Calcutta Trip

Dec 24 2005 to Dec 31 2005
Bombay-Calcutta-Jamshedpur-Bhuvaneshwar-Konark-Puri-Bhuvaneshwar-Calcutta-Bombay ... whew!

Kudos to Brij (and Maggi) for planning the entire trip so well.
An early morning flight always sucks – but what the heck – this was one of the high points of the trip – 7 days of touring India - yaaaaaaaaaay
Calcutta city was like any other city in India … only worse! It was a pleasure to see so many yellow Ambassadors as cabs! God bless Amby’s for their ability to seat 6  - and welcome to the land of trams – double yaay :)
The road to Heera’s Holiday Inn gave Brij (and the rest of us) the jitters … but it was a nice place – snug in the heart of Calcutta … a couple of blocks from Calcutta’s famous Park street!
Walking on Park Street on Christmas eve was good fun – the place was crawling with people … and we added 5 to the numbers :D Flurys was a fun place to be … albeit the waiting and pushing in the waiting lines – but hey that’s the festive spirit no?

Spellings in Calcutta are a different story altogether – we were fortunate to witness some of the most innovative spellings and sayings – and our favourite had to be “Mony loss is nothing loss but chariter loss is everythisg loss” – priceless!


The Graceful Victoria Memorial and its light show was good fun.


The Kalighat temple was an experience - I will say no more at this moment!


Lots of good yummy food at the Gupta's - novocaine for the vegetarian souls in Calcutta :) And all the cakes and pastries at the famous Flury's on Park Street.



We bumped into Mr. Ajit (almost ran over would be more appropriate) on the corner of iforgotthename street … and in less than three minutes, all of us were humbled/overjoyed/stupefied/sad to see the amazing talent of the man – the man who painted on greeting cards without a brush! Just uses his fingers and nails – awesome!

Of course the wannabe entrepreneurs in all of us started musing on the idea of trademarking his style and art and not only making big bucks but also give artists like Ajit his due! “Finger art” / “arty fingers” and the likes made their appearance and quickly got lost in the task of getting to Howrah station quickly.
We had to get to Jams for the wedding ...

All in a single day

Horsey’s marriage tomorrow … jet lag is still around - but the euphoria is keeping excitement levels high.
– All in a day’s work today
1am – walked out of the airport in Bombay
7am – woke up for the pooja
5 hours of pooja and more than 200 pictures later ;)
heavy traditional south Indian lunch
quick 45 minute shopping and Rs 8000 later
quick trip to the bride’s house to officially invite the bride’s family – and I was driving – yep barely 16 hours into the country, I was driving on Indian roads and nothing felt different … almost!
Got to get back and prepare for tomorrow – big day!

The smell of Bombay

Could smell Bombay for the first time … as soon as we walked out of the airplane at Bombay Intl. airport - despite all the headiness and sore sore throat!
Am I getting soft?

MP3 and Music

Those days of audio-cassettes, where we would listen to a tape till it got worn-out - literally! Albums were hard to come by and music got its due diligence ... an album was heard a few times before judgement was passed.
But of late, music has almost become like fast-food "to-go" - if it is not something that makes me stop what I am doing then it does not get a second chance! I don't really like that - one that it is not fair and two that I notice that I am doing something when I am listening to stuff ... not like the old times when I would stick the tape into my Walkman (a SanYo personal-cassette-player actually!) and simply “listen” to the music!
Life has gotten more complicated and music has become more diluted! Like Sarat pointed out, there’s an insane amount of music that is being produced - unlike days of yore! And with mp3's the whole situation seems like it has been put thru the blender!
Ask me my favorite albums and they mostly are the ones I heard on tape first! (‘cept Karsh Kale of course)! Bad. Not Good. Something needs to be done.
the worst thing is - I don't know what to do about it!

Random shapes

Was reading the interesting comments that Brij made in his blog about my arty-farty pics - very insightful observations by Brij (as usual).
And then D, made another insightful observation (as usual) - that she has noticed my fascination to flames, steam and other things related to fire!
Very very true - she couldn't be more correct - I am fascinated by fire.
On more pondering, I think it is to do with the randomness in shape that fire has. I I have never ever liked clean-cut and orderly designs - I have always been a stickler for random brush strokes and the likes - even scattered handwriting! - my hair, my ties, my tees ...
notes to self!

The lull after the storm

Kinda feel that way - with most of the homework and tests completed for this week.
At least no more sleepless nights working ...

Kinda unsure what to do - feels strange now that the weight's lifted! But I guess this is only momentary - with India 7 days away - things are going to get hectic soon!

arty farty pics - 2

quick snap in a store on Bourbon Street - New Orleans (Dec 2004)... will buy one of these busts someday :(


Diwali diyas at home (2002) - love the way the flames move in different directions.


selftest - with the JVC camcorder - March 2002 - lots of trial and error to get that right ... working by myself

Cool way to morph Images

Yesterday at the presentations, this group displayed digitally edited images of the Exploris lobby - much like how we did - but they had run the final images through a filter to gove it a "watercolor" or "painting" feel to it.
I thought that was really creative, since it not only looked cool - but also cleverly covered the smudges and blurs of the enhances.
things to keep in mind :)

Big Day

11/29/2005 - 6pm - we present our Creativity project at Exploris.
This definitely has been my favourite class till date - loved the class - loved the speakers - loved everything about it. Wish it could have gone on longer...
Our Project. (unfortunately the background image is not displayed in its entirety - I think it looks way cooler that way - need to figure out how to do that!)

