the inevitable penalty shoot-out during which exhaustion provoked by indignation at Rooney's red card, coupled with an unfavourable level of atmospheric humidity and an inauspicious alignment of the planets, saw Carragher, Gerrard and Lampard cruelly robbed of the chance of World Cup glory.

Bloody unfair life this is.

Of the Turn Table

2006-06-29T15:39:00.000+01:00

Now these guys are what I would call a class act.

Saw them some time back in London and I was truly mesmerised by the performance. This video does not do justice to the entire experience. Watching them do their thing in front of you is something that can be described as nothing short of breathtaking. These guys take turntablism to a whole new level.

For the uninitiated, these guys are making music out of other songs. They use records containing normal songs they fancy, take one small bit (1-5 second clips) of it, replay it at different speeds to alternate the pitch as well as do other on-the-fly changes to create something that bears no resemblance to the original.

I am particularly fascinated by the bass guitar piece the guy in orange was conjuring up. Watch him from 00.24 - 00.39s. Keep your eye on his right hand on the cross fader on the bottom right screen. Absolutely fantastic would be an understatement.

Birdy Nam Nam as they are called, have released an album and Im trying to get my hands on it. I have listened to a few pieces of theirs and would surely recommend it to anyone looking for a refreshingly new genre of music.

Of the Mac

2006-06-25T12:11:00.000+01:00

(Double click on the picture to start the ad)

(Double click on the picture to start the ad)

And so the war starts. Come what may, I know my next computer is going to be a mac. Now only if they found some way to run Windows Vista too.

Of the World of Outsourcing - II

2006-06-23T09:55:00.000+01:00

Another example and its Wipro, Hyderabad yet again. Missed out on capturing a similar case by someone from Infy yesterday.

Has no idea of what perl is, argues with one of the most brilliant Perl programmers I have ever met, posts the username/password on the channel.

When will someone from Wipro stand up and take notice?

Of the World of Outsourcing

2006-06-21T15:12:00.000+01:00

So, I used to wonder why most Europeans and Americans here look with contempt at any mention of adding an 'outsourced' resource into their team. Initially, I used to think, it was just the sheer agony of seeing jobs move away from the 'West' to cheaper locations - Business Process Outsourcing as it is more widely known as. I never quite understood what they mean't when they said, 'It just isn't the same'.

Over the past year here, I have come to realise exactly what they mean with the groans and the sighs. It was an epiphany actually. We were assigned an external resource (ie someone working from Hyderabad/Bangalore) temporarily while we awaited the arrival of a new joiner. My instantaneuos reaction was, 'Oh no'. It took me roughly a minute to realise why I said that.

Let me explain. Herein, you see a screenshot of my desktop at work. Zoom into my left screen and you will see an internal chat client I use. Read through the chat posted by user velamara (an employee at Wipro) on the Perl channel.

1. It is clearly mentioned on chat guidelines that the channel is not a support channel. Hence, no one is obligated to answer your question in any stipulated time period.
2. He wisely posted a line which had the username/password for a production database to a chat channel with over 500 users.
3. Had a line
$dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:Oracle:xxxxxx', XXXXX', 'XXXXX') or die DBI::errstr;
showing error: Bad name after XXXXX' at dbconn.pl line 7.
and still couldn't spot what was wrong.

Surely, one would argue that this could be a freak case and that the entire industry should not be judged by freak occurences. But the truth of the matter is that, this is just one of the several cases that I see every single day.

Dig a little deeper and you see the reason why. You have green resources (slang for fresh out of college) being allocated to projects without adequete training. And in training I not only mean technical training but also training with respect to general awareness. Training to let a new joiner understand the way a client operates, the nature of the business, the consequences of his role and the business impact. Surely, not sending out username/passwords of databases that hold sensitive information on open forums is something they should have known prior to joining any team. The technical training received should also be questioned. I see mechanical & civil engineers with absolutely no prior knowledge in software being recruited by the cream of Indian IT Inc's. All due respect to them, but what the hell are they doing in IT after doing 4 years of engineering that's got nothing to do with IT. I hear people bellowing out, its all to do with the 'aptitude'.

Oh yes, aptitude. So someone with a degree in mechanical engineering with 3/4 months of IT training can be put on par with another graduate here who holds a 4 year Mtech in Software engineering from Imperial College. So, tell me this, if you walk in ill to a hospital one day and see that your GP is actually a fresh graduate from IIT Kanpur with 5 months of training, would you sit down, tell him your problem and subsequently follow his recommended prescription? Reminds me of a very similar case that appeared a few months ago albeit on the Java channel, where X had trouble connecting to a DB, ^G'd (That's the alert symbol back here used to indicate production issues and matters that require immediate attention, this usually makes the chat screen come to the foreground regardless of what you are working on, think of it as an extension of nudging and buzzing in MSN and Yahoo resp.) the Java channel, when again, it was clearly stated in the channel that it was not a support channel and ^G's aren't welcome at all. Nevertheless he got the help he needed, during which he posted the line containing the connect statement and with it the username and password of a production DB. He further went to defend his ^G on the channel when he was told off by another user (incidentally a director). His defense? It was an urgent issue since it was 8pm IST and he wanted to go home! Needless to say it went into the books against his employer, Wipro in this case. The person in question was a graduate of the much loved IIT's. IIT Delhi to be precise. His degree? Btech in Mechanical Engineering. The answer to his query on connecting to the DB? Ever heard of an import statement?

