A change of colour!

White is not among my favourite colours. Ask my room-mates and they will tell you that I rarely switch on the tubelights in our home.

I have stuck with a mostly white design on these pages for a long time now. Several reasons prompted me to retain such a color scheme. But finally, even if it is only for the homepage, I have decided to change. Have gone back to an old favourite : Maroon or something close to it.

These are interesting times in my life.

Work keeps me busy for most of the time. What little remains is spend thinking about the future : the near term and the long term. April is ofcourse the month when my age rolls over. It is amazing how your views on life change remarkably with time. Memories accumulate and Dreams retreat with time. Most of what I thought I will do when I grow up now seem silly foibles of my youth. Time does change you in many ways you never thought possible while you were dancing to the tunes of “18 till I die” :)

Till another day, Vannakkam, Vandanam.

Give Hawk-Eye a chance

“Hawk-Eye does not try to predict the path of the ball after the bounce. Instead, the Hawk-Eye cameras track the ball both before and after the bounce, so the correct trajectory of the ball leaving the wicket is determined. Hawk-Eye simply observes and then calculates the actual trajectory of the ball. Whether the cause of this trajectory was due to atmospheric conditions, the wicket, or the ball hitting the seam is irrelevant from a Hawk-Eye perspective. Hawk-Eye just tracks what happened - it does not try to predict nor to answer why it happened."

So, if the ball rears up unexpectedly after hitting the seam or a crack on the pitch, Hawk-Eye will track the trajectory off the pitch to predict the future course of the ball. Similarly, the tracking system will come into play if the balls shoots along the ground after hitting a dry spot on the pitch. In fact, Hawk-Eye has shown that balls pitched on roughly the same area on the wicket have passed the stumps at widely varying heights. And in tests conducted, thousands of deliveries were bowled from a bowling machine and filmed by Hawk-Eye. The camera feeds were cut about two metres from the stumps, approximately the point where the batsman would normally intercept the ball. When the ball hit the wicket, Hawk-Eye was able to determine, to within about 5 mm, the point of impact.”

Read more.

I am not going to say that a few umpiring decisions decided the series.

It is though a shame that technology, when it is readily available, is not being used. Maybe the 300+ scores in ODIs and 500+ scores in tests will come down drastically. But it will also seperate the men ( dravid ) from the kids ( afridi ) :)

Cricket will be the winner.

Greying of Kerala to cause headaches

“THE increase in life expectancy in Kerala in recent years has resulted in raising the number of aged people in the State and at the current rate their population would touch 13.6 per cent of the State's total population by 2011.

Drop in population growth coupled with improved standard of living and better social welfare infrastructures has brought down the number of people under 20 years of age to 29.51 per cent in 2001 from 48.97 per cent in 1961. However, the number of old in the age group of 60 to 74 has gone up to 8.09 per cent in 2001 from 4.69 per cent in 1961.

Those above 75 years went up to 10.83 per cent from 5.83 per cent. Significantly, the number of people in the working age group - 20 to 64 years - increased to 59.65 per cent in 2001 from 45.19 per cent in 1961, according to a study conducted by the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

The large greying population will give rise to societal shifts in terms of health needs, work participation rate, dependency rate, service pension requirements and social security system, says Dr K.K. George, head of the Centre for Socio-Economic and Environmental Studies (CESS), here.

He said that Kerala's success in extending life expectancy has been burdening the Government with a high volume of service pension payments. The problem is likely to be aggravated in future, as death rates are likely to fall further among senior citizens in the State. Already, these pensions account for 16.2 per cent of the State's revenue expenditure as against the average of 8.7 per cent for all the States.
”

Read more.

Something good causing something bad.

It's back to boom time for Indian IT

“Here are some figures for anyone who has doubted the future of the Indian software industry.

In calendar year 2003 Cognizant has upped its revenue guidances for the year five times — each time by hefty amounts.

It started by predicting revenues of $229 million and that climbed to between $300 million and $305 million. Cognizant didn't stop there. It revised its guidances three more times: first to $330 million, then to $354 million and finally to $365 million.

