WANNABE PRAXIS ENGINE

For the birthday wishes

2011-03-15T10:20:00.002+05:30

On the HoysaLa trail

2011-01-05T23:35:00.008+05:30

Kemmangundi

We visited Kemmangundi at a time that is probably the coldest part of the year. Kemmangundi is a hill station in Chickmagalur district. Since we had gone to Baba Budangiri on the same day we were quite exhausted by the time we reached kemmangundi and not really in a position to go to the sightseeing places nearby. These include Hebbe falls and Z point which apparently affords a very good view of the sunrise. However, for the time being we were content to enjoy the sunset as visible from the gardens surrounding the horticulture department guest house.

We retired early that day, for once being cut off from TV, internet and other things that keep us awake unnecessarily late into the night. Of course the intense cold and the spicy meal we had helped. On the next morning being very eager to catch the sunset, I woke up at an hour that people would consider absurdly early for a holiday. However, finding my parents and sister sound asleep, I quietly tiptoed out and walked up the same sunset hill and stood facing what I thought was east. I wanted to take a time lapse series of photos of the sunrise, notwithstanding the fact that my mobile camera was horribly unequipped for any such venture. However, this being the peak of DakshinayaNa (we had gone on Dec 23^rd, Winter solstice is Dec 21^st) sunrise didn’t take place from exactly east but a little south of east. I had not taken that into account but I was quickly readjusted and this discrepancy in my calculations was nothing compared to the other handicaps I had to deal with.

We started off towards Sirsi via Tharikere and Shimoga after a quick stopover at Kalhatti falls and later at the world famous Jog falls. Kalhatti falls was pretty from a distance but not enough to enthuse us to go to the waterfall itself. Jog falls was in a very pitiable condition with hardly any water flowing. It was some divine comedy playing out here as an allegory for current happenings, where Raja and Rani had no place in a democracy and their force stifled by the Linganmakki dam, Rocket was failing like ISRO’s GSLV which exploded halfway a few days later. Roarer had lost his voice and was a feeble trickle like the roaring beasts in our jungles whose numbers dwindle every day.

Gudavi

On the return journey, starting off from a village near Siddapura (where we stayed at a with relatives after having visited Bhuvanagiri devasthaana the previous evening). On the road to Soraba from Siddapura we had two places to visit in our itinerary. One was Chandragutti which had a temple and a trek route and the other was Gudavi pakshidhama. I insisted that we first visit Gudavi to be able to watch the birds early in the morning even if it retracing our route and coming back a few kilometers to visit Chandragutti. My parents, always accommodative of these small tantrums of mine, came round after initial whining. However when we got there we were all glad we were able to see so many birds and so many varieties of them too since we got there pretty early in the morning. We sorely felt the absence of a decent camera though we realized that the camera we have at home which would have been otherwise useful on this trip was not good for birdwatching purposes. However there is always the panoramic shot which can convey how plentiful the birds are at that spot.

But then sometimes a photo setting presents itself that is so beautiful that even a 1.3 megapixel camera on a mobile phone can deliver wonders.

Chandragutti

Retracing our route for a short distance we came to Chandragutti which we proceeded to start climbing despite my mother protesting that we should probably enlist the help of some locals as we are bound to lose our way. However the route was visible throughout and it we didn’t get confused or lose our way at any point. Till the Renukamba temple there is a proper stairway. However this is a very short stretch and the said stairway has only 200 steps. The SthaLapuraaNa to this temple relates to a story about Parshurama who on the orders of his father Jamadagni came to behead his mother Renuka. She hid in cave here for a while attempting to escape the deadly axe (Parashu) of Parashurama. The entire trek is about 3.5 Kilometers and for a family group it should take around an hour and a half to two hours. There are several depressions in the rocks at the peak of the hill and are said to have been the impressions left by the foot of the Bheema as he carried his brothers and mother on his shoulders during the vanavasa. There are several pools at the top filled with water lilies and hyacinth and one slightly larger pool which has dirty green water. This supposedly is where Bheema vomited after having consumed something poisonous.

The view from top is splendid with green forests on three sides and paddy fields on one. Remnants of a fort (we later came to know it was built by someone called Marappa) can be seen both at the top and on the way.

Balligavi and TaLgunda

Balligavi and TaLgunda had been the highlight of the trip and all other things were included in our too see list only because they would be on the way to Balligavi. We were quite famished after Chandragutti and after lunch at Soraba we reached Balligaavi. Balligavi is a small village today but was an important center of trade and learning around one thousand years ago. The first temple we went to over there was the DakshiNa Kedareshwara temple and the accompanying temples. The Chalukyas started building this temple but hoysaLas completed it. We spent a lot of time here learning about several sculptures on the inside and outside walls of the temple and their significance. A few interesting observations- This temple has all three gods i.e. Bramha Vishnu and Maheshwara. Shiva as usual is depicted by a Linga (When the lights are turned off, the entire place becomes very dark. But the Shivalinga somehow reflects light from outside and a faint glow is seen). Now the surprising thing is, even Bramha is depicted by a Linga. The difference being that the Bramha linga has the water spout to its right (i.e. the devotee’s left) and the Shivalinga has its water spout to its left (the devotee’s right).

We were told that Balligavi was a big city with thousands of people and contained several temples and Mutts which were centers of education. The Archaeology department has maintained several stone inscriptions around the temple and a lot of these are hero stones (Veeragallu). They depict the heroic deaths of persons of that era which include people who die for their country, people who die fighting dangerous beasts, women who commit sati etc.

We then went to the Hanuman temple just down the road. It is a mud hut but the Hanuman idol inside is 9 feet tall and is supposedly very old.

Right behind it is the Tripuranthakeshwara bunch of temples. Vishnuvardhana’s queen (Pattada raaNi, he may have had others) was from here. Legend has it that Natyarani Shantaladevi used to dance in the rangamantapa of this temple and Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana who came to Balligavi was impressed and desired to take her to Dwarasamudra (Halebid). However the Balligavi elders said that it would be improper to take her just like that and he can take her only if he marries her. Vishnuvardhana converted from Jainism to Vaishnavism so as to marry her (Though other legends mention that he converted to Vaishnavism after being influenced by Ramanujacharya). Sculptors from Balligavi are also credited as having contributed to the works at Belur and I remember that one of the statues in Belur has “Balligavi Dasoja” written at its base. The statues in the temples in Balligavi match their counterparts in Belur and HaLebid in intricacy, and also subscribe to a common aesthetic. The general theme seems to be slightly different with the star shape that is the hallmark of HoysaLa architecture not being so evident. This is possibly a result of the foundations being laid by the Chalukyas.

The thing with a lot of temples from this period is that they weren’t built exclusively for religious purposes. They were meant to serve as town halls or community centers also. We must remember that at the time we are talking about, at other places on the Indian subcontinent there existed fierce rivalries between Shaivites and Vaishnavites. Notwithstanding this these temples feature gods of both sects. The tripuranthakeshwara temple also contains statues of Mahavira (Gomateshwara). In that sense these be called multi denominational shrines or even secular in the Indian sense of the term.

Yet another temple at Balligavi is the Veerabhadreshwara temple where the main deity is Veerabhadra. Outside the Garbhagudi there are idols of Ganesha, Shiva-Parvati in one idol, Shanmukha, Nandi and a Linga in pacchekallu which is green in color.

The Pranaveshwara temple at TaLgunda is not much by way of size and does not have any intricate statues. However it is important for being the place of Mayuravarma (at least the Rajkumar fans should appreciate this) the king of the Kadambas who later ruled from Banavasi. It has an inscription from that time and there is also a pillar which records the construction of a large tank in the region.

After this we went to Shimoga and rested.

Amrutheshwara

At a short distance from Tharikere is the Amrutheshwara temple in Amruthapura where we may see Shiva and Sharadambe. The Sharadambe was installed in the Amrutheshwara temple after the Archaeological Survey of India recognized this as a protected monument and the sharadambe idol was found in a nearby temple which was in a dilapidated condition. This temple was built by a general of Veera Ballala II in the 12^th Century.

Shivalaya

Our next stop, also our last stop on the way home was the Shivalaya Temple near Arasikere. Originally known as the Chandramouleeshwara temple, the guide over there claimed that it was also designed by the same Jakanachari who sculpted Belur and HaLebeedu. The most interesting aspect of this temple is that there is no opening at the front of the temple.

Speaking generally about all the HoysaLa temples it was really interesting to see the mindboggling diversity in the scenes from life in those times as depicted on the walls. As every guide readily pointed out, a lot of the hair styles prevalent today existed in those times also. Indeed a lot of the ornaments and accessories used by the people then would have been too ostentatious by today’s standards.

We also covered Thyavarekoppa Huli mattu Simha Dhaama. I will write about that in a different post as this one has gone on too long.

Mysore museums part 1: Wellington House

2010-12-18T21:01:00.000+05:30

Wellington House (Named for Sir Arthur Wellesly, 1st Duke of Wellington) on Irwin Road (Named for Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax) is not in some British town. It's at the very heart of Mysore(Named after Mahishasura, scary demon). It now houses the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manava Sangrahalaya (Named after Indira Priyadarshini, scary demon according to some). This was the first museum on my Mysore museums series.

One of the problems with this museum is that it there is no one defining theme that can be seen in the exhibits there except probably that none of them are natural artifacts. There is some folk art from all parts of India. Paphal (not named after anyone, god depicted in snake form from Manipur) depictions from Manipur, Bastar iron artifacts are particularly noteworthy. There are some woodwork samples from Almora and pretty Gond paintings. There was also a photo exhibition on which had photos which were all individually pretty but of the sort you would rather receive in a email forward embellished with senti messages than go to a museum to see.

There are some modern art works and some life size portraits of Shree Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar (I think I am yet to go to a museum in Mysore without one of these). These are neglected and not properly named. I even saw a couple of exhibits on their side on the floor. This is something I found really unacceptable.

To sum up this is a really good museum opportunity wasted. There is no proper explanation of what a lot of the exhibits are and there is no proper information system. The house itself is something else though. It's first resident Arthur Wellesly helped General Harris whoop Tippu Sultan in the fourth anglo-mysore war and then at age 30 became the governor of Mysore. Mysore, at this time I must remind you was only a few years away past its peak and a very fine place to be governor of. Now the Duke of Wellington, when he later became Prime Minister, chose not to live at No. 10 Downing street because he found it too small and went to his own house. So you can imagine how good Wellington house in Mysore must be if it was to be to Wellesly's liking. I like to imagine that it was at this house he thought up some of the stunning plans that helped him defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.

Sad joke for the day: Apparently Wellesly did not enjoy his stay in Mysore all that much. This is because he suffered from a prolonged bout of severe diarrhea. Several years before he met Napoleon at Waterloo, he had some water related loo problems himself. hyuk hyuk.

ಎಪಿಸೋಡ್ ೭: ಆತ್ಮಾವಲೋಕನ

2010-04-12T22:48:00.007+05:30

ಕೈಗೊಂಡ ಒಂದು ಕಾರ್ಯವನ್ನೂ ಮುಗಿಸುವು

In defence of using "literally" when you mean "figuratively"

2010-04-10T09:38:00.005+05:30

There seems to be a renewed wave of attack on the use of "literally" in situations where "figuratively" is more appropriate. A couple of my friends shared two articles on Google reader, including an xkcd which literally rips apart such usage (actually that should be "figuratively rips apart..." but I shall shortly prove why using literally is also not so bad).

Think of your average metaphor - "Maccha Royal Challengers got screwed like a *&^% da"
Think of how you say it if you were even more excited about this - "Maccha Royal Challengers really got screwed like a *&^% da."

In the first sentence we all know that this probably means a sub par cricketing performance by the Bangalore team (or maybe that they ended up with Rahul Dravid yet again at the auction). In the second sentence the presence of really is not to indicate that the description is not a metaphor but a report of physical occurrence but merely to add emphasis to a metaphor.

Please note how the import of the statement does not change when you say "Maccha Royal Challengers got reaaaallly screwed like a *^&%$. Like actually. Proper *&#ked"

Now, though "literally" can be used to indicate actual physical occurrence. In context it can mean mere emphasis to a figure of speech/phrase.

NLS Webcomic: Episode 6 - Faces of publicity

2010-04-02T01:07:00.003+05:30

Nothing very NLS about this but still...

Conversely, everyone knows someone who will be a good politician

NLS Webcomic - Episode 5: Word of advice

2010-03-18T10:17:00.006+05:30

Dedicated to all my classmates who will be entering workplaces in a few months from now...

NLS Webcomic - Episode 4

2010-03-17T11:57:00.005+05:30

But film buffs will never be bored of directors...

I know it's a horrible pun. I know god will punish me for it. But this blog has seen worse.

I've been publishing elsewhere too

2010-03-13T10:22:00.005+05:30

I forgot to mention this as I was typing the previous post just an hour ago. Maybe it's just as well because that post had gone on too long anyway. Anyway, Rainmaker have been kind enough to post a couple of funny pieces of mine on their website. You can find them here and here. Go ahead check it out... These pieces haven't been posted on this blog so you're sure to find something new there. Their website is also very cool and might hold something of special interest to you if you are a law student or a lawyer. What am I saying? If you're a lawyer you probably already know about it.