I am not saying you need to be a graduate in Computer Science to pursue a career path in IT. But getting assigned to an IT project when your background is primarily something that is poles apart with respect to IT sounds as practical as a chocolate tea pot. Furthermore, it also shows why there is such a backlash from employees working in Europe & the states about working with resources based out of India or China.

With the IT industry gathering showers of praises from all corners of India, I feel sad when I see news with headlines that scream 'Infosys and TCS to recruit 19000 this quarter'. It gives me the shivers to realise that the one thing India has really carved itself a position in is going to be destroyed with mindless allocation of untrained/unskilled resources. True, Infy has the largest training center in the world. It also has one of the highest ratio of unallocated resources (People on bench) in the industry, almost every other new joiner I talk to is on the bench doing some ridiculous documentation and leading an alternate existence on orkut.

It is time, the IT industry in India did a complete review on where it stands. The news that Apple is going to shift base out of India should be taken as a heads up for the undesirable things that can follow in the future should the present scenario continue. It is this extra difference in service that could propel the next big push for the Indian IT industry.

Of the Immortal Technique

2006-06-19T22:33:00.001+01:00

Seldom do you find a hip-hop song on poverty. Immortal Technique was started by Felipe Coronel, who's apparently done really well in the freestyle battles and have refused several deals with major record companies because he was reluctant to compromise on the political aspects of his songs.

I like the song even though I find some of his views far fetched and devoid of reason. Very good orchestration running behind, good concept & choice of medium.

Immortal Technique - Poverty of Philosophy

Download the song here.
Lyrics available here.

Of the Show

2006-06-16T23:10:00.000+01:00

Those who know me well would contend that I am not pro American, I don't like the big brash IYF lifestyle, I just don't 'dig' stuff like that. However, there is one bit that leaves me in awe of them. When it comes to putting on a show, no one, and I reiterate, no one, can put on a better show than the Americans.

Case in point, the American Idol finals. The 90 odd seconds that Katherine McPhee took to stage to sing Black Horse and the Cherry left me totally spell bound. From the conception of the two drums on stage to every move choreographed on stage - Katherine's walk around the drums, the way both the percussionists smiled and seemed to enjoy every moment especially the one on the right, and Katherine's moves, however minimalistic they seem to be, the colour co-ordination on stage - the total effect was absolutely stunning. I have watched this small clip over and over again and I still can't seem to get enough of it. I also believe she sang the song better than KT Tunstall herself. Ironic, this being one instance I vote in favor of the Americans, Tunstall herself was born in Edinburgh and the fact that the American Idol concept was first founded by Simon Cowell back here in the UK. Anyways, back to the point, I also believe what set the song distinctly apart from the original was the superb bass guitar strumming throughout the song in its American Idol avatar. Positively made it more catchy than the original version. And about Katherine's slight modification of the song (1.15 - 1.36s) - truly amazing.

So, here's to more American shows! Keep them coming.

Of the New Resurgent India

2006-06-10T23:37:00.000+01:00

The face of the second fastest growing economy in the world. The face of the world's largest democracy. The face of new India.

Of the World of Utilities

2006-06-09T22:39:00.000+01:00

I often wonder why there isn’t a repository of free software out there devoid of spyware. The few gems that stand out, sans Firefox, don’t do a very good job at letting the end user aware of its existence.

It is just amazing how some of these software have changed the way I interact with my pc. I have herein compiled a list of such software.

Mozilla Firefox

www.killbillsbrowser.com should really tell you why you shouldn’t be using Internet Explorer anymore. Microsoft will argue that IE7 is out in the horizon, however after testing their beta version, I can only reiterate that Firefox is by far the best browser out there. Further tweaks for Firefox are available to customise it to unprecedented levels of performance.

ForecastFox

Getting Firefox alone would be like buying a Ferrari sans a paintjob, gears, seats and an ECU. Extensions differentiate Firefox from just a good browser to a great browser. Forecastfox attaches a handy toolbar that you can place anywhere along your browser and customise to show the current/future weather. Great tool when you live in a place where there's a high probability of you witnessing rain, sunshine and snow all in the same day.

Adblock

The name's pretty self explanatory. Plain, intuitive and does a very good job at blocking out pop ups and unwanted scripts.

Google Browser Sync

The newbie in extras for Firefox. Browser Sync is a handy util that lets you maintain a centralised session, bookmark, history, cookies & password management profile. You login using your google account and then use a pin to access all of the above. The perfect companion to people who go through the hassle of updating bookmarks et al on several computers they use.