One thing's for sure. Cognizant is about to post terrific returns. The company believes that revenue growth will climb by 60 per cent for 2003. That means it's about to post the highest revenue growth amongst India's top five software services players.

Says Lakshmi Narayanan, president and chief operating officer, Cognizant: "The reasons for such stupendous growth are clear. The IT industry is transitioning from the early stages of a global mega trend in offshore outsourcing to a mainstream mode where offshore outsourcing is seen as the highest priority by Fortune 500 and blue chip companies in the US and Europe."

Cognizant isn't the only company that has the champagne ready. In Delhi Vijay K Thadani is looking pleased.

For the chief executive officer of NIIT, business seems to be booming after about two years of instability.

The company has recorded a 347 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 5.9 crore (Rs 59 million) in the fourth quarter of 2003 against a Rs 1.31 crore (Rs 13.1 million) net profit last year.

These aren't isolated cases. After two years of cost-cutting and living with trimmed margins, the Indian software industry is once again on a roll. Most companies have announced improved business and have revised projections upwards.
”

Read more.

The world @ 2050

“Economists have a hard enough time predicting gross domestic product in the next quarter let alone the next half century, but Goldman Sachs has revved up its econometric models and taken a stab at it. What it has come up with is a radically different world economy as Brazil, Russia, India and China — the ”BRICs“ — power their way to the top.

The new Group of Six will be led by China with estimated gross domestic product of nearly US$45-trillion in 2050, followed by the United States at US$35-trillion and India at about US$30-trillion. Bringing up the rear with much smaller GDPs will be Japan at around US$6-trillion, followed by Brazil and Russia.

In total, the BRIC economies are now worth less than 15% of the current G6, in U.S. dollar terms. The economists predict that by 2025 the BRIC economies will be more than half as large as the current G6 and in less than 40 years they will surpass the G6. (With GDP of less than US$1-trillion, Canada is not part of the G6).”

Read more.

Frankly, I love reading such articles talking about a vibrant India in the future.

I firmly believe, the world would be a much safer place to live in if the current income disparities are slowly done away with.

Too many of the world's current problems start with an empty stomach, isn't it ?

The best indian websites ?

Travel is the biggest fraud I play on myself.

People who know me, know that I rarely deviate from my home-office-home lifestyle. Inspite of having lived in bangalore for the last four years, there are vast portions of the city that I know nothing of.

Still, I live in the hope that one day I will start travelling around this world or atleast around India.

Occassionally, I turn to google for finding new travel websites to plan out this distant future of mine ( remember we are talking something atleast twenty years ahead and no, I am not mad :) ).

I came across this particular website http://hill-stations-india.com/ today and was immediately impressed by how pretty it looked and how usable it was.

This ofcourse underlines the fact that there are countless such well designed Indian websites out there which I know nothing about.

So here is my question for the few readers of my main page. What is your fav indian website ? Please try not to answer with the usual suspects like rediff which everyone knows of. I am looking for the hidden gems.

Kindly indulge me.

Early retirement

It is something that has been in the back of my mind right from my college days, yes even before I started working :-)

Once you take out work from your life, you have an endless supply of time in your hands and life suddenly seems teeming with possibilities. The promise of doing something new every single day is tantalising, dont you think ?

Ofcourse, boredom is a highly possible outcome. The trick is to keep yourself occupied, this time around doing something you enjoy rather than something you get paid for.

Social service will be the first thing I take up. To be able to make a difference, however small, in someone's life is the intended redemption of a human life. This will most likely involve teaching. I used to teach a good number of my classmates and have been given fairly good reviews of my teaching capabilities. So teaching is definetely on the cards.

Sreekanth and I must have talked endless hours about how with a little effort you can change a lot of things you despise around you. Hopefully, at some point in our lives, we will be able to do something about this rather than keep talking.

Other stuff that I will be doing include,

Travel. First the whole of India and a few choice destinations around the world. Travel is ofcourse expensive and would most likely to remain an unfullfilled dream in the back of my mind ( It must be getting crowded in there :) ).

