With a lot of people traveling to Mumbai off late for Mood-i, this I thought would be a good time to write about how the taxi drivers trick you.

As soon as you get into the taxi, the taxi driver asks you if you have change for Rs 1000. If you give him two 500 Rs. notes, and in one glance he changes them for two 100 Rs notes. and starts quarreling with you that you gave only two-hundered’s for his 1000 Rs note. For a new comer to Bombay and some with some lack of confidence usually ends up paying the additional 800 bucks. Now the way to fend off this is to fight off with the taxi driver till what ever limits he goes to and create a fuss and call more people. Be ready to even call the cops.

But prevention is always better than cure so in a Mumbai taxi never pay anything until you reach your destination.

A set of Sardarji taxi drivers who operate around Dadar are the most dangerous of the lot. Also a point to note is all the area south of Dadar is only served by taxis and not autos. So if you get down at Victoria Terminus (or Bombay Central ) or at Dadar then you would have to take a taxi and hence be extra careful.

I had this experience yesterday  at the Dadar station and hence I thought I would blog it to update others.

Imagine a television which suggests what you can watch, instead of you browsing through channels.

The basic concept each user has a profile on a tv, or on a smart box (tata sky etc but they are really not smart). Each program has certain tags associated with it. As a user watches a program, the tags associated with him will be stored in some sort of database for the user. Over time this will provide a data set of what the user likes to watch at what time, and the smart box can suggest what to watch at that current time of the day.

The catch the content provider should also provide tags or metadata about the show or the system should be able to access some portal over the internet to get the tags. But plugging in internet to the system is unwanted, so all the content providers and cable connection operators should come up with an open standard, TVXml, so that the user has the option of installing third party applications. Also the device should have enough memory and processing, right now the set top boxes are embedded devices, but perform the above said functions they need some Flash memory as well, to store user data.

I do not know how feasible this is but I would definitely like this feature.

I ordered my new DELL studio laptop ( a monster machine) through the Dell India website. After completing  the payment I got a delivery date of a week later. But on the day of the Delivery the Dell website changed the status to “”Please contact customer care”. On calling the customer care, I was given the customary we will get back in 24 hours answer. This continued for 3 days. Finally I called my sales representative at Dell and threatened him, he said my laptop was stuck at customs.

Meanwhile the customer care daily gave me the answer that they have delivered the laptop to Blue dart the carriers, and there is some problem at their side. They also told that they have sent an escalated request to Blue dart. They gave me this answer for at least a week. By this time, the stipulated delivery time of 2 weeks was over.

My sales representative also stopped picking up my calls at that point. Only after a lot of begging and threatening the Customer Care was my laptop delivered after 15 working days.

This was a very painful experience, after paying for the laptop I had to wrestle the call centre and the Dell bureaucracy to get my laptop delivered. To cover up Dell gave some arbitrary reasons that my pin code was wrong where as I had provided the correct pin – code.

Pathetic service from Dell.

A couple of days ago I met a Sri Lankan man at the bus stand as it is my habit nowadays to speak to all people who look Indian. We got a bit chatty and we had a lively discussion, and the conversation quickly veered towards LTTE and Sri Lanka. This man a Tamil himself, he told me that his grandfather was a Chettiar from Tamil Nadu who had moved down to Sri Lanka to set up a business, surprised me by stating that he did not sympathize with the LTTE one bit. As the conversation began to get more and more intense he said that LTTE kidnapped kids and brainwashed them and trained them to wage the Elam’s war. It hit me that this was no different than Taliban or any other Muslim military outfit. He explained that the situation was grim back in Ceylon ( interestingly he reffered Sri Lanka as Ceylon always) and the LTTE used to kill people even Tamils who did not see eye to eye with their cause. He said that his family moved out of Sri Lanka in the 70s to Canada and Germany.

