Monday, July 11, 2005

Taggin Blue's

I got a book tag from Krishna.

Total number of books I own :
I am not counting

The last book bought?:
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma

The last book you read?
“Who moved My Cheese” by Dr. Spencer Johnson

Books I am currently reading:
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma.

Books that mean a lot to me:
“Who moved My Cheese” by Dr. Spencer Johnson
“Da Vinci Code”, by Dan Brown.

Now honestly speaking I have got a bit bored with this tag phenomena.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Vaccination Against Boredom:Dose II


The In's and Out's



You would often hear somebody saying in our group, “Man she is ... (ok STOP Anubhav this not the place)”, so when we are not discussing about the ‘s’he who must not be named (Potter mania eh!), we discuss what’s in and what’s out.

If you ask a girl, what’s in, she might show you her wardrobe but do not, I repeat do not ask your wife the same question, because she might show you the mall.

So, there were G-strings, then came the Noodle straps, and then Spaghetti tops. (And if you thought all this was about food, you are surely are out). *My sincere apologies to all of you who think that there was something rather anachronistic about that list but that was the order in which they started coming on MTV,STAR TV, and ZEE TV( You Thought men don’t watch soaps) and then Mrs. Malhotra started wearing them in exactly opposite order however baring the first one. Yes baby, Mrs. Malhotra, the belle of the ball, the queen of yester years, not that I am incapable of describing her voluptuous body but eying my readers I think I should stop digressing*

ya..So where was I ..the in's.



Then there are books, I mean today, if you are Jobless or you are an IIM-A pass out you can, and believe me when I say , You can ( Shiv Khera ishtyle),a write a book.*Read this report about Shiv khera (The author of You can Win) being charged with plagiarism*

First there was “Seven Habits of Highly Effective people”* which of course was the real bestseller* by Stephen Covey and then somebody wrote
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens”, which Miss. Malhotra is reading, *Now you know why I Happen to visit the Malhotras so often.;) * and yesterday Mrs. Malhotra told me she is writing “Seven Habits FOR Highly ‘Effective’ Husbands” based on her experience while giving rigorous training to her husband.

Let us analyze the matter with profundity of an analyst, first there were babas , who with smoke, fire, bands, broomsticks and fruits solved your problems, all of them, be it Shantanu’s business problems or Ganga’s Infertility .(Unbelievable, haven’t you heard, “ Beti, yeh Kela Kha Le and you will Doodo Naho and Puto Phulo * Actually I am very bad at translations, but here it goes “ Child, Eat This Banana, and You will Bath with Milk and Have Kids”* and now there are books for all that.

Today you can find books on relationships, on speaking, on dating, eating, on dreaming, in addition the endless rhetoric’s on communication skills.

Then there are biographies, some people with presumptuous gumption start believing that world is waiting to hear their corny life stories. Such people should be relegated to unknown islands made to read their books.

If Osama , Raju Pan wala and Shamu Doodhwala( Milk Man) write their memoirs, what would be the names?

Osama: Hide and Bomb

Raju: s “pan” of life , this one is by Namita

Shamu: The Art of Mixing

Conclusion: Anubhav is writing a book on HOW TO WRITE A BOOK and you got to pre-book your copy now!!!






Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Eight Queens Aboard



I don't know much about being a millionaire, but I'll bet I'd be a darling at it”, said Dorothy Parker.


I think it more or less applies to me too, I don’t know much about it now but I am sure one day………

One of many (so many) things I am going to do after I get the moolah is to own a Yatch , some thing like The Rising Sun, owned by Lawrence J. Ellison Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Oracle Corporation and go on a cruise with my queens(Err…queen).

Until then, let us get the queens on a smaller board…the Chess Board. :D


Solving puzzles I think is one of most efficient ways to spend time. One of greatest puzzle is the “Eight Queens on a Board Puzzle”.

The Aim is to place the eight queens on the chessboard such that none of them intercepts other’s path in any way. Now for those of you do not play chess, queen is the strongest piece in chess and the only piece that can move diagonally, horizontally and vertically as well.

Something like this….

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

You can find all the 12 unique solutions here.

Now I spent around 2 hours yesterday to find an algorithm for this.

The best way to solve the problem is to place the queens moving in a Knight’s way (2 and 1/2 steps) or L shaped ways.

Now I am still working on the algorithm to solve it. There are many algorithms on net, which solve the problem-using math (Permutations) and backtracking. I want develop a program that works on pattern of movement as I mentioned above.

So try the problem, and tell me if you reach any breakthroughs.




Now ,today when I was watching the news/debate on the recent terrorist attack on ayodhya, my mother asked me to change the channel, she felt that there is no point wasting time on politicians who are never going to change. I do not blame her at all, after the whole days’ work, who has time and energy to spend on listening to hypocritical demagogues.

This more or less is the story of many in our country; most of us are so engrossed in our problems that we do not actively follow politics. I strongly believe that our apathy towards politics is major factor behind it's sorry state. However, I think the youth of our country, which is more energetic, should criticize and voice opinions on core Indian issues. Now that we have Blogs as efficient medium to express our views, we can make the politicians more accountable.

I strongly feel that spreading awareness matters, VHP, RSS and Shiv Sena have not survived for anything; they have been able to do so because there is support for them.

So if any of you think I am right, please tell me, I am thinking of a group blog that deals with core Indian issues.

By now you must have read about the Terrorist attack on Ayodhya and VHP‘s plan to organize a week long country wide protest against it.

I do not understand the need of a countrywide protest and instead of showing solidarity BJP is politicizing the issue by asking for Home minister’s resignation.

Ask them who resigned when there was an attack on Indian parliament and in any case this attack was successfully stopped and all terrorists were killed.

A nation wide protest would not just cause more economic problems but might reignite communal tensions.

P.S( This is seriously Post script no make shift..:D): If you are an Indian Blogger living anywhere in the world, you can get yourself listed at the Indian Bloggers Index.




