What they said about her ...

"This girl had something I hadn't seen since silent pictures. She had a kind of fantastic beauty like Gloria Swanson and she radiated sex like Jean Harlow. She didn't need a soundtrack to tell her story."
-- Leon Shamroy, the cinematographer who shot Marilyn's first screen test

"Marilyn was one step from oblivion when I directed her in The Asphalt Jungle. I remember she impressed me more off the screen than on.there was something touching and appealing about her."
-- John Huston, director of The Misfits and The Asphalt Jungle

"She seemed very shy, and I remember that when the studio workers would whistle at her, it seemed to embarrass her."
-- Cary Grant, co-star in Monkey Business

"I did Niagara with her. I found her marvelous to work with and terrifically ambitious to do better. And bright. She may not have had an education, but she was just naturally bright."
-- Henry Hathaway, director of the 1952 film

"She represents to man something we all want in our unfulfilled dreams. A man, he's got to be dead not to be excited by her."
-- Jean Negulesco, director of How to Marry a Millionaire

"Marilyn's a phenomenon of nature, like Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon. All you can do is stand back and be awed by it."
-- Nunnally Johnson, producer of How to Marry a Millionaire

"It's a toss-up whether the scenery or the adornment of Marilyn Monroe is the feature of greater attraction in River of No Return. The mountainous scenery is spectacular, but so in her own way is Miss Monroe."
-- Bosley Crowther, movie critic for The New York Times

"She had a great natural dignity and was extremely intelligent. She was also exceedingly sensitive."
-- Edith Sitwell, poet

"Marilyn was history's most phenomenal love goddess."
-- Philippe Halsman, photographer

"She saw herself drowning in Hollywood in 1955 and told her studio, 'I'm not just wiggling my behind.' Marilyn is not any one thing; she's multidimensional. As an actress, she has lots of imitators- but only Marilyn survives."
-- Eli Wallach, Marilyn's co-star in The Misfits

"I saw that what she looked like was not what she really was, and what was going on inside her was not what was going on outside, and that always means there may be something to work with. In Marilyn's case, the reactions were phenomenal. She can call up emotionally what is required for a scene. Her range is infinite."
-- Lee Strasberg, creator-director of the Actors Studio

"She is a brilliant comedienne, which to me means she also is an extremely skilled actress."
-- Sir Laurence Olivier, co-star of The Prince and the Showgirl

"She was wonderful. We were taught never to clap at the Actors Studio-it was like we were in church-and it was the first time I'd ever heard applause there."
-- Kim Stanley, the actress who originated Marilyn's Bus Stop role on stage

"Marilyn is as near a genius as any actress I ever knew. She is an artist beyond artistry. She is the most completely realized and authentic film actress since Garbo. She has that same unfathomable mysteriousness. She is pure cinema."
-- Joshua Logan, director of Bus Stop

"Her quality when photographed is almost of a supernatural beauty."
-- Lee Strasberg

"Her work frightened her, and although she had undoubted talent, I think she had a subconscious resistance to the exercise of being an actress. But she was intrigued by its mystique and happy as a child when being photographed; she managed all the business of stardom with uncanny, clever, apparent ease."
-- Sir Laurence Olivier

"I've learned about living from her. I took her as a serious actress even before I met her. I think she's an adroit comedienne, but I also think she might turn into the greatest tragic actress that can be imagined."
-- Arthur Miller, writer and husband

"Her beauty and humanity shine through.she is the kind of artist one does not come on every day in the week. After all, she was created something extraordinary."
-- Arthur Miller

"She was an absolute genius as a comedic actress, with an extraordinary sense for comedic dialogue. It was a God-given gift. Believe me, in the last fifteen years there were ten projects that came to me, and I'd start working on them and I'd think, 'It's not going to work, it needs Marilyn Monroe.' Nobody else is in that orbit; everyone else is earthbound by comparison."
-- Billy Wilder, director of Some Like it Hot and The Seven Year Itch

"She had flesh which photographed like flesh. You feel you can reach out and touch it. Unique is an overworked word, but in her case it applies. There will never be another one like her, and Lord knows there have been plenty
of imitations."
-- Billy Wilder

"She has a certain indefinable magic that comes across, which no other actress in the business has."
-- Billy Wilder