Where does your newspaper stand?

2010-03-13T09:45:00.004+05:30

Long years ago I had visited this site (politicalcompass.org) after it was mentioned in Times of India. Those were the days of dial up connection and limited hours of usage allowed per month. The site offers a test which places you on a scale of leftist to rightist and the Y axis gives you your position on the line from Authoritarian to Libertarian. I recommend that you take the test on yourself. It may not be 100% accurate as it is designed for developed countries but it certainly isn’t far from the truth.

I found out that long ago in 8th standard, when I first tried it I was far more to the right than I am now. I was also a lot more authoritarian.

There are several things we believe to be true as a common sense opinion or urban legend. It is always a pleasure to see something that backs it up with numbers. Now I think it is generally believed that The Hindu is left of centre and Times of India is to the right of it. Of the Indian Express I’ve heard it called left of center, right of center, both left and right etc.. What I intend to do is to examine beliefs of this kind and see which way the editorials of 3 newspapers argue on each issue. I shall make a note of their opinion on each issue and then use it to take the quiz on their behalf. This should give us a good idea of where they stand. I’m picking these newspapers because I’m anyway reading them. Depending on how it goes, I might just throw Star of Mysore and Vijaya Karnataka into the mix. I may have to do this over a long period so don’t expect any quick results.

You can track my tracking of the newspaper over here. I will be doing my best to update it everyday. I shall be relying upon my readers (yes both of you) to keep me motivated. Something I wont promise but will try my very best is to make summaries of all these editorials available. It is a big project. And requires a lot of hard work. Any help will be welcome and much appreciated. I can't offer much of a reward apart from an acknowledgment and my undying love and affection.

Historically whenever I have promised to post something on this blog I have not kept the promise. Hopefull I shall break the jinx this time.

However, if I am happy with how it goes. I will consider doing the same for top parliamentarians and judges.

Episode 3 - On life and politics

2010-03-12T17:14:00.005+05:30

...and I shall be an eligible beneficiary.

.

Of the Women's reservation bill

2010-03-11T13:19:00.001+05:30

This evening I was caught by one of those rare fancies that led me to look into the Constituent Assembly Debates for Laughs and entertainment. Now this is not in the very least to suggest that I do not have other sources. My roommate, Rishabh Gupta has started an excellent web comic site called Villains are people too. Replete with movie references and witty situations it is a must visit especially if you are a person of taste in these matters. (Pompousness ends here) Seriously, Gupta is coming up with some good shit. And he's published one submission of mine :).

But coming back to more worrying behavior on my part, that of reading constituent assembly debates for fun (for a break from mugging up teachings of the various schools of jurisprudence more like), I at least can offer some post facto justification that I found something interesting for my pains. And when I have found something interesting I bring it here (The name of the blog may have changed. The spirit remains the same). This "interesting thing" has to do with a hot topic namely the The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill.

Shrimati Hansa Mehta speaking in the constituent assembly on the issue of representation for women (What you thought it was a new issue?) was of the opinion that only very few women had been able to make it to the top. She said there were some like Sarojini Naidu but one swallow does not a summer make (Heheh... I'm trying to read a pun into it. Sarojini Naidu is a Nightingale not a swallow. Though both are passerine birds). She listed out the problems faced by women and said "In spite of all these, we have never asked for privileges. The women's organisation to which I have the honour to belong has never asked for reserved seats, for quotas, or for separate electorates. What we have asked for is social justice, economic justice, and political justice."

A few months later as part of the same assembly Mrs. Renuka Ray spoke in support of a system of territorial representation without reservation saying

"We are particularly opposed to the reservation of seats for women. Ever since the start of the Womens' Movement in this country, women have been fundamentally opposed to special privileges and reservations "

She also provides some insight into the history of women's reservation. She said

"Before the 1935 Act (this is the Government of India Act I guess) came in, the representaives of India's women made it very clear that they were against the reservation of seats or any special privileges for women. They made this clear through the All India Women's Conference. Our representatives, the three women who have evidence before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, made it clear in unequivocal terms-(I may say that Rajkumari Amrit Kaur was one of the three women)-that we did not want reservation, but in spite of our protests, and in direct contravention to our desires, reservation of seats was brought into the 1935 Act. "

"With these words, Sir, I should like to support this clause which has done away once and for all with reservation of seats for women, which we consider to be an impediment to oru growth and an insult to our very intelligence and capacity"

.The last line reminds me of a message on a T shirt I saw somewhere "women who wish to be equal to men, lack ambition". Whatever it might be, Renuka Ray and Hansa Mehta were talking in the belief that over the course of a few years women would get to participate is numbers as great as the men without the need for any special provision. This however has not been true. Feeling a bit lazy now to go over the objections of the Yadav troika to the bill and why I feel that such objections are frivolous.

But if there is one group we can learn about gender equality from it is the Naxals. They reportedly have large women cadres and the women officers outnumber the men. Wonder how they do it. No way of finding out for now :)

NLS Webcomic - episode 2: Learning Kannada. The hard way.

2010-03-09T18:46:00.007+05:30

yaenilla dawg... Sumne tarle maadtaa idde...

A softer world, NLSIU edition - casting aspersions on mooters

2010-03-09T00:25:00.007+05:30

Thanks to Gupta who apart from inspiring told me how to put in the alt text.

Kudos

2010-02-28T20:12:00.003+05:30

There have been several posts on several other blogs and websites congratulating and singing paeans to Mr. Subhash Chandra Agrawal. Who is the foremost hero of the Judges Assets saga (If you find the discussions there too legalistic you can try this). The achievements of this man seem to have first come to the attention of the national media after the CIC decision directing the CPIO of the SC to provide information as to whether the 1997 resolution has been complied with. At the time, while I had lauded the man for his courage and initiative, I hadn't seen this as part of a larger plan. The admiration I have for him only grows everyday as news pours in of each new conquest of his. His latest petition has only shown that the strategy is far deeper than it had initially seemed. Hats off to you sir.

Chief Ministers are we all

2010-02-01T11:41:00.008+05:30

Firstly I am disappointed in myself that I had heard of Goodluck Jonathan before I had heard of Friday Lyngdoh the new co-chief minister of Meghalaya. I seek to differentiate these names from the Hartal Halappas and the Mukhyamantri Chandrus. You see, Friday and Goodluck are actually their names.

Now not only are there reports that there are multiple chief ministers of the land of the clouds but there also seems to be no consensus on the number of chief ministers with Times of India saying that there are two and Indian Express saying there are four. The Hindu says it is four and I shall believe the "four" version for now. Now apart from the four chief ministers there are also two deputy chief ministers. Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Water Resources and the lovely Union Minister of State, Ministry of Rural Development must be reconsidering their choice of entering national politics though both of them seem to be doing well for themselves even there.

The satirist in me says that this is a good step for development in the North East. It is job creation at the highest level.

Thankfully they have clarified that executive power will remain with one person. This means that the A163 and 164 of the constitution will not be molested for now.

P.S. It has made the headlines this time. But it has been an old practice to accommodate political leaders and supporters as heads of cooperatives, authorities, public corporations and quangos and give them rank of cabinet minister. A friend tells me that a certain lawyer representing Sri BSY in a sensitive case has been given status of cabinet minister for protocol purposes.

India Discovered

2010-01-16T09:55:00.003+05:30

India Invented is an amazing 13 part series on the history of India. It is dedicated to eminent historian DD Kosambi so Law Schoolites probably can guess already why it is different from Bharat Ek Khoj and the like. The historiography is vastly different and the makers choose a very different method of studying history. Kosambi is credited as the first man who wrote the history of the peasant rather than the history of the kings, princes and rulers. This should not be radically new for the people who have been through the history courses at NLSIU but it is definitely worth watching the adaptation of such a concept into a TV series.

I have a slightly unconventional take on how the internet should be used (will blog about it later) and therefore I stream and watch all videos and movies "in-browser" rather than download them. While watching this show, as while watching Bharat Ek Khoj, I inevitably ended up pausing every couple of minutes to go read (on wiki usually) about something they were talking about on screen. Thus I ended up taking an hour and a half to see a half hour video (Yo mama's so dumb she takes 2 hours to see 60 minutes) which is in contrast to the 1, 1 1/2 hours I take to see some movies with running times upwards of 150 minutes. Time consuming but mind boggling and immensely fulfilling way of watching such videos.

I immensely regret not having seen it while I was in school.

What does it cost?

2009-12-09T17:50:00.003+05:30

This isn't really a post as much as it is a sad joke that should have been a tweet. But since I'm putting it up here, I'll resolve to make it a trailer for the next post which will be bigger and better.

My target today is again from the front page of the Times of India. The article claims that Rs 42 Lakhs are wasted every time the legislature doesn't function. The article feels sad about this. I would say that it's good. 42 Lakhs is very economical. Just think about the money that would have been wasted if they actually functioned.

Rant about latest instance of strange reporting in Times of India

2009-10-26T14:40:00.006+05:30

The main heading on the front page of today's Times of India (Bangalore edition) pissed me off no end and hence this rant. The piece brings up some grisly statistics (40,000 people killed in road accidents in 2007, 1.5 Lakh injured, of whom only a small fraction were able to benefit from insurance. A large number of this was due to the vehicle not having insurance at all and an equally large number because of claims not settled by the insurance companies. Shocking data indeed. Here is where Times of India puts an unconventional spin on it. The headline expresses remarkable sympathy for the insurance companies by saying

Highway accidents bleed insurance cos

Rs 4,000 Crore Paid Out Every Year In Compensation

Instances of wrong selection of data to be produced and unfair use of revealed data abound.

First they come up with some random estimate that merely Rs. 15 lakhs were collected from the vehicles on whose behalf payments were made. I call it random because it seems so far fetched. They themselves fix the premium to be between 600 (for private cars) to 1500(for commercial vehicles). Something tells me there are some categories for which there are premiums lower than this also but let us take 600 to be mean. To earn 15 lakhs in premium at this rate the insurers need 2500 subscribers. If 4000 crores is paid out on behalf of these subscribers then it comes to an astonishing 1.6 crores in claims against each subscriber claimed against. I cannot accept 1.6 crores to be the average motor vehicle insurance payout in this country. For this I can't give any reason or data to back up but I have never heard of a settled claim higher than a couple of lakhs (the key word here is settled, there have been higher claims of course).

Anyway, the way the insurance business works, isn't it a given that the amount the insurers make from from people who do end up in accidents is less than what they pay them but is compensated for by the money they make from their other subscribers?

Again I regret my inability to produce data to support this but from what I know the average insurance payout is in anycase dismally small compared to most other countries (not just OECD types, even the moderately developed Sri Lanka and Brazil types)

India is a very very huge country by all standards. Media should not try to confuse or scare people with huge numbers. Especially when they are hiding huger numbers which would definitely dwarf the numbers they are using. For example the number of automobiles in India, the number of insured vehicles and the revenue these companies earned from all insured vehicles.*

I submitted to my university a research paper on Motor Vehicles Insurance as part of the Insurance Law course. I cannot say it was of great academic merit but I made a couple of common sense observations there. One that there should be a some common fund to which all vehicle owners contribute (by means of taxes of course) which will be used to compensate victims where the offending vehicle is not insured. I pointed out the existence of such a system in UK and the reason behind it is simple. In all the road accidents I've seen or heard of, never had the victim a chance of first ensuring that the oncoming maniac driver had third party insurance.

I like to keep the dark side of my life (the academic side) away from this blog. But Times of India forced me into this.

I'm never one to make random allegations unless they are nagging me real bad. Here goes one - Is it possible, that some newspersons are tweaking press releases by PR agencies working for insurance companies so as to make them look all victimized?

I normally don't invest this much energy into criticizing some random news paper piece. But it is a boring afternoon and this was on the front page and so glaring.

* The automobile industry in India is immense, producing 23 lakh automobiles in 2008 alone. Now if only 30% of these vehicles (6,90,000) are insured, as he says 70% aren't, at 600 Rs. (These are just four wheels and above. So Rs. 600 is the lowest possible logical average.) That is still a whopping Rs. 41,40,00,000. Why didn't this figure come up in the whole piece?

2009-10-10T22:37:00.002+05:30

Lately I've been noticing the rise of a certain type of blogs. These are blogs where funny texts or tweets from various people relating to a certain subject or eliciting a certain type of response are posted. Examples of this genre are texts from last night, fml and overheard in the office Is there a specific name for such blogs?

User generated funny stuff is not new on the web, but I feel these merit separate attention.

the twitter effect on this blog

2009-09-05T01:51:00.004+05:30

Though twitter started in 2006, it became popular only in 2009 as Google trends data reflect.

I signed up for twitter sometime in 2007 but have almost never used it since. However, the nature of my posts on this blog seem to have changed in response to the growing popularity of microblogging. I did a quick data analysis for that too.

My 24 posts in 2008 averaged at 387.583 words per post and I remember taking a longer time to write each post almost never was a post merely a link to another post but conveyed something by itself. However, for the eight months of 2009 I have averaged 214.375 words over 34 posts and includes several posts which are merely links. This becomes even more stark when I consider only the past five months (april through august) where I have averaged 143.930 words over 13 posts and 103.85 words over 7 posts in the past three months.

