Slowly but not so steadily

I had a four day holiday this weekend starting from Christmas. It was a nice opportunity to practice on my driving. At the end of it, I see that I drove around 65 Km. in some 2 and 1/2 hours time.

I drove not more than 40-45 Km/hr and mostly I kept my speed just below the 40 mark. Many a times at the signals, I stalled the engine due to that nasty clutch, which I release suddenly and with a jerk, or without applying sufficient gas. I was also lousy sometimes on the main roads especially the busy ones. On one occasion, a Blue Line bus (the most dreaded public transport bus service of Delhi, aka Killer Buses) nearly slammed onto my co-driver door at the Bhikaji Cama flyover. I was dutifully driving at around 40 Km/hr in the middle lane. Thanks to the fellow on the extreme right lane behind me, he slowed down so that I could swing the car onto the right lane and drive away. Driving here by rules can be dangerous, so I had been taught a number of times.

On the positive side, I am atleast able to do some basic driving. On relatively empty roads I am able to drive and manage the gear changing stuff fine. Night driving and congested road driving is what is on the list next.

By the way here is a pic., that I took from my car, waiting at the Vijay Chowk signal. You can see the Parliament in this. I thought of taking one of the India Gate too, but for that I had to stop my car and get out of it... something that I was not interested in doing.

Phir wohi hisaab aur behisaab

It is winter, and again time to catch the blues. Damn! but cannot help it... whatever protection I may take.

कर रहा था ग़म-ऐ-जहाँ का हिसाब,
आज तुम याद बेहिसाब आए|

आए कुछ अब्र, कुछ शराब आए....

Happy and contented now?

It is finally there

Yes, Chandrayaan-I has finally reached at a 100 Km moon-orbit. It has beamed a picture of the moon too. If interested, you can view it here. The Terrain mapping camera (TMC) and the Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM) payloads have been switched on. We now wait for the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) to hoist the Indian national flag on the moon surface. While crashing on the moon surface the MIP, is also supposed to take pictures of the surface and beam them back. So let us see.

One up one to go

After last game's defeat, Vishy managed a draw to split the point in Game 11. This makes him the World Champion once again. Great job!!! Congrats!!! Hurray!!! :) It was easy, all through the game, once Kramnik responded with Sicilian Najdorf variation and Vishy was dominating the game throughout.

Now focus is on Chandrayaan-I. As per today's update, the EBN-4 phase was carried out, the craft has moved even more closer to moon (apogee of 2,67,000 Km). There will be a final push later that would bring it very close to the moon. Let us wait and watch.

Scraped Through

I watched the live webcast of the 9th game of the World Chess Championship 2008, (Bonn) yesterday night. I had feared much worse but Vishy managed to scrape through the match with a draw, thanks to some lapse in concentration on Kramnik's part. Just one more draw is what is required to win the championship.

On the Chandrayaan-I front, as per update by ISRO (dated: 26th October 2008), Chandrayaan has entered the deep space with an apogee of 164,600 Km and a perigee of 348 Km after its on board rockets were fired for the 3rd time. It now takes around 73 hours to rotate the earth once. Though I am not very sure, but the apogee seems to be lower than what was planned in EBN-3 phase by about 34,677 Km. Maybe this is normal.

Got nothing else to do, except wait and watch.

Fingers crossed

I keep my fingers crossed for Vishy and Chandrayaan-I.

I hope and pray everything goes well in the next phase in both the cases.

Courage to ask

I had never followed Harry Potter, until last week. Not having the enthusiasm to pick up those fat volumes of printed material, I turned to the movie versions.

Currently I am watching the fourth in the series, "Goblet of Fire". The entire series is fascinating. Rowling seems to have created a virtual world all by herself. The "magic" and the school-ish environment appeals to the children almost instantly. The depiction of courage, righteousness and a strong sense of family bonding and values makes the adults interested in it too.

My favorite character is Hermione Granger. Genuine intelligence mixed with innocent beauty, draws my attention and admiration. Somehow I view Hermione in that light.