"They've tried to manufacture other Marilyn Monroes and they will undoubtedly keep trying. But it won't work. She was an original."
-- Billy Wilder

"Marilyn always dreamt of being an actress. She didn't, by the way, dream of being just a star. She dreamt of being an actress. And she had always lived somehow with that dream. And that is why, despite the fact that she became one of the most unusual and outstanding stars of all time, she herself was never satisfied. When she came to New York, she began to perceive the possibilities of really accomplishing her dream, of being an actress."
-- Lee Strasberg

"The last time I saw Marilyn was in late 1959, when I appeared in Let's Make Love at Fox. The wide-eyed Marilyn I had first known was gone. This Marilyn was more beautiful than ever."
-- Milton Berle, comedian

"Marilyn Monroe is the greatest farceuse in the business, a female Chaplin."
-- Jerry Wald, producer

"She listens, wants, cares. I catch her laughing across a room and I bust up. Every pore of that lovely translucent skin is alive, open every moment-even though this world could make her vulnerable to being hurt. I would rather work with her than any other actress. I adore her."
-- Montgomery Clift, Marilyn's co-star in The Misfits

"Marilyn is a kind of ultimate. She is uniquely feminine. Everything she does is different, strange, and exciting, from the way she talks to the way she uses that magnificent torso. She makes a man proud to be a man."
-- Clark Gable

"She went right down into her own personal experience for everything, reached down and pulled something out of herself that was unique and extraordinary. She had no techniques. It was all the truth, it was only Marilyn. But it was Marilyn, plus. She found things, found things about womankind in herself."
-- John Huston, director of The Asphalt Jungle and The Misfits

"It's a terrible pity that so much beauty has been lost to us."
-- John Huston

"I know people who say 'Hollywood broke her heart,' and all that, but I don't believe it. She was very observant and tough minded and appealing, but she adored and trusted the wrong people. She was very courageous-you know the book Twelve Against the Gods? Marilyn was like that, she had to challenge the gods at every turn."
-- George Cukor, director

"Nobody discovered her, she earned her own way to stardom."
-- Darryl Zanuck, president of 20th Century Fox

"Her death has diminished the loveliness of the world in which we live."
-- Life magazine

"Marilyn Monroe.the most fragile and loveable legend of all."
-- Look magazine

"She was beautiful and untouched, it was as though she were just beginning."
-- Bert Stern, photographer

"It's my feeling that Marilyn looked forward to her tomorrows."
-- Eunice Murray, Marilyn's housekeeper

"When you look at Marilyn on the screen, you don't want anything bad to happen to her. You really care that she should be all right.happy."
-- Natalie Wood

"When you speak of the American way of life, everybody thinks of chewing gum, coca-cola, and Marilyn Monroe."
-- the Russian magazine Nedvela

"Marilyn played the best game with the worst hand of anybody I know."
-- Edward Wagenknecht, author

"She's scared and unsure of herself. I found myself wishing that I were a psychoanalyst and she were my patient. It might be that I couldn't have helped her, but she would have looked lovely on a couch."
-- Billy Wilder

"She had such a magnetism that if 15 men were in a room with her, each man would be convinced he was the one she'd be waiting for after the others left."
-- Publicist Roy Craft

"She was pure of heart. She was free of guile. She never understood either the adoration or the antagonism which she awakened."
-- Edward Wagenknecht

"I love Marilyn Monroe. I think she was the coolest blonde. I think like me she just didn't care what anyone thinks. She's happy. She's smiling. I don't know, I just always thought she was so beautiful and she just seemed, like, magical."
-- Paris Hilton

Oddities in Life

Oddities in Life

I met a few guys here in Seattle who went to see Las Vegas but did not visit The Strip. They visited Las Vegas downtown and returned. This was because they did not know about The Strip.

Talk about going to Giza and Cairo and not seeing the Pyramids.

Gearing Up for Windows Vista

Microsoft Redmond Campus is coverd with Banners advertising Vista and Office 12. Even the shuttles have not been spared.

