Just a thought ...

I think the developed world's business community would love to have:

• Africa without the Africans, and
• Indians without India

Walk the Line

Just watched "Walk the Line", the movie on the life of the country music singer, Johnny Cash and his wife (second), June Carter Cash. It was just incredibly awesome and Reese and Joauqin have done a fabulous job.

After listening to the music in the movie, I went ahead and bought the sound-track and was amazed to see that Reese and Joaquin have sung most the songs themselves ! And when I listened to some songs that Johnny Cash and June Carter had sung themselves, I was quite disappointed - Reese and Joaquin are much better singers, or maybe we have better sound editing technology now ...

All in all, if you have not watched it yet, its definitely worth watching, especially for Reese Witherspoon, who is absolutely perfect playing the role of June, in a role that I will likely never forget.

Spam Filtering

I have only one problem with my beloved Blackberry, the fact that it does not filter spam ! On an average day, I get about 50 spam messages, of which about 48 or so are filtered out by Microsoft Outlook. However, I get all 50 on my Blackberry, which can be super irritating !

I wish RIM (the makers of the Blackberry) woud add some sort of spam filter. That would just make life perfect :-)

And who is the rudest of them all ...

I read with surprise, the results of a Readers Digest survey that rated New Yorkers as being the most polite people in the world, with the citizens of India (Mumbai in specific) rated as the most impolite.

The criteria used were on whether people held the door open; whether the salespeople said “thank you” when people bought small items in stores and whether people would help pick up papers, when someone dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations.

I believe that this survey is skewed against India. Nobody says "Thank you" in India, people smile instead. Holding a door open is simply not something we are taught while growing up. And if someone drops papers in the middle of the street, I am sure Indians would rush to help.

The US seems like a super-polite place, but you know what, a lot of it just a load of artificial automation. For example, almost everyone you pass on the street will say "Hi, how are you ?", and then you reply "Great, how are you" and they say "Good, thanks" and there ends the inanity.

I tried a small test once, and in response to the "Hi, how are you ?" question, I said "I am going to kill myself", and guess what the response was ? "Good, thanks" !

Indians are super helpful, we might lack the polish and the drilling of manners into our head, and that might make us seem impolite and unfriendly. But, we are genuinely concerned about other people, to the extent that we would inconvenience ourselves, something that few Americans would. I dont know too much about the other countries on the list.

Great Blog

Chenthil has a great blog, do visit it when you get the chance !

High Class Moi

Have reached the US safely, and no, I did not ride a bullock cart to get there ;-)

We were chatting recently about the practice of "Moy Ezhuthuradhu", which is the practice that Tamil families (mostly poor) have, wherein at every ceremony they attend (marriages, naming ceremonies, etc), they contribute some cash to the host, who in turn write down the amount of the contribution in a notebook.

When the hosts in turn attend a ceremony held by another family, they will have to contribute exactly the same amount of money that was given to them.

I have only seen this at one wedding I have attended, and I was turned off by what I saw as the cold-blooded conversion of a ceremony into a business transaction. However, I now recognize this as being a great way for the community to come together and help the host family stay out of the clutches of the money-lender, by offering, what is really a zero-interest loan. (Of course I dont understand the need for all these elaborate ceremonies, but that is another topic altogether).

And this practice is paralleled in high society as well - By Kitty Parties, which I will henceforth call "high class moi" !

Short Break

Am off to the US for a few days, so there will be no posts until I get there ...

Cool Road Signs

I would love to meet the genius (seriously !) that thinks up the text that goes on the road signs in Tamil Nadu. They are quite creative, often funny and sometimes quite brutal ...

• On the road from Madurai to Kodaikanal - "Darling, I want you, but not so fast"
• In front of Zara, "Devdas never drove, please don't drink and drive"
• At the Ega Theatre junction, "Stop at red lights, you will only kill a few seconds"

And another one that I saw, I dont completely recall, but in effect it said - "If you drive fast, your skull will crack open, and you will die" !

Bumper Stickers

Some nice bumper stickers are:

• On a Maruti - "When I grow up, I want to be a Mercedes !"
• In the US - "Some village in Texas is missing its idiot" - A swipe at George W. Bush

Why I am getting married young.