Also would like to reflect upon a dialogue of Hermione in the "Goblet of Fire", which prompted me to choose the title of this post. During the end of the Ball, she remarked to Ron "...pack up the courage and ask before somebody else does... and not as a last resort". Very true words, and the most difficult thing to do in the path towards love.

Not many people have that courage.

TATA good bye to Singur

I watched Ratan Tata on the videopod broadcast of NDTV, announcing the decision to move the "Nano Project" out of Singur. A very well balanaced appearence, exactly letting the media know the reasons why the decision was taken and who is to be blamed for it. He also clearly seggregated this issue with the other investments in West Bengal, and a promise to be a part of the development of the state in the future. The sign of a true entrepreneur and a great visionary.

I believe, it is time for the people of West Bengal to take a decision, as to how they want to progress in the development path. Agreed, rural agricultural development is necessary and it should be fostered and protected by the state government, but industrial development is required urgently too. Once upon a time, West Bengal hosted great many factories and production houses. Today all those are shut down, due to labour issues. Now a fighting attempt is being made by the most progressive left leader of the nation, and he is critised from within his party as well as by the opposition.

It is also time for the people of the West Bengal to rise from the highly philosophical armchairs that they think they are sitting on, to do some hard work on the ground and put their intelligence into some concrete output. The stragety of weekend "bandhs" and "dharnas" is proving to be irritating and damaging for them.

The world has moved a lot ahead outside of West Bengal, than they can even imagine.

By the way, I have always had this wild thought in my mind, to settle down somewhere in this state, in my old age. Let us see!

Turmoil Again

Today was another day of turmoil in the US financial markets. A 158 year old financial institution announced banckruptcy due to the global credit crunch. It is said that it had around $46 million of mortgages account. Merrill Lynch, is also being bought out by Bank of America at $29 per share.

This did send the stock markets into a tizzy, but what one wonders is the impact it would have on the job situation and the general economic condition of that country and the countries that have substantial workforce of these organisations. The roubustness of the US economy is necessary for other economies to sustain themselves. At this point of time, there is no other economy that can be an alternative to the US, in leadership.

Back in India, a direct consequence of the banckruptcy declaration is the immediate wipe-off of around Rs. 2,000 crores from the institutions in which it invested. Their stock prices fell immediately.  I am not sure as to how much it is correct to predict that the Indian Banking sector is immune to the sub-prime crisis in the US. The crisis is now not limited to just itself, it has spread into other financial sectors, and in the long run is going to impact us, if it is not controlled and taken care right now.

Let us hope for the best.

A Wednesday

Today on a Thursday, I watched "A Wednesday". The movie is an absolute thriller till the very end. Though such movies are unrealistic in real life, the underlying social message it carries, adds a lot of extra thrill to watch such gripping action packed drama.

The movie is paced very well. The performances of Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher are beyond description. In totality, a must dekho movie.

Amongst other things, there has been a  "change of guards" sorts at the workplace. New demands have been placed too! Let us see :)

nVidia card dies finally

My nVidia video card, finally hang up it's boots today. It simply refuses to respond and causes the screen to freeze on Windoze load. I wanted to check if the problem was with the card or the driver, but gave up after finding that my Fedora Core 8 DVD was corrupt. I am back to using the on-board Intel(R, and all that) graphics card. I am unable to use the Aero(R) interface, since that would require a video card. With the cost of car loan at it's peak, I will withhold the new card purchase as of now. In any case, I am not interested in spending more on my desktop. Come December, I may be mobile, in my use of computer at home :)

Also took this opp. to clean my keyboard thoroughly. Plugged out all the keys from the base frame and washed them with soap water. I did have a hectic time putting back all the keys properly back. I do have a much hygenic keyboard now, atleast!

My inability

I am so pathetic! It is such a simple thing. Everyone seems to be able to do it with ease. It doesn't require logic or brains either. Why can't I do it?

It has been almost 3 and 1/2 hours into it, I cannot still ease up the clutch pedal to the "biting point", release it gradually and apply gas simultaneously. Obviously, I should remember to be on the first gear for all this. Blast me!

I knew I was delaying it. Amongst a few other things in my life, this is one thing that I should have done much earlier.