Directory Opus

Ever plagued by Microsoft's "Windows Explorer performed an illegal function" followed by a closure of all your explorer instances? Ever dreamed of a world where you could use tabbed settings for windows explorer just like in Firefox? Directory Opus does for windows explorer what Firefox did for IE. The only difference being Directory Opus is not free. A trial version is available that can be further extended once the period is over.

Directory Opus includes tabbed settings, ftp tools, content management tools and great customisation features. It replaces your windows explorer and does a fine job at that.

Itunes

Very popular and widely used since the advent of the Ipods. How popular? A recent survey amongst students found that Ipods replaced Beer as the most favourite thing. Something is just not right here.

Itunes hack

If you have a 11,000/47GB strong music library like me, you would have undergone the pain of adding new songs into Itunes. Itunes for some reason is very reluctant to update its libraries, hence getting it to automatically recognise newly added albums is a pain.

Enter ILU - Itunes Library Updater. This piece of code updates the Itunes music libraries and cleans up the Itunes database to remove non existent references. I have customised it further to run from a batch file that I have stuck into windows scheduler so that it runs automatically at predefined intervals keeping my music library nice and clean.

O&O Defrag

For those who are very particular at running their PC at its optimum, defragging forms an important routine. O & O defrag does an excellent job at this. It has options to defrag, sorting files together by last date accessed, last time modified or by file names. Great options that let you defrag different drives based on the data contained.

Sadly, its not free, however, you can always download the trial version.

Picassa

Quite simply put, the best amateur image editting utility out there that out performs some of its more expensive/professional rivals. Made by Google, form and functionality at its best.

Kaspersky Anti Hacker

Excellent network level protection for your PC. Easy to use, very effective and powerful features. Not free. However, alternatives like ZoneAlarm offer similar protection for free but I have always preferred Anti Hacker over ZoneAlarm.

DC++

The best peer to peer networking utility on the net. Freeware, clean of spyware, ads and connectivity to the largest pool of data out there.

Of the War Cry

2006-06-05T23:15:00.000+01:00

0….

Adidas-Salomon, Altria Group, Inc., Apple Computer, Inc, Avon Products, Inc, BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke), BP p.l.c., Burger King Holdings, Inc., Cadbury Schweppes plc, Colgate-Palmolive Company, DaimlerChrysler AG, Doctors Associates Inc. (Subway Restaurants), DuPont, Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Fila USA, Inc, Gap Inc., Groupe Danone, H.J. Heinz Company, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg Company, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Kmart Corporation, Kraft Foods Inc., L'Oreal SA, Levi Strauss & Co., McDonald's Corporation, Nestle S.A., NIKE, Inc., Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Puma AG Rudolf Dassler, Reebok International Ltd., Revlon, Inc., Sara Lee Corporation, Shell Petroleum N.V., Starbucks Corporation, Timberland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Unilever PLC, Vivendi Universal S.A., Wal-Mart Stores, Wendy's International, Inc., Whole Foods Market, Inc.

A list of some companies that spring into my mind that have questionable environmental policies and/or work ethics (read child labor). It is disheartening to see Levi’s, Nike/Adidas clad pugnacious blokes standing up and joining the bandwagon on the hate PepsiCo/Coca Cola company campaign. What is ever more disheartening is the fact that it’s becoming a fad now to join this ‘movement’ against corporate irresponsibility. Environment conscious you say? Nescience, I say.

…… 15, 16….

Now, let me ask you this. (Teetotallers, feel free to skip over) When was the last time you had a drink? Did you have any remorse while sipping your favourite drink? In fact, did you spare a thought to the thousands that suffer in Africa/Asia from having their only source of water supply polluted by waste chemicals and other such particles like glass pieces (Yes, you read that right), all produced to make sure you get that glass of drink in your hand at the right cost?

Seldom do you find whistle blowing against titans such as Diageo (makers of VAT 69, Johnnie Walker, Baileys, Smirnoff amongst several hundred other liquor brands). In fact, I have over heard people in pubs who refuse to have Coke/Pepsi in their favourite Diageo made glass of drink because ‘they were against Coke/Pepsi products, since they ruin the eco system’. The eco system?? Pollution created from that car you drive exceeds damages created by a glass of Coke/Pepsi in multifolds. Does that ever inspire you to walk that visit to the local mart instead of catching a bus or cab? Does that inspire you to buy a Toyota Prius instead of a Beemer? Does that ever inspire you to pay that little bit extra to travel in a green cab instead of the normal cabs? Does that inspire you to check if that refrigerator tucked away in your kitchen uses CFC free gas? Does that inspire you to refuse switching that air conditioning on and rely on a hand fan?

33, 34, 35….

The makers of your favourite sub has been found guilty, your Heinz ketchup has been guilty, all your burgers at McDonalds are guilty, Kellogg company, Hersheys, Burger King, Kraft Foods, Nestle, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market are all guilty, so are tasty treats by Sara Lee & Cadbury Schweppes. Shell, BP, Toyota Motor Corporation, Nissan Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler, BMW.. Guilty! Colgate-Palmolive Company, yes your toothpaste!, guilty! Wal-Mart Stores, Altria Group (Phillip Morris), Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, L’Oreal and even Apple Computer, Inc are guilty! All guilty of crimes against Mother Nature! And be it known, not for small offences.