New Skills learnt

Learnt how to spiral bind stuff – thanks to Preethu and her enthu to help me save some bucks on our report :)
The college of design has all the tools necessary for binding and heck its not complex at all - almost as easy as punching holes in paper! And definitely better than paying 5 bucks to Kinko’s for that! Unfortunately we did not have the time to get all the reports bound :( - but hey - I learnt something new ... and useful!

arty farty pics - 1

sticky note to pin some of my favourite pics -

I took the Elephant pic at the Smithsonian @DC (august 2005) - was tricky taking this pic without a tripod - but I thought it came out good :)


The Tea cups - well poor D had her cup snatched from under her lips (literally) - the light was perfect and the smoke was clear! (fall 2004)


Was walking back home one evening last winter and the sky was so pretty - I had to capture it. This time around I used a tripod :) (winter 2004)

The "houda" effect

How some words stick in your head and bring back random memories!
There was this lady who sat across my seat at COSL - she was quite loud and on the phone quit often – and she would speak in Kannada and keep saying “houda (pause) houda” … - best part was – she would call up the restaurant @SEEPZ at noon and ask them what was on their menu – each day without fail – she would listen to the entire menu and eventually order an orange juice – like clockwork!
Each time I hear “houda” all those memories zip by my head and I cannot but help smile! – I know … “houda”! (FYI – houda means “is that so”)

Another piece of knowledge!

Just a few months ago, I learnt from Cho2! that not all Indians (Hindus) believe that we all are God!
Yep – apparently there are two schools of thought, namely Advaita (the ppl who believe that we are all God!) and the Dvaita’s who
believe that God is separate from the rest of the souls. Very interesting stuff indeed – for I had never heard of this before!
And today D showed me a third point of view – the Vishishtadvaita – the folks who believe that God alone exists, but admits plurality!
I must admit that I did not completely understand their point of view – but the truth is that there are a bunch of people – in different flavors - who do not believe that All is God.
Nice.

Long Sleep

after a long time!
Woke up today after 15 hours of sleeping! Of course, this happened after 36 straight hours of work, shopping, some more work, some more shopping among other things!

If my name was Douq Quin

then I would write it like this ->
Excerpt from doodles in my note book. Really liked the way I wrote the speakers name!
And I notice that I ALWAYS write the date when I take notes - pat pat pat on the back!

Black Friday "frenzy"

It is interesting to experience the “frenzy” that happens when you enter the store! Had the experience @Staples today morning, after having waited for 30 minutes (in the cold) to enter the store. Waiting in the line at the cashier’s desk – I reflected on that precise feeling that I had experienced about 20 minutes earlier – had mixed feelings of elation, stupidity, guilt – can’t really place it – I guess “frenzy” explains it best!
It’s that time when probably no one is your friend – every man for himself – courtesy be damned! And you want to take more, much more than what you want or came for … just because!!!
Is this how man would behave when resources become (are) scarce?!!? And is this why this day is called "Black Friday"?
Point to ponder!

Thanksgiving Dinner @P&A

No turkey or turducken here (thankfully!) – only generous helpings of corn-bhel for starters, delicious Rajma, bisi-bele bhat, capsicum bhaji for dinner and rosogulla & Snickers ice-cream for dessert.
The game of UNO that took place in the meantime was quite interesting – picture this – 11 people playing UNO, till the end! Two games took a good hour and half – but it was boatloads of fun – especially when you have someone in the group who is a shameless and self-professed cheater! - and there’s someone who's the poor scapegoat who gets dinged with all the +2 and +4 and Skips no matter where she sits Interesting.
All this at P&A's place - they really are great hosts.

Is this a Car Review?

Interesting way to pen a car-review! Jeremy Clarkson on the Golf R32

Love the way Jeremy Clarkson writes – he spends very little space and time actually reviewing the car – but nevertheless does it so effectively and convincingly – NICE!
Makes you comfortable that he knows his business and his cars!

And as Brij states – he’s probably the “king of sarcasm”. Thank You Brij for bringing back that name into my radar!

Vellai Pookal

One of my favourite Rehman tamil songs from the Mani Ratman movie – “Kannathil Muttamittal” (Kiss on the cheek) – a wonderful movie on adoption against the backdrop of insurgence in Sri Lanka.
I wish I could have done the translation – but my Tamil unfortunately is not that good! Thank You Google! (and mouthshut.com)

Interesting to see me going for lyrics - I'm more of the "music" types and I generally don't pay attention to lyrics - but this one just grabbed my attention!

Vellai Pookal
=============
VeLLai PookaL ulagam engum malarhavae
vidiyum Bhoomi amaidhikaaga vidihavae
manmel manjal veluchcham vizhuhavae
malarae sombal muRiththu ezhuhavae
kuzhanthai vizhikattumae
Thaayin katha kathappil
ulagam vidiyattumae
piLLayin sirumugha siRippil (VeLLai)

kaatrin perisaiyil
mazhai paadum paadangalum oru maunam poal inbam tarumooOO
koadi keertanamum kavi koartha vaarthaiygalum thuLi kaNNer poal arththam tharumo (VeLLai)

yengusiru kuzhanthai than kaigal neetidumo
angu thondrayo koLLai nilavae
enghu manidha Inam poar oyinthu sayinthidumo
angu koovadho veLLai kuyilae (VeLLai)


Vellai Pookal (Translation)
===========================
Let white(peace) flowers bloom all over the world,
Let peace heal the unrest world(not the best translation),
let the sun’s rays fall on this soil,
Let the flowers lose their laziness and bloom.