Washed Away?

I was totally drenched today evening, while returning from my client's place to my office to catch my cab.

Was it because the All Mighty wanted to wash away the remaining tit-bits of the 12 year old story? Or was it because he wanted me to get wet, catch a cold and fall sick with fever, and have another miserable time?

Well I will know that in a day or two.

फिर वही

वही सद रंग नाला फर्साई,
वही सद गूनह अश्क़ बारी है|

अजीब बात है

अजीब सी बेचैनी है|
न जाने क्यूँ आज ऐसा महसूस होता है,
तस्सव्वुर में भी तो वह अब नहीं,
रातें भी इतनी तन्हा नहीं| :)

मेरी तन्हाई मेरी तन्हाई है.... :D

Chandrayaan - I

Just read a detailed write-up on the Chandrayaan - I, India's first launch vehicle to the Moon. It is supposed to be launched sometime in September this year, though a final date is not yet confirmed.

Chandrayaan - I will primarily be a remote sensing satellite, for sensing the lunar surface. This satellite is expected to map the lunar surface and create a 3-D atlas of the topography. The entire launch vehicle will contain 11 payloads, 5 by ISRO and 6 by international agencies like NASA, ESA and The Bulgarian Space Agency. The spacecraft will be launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) PSLV-XL. The PSLV is the workhorse of ISRO, with a string of uninterrupted successes till date. The spacecraft is supposed to reach the moon in 5 and 1/2 days time.

There is a wonderful site put in place by ISRO covering all aspects of the mission. In case one is interested, it can be visted here.

Waiting eargrly for the launch and the pictures! By the way, here is a sample picture of central Delhi taken by the CARTOSAT-2A and presented to the Prime Minister by the ISRO team. CARTOSAT-2A was the main payload of the epic PSLV - C9 launch, which put 10 satellites into space creating a world record.

It is good to see, the space programme of our country now yielding commercial results in big magnitudes.

Blast It!

This is the expression I would like to borrow from Bertie Wooster, to describe the current political situation of my country. The entire world is under a tremendous economic stress, and all that our politicians can think of is the approaching general elections. Energy needs of our country, rising inflation and cross border terrorism are all at their disposal to exploit public sentiments and influence the voters. I hope we are educated enough to understand what is going on, and teach these people a lesson.

On something refreshing now. Watched a small clip of JS reciting "Dil mein ab dard-e-muhabbat". It sounds so different in his voice! Notice the way in which he comes down from the "meri ibaadat" to "ke siwa" in the second line of the verse. With all due respects to Lata Mangeshkar for her version, this short one truly brings out the feeling of the poet.

Yes, that is Babu in the frame to the left of JS.

A Small Change

As was expected the Reserve Bank fiddled with the rates, and forced the banks to up the lending rates for home, personal and car loans. I think I will wait for a couple of months, after which I will make my purchase, anyways.

The big question is whether to go in for a diesel, petrol or a dual one with LPG and petrol model of the stuff. Since LPG and the dual ones are really a pain to fill up in the city, I would prefer to choose between the diesel and petrol only versions.

Among other things, there would be a small change at my workplace. Let us see how it works out. It is better to do some work, rather than not having to do anything at all!

The IT return deadline is just a month away. Things have been simplified to some extent, and I am considering filing it through the online process this time. Hmm... seems interesting.

High Price - No Car

After the fuel price hike, we now have an inflation of around 13%. I have heard that the Reserve Bank of India, will further tighten the monetary structure. This means that lending rates are bound to increase. Already, the RBI has hiked the repo-rate, in effect discouraging the banks from lending. What impact it will have on the industries and the growth rate of the economy, is to be seen next.

I was planing to buy a car, which I've put on hold as of now. There is no point in applying for a car loan at a premium rate. Though the car loan rate may come down in the coming months, I suspect if the petrol and fuel prices would. There seems to be a genuine shortage of oil around the world.

With the government in election mode and all other political parties taking it to task, it seems our nation's economic policies are governed by election dates, rather than a comprehensive fiscal policy.

