Star Wars: In love with Science Fiction

Few weeks ago, I was at @tossedsalad book club meet. We were discussing about books. I met Aditya Rao (@adityarao). He said his favorite books are science fiction. It quickly caught my attention.

I wanted to explore science fiction and I have read few written by Issac Asimov after high school. Don't really know when I moved to other things since then. Now, reading books will take time which I don't have. So, instead of books I opted for movies.

I knew Star Wars series is best science fiction movie ever made. So, I downloaded 'Star Wars - Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace'.  A friend replied on Twitter "Have you watched IV, V and VI?"

Nope. I hadn't. I was quite surprised that Episode IV, V and VI came before I, II and III. Now, I am going to watch later three first. Hmm..it's Good Friday, whole night is mine :)

What I would do if I had to start my college life again?

My college life is at the verge of extinction. I enjoyed this stage of life. I hated it sometimes. Many things I did and many things I still wish I had done. Here are the things I would do If I have to restart my college life.

(Symbol: The * sign shows things I did and # sign shows things I wish now. Without sign shows things I did but I was late or it was incomplete.)

I would:

1. # Impress a beautiful girl on first day. Yes, I meant it. In most of times, things are on first come first serve basis. I would love/try to impress a girl.
2. Buy a laptop. This is most essential thing in college life. Get Internet connected. World is not diverse anymore. It's divided into two, offline and online. If one indulges only in offline, he/she misses all the fun thing which comes from other.

If my major was technical/computer, I would break it down, and rebuild it. Install one of many Linux distros and ditch Uncle Bill Gay's old fashioned Windows.

3. Get a motorbike. Need a fancy bike to ride with girls. It's hell lot of fun :D Not only for that purpose, but it is essential for commuting. Forget about school bus. That is when one is at primary school. This is the age to move fast, get things (good or bad) done. It saves time. A student can do lots of things with that time.
4. *Watch Bollywood blockbuster 3 IDIOTS more than five times. It contains all needed inspiration for college life.
5. Drink lots of beer. Well, there is always limit, but none seems to care at this stage. Drink lots of beer, get some joints even if it is just for testing. Try to figure out why all the big guys enjoy cigars.
6. #From a rebel club in college which would challenge each and every beliefs we have about the individual, society and the world.

(No, I no way mean something like student union or group which would go violent.I hate students' union simply because they are all crap and they break down everything, sometimes their own backbone.

I also don't like weapons. Those are the things left alone/idle)

7. #Join a debate club, debate about each and everything. Also, I would join a book club out of college.
8. *Bunk lectures. I am quite sure not everything is interesting at college and it's not meant to. I would bunk lectures. There are lots of things to do rather than attending lectures with sleepy eyes. What about going for movies?
9. *Write blogs. I would write lots of blog posts then I did. The world can read my post. I would try to challenge The Times of India. Thank you World Wide Web.
10. Join Twitter. Facebook is for keeping track of new photo uploads from girls. Twitter is to connect like minded people. I started using it during my second year, but if I was starting college life again, I would sign up right away. Though, it is just a tool, things will change with time. But, purpose remains same. Many news Twitters are coming up/ will come.
11. *Read history, literature, economics, business, technology and finalize my interest by the end of second year. While colleges in most of developing countries screw students on choice of subjects, we can pursue multiple interests while declaring particular major.
12. Visit pubs, dance bars, music concerts. The world of music. The world of alcohol. The world of 'Nothing Else Matters'. Most of people who come from school don't have these experiences, in many cases we are not legally allowed to enter pubs. It's time to break some rules. They say, if you obey all the rules, you miss the fun.
13. * Travel the cities, villages and nature. Try to understand diversity and the way it is. Spend some time with sincere people at villages. Spend hours/days just walking, stopping, laying in the peaceful places.
14. Intern at an organization with great people. This is probably shape the life after college. And working while in college is best way to learn things. After all, we are still students.
15. #Start a company. Yes, there is nothing risky here. If one fails, he/she can always get job somewhere as fresher. If things go right, Oh man let's not talk about that. Everyone knows about Facebook.
16. #Play Guitar, Cricket, and other sports. Go to beach, probably Goa, do Bungee Jumping and spend some time each week/month on liberating things.