Monday, July 04, 2005

Three Days on a Lonely Island

Pre-Srcipt(P.S): This post is going to be boring, read at your own risk.

The last two words aptly describe Vadodara in the past week. When it rained for the first time even somebody as non-poetic as me felt like writing something, almost ten dozen Hindi poems have been written around this magical moment and some of them are really wonderful, but there are so many of them. However, things after that first shower have not been so magical, it has been raining, raining and raining since then. The water levels in both Vishwamitri (river) and Ajwa dam rose above the danger mark, sounding the flood bells. Incessant rains resulted in water logging in most streets and on Thursday, 30 June, power was cut and it almost cut us from the world and life almost came to stand still. As all transportation links were broken most people were restricted to their homes and some to roof tops.

Then started the three-day stay on the lonely island: my home. The phone started ringing with relatives asking about the situation and we could tell them only about our locality(As unbelievable as it might sound, while most mobile networks failed BSNL was working in some parts). No electricity No paper, no news, no network and back to primitive world for three days. Deprived of essential means of entertainment (the boxes), we resorted to chess, cards and Dumb Charades. Luckily, things were not as bad for us; water did not enter our homes and just managed reach the entrance of our society.

Come Saturday and rains took a break, I went to visit the nearby bridge over the Vishwamitri, which by now had become a tourist place. This is something unique to Indians, however grim and alarming the situation may be we do find means of entertainment. The nearby schools and societies were already flooded, with cars submerged and people restricted to the rooftops or higher floors. At a point on the slope of bridge, water was flowing over the bridge although only with a very mild current.

On a sad note, things are not as good in other parts of the city and the state, many people have died and thousands have been forced to leave their homes. I cannot provide an accurate picture of the situation in other parts because life has just swung back to normal for me. Probably I can provide a more detailed account when I am able move out of the society and roads become approachable. Luckily, as I said before, it did not affect me much, but I still remember the Friday night when we checked the water level near the entrance of society more than four times during the night to be more aware of the situation. That night was crucial.


On 26 January 2001, I still remember I was studying for my 10th board exams on my bed when it started shaking, which was Gujarat Earthquake 2001, almost 19000 people died. In 2002, Gujarat riots thousands died and it still haunts the city. Now the floods, while was Vadodara was spared during the earthquake, it has been severely affected this time.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Vaccination against Boredom: Dose I

Disclaimer: The author does not own any responsibility of the consequences if the readers condone the warning given below.

Warning: The author wants to warn his esteemed readers that reading this post further might lead to AIBS (Anubhav’s Injected Boredom Syndrome) of which there is no cure. So please read and play safely. (And I am not winking)




Boredom: A dreaded and common disease found in most homes.

Symptoms: When your mother starts swearing you, Like…
“You eat and Sleep and then eat again, these are only activities you do, what is your contribution to the house.”(If it sounds quite innocuous, wait until you hear the Hindi version of it.)

Causes: Your training has finished and you have nothing do and you cant go out coz its raining cats, dogs, bats and all the animals of the world.(You can include men too.)


Now if you don't have a clue of what I said above, give me space to bow, because that was exactly what was intended.

Obtained by most surreptitious means, here are world’s ten best ways of killing boredom.


10. Surf through B school sites except the IIM’s and IIPM’s, because former you know are the best and latter you know are the worst. Read more about JAM’s revelation of IIPM’s tall claims.

9. Read TOI and wonder, if there is more to SEE in the paper than to read.

8. Shift to the other box and end up watching a Hindi movie with its core theme being the Love vs Money debate. (The readers are requested not to indulge in the debate in the comment box. The debate is never ending just like Sharapova Vs Hilton.)

7. In case you forgot to take a bath( quite understandable) , hit the most water logged areas of the city with your friends and play a semi-tsunami fight with the four wheelers( Sorry no explanations for the uninitiated.)

6. After the above activity, you might want to take your vehicle a mechanic, because our vehicle’s carburetor might have more water than your clothes.

5. Visit the city’s largest bookstore; browse the best authors and famous names. Realizing the temporary unavailability of funds, return with an issue of JAM magazine.

4. Realizing the pathetic condition of the state due to excessive rains, surf on net to find ways of rainwater harvesting, crib and curse the state government for overlooking the main issues.

I mean how you can explain the fact that a state that has heavy torrential rains every year also has parts, which face drought during summer. Every year rains disturb lives and all they do is evacuate people and give a flood warning. Then next year you read in papers in summer that women walk more 20km to fetch water to due water table depletion.( Sorry could not stop myself)


3. Bloghop, publish weird comments here and there and realize your blog needs a post to evade extinction.

2. Compile the list of things you did the previous day, add some crap at the beginning Whoa!!! ….and you have a post ready.

1. Read the above post and comment if you haven't already.


P.S: I have stopped writing post scriptures which dominate my comment box , more than the post.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Simple...

I have always felt that most important learning’s of life are conveyed in the most simplest of manners.

I experienced this twice within the past day.

First, while reading the book, “Who moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson. The book talks about change and ways to deal with it. The book albeit written in very simple manner is very thought provoking, perhaps you might have already read what the book tries to convey a thousand times before ,but it still leaves a big impression. It is pretty small (even smaller than my class notes book :D) and you can easily finish it in an hour or two.

I felt the same when I read Steve Jobs’ commencement address at the Stanford University. Again, as simple, short and sweet it could be; in three stories of his life he teaches some of most important lessons of life.

You can read it here.

Now there is another small change occurring in my life. I am getting a new bike …
With so many brands out there, I am a bit confused now, so I need your help.

If you are a man, tell me a bike you would like to take your girlfriend on…

And if you are a woman tell me bike you would want your man to have…


What’s more, you could win some real good prizes, if your suggestion matches with my final choice.

If you are a woman, you get a free ride on my bike if you ever land in Baroda.