Do you care? Do you think twice before using any product made by the companies stated above? In fact, the impact to the eco system caused by some of the above mentioned individually are multiple times that caused by PepsiCo and the Coca cola Company put together!

93% of you readers have owned/presently own a Nike/Adidas/Reebok/Puma product. Do any of those products ever make you cogitate about the extend to which these companies exploited children in south east Asia? Let alone exploitation of humans, the canvas used for those shoes come for leather tanneries that have, from age untold, been responsible for polluting the water tables of Asia & Africa. Let’s drill deep into this.

.. 45, 46….

The pollution released from Indian tanneries are estimated at 50% more than the weight of the hide they process. 1.5 kilos of pollution for every kilo processed! India produces over 3400 million square feet of processed leather or 12 million tonnes in just a year alone, that’s 18 million tonnes of pollution in one year alone! That’s the weight of 58 Petronas towers or 14 times the amount of debris found after the WTC collapse. All in 365 days. Will you go off leather shoes? Will you sacrifice your Prada wallet and your Gucci bags? How about that spanking new leather jacket?

The list, endless; the counts of crimes, daunting; the panacea, ‘you’.

No one in this world is completely beneficent and its just the same with any corporation. A boisterous attempt at avoiding all PepsiCo/Coca Cola products although done with the right intend in mind is totally negated if you are prime culprits in encouraging firms that do much more harm to the environment. Next time you say no to a PepsiCo/Coca Cola product, think about your shoes, think about your car, think about the scores of other products you use in your everyday life that causes far more damage to those people not as hale as you. Does it make sense to shy away from the reality and go with the fad?

Fight for the right cause and more importantly, fight it the right way!

56, 57…….. the number of children under the age of 15 dead due to lack of clean drinking water since you started reading this post … 59, 60…..

Of the Schu Cheat

2006-05-30T17:51:00.000+01:00

Never before has a corner on an F1 track come under such scrutiny. A red Ferrari with the German Maestro on board created a ruckus at Rascasse that saw the media/stewards/fans & race teams watch countless replays of what marked a sad moment in the history of Formula 1.

Ferrari walk out of the weekend stating, they are left with no alternative but to suck it up and look ahead since they cannot appeal against the verdict. But has justice been served?

Michael Schumacher, winner of 7 World titles, holder of every conceivable F1 record sans few of recent by Alonso, took a turn he must have taken close to a 1000 times (16 years, 72 laps per race + qualifying + practice) at a speed of 16km/hr and lost control. Telemetry shows that he braked 50% harder than he normally would at that turn, for 5 seconds he attempted to steer around the corner by holding his steering – straight, then left, then straight again – seems fine, till one notices that it was a right hander. What was he doing steering left? And this crucially, after he missed the apex.

In my previous post I had reckoned the stewards would let him go. I had pondered on the response of the F1 community if ever such thing happened. The stewards deliberated for over 8 hours before they came to a decision. In retrospect, a decision that couldn’t have been fabricated any better, for:

Schumacher was not punished for doings that were unsporting/deliberate in nature. He was penalised under article 116 – “if a driver affects the results of other drivers by committing an error, you can cancel all of his lap times”. The important clause there being ‘committed an error’.

He was punished under a clause that made it impossible for Ferrari to appeal.

Could it have been any better? Ferrari still took advantage by putting in a new engine and getting him brimmed up. Now Ferrari gets away with their press statements stating, had they been given an option, they would have appealed. I frankly want them to appeal, I want them to publicly make available the telemetry details. Ferrari are one amongst two teams in the paddock that uses encrypted radio, I want all the conversations preceeding the incident to be made freely available to the public. I don’t want Schumacher to get away (yet again). He was penalised in the wrong way. He should have been banned from the race and Ferrari should have been given a chance to appeal.

It is true that I admire the man for his driving skills. I still believe he is amongst the best drivers out there now, but such behaviour should not be tolerated by the paddock anymore. Ferrari, the jewel in Bernie’s crown shouldn’t get away with this. From the numerous incidents in the past when Schumacher deliberately stepped into the path of Damon Hill, Villeneuve, Coulthard & Montoya, to the drive through penalty been taken on the last lap of the race to pushing Alonso & Ralf Schumacher out of the track to have been the only driver ever to be helped by track marshals to get out on the track from the gravel pit to the team orders at the expense of Irvine and Barrichello, it is time that F1 steps up to him and put a stop to all this nonsense.

I am glad with what Schumacher did, for regardless of his misdemeanor, boundless talent and ability to author a spectacular comeback, this incident will not let him do the one thing he really wants – retire gracefully.

Of Monaco

2006-05-27T19:01:00.000+01:00

It’s the nail biting finals of the world cup, 9 wickets down, 8 runs needed from 14 balls, its Ponting on a 145 n.o. on strike, and a resilient Gillespie on 9 n.o. on the other end. Irfan Pathan balls a low full toss, Ponting strokes it down to cover and steals a single. Everything is in order, till now. S. Raina picks the ball up, runs a few yards towards the stumps, takes aim at Ponting’s shin and throws with all his might. Ponting comes down crashing, he has to be rushed off in a stretcher to the hospital.