Let the child open its eyes
in the mother’s lullaby
let the world wake up to
children’s laughter

In the breeze’s melody,
In the music created by raindrops,
Is there anything that give utmost joy than silence?
Would a crore melodies and words penned by poets be as meaningful
as a drop of a tear shed?

Let the moon rise in the place where the child reaches out its hands
Let the white bird sing in the place where there is no war.

Dinner Conversation

Sarat came over for dinner – interesting discussion on men and women – how women are more society-oriented … and why as opposed to men who are basically loners!
We observed that girls play with Barbie dolls (mostly) and dress their dolls up while boys pretty much play with cars – making and breaking them. Girls/Women are more social creatures – they would form a group and talk to each other when in proximity whereas a group of men could be extremely quiet and non-conversational. We tied that to the fact that men are the stronger (physically) sex and were historically in no apparent danger unlike women who were always in danger of being attacked by them horrible men and hence feel (and are) safer when in a group.
Women want to be felt a part of the herd while Men on the other hand long for a sense of power/recognition albeit only in a hierarchical structure – work, home, play etc.
We concluded that just like a lot of other animals(mammals) (lions, elephants etc.) , men are loners and generally live within themselves unlike women who are more socially oriented –we’re hardwired that way I guess!

The conversation then drifted towards the Mahabharata and both Sarat and D never cease to amaze me with how much they know about the Epic. Hopefully I will be able to know half as much and be able to tell our kids some good stuff 

Indian Marriages and everything else ...

Discussion/Story telling session at P&A’s house – interesting stuff – quite an adventure they have had! Couldn’t have guessed the lengths they went to get married – sweet.
Of course the nail-biting narration was followed by the obvious questions – “why is it such a big deal for parents in India to accept love marriages” – kinda cheesy to put it that way – but it sums up the big Q. And the of course, the horrendous jataka matching and matching points or “guns” – all on half-knowledge and Chinese-whispers like traditions, which have gotten quite skewed over the years – apparently we have lost the art of doing it right – so might as well give it up – sooner the better!

Then of course – marriages (in India especially) is a bonding between families – its much much more than the two ppl involved! Might as well get the jatakas of the whole kit and caboodle matched!

The topic drifted towards art – and why artists make it difficult to interpret – Preethu made an interesting point that the “multiple interpretations” part of art is what makes it exciting! But then we could not justify the “Nobody understands me!” stance that most artists seem to have!
Well … I can see a red dot on a white canvas and be fine as long as I am not expected to understand the real meaning and depth (or the lack of it) behind the dot!

A New Baby - a new perspective!

N&A gave birth to Dhruv – sweeeeheet! Another soul enters the world – wonder how it would be when lil Dhruv comes around where we are today … we’ll see!
I guess we would be happy if our kids in 2030 wish to get married at all  - of course they could also want to get married to a Martian/Venuvian – or a bundle of steel and wires – that would be interesting – how would we handle that!

Temporary Placeholder

for posts that I plugged in between
Could It Have Been any worse
FedEx Interviews
Engineer's Woman
Bambaiya Speak
Real food at the airport
IRF
Mr. CEO speaks
Optoma
Learning Experience
Chucks Points Of View
Quote
Shiny-balls
Families
Realistic Paintings

Could it have BEEN any worse?

11/15/2005
Had to take a flight out of Raleigh at 6:30 am – planned to wake up at 4:30a. Unfortunately could not sleep a wink! “It’s a long flight – no problem”
Some passenger develops a Medical emergency in the flight … flight lands in Alabama for the meds to get in … we reach Houston a hour and a half later – at 10:30am ! We missed our connecting flight! “I guess they should have a flight to Oakland (CA) in a couple of hours”
The next flight to Oakland was at 9pm! “Oh my god!” – but wait – there’s a flight to San Francisco at 5:55p – “Nice – looks like I will miss lunch but still be able to make it to Battery park and take a walk on the Golden Gate.” Cho2 is in training – dang! Would have been awesome to see her. “That’s fine – will see her in a week or so …”
Pranav drops by at the airport for a couple of hours – it’s always fun to be with Pranav.
Warm and sunny at Houston at about 3pm – “Couple of hours for the flight – let me take a quick nap!”
Wake up at 5p to an overcast and rainy Houston – weather has taken a beating due to some spurious tornadoes that have sprung up in the area. “Hmm … hope the flight does not get delayed!”
Flight gets delayed – it’s scheduled at 9pm now. “Hmm … now what to do – maybe I’ll get to meet Cho2 after all – silver lining given the dark clouds – literally!”
Update – the flight is scheduled for 7pm. “I guess it won’t be possible for Cho2 to come …”
Cho2 tells me that she’s stuck in traffic and will not be able to make it to the airport on time and she’s anyways headed home. “Hmmm – No chance of meeting of Cho2 but Battery Park just might happen!”
7pm – Update that flight is at 9pm – “Dang – no Battery Park – no sleep – not be able to see Cho2 either – dang dang dang!”
Flight leaves at 9:15p – will reach San Francisco at 11:30p – good thing at least there’s a limo waiting for us.
11:30p – Always nice to be back in San Francisco -  “uh oh – no limo – what’s happening?” – Limo is running late – might have to wait for 25 mins – “Hmmm”
12:30a – Limo arrives – wait a minute – it’s not a limo – it’s a town car – “Dang”
Well at this point we just want to get to the Marriott and crash – 30 mins – nice.
Teresa – the driver – loses her way. “Dang” – good thing I noticed that she missed the 680N exit … and thankfully I remembered some of the roads. “Nice to be in California – but not like this!”
Almost expected something to go wrong when we entered the Marriott – but guess what – looks like our bad luck had run out  - we got the keys and were in bed by 2am – Nice.
But then – had to wake up at 6:20am – for a long day of interviews … sigh!
“Battery Park – Golden Gate – We shall return”
Gate from vista point 1