Khoya huya sa kuch

Well, here is another ghazal, which has been on my mind for sometime now. A typical "Nida Fazli" stuff about life and our involvement in it.

देखा हुआ सा कुछ है तो सोचा हुआ सा कुछ,
हर वक्त मेरे साथ है उलझा हुआ सा कुछ|

होता है यूँ भी रास्ता खुलता नही कहीं,
जंगल सा फैल जाता है खोया हुआ सा कुछ|

साहिल की गीली रेत पर बच्चों के खेल सा,
हर लम्हा मुझमें बनता बिखरता हुआ सा कुछ|

फ़ुरसत ने आज घर को सजाया कुछ इस तरह,
हर शय में मुस्कुराता है रोता हुआ सा कुछ|

This is from Nida's book, "Khoya Huaa Sa Kuch". By the way, the ghazal is a 14 syllable beher named: muzaari musamman akhrab makfuuf mahzuuf with the pattern: 221-2121-1221-212

Can you decode this yourselves? :-)

Another Analysis

Another ghazal, and it's beher analysis. This one is by "Bekhud Dehlvi", a poet of the patronage of "Daag". His real name was Sayed Wahiduddin Ahmed.

This time I will present the ghazal first and then give the syllabic breakdown.

न कह साक़ी बहार आने के दिन हैं,
जिगर के दाग़ छिल जाने के दिन हैं|

अदा सीखो अदा आने के दिन हैं,
अभी तो दूर शर्माने के दिन हैं|

गरीबाँ ढूंढते हैं हाथ मेरे,
चमन में फूल खिल जाने के दिन हैं|

घटाए ऊदी ऊदी कह रहीं हैं,
मय-ऐ-अंगूर खिचवाने के दिन हैं|

Now for the syllabic breakdown:

न(1) कह(2) साक़ी(22*) बहा(12)र_आने(22*) के(2*) दिन(2) हैं(2),
जिगर(12) के(2*) दाग़(21) छिल(2) जाने(22*) के (2*) दिन(2) हैं(2)|

Notice in the matla above, the 'R' of 'bahaar' merges with 'AA' of 'aane', to become 'Raane'. If you hear JS in the album recording, he always pronounces 'Raane ke din hain' giving him that extra beat to drag it and make it sound awfully well. Obviously, in the concert version, the rythmic beat is not required and you will notice he pauses at will, between 'bahaar' and 'aane' in that version. When a consonant(C) is followed by a long vowel (V), the consonant can be merged to the vowel allowing an extra syllable.

अदा(12*) सीखो(22*) अदा(12*) आने(22*) के(2*) दिन(2) हैं(2),
अभी(12*) तो(2*) दूर(21) शर्माने(222*) के(2*) दिन(2) हैं(2)|

'sharmaane' is scanned as 'shar(2)maa(2)ne(2*)'

गरीबाँ(122*) ढूंढते(212*) हैं (2*) हाथ(21) मेरे(22),
चमन (12) में (2*) फूल (21) खिल (2) जाने (22*) के(2*) दिन(2) हैं(2)|

घटाए(122*) ऊदी(22*) ऊदी(22*) कह(2) रहीं (12*) हैं(2),
मय-ऐ(12*)-अंगूर(221) खिचवाने (222*) के(2*) दिन(2) हैं(2)|

'Angoor' is scanned as 'Ang(2)-goo(2)-r(1)' and 'Khichwaane' as 'Khich(2)waa(2)ne(2*)'

The ghazal is a 11 syllable beher: hazaj musaddas mahzuuf, with the pattern as 1222-1222-122.

You can check all the sher fit the beher exactly.

Vicious Virtuous Cycle

It started with the bad news of JS having a bypass heart operation. Slowly and steadily, all aspects of my life, professional, personal, national (read as economics (growth rate & inflation rate), nuclear deal, etc.), international (read as cyclone in Myanmar, Earthquake in China, disgracing the turban of a Sikh in the US etc.) have taken a negative turn. Everything seems to be so irritating, sorrowful and in some cases making me furious. I can do nothing, except as it is said "go through the motions". It is this time, I am most difficult to put up with, as a social and a personal human being. I know this will be temporary. Sometime later, everything would start to look good, joyful and enjoyable. And then again...