What My Name Means

Karttika, Karthika, Kartik

These names have the essential meaning 'one who gives courage and happiness.' These are all names attributed to Muruga, the powerful son of Shiva and Shakti, the Mother and Father of the universe. They created Him from the elements of divine fire and holy water. He is the embodiment of bravery, having total faith in the golden spear, the vel, of tremendous shining light. This sacred spear destroys all negativity and fear in an instant. Karttika goes into battle against all dark forces. Spiritually this means that the aspirant must stand firm against all negative qualities, ignorance and fear with heroic courage. To do this you can feel that your heart is light and free and send out all unwanted feelings. Ask your spiritual teacher to help you to make yourself independent of addictions and attachments. A vessel may be full of water but even the smallest hole will cause the water to leak out. In the same way, you might have small doubts and fears about your spiritual life that stop you making headway. To reach inner freedom and happiness you need self-confidence and strength to plug up those little holes of doubt and anxiety. Repeating your name inwardly will make you strong and sure.

The Ladies behind Infosys

The Ladies behind Infosys

In 1981, when N R Narayana Murthy led six other techies to float their dream venture called Infosys, they had no money and only their wives' support. And that support led to the founding and then the phenomenal growth of one of India's most loved companies.

Murthy and his friends did not have money, but they had something better: dreams, courage and conviction to move ahead with Infosys, through struggles and the constant fear whether their start-up would rake in business and money.

Murthy was the man who took final decisions that proved to be right always. And Murthy was the first one to shift from his Pune base to Bangalore when Infosys got it first client -- Data Basics Corporation from the US.

Two other founders -- Nandan Nilekani and S D Shibulal -- were the next to move to Bangalore.
As they struggled it out with the first Infosys days in Bangalore, Murthy, Nilekani and Shibulal took a firm decision: that their wives would not be involved in the running of the company.
Their wives -- Sudha Murthy, Rohini Nilekani and Kumari Shibulal -- fully supported the husbands, and baby-sat at home.

There was no luxury, only struggle, day in and day out. No car or phone. Murthy later recalled that it was not the luxuries of life, but the passion to create something new and innovative that made them move on.

But despite the struggles, the Murthys, Nilekanis and Shibulals took time out to go out to have fun on picnics in the picturesque Bangalore those days.

Today, Sudha, Rohini and Kumari are also among the richest women in India, considering their shareholding in Infosys.

What do the women behind the Infosys dreamers do these days with so much money?

Sudha Murthy:

"I take pleasure in giving. I feel that I have a reasonably good amount of money for all of which I don't have much use. So I thought I should share it with my poorer countrymen."

Sudha heads Infosys Foundation, the charity and social services wing of Infosys.

In her right, she is also reputed software engineer. In the early struggling days of Infosys, Sudha would leave her children -- daughter Akshata and son Rohan -- in the company of Nilekani's wife Rohini and do part-time job for Infosys, writing software codes.

An ME Electrical from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, she started her career as a Development Engineer with TELCO. Later, she taught Computer Science to B.Sc and MCA students in Bangalore University.

A prolific writer in both Kannada and English, she has been a columnist for several English and Kannada dailies and also has 19 books to her credit -- among them novels, travelogues, technical books and collections of real-life experiences.

She is probably one of the few Kannada writers to have her work translated into so many Indian languages.

Rohini Nilekani:

Her husband Nandan Nilekani runs Infosys. A fiercely private person, Rohini -- who worked as a journalist for several years -- is actively involved with several non-profit organisations in Bangalore.

She has also set up an endowment fund called Arghyam, (which means 'offering' in Sanskrit) that supports endeavours in health, education, and especially in equity in access to water for all.

She is also:
Chairperson for Akshara Foundation, the goal of which is 'Every child in Bangalore in school and learning well.'
Co-founder of Pratham Books, a non-profit publishing enterprise to produce high quality, low cost books for children in several Indian languages.
On the board of directors of Pratham India Education Initiative.
On the board of Sanghamithra Rural Financial Services and has funded its first microcredit program for the urban poor.
Last, not the least, Rohini is a prolific reader and writer, a quality she inherited while working as journalist with Sunday and India Today.
Few years back, she published her novel, a medical thriller called Stillborn, which was brought out by Penguin Books.

Kumari Shibulal:

Her husband S D Shibulal is the co-founder of Infosys, and currently director and head of Worldwide Customer Delivery, and continues to play a pivotal role in Infosys's astounding growth.

