Saw this on Brain Pickings
Really nice manifesto. I don’t agree with all of what it says.
Holstee Manifesto
Truly liked this:
‘If you are looking for love, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing the things you love’.
The poster can be bought from: Holstee Manifesto Shop
The blog has had an unwanted hiatus. Between the last post and this one, I have started working full-time and have got married.
Neither one is the real reason for the hiatus…it is more because of lack of enthu to write. Have had a couple of topics in the back of my mind to write about. Maybe I will get down to writing about them.
Hope to get back to writing again.
Had been to Singapore last week, roaming the city under the pretext of attending a conference (which I did attend). It is a beautiful city and I will write more about it in later.
This experience was when I took the taxi from my hotel to go to the airport to catch my flight back. The public transport system in Singapore rocks! and the taxis have electronic meters which make it impossible to overcharge (which anyway no one seems to do). The taxi driver was in a talkative mood and told me that he was in the Merchant Navy and had been to Mumbai quite a few times about 10 years ago.
Then, before I (a proud Mumbaikar) could talk more about the city I love and call home, he told me how taxi drivers in the city had grossly overcharged him. Apparently, he had gone into CST to take a look at the trains and was caught by a TC in hiding. Instead of fining him for entering ticketless, the man made him pay a bribe. I had nothing to say to that and could just apologize for the behaviour of my countrymen and tried to assure him that not everyone here is so insincere.
I wonder why we do this- and bring the name of our country into shame.
India, apparently, has a lot of people who are good at English. Anyone who has seen recent use of English in general would do well to take exception to this. So many times these days I see an apostrophe used in the wrong place.
For those who have forgotten their grammar, an apostrophe is used to signify belonging and in some cases (preferably avoided) a shortening of two words into one. There are so many signboards, across India (I have seen them in Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi), where the apostrophe is used in a plural. “Coconut’s” means belonging to the coconut (make sure spelling is right; a board in Ahmedabad got it horribly wrong) and not a number of them.
Most of these people are convent-educated, graduates. Even aspirants of MS programmes in the US have been known to make such errors, as well as MBAs (and not MBA’s) from some of India’s (note correct usage) premier institutes. I hope the situation improves, for everytime I see such errors I feel it is an apostrophe apocalypse.
Anyone publishing anything in the newspaper (including reporters-some are incapable of stringing an entire sentence in English) or making a board should please be careful.
P.S: Let me know what you think of this article. Also, anyone pointing errors in this article will be duly mentioned alongside the correction.
UPDATE: An Oatmeal link that explains it clearly (Thanks to Shivani Rege)
The World Cup continues to garner the headlines and for once the front sports page news is not cricket.
India won the Asia Cup after 15 years and it was a clinical display. All the batsmen contributed to a very decent total (though the acceleration was missing in the Power Play). The bowlers bowled superbly and Dhoni led them all well. The highlight for me was Harbhajan pummeling the ball over mid-wicket and letting out a war cry. So much for Miandad’s last ball six. India seem to be showing better nerves these days.
Wimbledon saw the amazing Isler-Mahut match that went on for 11 hours over 3 days. 70-68 in the final set!! How the hell is Isler even expected to play for the rest of the week? I think he should be given a bye into the fourth round. To win a “normal” match you need to win around 30-35 games. This man won twice that in just the fifth set. Federer looks like he is fallible having to come back from matchpoint to win his first round match. ESPN Star Sports prefer showing us boring football matches with no relevance to such important things as Federer struggling to hold serve in Wimbledon.
Now to the World Cup. The finalists of the last World Cup have both been dumped out of the competition- both led by coaches who let their egos come in the way of taking the best possible team to the world cup. France left Benzema and Nasri at home while Italy left an entire second (and to my mind BETTER) team behind. I worry about Brazil, but they seem to know how to play with this team (though Pato would have been a good addition).
France haven’t learned to play without Zidane and Italy thought that some of the players that won them the Cup 4 years ago will win it for them again. With ZiZou out of the team, I could dislike the French all I wanted- and it was satisfying to see that Thierry Henry could not “hand” them another victory.
Was in Delhi for two days for my induction. A nice bunch of people, a fun party in the latest night club in Delhi. I had a rocking time.
Also, found my next topic of research, and one that will surely lead to my first (of many Nature papers)- “The degeneration of dancing style as a function of alcohol ingestion in Indian people”. What I noted was amazing – makes me want to read more about human psychology. My twitter feed says – “Wish Hannibal Lecter was here to analyze what is going on in the minds of these people dancing.”
Who will it go to this time?
Only two continents have ever won the football World Cup: South America and Europe. Since 1962, the sequence has alternated. This table lists the World cup winners and the continent.
A historical perspective-might we see yellow again??
So, my prediction, some South American country. My choice – my eternal favourites Brazil (though their squad could have been much stronger).
This analysis falls into the same traps that most financial analysis probably fell- assuming that all swans are white because you haven’t seen a black swan.
Add to this..."I got results", "I got into IIMA"
Every once in a while, I have the urge to do a PhD. I think , “how nice it will be to have a relaxed life and a PhD in a stream that I like.” Then I go to IISc and remember exactly why I gave up on the idea of a PhD.
Sometimes it helps to go back to where it all began (or ended):P.
The IISc Alumni Association has been very helpful though.
While the world goes on and on about @lalitkmodi and @tharoor.shashi, another disturbing thing has emerged in IPL 3.0- Disgusting advertisements!
The Voltas AC ads, with the most irritating jingles, have made the mute button on the remote control the most important. How do you expect anyone to buy your product and use it for days or months when they can’t stand your ad for 30 seconds. Where are all the creative people going these days- accounting firms?
The Vodafone ‘zoozoo’ ads- they were fun last year, they have become irritating this year. And what is with the negativity- ‘someone being eaten by a carnivorous flower’ cannot convince me to order flowers on my cell phone.
The Havells ad, with the executioner, is disturbing and disgusting. I don’t need to see a man being executed 20 times a day. And how is doing your job- that of an executioner- ‘paap’?
The MRF blimp, and the praise for MRF 4 times in an innings, gets on my nerves everytime.
Some bright spots are there though- a couple of the zoozoo ads are nice, and the way Sehwag and Gambhir struggle for the phone is funny too.
Most irritating though is the placement of ads- not just at the end of the over, but even in the middle of it. I would rather watch a bowler walk back to his mark than one of these irritating ads…if it were not for more often than not irritating commentary.
I was tempted to delete my Orkut profile today, I already have a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account. This was my (and almost everyone’s) first social networking experience. I thought of deleting it since I don’t use it at all anymore…but then Chetana has written such a beautiful testimonial and so has Kanna.
So the Orkut profile will stay.