Wow, well these things seems common in many ways. Some sounds funny.

The final thing I would do is, see this list carefully once again before venturing out blindly. Big LOL.

Mumbai Meri Jaan!

LOL This is funny title. I haven't lived in Mumbai, not yet. I haven't spent much time here. In fact, I desperately wanted to explore the city. That's why I am here. This time. :)

I keep hearing people say 'Mumbai Meri Jaan'. So, I couldn't think of better title.
[I titled as Mumbai. One can call it Bombay as well. Let's be fair, and call it Mumbay :D]

Things are going good so far. It's quite hot here, and was surprised that there is nothing like winter here. This is just first day, still lots of places to visit. Meanwhile, I am reading The Maximum City by Suketu Mehta about the city, Bombay to Mumbai to Mumbay. This book is interesting and  just finished first few chapters which cover 90s Hindu-Muslim riots.

I am exploring this great/not so great city on foot and also through book. The book explains Bombay to great degree of reality, just like this.

On Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, Sunil (Shiv Sena local leader and cable operator) broadcasts a pornographic film on his cable network. The requests for porn often come from his female subscribers.

While exploring city, I plan to pen down here on my blog. I hope I will get some time to seat aside and pause for the city where millions of people live, struggle, fulfill dreams and watch pornography. 

(Note: Promise broken. I wanted to blog so many things about Mumbai. I was busy enjoying there. Seems like it been almost a month since then.)

Learn English. Get Married!

Yesterday, I was talking on skype with a friend half away around the world. He has a good paying job. After High School he left the college and opted for employment. He has been lucky to be employed. He is still not satisfied. He wants to learn English and complete his college.

I liked what he is trying to do. Not that he is returning to college, but fact that he wants to learn something. Learning is life long process and most of people stop learning after school. That's what he is trying to avoid. He wanted some help/suggestion from me since we came from similar background.

We went to Government/Public School. I used to be considered as brightest student in school (Don't believe me :P). But fact was that I was barely able to read even English newspaper. That was worse than imagined. I felt defeated. Then, my only mission at that time was to improve English. Later, I became member of a public library, and within six months I was able to read National Geographic, Charles Dickens and Isaac Asimov and actually made sense out of those great writings.

Enough. I am not going to write my whole biography. Let's move ahead.

So, why should we learn English?

1. To get married (very useful).
2. To put bread on your mouth every evening you come home (quite useful). None denies this fact. English is universal language. Internet and mobile devices will make it more popular, since translation and localization is still pain on ass. The use of English is only going to increase. And the local language you currently use will probably die within few decades. This is neither bad nor good. It's evolution. And if you ask me, evolution is good.
   
   Only politicians are against English language. Those are all parasites who have never learned to live on their own. They never understand the value of things that matters to people. One day they might say; not English, learn native language.
   Tell them: Fuck Off.

Well, you might be thinking that I made a joke on first point: one should learn English just to get married. It's not joke at all. It's reality. It's quiet reality in India. People in North speak Hindi, Tamil in South, Marathi and Gujarati in West, Nepali/Bengali in West. Heck, what if someone from New Delhi wants to marry and only matched partner he/she finds on SimplyMarry.com is from Chennai? Nothing works here, but English. The only way to say 'Will you marry me?' is in English. I don't know how to say it in Bengali, Gujarati and hundreds of other local shits languages.

Power of English, now we are quite aware. I gave following suggestions to my friend. This might be helpful to anyone who wants to improve English. And if someone comes to me and again asks how to learn English, I will just point to this post :) Don't think I wrote it for you, it's for me :P Here are my suggestions.

1. Watch English Movies/TV Channels/Documentaries/Music Videos. If you want to learn Hinglish, never miss Bollywood.
2. Listen to English songs. Try to understand the lyrics. That's real fun thing.
3. Read simple books first. Then, again read books. And again read read books.
4. Use facebook/twitter/Google. Turn off your local language support.
5. Speak. Make people laugh. And again make them laugh. When you make more mistakes, you learn more. There is no other way to improve speaking, just speak.
6. Only associate with people who speak English. All of your life, you were with people who never tried to break the comfort zone, now you break it. Follow people whose skills you want to steal.
7. Use Internet. I find resources on almost all the subjects/topics I am interested. This is brand new world created by technology. Google about the word, pronunciation, usage and everything.
8. Read blogs. Read all of the posts here :) Regularly visit the blogs of your interest. Write your own blog. Share with me. Share with others. That's another fun thing.