This vicious-virtuous cycle is probably what our ancient monks and philosophers call "life" or rather the "sufferings of life", because of the manifestation of "Brahma" by "Maya". Well, I understand this, but why am I still not able to break away from this? Strange, having knowledge is not all, understanding to the fullest and implementing it is even more a difficult task. I think, to be able to do this, are what the initial prayers to "Brahma" should be.

Unbearable Weather

It is April end and summer time is in, and pretty badly. The heat wave is on with no respite. Summers in Delhi bring along with it shortage of many things, electricity, water, fruits, vegetables, the temper and patience of the Delhites. The last two are anyway short in supply perennially in this city.

Also, it is the time when there is shortage of holidays from office. For example, after "May Day", the next off is on 15th of August... Grr!!!. I think I will use some from my quota of annual leaves. How much I miss those summer holidays during my school days....

Summer evenings (especially when there is an occasional "Andhi") also reminds me of my 'realization'.... hmmmm.....

ऐसे हिज्र के मौसम कब कब आते हैं,
तेरे इलावा याद हमें सब आतें हैं|

Analysis

Ok... for our analysis we choose a classic ghazal rendered by JS, early in the 1980s, Live in Pakistan. In that tour he chose classic urdu poetry since people of Pakistan, naturally speak that language. This one is by "Maahir Ratlaami". Below is the ghazal, and the split of the syllable construct. We will number the ghazal as per the misra... so "Jo nazar..." would be line no. 1 and "Aap apna ...." would be line no. 2 and so on. Below I will provide the clarification.

जो	न	ज़र	का	म	या	ब	हो	ती	है
2*	1	2	2	1	2	1	2	2*	2
आ	प	अप	ना	ज	वा	ब	हो	ती	है
2	1	2	2*	1	2	1	2	2*	2
ज़िं	द	गी	जब	अ	ज़ा	ब	हो	ती	है
2	1	2*	2	1	2	1	2	2*	2
आ	शि	क़ी	का	म	या	ब	हो	ती	है
2	1	2*	2	1	2	1	2	2*	2
ते	रे	आ	गे	ल	ता	फ़	ते	शब	नम
2	2*	2	2*	1	2	1	2*	2	2
शर्	म	से	आ	ब	आ	ब	हो	ती	है
2	1	2*	2	1	2	1	2	2*	2
रो	कि	ए	अप	नी	मस्	त	नज़	रों	को
2	1	2*	2	2*	2	1	2	2*	2
सा	री	दुन	या	ख	रा	ब	हो	ती	है
2	2*	2	2*	1	2	1	2	2*	2
उन	के	आ	शिक़	की	ज़िं	द	गी	मा	हिर
2	2*	2	2	2*	2	1	2*	2	2
कित	नी	ना	का	म	या	ब	हो	ती	है
2	2*	2	2	1	2	1	2	2*	2

First note that 2* indicates flexible syllable as per the rules explained below. So we may scan it as 2 or 1 as required by the meter.
Now note some interesting lines.
Line no. 3, Zindagii is scanned as Zin-da-gii (2-1-2*), this is a common way of treating the "nuun" symbol.
Line no 5, note the "lataafat-e-" the "izaafat" (the -e symbol) is merged with the consonant "t" to make it "te" and "fa" is scanned as 1. So it becomes "la-taa-fa-te"(1-2-1-2*). If you hear JS, he deliberately makes it sound like "la-taa-fa-te". Obviously, he is a master at this, so he had noticed that already. The word "lataafat" (meaning grace) would however be scanned as "la-taa-fat"(1-2-2).
Line no 8, "duniya" is always scanned as "dun-yaa" to make it 2-2*.

Now, to determine the behar. Let us follow this approach.
1. Count the number of syllables in each line. We have 10.
2. Open up the List of beher.
3. Start searching for 10 syllable behars. They are #2, #9, #13, #14 and #16.
4. Match each of these behars with the syllable constructs patterns. I like to start from the end of the behar. You may choose as per your liking. Remember, all 2* ones can be used as 2 or 1 as the meter requires.