Shibulal and his wife Kumari live in a South Shore suburb of Boston, MA, with their two children.
But often, Kumari is in India, especially in Bangalore as she is the chairperson of Akshaya, a charitable trust they founded to help needy children in India. Akshaya offers scholarships, and has sponsored over 1,000 children for free heart surgery in the year 2002.

"What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean and if we do not do it the ocean is only a drop less," says Kumari Shibulal of her Akshaya Trust.

Kumari is also a sports lover, and especially of India's golden girl P T Usha from her home state of Kerala.

So when P T Usha was without money to set up the Usha School of Athletics in north Kerala, Kumari Shibulal was one of the first to give a helping hand.

Six students of the first in the Usha School have been fully sponsored by Akshaya Trust.
In one of her recent visits to the school, Kumari Shibulal wrote: "I will be more than honoured if one among the six students sponsored by me stands on the podium at international meets making our Tricolour fly high."

Above: (From left to right) Kumari Shibulal, Rohini Nilekani and Sudha Murthy. Photograph, courtesy Infosys Technologies.

XScream at Las Veags

X-Scream at Stratospehere

The X-Scream is the newest ride in Las Vegas, having just opened in late 2003. It was bolted onto the side of the Stratosphere tower at the 866-foot level. The X-Scream is built like a balance beam, with a single 8-passenger car that rides on top of the 69-foot beam. The beam tilts back and forth to move the car at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. The seating on the car is 2 across in 4 rows. Those that sit in the front get a far more intense ride than the remaining 6 riders in the back. That is because the beam hangs 29 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere tower, and there is nothing at all between the front riders and the ground some 800 feet below.

The ride starts with the entry ramp being retracted. The beam then tilts forward, with the car traveling to the end of the beam. They let you hang over the edge for what seems like forever, but actually is about 10 seconds. You then tilt back, with the car going to the full back position and stopping. You then tilt forward a second time, and again hang there for about 10 seconds. Next, you tilt back, but just before the car hits the back of the beam, it tilts forward again. This leaves the car rolling backwards, stopping, and rolling forwards while the beam is titled towards the ground. This time, as you hang there looking fearfully at the ground, they tilt the beam even further down. This leaves you hanging in the restraints high over a most excellent view of the Las Vegas strip, a view that most are too terrified to enjoy. The beam then tilts back one final time, bringing the riders back from the brink of death.

This is not a conventional roller coaster. In fact, at a track length of 69 feet, it can hardly be called a roller coaster at all. But it is a thrill ride of the first class. While this ride would be nothing if it were at ground level, it is one step beyond terrifying given that it is bolted to the side of one of the tallest buildings in the world almost 900 feet in the air. Those who are not afraid of heights will love this ride. Those who are afraid of heights will simply not be able to get on the ride—their survival instinct will kick in and not allow them to try it. That goes double it you watch the ride running from the outside observation deck before getting on. If you are the least bit iffy about this, don't watch the ride before getting on, and don't ride in the front seats unless you know you can handle it. It may also be a good idea to ride the High Roller first to help you get used to the heights.

It costs something like $8 to enter the Stratosphere tower, then $8 for the X-Scream. The best deal is the $25 day pass which gives you all-access to the tower and thrill rides. The X-Scream is outside, so it is subject to closing in bad weather and high winds.

XScream was unforgettable

Pappilon

Pappilon

This is one of those Ultimate Tales of Survival. When I was back in school my father always asked me to read 'Pappilon'. Now after 14 years I understand why.

The survival story of Pappi is 'surreal'. What I mean by that is - a normal person would give up and die in similar situations. From French Guyana to the Devils Island and finally to Venezuala, Henri Charriere perhaps brings out the extreme in mans zeal to survive all odds. While reading the book quite often you end up asking - can this be true, can this be real, what if Iam in a similar position.

Pappi brings out great condradictions - he is on island inhabited by the Indians who are supposed to be ferocious and merciless. On this island he finds love and peace. He is on an island of Lepers - here he finds friendship and compassion. He is resting in a church and totally trusts the mother superior. And she is the one who betrays him. To sum up - Papillon makes you stronger I would also like to add that this book is not only about Pappi. Louis Dega is one character I cannot forget.