Since I do not tweet regularly, the reason for this decline cannot have been that this is a behavior I have carried in from twitter where a 140 word restriction curbs any desire to ramble on. Indeed my posts had become small enough to merit such a study. Maybe I should be tweeting my posts. There actually are several things which I might have wanted to convey to the readers of this blog which I do not end up doing due to the unavailability of a comp at the moment it strikes me. There is a huge difference between computer literate and tech savvy and I know where I fit. So rest assured that inertia will keep me on blogger for quite a while.

Online economy game review: Mortgage meltdown

2009-09-02T16:48:00.005+05:30

Continuing the tradition of putting up links to economy games on this blog, we point you to Mortgage Meltdown the latest offering from addicting games. I stick to in browser flash games mainly.

Update: I love the moral lessons this game imparts. It is possible to make some money by speculating on properties and watching for a rise and fall in prices but then it hinges on being quick and it is not possible to own several properties at once. It however encourages you to make stable and definite profits out of the value you add to property by renovations. A simple buy - renovate -sell business model can make you a millionaire. I made nearly 6 million like this before the game hung. I would have played it again but I've found a new game. But yes the message of the game is what makes me happy- Do not speculate and indulge in risky market practices, there are a hundred honest ways to make money. The game also discourages deals where anonymous buyers offer insanely huge prices. The several touts who offer to pay off your loans and get you better credit rating are also bad news.

Sorry about the update longer than the post, the first time I played I engaged in speculation and every kind of shady practice thinking that is what I must do to win this game as. Turns out I'm wrong. Shame on me.

Bhuvan

2009-08-15T22:41:00.003+05:30

ISRO has recently launched what is supposed to be India's version of Google Earth. You can access it here. Either I don't know how to use it or it is pathetic. I so hope with all my heart that it is the former. Because if it is the latter, ISRO is embarrassing itself after all the hype. (1, 2,...)

Long convoluted joke

2009-08-04T23:33:00.002+05:30

So our hero, the defender of civil liberties and anti war crusader decides to have a road show where he will be shown to demolish, at least symbolically, all divisive structures.

He first goes to Panmunjom, a village divided by a brick and mortar compound in the Korean DMZ.(I'll hit anyone who asks me North Korean or South Korean) A huge crowd of fans from all over the world has gathered to watch him in action with his sledge hammer. He takes one mighty swing and knocks 15 grams of debris on to the ground. International media lauds him but notes that he didn't do anything to acknowledge his fans and went about the task nonchalantly which isn't quite his style.

He then goes to the border at Gaza strip where the Israelis have constructed a separator to keep out Palestinians. He doesn't turn to smile at the hearty cheers of "Allah-ho-Akbar" from the local Fatah party workers and mechanically swings his hammer.

Next stop - Berlin. Now there isn't any wall anymore obviously but this is all symbolic so it doesn't matter. So he goes to a small erection that has come up specially for this event. No glance towards audience, his face emotionless he gives it a whack with his hammer. People are beginning to worry if he's getting carried away with the show.

He goes then to Western Sahara's compound of shame, dividing Moroccan controlled areas and Polisario controlled areas. His faithful audience has followed him to the desert. He looks at his fans, says "check this out" and breaks the fourth wall.

Obama - The Sarpanch of USA

2009-07-25T23:37:00.003+05:30

All the times Obama spoke about a post racial society I thought it was just a politician talking. The Justice Sotomayor episode and his initial comments in the prof. gates episode also confirmed this impression. However this is a really good gesture. I know it is only symbolic and meant to correct past mistakes but still is the thing I would do.

Lost passwords on your phone

2009-07-13T00:34:00.002+05:30

This could be the single most useful link I saw this entire weekend. You can have Google message your password over to you in case you lose it. Go ahead check it out.

Mixed up confusion

2009-06-28T20:49:00.003+05:30

This is to bring to the notice of the reader a queer situation I came across. (Sad pun, you shall realize later). Two news sources, both respectable, have interpreted the Hon'ble law minister's words in diagonally opposite ways here and here. Should teach me to read more than just the headlines. Or when I don't have time for the details, not to take headlines for face value.

BTW, I got some gossip on the law minister from his time as G.S. Achar's junior at the High Court. Since this blog is a rumour free zone, it shall not go up here.

Masala Bomb

2009-06-27T18:26:00.002+05:30

The police have come up with a new crowd control mechanism. The Hot Chilli Grenades are here. I'm not afraid. Some of the Andhra meals I've had (and relished) can't be far off in intensity.

Sunfeast 10K open

2009-05-31T17:55:00.003+05:30

At the beginning of this year, I had listed out my most outstanding memories on this blog. A reader then had suggested in the comments that I try out a marathon. At first I thought she was being sarcastic or at best greatly overestimating my fitness level. At any rate I had refused to consider it seriously.

A little more than a month ago I saw the hoardings for a 10km race in the city I live in and decided to give it a shot.

Today 31st of May 2009 I ran 10,000 meters without pausing for a single second. And I did it in 1 hour 14 mins. That may be a lot slower than the Ethiopian who won the race but I am as happy as any Ethiopian runner.

While few things can match the elation of reaching the finish line, there were definitely a few other moments in the race which will be etched in my memory for a long time to come. The most exciting one of these happened near the RBANMS ground. As I was running there was a large bunch of about 40-50 kids standing by the side of the road with their hands outstretched to greet the runners. As I was running by them I reached out so that my fingers touched theirs for one brief moment as I passed. There were a lot of other people cheering the runners but this group of kids were loud and raucous and made me feel like Sachin.

Now that I feel like a star it is only appropriate that I thank the persons who were part of this victory. I would like to thank my friend and roommate Rishabh Gupta who got our running bibs and goody bags yesterday after much effort and therefore made this run possible. Gowtham for running with me on the day of the race and once before. Nandhi Varman S. for running with me everyday in the preparation phase and introducing me to my optimal pace. Devranjan Mishra for the immortal phrase "running is as much psychological as it is physical". All the people who cheered for me from the side of the road as I ran by (Especially the Kingfisher cheerleaders ;) ) All the others who wished me luck.

Passings: K. Pattabhi Jois

2009-05-18T21:41:00.002+05:30

Every now and then I take up the sombre task of noting that a great person is no more. Today it is a fellow Mysorean. The human race no longer has the privilege of being in the earthly company of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Guru K. Pattabhi Jois.

Susan Boyle & Jamie Pugh

2009-05-04T03:07:00.006+05:30

Among people I know in meatspace, I was the first to find Susan Boyle. I didn't think much of it at the time but the video on YouTube had been seen tens of thousands of times (10,000-90,000) when I first saw it and now a mere three weeks later it is close to 51 million (50,858,627 views at the time of posting). I hope you are hearing of Jamie Pugh here first. It would give me such a kick to have been in on the scoop when it's still hot. I first caught him at 60,000 odd views earlier in the day and the video already records 104,511 views.

Both of them sing very very well, but what really seems to make them click is that they are unlikely heroes. Even though I see a pattern here (We can also bring in the first season winner into the picture), I don't for a moment believe that the producers of Britains Got Talent are trying to force it that way. It seems completely possible that it is just a product of the times.

Confession: I don't really follow the show and am not blown away by these people either. I just like memes, viral videos etc.

Intellectual honesty among frogs

2009-05-03T12:35:00.005+05:30

I'm sorry, I've started my projects early and this happened. I'm sure the hudgi frogs will be attracted to this guys footnotes.

No, I know it's a bad one.

One voter polling booth

2009-04-23T14:20:00.003+05:30

To all the law schoolites who couldn't vote today. Check out this and be jealous. You know you are ruling country when five people come to meet you in the middle of nowhere and ask you to press a button to indicate your choice. It's an entirely different matter that your choice may be a very bad choice.

But one voter reminds me of this hilarious blackadder episode from the third season.

Interesting posts on other blogs

2009-04-23T12:01:00.006+05:30

This is my last couple of months on the Legal Services Clinic, NLSIU and it marks the end of four years on the committee. This hasn't hit me completely yet. I shall use this opportunity to pimp the LSC blog though. Do check out the latest post (here, if you didn't click on it two lines ago). It is not a LLP report like most other posts. It's by me, but that's not the reason I put up this link under interesting posts.

I had a good laugh for more reasons than one when I read this post by none other than the very influential Krugman. I'll put up the punchline here

So Citigroup is profitable because investors think it’s failing, while Morgan Stanley is losing money because investors think it will survive. I am not making this up.

One of the rocks of Ramnagaram

2009-04-06T00:41:00.007+05:30

ಇಂದು ರಾಮನಗರ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಕೂಟಗಲ್ಲು ಗ್ರಾಮದ ಹತ್ತಿರ ಈ ಕಲ್ಲನ್ನು ಕಂಡೊಡನೆ ನೆನಪಾಗಿದ್ದೆಂದರೆ ಇತ್ತೇಚೆಗೆ ರಾಜೇಶ್ ನಾಯಕ್ ರವರು ಅವರ ಬ್ಲಾಗಿನಲ್ಲಿ ವರ್ಣಿಸಿದ ಕಳಚೆ ಕಲ್ಲು. ಆದರೆ ರಾಮನಗರದ ಸುತ್ತ ಮುತ್ತ ಯಾವುದೇ ರೂಪದ ಕಲ್ಲು ಕಂಡರೂ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದರೆ ತಪ್ಪಲ್ಲ. ರಾಮನಗರ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾಲ್ಕು ವರ್ಷ ಬೀಟ್ ಹಾಕಿದ ನನಗೆ ಇದು ತಿಳಿದಿದ್ದರೂ ಈ ಕಲ್ಲನ್ನು ನೋಡವು ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಯ್ಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಯಾಮರಾ ಇದ್ದ ಕಾರಣ ಈ ಬಂಡೆಯತ್ತ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಗಮನ ಹರಿಸಿದೆ.

ನಾವು ಹೊರಟ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ನಾವಾಗಾಗಲೇ ಲೇಟ್ ಆಗಿದ್ದರಿಂದ (ಎಂದಿನಂತೆ) ಗಾಡಿ ನಿಲ್ಲಿಸಿ ಫೋಟೋ ತೆಗೆಯಲಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ಈ ವಿಸ್ಮಯವನ್ನು ನೋಡಲು (ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾದರೆ ಹತ್ತಲು) ಮತ್ತೆ ಬರುವೆವೆಂದು ಪಣ ತೊಟ್ಟು ಕಾನೂನು ಸೇವಾ ಕೇಂದ್ರದ ಸದಸ್ಯರೆಲ್ಲ ಕೂಟಗಲ್ಲು ಗ್ರಾಮದತ್ತ ಸಾಗಿದೆವು.

Look what the big cat brought out

2009-03-30T00:16:00.007+05:30

There are posts and there are posts about treks to Savandurga. Thanks to Megha I got to go to the less visited of the two Savandurga peaks today. In keeping with the tradition of putting up gross photos on this blog instead of showing you some of the really beautiful pictures taken during the trek, I shall choose to instead display this

This is a photo of the vomit of a leopard which has been eating some grass. Several carnivores often eat grass to aid digestion or something. I got clearer photos of this later in the day as I was climbing back down but by then the saliva had dried. Which is what makes this photo very interesting. The huge blobs of wet saliva you see in the photo indicate that the leopard was here very recently.

Though at the time I estimated that we had missed the leopard by a couple of hours, analyzing the photo now, I feel that the time lapse was much much lesser!! The false sense of security we had definitely did help us climb as we were out of breath by this time even without any fear of the leopard.

Southpaw friendly doors

2009-03-29T02:43:00.007+05:30

First of all Happy Ugadi to one and all and wish you a prosperous new year. The above photo is a random Google image of a disabled friendly sidewalk and I probably am violating a million copyrights by putting it up. If there was one thing that I really appreciated in the city of angels (Los Angeles, I was there last week. Awesome fun, a little disappointment, Great learning experience. I shall also claim that as the excuse for not posting for well over two weeks) it was the sidewalks. In a city full of big cars zooming around the care with which the city treats the pedestrians is amazing. Make no mistake it is a terrible inconvenience to not have a vehicle of some sort. However, should you choose to walk, you will notice that the footpaths everywhere are absolutely flat and smooth and where they meet the zebra crossings or street corners, they are gently sloped so as to let wheelchairs or baby strollers get around without any hassle. Though of course this also meant that there were a lot of people on roller skates and skateboards taking advantage of this, it definitely is a necessary improvement that the powers who maintain our cities need to keep in mind.

All the other people who abroad for a short while keep whining about things here and how they compare unfavorably with their equivalents in whatever developed country they went to. However even with relation to the one aspect I respected most about LA, I cannot but mark my hostel higher. My hostel isn't disabled friendly at all (not just the infrastructure, the insensitive denizens of this place laugh shamelessly and heartily when I crack inappropriate jokes about differently abled people). Why I rate it higher though is better explained with a photo of the door in one of the bathrooms.

This door, ladies and gentlemen is a left handed friendly. Normally all doors have the latch to the right and you open it by pulling the latch to the left. Never noticed, you're probably right handed then. Ask your southpaw friends and they will tell you of the trials and tribulations of their everyday activities (not necessary, they're used to it mostly) Though there are a lot of businesses that make a killing selling things customized for lefties (here, here and here for example) almost all public places are designed for right handed people. The builders of my hostel were careful not to disregard the needs of 8-15 % of the population (Statistics from wiki).