Gate from vista point 2

Gate from Battery Park vista point

Gate from Battery Park vista point

FedEx Interview

Quite an interesting interview – not at all the behavioral types that we usually have!
This one was more analytical – albeit very very “strict” (the interviewers would not smile if their life depended upon it!)
They asked me to calculate the number of people that travel thru Heathrow airport in a year. And they wanted a number – not an estimate – with calculations and all!!! Interesting stuff … I eventually came up with 144,000/day, i.e. 52.5 million/year which is not quite far from the truth (the airport claims that its 67.7 million!) – pat pat pat on the back  … a plane every 2 mins – 200/plane – 6000/hour – 144,000/day!
But interesting Question – I guess they wanted to see how I think … hmm!

An Engineer's Woman!

I loved this forward that Sumona sent the group.
Engineer’s description of a woman. Funny stuff. The first one is my favourite!

Bambaiya speak.

Another interesting forward! Bombay! God I love that city and everything assoc with it. Can’t wait to be there in about 3 weeks

Real food at the airport!

Oakland airport – 360 Gourmet burrito – Thai burrito!
Had the amazing “Thai burrito” at this joint at Oakland airport! Nice stuff – and served really hot unlike most places in the US! Will look out for this joint in other airports/cities!

IRF

Nothing is a complete waste! I did get to learn about International Rectifier (IRF), a company devoted to power management technology.
Interesting stuff they make - and stuff the world prbably needs more of!

Another piece of my old style log entry!

Mr. CEO speaks

Had the obligation to listen to Peter Scott - CEO of Progress Energy Services speak. Fortunately I did not have my laptop and had to resort to "writing" my thoughts down - the old style - lead on paper!
BTW the first line was one intelligent remark that he made.

Optoma

pointer for this amazing product. – Optoma DV10
Now that’s intelligent design!
Although I wish they would make wireless power a reality - eliminating the need for power cables  … all a matter of time I guess. and then of course - my alltime favourite wish-list item - the teleporter - "beam me up Scotty"

Corduroy

Went to buy a suit for the back to back interviews next week. Kohl’s is a nice store – will go back there when I have more time!
And hey - I discovered (again) that I still am a sucker for Corduroy! I don’t know what about that fabric makes me like it so much …
and Yes! I finally own a Corduroy sports jacket :)

Bunch of wierdos @ Microsoft … circa 1978!

Thanks again to the Creativity Message Board – I could not believe this pic until I saw the same thing on the Microsoft website – the cynic that we all are when it comes to things on the internet! Who could have imagined!

And on the above page there are other pics of Bill … in varying resolutions/dpi! now why would someone have so many high-resolution pics of himself on his page!

A learning experience

Wish I had work authorization to work at Subway/McDonald's or some place like that. Wonder how it would be to wait at a restaurant! The learning experience would be tremendous – seeing people at their worst and best!
Made a mental note to try and provide that environment for our kids – I know it’s not the same in India but we’ll see – at least ask them to work with some charitable organization or do some community service if not work at a restaurant!

D gives me a Haircut … finally!

(as happened on 11/8)
I don’t know who enjoyed it more – me or D! D’s dream of giving me a haircut (although she claims that it was a hair-trim and not a hair-cut) finally came true! Lazy me coupled with the fact that I have a couple of interviews coming up, and a few other things (like Sarat asking D to trim his hair last week) caused this event to happen. Interesting to hear her describe the event to her mom as I write  - it appears that I gave her very skeptical looks when she was holding the scissors! The verdict is not yet out – I think she did a good job – will keep you posted ;)

On another note - each time I think about a haircut - I remember this one Superman comic book - he kicks some alien butt in some alien planet but some stuff in that planet makes his hair vulnerable temporarily - so he quickly goes to a barber-shop as Clark Kent and enjoys a "relaxing" haircut. Of course the effect wears off after a few minutes and the barber breaks his scissors trying to cut CK's hair - yada yada yada
Point is - I never ever found a haircut to be "relaxing" - in fact I've always hated it! But I have heard people telling me that it is a relaxing experience! OMG!