And if you are a man…err...Psst….Do you have a sister...?

So use the comment box at your will, as participation is free of cost…:D

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Nothing much to say...

Ok… (So now, I even start my posts with ok.)
However, seriously speaking ‘OK’ is most comfortable word in the English language, when you have nothing to say, just say “Ok”...on the contrary when you have so much to shout out at somebody and you do not know where to start…say “F**k.”.I mean it is probably the word with most number of uses, you can use it anywhere and it just fits. We will talk more about its uses some other day.

Now do not smirk that was not a joke and don’t worry, the next time I crack a joke, I will tell you beforehand when to smile just like the Maharashtra State Highways. Just Beside the speed Breakers (Silencer Breakers would be more prudent) they put a board which says..

Ikde Gati Avrodhak Ahe”. (Meaning There is a speed breaker here)….so when u hear a loud sound you look around to see the board.

Or may be something like Mallika Sherwat movies which tell you before hand that all the money the producer had was used for shooting in exotic locations and to pay Mallika so none was left for her clothes. I wonder, if designers they hire know the ‘D’ of designing, they always get the wrong measurements for her bikini.( Now if you can find a pun in that, boy you must get your imagination levels above Gutter kind.)
Another important thing is that they don’t even get a script writer, the stories are always borrowed from Hollywood movies.

I promise I will not talk a bit more about Mallika, just because she makes a joke of herself, every time she appears on the screen, doesn’t mean that all jokes have to be centered around her.

Let us talk about Maria Sharapova; I heard that she has got herself a pair of golden shoes and sweatshirt with golden zipper for Wimbledon. Now all she needs is golden balls and a racquet to play golden tennis, something never seen before.( Please don’t think much to get the real meaning out of words, they just mean what they are supposed to mean.)

She also has five bodyguards, and I want to catch hold of the person who told that in this competitive world there is a lack of job opportunities for men like me.

Ok, now let your imaginations run a bit jungle (not wild, that will be more superlative...)
What will happen if every woman in this world has a male bodyguard? Pause and think…

Ans. We would abolish two of the most dreaded evils of modern society rape and lesbianism. ;)

In addition, what would happen if every man in this world has a female bodyguard?

Ans. Doesn’t that already exist, I mean then what is marriage.


I read in magazine a few days ago that Indian men fall for fair skin. I seriously don’t agree with that, it’s really unfair, I mean how could somebody say that, I don’t know why women and sometimes men fail to understand men in general. The truth of the matter is …

That Indian men just fall for skin, be it any type, I mean we have to be fair to all. Now tell me who the ‘fairer’ sex…is

Finally the tag by Krishna( Actually that's come to my rescue,I don't have any more crap left for this post).But the questions are a bit too tough so probably I’ll just a make few finer adjustments.

1) Three words with which u can Define Everything around you
Beautiful sexy women.

2) Three words that define U
Ans: Tall , smart and handsome..
(ok I see my brother grin in background)
so on second thoughts

smart, averagely handsome.

3) Three screen Names u have
Ans.
Bond( You said screen names..)
Anubhav
Anu

4) Three people who changed the way u look at the world

Sorry Question too hard..subsituted with,..( I mean would’nt it be great if you could subsitute all the hard questions in the examination with some whose answers you know..:D)

Q. Three essentials you would take on vacation trip to a lonely island.

Ans.
Miss Universe
Miss World
And not Miss earth but Maggi noodles..damm don’t you need food.

Skipping questions 5 and 6, actually we engineers don’t need to answer all questions to pass, we can always pass GRACEfully


7)Three words ur mouth cant do without
Ans:

Women
Vanguardan Leveossa
Ya..

8)Three words ur mouth cant utter

Ans: I can utter anything and everything , take me for that.


9)Three careers u have dreamt urself in:

Ans:

Doubles partner Maria Sharapova/ Sania Mirza
Costume Designer Salma Hayek/Mallika Sherwat
Still Dreaming of above two.


10)Three reasons why i qualify to be the Anubhav

Ans: Sorry that’s what I have to planned to write in my book.Can’t tell you the secrets of the future best seller I am writing.


Tagged to any lazy soul like me, who needs matter for his/her blogposts.


Moral Of Post:
1)Whenever I don't have much to say , I end up with long posts
2)Before reading my posts it's safer to read the last few lines to get prepared for the agony.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Some Answers ...

I thank everybody who tried to answer the questions posted by me in my last blog. Before I present my views on those matters, let me draw your attention to a very serious matter related to proletarian weavers of silk, based in Varnasi, aired on NDTV today.

As tried to point out in my previous post that along with some benefits the open door policy has brought it has also delivered a deathblow to some of the local small-scale industries which were not competent enough or well protected. That is what has happened to silk weavers of Varanasi responsible for developing the famous “Benarsi Sarees” brand. The power loom industry and import of cheap yarn from china has virtually ended their business and has put a question on their survival. They have resorted to selling blood to feed their families. Now the story surfaced back in 2004 but government has failed to take any action to save these workers, who are masters of this rare traditional art.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

You can catch the full story here. Please do read it.





To each his own view,as I try to answer the comments posted on my previous post, I am just trying to present my views and don't intend to offend anybody. Here are the comments posted on my previous post for your reference.

I do believe that our country has strong and one of largest forex reserves in form of NRI’s,still I think more than the money we also need the brains for our country to progress.


Vikas, I agree everybody is entitled for their own happiness but they are also responsible for their country’s progress, and it is from graduates of IIT’s and IIM’s like you, the best brains of our country, our country’s expects the most. A mother expects the more from her best child. However, I agree most responsible people do contribute in one way or the other.

Kroopa , how do you define the level comfort.

Krishna I will do the tag thing in one or two days, give me some time.

Deepa , Consumers are made to feel that they are the king of markets; but most often ministers (read advertisements) mislead these kings.