One small problem though. What is good for the left handers is a pain for the more prevalent right handers. Especially in the rainy season when the door jams and we people grunt and sweat quite a bit trying to latch door and then settle for the fragile privacy offered by a bucket which keeps the door shut (almost) by the weight of the water it is filled with. Apart from one incident in my first year, I don't recollect anyone walking in on someone who had taken the refuge of such an arrangement.

Engrish

2009-03-07T23:14:00.004+05:30

My first submission to Engrish Funny while not as good as the ultimate strong engrish they have on display still evokes a chuckle from some.
Fancy Booties it says. I like fancy booties.

Masakali Masakali

2009-03-05T22:13:00.006+05:30

The title is the name of a pigeon and the bird I am talking about is a koel.

Birdwatching had happened only in Mysore so far. And it has been good lately too. 51 species of birds last Sunday (01-03-2009) at Karanji lake. No photos of any of those. Yet.

It was a new experience today when I saw a koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) in the bathroom of the mens' hostel

LSC team comprising of Gow and myself heroically ensured that the koel flew away safely into the ISEC campus. You suppose it could be spying for the leopard. If it has been you'll know it when I blog about a leopard in the bathroom tomorrow :)

Another Economy Game

2009-02-27T02:00:00.003+05:30

The flavour of the season is economy related games folks. The latest one on offer is the trillion dollar bailout game Trying to explain how the game works would be stupid. it's really simple to figure out. I'll just tell you how this game compares with the bailout game which I had written about previously. Now, gaming wise, this game is as much pie gates as it is about making right policy calls. Now, I might not agree with several of the positions it impliedly takes about the effects of certain measures. But compared to the bailout game it definitely has a more moderate view on the crisis. However it doesn't have any system of points and it is damn simple to win. There is no leader board or high score so there is nothing to get you to try the game more than once (you're almost guaranteed to win the first time unless you are determined to lose or are a strict laissez faire practitioner)

This is not the game I can give you a walkthrough for. For those who are current affairs challenged, I can give the following tip: When you don't understand whether saving a particular entity is good or bad for the economy, the thumb rule in this game is to give money to people below the flyover and deny it to people above unless they seem to be some government entity.

Itinerary for a weekend getaway to Mysore

2009-02-21T18:51:00.009+05:30

The delay since the last post was caused by a debilitating bout of chicken pox which kept me completely out of action for almost two weeks. There are several posts which are long overdue. The first of these is a "what to do on a weekend in Mysore" post.

First, I am assuming a two day weekend where you reach Mysore late Friday evening or early Saturday morning. (If you are arriving early Friday evening, try to catch the Dariya Daulat in Srirangapatna which is on the way from Bangalore. Won't take you too much time but this means you will have to come by your own means of transport)

First place I would recommend for your Saturday morning would be the Mysore Zoo. Now several tourists have bypassed this thinking they've seen zoos in their hometowns and they would rather see something that is unique to Mysore. But let me tell you that this is easily THE best maintained zoo I've seen anywhere and the most animal friendly one too. (I must admit I'm biased in favor of the zoo. Member of the Zoo Youth Cub for two years) It will take you all morning and if you spend a fair amount of time in front of each enclosure, it will take you a good part of the afternoon too.

If you finish a little after lunch time, you can go to the Palace,(There are several palaces in Mysore, but Mysore palace usually refers to Amba Vilas Palace) This will take between an hour and a half to two hours. Apart from an interesting style of architecture and imposing royal grandeur it has several portraits and paintings on the walls. (Those who nurture an interest in the culture and practices of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries will find the annotations to the paintings very useful. It is something i haven't seen anywhere else and serves as a veritable textbook for those who get their kicks out of such things). However if you finish the zoo around 3:30 or 4:00 I would recommend that you go to the Art gallery at Jaganmohana palace which will take you lesser time than the palace.

Now, if you have your own transport and are done with the palace or art gallery by 5:00 you may proceed to the Brindavan gardens at KRSagar which is a short distance from Mysore. The dancing fountain used to be a novelty in India a few years ago. But now I see them in several small random parks also. But the brindavan gardens at KRS are still worth a visit.

If you are relying on autorickshaw's inside the city, you would do well to utilize this time to visit Karanji lake which is right behind the zoo. The butterfly park and the aviary here are really beautiful.

Though there is purple haze, planet x etc. nightlife has never been considered to be a part of the Mysore experience by most tourists. The city shuts really early compared to any other. Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise ;-).

On Sunday morning, try climbing the Chamundi hill on foot by the stairs. There is a road and there are regular AC buses from the bus stand but climbing in the morning either gives you a high that keeps you energised for the rest of the day or gives you a knee ache that puts you out of action. Also the view you get while climbing is priceless. The view from the top is good but I still prefer the view from the stairway. Takes a better part of an hour for a city dwelling desk jockey of average fitness.

Though there are instances when I have decided that I can do without the blessings of mother Chamundeshwari, I make it a point to see the iconic Mahishasura statue. (I can swear it shrinks everytime I see it) This is the demon our city gets its name from. Quick descent - back in the city.

An alternative for those who don't want to go to a temple early in the morning is the Kukkarhalli lake. Lots of birds and good compensation for missing the Ranganathittu bird sanctuary which everyone else seems to be telling you about but I will advise against. Reasons later.

If you went to the Art gallery on Sunday go to the Palace(Amba Vilas) now and vice versa. One must see in the Art gallery at Jaganmohana Palace is the clock. Time yourself such that you are near the clock at the change of the hour. The elaborate ritual it performs is captivating.

The palace museum offers further insight into the lives of the royals and you get to see some really grand things. It doesn't take much time and is located within the palace premises so it's best to club it with the palace. If you are impressed by the palace, let me tell you that you haven't seen the best yet.

For the Sunday afternoon you have a choice between 1)Rail museum (Nice, several relics but nothing unique to Mysore) 2)Regional Museum of Natural History (Must go if you have school going children with you. adults get bored very quickly here. Try to catch the short documentary they show at four or so.) 3)Folklore museum (Funky stuff from all over Karnataka). If you are quick about it you can squeeze in all three in the same afternoon.

Whatever you do, make sure you're at the palace at 7:00 PM on Sunday because thats when they light up the palace. Now I haven't seen the new light and sound show but even without it the lit up palace is one sight which impresses me every time though I have seen it hundreds of times. During Dasara they light it up every day but normally they light it up only on Sundays. After this you head back to Bangalore tormented with the knowledge that you will have to go back to office/college on Monday morning.

There are a lot of places in Mysore which I have ignored due to my personal preferences. The places I have mentioned here are the places I take my friends and relatives to when they visit Mysore.

There are a lot of places near Mysore which are brilliant for tourists but not part of this itinerary as I have made this with a view to minimize travel. If you have your own vehicle then the places you can visit expands ten fold but this is still a good guide to follow.

I have stopped recommending Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary to people. It is really beautiful and though there are bird sanctuaries all over the world this one is actually special for the amazing variety of birds one may see here. The serenity and the natural beauty for which my mother loved this place is a thing of the past. Of late it is overcrowded beyond its capacity especially on weekends.

St. Philomena's Church is another interesting place that I haven't included. I didn't think too much of it and doesn't have much to offer other than the Neo-Gothic architecture.

If you decide to ditch one day's (ditch the Zoo and the Art Gallery) activities, you can do a tour of Byalakuppe(Tibetan Monastery), Cauvery Nisarga Dhama (Nature reserve) and Dubare Elephant Camp (Some kind of training place for tame elephants) which are all situated on the same road fifty to seventy kilometers from Mysore. (Go to the elephant camp early in the morning, they let you bathe the elephants)

I've ignored Shivanasamudra, Talakad, Somanathpura in this one because that qualifies as a separate weekend getaway from Bangalore.

Also not including Bandipur, Nagarahole, Kabini each of which deserve a weekend in their own right.

Some lists extend this around Mysore thing to Belur, Halebid, Shravanbelagola which is a bit too much. Some rightly include B.R.Hills, Madikeri, Kokkare Bellur. But anyway going to any of these will mean you will have to drop at least one of the items in Mysore.

I am not at all qualified to comment on the accommodation in Mysore though I can name a couple of hotels for each Budget range. You see I have never had to stay in a hotel in Mysore :).

Similarly handicapped when it comes to the eating places. Especially after I started living in Bangalore, the only place I eat in Mysore is home (that includes the homes of the several aunts, uncles and cousins). Some collegemates liked Edelweiss, an austrian cafe just off Kalidasa road and there are several other places which are supposed to be good near the bus stand but I haven't been to any of those in a long time. And none of these places have "authentic mysore food" in fact they don't even claim to.

I hope a fan finds this useful and informative. Though colored by my personal preferences, I have taken care to keep in mind the places that most tourists to Mysore I took around liked. I have also made this for a non dasara time. During Dasara all these places will be crowded and there are several other attractions that spring up all around(even apart from the parade and the torchlight parade). There are also annual theater fests and food fests which happen now and then which will give you more things to do.

That was quite a long a post. Excuse the verbosity, Heart is where the Home is. The next post will come up by tomorrow and being law related will probably come up first on the LSC blog which has gone postless for a long time.

Keremane Shambhu Hegde

2009-02-05T16:14:00.007+05:30

Four days of no newspaper made me miss this bit till a relative told me. The greatest Yakshagana artiste of our times is no more. He shall be sorely missed.

Bailout game - Walkthrough

2009-01-31T19:45:00.004+05:30

This might seem a bit odd if you don't check out my previous post first.

Bear stearns let die
FNB Nevada – DIE
Saved Freddie Mac and Fannie mae
Saved Lehman and AIG
Saved BOA – Gave me some points
I saved wells Fargo
Synovus saved
WAMU gets money when it needs money.
Morgan Stanley need 10 Billion- Here you go
Wachovia goes to Wells Fargo
JP Morgan Chase saved – Anything that needs 25B needs to be saved
Assets worth 63.5 B (famously errant valuations) and asking for 1.7 B doesn’t make sense. Marshall and Illsey money this time – The markets went down when I denied them last time
Goldman Sachs is mine – State Capitalism
Saved PNC
Auto Makers get money – puts me shares down though
Even the affluent Sun Trust Banks get money.
BB&T get money
No matter what, CITI gets money
Comerica too
State street lives
First Horizon who? – They get money anyway. Why not? My drivers are Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson. Wait are they saying I’m…
Valley National Bancorp – They get some money too
Franklin Bank also gets money
TCF Corp – Their lucky day man.
M&T Bancorp – Last ones have to get

However, a better idea is to rescue everyone. I got my name on the leaderboard both times but did better giving everyone money. And so much more convenient... You can try letting Merill Lynch go (because BOA gets the money anyway).

You might also notice that if you follow the more elaborately thought out walkthrough you cannot see many of the businesses you can come across if you've been giving everyone money (They seem to change a bit all the time anyway).

The makers of the game seem to have rose tinted glasses on.

The Bailout Game

2009-01-30T23:56:00.007+05:30

Eco games are not new to this blog and I have already confessed to being addicted. Here goes another one of those.

The Bailout Game

Will put up walkthrough tomorrow. No this is not like the other promises I make on this blog only to never fulfill them later. I'm quite close to cracking it and am giving it up now only due to parental pressure.

Interesting and Hilarious

And I haven't been getting greenspan's help either. Though I don't know if it helps any.

mind your bets

2009-01-29T23:31:00.006+05:30

For a game theory analysis of Nadal-Federer encounters check this. Admittedly interesting but just trying to skirt around the fact that Rafa simply rocks.

What you didn't click the link? Perhaps the conclusion of the piece will get you interested.

When choosing the right mix, it is not just about playing to your strength. It is important to play to your advantage, which may require you play your weakness more often. This becomes even more important as your strength improves!

Ye Olde Cunnada

2009-01-28T21:17:00.007+05:30

On several occasions I have wondered what the Kannada equivalent of engrish is.

I came up with the following shortlist-

Kannad - As the North Indians call it and given their propensity to ignore the vowel (especially if its an 'uh' sound) at the end when they pronounce South Indian words

Kannadam - As I recently heard some tams and mals call it.

Diga/Kannadiga - Law Schoolites

I vote for and select Kannad.

However, most of the Kannad i see is because of wrong usage/ bad spelling by Kannadigas themselves.

The photo over here is an interesting one. This stone demarcating the boundary between Mysore and Malabar erected in 1862, is in a place so remote that the nearest tar road is a good 35 Kms away (Electricity - 45 Kms, though there is
a high tension wire, about 20 kms away, mobile signal - 5 kms). It is interesting because someone in 1862 saw it fit to go from Mysore all the way here, despite restraints of mid 19th century transport, lugging a huge slab of stone to plant it in a place where no human would see it for years to come.

The english writing on the stone staidly states - BOUNDARY BETWEEN MYSORE AND MALABAR. The etching in Kannada is what is interesting - Mysoorushimegoo Malabarjillakkoo Sarapoodra. Gets the meaning across but weird all the same.