Chuck's points of view

Chuck Recor’s comments on man and how he perceives himself 
Chuck believes that we (as a species) have a tendency to consider ourselves more adept that we ever are!
He said the only way that we have survived over thousands of years is by going for the small animals and low hanging fruit as opposed to the wooly mammoths and other large creatures! His point was well taken – we probably went for the low hanging fruit and stayed out of the radar of quick extinction! This is, he added, quite opposite the drawings on the walls of caves where we depicted men hunting mammoths and sabretooth! Obviously I would rather spend 48 hours sculpting something grand as opposed to sculpting the boring activities.

He also believes that we are genetically quick thinkers – “I heard a roar – let’s scamper” – as opposed to being the “I heard a roar - let’s try and analyze the source of this roar” – chomp chomp … burp!

“Fish don’t have a clue about water” – very very interesting point of view to make a point on our blind sightedness with our surroundings.

“Older people are *More Cynical *More Ethical and *More Conservative” – point well taken.

“The legal invention of “Corporation” has done more good for the society than any other invention” – debatable point of view … but in today’s capitalistic world – probably!

“Capitalism and Democracy do not indemnify corporations for stupidity” – wonder why? … probably the reason why rogue execs. Feign mental problems!

“Capitalism is $1 = 1vote” “Democracy is MyVote = Bill Gates’ vote” – hmm …

Brij's Comments

Lazy Brij Whiz passes his tongue in cheek comments  - in style – on his new blog!

Funny how inspiration is cyclical/chain-like among friends. My blogging/logging efforts were kickstarted by Brij and Soumya and now Brij is blaming me for his habits :D
Thanks Brij – it’s always nice to read nice things about you (never mind the puns)

Quote

Lynn said - “You get there when you get there.” Sweet.

Shiny Balls

Lee posted this on the discussion board – I want one of these at home … matter of time I guess 

Families

You hate them to love them even more. Had an interesting "discussion" with Dad!
Wonder how I would be when I become 65?

Tantra

Wonder why this creative brand does not have a website. Nevertheless, found out a site that sells Tantra t-shirts. – motichoor.com
Some of my favourites ... and thats really just "some" of them!

Realistic Paitings

Noticed wonderful paintings at the Indian store – very realistic. One was an elephant and a baby elephant. Another was a tiger and cub. Very very realistic.
I notice that I always am a sucker for such realistic paintings/art as opposed to abstract stuff. Just like Alex Ross's work :)

BAPS

I love how generous the BAPS Swaminarayan temples always are when it comes to Prasad. Today’s Prasad was nothing short of a lunch-thali!
The temples themselves are so clean and organized.
The temple in Raleigh is not the regular i.e. grand temples that they usually have.
But the idols are pretty awesome - and hey they let me take pics inside the temple! How cool is that.
(pics 1 and 2 are of the temple in Houston - rest are from Raleigh)

Battlestar Gallactica

Saw four episodes of Battlestar Galactica (Season 2) back to back –I really like this show.Love the way the show has been made. Smooth effects and good drama.

Also, the strong but subtle connection to Gita is thoroughly entertaining. Its always interesting to hear Indian shloka's ina foreign accent :)

Chikki Balls!

Cho2! Calls them Chikki balls – I thot that was hilarious. Asked her if she visually describes all food she eats :P – but seriously, if chikki’s are flat and squarish then what do you call them round types? Maybe it was not her Yemenese influence after all! There is no different name for spherical chikki’s!
Hmm …

Networking Obsessed!

How painful it becomes when the sole objective of meeting influential people in the industry is to push your resume and/or get their business cards. Its much more fun when you can simply chat with them and get to learn about their mistakes and achievements.

I can't tell you how much we have been told the importance of Networking (@MBA) and to ALWAYS look for opportunities when you speak to people.
After speaking to so many people in the creativity class, I find the "genuinely talking" to people much more enjoyable, than the "wear-your-suit-fake-a-smile and try-to-push-your-resume" conversations!

It’s a huge learning experience to know about their achievements, their creative processes and especially @the mistakes they made! And for having such a conversation you really have to remove your networking hat(and suit)! At least I have to!

Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata (1990)

Was speaking to someone today about Peter Brook's rendition of The Mahabharata. Wonderful portrayal of the classic story – quite contrary to the (in) famous BR Chopra version that we grew up on. I do remember liking it a lot as I was watching it, but that was more because the Ramayan was made quite badly – IMHO – and this was a welcome increase in speed 
Amazon's shpiel here

Funny thing is that Doordarshan - yes the infamous one - actually aired this when we were kids - although I suspect that it was aired only on DD2 (for those fortunate souls with a whopping TWO channels!)

Matthew Szulik on Paris Hilton

Had the chance to be there when Matthew spoke. (25 October, 2005 – Annual Graduate Symposium, NCSU)
Excerpt from our Newsletter -

Luncheon keynote presenter Matthew Szulik, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Red Hat, focused on brand management.
"Paris Hilton, economic development, and globalization have a lot in common, if you think about it," Szulik said. "This woman clearly has vision. She is a great entrepreneur, understands markets and how to build brand, how to build a business, to create new product offerings," he said. "I think this story is fascinating, especially for a very young woman in a multicultural global environment. ... One of the comments you hear about her is that she is very hard working. "
He related Hilton's development of a brand around herself as a person to Red Hat's development of a $500 million company based on open source technology - something that is free.
Investors initially questioned how the company would make money if it was giving away its technology. Speaking directly to the graduate students in the audience, Szulik said: "You've been trained to take good ideas and keep them to yourself. That's not the world we live in today. Society is increasingly recognizing the value of collaboration and transparency; we all value a high degree of transparency."
Szulik has met with leaders of the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries where Red Hat's open source technology is seen as the vehicle for raising living standards.
One of Red Hat's challenges as a global leader in open source technology is "hiring the right people. Some people focus on raising the stock price. We are trying to build a company that goes on and on; we want to change the world, improve society, because your children and your children's children will need access to information."

