6 degrees of seperation

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare. - thank you wiki.


THis hypotheses is still one but one look into the social networking sites and you can accept it as a fact with some degree of certainity. Why Barack Obama is a 2nd level connection for me on LinkedIn, and I hardly know the 1st level connection.

This should make the world a happier place. You can reconnect with lost people and renew lost acquaintances. But that is where the whole thing goes horribly wrong.
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The fact that people get lost is because they wanted to get lost or we wanted to loose them. Is there a third option?

So are we really reconnecting? And is a friend of a friend my friend just because the friend is friend of friend? (Ok that was intentional ; ) )

Facebook is getting tougher every day, how do you explain a "friend" request from your elderly relatives or worse kids you have seen grow up from their diaper days? And the people who interact online do not offline, often leaving me confused when I run into them in the real world.

The more we get connected the more we drift apart.


(LinkedIn has been a real boon helping convert cold calls to referred calls but that is an aberation. )

It's so long since

Much water has flown under the bridge since my last blog post. I will not dwell too much on to the many events but this Christmas was special. First the wife and I produced and released our first ever Christmas CD titled "A Time to love".

A CD that suffered so many set backs and was almost not happening came out on the 1st Sunday of Advent thanks to the grace of God who sent so many wonderful donors who gladly donated to the cost of making it. The CD also taught us that trust in God is better than trust in others as "friends" backed out of the project fearing failure. Sung entirely by the kids of the children's choir and two songs by adult groups, the CD has got favourable reviews from people who have heard it. All the proceeds of this album will be shortly given to charities.

The CD also saw the formation of a small mixed voice group that we called "CREW 150:6" (to understand the numbers Google it), we were fortunate to sing in a mixed voice group after awhile and we actually debuted on the radio thanks to a carol competition on Chennai Live 104.8 FM, we also managed to perform in Stella Maris College as a part of their first ever carol evening. It was a musically satisfying Christmas thanks to all the other carol services with Stouxingers the male voice group.

So what after Christmas, 2011 ended on a good note and 2012 seems to be good so far. A month has already passed by and work is conspiring to occupy every spare moment that is on hand, so it is going to be one exciting financial year closing.

How ever well begun is half done, said some one, so I have begun blogging again and since I have started I will continue...

Mankatha - the movie

So watched the game as it is tagged, the movie had many big plusses going for it. This was the 50th movie of thala who's punch line loosely resembles the Duh of Big Moose. (If you don't know big moose google it please).

So the plot involves heist of a lot of money and the inevitable fight between those who pulled off the heist and the ultimate winner with the usual Venkat Prabhu twist.

There i wrote the script in about two lines, but to bring this to screen with an introduction song for thala and to give space for the huge ensemble cast (please refer wiki)and to patronize a loving brother and even more ever loving cousins, Venkat Prabhu gives a movie that would have been Hollywoodish at just 90 minutes but ends up as a normal movie with holes in the logic like the Chennai roads.

In all fairness it is a one time watch and it can be a decent time pass if you are with friends simply because thala has had a blast making this movie and it is seen right through. From the dances, the dialogue delivery, action sequences, thala rocks(i'm no fan, mind you). A colleague from Delhi who knew no Tamizh came along for fun and said what we knew but did not voice that the look and the role seemed straight off from a George Clooney flick.

The positives in no particular order - good background score, ensemble cast, Venkat Prabhu's irreverence, expected twist, Thala, Thala, Thala (he carries the movie all the way),it would take a lot to play the baddie and a real bad chain smoking, drunk, sleep around type of baddie at that and of course the action king who looks old but still does a neat job.

The negatives : terrible music, surely the cousins can do better for their loving cousin, the women who have pretty much nothing to do except maybe the vamp as Venkat Prabhu likes to show some skin in all his movies, Trisha is the equivalent of the blonde, the silly heist, the excessively long gun fights that reminded me of Hot shots part deux, surely how many bullets can a gun hold?

I will spend some time on the heist which was the biggest disappointment for me, you cannot hack into a secure site by just typing the IP address and this alone made the very silly Premgi look even sillier and you cannot unscrew a container off a truck by loosening four screws with a hand held device it is simply not on, after a bike stunt it felt like drinking a cola that was kept out in the sun for too long.


Bottomline: Do not miss it if you are a thala or a venkat prabhu fan for the others it is a decent one time watch

Roads

With a blog called Quo Vadis, the moment I saw the reminder from Indiblogger I did not have to think far for a subject to blog. The ubiquitous road, that can take one through the entire spectrum of emotions from agony to ecstasy today is worth a blog.

Living in a city we are used to the tarred roads black with white lines that aspire to make our journeys smooth but imagine life in places where there are no roads? A decade ago in the university where i studied our hostel was accessed by a red mud road, which during rainy days was best avoided for obvious reasons.

What is so interesting about roads, they are singularly the most uninteresting things around, how much interest can a black section of bitumen generate? But imagine the road in colour, multicolour actually. Currently the black and white road is a leveller you may ride a bicycle or a Bentley but on that black and white stretch you are an equal. Unfair actually, why should the two mix? And mix with bullock carts, cattle, mopeds, tractors, killer lorries and worse killer buses.