ಆದರೆ ಇದು ತಪ್ಪು ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ೧೮೬೨ರಲ್ಲಿ ಸರಹದ್ದು ಎಂದು ಅರ್ಥ ಬರುವ ಹಾಗೆ "ಸರಪೂದ್ರ" ಎನ್ನುವ ಪದದ ಬಳಕೆ ಇದ್ದಿರಬಹುದೆಂದು ನನ್ನ ಊಹೆ.

ಅಂತೆಯೇ ಮೈಸೂರುಶಿಮೆ ಎಂದು ಬರೆದಿರುವುದೂ ಅಂದಿನ ಸಮಕಾಲೀನ ಚಾಲ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿರಬಹುದು.

೮ ಕೂಡ ಅಷ್ಟೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡುಬರುವ ಚಿಹ್ನೆ square root ಚಿಹ್ನೆಯಂತಿದೆ. ಕಲ್ಲಿನ ಕೆಳಭಾಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಲಬದಿಗೆ ಗಮನಿಸಿದರೆ ಕಾಣಿಸುತ್ತದೆ.

OMG :)

2009-01-26T21:10:00.004+05:30

Found in the Hindu

"Rookie all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja said he is excited at the prospect of sharing the dressing room with senior players"

Chee... Thoo... against Indian culture. If these guys were in Mangalore they would've been beaten up...

Post tiger sighting angst

2009-01-26T10:55:00.007+05:30

This is the first time I have been able to actually photograph a wild tiger. On my previous sightings I either did not have a camera or the tiger had disappeared before I had been able click. This pic here was clicked by Mohan (Thanks Mohan).

Though it has been a very successful trip in terms of animal and bird sightings, I still feel we should have stayed for one more day.

There are better pics of elephants and gaur from this trip but just to show how bold they were, I'll put up a pic taken from my phone.

In keeping with my practice of promising to blog about things later and completely forgetting about them later, I shall put up more about this later.

However, I'll leave you with some cryptic numbers. (not related to the trip).

Day 1: 33 - 20
Day 2: 22 - 14

Try and guess what they are about,

Now the online public fiscal policy game

2009-01-23T22:11:00.004+05:30

I consider myself to be pretty good at small in browser flash games. Well, if you can equate obsession with some level of expertise... even then you'd be stretching it, but still... Ok, I admit, I'm pretty good at wasting time on them. Nothing more. However, T-LINK is a good waste of time (as opposed to a waste of good time) and is one game I found a link to from the ever informative freako.

It lets you play around with controlling spending on various things relating to Kansas transport and see the effects of these decisions. You can also control your revenue by various methods including issuing bonds.

Happy policy making.

The ಮಣ್ಣತ್ತೆಮ್ಮs in charge of your money

2009-01-11T22:41:00.008+05:30

My mother, aunts and grandmothers have told me the story of ಮಣ್ಣತ್ತೆಮ್ಮ (clay mother-in-law) several times. In short it is the story of a newlywed woman who having come to her husband's house is not sure about how much rice she should be cooking each day. Unfortunately her husband's mother is also dead and there is no one to direct her. So she asks her husband for a mother-in-law who can tell her the right measurements. Now her husband brings her a clay figurine which holds both its hands with the fingers spread out indicating ten. So everyday before she cooks food for herself and her husband she asks the figurine how much she should be cooking and interprets the figurines gesture as an order to cook 10 ಸಿದ್ದೆ of rice each day. (A sidde is a unit of measurement equivalent approximately to two thirds of a litre. subject to correction.) Chaos ensues.

This parable finds a place in this post because the situation of common people who have some money to save/invest is comparable now to the situation of the daughter-in-law. In these troubled times, small investors who dabbled directly in the stock market burnt their fingers in the initial slump. Several others felt the need for an ಅತ್ತೆಮ್ಮ who they thought would be able to safeguard their investment by allocating it wisely. They went to Mutual Funds who they thought would have analysts dedicated to studying the markets and the industry and having a better idea than them about investments. As this economic times story shows several mutual funds went on to invest Crores of rupees of investors money in Satyam after the Maytas fracas. Thats right after Satyam is slimed by all for lack of corporate governance, all these MFs decide that the falling Satyam equities are an opportunity to make quick bucks and decide to jump in and buy about 1.7 Crore (1,70,00,000) shares in Satyam at a time when the price must have been around 180-190 Rs. I know that the disclaimer at the end of all their ads say that they are subject to market risks, but they never say that they are run by prize idiots. I can't find the link to it, but I can bring to mind another article in one of these all knowing financial newspapers which said a week before Raju's letter that it might be an excellent time to invest in Satyam because they have high cash reserves after the Maytas deal could not go through and in times of such recession, cash is king and cash holder is emperor.

All the new bride-investors blindly beleived their mother-in-law-analysts (Hope Ekta Kapoor doesn't get ideas... Kyunki investment banker bhi kabhi investor thaa) who ditched all common sense and seem to have gone in for the simple logic of buying it when it is cheap even if it is worthless.

The Vikram Hegdes of this world

2009-01-10T10:48:00.004+05:30

I have come across some techies on Orkut, Facebook etc. with the same name as me and I can also think of a distant relative called Vikram Hegde. However, the latest Vikram Hegde to catch my attention has been the man who is legal counsel to the recently arrested B.V. Seetharam, editor of 'Karavali Ale'.

B.V. Seetharam has been arrested by the Mangaloor Rural Police Station. Cases have been booked against him under S 153 (A), 153 (B) and 29 (A) IPC. News of his extreme weakness and his life being in danger in Police Custody have filled the local media(here, here).

Now this other Vikram Hegde also being an advocate has led to a wee bit confusion which at current levels only amuses me. After receiving messages yesterday from 2 juniors in college who were just pulling my leg, I received 2 calls today from people who actually thought it was me. I had to remind them that I was still in college and wouldn't be able to undertake any such activity till the second half of 2010. To complicate matters, the Editor has now been shifted from Mangalore Sub Jail to Mysore Central Jail and one guy wanted me to know If I was handling it in Mysore.

Nonetheless I wish my namesake and his client all the best. I'll not make any comment on the merits of the complaint against him (not because of procedural impropriety of comments pending trial or anything but simply because I don't know enough about the exact nature of the complaint). However, I find the treatment meted out to the editor extremely disturbing. A friend has sent me a brief of the new Cr.P.C. amendment which he says would make such arrests illegal. Will have to wait till after exams. Best of luck to those who are writing exams with me.

the mysore stamp

2009-01-06T21:36:00.010+05:30

On and off I have been a strong advocate of Mysore's greatness on this blog (A year and a half and I shall be a great advocate from Mysore, hyuk hyuk I crack myself up).

Inspired, of course by this which was flashing at the margin of this blog along with the other Mysore news. The piece lists out several items which hold geographical indications from Mysore and places near Mysore. Expectedly it includes Mysore Sandal oil, Mysore Sandal soap, Mysore Agarbatti, Mysore Silk, Mysore Mallige (Jasmine) and Mysore paintings.

I hadn't heard of Mysore betel leaves (the best ones are Mangalore ele) and if not given a tip off I would not have listed Mysore Rosewood Inlay work.

One registered item the author has missed are Mysore Ganjifa Playing cards (found in several places in India but only the mysore variety finds mention in the GI registry at Chennai). Not so popular themselves anymore, the patterns and designs from these cards occur just about everywhere from jewelry to sarees to carpets.

Some items which non mysoreans tell me mysore is famous for but aren't registered as GI include Mysore dosei, Mysore rasam (not sold commercially under these appellations and have more to do with the recipe than the place of making). Mysore Pak, though sold commercially by that name, doesn't hold a GI for similar reasons. Come to think of it I've never even had good mysore pak in Mysore. Other items in this category include Mysore Petha (or Jari petha) which is a style of wrapping a turban,

Jogging my memory a bit more I can also think of Mysore cattle (also called Kangayam cattle), which would be a prime candidate for GI though I'm not sure if they actually are from Mysore. Mysore Mallige rice, again denoting a rice variety from regions falling within the erstwhile Mysore state. Mysore Dal which I have merely heard of and have been told that it is a special variety of toor dal (those in the know will kindly throw more light). Mysore Badanekayi (alternative name: Eerangere badanekayi) which is a kind of brinjal grown in villages near Mysore and an essential component of the Vangibaath of my dreams. I've heard of Mysore Ivory carvings but we love our elephants here so don't even think about it.
Mysore kuri (two varieties Kurumbar and Shambliar both known as Mysore Sheep)

Something that will never qualify for GI is mysore weed (is this the Srirangapatna stuff some people here talk about?) but I have it from good authority (Gazetteer no less) that the State of Mysore sanctioned the sale of weed and opium and maintained depots for the purpose.

Will someone please tell me what mysore idli is?

Top 10 discoveries of 2008

2009-01-06T07:55:00.002+05:30

Discoveries include rediscoveries

Dawn

Untamed cat

Freako

What I'm here for (One of the several theories, and here means Law School I'm not capable of thought more metaphysical than that)

What I like doing (as in what I REALLY like doing)

Avrekal Saaru, BeLe HoLige etc. thanks aayi

Treadmill, H Bar etc. (weight on 01/01/2008 = 86, weight on 01/01/2009 = 74 and that without being regular)

Mr. V K Patil (special public prosecutor when I first met him early 2008. Now Deputy Director of Prosecutions)

Convenership

Negotiations from the other side

Ten is too short a list. And these are in no particular order. Will post addenda soon.

You know you're a grown up when...

2008-12-02T02:40:00.003+05:30

The terrorist who killed x (1 < x < 200) number of people and then got captured is the same age as you.

Survey Janaha Sukhino Bhavantu

2008-11-22T23:29:00.007+05:30

If you are of the creed that remembers the Perus Narkp hoax by pen pricks and do not labour under the illusion that all our media/press consists of dedicated hardworking individuals who take great pains to sell us the truth and nothing but the truth, and if you are looking for a good laugh then I suggest you pick up the latest India Today and read their sex survey. Be warned , the cover is a tad NSFW.

Yes this is India's top news weekly we are talking about. And just because I'm targeting them this time does not mean that other magazines are above par.

This survey, conducted countrywide across 11 cities and 5353 people purports to be reflective of the trends in India's bedrooms.

My first and foremost complaint about this survey, which mainly relates to the manner in which the results of the survey are presented, is one that has been made by several people against sex surveys conducted by almost every magazine every year. It is that they all primarily seem to be just an excuse to put sleazy photos all over the magazine. And one big one on the cover which I guess boosts the sales of the magazines in the stalls. An innocent reader would think India Today puts these pics there to titillate the reader. But just read through the text of the article (which is nauseatingly M&B) and you will agree with me is that the main function of these photos is to distract the reader and keep him from realizing that what the mag is trying to pass off as primary research statistics is actually just a shoddy compilation of numbers.

And then there are the absurdities with the results of the survey itself. For the sake of clarity, let us divide these into -

results which I deem absurd because they seem to at great variance with the world I see around me.
results which are objectively absurd and cannot logically be possible.

I could type all night and not put down all the examples that I deem fit to fall under the first category. But notable among these is one which says that 1 in every 3 men in Hyderabad are gay and two thirds of them openly so. Another would have it that adultery is routinely committed by a large section of the population and in some cities they almost constitute a majority(47% in Ludhiana with many more who would like to). If you manage to tear your eyes from the ubiquitous sleazy photos (it took me quite an effort, frankly) and actually read the article you will realize that almost all the results that they have come up with would very well fit into this article.

That possibly is the point of the article - to shock the reader with sensational statistics which give him some vicarious pleasure by either allowing him to tut at the decadence of his fellow countryman or letting him fantasize about debauchery that a huge chunk of country of a billion is up to. Even a person arguing for the magazine wouldn't disagree with me on this completely. He would perhaps say that the objective of the article is to disillusion prudish sexual revolution denialists like me. He could have possibly had a decent case there and the matter could have only been settled by another survey (hopefully with a more broad based cross section) which supported or contradicted the statistics thrown up by by India Today. The results falling within the second category render it unnecessary to have a second survey to bring the results of this one into doubt.

The results which are objectively absurd are the ones which gave me the heartiest of laughs. One of the results they put out says that about 80% of the population had their first sexual experience with a younger person (want to be shocked even more - this is the answer given by 90% of the women and 72% of the men). While such a result is perfectly possible for just the sample group, it is almost impossible in any sample group which claims to be representing the population of the entire nation. Now if a person has his/her first sexual experience with a younger person, then there could be these possible scenarios

The younger person is also having his/her first sexual experience which for him/her is with an older person bringing the odds between younger and older person for first sexual experience partner to 1:1.
This is not the first sexual experience for the younger person whose first experience was with a different older person, in which case the odds for first experience with older person only increase. We are ruling this out here because though it seems more likely, it is in direct contradiction the results of the survey.
This is not the first sexual experience of the younger person whose first sexual experience was with an even younger person. Even now, between Person, younger person and even younger person the odds for first sexual experience with younger person: 1st sexual experience with older person is 2:1.

To reach the ratio given by the survey i.e. 4:1 you are talking about a scenario with four levels of younger persons which, given the mean age for first sexual experience by the same survey (lower than I expected but not ridiculously so), leads one to either impossible or really disgusting and morally reprehensible conclusions.