Learning a musical instrument is something that I have always wanted do.

It is a sad fact but I really do like sitting in front of a computer for endless hours, browsing, reading and occassionally writing. I am perhaps too addicted to the internet to let go completely. I mean where else can someone like me get to be a fashion designer ;-) At some point in the future, I would like to close down all my “for profit ventures” and create something which is informative and usefull.

The word “Family” is ofcourse an unknown variable in this equation. Being a bachelor is investing in time. Getting married is investing in love. Hopefully, I can get a fair dose of both :-)

More than anything else, I would like to slow down my life. I am tired, very much so, of the constant hurry burry of the daily life. Images of a slow calm life, somewhere along the banks of the backwaters of alleppey is a recurring image in my dreams. Someday, I want to open my eyes and find it to be true.

Capitalism is not the answer

I love a good debate. Occasionally, even flame wars will do. If you read my comments elsewhere on the net, you will, more often than not, see me take a contrarian view to the popular opinion, just to liven up the debate.

Something of a prankster ( slashdotters might prefer flamebait ), you might call me. Occasionally, I step beyond the line and get burned but then that is an occupational hazard.

It is my belief that more can be learned by seeing the issue from both sides than passionately sticking to a single viewpoint. Everything is relative, anyways. In my school days, we used to do this fun activity where the same guy had to defend and criticize a topic, switching viewpoints at the sound of a bell. “Just a minute”, I think it was called.

I learned this form of debate growing up in kerala discussing films. Yes, films. Keralites devote ( atleast used to ) an unusual amount of time discussing the question : “Mamooty, Mohanlal : Who is better ?” Since I didn't have a preference either way, I used to oppose the prevaling opinion in the crowd that I was in, for the sake of a debate :-)

I think, it is this middle of the road approach, that made me an Agnostic. I enjoy riling up atheists by asking them to explain the fundamental issue about the origin of the universe ( “How something can never come out of nothing” ). To theists, I normally ask, “If God exists, why can't he do a better job at proving he exists”.

Ofcourse, there is a problem with not having strong principles, best said by the quote,
“If you don't stand for anything, you will fall for everything”.

Still, I prefer it this way.

Why am I writing all this ? I have been part of several debates on the future of america's economy on public forums lately. I have written both extremely positive and highly negative predictions based on the type of the forum I am in ( the opposite view to the popular opinion ).

Paul krugman and others well known columnists have been extremely critical about Bush's tax cuts and the burgeoning US budget, current account and trade deficits. Paul krugman infact goes on to say, in one of his regular columns in NYT, that America possibly can face an argentina style crisis if tax cuts are not rolled back and government spending curbed. Coming as it is from the man considered to be the world's foremost expert on currency crises, it has caused widespread concern.

These columns about “america needs a billion a day in FDI to finance the ever increasing debt of the country” or the “fundamental shift in the economy which has resulted in a jobless recovery” get endlessly discussed in public forums with ridiculous suggestions like “Let us build a fortress around america and ban all imports” thrown around as possible solutions.

It is fun to occassionally step in and point out that for the last few decades, america benefited most from globalisation. Now is payback time.

What americans are most concerned is the apparent lack of care shown by big companies when sending jobs offshore. They forget Capitalism is not driven by ethics but by profits. Capitalism is inherently cannibalistic in nature, a dog eats dog mentality as well chronicled in the history of microsoft.

There is already increasing evidence that although the US GDP is picking up, the benefits will not reach the “common” man but will stay at the top level in the hands of the already rich. Fortune's latest list of the 400 richest americans seems to confirm this when it says that the rich got richer. Not consistent with the situation on the ground. Infact, The word “Oligarchy” has started making the rounds.

Ofcourse, when I point out all these on the “Nothing can touch US” forums, I get very few people to agree with me. More often than not, I get flamed to hell :-)

I like the socialist welfare economies of europe. They have taken the middle road between capitalism and communism and seemed non the worse for it. There is a serious risk of deflation for a few of them but then that might be because of the export dependance on the states.

