Posts

Showing posts from December, 2009

Akshta : Oct - Dec 09

Image

See through Human beings

Image
After see-through frogs, it now the turn of 'see through' Gold Fish. It seems one can see the beating heart through translucent scales and skin. When would be the turn for see through human beings. The principle and the logic of making them see through is easy to understand . Make genetic modification to take away pigments from the skin. Once this is done, won't be any need for dissections, post mortem . This would go X ray, Ultrasound and contrast media mfrs go bankrupt. Security at the airport would be hassle free. With this one would be able to see a live heart or other organs making angiography procedures go easy. Job of PET and MRI would be replaced by a naked eye that would glance and rove around the functionality of various organs under different situations. Translucent Octopus and Jellyfish look terrific at night. Once this technology is transported to Human beings, beauty clinics would offer woman the choice of their translucent colour depending on their mood and

Dil To Baccha hain

Gulzar Sab has coined this new term Dil to Baccha Hain. " You are only that much old as you make yourself allowed to be.... " So apt.. isnt it ? Naseer say in the the making of Dil to Baccha hain The clip is enjoyable to watch !!

Those were the days @ New English School , Bandra

A recent flurry of postings by school batchmates , brought some more facets of life at Govt Colony Bandra in mid 70's to my mind: • ' Gola ' - crushed ice on a prickly stick - devoured in great abundance with perennial requests for coloured toppings. Everything about it was truly unhygienic - yet there was no sign of any gastric trouble. • 5 paise Orange Kulfi and 10 paise M alai kulfi . News always went around that if we rub salt on them, worms would appear. But who cared! • The only car that entered school premises was orange Premier P admini , that of Dr Shashikant Naik . Few years ago, when I met him, I reminded him of that and he said he wasn't happy of his kids using the car. Those were the days! • Only 711 supermarket in govt colony was - Amrut Stores - at Bus Depot . The word of ' Customer Courtesy' was never in their dictionary. So was the case in later years with Thorat , Meena Bazaar and Jaihind Book Depot. Kherwadi was the ultimate shopping

India on Three Leg : Pune + Vadodara + Ahmedabad + New Delhi

Pune : O hotel in Pune exceeded all my expectations. This was my fourth stay in this trendy hotel in the Osho neighbourhood of Koregaon Park. The special room had chair, separate toilet and had retained the benefits of other rooms like having a bedside console for all electrical functions. A handheld shower could have been better instead of fixed top one. This time, everything about the hotel was exemplary, check in was in jiffy, food was great. Japanese restaurant prices look exorbitant; I doubt its viability at these prices. Kitsch - a coffee shop/restaurant had just one local dish - bharli vangi ' stuffed baby brinjals with masala '. Once again, I am baffled why hotel restaurants shy away from ethnic cuisines. Most foreign guests are keen to try local food and we have such variety in every state. Somehow, we have embraced only the staple western food habits. On way to Chakan , at dehu road, road side eating joints announced ' gaoran rassa ' and Kombdi Vade

Jakhia Seeds - Uttarachal cuisine

Image
These are black seeds. Not round like mustard but smaller and flecky. Like mustard they crackle and sputter when heated in oil. Name is Jakhia and origin is Uttaranchal cuisine. Try it in any dish and Jakhia adds crispy aromatic flavour.

Work Culture

Edward T Hall defines two type of work culture. Monochronic work culture. This mainly confines to US, Western Europe, Australia. Typical traits of this work culture make people : 1. Do one thing at a time and focus on it. 2. View time as a scarce commodity and take appointments, schedules, deadlines seriously. 3. Rule of privacy. Private office. Don't share , borrow or lend 4. Expect high degree of specificity,have clear description, unambiguous communication and defined goal and path. 5. Keep in view of short term relationship and work on accomplishment of mutual goals. Polychronic work culture :This mainly confines to India, Middle East, Indonesia, Sri Lanka , Thailand - Typical traits of this work culture make people : 1. Do many things at once and get distracted and make others distracted. 2. Time commitments are in nearby time zone(8 ish , Around 12) and punctuality takes a back seat. 3. No private domain : Involve friends, family, neighbours, customers 4. Share space, info

India on Three Leg : Chennai + Mumbai

SQ is smooth all the way. They ferried me on the wheel chair from the Changi airport lounge till the aircraft. Jet Airways too is good, but at Chennai and elsewhere too, their jurisdiction is up to the security/immigration then airport authority staff with a new wheel chair takes me to the car park/aircraft. It's understandable to plug any security gaps that could get exploited. Jet airways wheel chair has two horizontal side bars that jut out on the front on the either side. I felt it was a great protection from anything that would come sideways but I was also concerned if they would hurt if my attendant were not cautious and were to bang to people ahead of me. This feature remained standard on all airport wheelchairs in India. Chennai : Chennai is getting cleaner, No doubt about it. No encroachment on the side of the road instead some walls have paintings. I visited Taj Coromondal after long time. In 82, they would serve coffee for single digit. Later in the decade, I had di

New English School , Bandra - nostalgia of heady days

Image
Stunned, Numbed, Perplexed ... all these adjectives don't reflect the true emotions that one can fathom if one were to come across a group photo with buddies from primary school. Courtesy of Milind Ramchandra Gokhale, these photos are of 4th and 5th grade. It's nice of him to have preserved this treasure and have it digitized. I must tag this photo on face book and try hard to place respective names against faces. The faces are still fresh in my aging brain cells. These two photos also triggered a chain of fond remembrances that took me to our school teachers, coaching classes and my role models. Let me see how many I recollect while I scribble this in one go. Harne sir - an upright teacher in black jacket and topi. He was school principle when we were in Primary. I remember seeing his photo in the newspaper after getting accolades from state govt for ideal school teacher. Mulay madam (4th std), Phadnis madam (5th), Lingayat Sir (6th), Kunte madam (7th) Hatvalne madam (8th), D