Are these points (mis)-useful? You are on your own risk!

India's Dream of Californication!

Last week, Pune's Hard Rock Cafe at East Main Road was playing loud Red Hot Chilli Papers. I like that song. Not exactly the theme but music. In fact I like the twisted meaning of Californication.

US is wonderful country. California is state of fame, in different ways. Normal folks think it is all about Hollywood. Others think it is place where fortunes are made with nothing but ideas backed by all the madness. Many think Washington DC rules the world. I have big doubt. It is small town named Silicon Valley in California that actually rules this world. Thus, word Californication!

Now my own meaning of Californication is clear. Let's come to title. Is India dreaming? To be specific, of Californication? Yes. Big big Yes. In fact some say Bangalore is Silicon Vally in East. Some are so proud of Infosys. High tech service industry is all done here. That's great. There are some discussion going on Quora that this country is having start-ups Renascence. I agree lot's of things are going on. Check any particular weekend for tech related events, you won't be able to attend all of them (Apart from big corporate hangouts). Visit some colleges, I am quiet sure that you will see banners ads which says 'Join us and get your ass kicked!'

OK then, is there any Indian city head to head with Silicon Valley? I think it is not fair to compare any Eastern cities with Silicon Vally. In fact, it is totally unfair (at least for now). Everything differs between these two places. But I would have loved to call any cities here 'Innovation Hub', or 'Geeks Playground' along with 'Meditation Center' or 'Tourist Paradise'.

May be that's not just Fantasy.      

Even Gods in India are Chinese

Yes, all Gods in India are in fact Chinese. You will quickly protest here. Don't do. Hindus have more Gods then we can ever count. And you know what, it's good. More Gods, more profits to crazy guys in China.

China has some interesting features which not a single country in World seems to snatch. They build cheap, sell cheap and earn big. Why? Though their products are cheap, they have big market; the whole world, thus big profit.

Recent most interesting trend is 'what's happening in India's Godsville'. While Pune and Mumbai is celebrating their biggest annual event Ganesh Festival, other cities also seems to have similar festivities going on. During these festivals, each family needs a God idol [An idol for each person if possible. Sounds like personal councilor :P]. That means Indians literally need hundreds of millions of Idols if not billions. They used to use idols of clay before Chinese knew about Indian Gods. Now news report says almost everyone uses Idols imported from China. The bigger demand, the bigger smile on those Chinese faces. They don't get tired. They are happy. They were always happy since 1980s. After all, they are creators of the Gods.

This is pretty interesting. Folks, now what I request to you is don't say you are saviour of your culture. Don't shout out loud about Hindutva. Don't even bother about 'Sodesi'. Don't believe on Mahatma Gandhi [wait a minute; at least on his economic principles. Everyone knows what hunger is and father exactly taught how not to be productive to be hungry]. If anyone still says Indian culture is such a static thing that never changes, you are fucked up. Yes...by those crazy Chinese.

Nothing to worry about though. India runs the machine around the World with it's software right? May be the banks where those Chinese keep their big chunk of profits is powered by your small tricky software. Even though Gods are now Chinese, blessing doesn't only belong to them. :) 

Dump Windows. Use Linux (Ubuntu)

It feels great. Exactly same time two weeks ago, I was writing my post on Microsoft Windows. I dumped it. Now, I am writing on Linux (Ubuntu 11.04).

Why I switched? Well, various reasons. First, it is concept of freedom that Linux carries. Second, I am fed up with windows especially pirated software (I had licensed Windows though. But we hesitate to pay Office Suite/Anti-Virus etc. $***** right?). Third is to support Open Source-FOSS movement [Yes, I mean open here not free] and to get source code myself.

With the help of my Software Developer cum philosopher friend, Linux mission finally completed with installation of Ubuntu 11.04 on my machine. To my surprise, it is beyond my expectation. Most people believe Linux is for geeks, they are simply wrong. General users can use it if they can use Windows. (Ubuntu distro obviously)

LibreOffice does everything MS Office can do. I am writing this post on LibreOffice Word and No I don't miss MS Word. Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawing, using formula all piece of cake.