Following the above, we reach the conclusion that the 'behar' of our ghazal is #14 (2122/1212/22), which is named as "Khafiif musaddas makhbuun mahzuuf maqtuue", a very un-romantic sounding, unlike the ghazal though :). Oh! of course, you could check all the 'misras' of the ghazal, they fit the behar exactly, within the given rules!

Behar in Ghazals

Well this one is close to my heart. I have a long standing desire to learn the metric system in which ghazals are written. Initially I had interest in learning the English metric system, but I found that as a "top-up" (or an icing on the cake) rather an established system.

Over the years I have read whatever I could lay my hands over. My inability to read the Arabic script hampers the learning in a big way. I am in the process of remedying that too! But it is quite possible to have a more than passable knowledge of it, if one knows to read and write in Devanagari/Hindi.

Before proceeding note: I am learning, so don't take anything as final. As and when I learn, I will correct myself.

So, let us start. First some symbols: C=Consonant; v=short vowel [अ,इ and उ] V=long vowel[आ ई ऊ ए ऐ ओ and औ] This is a standard set of symbols used almost everywhere where Urdu metric system is taught.

Words are combination of syllables. Generally there can be one, two or three syllable words. Four syllable words and above are rare in ghazal constructs. A syllable will consist of combination of the above. The following can occur:
Cv, CvC, CVC, CvCC and CV.

Now, each of the above syllable constructs have an associated weight. We normally follow the "short" (denoted by 1) and "long" (denoted by 2). This as per the famous "L", "Ga" system of Hindi prosody. Following are the weights of each syllable constructs.
1. Cv = 1 [कि, न]
2. CvC = 2 [हम, तुम, इस, घर]
3. CVC = 2 + 1 [काम, मोड़, प्यार, शोर]. However if CVC construct appears as the last construct in a 'misra' (the one line of a sher), it is scanned as 2 only.
4. CvCC = 2 + 1 [हुस्न, मित्र]
5. CV = 2 or 1. This is a flexible construct. Like 3, above it will be scanned as 2 always at the end of a 'Misra'. 'Misra' never ends in a 1. However, if CV occurs in a single syllable word (and in between in a 'Misra'), like in [को, का, की, वो] it can be scanned as 2 or 1. Similarly, if CV construct appears as the last syllable in a multi-syllable word, it can be scanned as 2 or 1. Otherwise it is mostly scanned as 2.

Once the entire misra has been scanned in this manner, one needs to find the 'behar' of the ghazal. Urdu prosody has defined set of 'behars'. There is a famous book by Pritchett, on this topic here: Urdu Meter HandBook, and it lists around 37 most common 'behars'. Any 'behar' not on this list is extremely rare.

In this list "1" is denoted as "-" and "2" is denoted as "=". Rest all assumptions are same as discussed above.

Next post, I shall present a ghazal. I will then scan each sher in that ghazal using the rules above, and then determine the 'behar' of the ghazal.

This and That

I am very upset at Vishy's loss in the blindfold and rapid chess format. Better luck next time. No more chess for the time being.

I watched a documentary on "The lost book of Nostradamus". It is said that this book contains water colour drawings by Nostradamus and his prophesies. What was interesting at the end was the mention of the great galactic alignment that is scheduled in the year of 2012. Now, if you are like me unaware of this event then here is a quick update on the topic.

On December 21st 2012, the Sun, the Ophiuchus (the 13th Zodiac sign, b/w Capricorn and Scorpio, bearing the sign of a man holding a serpant) and the center of our milky way will align in the same line. This is suppose to bring in some drastic changes in the cosmic world as it happens approximately around every 13 thousand years. Also notable is that the Mayan Calendar (the most accurate calender in the world) ceases to exist after that day. NASA predicts that there would be a solar maximum (and a change in the magnetic poles of the sun) in the same year. This Solar Max is expected to be the most turbulent one in its recent history, causing damage to satellites etc. in space. It is said that even Earth's polarity is due for a change. The date of 21st Decemeber 2012 is not so confirmed as it has been converted from the Mayan Calender. However it is going to be around that time.