Lots of people ask me why I am getting married now. I am 25, and definitely below the average age men are when they get married. And I always tell them, that in marriage, I wanted a relationship where me and my wife would go through a process of growth and adjustment, and possibly hardship together, before we got too inflexible/successful.

And today, I verbalized it in what I think is quite succinct.

"Marriage is a journey, but if you get married when you are too old, you have already reached the destination, and there is nothing left to do"

Product Idea

My car in Chennai proudly shows off its scars from doing battle daily on Guruswamy Bridge and Balfour Road. And I love them (Yup, all seven scratches and three dents !)

And there is hardly any car in Chennai that seems to be free from this. And I am sure that couples must argue all the time about who was responsible for each scratch and dent. So, I thought of an idea for a cute bumper sticker, that says "It was her !" with an arrow pointing at the dent, with "No, it was him !" right below ...

Ok, I know I have grown really sappy lately. It must this e-bug that bit me recently ;-)

Recent Events ...

Its been an eventful week !

I got engaged ! This time, it was the formal engagement (Nitchiyadhartham) - I am calling this the formal engagement, and the "poo vekkirathu", the informal engagement just to make things easier for my American friends, who are totally confused by the plethora of ceremonies (as am I)

Lots of things that happened during the event, that would just be awesome to blog about, but the Censor Board (the missus) has clamped down and there isnt even a Supreme Court to take my case to :-(

The new company is growing and we might touch 10 people soon. Which means, it will be time for PF for the employees.

I had a great time with the friends who came to my Madurai home, on the way to Sivakasi. We bathed in the pumpset in the garden, and had some good, extra-sweet ;-) tender coconut. Fun times !

Pondicherry

Pondicherry is a place I like. Its a nice drive from Chennai to Pondicherry and I feel relaxed just by virtue of being there, amidst people who take life less seriously. And of course, there must be some powerful vibrations from the thousands of people who live in Auroville.

After viewing the developments in Chennai for the last few months, I strongly believe that very soon IT Parks/Offices etc.. will be built at the mid-point between Chennai and Pondicherry and at that point instead of living in Chennai (and paying huge prices, driving through maniacal traffic and raising kids there), people could live in Pondicherry and enjoy a leisurely drive down the EC Road, have a great standard of living, a small-town atmosphere and less traffic, and oh, less taxes, better access to booze, cheap DVD's).

The ideal place would be about 10 kms ahead of Pondicherry on the EC Road.

Of course, the concern would be that Pondy would not have all of the entertainment options that Chennai offers. But seriously, how often do we exploit those options during the week ? Most of the time, IT Pros are so drained that all they want at the end of the day is a beer, some food, TV and sleep - All of which they can get in Pondicherry.

And if the folks who build the residential complex in Pondy can also get the following for residents:

1. Discounted ECR Toll
2. Steep discounts in Chennai hotels for Saturday nights - If they want to spend the weekend there for entertainment
3. Some sort of transportation service (To be used if desired)

, they will have a killer deal !

Funny SMS

This is the funniest SMS I have ever received ! Unfortunately, its in Tamil, and it does not translate very well ...

Once 24 ants went swimming. An elephant came along and jumped into the river. 23 ants were thrown to the bank. Only one ant was sitting on the head of the elephant. Then all of the 23 ants shouted .....

"AVANA AMUKKI KOLLUDA" !

Movie Ticket Outsourcing ...

Following the more traditional forms of outsourcing, there are now several more crazy kinds of outsourcing that are happening around the world:

1. McDonalds drive-through orders being taken by call center workers sitting in North Dakota, the state with the lowest minimum wage, in the US.

2. Movie Tickets - In the US, cinema tickets are sold at the counters, where the clerk takes the money, asks what movie you want to see, and then gives you a ticket and change. Now, the person who asks you what movie you want to see, sits in Bangalore.

There are a few others, but I think I will write about them later.

Express Call Taxis

The number of ambulances in the City of Chennai has increased drastically in the last couple of years. Everyday, I invariably see atleast 5 ambulances while I am driving.

And yesterday, me and my fiancee were discussing this phenomenon when we it suddenly struck me ... There is no real way of knowing if the ambulance is being used for legitimate purposes.

And we thought of a hilarious possibility - What if a call taxi operator struck a deal with some ambulance drivers and started offering an "express call taxi" service to passengers in a hurry, for a premium price.

Hmm, anything is possible in India !