China is an interesting study. Perhaps, theirs is the hardest task of all. To preserve a communist styled leadership while having a capitalist economy. For now, the western MNCs are interested in tapping china's huge and seemingly endless supply of $100 a month cheap labour. Once popular issues like China's human rights track record have conveniently been relegated to the background in a relentless pursuit to improve their bottomline, a popular buzzword in a recession. If china manages to pull it off inspite of all these, it will be a miracle unmatched in the annals of human history. Only time will tell.

Finally, there is India. If there is any award for the country with the maximum potential, we will walk away with it hands down. Sadly, the potential rarely gets realised. Unfortunately, the very diversity that we are so proud of is proving to be our bane. A collective decision is more or less impossible in our scheme of things.

Like our cricket team's reliance on sachin, will we will always end up depending on individual brilliance ( Naidu ? ) to save us at the end of the day.

Luckily, we seem to be finding a new hero ( anju george ? ) regularly these days. Maybe, it is a tide of better things to come.

All these forums did help in increasing my limited knowledge of how the global economy works. Till I lose interest, my occassional ramblings on politics/economics will continue. Anyone wants to take a contrarian view ?

Quote of the day

“Always there will be the intoxication of power. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever”

from 1984.

Exams

Two of my best friends are having exams. Must say I am enjoying being able to watch TV while suresh is studying in the next room. Personally, I cannot see myself going for higher studies any time in the future.

Now coming to India's test loss. Australians have different One Day and Test teams. I guess, We need to have different teams based on the playing conditions. No point in making a ganguly or a sehwag play on seaming tracks. Pick them when there is a flat batting track. Else pick people like Shiv Sundar Das who have a decent technique and can survive on such pitches.

Will be going to TVM this weekend :-) Will be there for the whole of next week. Been a while now. So looking forward to it.

Did a small re-design of tamizhan.com. Just played around with the colors a little bit. I am trying hard to do an orange design but it aint easy for a person like me who prefers dark colors :-)

I am planning to enter the stock market again since it seems to be in a bullish mood. I have decided to pick either pharma or banking stocks this time around. If any of you have any good tips for me, please share them with me :-)

The Number Game.

At some point in the future, our huge population may actually work in India's Favour. Reading stories like these definetely make me think so. That story points out that 10% of the developer community is Indian and this is only going to grow. Microsoft itself says this country can affect the company's destiny. Oracle thinks so too.

From a Blogger's point of view, Imagine what will happen to blogdex when there are sufficient number of Indian bloggers. Every link on that will be Indian just because our numbers will be more.

Maybe, I am indulging in a little bit of fantasy here but I sure am hopefull that such a day will come :-)

Distance.

Distance is the best measure of love.

Put a little distance between you and the things you love and you will know the depth of your love.

I used to wonder whether the fervent note of homesickness heard in songs like the chitthi aayyi hai ghazal by pankaj udhas was true or was just a commercial gimmick. Now I know.

A while ago, it seemed a good idea to visit the states, get to see the places and make some money. But then you never know until you are actually in it and that is precisely what happenned with me. In the final analysis, It was an okayish trip. Had its highs and lows as with anything else. But in the future, I will think twice before embarking on such a journey.

So thats it folks.

Today is my last day at work in the states. Tuesday I fly back. Thursday afternoon, I reach home.

I am happy :-)

PS : updates on this site will be sparse over the next couple of weeks.

meek

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.”

Jesus Christ said those words in the famous sermon on the Mount, 2000 years ago.

I have always wondered about that one ever since I read it. According to a certain Mr.Darwin, “Its a jungle out there and it is the Survival of the fittest”. If you look at it, the two more or less contradict one another. Darwin paints this world as a jungle where you fight for your surivival with all you have got. Jesus asks us not to fight, give yourselves up in love and says the world will be ours.

I have always wondered which one is right.

Anyone who is cognizant of the real world knows what it is to be out there. A normal day of work is a game of oneupmanship played by you and your colleagues with a biased manager monitoring and pushing his own strategy. Niceness is a required quality in the other guy ( not in you ). Nobody returns a favour anymore. Aggressive, confident people are the winners here. And all this seem to point that Darwin indeed is the right one.