Some have interpreted this alignment as the birth/rise of the 3rd-Anti Christ and subsequent doom's day. But some other view this as a new beginning and birth of a new spiritual being.

Ah! I hope I am there to witness this one, and see if at all anything changes in this nasty world.

Next, I will be posting on a topic of long time interest of mine. I have started to learn the scanning of meters in ghazals. Though a newbie, I will attempt to put whatever I have understood till now with the help of an example.

Sudden Death

I have been watching the Nat. Geo. series on air crashes lately. The human tragedy involved is grave. It is shocking when the RCA of the mishap is done, and all of it points to human error.

For example, consider the decision of the captain of an aircraft (with over 10,000 hours of flying experience) to get into a thunderstorm, knowing very well that the prescribed limits were being exceeded for a safe landing. In another case, The Boeing had a faulty locking system for the cargo door due to a design flaw. This caused the door to rip open in an airborne flight, pulling out nine passengers out into the open. One passenger apparently went straight into engine number 3. This "flaw" was already detected by The Boeing, but the airline had not implemented the "change" yet.

In the most shocking case, flight crew of a Boeing 757, started to get absolutely bogus data from the onboard computer, minutes after takeoff. Their altimeter and speedometer stopped working. The reason was due to a glue tape being attached to the "pro-static" sensors on one side of the aircraft by the maintenance crew during a routine clean up operation. The glue tape was not removed, and thus the sensors could not feed the computer with correct input. The aircraft eventually crashed into The Pacific. There were no survivors.

Amazing how man creates these big machines, and is unable to control it! This world is driven by economics and business, and one tends to ignore the basics of humanity and mankind. Take for instance this madness to cut trees and make way for fly-overs and vehicle movement. Where will you get so much fuel to run these machines? How will you counter the soil-erosion and the rising temperature and heat of the earth? Does any city-planner have any clue?

Mankind is sure towards it's extinction; or will it be a sudden death? Hope this post survives even after that, as a lesson for the next evolution.

A Premier Leauge

While our "master-blasters", "Yuvis" and "Dhonis" got sold at premium rates, Vishy has been silently at work again, in the Morelia-Linares Chess tournament, in Morelia, Mexico. The Grandmaster recorded his 3rd victory with the black pieces, as he defeated Peter Leko of Hungary in 45 moves. He now stands at the top of the tally with 3.5 points by the end of the 5th round.

His luck with the superior pieces is still far from being desirable. What is worrying is that a single loss with the white pieces can prove to be damaging for the entire championship. Wishing him all success for the rest of the games.

Just got hold of the moves of the game, converted it to PGN and fired up Fritz for the final move analysis. I have used Crafty v18 for the analysis. The analysis is at the beginning of the 46th move, when Leko resigned. As can be seen from the screen below, white was indeed in a hopeless situation.

About Bird-Flu and Mutton Curry

Vegetarians (who are revolted at the idea of eating non-veg stuff) may excuse themselves from reading this post.

This bird-flu thing has done one thing for sure. It has made me switch to "Mutton" for the time being. Usually chicken is preferred over mutton in our house.

Now Bengali households cannot do more than a week, without having either of fish, chicken or mutton. The duration of fish lasts for around a week. The fish week had ended the week earlier and with everyone in mood for mutton, Sunday was made to be a mutton day.

Non-Veg on Sunday remains my domain area, so cooked up the mutton with all enthusiasm. The final product is as below. It is garnished with "dhone paata" and contains an extra dose of "gorom moshla". We had it with "tawa-rotis" instead of rice, as the weather here is cold and windy.

Awakened Consciousness

I do not know which of the two it was that triggered it. The development of the situation or the 'maqta' by Qateel Shifai. Whatever be the root cause, I have decided to put my foot down. I will not do things that I do not want to do. Also, no beating about the bush, straight talk and demands placed with a bold face.

Let us see how the other side responds.

By the way the 'maqta' in question:

जागा हुआ ज़मीर वो आईना है 'क़तील',
सोने से पहले रोज़ जिसे देखता हूँ मैं|