Dont Eat God

Dont eat God

Floyd Johnson, my co-worker at Microsoft just brought me a Buritto and asked me to grab a piece. I asked him whats in it? He said Beef and Beans ...."Floyd I cant eat that dude, coz my religion prevents me from eating beef". Floyd, "Dont worry about it Kartik, I know you dont want to eat your God" ............ :)

Taxi Cab Confessions

Taxi Cab Confessions

My job demands that I keep moving from one building to another within the Microsoft Redmond Campus for meetings. Microsoft provides shuttle services and I think its one of the best services that a employer could offer to the employees. You get a shuttle from anywhere to anywhere on a giagantic campus within minutes. I am person who cannot sit quite on planes, trains or automobiles. I have to talk to someone.

So on one of these shuttle rides I picked up a conversation with the driver who was from some African country. His english was poor, but he said "Namaste" and then he went on to say "Kaise Ho".."Main Acha Hun" and stuff in Hindi. I was astonished. I said wazzup?. What he said was more suprising, he said Hindi movies are a rage in whichever part of Africa he was from. I guess he was from the central Africa - Congo, Tanzania perhaps.

He went on to add that Hindi movies really churn up the audiences back in Africa. He said that the hindi movies of the '80s were really good. [....well i didnt know that]. His faviourtie movie where he cried was "Kranti" starring Manoj Kumar, Hema Malini, Dilip Kumar etc.

Well - World is Flat

Volcano Visit

Volcano Visit

Yesterday I visited the mighty Mount St. Helens. This is my second visit to the place. I was so fascinated by this place the first time that I wanted to visit the place again. As I had said before at Mount St. Helens the "destruction is seductive". The wrath, the fury of The Earth which you could witness at St. Helens is something you should see for yourself. No words or Photographs can describe what you actually see. Destruction everywhere. You have acres of standing burnt down forests.

St.Helens last erupted on May 18, 1980 at 8:32am. That eruption was the most deadly and economically destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed and 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways and 185 miles (300 km) of highway were destroyed. The eruption caused a massive debris avalanche, reducing its summit from 9,677 feet (2,950 m) to 8,364 feet (2,550 m) in elevation and replacing it with a mile-wide (1.5 km-wide) horseshoe-shaped crater The debris avalanche from the 1980 eruption was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.3 km3) in volume, making it the largest in recorded history.

Mount St. Helens is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire which includes over 160 active volcanoes.

Click here for a picture of St.Helens I took from about 4 miles.

America Uncensored

America Uncensored – America as you don’t see it in the photos

The most boring thing for me is to watch hundreds of thousands of photographs of friends and family. Especially the ones in the US. Due the revolution in digital photography and digital cameras getting dirt cheap, everyone is going on mayhem, clicking mercilessly whatever they see. Some people don’t enjoy what they see with their eyes but they are more bothered about the photos that they want to take.

And especially the US photos can be classified mostly into the following categories

1. Downtown Photos – Some freakin downtown. Photos are clicked and clicked again of downtowns from Seattle to Manhattan from LA to Miami. Downtown Photos
2. Waterfront Photos
3. Niagara Falls
4. Statue of Liberty
5. Vegas + Grand Canyon + Hoover Dam etc.
6. National Parks
7. Desi Get togethers

Its so predictable and mundane and boring. And most of the photos capture essentially the good side of America. i.e the clean roads, the greenery etc.

I am starting a new endeavour called America Uncensored – where I plan to capture some American truth that you don’t see in the photos from your friends and family in the US.

Lets see how it goes.

The Seattle Times

The Seattle Times

The Chinese President Hu Jintao showed up today at our campus and there were many protestors who gathered around the Executive Briefing Center where he was meeting Bill Gates. My Manager and I happened to show up there and ended up getting interviewed by Seattle Times.

Click here to visit the Seattle Time

The Unforgettables - Part 2

Tony Montana - Now this is one character I love watching each time. I must have seen the Scarface "countless" number of times. Each time Tony Montana gives me a kick. "Say hello to my little friend"

The Unforgettables - Part 1

I have had a lot of good and bad influences in my life.
Now this gentleman right here, with whom I share my Zodiac sign with , has been a great inlfuence in my life.

Here are some of his quotes.

• A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.

• Cigarettes are a bet with your mind.

• Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.


• Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself-and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to-letting a person be what he really is.

• Hatred is a very underestimated emotion.

• I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos-especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom... Rather than starting inside, I start outside and reach the mental through the physical.

• I believe in a long, prolonged, derangement of the senses in order to obtain the unknown.

• I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something.

• I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then - whoosh, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again, and they won't be able to forget me - ever.

• I see myself as an intelligent, sensitive human, with the soul of a clown which forces me to blow it at the most important moments.

• I was stoned. It seemed like a fun thing to do at the time.

• I wouldn't mind dying in a plane crash. It'd be a good way to go. I don't want to die in my sleep, or of old age, or OD... I want to feel what it's like. I want to taste it, hear it, smell it. Death is only going to happen to you once; I don't want to miss it.

• If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.

• It's like gambling somehow. You go out for a night of drinking and you don't know where your going to end up the next day. It could work out good or it could be disastrous. It's like the throw of the dice.

• Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through anyone that suits you.

• Love cannot save you from your own fate.

• Music inflames temperament.

• Some of the worst mistakes of my life have been haircuts.

• The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask.

• The most loving parents and relatives commit murder with smiles on their faces. They force us to destroy the person we really are: a subtle kind of murder.

• The time to hesitate is through.

• There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors.

• Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence.

• We fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict.

• When you make your peace with authority, you become authority.

• Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.

LALKAAR

LALKAAR

hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe qafan
chaahatein liin bhar liye lo bhar chale hain ye qadam
zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inquilaab
hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj
duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

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

There is something about this when Aamir Khan sings it in RDB

Hilarious

Click on the links to see some hilarious answers.

These are real answers written by some student in some highschool examination in india

Answer Sheet 1
Answer Sheet 2
Answer Sheet 3
Answer Sheet 4

Cheers

Home Collage

Home Collage

To live up to the Grunge Music culture of Seattle, I came up with this collage on my drawing room wall in my home in seattle.
Collage

Driving In India

Driving In India

This hilarious article was written by an Expert from Europe who spent two years in Hyderabad..

Driving in India For the benefit of every Tom, Dick and Harry visiting India and daring to drive on Indian roads, I am offering a few hints for survival. They are applicable to every place in India except Bihar, where life outside a vehicle is only marginally safer.

Indian road rules broadly operate within the domain of karma where you do your best, and leave the results to your insurance company. The hints are as follows: Do we drive on the left or right of the road? The answer is "both". Basically you start on the left of the road, unless it is occupied.

In that case, go to the right, unless that is also occupied. Then proceed by occupying the next available gap, as in chess. Just trust your instincts, ascertain the direction, and proceed.

Adherence to road rules leads to much misery and occasional fatality. Most drivers don't drive, but just aim their vehicles in the generally intended direction. Don't you get discouraged or underestimate yourself except for a belief in reincarnation; the other drivers are not in any better position. Don't stop at pedestrian crossings just because some fool wants to cross the road. You may do so only if you enjoy being bumped in the back. Pedestrians have been strictly instructed to cross only when traffic is moving slowly or has come to a dead stop because some minister is in town. Still some idiot may try to wade across, but then, let us not talk ill of the dead.

Blowing your horn is not a sign of protest as in some countries. We horn to express joy, resentment, frustration, romance and bare lust (two brisk blasts),or just mobilize a dozing cow in the middle of the bazaar. Keep informative books in the glove compartment. You may read them during traffic jams, while awaiting the chief minister's motorcade, or waiting for the rainwater to recede when over ground traffic meets underground drainage.

Occasionally you might see what looks like a UFO with blinking colored lights and weird sounds emanating from within. This is an illuminated bus, full of happy pilgrims singing bhajans. These pilgrims go at breakneck speed, seeking contact with the Almighty, often meeting with success.

Auto Rickshaw (Baby Taxi): The result of a collision between a rickshaw and an automobile, this three-wheeled vehicle works on an external combustion engine that runs on a mixture of kerosene oil and creosote. This triangular vehicle carries iron rods, gas cylinders or passengers three times its weight and dimension, at an unspecified fare.