Product Innovation and Nature

Michel Belland from Interface Flooring, made an interesting point that Nature is the best Product Innovator - it has been around for millions of years and has the most energy efficient and durable solution to most problems.
He said that for any new product that we decide to make, it is best to look at nature - there would be a parallel or similar product that nature has already created!
Very cool.

When are you Creative?

Interesting question.
I think the environment matters most to me - if there are grumpy and pessimistic people around me then I am not creative at all! But if there is some excitement in the air, then I start getting quite creative.
So I guess my creativity is directly proportional to the excitement level around me.

People Are Strange

Maybe we shud stop wondering about human behavior!
Some people – people I know - they smile and talk nice to you when there are more people around – but when theres no one else around, they would not even smile, let alone talk! Wonder why ...
Like Jim sang, People are Strange ...

Halloween 2005 @Franklin Street

Always wondered what made the world celebrate this strange festival and I guess I found most of my anwers this time around :)
Was at Franklin Street (Chapel Hill) this time and it truly was amazing to see the creativity in people when it comes to Halloween costumes.
Some of my favourites were -
Rubik’s cube
Dice
Roman Boob checker
Superman and WonderWoman
Ninja’s (who were actually performing stunts)
Napoleon Dynamite (there was a "Vote for Pedro" around too!)
People from Saudi (that was kinda dicy!)
People from India
Samurai (very authentic)

Of course there were the regular nudists dressed as Hulk, WWF superstars etc. and the regular Grim Reapers, Draculas, Spidermen, waitresses etc.
There even was this one person with a giant dildo-baloon which was attracting a lot of attention - LOL

Icing On The Cake

Bought a cake for Sarat and had it cut at midnight for his birthday. I realized how hard it is to write on the cake with the icing pen! What I could manage to scribble on the cake looked a lot like Tamil as opposed to English!
The icing on the cake, is truly a lot of talented work!

Yes Man? Say No!

Smart people don't need a yes man - very true.
They want someone who can jam with them and help create better ideas.

Asheville

Made a mental note to visit Asheville and spend at least 2-3 days and explore the art in the city. This seems like a very interesting city – something like Austin!
Nice site with lots of information- and interactive too.

Cricket

Had an interesting dinner-time discussion @Cricket and how inconsistent it is! While Sarat maintained that the inconsistency of the playing conditions is what made the game so interesting, I still believe that for any game to be played fair and square (and to be just to the playing sides), the playing ground HAS to be even for the length of the game!
I feel awful for teams which lost because they were playing second and the pitch/weather turned against them!
Sarat and the rest seemed to agree on this.

I however, maintain that if any sort of global ratings are to be maintained, then every team must play on a more or less regimented set of pitches and weathers (as much as possible) – or else we should do away with the ratings system – dunno – can’t place a finger, but something seems wrong – dunno what!

Marinara

Went for dinner with Raoul, Sarat and D – Mellow Mushroom on Glenwood – nice place – had a Veggie Pizza – realized that I really don’t like Marinara Sauce too much – I guess my tolerance for sour stuff has really gone down over the years! Is is the lack of curd?
Had an interesting discussion on Cricket.

Interesting Quotes

that I heard in class - scribbled on my notebook - and want to remember :)
"Elephants going to the graveyard to die" - (Mark Spearce said it) - really don't know what it means, but it sounded nice
Tail starts wagging the dog - (Todd said it) - cool analogy.

Blue Ridge

Drove to Blue Ridge and back – must admit, was not quite the colors I had expected to see – but nevertheless a fun drive with D – had a good time. Visited a nice restaurant with an awesome view – Canyons Of The Blue Ridge with a nice soup :)
Made a mental note to go back someday and have a nice dinner on the patio, with the awesome view!



and it was awesome when we stopped dead on the road to take this pic - an XP wallpaper (credit to D)

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Remember seeing this logo on a highway in California - thought it was very creative - the company name was something with mind in it - like Mindspace or something - very apt - unfortunately can not remember it!

Make an Ass

Be Obscenely Foolish
Nice thing to keep in mind when brainstorming! "Be willing to make an ass of yourself".

Life and Creativity

Creativity should not be a choice - It should be a lifestyle
Very interesting point of view I think ... will endeavor to make that happen.

Library @Home

Always thought that we should always have a study room in our house. Will make it a point to have a house with a study - a library will all kinds of books and a place to relax and rewind.
Although I wonder if the future libraries would be replaced by a single computer - a single machine containing all works of art, all publications, all the encyclopedia out there - all the world books ... in just a single machine.
That would mean that the library would have a lot of empty space ... space for creativity - food for thought!