Niki , Japan’s policy has made Japanese industries strong in the world, by promoting and strong domestic competition and protection policies. Look at Toyoto in fifty years it has risen at par or may be stronger than GM and ford which are older and bigger than it is.

Srivastan , Probably above story will tell about my view towards open door policiy.

I strongly believe in the Buddhist philosophy that often THE MIDDLE WAY is the best way. I think this ideology is the solution most of the problems our country faces today.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Time the need of the Hour

Some years ago, I used bunk school, then I started bunking college and today the story continues as I bunk my office too: D and they say I do not grow up. Don’t the above events show the remarkable progress made by me.

Now as it might occur to you I do not have time blog these days, so before I get time write a comprehensive post on some topics, which I thought to write on, I, want you to ponder upon some questions.

1. I know “brain drain” is an outdated debate topic but do you think with opportunities growing in our country, is it justified on the part graduates to earn for other countries( I mean to move abroad), when the nation needs them most in its journey from a developing country to a developed one.

2. Do you think that kind of advertising going on these days aims to create needs where there are not any? Do you think consumers have become dustbins ?

3. Do you think the open door policy has benefited our country? Countries like USA and Britain having practiced protectionism for 100 years now propagate free markets after their own domestic industry has become very strong.

4. Why do you think a country, which had some greatest revolutionaries in the world some fifty years ago today, lacks people with nationalist spirit if it does?

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Think Beyond...

The ethos of a breed, though rare in the world but found abundantly in our country always piques me. I am talking about those old men, wearing Kurta- Pajamas, who think that wearing traditional dresses and having orthodox beliefs makes them more Indian, whom we vote to lead our country.

Most politicians of our country whether they belong to BJP or Congress have similar tactics/activities though they claim to have views oceans apart. All are big opportunists. Every time either of these parties is in opposition, the main issue on which they cry about or criticize the ruling party is secularism/communalism. Whenever there is a lull or there are out of issues to yield fire on the other they open this debate.

The recent stint by Mr. L.K Advani is on similar lines. On his recent trip to Pakistan, he made a controversial statement about M.A Jinnah. (Now I am not interested in going details of what he said or debating on the same.).The statement invited an array of reactions. Fundamentalists RSS and VHP are always waiting for such issues. Then Mr. Advani resigns from the post of party president. This is followed a day or two of cribbing, crying and requests made to him to return by party members and finally as loved by most Indians and shown in Indian movies we have happy ending, Mr. Advani is back as the party president and that completes a week of emotional and ‘controversial’ drama in Indian Politics.

Does this evoke a sense of déjà vu? These things have become a pastime for BJP, every time there is a lull in politics. You may recall Ms. Uma Bharti’s episode on similar lines some months back.

All I want to say is that there are several issues regarding the core social and economic development of our country that need to be raised; thought at and solved. Why cant these politicians actually grow up...?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I recently came to know that these days they have a section reserved for Bloggers in white house Press conferences. Do u think we can have one too or its long time before Indian Bloggers reach that level of maturity and capability?


Finally while surfing I came across some great dialogues/quotes from one of my hot favorite movies A Beautiful mind…Here are some

1. There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is.

2. Despite my privileged upbringing, I'm actually quite well-balanced. I have a chip on both shoulders.

3. We need results! Publishable, applicable results!

4. Classes will dull your mind, destroy the potential for authentic creativity.

5. Terrified, Petrified, Mortified, Stupified... by you.

6. Adam Smith... was wrong.

7. I don't exactly know what I am required to say in order for you to have intercourse with me. But could we assume that I said all that. I mean essentially we are talking about fluid exchange right? So could we go just straight to the sex.

8. I find you very attractive. Your assertiveness tells me that you feel the same way about me. But ritual remains that we must do a series of platonic actions before we can have intercourse. But all I really want to do is have sex with you as soon as possible.

9. Give me a moment to redefine my girlish notions of romance.

10. I need to believe, that something extraordinary is possible.


11. I've made the most important discovery of my life. It's only in the mysterious equation of love that any logical reasons can be found. I'm only here tonight because of you. You're the only reason I am... you're all my reasons.

12. Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart.

13. It's the same with your dreams and nightmares. You have to feed them to keep them alive




My favorites are the 11th and 12th one. And I can’t even imagine myself having the guts for saying 7th or 8th one to a girl: terrified , petrified by the reaction which might leave me mortified and stupifiied…


You can find quotes from your favorite movie at wikiquote a sister concern project of wikepedia.See the link to wikepedia in my side bar.( Ya's...thats returning a favor..)

Monday, June 06, 2005

An ordinary day....

Warning: This post is supposed to be completed in 10 minutes. The speech is bad, grammar does not exist, and spell check is left to the reader.

6:00 am: Yes dad, I am awake…just thinking…five minutes more….And bus comes late these days…

8:00: Just in time for the company Bus… (Yes, I was not talking about the school bus)…

As I enter I hear,“ Jo Wada kiya who Nibana padeka….tumko aana padega.”.( Sorry peeps cant even try its English translation….)

And the dreams continue….Yes Sania I am coming

Yes sweetheart you will win the Wimbledon don’t worry….Maria will coach you….won’t you darling and Maria the next French is yours ,I’ll buy all the referees…

9:15: Bhai sahab….What the hell are you talking Sania..

Bhai Sahab company Aa gaya..(We have the reached the company….wake up..)

Shit I was just going to make my move…

9.30: Snakes….??( Ya that’s what the Training guy told me…We will give you Bus facilities, lunch and Snakes(Oh actually snacks…)

9:45 am: Ignited Minds, by APJ Abdul Kalam. A nice book, quite good initially becomes more like his autobiography later. Nevertheless, the man must be admired for his great vision and his contributions. His aim of meeting 1000000 school students says it all about his great personality.