Then there is also a section of the population which has sex with prostitutes but never pays. This apart from the sets of people who rarely pay, seldom pay and mostly pay.

Something I should have had a problem with at the outset is the methodology. I can't really blame them for taking opinions of only literate, urban samples. But when you have a sample which by no stretch of imagination can be a proper cross section of the population, do not portray it to be one. It would have definitely helped if they had provided the mean economic and educational level of those interviewed.

Further they had such a brilliant opportunity to gather data that would actually be useful. It definitely wouldn't have harmed them to measure the level of awareness regarding healthy practices and basic hygiene relating to sex. Despite the several condom ads in between the pages, there is nothing that tries to delve into this aspect. A broad based survey looking into reproductive health awareness is actually necessary in our country which not only has a huge HIV population but also fares badly on most other indicators.

Even leaving ethical considerations and sense of decency aside, one wonders if the magazine is not afraid of losing a portion of its subscriber base just for the sake of selling a few extra copies from newsstands. If I were a subscriber who had it delivered to my home, not only would I be embarrassed to be seen reading it in front of family, I also wouldn't want my children (well, say I'm about 15 years older in this hypothetical) to go around with really wrong notions about the birds and the bees.

2008-11-07T23:55:00.005+05:30

I did the actual wiki-ing today but the spark for this train of thought came from a time when I told my roommate about how the Mercator projection screws up perspective of world geography and how a globe is a better indicator of geographical proportion.

Intrigued we did what net-heads must do. We wiki-ed 'mercator projection'. Even as we had gotten to the mathematical function that explains the flattening of the globe to depict our planet as a two dimensional expanse (trying get us to beleive the world is flat aren't they?) my roommate began voicing concerns that given the tendency of the mercator projection to increase the apparent geographical expanse of the Northern and developed world. I brushed him aside saying that this is the only way to depict our sphere on a flat surface. I was proved wrong by the time we got to the see also section of the wiki article. There is the Cassini projection, Dymaxion map, equirectangular projection, Gall-peters projection, Gnomonic projection and a host of others which I couldn't be bothered to follow. Barring the equirectangular projection which seems quite similar to the mercator projection, all the others were quite an experience as they provided a view of the world in a way I had never seen before. Especially reading about the controversy surrounding the Gall-peters projections I began to think that there was some basis to the 'cartographical imperialism' conspiracy theory which says that the maps were designed this way to make the developed nations appear bigger than they are. If you, have seen only the mercator projection map for most of your life, do follow the links that I've provided and beleive me, the world as you see it shall never be the same again.

This had faded from the desktop of my mind till I listened to the song 'land down under' by 'men at work'. Then remembering the truth about map projection, I immediately and easily kicked away another myth that had formed in my head as I already knew in theory that the world is not necessarily so. This was the myth that north is up and south is down and thereby the land that produced Gilchrist is down under.

Even so I didn't seem to be mentally prepared to see the upside down map and it took me quite by surprise. And turns out that I am not in an obscure minority either. There is a sizable movement which is dedicated to removing the north up bias from the minds of people.

Wiki says that thes also serve as a critical thinking tool and that they are sold as souvenirs in Australia and New Zealand. Another online source shows rotated maps and maps which seem completely different from any other I've seen before but depicting the same planet and as accurately as any other.

Dawn and Jang

2008-09-14T19:00:00.003+05:30

Here is a disclosure of a new vice I have picked up over the past month or so. I have been reading the online edition of a couple of popular Pakistani English dailies. What at first was my idea of a joke has gradually evolved into a daily habit after getting intrigued by the kind of news that is reported there.

I have to make it clear that about the time I first started reading it, the protests in Srinagar were a boiling issue and Jammu had cut off the road to Srinagar. I was hooked like a fish because it was a brilliant drama that played itself out on the Pakistani and Indian newspapers. And if you think Kashmir gets too much newspaper space in India, you must take a look at the Pakistani newspapers.

That apart, I was surprised by the extremely low percentage of entertainment news in both the dailies. Jang has a small link which leads to its fashion section and then there one may find something about its movies. Dawn is completely devoid of any such content. It has links to other magazines published by the same group some of which have Lollywood (?!) news.

I have to admit I cannot really call myself a true film buff. I must have watched about ten movies in my entire life in a theater. After coming to law school, I've been to a movie theater once in second year and before that I had seen MIB 2 in 10th standard. I also keep cribbing about ToI making a big issue out of every star wedding/pairing/new projects of directors, actors etc. However, it does worry me that the entertainment in a country should be so removed from the mainstream that it finds no mention in its largest newspaper. Wikipedia blames the moral police for the dismal cinema scene there and perhaps if we keep bending to the whims of MNS in Mumbai/ KaRaVe in Karnataka this is where we are headed.

This hasn't been the only vice... The other one is also internet related. Will post about that soon.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan

2008-09-09T15:49:00.006+05:30

If violins who had a mind of their own, they would observe silence for a while to mourn the passing of a great man, in whose hands they came to life.

Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, who I believe is the reason for the popularity of Hindolam especially Saamajavaragamana is no more.

A colossus who stood astride the twin worlds of classical and film music, and also the twin worlds of being an artist and an able organizer/administrator of several music institutes and associations. His contribution is not only in terms of the variety of music he was able to bring to the people but also the variety of people he brought to music.

Learning and transformation sequences

2008-08-06T13:54:00.008+05:30

There are some sequences in movies wherein the subject learns a great art or skill over a montage or song a few minutes long. Classic example- The eye song in the Rocky movies.

The bottom of the list should be a couple of scenes in Don. I'm talking about the Bacchan one. In that one Zeenat Aman learns martial arts over two scenes. The first scene is the master shaking her hand and in the act of shaking her hand, tips her over. She learns Karate and then offers a handshake to the master, and in turn tips him over proving her acquired mettle.

The other end of that list, the point of this post, is from a movie the name of which I cannot remember. I saw this Telugu movie in 2004 while getting a haircut. The sequence was of a young boy learning Carnatic Classical Music. He learns it across one song (playback for him is B.R.Chaya I think). The master starts singing Brocheva and the student in the first line is only able to mumble out a couple of sound. By the second line he is matching the guru's notes and by the end of the song, is singing like B.R. Chaya.

Circular to Muzrai department

2008-06-12T22:36:00.004+05:30

I keep seeing lists of jokes about crazy laws existing in various parts of the world. I suppose to an outsider looking at India, the circular by the Muzrai ministry of Karnataka on June 9th, would be an apt addition to one of these lists. Beleive it or not, the circular actually directed all Muzrai temples (there are 34000 of them in Karnataka) to perform daily pooja and archana in the name of the Chief Minister.

It's one thing for a government to lose face when a minister is caught with his hands in the cookie jar and quite another to make a fool of itself like this. What actually bordered on the surreal was that the muzrai minister tried to defend his action saying prayers are offered everyday in the name of the Maharaja of Mysore in Tirupati. I immediately had a vision of a bloated Yeddyurappa in royal finery astride a horse and going by the title of the King of Karnataka and had to shake myself out of this dystopian day dream.

And by the way Mr. Krishnaiah Chetty, the Wodeyar made a huge donation to the temple and therefore the practice. It isn't that he issued an imperial edict to that effect or something.

The state of our opposition is such that the only problem they see with this is that the CM is using Government Machinery for personal gain.

This post on this blog is just to register my moral indignation. Legal pooh-pooing shall come up jointly with Goel.

Despit the government having been around only for two weeks, the abovementioned scandal isn't my first or greatest disappointment with this government. I'm far more horrified at the firing at farmers in Haveri but even that doesn't top my list of grouses. That place would go to the appointment of Shobha Krandlaje (Shobhakka raje :) as district incharge minister for Mysore. She is a BANGALOREAN elected from Yashwantpur or somewhere. We can do without a district incharge minister rather than have a Bangalorean.

Avial

2008-05-29T21:39:00.003+05:30

Long ago when I just came to law school, a senior was cribbing that no one in law school likes mal rock. I wanted to explain to him that it is mal sand that is popular, rock is always from Kadapa in Andhra. If I'm allowed a little exaggeration, I was capable of saying the last line seriously in my first year.

Towards the end of third year I found this. I'm not qualified to comment on music matters. I don't know if this was what Three Js on Calvary meant. but it is keegaiz.

Silent elections

2008-05-11T12:01:00.003+05:30

I cast my vote for the first time in my life yesterday in Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore in what has been touted as an election which should serve as a model for the rest of the nation by most of the media. It was uncharacteristically silent and I saw more vehicles that said "On election duty" or "election observer" than those proclaiming their party affiliations.

One blog I check three or four times a day is lawandotherthings. It pointed out this piece by R. Vaidyanathan which gives a new perspective on EC strictures during elections and questions whether the code of conduct really needs to be as strictly enforced as it was this time. The author points out the paradox of our system wherein a candidate handing out saris and utensils is said to be bribing people for votes and a candidate who promises free saris and utensils is saying it as part of his manifesto

"the system accepts and encourages bribes to be given from the public exchequer but not from private initiatives and wealth"

Funny and fine except here we are assuming that the bribes do come from private initiatives and overlooking the fact that this 'private initiative' will be replenished from the public exchequer if the venture turns out successful. I plead guilty to generalizations but still.

I shall use the advantage of hindsight I have over the author and point out that the elections turned out to be almost 100% incident free. Also the lack of extensive campaigning by anyone doesn't seem to have affected the turnout significantly and a healthy 60% turned up to get their index fingers colored. This dents the argument that the "sanitized election process" has alienated the people.

On the contrary one has to admit that the code of conduct has in fact lowered the pedestal of the big candidates and otherwise obscure candidates (those who simply can't spend so much on an election) a better shot as they are not as small in contrast anymore. This coupled with the general disappointment with the big three may result in a large number of independents entering Vidhan Soudha.

Any claims that candidates have spent much more this time is just bulla. The numbers of film stars roped in for the campaigns and the number of private aircraft used in 2004 would put the Beijing Olympics resource mobilization team to shame.

In fact apart from a few aberrations like stopping the CPI(M) candidate from campaigning in his own constituency and censoring anti-price rise speeches, I recommend a clap-clap for the ECI.

Last night amidst gathering info regarding which way my extended family had voted I found more on the same lines by Swapan Dasgupta in the pioneer who takes it a little further and attacks the brainchild of a hero of my childhood, TN Seshan. (I have to admit I had no clue then about what sport the election commissioner played. But to have all the adults around you praising one man to the sky can have a profound influence) . I am now reminded of my obligation towards the other blog which I have jointly started with Ankit and further thoughts about Seshan's Guidelines will go up there.

Vikram Hegde and the unrepresented terrorists

2008-04-23T22:21:00.005+05:30

Long long ago when I was newly sprouting a moustache and blogging was the latest thing to do, some resident Freud for ToI had opined that blogging is a way out of a sense of utter under achievement for many bloggers. The interesting thing about such an admission is that it is cool only if it comes from people who aren't underachievers and therefore I shall not deem myself fit to say it.

I won't say that I have done nothing in life. But then the other day I picked up a blank piece of paper and decided to put down all my achievements and the paper remained blank at the end of it.

My angst is coming six or seven years too late. Excused, because I don't place myself above a normal teen mentally or emotionally.

But what I signed in to write today is about something that happened almost a year ago in Mysore. Two terrorists of Al Badr or some such outfit were arrested and were apparently plotting to blow up vital and sensitive installations in Bangalore and Mysore. In the aftermath of these arrests, lawyers speaking for the Mysore Bar Association said that they would not represent the accused and would not allow any lawyers from outside to represent them either. This shadiness by people from my home town did shock me, but unable to really do anything about it, I had simply filed it away in some folder in the back of my mind.

I retrieved this folder recently when, from discussions with the holder of the NIHR chair, ThaLaivi came up with a plan for LSC that we should find an issue and file a PIL. Normally I have "policy issues" about first deciding that one should file a PIL and then going about finding an issue but the functioning of sycophancy is such that I automatically began searching for PILable issues. This seems to me to be a great opportunity to exercise our legal muscle and also actually bring about some respect for the legal process.

The aim of the PIL would be to prevent Bar associations from hijacking the operation of the law. What is at stake here is not just the rights of Mohommed Fahad under the Cr.P.C and Constitution but we (the legal profession, not sure if I can already claim to be part of that) are also at risk of losing standards of behavior and codes of ethics.

I shall also at this point provide you a good excuse to navigate away from this increasingly boring page. You can check out Ram Jethmalani ko gussa kyo aatha hai ? by my fellow Mysorean Mr. Girish Nikam.

One month later

2008-04-09T23:44:00.002+05:30

It is a month ago that I last posted on this blog. It is a long time ago that I actually posted something on this blog, something which is keeping with the spirit of the blog as originally envisaged.

However this should be a good opportunity to take stock of the happenings around me in this past one month. Though I can think of an event (ICCC) which will forever change the way I see myself the world around me it would be best not to distort my memories of it by trying to define it in with my pathetic writing skills.