EPIC

Placeholder for EPIC
And hey – looks like EPIC is becoming more of a reality than ever – base.google.com is about to show up -

Cloudy Days

Beautiful Sunny days -
How often have heard "the sun is out - isn't it a beautiful day - warm and sunny"
Till January if 2002 - this concept was quite alien to me.
Coming from Bombay, where we prpbably have just one season - summer - its more like warm summer, wet summer and cool summer!
And we would rejoice when it would be cloudy - coz we wouldn't have to worry about the harsh sun beating on you!
And monsoon was the best season - I still love it when it rains - of course the rain in Bombay is almost always warm - unlike the freezing rain in the US!
I guess the whole weather thing is a perspective - like most things in life.
So for me its cloudy days and wet rainy days.

Carpet Tiles & Biomimicry

Interface Floring - A Wonderful Company which manufactures "carpet tiles" as opposed to the conventional carpet rolls. And their product concept is truly unique - They employ Organized Chaos to ensure that each tile is different - essentially no two tiles they produce are the same! And this helps them to no only create a truly unique and intelligent product but also helps them circumvent a lot of problems faced by traditional carpet-roll manufacturing companies. Their main concern is the environment and how to reduce waste and some of their practices are truly amazing. In a country of excess, they have successfully learnt to curb waste.
They try and map Nature's designs into everything they do - very very interesting - BioMimicry.

Targeted Advertising

Loved the idea of targeted advertising - Deloitte to Chrysler @ Chrysler - saying how much they know their business.
Todd (CapStrat) was explaining that they also do targeted advertising where they would make like 5 copies of a booklet that they design. These booklets are not mass produced - they are targeted for specific people and may end cost up to $40,000 per booklet to make. The deal is that a Consulting company like Deloitte would say make 5 such booklets on Chrysler and hand it to some of the top management at Chrysler - the booklet would basically be information about Chrysler to Chrysler - essentially showcasing how much Deloitte understands Chrysler's business.
Sweet!

No "tada" moment

Creative work is an iterative process - you don't necessarily need to have a "tada" moment. It is better to involve stakeholders up front so that they understand the creative process and help you build it. This process works way better than the "tada" moment effect that many creative folks strive to achieve!
(Todd Coats from CapStrat kinda went over this)

Lipogram

Interesting stuff I picked up (again) from our Creativity Message board - Wordsmith on Lipogram
I remember reading about this a long long time ago – nice refresher.

Truth-Happens

Placeholder for the awesome RedHat video! here

Build A Personality

Todd (Capstrat) was explaining how they would solve a branding problem for their clients. They think on the following lines --
If the company was a movie, which movie would it be
If the company was a song, which song would it be ... so on and so forth
Really nice idea - building a personality.

Honda Ad

Placeholder for the awesome Honda-Ad that we all saw a few years ago.
here

Creativity On Demand

Todd Coats from CapStrat said - "stay in touch with the child in you"
Creativity On Demand - so true for people like Todd at Capstrat - where they are paid for their creative abilities.
Todd's advice on staying in touch with the child in you, is right on - the child in us helps us go beyond our mental blocks and makes us do things seemingly impossible.

And hey - while you are at the CapStrat website, do remember to peek at the remarkable Elvis made of post-its - outside, the wall, sideways

Machines Playing Music (Not Making!)

with ref. to Mark Spearce (composer - classical music)
For a regimented form of music like classical music, where the musicians are essentially expected to reproduce exactly what is written on the music-sheet, I think that it would be apt to have computers play the instruments.
Something on the lines of the automatic-piano, which plays the piano depending upon your programming for the piece - more like a robot being programmed to play a real piano - as opposed to digital music where a computer creates the sounds.
I guess sooner or later, Classical music orchestras would be replaced by robots/computers playing all the musical instruments - precisely and exactly like how the composer intended.
Interesting how Mark dimply hated the idea of computers making music - he however was referring to computers "composing" music, as opposed to just playing!

Art and War

Art and Mass Thinking
I think that art is closely tied to harsh circumstances - I feel that the best art has always come in times of global unrest and pain - when there has been some common factor affecting large masses of people. And I think that this pain/unrest/suffering is reflective in the works of art of the time. And the collective mindset helps both, the artist as well as the masses to connect better with the art itself.
Some of the examples I can think of are
- The 60's and 70's which saw some of the best music to ever come out.
- The works during the French revolution.
- Recent works of art after 9/11.

Microwaveable tea-stick

Ali's Tea-Stick is a wonderful invention ... but I wonder if we could take it to the next level and make it out of microwaveable plastic.
I have always had this problem in the US - where hot chocolate or hot coffee is never "hot" enough and that’s really annoying for people like me who like their tea/coffee piping hot!

power the lights or surf the internet

Ethernet thru Electricity
This sounds like a really nice concept, since electricity pretty much exists in most places. Avoids the hassles of cable or telephone lines.
Of course it will be interesting to see how the telephone industry and/or the cable industry responds!
This also reminds me of the Power over Ethernet concept that Cisco pioneered last year - wonder how that is doing.

These are truly creative inventions - almost like the safety pin. Unfortunately for them - there is a lot of "investment" which would go bad if these new products succeed!

Comics

I read a lot of comics - I try to read as much as possible and I even have a wall at home dedicated to comic posters. I even have quite a few comic character T-shirts - Wolverine, Hulk, Batman, Superman, GL, JL etc.

I have been called a "freak" by some and have been laughed at by some others - I really don't understand - how come something as intersting as "comics" can be equated to childishness or immaturity! So does someone who reads Ryand or Sagan or the really really fat books automatically become an intellectual?
I'm sorry but I don't subscribe to that point of view.