11:45 am: Visit to EGP (Electron Gun Plant…well that summarizes and ends all the tech stuff I remember from the visit). A rather non-technical and more interesting aspect is that unlike other engineering industries Electronic gives equal chances (actually more than equal…) to women on the plant side. Sometimes I feel electronics is not so bad anyway and the Future’s quite ‘fair’ here ( Ya …that was intended)

1:00 pm: Lunch

1:30pm: Plant visit continues...

2:45 pm: A trip around the plant in search for VP’s daughter/ GM’s daughter, DGM‘s will also do, Please anybody’s will do…But no more ATM’s (Aunties Trying to be Models)

3:00 pm: The Mckinsey way by Ethan M. Rasiel. Another great book for anybody who is in interested Business Strategies and Consultancy in particular. (Yes, the company has a great library with the best books for general reading)

4:30: Tea

4:30: Manger's Salary & daughter/ Rachel Hunter/ LK Advani/ Ogilvy & Mather…

5:30: Enter the bus again
Chadti jawani Meri chal mastani…”
No dreams this time…Just looking at tired faces, listening to never ending gossips of women and seeing them dreaming for themselves or probably their children.


Now I am embarrassed after reading such great books and coming out with posts like this. I promise a better post in future…just that training and activities that continue after that leave me exhausted.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Kaun Banega Million Dollar Pati...

Didn’t I tell you that stupidity is the only thing that can spread faster than light ? Here is another example…

There is an email which is going on rounds these days and there are good 90% chances that you have already received it .( Ok if you are one of those 10% souls stuck in their solitary confinement ,ping me , I’ll see to it that stupidity reaches you.)

Anyways the mail Talks about a bug that was discovered by a Brazilian. (Now I’ll forward it and say that the bug was discovered by an Indian what’s the heck* Mera Bharat Mahan*…) It claims that Microsoft professionals have no clue to it and they have announced a prize of $1, 00,000 to the person who solves the mystery. (Now do you get the title...)

So waiting to try your programming skills….here, it goes

The mail asks you to open Microsoft Word and do the following ( I am reproducing the exact message…)

“Open a Microsoft Word File and type =rand (200,99)
and then HIT ENTER and wait ...”

Ok no need to wait if you have a supercomputer but if you have one of those used in Indian government offices …you might have to ..wait,wait…and wait..

The result of the operation is that the document is filled with one of the most famous pangram or holalphabetic sentence in the English language

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

Well before pulling your debugging socks, understand that it is NOT A BUG but a HIDDEN UTILITY.

Try typing “=rand(1,1)” and you will see only one such sentence. This works for any rand(x,y).As far as my knowledge goes “rand” is a function in “C” to generate random numbers and this feature is given in word to fill your document with random text , may be to check fonts as the sentence contains all the letters of the english alphabet.

If you think, I was the one who initiated the mail, click here and let Microsoft explain you the feature.

There is another bug, a bit more realistic and related to his one, mentioned on the net (I tried it but the outcome was not what was expected or claimed, but anyways if you find the explanation behind it, do tell me.)

Here’s the link…

Today I got my hands on this wonderful book at the company where I am doing my training. The book is called “Count Your Chickens before They Hatch” by Arindham Chaudhari. I have just started reading it and I found it truly amazing and I really recommend it.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

A Training Adventure

Date: June 1, 2005
Time: 6.30 am
Place: Vadodara

The sun rises from west specially to wake me up. As incredulous as it might seem, but I woke up at 6.30 am sharp. I had challenged my Mom that I could do it!
Any ways the reason behind this unprecedented event (at least during my vacations...) was my summer training. Still feeling groggy, I managed to get ready by 8.00. Now most of my friends who are doing training approached the companies through their relatives who were working over there but I managed my training on my own by sending resume and my college letter (ahem!), so I was expecting an interview today.

The company I was supposed to visit was on NH-8, I took a ST bus (a bad choice I must say considering that dad offered me a ride). Now you can judge the condition of these ST buses when I say that every time it passed over mud hole, the strange noises that followed made me believe at the next one all screws might come out and its body would fell apart.( No this not a nut speaking…)

At 9.30 am, I reached my destination. A Huge board read JCT ELECTRONICS LIMITED, MANUFACTURERS OF CTVs, A THAPPAR GROUP VENTURE (sounds boring isn’t it but then I always wanted a manufacturing plant.) After reaching the reception, I was told that there was some meeting going on and I would have to wait. Well out popped my BW (Business World) the only magazine I like to read as I took a seat in the visitor room. Now as I have been subscribing this magazine for more than a year and I Can proudly say that my awesome brain has developed business strategies for a Pani-Puriwallah to Google Inc( Warning might post them one day)..

After some time a HR Guy told me that the head of training department will come in the second shift, so I could leave if I wanted to and report tomorrow at 9.30. Well that was all I wanted to hear and was out in a flash. I felt my old school days, when there would be no teaching on the first day.( Sometimes we didn’t allow any….:))
Next up, I enquired about the company bus to Baroda and was told that I would have to wait for two hrs to catch the next bus. Well I had finished reading my BW copy so waiting was out of question, so the next minute I was on NH-8 all alone, waiting for an adventure ride ahead.

Now I can’t compare myself to Shaan albeit they say, given a chance I could make the clouds cover the sun if not make them rain. But the scene was set for an awesome performance.( National Highway, a college guy needing a lift and to add he had bag too..:) ) So I started walking, singing …“ Tanha Dil..Tanha Safar”…and just when I was getting in the mood, the sun god reminded me that I have to report tomorrow at 9.30 with a hard glare. Therefore, I took a lift and another after some time (well I was 25km away from Baroda) and then an awesome Jeep ride with at least 17 people sitting in it. Finally, a comfortable ride in my own car saw me reach home at 2.30 pm.

Well those rides on my way back, would be high points of the day for me. I just love traveling and frankly speaking, some times I enjoy GC (general compartment) from Surat to Baroda more than Rajdhani from Baroda to New Delhi. For long distance the comfortable, the better but for short distances I prefer more adventurous and lively means.