Intruder on campus

2008-03-09T01:45:00.004+05:30

This is the night between 8th and 9th March 2008. Time 1:30. I was writing my long overdue placement diary when I suddenly heard screaming noises in the distance. They grew louder and louder till it was clearly discernible as belonging to someone who was out of breath and sitting in my room, I could place it as coming from somewhere near the pond in front of the boys' hostel. I quickly pulled on a shirt and trousers and rushed outside to see what was happening. Thinking retrospectively, I shouldn't have done this. It put me in unnecessary danger. (My parents and relatives who know of my propensity to something stupid like this have repeatedly warned me to be careful but good advice seldom penetrates my skull.)

As I walked out of Cauvery Hostel, still buttoning my shirt, a man in a faded flowery shirt and shorts ran up the pathway leading to the mess. As he saw me he let out a shriek and continued running towards Ganga hostel. I had no clue about what was going on and dumbly looked on as he disappeared. I wasn't even able to see whether he went into Ganga or just ran into the gap between the hostels. Considering I didn't hear the hostel door opening, I hope we can safely assume that he isn't hiding in the hostel.

Then I saw the security guards armed with metal rods running towards me. In reply to my question as to what the noise was all about they told me that a thief had entered campus and they were looking for him. "He went that way just as I came out the door" I said pointing in the general direction of Ganga. One guard looks at me incredulously "You didn't catch him?". Looking on disapprovingly as I explain that I didn't know what was going on, they decide to search the area. Another guard with flashlights arrives and I go with them as they search unable to contain my curiosity.

After a futile search, they tell me that someone intruded into the ISEC campus a few days ago and tied to steal the sandalwood trees growing there(somehow all these holiday crime-thriller stories have their roots in ISEC. I haven't written about the robbed firang incident that happened last holidays. Ask me sometime, I don't want to write about it here.) Apparently they successfully cut it down but were interrupted before they were able to haul it away.

What actually seemed funny to me is that this man had supposedly been gallivanting about near the library when they found him. The guards over there whacked him a couple of times causing him to demonstrate his track skills.

Residents of NLSIU beware. I'm not saying that this guy who has entered and is still possibly hiding somewhere near MHOR will stay on till all you guys come back (though that is only two days away). I'm saying that our fears that people might be entering campus at almost any time and be in a position to cause harm has just been demonstrated as being true.

world food program

2008-03-08T16:49:00.001+05:30

freerice.com

Scrabulous

2008-03-05T22:14:00.000+05:30

I know I should be studying right now instead of blogging about some internet meme, most famous in its avatara as a facebook application. I hadn't been following the scrabulous story from the beginning and even now, I do injustice to my being a law student by being almost totally uninterested in the IP aspect of it. In fact in my early sightings of scrabulous I had scorned at it as yet another hook for mouse potatoes. I've never played scrabulous or any other form of online scrabble and the primary intention behind all the games of actually solid scrabble I have played has been passing time on afternoons and evenings in a time when I used to have entire afternoons and evenings free.

Scrabulous however fired my imagination because it sounds like something I dream of being at the helm of. It would be really kick ass to be the provider of a service or seller of a product, which is unique and inexpensive(also acceptable if the uniqueness is that it is inexpensive), to an insanely large clientele.

I was also pleased to read this today which extols some additional virtues of scrabulous.

I don't really know how valid the Hasbro - Mattel claims against the Aggarwal brothers are but I really think that the $10 million being offered by the big toy corps is in fact a little on the higher side considering all risks of losing it all in a law suit.

No, I'm not for a moment suggesting that the program which is apparently played by 7 lakh people every day will not generate value worth $10 million. All I'm telling the Aggarwal brothers is that once their brainchild went viral, they should have put some kind of legal fencing around their enterprise (by entering into some contract with either if the two giants or buying rights to market it online) or disguised it enough so that the app they put out on the net would have or at least appear to have some kind of innovative improvement from the original. Now that they have not done it they should be willing to settle for the pittance the Barbie maker and his friend are offering.

Scrabulous does indeed have some kind of improvement over regular scrabble. It apparently detects and blocks fake words. And to be fair to the Bania Brothers from Cal (cutta not ifornia), perhaps if they had disguised it enough to distinguish it from the original, it wouldn't have become so popular in the first place.

The lesson for Hasbro-Mattel seems to be that even if you are a giant, you have to keep your eyes open. Apparently they were now, so long after the internet boom, about to sign a deal with some techie company to make the virtual scrabble.

My prediction for this post is that the next big thing in this area will be multiplayer scrabble on mobile phones. Lets hope someone with a good lawyer makes that move first. Or is it out already, I wouldn't know, I have only a mid range phone and am not featured in the gaming scene.

I shouldn't be this worried about people who create legal hassles for themselves. At least not until they hire me.

Blu ray, HD-DVD and Choice

2008-02-22T23:29:00.000+05:30

Toshiba has finally given in, bringing the so called "format war" to a decisive end and as the media is shouting all around, establishing the blu ray disk as the sole inheritor hi-def entertainment market.

I first heard of these blu ray disks when my tech savvy roommate Gupta told me about it. My first reaction to most new technologies, especially those that do not mean a significant reduction in costs, is cynicism and after having expressed my opinion that it is just a passing fad, I sit down and fervently hope that it does not become popular. My reaction to the BRD was pretty much the same. The man who told me about it had correctly predicted that it will be the future.

I think the reason for the general disdain I have for new technologies has something to do with a deep rooted affection for status quo. On numerous occasions and regularly over several years i have tried to hypnotize myself into accepting and embracing change. It has worked in respect of several areas but hasn't been effective when it comes to expensive, inconsequential technology.

But the reason behind the specific tirade against the Blu ray disks and players is money. money, coupled with a fear of some of my favorite tech accessories being pushed into obsoleteness. The cheapest Blu ray disk available on the market is the Philips one which costs a neat 8000. Thats not much you would say. considering all the new features that the BRDs played on appropriate players like this one are offering. Well within the reach of a family though it would only be a dream for an average student wishing to upgrade his laptop. But the rip off only begins here.

Sony, one of the main players in the Blu Ray Disk Association and the major force pushing for it, is also the owner of some major movie production studios in hollywood like columbia, tristar and MGM. It also has under its gigantic corporate umbrella several smaller but significant movie production houses like Destination films etc, not to mention an important presence in the TV entertainment business and consequently, I would suppose, an interest in the sale of disk compilations of popular TV shows. Therefore one can expect it to start printing the home versions of all its new releases in BR format and only BR format in a bid to push the sales of BR players. Though Samsung and all have come out with combo players that play both BRDs and DVDs I am told that the costs of these are prohibitive, even for families. When this vicious circle of BR players and disks promoting the sales of each other becomes powerful, other companies which are releasing in DVD format will also be forced to shift over to these format making the BR player an absolute necessity. And then we will be forced to buy the BR disks of all new movies and these cost a lot as of now. If one shifts to a BR only player like the ones Sony is manufacturing now, they are truly doomed because unless they retain and operate their old player also, they will be forced to throw away all their DVDs and buy BR versions of their favorite classics.

There is a voice within me that tells me I shouldn't really be worried. We after all live in a world where manna from heaven comes as downloadable and is no longer reserved for those who are willing to pay for it. But the real reason I'm cribbing about the new king is that this might have the effect of stunting piracy. I might get arrested or at least abused for being sympathetic towards the theives, but it will actually mean that the days of 80 rupee disks with four movies in them will be gone until the wizards in the backrooms of national market (or Palika as choms would have it) figure out the way to crack the BRDs. This will affect me, but not that much since I watch most movies on disks borrowed from friends anyway (cheapo, but whats the point of staying in a hostel anyway).

The only way the Blu ray disks can redeem themselves in my eyes is if one of the new features promised is a video synopsis of the movie or show or whatever. You know, like a twenty minute version of a three hour movie. If it has that, then baara khoon maaf hai.

Sooopermannnnn!!!

2008-02-19T15:01:00.001+05:30

Full sleeve chequered shirt.
Grey cotton formalish trouser.
Soopermann buckle.

Call the fab5 someone...

Olympics and other non-dasara events in Mysore

2008-02-06T13:55:00.000+05:30

The state Olympics have begun in Mysore. Over 1400 athletes have gathered for the games most of which shall be held in Chamundi Vihar Stadium and at some other venues in Mysore. I however will be missing out on what little action there is. I'm not that sad about not being to attend the games though.

I've called it a non-dasara event because of the following reason. The biggest event in Mysore is, of course, as is well known, Dasara. There is a tendency to club all other events with it. So most big events that take place in Mysore are often Dasara events. For example the local body elections would have been the second largest event in mysore in 2007 if it wasn't held so close to Navratri. The timing of the 50 foot cut outs of candidates coming up was such that it could easily have been confused as being part of Dasara celebrations. The state olympics this year are especially non dasara because the last edition of the same held a few(not four) years ago were known as the Dasara Games.

One of my major disappointments with respect to events in Mysore was regarding Bahuroopi. For those who are not from Mysore, Bahuroopi is the annual theater fest which brings along with it a Khadi and Gramodyog Mela of sorts If by some chance Chidambara Rao Jambe is reading this, I hope he shall pay some heed to my rantings and take some action about the sad state of affairs at this year's Bahuroopi. I did not watch any of the plays and therefore it would not be fair on my part to comment on that aspect. However I did notice that the number of plays were lesser and there weren't many crowd pulling names on the list.

My real grouse has been that the Mela alongside the fest was sad. The number of stalls were almost half of last year and even the stalls that were there (they're regulars who come every year) did not have my favorite items.

For some reason I did not even hear of Wildlife week 2007. I just can't imagine life for a schoolgoing Mysorean without an annual wildlife week. I hope that it happened properly and it was just me that didn't hear of it. I know I'll be sad that I missed it entirely but it will mean that the tradition is still alive and that I can hope to catch it next year.

I shall now violate the aims and objectives of this post as suggested by the title and talk about a very Dasara linked event.

This is the elephant puja the day before the parade. I have been attending this ritual almost every year irrespective of whether I attend the parade itself. This is a most fascinating event as the 13 or 14(small variations each year) elephants which will be in the Parade are taken to the Ganesha temple in the palace premises and a puja is performed seeking the deity's blessings that the elephants may perform the parade without any hitches. I'm not a spiritual person and I'm not really interested the puja itself. What really draws me to it every year is the feeling when you are standing in an area of a couple of square meters and hemmed in by elephants on all sides with all the elephants facing you. You hold the jaggery cubes out with a certain amount of trepidation and a trunk(not necessarily the one belonging to the elephant you intended the jaggery for) snatches it from your hand. In 2004 this moment was given an extra flavor when the Mahouts co-ordinatedly commanded the elephants such that they all raised their trunks and trumpeted at the same time with four or five people trapped in the middle. I didn't have my handy camera phone in 2004 but this year I did so here goes...

I'm sure I took a video also, but just can't find it now.

Mr. Sudarsana Natchiappan please note

2008-02-05T00:12:00.000+05:30

Sometime last trimester, the Legal Services Clinic made a presentation on local mediation systems as a way of reducing the backlog in courts and speeding up the justice delivery project to the Departmentally Related Standing Committee for Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice chaired by Honorable Member of Parliament Shri E.M. Sudarsana Natchiappan.

Just before we made our presentation, we were witness to a press conference by the committee during which the Honorable Chairman declared that all government websites were updated as per the needs of the Right to Information Act 2005. After giving up addictinggames.com, miniclip.com and metacafe I have been on a spree of browsing websites of government departments. Here is a short list of websites that I have been going through, of government departments that do not comply with mandatory voluntary disclosure under S4 (1) b of the RTI Act 2005.

1. Central Ground Water Board you want to check the website out for yourself, you can click on the link provided. like duh.
2. Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority. Agreed, it isn't a central govt undertaking and therefore Shri Natchiappan wasn't referring to it but still.
3. Southern Regional Power Committee.
4. Department of agricultural marketing
5. Karnataka Election Comission
6. Central Board of Excise and Customs, Bangalore branch Not to say that it is only Bangalore branch that hasn't published information. I just haven't checked the other branches.
7. Coal India Limited - Not a department but a PSU.
8. Dredging Corporation of India I just thought their name was funny.
9. Hindustan Latex Corporation
10. Finance Ministry Dude, at least all the other ones till now were small, unimportant ones.
11. Population Commission

Something I reserved for the end for drama value
12. Ministry of Law and Justice

There definitely were lots more which I have seen myself and I'm sure there are a lot of departments I'm yet to visit. There better be, I have a month of holidays left.

To the policemen who write

2008-01-31T08:56:00.001+05:30

The enormity of the paperwork generated by the police hadn't hit me all the times I interacted with police in Ramnagaram, Bidadi and other rural areas.

I've been to urban police stations also many times: as a passport applicant, requesting permission to conduct a rock show, couple of times as a complainant, research for some project, meet friends (cop friends not criminal friends) and sometimes for things like taking shelter from the rain but all those times I don't remember noticing anything that hinted at any major literary activity going on there.

Now in the course of my internship, I have been meeting a lot of policemen who do a lot of paperwork in addition to their regular duties. I'm not talking about the police who hang out at gate zero and do nothing all day. In fact to keep it simple, I think I shall focus on only on one small department of the police. That is the Central Crime Branch. To see what they describe themselves as check this site out. After I observed them at work on and off for a little more than a week I figured I didn't really need to have gone there to have realized the amount of paperwork that they do. All I needed to do was just think of their jurisdiction and then think of things that we were taught in Cr.P.C. and put two and two together. They meant for the investigation of special crimes throughout the city of Bangalore. Bangalore city - a resident population of approximately 55-65 Lakhs depending on the source and a day time populationn that is around one and a half times that number.

