Monsieur Rodin

Three big names are present, right here, right now. Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google. Where can we experience a greater example of Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat." The Redmond based Hercules, targets Sunnyvale based Goliath to take head-on the Mountain View based behemoth. And whats in the offing?$ 44 Billion. Phew! If this deal goes through, its all set to change the technology landscape as Internet will never be the same again. Google is of the same opinion and has started foot slogging for it. Basically, the biggest motive is to rake moollah out of the estimated $40 billion internet ad industry where Google has the largest market share (37%) which is more than that combined of Microsoft and Yahoo! As for Yahoo!, it's all in the strategy. Though they will prefer partnering with Google, but monetarily Microsoft is the better choice. Now its a wait and watch time for us as to how Microsoft will integrate and leverage Yahoo!'s acquisition, provided they pull it off....

Brigade Road in Bangalore is one of the famous shopping streets in the country. Standalone boutiques of brand factories attract you like anything. They have Adidas, Levis, Gas, Dockers, Puma and loads of other stuff that empty your pockets,your hard earned money and leave you wanting for more. And over there that day, I found innocence on that street. Innocence. 2.5 feet tall. Holding roses in their hands. Asking for someone to buy them. Pleading may be the right word. Then they found a new customer: me. 3 little, sweet girls, flocked me and started pleading to buy the roses they were carrying. I didnt know what to do. They wouldnt let me walk. I was caught off guard, and couldnt do anything, but to ask them the price.Here is how our conversation went by: (For all practical purposes, I will call them Cute1, 2 and 3. ) Cute1 : Bhaiyya, please buy the roses na. Please bhaiyya. Please bhaiyya. They are only for 10 bucks. Me : Ok. Ok. Give me 3 roses. (I take my wallet out) Cute1 : Bhaiy...

Thats hindi. In english its called "No Smoking." Its hillarious to see to what limits people will go to articulate "smoking is injurious to health." If see on cigarette packets from Singapore, they will have all thes cancerous photos sticking on. It gives an horrendous outlook to the whole packet. But most enjoying is the in-flight annoucement. I am not a frequent flier. Though most of the weekends I remember shuttling between Pune and other cities, 90% by flights. So I am more than a frequent flier. :) There is always a candid annoucement made that " Smoking is prohibited in-flight. There are smoke detectors in the cabin and in the toilets. " What was that again? In the toilets too? If its your lucky day and you are travelling in the domestic shuttles, you cannot help but observe that there is an ashtray behind the toilet door. What is the deal with that? If you are saying smoking is prohibited, why are you providing an ashtray at the back of the door? Is...

This is hillarious. A recent news article tells about how people in China are using used condoms as hair bands. It has been found in the local markets of Dongguan and Guangzhou. And a possible hazard is spreading aids that it was supposed to protect. So it goes from "Banned-Aids" to "Band-Aids" :-) Read the article for further reference.

Somewhere I remember reading, " Pain is weakness leaving the body." The statement implies something very deep. Recently, I am reading a string of books written by Osho. The philosophy he narrates is very powerful. He quotes Buddha, Lao and all the masters who have preached awareness as the way to ultimate bliss (nirvana). Simply put awareness is "Self -rememberance." The quality to remember oneself every moment. This bolts you to the present, without the clouds of past hovering over. Pain is one quality I found that makes us aware. How? read further.... Try to analyze when you are pain. Its very hard because you are trying to run away from the pain. Pain killers are your best bet. But what is the reason that pain is there? Ever tried think about that. Its to make you aware. One teeth starts paining excruciatingly and you are suddenly aware of its exsistence. For many years that teeth was there you were oblivious to it. And now, suddenly, its has your attention. The ...

I am not sure why I was in oblivion to the exsistence of this engineering marvel. This awesome piece of creation. Maruti 'Omni'. Its all starts with the beauty of its structure and trickles down to engineering performance. Where most of the R & D labs in the world are making the car structure more aerodynamic, Omni stands tall with its box-like structure. No No, please dont think its thoughtless. It must have been thought through. It is we people, or rather me who dont know the reason. Then comes the seating. Whilst the driver comes with a plush independant seat in front, we have only 1 companion seat with the gear lever in between. Since the engine hails directly below the drivers seat, his 'feeling of warmth' has been taken care of. There are normally one or two (opposite) seats in the back. It accomodates people more efficiently if they are packed in the boxes. But if we are free, we might face some problem with each others legs as we seat opposite. But noneth...