For video and audio needs, there is VLC Media player that plays almost every formats we see there. Firefox is default browser. Tomboy do all the note taking jobs. Evolution handles E-mail, calender and To-Dos.

Most useful feature is that you don't have to install drivers for USB Data travellers and Mobile phones. No drivers required as in windows. Even no installation required. Simply plug-in and play. You can connect to USB Netconnect and Mobile Broadband/GPRS without any installation, which is if you ask me...Super COOL.

And you know another coolest thing? You don't get viruses on Linux. If you have suffered from virus attacks (I am sure, you are), format it. Reinstall. Not Windows. (Imagine you don't need to pay for regular medical check-up. Healthy forever.)

In addition to all these features that really well compete with Windows, I find it faster than Windows. It starts faster, it's better and Ubuntu 11.04 Unity feature looks sexy. So, why not switch to Linux?

1. Only thing I miss is OneNote. (No. I don't mean Windows. But Office OneNote was one application that was very very useful and alternative is not yet developed for Linux.)
2. I use Linux 99.99% of my total computer use. I do have Windows along with Linux, but I no more use it. No more viruses please.
3. Ubuntu disro is most famous Linux. Latest version 11.04 [They named it Natty Narwhal]

Ubuntu Software Center makes installing applications easier than on Windows. Simply search and click install. All done. Net connection required. But, if you are voracious machine user and do lots of tweaks, then all the software needed might not be available there. Downloading form other sites and installing seems quiet time consuming.

You read this post? Really? Then Dump Windows, Use Linux.

Lavasa: Future of the Future City

Last Sunday, I went to Lavasa for short summer ride. It is only 42 Kms far from Pune and almost 200 Kms from Mumbai. We were group of six people with three motor bikes on the road. We crossed the Pune-Mumbai Expressway bypass road and our trip kicked off in the morning.

Soon after about 10 Kms, it started to rain. It was heavy rain, so we took first break (I). There was a small tea shop. We were excited, tea didn't taste good, but we were loving it. Cool weather raining outside, good company and green views were all that mattered.

After almost 35 Kms, we stopped for second break (II). We took some photos. Then got grilled corns on roadside. We liked that, demanded more. There were so many people selling vegetables, fruits and corns all locally grown. Whole members of family were selling.

Finally we reached Lavasa (III) :) It was lunch time. First of all, we went for lunch.

This was the third time I visited the hill city. Last year in August, I went there for the first time. It was work in progress. Again I went there in January. Construction was stopped. It is still stopped 'work in progress'. Some court orders!

The newly planned Independent India's first hill city is facing some of the toughest setbacks. Issues like environmental clearance, land acquisition and corruption. Bombay High court had ordered to stop construction. The future city faces mainly two controversies.

First obviously is Environmental Damage: I think very few people agree with this one. I suggest anyone to visit Lavasa and observe it. The project has made it greener if it has done anything wrong at all. And you know who is Jairam Ramesh.

Second one is Land Acquisition. Well, this is controversial everywhere in developing countries except in China. This would not be so even if it was in State of Gujarat. Some NGOs are working hard to make on news headlines. I never came to understand what NGO/INGOs are meant for.

It's obvious, tremendous benefit will go to locals. Come back to my initial point. Locals are selling tea/coffee(I). They are getting money out of everything that can be produced in the area. (II) This is almost impossible if there was no Lavasa. We spent almost triple on that trip than we normally do in our city life (III) It directly went to local people's pocket. 

Interestingly, a recent Marathi movie was shoot in Lavasa. In the scene, I hear that a local girl meets super rich NRI and marries. Who is there to object? Events like this can happen. Billions of investment in a particular place is a big deal. Lavasa has built highway, offered employment to thousands of people contributing significant amount of GDP to Maharashtra.

This is very ambitious project; building entire new community out of nothing. They say even Oxford University is planning to set up India campus there. Infosys plans to develop it's own development center. These are just few examples. This is going to be place where 'global' will reach 'local'. Now, come up and tell to Mr. Ramesh that this is not his father's hard earned property.

PS. It is one of the best places for short summer ride from Pune and Mumbai. It drizzles daily. Greenery everywhere. You will love it. Plan your weekend!