Sigh...the fight goes on...

Quoted by Imran Khan with PTI -
"...Yes, the situation could have been tense (if there was a tour). But providing security was the duty of the home board (PCB) and I can assure you that the terrorists would not have attacked the cricketers. If they do that the whole country (Pakistan) would condemned them, they cannot do that..."

Wow! I find it amusing. "Security by PCB"? - you really think Indian board should trust the security by PCB, who frequently themselves give excuses of the miserly state of security and militia in their country? I support BCCI decision on not touring. Not worth the risk. One more news flash - don't compare with England or any other team. We are not bombing each other...

The best overseas business hotel

Just recently, the Conde Nast Traveler had rated the Taj Mahal Hotel at Mumbai as the 'World's Best Overseas Business Hotel'.

How to cut short the India growth story

Its very easy to react to the tragedy in Mumbai and *demand* a reaction from the government. Its very easy to say that we should just retaliate now.

The Indian leadership is now definitely stuck between listening to its people and not destroying the the India growth story. Think of it this way -
If India goes to war, it will require a lot of economic attention and funds. Which will further take India's focus over improving itself. The recent Nuclear deals might fall off due to falling confidence in security. India's infrastructure will suffer as badly as a 100 bombings. Progress will be stalled briefly. Jobs will be lost. People will be unhappy. ...vicious circle and an abrupt pause to the India growth story.

Do we really want to pause India? I believe the answer is No.

I think its in our best interest not to go to war with our neighbors. But then what? We do want to give them a solid response don't we?
I think we should enforce all possible economic and cultural sanctions on them. Should do everything in our power which is justified based on their actions. If we don't take radical steps like cutting off their water supply(!) they won't have reason to war with us. After all, democratic governments go to war not because they want to, but because their people want them to. And if the steps we take are economic and cultural, that's not really a recognizable threat. Cutting water supply is though, as it directly threatens and attacks the sentiments of the people.

The people who dies were important people. Important to their families if not just to the economy. What we also need to do is overhaul our security and intelligence. The attack was obviously a failure of security and the capacity of our forces to handle the situation.

Enough is Enough

Enough Is Enough - these are the words on the streets of India. At the time of this writing, the last battle is still on at the icon of the culture and wealth of Mumbai, the Taj. For two days and three nights *Indians* and foreign nationals have suffered trauma at the hands of extremists. Remember, terrorists don't know if you are a Hindu or a Muslim once they are running their operation; they are just killing Indians.

My heart goes out to the friends and family of those who could not make it through these dark nights.

This is huge attack on our nation. If this is not taken seriously, i fear what would! Given the thought, anyone could image 5 different ways of how they managed to accomplish this. I also completely understand how difficult is has been for the defense forces to kill and cleanse, and I pray for our brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives. But the fact is that prevention is better than cure. Our (un)intelligence team is not doing their job right. Or in other words, their counterparts are doing a better job. Indian intelligence needs ramping up. Get up to speed people! Did you not learn from Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmadabad and Delhi?

You should see this - You need to see this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cHxnHwrrjU

My opinion on some celebrity quotes -
1. Shobha De - For once Shobha, you had the opportunity to talk something positive, something about the good work done by the Army, Police and NSG. But no. You still chose to crib about the politicians. Whiner whiner
2. Amir Khan - partially agree. I think they do follow a religion. I am just not sure which one...because as much as i know, no religion teaches to kill other people.
3. Harsha Bhogle - You hit the nail on its head dude. Politicians will leverage this incident for their vote bank. But the people of India should be united as one against external entities.

This is a professional summary of a developer looking for new projects -

I am familiar with business management, demographics, behavioral science, public relations, eureka moments, prolific inventing, engineering science and many other forms of business knowledge. I can conceptualize an idea by seeing all aspects of the idea’s functions from all angles at once…Like a quarterback sees the whole field at one glance. I can run simulations in my head that can determine advantages as well as problems facing ideas in very short quick thoughts. I can immediately list all advantages and disadvantages of a concept using my spatial spectrum thought processes. This mental advantage can save time and money zeroing in on the best of a list of concepts before development.


I found it awfully funny :-) I just think he's trying to hard!

JetAirways help

Was planning to go to India in Dec, but not possible anymore with everything going on here...Shuchi's plans also changed and basically she'll be visiting twice. While i'll only get to visit once within the next 6 months or so.

Have missed so many weddings and now one more...

For anyone who has faced problem managing/canceling jetairways ticket, write an email to reservationsinfodesk@jetairways.com for help.

a new economical number

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

Why do people say 'Bless you', when you sneeze?

Have heard a lot of reasons. Here are a few of my favorite ones -

1. When you sneeze, you heart temporally stops. . . It's an insignificant amount of time that your heart stops, but most consider when your heart stops that you've temporarily died. Therefore, it is polite to "Bless" someone when they have died.