P.S: Regarding my last post, Krishna inspired me to come out with answers of my own…..I did write in a few but I had to post about today. Expect the answers sometime in future ;)
Waiting for two amazing movies : Parineeta( hope its good) and Finding Neverland .

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Do I need to talk?

Bunty and Babli vs Frank W. Abagnale?

Can India achieve 100% literacy?

What kind of a person I am?

Are You scrolling very fast?

Bungee Jumping?

Do I need to write?

Why didn't I put '?' as the title?

Why is it so easy to play with Windows registry?

Why are women poor communicators when it comes to matters regarding love?

‘e’motional- Somebody who moves on net…?

Why can’t I tell them?

Why do Indian police stations have guns used by dacoits of 1970’s and big tummies?

Did those three letters change my life?

Why do men fight?

Is Fame name of the Game?

Underwater diving?

Will Tata’s One lakh Car storm the Indian markets?

Why does Tom Hanks star in all great movies?

Do you think this is funny?

Why don't I read fiction?

What is more important in a F1 race the technology of the car or skills of the driver?

Why does every one chase money if it can't buy happiness?

Do you believe Michel de Notredame?

Do I believe in God and rebirth?

How can they blog so easily about their life?

Is Mary the historical person whose time has come?

Why is it so hard to make somebody smile, cry, believe, laugh?

Why Mountain View, California ?

Who and what am I searching for and when will my search end?

Brain Drain?

Does it matter to them? Do they know me? Do I need their help? Can they influence my life?

How were Spartans so brave?

Why did I start Blogging?

Why don't they have IVRS( Involuntary Retirement Scheme ) in Politics?

Is God man's greatest creation?

When will I stop?

Who has the Ark of the Covenant?

Will the BPO bubble burst like the IT bubble?

Will Leaders of this country ever think beyond secularism and communalism?

Do I need the book of the dead?

Why is Gujarat a dry state?

If matrix is an infinite loop then from where did the main computer get so much RAM?

How did Vyasa have such great vision and imagination?

Why did I write this post?

Will I delete this post?

Can You answer them?

Are there are more questions than answers?

Why were the questions so random?

Is that all I can think of? Or Was I getting bored?

Are you bored?

How did you manage to read this line without missing even a single question?

Or did you just scroll down to read the BOTTOM LINE?

Is this too much?

Will you stop me?

Can somebody who has read every question suggest a title?

What was this?

Did I have Vodka before writing this?

Confusions Of Dangerous Mind?

Friday, May 27, 2005

'In'sane Idiosyncrasies

There are three letters in the English alphabet that can make your day.

They are ‘L’ ‘O’ ‘L’.

I believe laughing or sometimes being proud of silly things you do in your day-to-day life is one most of the divine things to do. We all are a bit jocose in our lives and it takes only a bit of thought and realization of the same to bring a smile on our face. I am not the Charlie kind but laughing on myself really makes me happy and of course as no one has said before “An idle mind and a lazy body can be a clown’s workshop” especially during this auspicious time of year.

Before moving on, to all those “I am so smart” kind of people who have stumbled upon this blog by mistake, I advice clicking a sign on the upper rightmost corner of your screen.

Here are some silly things I keep doing…

1. The art of sleeping 12 hrs a day: Now this art is very difficult to practice especially in this hot weather and when your Mom allows you to use the A.C only for 7 of those 12 hrs. It might seem you as an utter waste of time; however, it has many intangible assets.

a. It can make your Mom happy because when you wake up at an hour before lunch, you save your from trouble of making a breakfast for you. Moreover, it helps me maintain my ‘averagely handsome’ body by quitting a meal.

b.For all those who believe that “history is made at night” a siesta is must. I prefer blogging at night and it keeps me in my engineering groove of night outs.

You can also have a bit of ‘mute TV’. An example of that would be any fashion channel or any channel where the ‘visuals’ are much important than the audio. So why wake your family members from their sleep.


2. I hate it, I loath to confess it, but it always brings a smile to my face at the end of the day. The phenomenon is automatic, instantaneous in its nature and albeit quite frequent, natural, and conspicuous for others, it is very difficult to realize for the one doing it.

As I have frequently pointed out, I am an unbashful appraiser of pulchritude. One of most frequent expression portrayed by me after I see a beauty is a gape. My female friends often grin evilly at the sight (not the male friends ...they are busy gapesing like me). It does bring about a bit embarrassment when asked by someone (usually a female) to stop gazing but at the end of the day, it brings one big smile on my face.


3. I am not a bathroom singer, but as uncanny as it might sound, I am a road singer I usually sing while driving (I hope that is not against law), a quality that I have inherited. However, there is no bathing without music, so once every day I forget my moral citizenship values and around 11.30 am my Woofers ( computer speakers) shout it loud “ It’s my life, its now or never….” as I enjoy my shower with a verbal cacophony of my own.

4. Apart from all this, I love watching movies, which I have already seen, especially the ones I love. Movies have taught me many things and I strongly believe some movies should be part of school curriculum. In future, I hope blog to about my favorite movies and things they have taught me.

5. I sometimes boast of having an ‘expensive’ taste when it comes to humor. I discard some of ‘sardar’ jokes cracked by my friends as cheap but normally end up laughing aloud at them when I am alone. Here’s one of them

A sardar says “ Why do these Americans keep boasting about wars they wage. We in India have a war everyday. As in SOM “WAR”( Monday), Mangal ‘WAR’( Tuesday)…

*Ok I know what you just said(cheap really cheap….)*


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To end the post, here is another idiosyncrasy. I believe stupidity is best spread. So I continue the tag chain. I got a tag from deeps.

1. Total number of films I own on dvd/video : Not a single one..I am totally against ANTI PIRACY campaign I either rent pirated vcds or watch movies in halls.But I do have some movies stored on my hard disk if they count.