Its time to write about fallen dreams, about sleepless nights. And then how the sun rose torching disdain and forlorn torching hope and lights. Its time to write about you and me about us and them How we fight for in these sacred ventures in this bloodless mayhem. Its time to write about this moment about living a life To smile through in health and disease in hope and fright. Its time to write about the red line about love and hate teaching, its us sometimes sometimes its fate. - Adwait Joshi

What would happen if Google turns it site into completely black? We will save approximately 750 Megawatts-hours an year! According to a recent blogpost by Mark Ontkush , black google will save 750 Megawatts-hours an year taking into consideration the popularity of the same. Subsequently, someone went ahead and custom made a google serach engine on a completely black page. Evidently, the page is called as Blackle . Now there is a new angle to usability engineers while designing a web page and that is energy preservation. Kudos to those people who came up with the concept. I have already started preserving energy. Have you?

They say people will remember for what you were, what you did and what you talked. I am a good guy, in totality. But sometimes I ask myself, why I am what I am? Why go out of the way to help people? Why catch someone's eye and make him/her smile? Why crack jokes and lighten someone's tension? Why thrive for the betterment of some people? Why do I do it? Then suddenly in the mid of the day the answer dawns upon me. I am not a good person at all. I am a very bad person. I want to make people cry when I die. Cry this much that they might have a hard time forgetting me. I want to touch their hearts deep enough. I want to spread love and tell them that nothing in this world is eternal. We all will pass on someday and make our appreeance as contemproraries. I want to shout and tell the world that no one on this earth is good or bad. Its just the situations that make them. I want to tell that never form opinions about someone because when they will change you dont know. I want to tell...

" Ugach valse shabdanche he det raha tu, Bhidle nahit dole tovar bolu kahi, Chala dostoho ayushawar bolu kahi." --- Sandeep Khare Loose Transalation: "Go on, take unnecessary twists and turns in you words, till the eyes meet, we will talk about something. "

Aapke dil mein thodi si jagah chahiyeMere ...? Aapke dil mein thodi si jagah chahiye---- Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye Pass aane bhi deegiye na itraiyee Ha haaPass aane bhi deegiye na itraiyee Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye Apnaa dil lekar abb kahan jayegnehaahaan Tut ke katra katra bekhar jayenge Wah ! Aapke bin sanam hum to mar jayenge Hamari halat pe aakhir tarsh khaahiye Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye j j j Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye Phele to adab se app pesh aaiye Kaun hai yeh mujhko app batlaiye Phir bolenge appko hum aaiye aaiye aaiye janaab aaiye aaiye aaiye Appne dil app zara kabul rakhe Acchayuh na khule aam aanhe bharehai zamana bura thodi parwaah kare jaake dil kahin aur behlaiye Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye Jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye jaaiye na Can you guess whom I have written this for?

Have you ever had a nightmare? A kind of a dream where you are running and running and nobody is there to help you. You dont know what you are running from. Then suddenly you hear screams. Shrills, cries of agony with pain. Cries for help and you are bewildered. Who is asking for help to someone who is running himself. Then you run towards the sounds. Its darkness. Nothing of it makes sense. Then there is silence. Only sobs are heard. Then again silence. An errie silence. You open your eyes. The fan above is revolving with a humming sound. Its was unreal. But so real. You sit up and pray for your near and dear ones. You thank god it was a dream. Thank him because he has brought that out. That inside which kills you. You inner demons. Who might come silently in the night and grip you. The next night you will sleep beleiving more in God, Love, Prayers and People more than you did the earlier night.

They say love knows no limitations. However romantic that may sound, we always know there is something that limits us. How I wish a love story would be so like the movie “The Lake House” Here it starts, the literal timeless love. It revolves around a house by side of lake with a mailbox. Kate (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor in an uptown Chicago hospital in 2006. Alex (Keanu Reeves) is an architect in 2004. Did I get the years right? Sure I did. The movie tells us a story of two (prospective) lovers separated by 2 years. One dwells in other’s past. One dwells in other’s future. Awesome screenplay slowly takes you through the ups and downs in their relationship. And what is their communication medium? The mailbox by the side of the lake house where they post letters so that each could read. And a day comes when she finds him dead in her own hands on Valentine’s Day. No the movie doesn’t stop here. She knowing the future, tells him to stop on that road where he was supposed to meet with an a...