2. Out of compassion for the sneezer and to wish him / her not to be infected with any illness

3. The phrase is used when someone sneezes, since in many cultures it is believed that the soul leaves the body during a sneeze, and God is called on to protect the sneezer from evil spirits at such a vulnerable time.

4. A sneeze is one of the devil's many evil deeds. His goal is to make us sneeze and spread disease or to sneeze while our neck is turned so we break our heads off. I've broken 2 ribs sneezing before. So yea, GOD BLESS YOU the devil is poking you!!

5. There is also a theory that during the Dark and Middle Ages, a violent sneeze was often a precursor of dreaded diseases such as the plague. Whenever someone sneezed, those closest to him or her issued an immediate "Bless you" to ward off the evil forces which led to disease and suffering.

New prepaid phone

Shuchi has her own cell phone now! And what's more, she was supposed to get 450 minutes for her plan, but somehow their system messed up (in other words did a wonderful job) and gave her 870 minutes and a validity of more than 14 months :-). TracFone guys...you are the best :-)

Going to NY again this weekend. traveling to NY always seems so hectic... probably because its so close yet it takes so much time to get there. Well at least on the maps its very close!

Both Noida and Jaipur are getting houses renovated, whitewashed and cleaned up. Preparing for their darling Shuchi to land?

Does this qualify as a conspiracy?

Bush promised to push India's case at the Nuclear Committee and India promised to take delayed steps to control Rupee depreciation.
You scratch my back...i scratch yours.

Oil is falling below $100 per barrel not because Ike did not do the damage as expected, but because speculators at investment banks like Bear Sterns and Lehman are either going bankrupt or have no spare money to play with anymore!

250GB hosting free for life!

So here's a great deal - Get 250 GB of online hosting free for life! Click on this link filesavr.com to get the offer.

If you've been following the Hurricanes in US, this site will be of interest to you - StormPulse.com. It tracks all current and past Hurricanes, their trajectories and intensities over time. Really cool.

Life going fine.
Most recent excitement - Akshia's apartment fire! Yeah, a certain portion of his apartment caught fire, and I got to make my 2nd 911 call (yippee!). The firemen were there in a jiffy, even in the highly crowded NewPort area...that was amazing. Thanks to our neighbors (who had a fire extinguisher) we were able to put off the fire before it did any major harm! Although, the pasta inside the oven that caught fire...did not survive :p

Working hard for another attempt at the elusive MBA. I think, inside my head I have my goals sorted out. Just need to write it all down and fit into 400 words now!

Shuchi has started volunteering. She might join the board of directors of the Shoreline Lliteracy Volunteers committee!

Internet Internet everywhere

In flight browsing available from American Airlines (link).

Now this is progress! Before today you could catch the internet practically everywhere where you could get a public satellite signal except while you were flying. You will no longer be cutoff from the world even when you are aboard an airplane!

$12.95 would get you in-flight email checking. Lets see what else you get -
1. loose the habit of catching up on your sleep on business flight since your boss will be emailing you to respond asap
2. use VOIP to make phone calls, and see staring eyes of co-passengers for you to shut-up
3. lookup wikipedia for cool details of the airplane you just boarded
4. email you pickup that you have been taxing since the last 2 hours as the airport is ever so busy
5. your wife will not know you runaway from home since you will always be online on IM and replying to her emails

Seems that this facility will soon become a necessary evil in the next few months...

As for me...I'm not going to pay $12.95 on 15 hour flight to India simply because my laptop battery will only last 2 hours :-)

Only a few month into our new life...we have settle down. Moved into a new apartment. Bought boatloads of furniture (alright alright, i'm exaggerating...but that's because a bachelor home like mine never had lots of furniture!). Got lots of clothes for me (yay!) and for Shuchi too. She denies it but i think she'll go wild over shopping once she goes to India in Nov. Had mom-dad, Akshia-bhabhi over to stay with us. Akshia graduated and has joined his new job etc etc.

Shuchi and I have been having a great time (link1 link2 link3). We've learn a lot about each other other the past few days and have loved each other even more for that. (to be honest, any given day, Shuchi would recall more about me than i would about her...she has a great memory and because she 'da best). We've had our little fights too. But never could really not talk with each other for more than an hour or so -- that would be cruel.

My work is going fine. Met with the governor a few days back...and had my pics taken too by a professional photographer... link 4.
Still hoping to learn photography using my SLR soon! For now...my N95 camera is working out great for me! Checkout these panoramic pics from my phone - BBQ Burgers, Pittsburg downtown, Akshia convocation.

Yet another attempt in *starting to being a regular blogger*

:-)

Hiiii

Hi blog! How you doin'?

Here's what I've been up to in the past 3 months! -

Getting married -











Annaprasaan at house








Visiting New-York











Skiing


Playing Holi

HIIIIII!

A big hi from the x-bachelor :-)

Been a while since i posted any updates here...it will be soon, keep watching!

Meanwhile here's a much recent update - new furniture in the house! just delivered today -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ankushbhargava/sets/72157603826622689/show/