2. The last film I bought : How many times will I answer almost the same question? OK I don’t buy movies , my friends share movies on LAN or I watch them in halls.

3. The last film I watched: On TV: “Laws of attraction” great comedy .Jullian moore is the latest addition to my long hollywood crush list.
In theater: Bewafaa …. A horrible movie….Guess something comes original to our directors … “the art of putting 10 out of the place songs of 5 mins each in a 3 hr movie”

4. Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:- This one’s tough…the list is too long….I’ll continue in my future post

-->‘Forrest Gump’:- It has taught me one of the most beautiful lessons of my life “ self –lessness"

-->“ Castaway” : For me this is true definition of cinema, perfect direction,screenplay and acting.

-->“ A beautiful mind” : This movie always inspires, any time I am feeling a bit down, I watch this movie

-->Munna Bhai MBBS/ Hera Pheri/Jaane Bhi Do yaaron : Best comedies Indian cinema has to offer.

-->Gladiator/ The street car named desire : Great acting by rusell crowe and marlon brando.

5. Tag five people and have them put this in their journal: As I said before “ stupidity is best spread” ….so lets see I’ll tag niki, thespark, Namita, a_beautiful mind and Kroopa. Keep it going…

P.S : This is my longest post till date. I think i need to take a break .....


Tuesday, May 24, 2005

ecNOmic giANTS

India and China are the future economic giants; that’s what they say these days. The high riding economy, increase in FDI, and the setup of manufacturing/assembling units of major M.N.C.’s are just the indicators of this progress. The country produces a million graduates every year and major companies of U.S outsource their works to us. Looks like a fairy tale come true.

A look on the social side and you would find the cake is not sweet below the icing. On social grounds, or rather I should say moral grounds we are not there yet. We have look into many issues before we can call our country a developed one.

Crime against women: I do not support the statement that women are the weaker sex but still a country where crime against women is on high-rise cannot be called developed. The number of rapes has risen from last year. A more important fact is that majority were committed in the rural areas. The educational, moral and social rift between the urban and the rural class is getting wider. Presence of fundamentalists like Shiv Sena, VHP
and RSS is another big problem. Shiv-sena’s statement that revealing dresses invite rapes is quite bias and ridiculous. The psyche of people has to change and education has to play a major role in it.

There are many other poignant problems and we all know about them.

All I want say even if India is progressing a lot economically but social crimes are on rise. We might feel that economic progress can drive the social stability but that won’t be the case, money sometimes invites more crimes.


'Inspirations':There is yet another issue, which piques me a lot. The entertainment industry of our country claims to be the second largest in the world with a worldwide reach but its high time it learnt some ethics. Somehow, I cannot digest so-called ‘inspiration’ it draws from Hollywood. Leave alone movie-themes or songs these days even TV serials are exactly copied. Copying an idea can be tolerated sometimes, but copying scenes and patterns is just too much. Inspired creativity is not creativity. If at all a hindi remake of a successful foreign flick is made the fact should be acknowledged.

Finally Mallika Sherwat’s recent stint at the Cannes film just confirms the fact that beauty seldom comes with brain. I don’t understand how do people even find her sexy or beautiful. That dress she wore was worse than what daily wage poor workers manage. It’s good to look sexy but there ways to do it, probably she should have taken some tips from Salma Hayek ;) . The statement that she made was worse (wait I will just quote her).

She said, “I am here to kick some serious ass”. Wow not only revealing attire but also a blabbering mouth. There should be a sense of responsibility when you are representing your country at an international festival.

Lastly can anyone tell me why every thing works so slowly in our country. It has been week since I applied for an internet connection and I still have go to the cyber cafes.

P.S: Please excuse me for such an absurd title selection.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Rock Your Life

The other day I was watching the biography of Elvis Presley, the undisputed king of rock and roll. One of the most depressing facts about his and the life of many other famous stars is that they went through a lot of stress and trauma. Most of Rock artists have been drug addicts. Contrary to their stage lives and their immense popularity, their personal lives have either been lonesome or been a story of unsuccessful relationships. Their death at young ages just adds icing to cake of belief that their lives have been stressful. The dubious deaths of Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe, Nafisa Joseph, Parveen Babi always puzzles my mind. What was it that they did not have in their life: money, fame, love or happiness? What caused them to take such drastic steps?

The answer probably lies in our own life. Every human being, at the end of day wants to be respected, appreciated, and most importantly loved by people around him. You feel good when people comment on your blog, when friends remember you, when your parents care about you, or when that somebody special loves you. Fame and money are mostly considered secondary to all this but I believe they are also important in person’s life. Love, money and fame in their order of preference are keys to happiness in life.
Satisfaction is another important factor when it comes to money, fame or success in short.

Now consider the lives of the stars albeit they had a huge fan following their lives lacked love and satisfaction. Thousands of unknown fans loved them, love that was superficial. Their life lacked a friend who could understand them. In some cases, their expectations from life and from themselves were just too much. Drugs probably just gave momentary respite from their worries and tensions but dependence on them just catalyzed their sickness.

We all have various aspirations, desires and expectations from life. We all have a side that we hide from every body. As Mark Twain says, “Every man, like the moon, has a side which he hides from the world”. However, a common thing we all want is love, so spread it as much as you can and believe me, more of that will always come your way.


Philosophy aside there is yet another important matter. Girls in India especially in Vadodara don’t seem to feel the heat. Ironically, they seem to wear more clothes in summer than winter. Forget mini’s they even cover their faces with clothes to resemble terrorists and frighten the men around them. I am not a brand ambassador of a sunscreen lotion but I strongly recommend them instead of such terrorizing means ;)

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

What ‘We’men want……

This is not the title of Mel Gibson’s next film and if he makes one with this name, remember you saw it here first.

I don’t know if it was a distaff’s work, but it shows their saturnine nature when they say “Men just want one thing”, Or when they say “Men are from mars, and women are just down to earth” (Tell them no man has ever been to mars).