But wait. Ever had a fight and not felt bad afterwards ? Ever worked/fought hard for something and not felt hollow afterwards ?? I am a passionate debater : one who rarely gives up. Lately, I am beginning to hate all that. I wonder why I fight hard to establish a point I myself am not sure about in the first place. I wonder why I work late nights ( and on weekends ) just to earn a higher appraisal rating enroute to a higher salary. I have acheived a lot and yet I want more. I am worried about a future when I should be happy about the present. It is this feeling that you are in a rat race that makes me do all that. It is as if I stop for a moment's rest, I might be left behind.

Something tells me Jesus is right.

Something tells me, I must change myself. I must remove all forms of aggression from my behavior. I must learn to be meek : to give up. I must learn to be satisfied with what I have. I must stop dreaming and keep my feet firmly grounded. I must learn to see the beauty of what is there before me rather than dreaming about a beauty that never will be.

Life is an illusion : Maya. This is something I keep saying but never have realised its true meaning. Slowly I am getting it. I am learning to lose and more importantly, slowly learning to enjoy it.

Not for me the turbulent mind of a chaser of dreams. I long for the peace and calm of a mind which has only love, gentleness and kindness inside it. Not for me the turbulent waves of the sea. I long for the gentle stillness of the stream.

I want only love to live inside my heart. nothing else.

and for that, I must be meek.

Something tells me the contradiction in the above line ( “must” and “meek”) ensures that I may not acheive this. But I am going to try.

Ezhuthapurangal.

Christ Nagar, Kowdiar : March, 1989.

9:00 AM in the morning.

A chaotic scene unfolds before you. A bunch of kids trying to cram that last piece of information into their already overloaded brains. A few parents who have accompanied their kids to share their pain in this moment of agony, stand beside helpless. The teachers having taken a sadistic pleasure in preparing the most gruesome method of torture known to a kid and going by the name of Examination stand in front of the room gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation of the first bell.

In the farthest corner of the mail hall, You see a small kid with a smile on his face. From his looks, he must be in the fifth standard. Maybe, sixth.

A kid smiling before the examination ? Something is definetely not right here. Your immediate concern is to whether he has gotten hold of a leaked question paper.

You decide to take a closer look. You find the eyes closed and a dazed expression lingering on the kid's face. Hesitant to break the emotion but driven by a desire to know the reason for the smile, you gently tap on the kid's shoulder. The kid comes to his senses with a start. The conversation goes like this.

“I know, I have no right to ask. But i would like to know the reason behind your smile”. You ask hesitantly.

“My parents have promised to buy me a Hero Cycle once the holidays start. I was day dreaming about cycling through the Pattom main road”, The kid says with a sheepish smile.

and you walk away with a whimsical smile wondering about the vagaries of the human mind.

Yes. I was promised a cycle. A month and a thousand day dreams later, I was told, for a variety of reasons that I will not have it that year.

Being cursed with an over active imagination, My mind works like an yet to be discovered time machine. You give me a little to hope, a promise of something in the future and then I switch on this thing called imagination and proceed to live out the future in full techni-color inside my mind. I create a world of my own, decorate it with my dreams and feed it with my hopes.

That year, Time taught me a lesson. To wait for the future.

Sadly, I was busy day dreaming about the cycle ( which now was to come next year ) when the lesson was delivered and paid no heed to it.

Last Week, I took an imagined flight to india and landed among my loved and dear ones. Behind closed eyes, I had seen a month ahead and felt a joy for an event yet to occur.

Yesterday, Mr.Time delivered the age old lesson of “Dont build castles in the air” again to me.

Yesterday, I was told that I am not going anywhere atleast till the end of the year and maybe till summer next year. My plane had crashed before it took off. All for a few dollars more.

But then, I am not a little kid any more, to accept everything that others decide for me. Today, I have started a chain of events which hopefully will culminate in my still making that flight.

Do pray for me.