R. Ponting retired hurt 145*

India lifts the World Cup.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid play Arsenal in a league match who’s outcome has no prominence on the league standings as the same two teams are already scheduled to meet each other in the semi’s. 0-0/0-0 Real Madrid, read the score line half way through the game. In the second half, unexpected changes happen, Emmanuel Adebayor & Kolo Toure are out substituting for Arsenal. Everyone’s dumb struck, why would Arsene Wenger pull such a move? Player 1 fouls David Bechkam, breaks his leg and gets sent off the field. Player 2 goes after Ronaldo and gets sent off too.

0-0/0-2 Real Madrid

Arsenal wins over a Real Madrid sans Beckham and Ronaldo in the semi finals.

Formula 1 today fell to a whole new low today in the hands of Ross Brawn, Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher. The message sent out was clear; we will do anything it takes to win. A truly sad day for sport.

Some of you readers would say, that’s what matters, winning, 10 years down the line, Michael Schumacher will be remembered for taking the Monaco pole in 2006 and not in the controversial manner in which he did so. It saddens me to know that there are such people out there, who would gladly trade the name of the sport for their own glory. So, I don’t intend to address that point in this post.

Ferrari fans would concede, it must have been a mistake. Yes, it could have been a mistake. So, lets analyse what happened. Schumi took the turn, he had a dash of oversteer that he tried to correct which later turned to understeer. He moved straight in to the sidewall, all at an amazingly low speed considering that he was on a flying lap and Massa earlier on an out lap had done considerable damage to his car when he ran into the side wall. He didn’t try engaging reverse because he was worried about traffic, fair enough. His car then magically stalled and was parked diagonally across the track. Believable? I sat in horror when I saw a multiple world champion negotiate oversteer in a fashion that would have put an amateur to shame. So, was it really oversteer? Is there even an inkling of truth in his story? Will Ferrari reveal his telemetry to the public? His coyish answers in the press conference, his sheepish looks and the surprising effort to sound funny blew his cover. He had the same face he had on after Adelaide 1994, Jerez 1997 & Austria 2002. Till then I was in two minds, but that show in the press conference was the last nail.

I was never a fan of the Maranello based team. In fact, I despise them the most amongst all the 11 teams. But today I realised that there is so much more I could hate them for.

Ferrari’s flexible rear wings are a well known fact in the pit lane, results of which are dramatically visible. A Ferrari has topped 97% of the 4 speed traps set up over the track in the last 4 races. That is a staggering percentage. Both Schumi and Massa are consistently 4-6 km/hr quicker than the rest of the pack at the speed traps. Ross Brawn countered Nick Fry’s statement that they have evidence to prove Ferrari has flexible wings, saying Ferrari in turn had evidence to prove other teams had flexible aerodynamic components. What he should be referring to is the flexible side mirror on the Renault and McLarens. It doesn’t take a PhD in aerodynamics to figure that flexible side mirrors aren't there to give you an aerodynamic advantage. What it offers is lesser rigidity which prevents the mirror from shaking violently while going over curbs and hence helping the drivers make more sense of the image they see on the mirrors.

Does Formula 1 still need to tolerate such behaviour? Is this what professional sport is about? Bernie Ecclestone’s close relationship with Jean Todt is no secret and for that very reason I don’t expect Ferrari to get a reprimand or for Schumi to have his time cancelled. I don’t expect justice to be done. Alonso, Fisichella, Webber and Raikonnen were on a faster lap when Schumi decided to park his car across the track. It cost Alonso pole position, Kimi/Webber, a front row start and Fisichella, a possible first or second row start.

As one sports writer put it, "If Michael was being underhand, which everyone except Ferrari in the paddock seemed to think was the reality, let us hope that his apparent incompetence returns on Sunday and he crashes and clears the way for people who appreciate the true meaning of the word sport."

For me, today, at Monaco, Monte Carlo, Ferrari & Michael Schumacher lost its biggest battle and with it, brought shame to the entire Formula 1 community who strive to keep the show going.

Michael Schumacher - 7 time Formula 1 World Champion

1994, Adelaide - runs into Damon Hill
1997, Jerez - runs into Villeneuve
2000, Austria - Drives car into racing line after being shunted hoping for a red flag
2001, Brazil - weaves to make Montoya lose GP
2003, Silverstone - runs Alonso off track
2006, Monaco - stages accident in final qualifying

Update: After 8 hours of consideration the 3 stewards have penalised Michael Schumacher. He starts tomorrow's GP from P22

Of the Fine Balance

2006-05-27T01:40:00.000+01:00

Schumi wins, twice; Alonso delivers a masterful race in front of 330,000 spaniards, 29 year old Taylor Hicks crowned American Idol, the Indian stock markets witness a correction, US lawmakers vote for network neutrality, Arcelor puts up a brave fight against Mittal.