The first piece of paper inked upon in most cases is the FIR. however it is not with the CCB that the FIR is lodged. It is first lodged with the police station under whose jurisdiction the crime falls and then directed by the Zonal Officer to the CCB. Though they are required to keep pushing bits of paper even during the investigation, the tsunami begins when the investigation ends. The head constable attached to the investigating officer or sometimes a regular PC goes mad at this stage. There are many things like the FSL report, Fingerprint expert's report, Polygraph test report, police photographer's report and, as I recently learned, the dog handler's report and a report about almost every step taken during the investigation from the IO, which need to be just received from the relevant expert marked, numbered and maintained in triplicate. Though this itself seemed a tedious job to me this is far simpler than the things to come.

The Investigating Officer, in theory himself, in practice through the head constable, takes down the statement of each and every witness, suspect or any other person even remotely connected to the crime and again has them marked, numbered and maintained in triplicate. this comes to quite a lot because in practice, the first version is almost never the final version. People keep changing their statements, the police keeps twisting the people's statements so that they tally with the statement of other people and to their overall theory of the occurrence of that crime.

It is another Ramayan when the arrest and recovery procedure begins. The designated constable runs around for a hundred warrants and the police find a few men from somewhere and get the to be witnesses for the recovery procedure. all the items seized will be sealed and signed by these civilians and a statement from each of these persons is taken by the IO.

Then they sit down and come out with what they think is a grand document called the chargesheet. With this piece of paper they go to court and hand it over to the prosecutor. This however is not the end of their troubles. New facts may come to light or the defence may take a stance which may make them look at the case from a different angle. It may require a lot of further investigation and more statements, documents, paperwork and additional chargesheets.

The chronology of procedures mentioned above may vary from case to case but the paperwork requirements are pretty much the same.

Pretty scary? all this time I have been talking about crimes that are simple to comprehend like murder or rape. The paperwork is threefold when the crime is a more complex one like a chit fund fraud which is perpetrated over a long time, involves a lot of people and the perpetrators have taken extensive measures to protect themselves from the law.

I'm not saying at any point that this system of paperwork is bad. I firmly believe that this system, cumbersome as it may seem, is the safeguard that protects our society from turning upon itself. What I'm actually trying to say is that there exists a part of the duties of a policeman which is ignored by the popular media due to its unglamorous nature and of which I was largely unaware. To the policemen who write then, who help ensure that we sleep soundly at night, though we do toss and turn a little...

The joy of being recognised and Mysore mess

2008-01-29T20:17:00.000+05:30

Promise promise promise that this will be the last post on this blog for a while that is not in the prescribed format. after I come back from dinner I'll post a proper one in the To do list- Action taken format.

While at my Karmabhoomi today, a lawyer started staring at me. It wasn't a stare with fantasies of S377 but rather said "I've seen you somewhere". Next moment he's chatting with my boss, and suddenly he looks me squarely in the eye and says "I've seen you in Jail".
I knew I should have shaved... now people think I'm a con... There is a cop next to me also...

"It was very entertaining" My boss makes a question mark with his face.

"The chief justice really appreciated your play". The fog in my head cleared up permitting me to blurt out an embarrassed thank you. He thankfully does the honors and explains the whole thing to Boss.

Far cooler - Walking down Nagarbhavi main road, school children suddenly throw a good evening saar in my direction. I look around... some school teacher next to me? No it's me... the guy who made a fool of himself for an hour and a half under the pretext of a Legal Literacy Program.

We then come to the mess in Mysore. I am registered as a voter in Mysore (Chamundeshwari constituency for LA) and am really confused. This is the first time I'll be voting so I'm actually thinking about what party I'll vote for.

The situation has really changed from the last elections (2004). Then, the foremost leaders of various parties in Mysore were as follows
JD(S): Siddramiah
Cong: H. Vishwanath
BJP: C.H. Vijayashankar

Now, Siddramiah has left JD(S) and joined congress (or as some Mysoreans would have it, congress has joined him) this happened in 2006 feb-march. The developments of the last two days suggest that H. Vishwanath might leave (if he doesn't get chucked out before that) congress for JD(S) which would be a complete exchange. The most popular BJP leader in Mysore district is GT Devegowda who left JD(S) only a couple of months ago. Politics is supposed to be dirty and I wouldn't consider myself a person to blog about slimy politicians. Simply because I expect them to be slimy and it doesn't surprise me when they behave in that way. But the merry go round has been really dizzy this time.

I don't even want to start about the extended practical joke known as local body elections nor am I in the mood to rant about one officer being Deputy Commissioner Mysore District, Mysore City Corporation Commissioner and MUDA chairman all at the same time but if you're really interested become a regular at www.starofmysore.com.

Trip to Dubare and Muttur (Official version)

2008-01-21T21:34:00.001+05:30

Please do not read the following post if you are a normal individual and have just had a meal. For a better and prettier entry on the same matter click here or scroll down. This one is for Vikram Hegde, 9th standard, Pushkarini School, Mysore.

This post does not cover the Dubare, Byalakuppe and Gommatagiri part of the trip... Just Muttur IB and surroundings...

Karnataka Forest Department Inspection Bungalow, Muttur is set amidst a batch of teak planted in 1935. Teak, Tectona grandis, (Sagwani or Taiga in Kannada). The trees I saw were about 40-50 feet tall.

This post would have gone up long ago, on tuesday, if the net had cooperated.

And now I have forgotten all that I wanted to type so I shall just mention that I saw a lot of Rosewood as soon as I stepped out of the teak patch, which is my mother's favorite tree. favorite hardwood tree at least. Rosewood grows a bit slower and used to be more expensive than teak till about eight years ago. However it is much harder than teak and less grainy as compared to teak.

I also saw various types of Bamboo, Champa, mango and funnily wild cashew in large numbers. Apart from this, i can think of Muttuga trees which I saw in decent numbers.
A handful of silk cotton trees which are not that prevalent in this region.

It was a great relief that there was almost no lantana anywhere.

I've never had a good eye for flora that doesn't grow taller than me so the line about Lantana covers shrubbery and undergrowth.

We didn't see many animals like I was cribbing as we neared the end of the trip. The few we saw, I failed to click a picture of.

However I got a picture of the thing that would have excited 9th std. Vikram the most.

This is not just any elephant dung. This is fresh elephant dung. laid about half an hour to one hour before the picture was taken. Still moist with a regular thick consistency indicating good health and there wasn't too much of it. Of course there was much more than what is shown in the picture here.

Dung is the best way to check the health of a bovid, equid or elephant... especially when they aren't around.

Far less glamorous was the feces of a passing bear which also I dutifully photographed but did not push a stick into, like I did with the elephant dung.

I just put the last one in for grossness value and to justify the opening statement.

Trip to Dubare and Muttur

2008-01-21T21:06:00.000+05:30

This post is for general public... as in general public as opposed to hardcore wildlife enthusiasts... the greens need not worry, there is one coming up for them too...

The highlight of the trip for me was that some deer had shed it's antler a few feet from the path I took on the trek and I happened to spot it...

I also found a nest with a broken egg in it...

We were accompanied on our "trek" by a forest guard with a twelve bore shot gun...

I clicked a couple of pretty pics at Dubare Elephant Camp...

hmm... I don't think there are enough readers to divide them into common people and greens so thats enough people pleasing for now.

Besides this post is against the spirit of this blog.

New session begins from wednesday

2008-01-15T09:22:00.000+05:30

This is the inaugural post of the new session. Making an overarching policy list of things to be accomplished in the holidays. Here goes -

Internship
One week at home
One week Sirsi, Adakalli, Chavati etc.
we'll plan these out in detail later...

Boast Post

2008-01-07T20:00:00.001+05:30

For the past few days I have just been opening this blog like I open other peoples blogs and keep wondering why this Vikram Hegde doesn't write anything on his blog.

Anyway finally today I write again to celebrate yesterday, the day on which I did a Winston Churchill. In fact I continued being Churchill today too. I didn't smoke cigars or deliver war winning speeches. What I actually did is carry out my duties from my bed, which Churchill also supposedly did. Not just handling transport for the National Legislation Review Competition, which was possible only because it was the cooperative Law-Soc, but also handled a couple of cases in Ramnagaram and answered my sister's queries about high school geometry.

Thats the only thing I can boast about for now. I have forgotten the To do list, and will start again from tomorrow.

I was also General Sternwood for a while (BTW the big sleep has got the best dialogbaazi in all of English cinema) I went up to the terrace of Cauvery hostel and soaked in the sun and watched as a fifth year contentedly puffed away on a cigarette(I hope it was that, you never know, Sunday afternoon).

What happened to Quirk?

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T00:41:00.000+05:30

The Government of India under the able leadership of Prime Minister Vikram Hegde wishes readers of this blog a happy new year(yes all two of them).

Previous to do list
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta school
Find Khulali's make up form photocopy
Give negotiations accounts to Bhargavi
Prepare for Vivas.
Meet Lok Ayukta Registrar

no action taken report as no action has been taken.

Galli Galli mein shor hain, yeh Sarkar bore hain.

Day 7 writing on day 8 since the net is working only now

2007-12-29T16:00:00.000+05:30

As I told the ThaLaivi, I deserve to be shot. I didn't tell anyone about the new arrangement with Tigadi regarding the 24 hour legal services center. This being that we'll send two people every friday to look into cases that come there. I actually have entered it in my ATR as went and spoke to Tigadi. From now on, I'll make a more detailed ATR.

Copy pasting my previous to do list we have-
brief second years for tomorrows LLP
Copy Corp notes
Find out what all there is to study in each subject.
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta school
Find Khulali's make up form photocopy
Give negotiations accounts to Bhargavi
Prepare for Vivas.

ATR
Assuming I have written this last night, i don't know anything about what happened to the LLP so I ony know that I have briefed the Second years and Nishita for the LLP.Cop
Copying corp notes. but I have to buck up and speed up my copying.
gave for photocopying in ITL and HR.

That leaves me with
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta school
Find Khulali's make up form photocopy
Give negotiations accounts to Bhargavi
Prepare for Vivas.

Apart from the ones I will add today.

www.starofmysore.com

Day 6

2007-12-27T23:25:00.001+05:30

I realized I have violated the format of the blog in the previous post. So here we go back on to format.

To do list from previous day-
Copy corp notes
Find out what all there is to study in each subject.
Letter to Tigadi.
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta's school.
Call Sakti - Kanakpura regarding Nagamma's case.

Action taken
Have been coping corp notes.
Went and spoke to Tigadi

Next to do list
brief second years for tomorrows LLP
Copy Corp notes
Find out what all there is to study in each subject.
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta school
Find Khulali's make up form photocopy
Give negotiations accounts to Bhargavi
Prepare for Vivas.

There is so much to do, I've renounced addictinggames.com and miniclip.com and metacafe. Taking up too much of my time.

I also spend substantial amounts of time on Star of Mysore and some blogs. But these are valuable. I should try and keep away from reading Kannada newspapers online.

In keeping with tradition, i should have started this blog with a Ganapati pooje. Since I didn't do it then, I shall do it now.

Day 5, Day 4 was holiday for christmas

2007-12-27T02:01:00.000+05:30

Also on Day 4 was the surprise party for my parents in Mysore. They turned 40 this year.

I hope my kids read this blog some point of time.... Before I turn 40 that is...

Day 3

2007-12-24T15:33:00.000+05:30

To do
Copy corp notes
Find out what all there is to study in each subject.
Letter to Tigadi.
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta's school.
Call Sakti - Kanakpura regarding Nagamma's case.

Action Taken report
Started Copying corp notes
Excuse for not performing number 3 is that Shankara Reddy isn't here. I need his signature to go give that letter.
Number five is an emergency thing and I will do it as soon as I click Publish Post.

Day 2 of blog

2007-12-24T00:37:00.000+05:30

Something I heard in a village near Sirsi - Getting married is a big affair no doubt, but it is the easiest. The real test will be to take care of the family and manage household affairs everyday for years together. Creating the blog was just a few clicks. maintaining it will take effort.
I haven't done anything from yesterday's to do list so that I can cross it out today or make some ATR. So today's To do list is the same as yesterday. with some additions.

To do
Copy corp notes
Find out what all there is to study in each subject.
Letter to Tigadi.
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta's school.
Call Sakti - Kanakpura regarding Nagamma's case.

Inaugration ceremony

2007-12-22T22:08:00.000+05:30

This blog is bureaucratic in nature and this is how the country will be run once I'm prime minister.
My aim shall be to keep all matter posted on this blog objective. This is not exactly a new blog for me. This is just a extension of the LSC diary I have been writing. This is not only for LSC activities like the diary but has the entire life and times of Vikram Hegde. Uninteresting but true. Purpose is transparency. Format is To do list-action taken report

To do list
Copy corp notes
Letter to Tigadi
Brochure to Kunal Ambasta's school
Call Sakti - Kanakpura regarding Nagamma's case