Why not colour code the roads on a payable basis? The black and white for the cyclists who deserve a free ride for the good health of the riders and ours too for
lesser emissions, then maybe a yellow lane on the road for all the government issue vehicles who will never pay for using the road, a red lane for ambulances, VIP and high security vehicles that need quick access, a blue lane for the aam aadmi the darlings of the ruling parties who will require a subsidy to drive on the roads on subsidized fuel and finally a green lane that is for those who will willingly pay a premium rate to travel on an exclusive high speed stretch that will minimize travel time and stress.

But since this is wishful thinking and we will still be frustrated every time we drive on the black and white road, we will keep wishing Öh for multicoloured roads!!

Back to my blog

Its been so long since I blogged that I did not even check the date of last post, feeling terribly guilty already. Much water has flown under the bridge since, woman power in full force with Didi and Amma storming to power. Corruption is on every bodys' lips now, so what is new, just that some big heads are rolling but the full effect is yet to happen and I am eagerly awaiting it.


On the personal front the long awaited promotion has happened and now, it is time to move on, sadly the job market is so bad it is better to rot here that venture out.

My first entrepreneurial step bombed, partly to bad planning, poor execution and extremely bad timing, but I think I have written off the loss and now having been bitten by the urge, have started dreaming of the next step already.

I have also got my own piece land in the city all of 400 odd sq ft of it, my share of UDS for a new flat in one remote corner of the city of Chennai in a village few have heard off, frankly I hadn't either till I saw the ad online. At the price and the value it offered me, I think I got myself a good deal. Unsurprisingly the adjacent project by the same builder is already being prices 400 bucks higher in under 6 months.

My bundle of joy is getting to be two years old and is a terror standing around 2 feet. She is enough to bring a smile on my weary face, each time she comes running to the door and jumping into my arms with a million watt smile, and that impish smile melts all anger each time she plays truant much to D's irritation. But after all the daughter is the apple of her dad's eye isn't it?

Work has never been better with deal closure happening faster than before, actually the fruit of the labour of years past is now yielding. So no complaints there.

God has been extremely good to us and it is so humbling to know that despite my infidelity to Him, He has been so faithful, loving and merciful.

Its good to be blogging again and I think i should blog more, so what if it is blocked at work (most of my blogs were at work). I hope to keep posting even if my ratings dont climb and even if nobody reads my blog, I blog because I like it.

Wine matures with age...

Driving past the girls college on Cathedral road in the afternoon, out of habit I looked at the girls in the bus stop and realized that this was not a girls college any more...

I asked D in the passenger seat and she agreed that most of those standing looked like ladies and not girls. Rudely said they look old and mature.

Some where the freshness of youth was missing what was visible atleast to our eyes were young women mature and old on the threshold of life. I wondered if things were the same when we were in college so many years ago and we believe it was not. Collegians still looked right, in between school and the higher studies or workplace, the problem I believe is deeper. During a carol competition last December many of the school students were unbelievably huge and looked more like post graduates (at the risk of sounding very very rude) than high schoolers, and high school of the Indian type not what is shown on Hollywood movies.

I suppose it is the system and the excessive pressure that parents put on their kids these days that kids have grown up earlier than they should. At 2 a play school, the very term is offensive, why put play and school together? You don't need to be schooled to play and you don't need a school charging astronomical fees to teach kids to play. Then a competitive school, cram a few tuitions, sports, music, and every thing else the parents could not till the kid becomes a master who can multitask and handle any challenge the world will throw at him / her.

From the age of 2 a kid is groomed for tomorrow so much to the point that many kids are already seeing tomorrow today. I read some where that kids are hitting puberty earlier than before, it may be natural but I believe it has been made natural by so many external and often unnecessary factors.

My doctor ticked me off for spending time on my interests on Sundays, he said that on Sunday nothing is more important that playing with my daughter. The key word here is play with the daughter and no, I am not getting PSX.

These ladies on the road were a wake up call for me that I will play with my daughter as much as I can and let her discover tomorrow on her own terms as much as I can. If she finds it a day later, I must learn to understand it is not the end of the world and that the best thing in the world is the present and that is why it is called a gift. (quote from Kung fu panda)

Morality are you there?

We are a morally deficient people and it is rare for most of us to deny this outrageous accusation.

Just think how many time have we done things that are wrong but our own self serving end justifying the means theory will ensure that we give morals the go by. Sometimes the other self serving declaration every one else does it so why not I also helps.

Just think when was the last time we
- gave a DIY rent receipt to save tax at the year end?
- collected a free be TV or bought stuff at a fair price shop meant for the BPL?
- last watched a block buster on CD at home?
- jumped a red light or drive down the wrong side?
- avoided a bill just to save the VAT and become part of the black money trail?


If acts of commission are bad the acts of commission are worse

- women are maimed for resisting rape and get thrown of trains
- public wealth is blatantly looted by a vested few
- public servants demanding bribes for doing their job
- shop keepers selling above the MRP blatantly violating law

I stop here because it is simply depressing to proceed any further

Back from a long HIatus!!!

Hi!!!! Best wishes for the new year 2011. More thoughts on the new year will follow shortly butk this post is just to tell you that the erstwhile domain name of "www.jollyrogersays.com" has expired as the service provider had increased the charges by 400%, so back to blogspot and www.jollyrogerrocks.blogspot.com