Men want many things. Some men want this, some want that, and some of them want both this and that. Jokes apart,(PJ’s in) there are many more this and that’s we want. Here are some expectations/desires/(Things we want you to understand)



1. Flirting is not impious, god made you dainty, he made us so that we could appreciate your pulchritude. I hate it when they say “Tumhari maa behen nahin hai kya”( Don’t you have a mother and sisters), my answer would be “ Hai par girlfriend ki jarorat hai”( I have but I need a girlfriend J ).So let us ogle, it is genetic.

2. We love cars/computers just as you love lipsticks, nail polish…and what not and that doesn’t make us geeky.

3. Don’t categorize us when we fall for bimbettes , didn’t you know light travels faster than sound.

4. If your dad is smart and your brother is handsome, we aren’t Charlie.(Talking of Charlie Chaplin, another womaniser I would say, last married a woman less than One-third his age at 54,* Gosh how do these guys manage*, *Just cant stop the quizzer in me sometimes..*). Please stop juxtaposing us. So if we can’t ‘cut’ like Beckham, Blame the barber.

5. When your hubby/beau talks another woman, it doesn’t mean he is discussing sex, so please give us that modicum of tolerance.

6. Please respect (read love) genius and give us the credit, we have made life comfortable; save this specie from extinction.

7. If there are six days for days for soap operas, let there be a Sunday for cricket.

8. Men don’t cry doesn’t mean that men are not emotional.

9.Men do have orgasms, so what if yours is flavor of supplements and magazines these days.( Ok no more of this else they will categorize mine as an adult blog, but ain’t I an adult, so it is after all an adult’s blog )

10. Tenth is the ‘one’ thing you always say we wanted.

I believe men will always be Men, so even after saying all that, I would say,

“If there’s a way to man’s heart through his stomach, believe me there’s a shortcut through his ears and eyes”

So a bit of Cajolery and a nice smile and you would have us drooling all over you.

Ok, Please don’t call me a chauvinist after reading this, I am a feminist at heart and my next post will prove that to you.


P.S: Please see the quiz section in my sidebar.
And as I see it, I find no takers for the ‘Shout it section’, probably people just want to keep their views to their blogs , so I am closing that section. Any suggestions regarding a new section are invited.

P.P.S: A new addition to the biography section.” Oracle of Omaha” as they call him, Warren Buffett.







Saturday, May 07, 2005

Six Days and Five Nights…….. And Now Bliss^∞+1

The last week was really stressful for me, I gave six exams in six days, like a marathon race, with each subject having an elephantine course.
Finally my exams have ended and now I have a two month long vacation ahead of me. I just have a month’s industrial training in between, else I am blissfully jobless for next two months. So,
Auspices of me becoming omnipresent on the blogsphere and spamming on your blog seem favorable.

Now when you have all the time in the world to watch movies, they aren’t any good ones around. I don’t understand why producers don’t see this period as a business opportunity, this is the time when most of the students are free and still they are not many movies around.

There is another small bit of news I want to share, I found this last week but didn’t have time to blog about it. According to Google (at present) I am the second most famous Anubhav Agarwal in this world. Search engine listing has really gained a lot of importance in the past few years. There are thousand of websites offering Search Engine Optimization or SEO as it is popularly known. I have not used any of those services and probably the reason behind inclusion of my site is primarily Google's new policy of listing its blogspot site and like me, my name is also pretty unique in this world. Click the link below to see it.

Search for
Anubhav Agarwal.

It’s not a big deal but I am still happy about it.

For more information about working of google see my Google Bombing Blog.

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Yahoo!!!!!!

“Abe Waqt ka advance booking kara”

“Yahoo!! Mein Pass Ho gaya”


Well if you hear any of these shouts, be assured that you are in NIT Surat.You might also come across people, earnestly trying to show you that they have used close-up today.

If you are thinking we are rejoicing because our exams have finished, then you are wrong. These celebrations mark a week’s extension. There was some problem in my college, about which I pledge complete ignorance, which resulted in postponing of my exams by a week. ( So much for just this….Yeah!! we celebrate big time).

And I am back, doing what I am best at: Bugging people with ephemeral but eternal (sounds like an oxymoron) pleasures of my life…

Here are two interesting bits of facts, I found on a quizzing site.

Try answering these questions using your logic and check your answers at end,else you would spoil the fun.

Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who already had 8 kids, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion? ( Yes Or NO)

Question 2: It is time to elect the world leader and your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading candidates.

Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians and consults with astrologers. He’s had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks eight to ten martinis a day.

Candidate B: He has been kicked out of office twice. He sleeps until noon. He used opium in college. He drinks a quarter of whisky every evening.

Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He’s also a vegetarian. He doesn’t smoke. He drinks only an occasional beer. He hasn’t had any extramarital affairs.

Which of these candidates would be your first choice?






ANSWERS

1). If you answered yes to the abortion question, you just killed Beethoven.

2) Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt, Candidate B is Winston Churchill, Candidate C is Adolf Hitler





So what else? …As you might have guessed by now that I have nothing much to write so I am leaving you with few interesting links.

I didn’t know that people in the Border Roads Organization were so witty. See and smile.

Asgeir S. Nilsen a technology architect from Norway came up with this brilliant idea of searching both yahoo and google at the same time.
Visit YaGoohoo!gle.

He was followed by many others like YaGoo! Search which also allows you to do an image search and Search The 4 which searches four search engines at once.

And if you have not left already, you might be wondering how I managed to come up with such a boring post, well guys blame it on exams and because you have already achieved so much by managing to read all that (man that was….), please cross a final hurdle by commenting.

P.S : Saw "Zeher" (yeah the movie and not poison) today.... horrible...( And That was By far the shortest review ever given
by anybody).

And that's anubhav signing off..

but wait where's the sign( I wouldn't give you a chance to do forgery, by showing you my sign :D)

Again please blame it on exams.