At this juncture I asked him what about Prabhakaran, he plainly said Prabhakaran has escaped with his close group of supporters and claims by the Lankan Army reports are nothing but propaganda. I pushed him a bit more on how can he be confident on the fact that Prabhakaran is alive, and he gave me a quick grin and said that he knew a lot of people in Lanka and no one believes he is dead, well I was surprised that Vellupillai Prabhakaran had such an indefatigable image in the minds of the people.

I asked him does he not sympathize with the Tamilians of Sri Lanka, and he said that the Tamils were big headed people (he himself was a tamil), who do not respect the other people. He gave me an example saying that in the small Sri Lankan community in Berlin, Tamils never spoke to any Non Tamils whereas the  Singhalese (the other ethnic group of Sri Lanka) people spoke to everyone and were very accommodating. He himself while growing up in Sri Lanka had a lot of Singhalese friends and not many Tamil friends.

As the conversation headed towards India, and I explained to him saying that India is growing economy and a very vibrant place ( I have got used to doing this as the Europeans have a portrait of India as a very poor third world country where millions starve without food). He just slashed me down by saying in India the things are fast and fun, in the west (he referred to Europe) the things are slow but effective.

Our conversation got more and more lively but I had to get down at my bus stop and wished him good bye may be for ever, as I do not have his name or contact.

I was delighted to know a lot about my neighboring country what the people think there, how they feel about India. I got to know that you get a better picture of the nation by speaking to some one from there than from some news articles. I was surprised to meet a Sri Lankan who did not sympathize with the LTTE, who did not like the attitude of the Tamils, who thought Prabhakaran was a terrorist and is still alive.

I guess this is a post for me to remember this conversation.

I was wondering weather the human body uses any sort of feed back mechanism. To be precise does the involuntary part of the body get feedback from the voluntary part. The Medulla Oblongata controls the involuntary actions of the body, but does it take any feedback from the voluntary parts of the brain?

For an example, you know you are eating a lot of meat, that will require larger amount of gastric juices to be produced or in a higher concentration. Instead of the digestive system analyzing the food and adjusting the amount of gastric juices, as our senses tell the brain that a lot of meat is being eaten, it can direct the digestive system to be ready with the required amount of gastric juice. Likewise when some one is running, the lungs can increase oxygen intake beforehand rather than wait for physical feedback.

All I want to know is does this happen or it does not? If it does not then may be scientists involved in cloning can design bodies like that. I know designing bodies is a scary thought but still. Ah that might involve writing feedback algorithms.

Anyways just a thought.

THE IDEA:

Today while reading the newspaper article in class I was thinking on how to share that article with my friends. The best way to do it would be put it on the social media, and I thought of this simple idea

All newspaper articles can have a social media identification number, or bar code in the future (as barcode reading also will be a smartphone’s duty). This article can be used in the social media and the services can generate hyperlinks to that article on their online site based on that number.

This can lead to easy sharing of newspaper articles. The number can act as an ADD THIS button for the print article provided all print companies accept for a common standard (or a system ) of numbering.

May be it is not feasible in India because of lesser extent of penetration by the social media, but I feel it can be definitely implementable in the west.

PS : Just in love with Windows Live Writer, used it to write this blog.

Emotion graphs is a concept which me and some of my classmates came up with the concept of Emotion graphs.

It basically characterizes almost all kind off personalities but this blog is specific to some of my friends.

Vyas Graph

These kind of graphs are generally associated with lot of normal people. They are generally happy and get worried sometimes over certain matters but generally they are of the happy go lucky kind. BK and Nishkarsh also fall under this same category.

Amit Abbi Graph

As you can see from the graph Amit Abbi is the stingiest person when it comes to expressing emotions. Only a small flutter in the emotion graph shows some expression of feelings. Compare it with the previous graph and see the difference in the amount of emotions expressed.

Sheki Graphs

It is again rare characteristic. These kind of people are generally depressed and have a default emotion level below 0-emotion level. These kind of people generally get excited a lot. But the excitement dies down soon when there is a realization that the external stimuli is not a part of you or your surroundings.

