September 2008
16 posts
Now, Middle East goes shopping! →
5 in 10.
Couple of days back, I was travelling to Pallakkad (a town in Kerala) in a state transport bus. It was a 4 hour ride and the bus took a customary 10 minute pitstop midway at the Thirusur Bus Terminus. Out of the blue, a guy walks in, positions himself in the middle, displays a neat looking shawl and starts raving about it in Malayalam. I thought it was one of those standard sales pitches. But...
A Test of Character.
I needed to submit a character / clearance certificate for my job. Obtaining it has a process (yet again) attached to it. Collect the form from Police Station District HQ, get it signed, get it verified by the inspector from the local police station, submit it at the HQ and collect the certificate in a couple of days.
Day 1 (morning): Collected the form from the HQ and got it signed. That was...
“If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself (read: your self) working?”
– Tuco, to a chicken, in the classic - The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
Reminds me of a conversation with Kiki on how we shouldn’t work for a living. Instead, someone should pay us for doing all that we ever wanted to do. How many of us have such a job? A better question - How many of us have...
Fuel for the fuel cells.
In 1939, the German researcher Hans Gaffron, who was at that time attached to the University of Chicago, discovered the hydrogen metabolism of unicellular green algae. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and some other green algae can, under specified circumstances, stop producing oxygen and convert instead to the production of hydrogen. This reaction by hydrogenase, an enzyme only active in the absence of...
Taking a stand.
Today marks the end of isolation from nuclear commerce for India. It’s a historic day for we have opened up another alternative for achieving energy security. And while there’s a sense of achievement throughout the country, there are some who cannot feel good about this… just because they took a stand for the wrong reasons!
The BJP, for instance, who were always pro-nuclear...
Binding NOTA & Plurality.
The last couple of weeks has seen some heated debate on the Student Union Elections at BITS Pilani where ‘None of the above’ option won a close majority against a solo candidate R and the Election Commission has called for re-elections.
Somehow, the math behind this disturbs me. Do let me know if I’m missing something here.
Of the total votes polled, almost 49% voted in favour...
There will be blood.
News that could give my folks some sleepless nights!
School friends are forever.
So what connects us? I don’t think the answer lies in the present tense. It’s got to do something with the past that we shared… the jokes, the fights, the pranks, the laughs, the cries (Damn! I had a role in quite a few of them), the killer sessions, the marathi tuitions, the santosh vadapavs, the zubi songs, the bday gift / farewell ideas, the hiccups, the parivar@6:30 meets,...
Google is evil.
Whenever I fall sick these days, I try googling for my symptoms, the medicines the doctor prescribed and things that I can do for a speedy recovery. Why? It makes me feel a lot closer and more knowledgeable about the stuff happening inside my body.
But then, one link leads to another… And before you know it, you have read stuff about a certain lymphoma, a laryngeal tuberculosis or a...
August 2008
13 posts
This is the way we go to school.
The train to Hyderabad was moving at a snail’s place. My eyes followed a bunch of 4 to 5 kids walking barefoot in soiled school uniforms, with bags clinging on to their backs. They walked through the puddles and slush that the rains had left behind. As the train came to a halt, I could see them slowly disappear into the distance, making their own road as they walked. Probably a shortcut, I...