The lay-off program has worked positively for me a number of ways. Apart from getting time to read some ground-breaking books like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Psychology of Selling”, I personally got time to do what I love the most: traveling. Since childhood, when I last visited it, I wanted to know the history of my kuldevat (God or Goddess of a race)-Laxmi Keshav (Lord Vishnu). So this time around, I thought I will do some nosing around and get a little knowledge about it. Here is where and what I found out. 1)The serene temple of Laxmi-Keshav is located in Kolisare. Barely a village, it is 45 km from the town of Ratnagiri in South Konkan. An ST bus for Jaygad drops you at a cross-road which connects you to Kolisare. You have to take a rickshaw from there. 2)As you walk down the red-soil, you come across steps which take you to the backside of the temple. The temple is about 700 years old. Though it was been rejuvenated lately, it still has the archaic look-and-feel. 3) Last registere...

The art of Alchemy is ancient. Simply defined, it’s the process of turning lead in Gold. There is a solution/stone that when touched with, the thing turns in gold. Pioneering the same is a person called as an Alchemist. Though Coelho’s book teaches us the moral of following our dreams, there is something else that we should understand from it. Reading between the lines, we observe that every human being in his/her life meets an Alchemist- A person who turns that lead of a person, into gold. But that comes after his destiny as a “lead” is fulfilled. Everyone/Everything has to fulfill his destiny. Before that, no matter what you do, you will not be able to transform yourself. But the law of nature is very rewarding. It lets you meet your alchemist at that very time when your destiny as lead has been fulfilled. Then he comes, with a philosopher’s stone and touches you. The transformation is not easy. Shedding old characteristics and donning new one, is not a cakewalk. It takes tremendous...

1. Shakespear once said " What's in the name?" I repeat" Whats in the name, as long as i get your number right." 2. Never say the phrase, " Its a different ball-game" when you are with a woman. 3. If we most of the time we are finding solutions to organize things, why is a company called an "Organization" ? 4. Why is it called a "Beauty Parlor", when most of the people going over there are not beautiful? Do you have anything to add?

There is short track from film "Swades" that I just love. "Ram hi toh karuna mein hai, shaanti mein raam hai Ram hi hai ekta mein, pragati mein raam hai Ram bas bhakton nahin shatru ke beech chintan hai Dekh taj ke paap raavan, ram tere mann mein hai Ram tere mann mein hai, ram mere mann mein hai Ram toh ghar ghar mein har, ram har aangan mein hai Mannse raavan jo nikaale, ram uske mann mein hai." It means " Ram (lord), is in compassion and silence. Ram is also in unity and progress. He is not only in his disciples, but also in his enemy's penance. Oh, Raavan, introspect and you will find Ram is in your mind. He is in your soul, He is my soul, He is every house, every yard. He is in the soul of those who kill ravaan from their mind." Purify thyself!

" Ignoring phone calls is a gambit reserved for dolts and egomaniacs. " - Paul Hawkinson , Publisher, Fordyce Letter - in an article on ERE. Which one are you?

Aerobics. I didnt know squat about it before I joined it. Morning batch 7:15 to 8:15. Sole guy. What would you do? First day, I couldnt understand what was going on. They were jumping from one side to one side on what I can call as a high-beat music. But as they say "In rome, do as the romans do." I followed the lead. But the rhythm was too hard to get. And I wasnt even aware of the terminology! Then there was solace with the mat's. Oh! Wait a minute, it was hard too! With 30 crunches ,at the end you wont feel your muscles. I felt like "mere pet pe kisne laat maari hai." But all said and done, when I walked out after a cool-down "Shavasan", I never felt so fresh and energetic. Aerobics is all about toning your body bringing flexibilty in and increasing your stamina. If you got to do it, do it right. Its very important that you concentrate on what your instructor is telling and not on the cute girl besides you. :-) Come on guys, get on the tracks and mo...

I am phonetic for english movies. And especially action movies with a plot. If you love this, then " The Departed " is your heaven. Not only the film has Martin Scoresce as the director, but a punching starcast with Jack Nicholson (Costello), Leornado Di Caprio (Billy), Matt Damon (Colin), Mark Whalberg (Dignam) and Martin Sheen (Queenan) The broad plot, is that Costello is a mafiosi, in downtown Boston. He adopts Colin, trains him as a policeman, and helps him get in the Detecive unit of state police. So Colin is the rat. Wait thats not it. Billy, who backround is criminal, is also aspiring to be a detective. But as test, he sent undercover as rat in Costello's unit. As the plots unfolds, there are other shocks that come through. Through foul language,and awesome screenplay, Scorese justifies the film to the fullest. Dont forget to watch till the end. Its one "fucking" movie! And also, analyze this " Cops or Criminals. When you are facing a loaded gun, w...