Bala Graphs

This is a beauty. Bala has a unique character and always thinks in a dimension different from conventional school of thought. He always has to think of a different unthought-of  aspect of the topic in  discussion and express his views vehemently and for this he has been called a ‘Cock’ many a times.

See this graph to understand more:

BD graph

He basically does not care what is happening around him but when there is a discussion he copies the emotions of the guy next to him and starts saying “ya ya ya “.

Thank MS Paint for creating these images (could not think of any other simple software)

More graphs yet to come.

This blog is being written using Windews live writer.

To satisfy my wanderlust I recently traveled to Nashik Shirdi and some nearby places. Of these I was smitten over by Nashik the grape city of India. It looked calm peaceful and slow triggering a mental slideshow of my memories from Mysore.

Going through Wikipedia article on Nashik I found out that Nashik (or Naseek as spelt during the Raj) was in fact a place from Indian mythology with mentions in Ramayana.  It was mentioned in Ain e akbari as ‘Gulchanabad’. It is situated right at the edge of the Deccan.

Traveling from Mumbai on NH3 my first stop was the village of Trimbak housing one of the 12 Jyothirlingas Trimbakeshwar. I could not exactly extract the story of the origin of the Lingam but according to the locals it was a ’swayambhu’  (self originating) lingam. The queue for darshan was long painful and I could only manage a glance of the lingam and could not observe the features of the lingam. It is said that there are 3 finger like expansions which refer to the ultimate Hindu troika the trimurthi (Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva)¹.  Water from the Godaviri which originates in the nearby Brahmagiri hill falls on the lingam continuously and due to the lingam has started to erode. What fascinated me the most was the Temple outside the lingam which is said to be built in a composite Malwa and Manu schools of architecture. It was commissioned by Peshwa Nanasaheb. The temple built in black granite looks stupendous but what caught my eye was the simple design of the gopuram which is an exquisitely displays the use of symmetry. Apart from the religious significance of the place, the temple housed the world famous Nassak diamond² which was later acquired by the British after the third Anglo Maratha war. I could not take a photograph as in all Indian temples photography was banned. Outside the temple was one feature found outside all Indian temples the market, buslting bubbling and consisting of an ecosystem of its own. This is one feature I have observed across several temples across India. The shops are run by the same family from generations. They have their houses attached to the shop in the temple vicinity, children calling rival shopkeepers ‘chacha’ a common sense of unity and bonding running through the shops with their common motive to make most money of the outsider tourists. A shopkeeper told me that the source of the Godavari is on a nearby hill, this I thought would be a nice little trekking spot perhaps to be savored with friends on some other day.

A picture of the temple taken from far :

The market or bazaar:

My next stop was the caves Pandav-Leni caves,  a group of around twenty four 1200-year-old Hinayana Buddhist³ caves, with no as such reference to the Pandavas. I suspect a local myth might have originated linking this place to the Pandavas but unfortunately no one could clear my doubts on this fact. The caves are on top of a hillock, a climb of 20 minutes. Amongst the caves are some chaitras,viharas and a few statues of Buddha.

Buddha at Pandavleni

Remembering those statues I wonder how this wonderful religion which preached tolerance and peace, which originated in India was wiped out completely from India. I am also awed by the patience of the artists who cut the rocks here day in day out to give them such beautiful forms.

Buddha at Pandavleni

My next stop was Panchavati. There we hired a guide Mr Deepak who though seemed knowledgeable about the place but spoke in a irritating accent of Hindi which guides generally tend to do. Panchavati actually is the ghat area around Nashik on the banks of Godavari. I reached the place at the most splendous of times just when the sun was about to set.