Past few weeks have been testimonial to the fact that the world is constantly in a state of balancing itself. Renault’s all win record was upset by the scarlet team, 4 women American Idols were superseded by a man, months of network giants planning tie ups with the behemoths of the internet world was upset by the court ruling on network neutrality, 4 months of the bulls in the Indian stock markets finally see an end with the market correcting itself, LN Mittal’s bid to keep growing offset by the Arcelor – Severstal deal.

Every streak will come to an end. Everything will find balance, that state of equilibrium. For some it will be a ceasefire, for some it will be the restoration of the balance between good and evil, for others it will be yet another chapter with a moral in fine print.

Song of the moment: Bad Day - Daniel Powter

Of the Slimy World

2006-05-06T17:04:00.000+01:00

Amidst news that Petrol prices are sky rocketing all over the world, Saudi Arabia just announced that they are reducing the price of Petrol in the kingdom. I presume it happened sometime soon after a board meeting like the one shown above.

Of the Whiner!

2006-04-26T09:22:00.000+01:00

A lot of whining coupled with a dash of bad luck. The picture is self explanatory, really.
For the not-so-keen-eyed, notice anything wrong with Fisi's sponsors?

Of the Ferrari Revival

2006-04-24T14:02:00.000+01:00

So, the question lurks. Did Renault throw what was shaping to be a definite victory or did the Brawn/Schumi combination pull a classic Ferrari number?

Let the stats speak for themselves. After the first pit stop, the following were Schumacher’s lap times: 1:25.01, 1:25.22, 1:25.66, 1:25.90, 1:26.69 ... and it continued to deteriorate till the 1.28.5 mark. The 1:26.69 was the lap in which Alonso emerged from his first pit stop, about 11.2 seconds behind Schumacher. After the second pit stop however, his times were: 1:26.1, 1:26.5, 1:26.5. Ferrari confirmed that they were using a new set of tyres for both the first and the second pit stop. So, why did Schumacher’s pace deteriorate gradually between the first and the second pit stop?

Was it graining? Was it anything to do with his car being actually slow? Again let the stats speak for themselves. Schumacher’s in lap for the second pit stop (the very lap he did once Alonso pitted) was a 1:25.7. His average lap time prior to that was 1:27.4. So, he suddenly found some pace in that lap. Or did he? Pat Symonds remarked “The lap-times during the second stint had not suggested he had that performance in reserve.”

Ferrari, ofcourse will never admit they ran a race slower than their true potential to slow Alonso down and cut off his fuel advantage. But the stats are compelling and on a track where overtaking is near to impossible, it looks like Ros Brawn pulled off another cheeky number to break Ferrari’s 18 month drought of a win over Renault/McLaren. Renault was beaten comprehensively in strategy, was it a better one in terms of pure sportsmanship is a question that will never be answered.

The only thing that is certain though is that Renault are clearly ahead in terms of pace, closely kept in check by McLaren and a refreshingly better drive from Honda. Ferrari, still, have a lot of lost ground to catch up and the win at Imola if not a flash in the pan might just be their attempt at throwing dust in your eyes. Is Ferrari reviving?

Nurburgring awaits.

Of the Monday mornin blues

2006-01-23T15:34:00.000Z

One of those days at work. I was greeted with 47 requests on my monitor channel. Each one of those needed to be attended to personally, each one would require several calls to be placed, several favours to be asked and roughly 40 minutes to complete. My monday morning had started.

This was followed up by a 244 page document that I needed to read through and make sense of. Why don't people ever write a short version of a documentation, something that does not require you to pull the hair out of your head just thinking of the enormous task ahead of reading and making sense of 240 odd pages in font 8! Interspersed between all this was a huge presentation that I had to give and couple of meetings. Desk lunch was the order of the day, so my lunch money was ably spent in the deli.

Away from work, this is F1's big week with 3 teams launching their contenders this week. Will post them as and when they happen. The Belgian Grandprix stands cancelled. Well done Bernie. Keep the good work up and take off other classics so we're left with China, Malaysia, Bahrain and a spew of other such new circuits devoid of any character. Meanwhile, work your way to taking a bigger cut off F1 so the 5 teams can break away and form a rival championship. I am sure Mr Mosley will help you out.

In other news the whale that took London by storm has died when they tried to put it back to the high seas, J has successfully made sure A's family tree stays the way it is now forever, A's girlfriend has officially declared war on J :-) I don't see a truce in the near future. M's got a crush but she refuses to divulge more details.

That's it for this bulletin. Its me signing out and hitting page 52 headlong.

Song of the moment: What its like - Everlast

Of the whale in Thames

2006-01-20T14:59:00.000Z

All of London is buzzing. The reason?? A whale has been spotted in river Thames!

Trust Londoners to make a big commotion out of this. There are experts reporting that the whale 'seems to be having a good time out there' and 'it appears to be healthy and well fed'. More so from reporters! A Sky reporter just concluded his broadcast saying "we've lost sight of it so i think it must be underwater"
..... no you twit, it's gone shopping on Oxford street!!