I read a fair bit - fat books included - and I enjoy reading comics equally.
In fact, there is so much to learn from comics or any kind of medium - I remember reading about the "aurora borealis" or "mount rushmore" or "nanotechnology" first in my comic books - even before I read about them in the newspapers or science journals!
A book is a book - just because it has drawings in it does not mean it is for kids.
In fact some of the graphic novels like "The Dark Knight Returns" speak volumes about the socio-political scene in the nineties (heck some of it is representative of recent times!).
And as for art - do check out the works of "Alex Ross" or "Jim Lee" (again) - now if that is not fantastic artwork then I don't know what is!
And these are only the popular works - stepping outside of the DC and Marvel universe would take one to another parallel universe - but then ...

Interesting car

Saw this egg shaped car being made by Nissan and thought that it was a wonderful idea. Kinda like the cars in sci-fi movies - only real.
OK its is Egg shaped - but as long as it handles well and drives well - I'm not sure that should matter - given that boxy cars are still around!

NC Museum Of Art - 09/27 2005

Spent a few hours at the NC Museum of Art on Blue Ridge Road - very nice place.
Something’s that caught my eye ...

There was this piece by Ron Rozelle called “Me and Apocalypse” – At first I dismissed it for another representation of the A-Bomb mushroom cloud – but on closer inspection I saw layers in the painting. The artist actually described the piece as “Growing up under a bomb” – which is very very true for most people who have been around for the last 30 years or so! He had pictures of various stages of his childhood and his growing up years as a part of the artwork! Very thought provoking!

Anne Kesler Shields –
Here was this piece of art which was a collage of pictures from different parts of the world in different times, representing the “Visual Clutter” that we are faced with today – thru Television, Radio and the Internet.
Although the work mostly reflected war and religious conflicts in history, I particularly liked the “Visual Clutter” description – that resonated with the way I feel sometimes about the world!

Stacey L Kirby – A Salt Library
Interesting piece of art – with blocks of Salt. Stacey basically placed these salt-cubes by the sea shore and then picked them up after a few hours – after the sea had deformed the cubes in interesting ways! And she made this wall out of many such salt pieces!
More interesting was that she documented this activity in painstaking detail – the times that she placed the cubes and pictures of each cube at regular time-intervals.
What interested me most was the various realizations that she went thru during the process – in her log, she talks about how she learnt about Gandhi and the Dandi-march and how Salt is actually representative of oppression in the world and how important it is to all of us. A truly surreal experience for her!

Jeff Whetstone
And his BW pics – which always interest me. There was this particular pair of pics called Turkey hunter – with the first pic of this man dressed regularly and then in the next one he is dressed ready for a hunt – ready to kill - face covered and all. Interesting.

Mirror Paint
This guy called Jimmy O Neal actually invented a special kind of “mirror paint” - which gives depth to the painting and is actually reflective. Very neat stuff.
More interesting was that he actually invented a machine that would capture his brain activity over a period of time (say – during the day) and then amplify these signals and play them back to another device which would translate them into pictures on paper. This device actually burn dots on the paper to draw the image – neat!

Preternatural Beauty
Michael Schultz actually had digital pictures of Industrial Complexes! Sounds absurd but you need to take a look at his pics to understand the beauty of his pics and the ingenuity of this dude. Regular worn-out walls which we might have seen while driving thru old-towns – but on close inspection, you realize that they truly are works of art – industries helped shape this nation and the pics were the artist’s tribute to them!

Pattern Matching

I have always been interesting in Matching patters - in anything (even faces).
I actually realized that when I took this aptitude test when I was 14 - they told me that my pattern-matching skills were exceptionally good and that I could be either an architect or a computer-engineer!

Just the other day, I caught myself trying to distinguish between the two pics that made the "Turkey Hunter" at the Museum. I notice that I do this quite often!
And then there was the time when I first saw the "Ghosts" video by Michael Jackson - a long long time ago - something about the fat professor (his eyes) in the video made me believe that he too was actually MJ and it was not until a few years later when I came to the US and saw the complete making of the video that I found out that I had been right all along :)

Sunsets and Moons

Have always been fascinated by the sunset. Something about the way the big red orange looks with the sky on fire and in its colors!
Have never been a fan of sunrise - not that I have seen many, but still - sunrise seems so much shorter and so less colorful.

And then of course theres always the rising moon - I could swear that it looks bigger in the US than it does in India - dunno if its because India is closer to the equator!
And then the sunsets in Bombay are better than any place in the world I have been - better than California too! - don't know if its the pollution but it truly is fun to watch the sun sink into the water in Bombay!
And A full-moon rising over water - truly truly enchanting experience.

Night

I have noticed that I am most active after about 6pm. I am most sluggish in the morning and I would rather sleep than do anything else!
In fact after @10pm is when I get most of my work done - wonder if that is because I was born at 11:20pm!

Black and White

Always wondered why the best photographs in museums and art exhibitions are in black and white.
I personally love BW pics - given a choice between the two.
But still - how come we (majority of the ppl I know) like BW pics more, despite the fact that we want everything in color!

hmm...

Nice to have a log-book and hence this blog.
Still going to keep my main blog alive for more "descriptive" entries - although I just might merge the two at a later point in time - we'll see.