I found out that this place was one of the important sites in the Ramayana. It was on the banks of the Godavari that Laxman cut the nose of Soorpanaka and threw on the other side of the river and hence the other side was called Nashik derived from the Sanskrit term for nose ‘Nashika‘⁴. On this side were many temples dedicated to Lord Rama. This is the place where the Nashik Kumbha Mela takes place once in 12 years. One temple called the ‘Gore Ram‘ (white Rama ) temple had a peculiar story attached to it. The guide told that the temple was built by the Peshwa, but instead of using Cement or lime he used a combination of ‘Chuna‘ and ‘Malai‘.  Chuna is a paste applied on the Paan in India and Malai is the cream accumulated on milk. But for me there was no way to verify this fact. I was intrigued by the thought that group after group Mr Deepak must have told the same story and has anyone tried to verify his claim and was there a way to find it out but he did not leave me much time to think. We rushed to the next temple where according to the guide the famous Laxman Rekha was drawn by Laxman and was the spot of Sita’s abduction by Ravana. The guide said that as the line was drawn using fire it does not exist today.

Well next we saw the five trees or ‘Panch Vat‘ (vat is hindi for tree) which give the place the name Panchavati. According to Mr Guide as one tree grows old a new tree grows at its place as a result there are 5 trees in the area.

Here are a few pics of the place:

The gaht at Panchavati

One of the Vats at Panchavati:

One of the 5 vats at Panchavati

Time prevented me from exploring this city even more. But I have been captivated enough by it to repay a visit when time permits and to explore the city even more.

The title Grapes to wine is a reference to the way the city has modernized itself. It was called the grape city of India as it is famous for grape production. But now a few vineyards have propped up around making it the Wine city of India.

I could not take photographs at a lot of places as Photography is banned inside temples.

Check out the flicker album related to this post at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shekispeaks/sets/72157611827525932/

Notes:

1.  The extraordinary feature of the Jyotirlinga located here is its three faces embodying Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Rudra. To read about the story of origin of the Trimabkeshwar temple go to:

http://www.nashik.com/travel/trimbakeshwar.html

2.  The Nassak Diamond is one of the worlds top 30 diamond.Currently owned by Edward J. Hand, a then 48-year old trucking firm executive from Greenwich, Connecticut. It is said to be the finest diamond outside the Crown jewels. This diamond was housed at the Trimbakeshwara temple and was given to the British after the Third Anglo Maratha war.

3. Hinayana and Mahayana were the two sects of Buddhism. Hinayana reflected on the teachings of the Buddha of self control, ahimsa and toleration where as Mahayana sect depicted Buddha as a mythological figure with powers and represented him as a destroyer of evil. Unfortunately the Mahayana sect spread through out East asia and currentl prelevant sect of Buddhism.As f0r Hinayana faded away may be due to the rigorous requirements of Hinayana.

4.If you want to read the Ramayana then RK Narayans Gods Demons and Others is the best book to start with.

Walt Disney

Albert Einstein

Thomas Alva Edison

Robert Oppenhiemer

Sigmund Freud

Alexander Graham Bell

Euler, Leonard

Sir Issac Newton

Neils Bohr

Alan Turing

Me

This one of my favorite songs by the Band Indian Ocean. I struggled a lot to get the lyrics of the song on the net and only one blog had it. So I am just posting it so that you guys can also hear it once.

Des Mera by Indian Ocean

Des mera
des mera rangrez ye babu
ghaat ghaat yahaan ghat-ta jaadu
dhool gubar mein jantar mantar
bahar se bhola gehraa andar
india, sir, ye cheez dhurandhar
jeb daliddar, dil hai samundar
dhadkan jo pardesi jaana
is mitti ka hua deewana
har samundar, gopi chandar
doob ke jaan tu kitna paani

– Indian Ocean

This is my country, then
magic in every mountain
mystery in the dust
seemingly simple, but deep within
India is a confounding thing, sir
empty pockets but a heart as deep as the sea
outsiders who discover its heartbeat
fall in love with this soil
each ocean and person
drown to know its depth