Atleast its set the tone for the weekend. Expect more reports, videos, live encounters of people seeing the water sprout up and more stupid comments from commentators.

Of Ron & the dough

2006-01-20T11:23:00.000Z

It is such a great pleasure to have F1 fanatics all around me at work. People who have been following the pinnacle of motorsport for more than 2 decades and with it they bring a knowledge repository that is unparalleled.

To me, Ron Dennis (for the uninitiated - the head of McLaren F1, brit, owns 30% of the McLaren group) has always come across as a man who's out there to meet his agenda. Someone who really doesn't care how he does it as long as he can tick that checkbox next to his big list of to-do's and recently there's been a spew of press reports about the same with a former grand prix driver and a team lead of a rival team talking about Ron. Inside information from people who work at McLaren - It seems when the new spanking McLaren HQ at Woking was built, they had curved glass ordered from Italy to grace its exterior. When the glass arrived, Ron did not like its tint and he reordered them at a cost of £3 million! He insists that his parking lot at office be vacuumed every day before he comes! and this is just the beginning.

Anyways, McLaren has announced that they will be unveiling the MP4-21 next week. It will be very interesting to see if it shows any signs of the impact the team had due to the departure of Adrian Newey. Reports in autocar said that McLaren were facing a reliability problem (wonders of wonders!!) with their new V8 and that it was down on power. McLaren insists everything is on schedule for a title contender in Bahrain.

Moving away from F1, its bonus time around Investment Banks, that part of the year when senior managers announce allocated bonus pools and figures. With the industry as such doing exceptionally well this year, there is a lot of 'positive' apprehension about the same. As the words goes, its Cha ching time! Obviously, by the time it percolates down to the likes of me from top level management, it would have dwindled down to drops. Its only the size of those drops that I am interested in.

As Jackie Mason wisely said, I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.

Of the Bugatti Veyron

2006-01-19T16:47:00.000Z

Imagine a car that can travel across a football field in one second. A car that can go from knot to sixty in 2.5 seconds. A car that can hit the 200 mph mark, the holy grail for supercars, with ease. A car that takes just 10 seconds to hit zero from peak speed but in the process travels the length of 5 football pitches. Imagine power just short of the Challenger 2, the fastest tank in the world. Imagine adrenilin pumping revs. Imagine unfathomable torque. Imagine mind blowing mechanical grip.

Ladies & gentlemen, what you now see in your mind is the epitome of motorcars, it is the milestone by which the automobile industry of today will be known for generations, the Bugatti Veyron 16.4.

Bugatti was an Italian, who set base in Germany and manufactured cars in France. So the only common thing politically going on for him, was that he was essentially European. Bugatti was a legend in the olden days when it used to compete with Mercedes and Auto Union (Now known as Audi) in races all across Europe, till it went bankrupt. The famous dancer, Isadora Duncan died while in a Bugatti when her scarf got entwined in the spokes of the wheels.

Recently, VW took over the marquee and when the chief of Volkswagon put forth his idea of a super car to the engineers at Bugatti, I am confident, they must have thought its about time the old man retired since he was talking like he had lost it. However, after millions of pounds of research and path breaking findings, they came up with the Bugatti 16.4. It is essentially powered by two V8's married together to form a W16 configuration. And if that wasn't enough, they added not one, but four turbo chargers. The result: 1001 bhp.

As seen in American cars, power is nothing if they can't be fed properly onto wheels that are properly locked down on the roads. The Bugatti features advanced aerodynamics with retractable spoilers and vents that can lock the car down to the road at any speed. Motorcar aficionados would remember the McLaren F1 of the yesteryears as the ultimate car when it came to breaking the top speed. Its light weight body and powerful engine was good to bring it up to 247mph. But the Bugatti just blows it over, and leaves it gasping behind the trail of puff and smoke it leaves. This car is truly an engineering feat.

In fact, the Bugatti Veyron is so good, that even if it set off from standstill while the McLaren F1 reached 100mph, it would still hit the 200mph before the McLaren F1!

It is indeed a privilege to be of an era wherein such technological marvels have been unveiled.

Acknowledgements: Jezz.. you rock.

Of a mixed Bag

2006-01-16T18:20:00.000Z

Certain things in life, you realise so late. Its hits you suddenly in the face and all of a sudden, silence... the epiphany has finally arrived.

Its one of those mixed bag moments and I guess I’ll let this blog reflect that.

Its about time Porsche management took notice.

From Le Mans to F1 now, the R26 completed its test at the hands of Fernando Alonso. Too early to comment on the lap times though. The F2006 is finally on track. Looks very different from the F2005 with a really sleek front nose thrown in. Rumors are that Ferrari have landed a big sponsor after Vodafone defected to McLaren. BMW F1 launches its new livery soon, will be interesting to see the colours there. Looks like O2 is going to sponsor BMW F1, which to me is very surprising because its parent company, Telefonica, sponsors Renault F1. Wouldn't that be confict of interest?