After careful geometric calculations, children are folded and packed into these auto rickshaws until some children in the periphery are not in contact with the vehicle at all. Then their school bags are pushed into the microscopic gaps all round so those minor collisions with other vehicles on the road cause no permanent damage. Of course, the peripheral children are charged half the fare and also learn Newton's laws of motion enroute to school. Auto-rickshaw drivers follow the road rules depicted in the film Ben Hur, and are licensed to irritate.

Mopeds: The moped looks like an oil tin on wheels and makes noise like an electric shaver. It runs 30 miles on a teaspoon of petrol and travels at break-bottom speed. As the sides of the road are too rough for a ride, the moped drivers tend to drive in the middle of the road; they would rather drive under heavier vehicles instead of around them and are often "mopped" off the tarmac.

Leaning Tower of Passes: Most bus passengers are given free passes and during rush hours, there is absolute mayhem. There are passengers hanging off other passengers, who in turn hang off the railings and the overloaded bus leans dangerously, defying laws of gravity but obeying laws of surface tension. As drivers get paid for overload (so many Rupees per kg of passenger), no questions are ever asked. Steer clear of these buses by a width of three passengers.

One-way Street: These boards are put up by traffic people to add jest in their otherwise drab lives. Don't stick to the literal meaning and proceed in one direction. In metaphysical terms, it means that you cannot proceed in two directions at once. So drive as you like, in reverse throughout, if you are the fussy type. Least I sound hypercritical, I must add a positive point also. Rash and fast driving in residential areas has been prevented by providing a "speed breaker"; two for each house. This mound, incidentally, covers the water and drainage pipes for that residence and is left untarred for easy identification by the corporation authorities, should they want to recover the pipe for year-end accounting.

Night driving on Indian roads can be an exhilarating experience for those with the mental makeup of Ghenghis Khan. In a way, it is like playing Russian roulette, because you do not know who amongst the drivers is loaded. What looks like premature dawn on the horizon turns out to be a
truck attempting a speed record. On encountering it, just pull partly into the field adjoining the road until the phenomenon passes.

Our roads do not have shoulders, but occasional boulders. Do not blink your lights expecting reciprocation. The only dim thing in the truck is the driver, and with the peg of illicit arrack (alcohol) he has had at the last stop, his total cerebral functions add up to little more than a naught. Truck drivers are the James Bonds of India, and are licensed to kill. Often you may encounter a single powerful beam of light about six feet above the ground. This is not a super motorbike, but a truck approaching you with a single light on, usually the left one. It could be the right one, but never get too close to investigate. You may prove your point posthumously. Of
course, all this occurs at night,on the trunk roads.

During the daytime, trucks are more visible, except that the drivers will never show any Signal. (And you must watch for the absent signals; they are the greater threat). Only, you will often observe that the cleaner who sits next to the driver, will project his hand and wave hysterically. This is definitely not to be construed as a signal for a left turn. The waving is just a statement of physical relief on a hot day. If, after all this, you still want to drive in India, have your lessons between 8 pm and 11 am-when the police have gone home and - The citizen is then free to enjoy the 'FREEDOM OF SPEED' enshrined in the constitution. Having said all this, isn't it true that the accident rate and related deaths are less in India compared to US or other countries!!??

Ages

Ages since I have blogged reasons. The top 3 reasons are "No Time". So let me start from the 4th

4. I was finishing a project and getting moved out of it
5. Even before I could finish the exisitng project my ass got moved to the next one
6. I was woking on both the projects
7. I had to travel from Hyderabad to Seattle.
8. Run around...Run Around.
9. Moved lock stock and barell to Seattle

So from tomorrow will start the Blog Crusade all over again.

Random Thoughts / Events

The Almighty – by Jeffrey Archer

Started this book yesterday and I’ am already half way through it. It’s a old book but surely gives you a kick.

Shikhar

A new Hindi movie is going to be released next week. The posters give me an impression that this one is inspired by Oliver Stone’s - Wall Street. Difference --- Stone dealt with the Wall Street and this movie deals with the screwed up Bombay Real Estate business

http://www.shikharmovie.com/

Oliver Stone

Coming to think of Oliver Stone I am surprised by the number of Oliver Stone movies that I have seen – The Doors / Natural Born Killers / Heaven and Earth / Born on the 4^th of July / Platoon / JFK / Wall Street / Alexander.

Merry Christmas