Of the Renault R26

2006-01-11T22:06:00.003Z

Its January 10th 2006 at Jerez, southern Spain. Renault reveal their new R26. With it also comes the track debut of the RS26, its 2.4ltr V8 successor to the race winning RS25-D.

Sleek aerodynamics have taken over the car from front spoiler all the way till the back fin. Sharper sidepods, sleeker front wings, and a curvy rear spoiler highlight the new R26. From what I can see, the engine appears to be much smaller than the 3ltr, V10. There seems to be ample space behind the driver that could be seen as an aerodynamicists delight. I expect some gimmickry to come up in that space soon. The overall dimensions of the car however, remain almost identical thanks to regulations on the same.

The V10’s of the previous era were churning out around 900 bhp and revving at close to 19500 rpm. The V8’s are rumoured to rev around the high 22000’s. In fact, there has been rumour that the Renault RS26 revs around the 26000 mark. This happens because Renault allegedly uses camless engines. I could go on about how they are trying to use digital valves instead of traditional valves to get around some technical problems but there is no substantial evidence as of now that the new RS26 is based on a camless design. Power wise, it is again rumoured that the V8’s would be around the mid to high 700’s. This is a considerable reduction in power which should see a lot of drivers changing their driving styles. A mistake on the new cars would be far more punishing than when committed on their more powerful predecessors.

Ferrari seems to have made significant inroads into their new V8 with the disregard shown by them towards the testing ban and the early launch of their car. McLaren will debut their MP4-21 sometime later this month. It will be quite interesting to see the livery on that especially with the departure of their ace technical director, Adrian Newey to the newly formed Team Red Bull. With Toyota, Honda and BMW F1 too rumoured to track debut their 2006 contenders this month, it looks like formula 1 is firing up.

I see the makings of a classic season. The V8’s bring most of the teams back to level playing field and the interesting (some would say controversial) qualifying format promises a lot of track action on Saturday. There is that splash of politics with Alonso signed up for McLaren in 2007 and Schumacher stating he would leave if the F2006 doesn’t live up to his expectation. This is besides the fact that Kimi would be ‘up for grabs’ in 2007.

Come March 12th, there is no price I wouldn’t pay to be at the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain to witness this new and exciting dawn in Formula 1’s history.

Of Music, my love...

2006-01-09T19:08:00.000Z

Oh, my love
my darling
I've hungered for your touch
a long lonely time
and time goes by so slowly
and time can do so much
are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
Godspeed your love to me

Lonely rivers flow to the sea,
to the sea
to the open arms of the sea
lonely rivers sigh 'wait for me, wait for me'
I'll be coming home wait for me

Oh, my love
my darling
I've hungered for your touch
a long lonely time
and time goes by so slowly
and time can do so much
are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
Godspeed your love to me

The words of a song that has risen to the stature of the most popular romantic song ever, the most covered song in the world, the most played romantic song in the world. And doesn’t it totally do justice to its reputation. Few would know that it was first written as an instrumental in 1955 by Alex North and an other gentleman who’s name I cannot recollect at the moment, for a movie called ‘unchained’, a timeless classic in itself.

I am listening to the Elvis Presley version of the song as I write this blog. The combination of mellifluous melody, beautiful lyrics and one of the best voices mankind has ever heard is an experience that no words can describe. Its one that no words can do justice to, one that perhaps can only be matched by the sheer magic of its own words. The small paradox’s of life.

Fascinating how music can cure anything the world throws at it. How no matter how you feel, there is always a song around you that can describe the feeling. How the right kind of music can always lift your spirits beyond belief. How music inspires you to lead your life into corners you dare not ventured before.

The power to heal, power to forgive, power to inspire, power to destroy, power to unite…… is this God’s way of showing his presence in our everyday life…….?

That, I believe will be one of many question’s in life, that will never be answered………

My Second Coming

2006-01-05T19:56:00.000Z

It was not long ago, when I posted my very first blog. The time when blogging was at its infancy. The time when the world was slowly warming up to the notion of ideas & thoughts flowing without boundaries to the masses. Blogging has arrived and with it, it brings another sea of change to the ever change facade of the internet. One that I have been privileged to grow up with.

Abandoning my first blog was relatively hinderance free. Lack of time to update in toto, scarcity of organised thoughts, commitments to time and lastly a memory that couldn't live up to the modest expectation of holding on to what would have been a six letter password for long, inevitably saw its demise. My first blog never really served a purpose. It was there as a mere existence of its own. It did not have a sense of direction, a sense of purpose, nor a sense of belonging. Basically, it was exactly that, it lacked sense.

With this blog I hope to write about my passions in life. I hope to put to the sword the things that I find unacceptable in this fast moving world around me. I hope to write about my ideas, my loved ones and my life. Blogs are generally referred to as snapshots of people on the net. I do not intend to sway much from that school of thought.

I now find myself flowing with thoughts that need to be halted before they flow into words. It is that ever elusive, ever consuming process of percolation. As thought flows through, it gets filtered, much like a person flowing through different phases in his life. Fascinating how life always offers an analogy with mother nature.