The US economy is in a bit of a problem. The subprime mortgages issue is now at its peak. I was just reading an article on the internet, which was detailing the efforts of the US State Treasury Department in mitigating the crisis.
We all have a lesson or two to learn from the situation. Do not borrow more than you can repay. And nothing in this world always surges northwards. Yes, not even property prices. Nature and time are powerful factors that can make any speculation or rule go wrong.
The US State Treasury also deserves some praise. It has stepped in and mediated at the right time. The lending firms too realize that it is fruitless to stress on contractual agreements, when their borrowers are in no position to pay the higher interest rates. The significant comment that came from the Senior VP of Mortgage Bankers Association that, "All these people are contractually obligated to pay these loans on the terms they agreed to pay on. We need to focus on people who, without this help, wouldn't be able to stay in their homes".
The last line in the above statement is a perfect balance of business continuity and the human factor of doing business. Can such a thought even occur to entrepreneurs, politicians, trade union leaders and business houses of our country?
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Theory and Practical
In every field, be it religion, science, arts, sports, economics and others, there are two different kinds of contributors. One are the researchers who dwell in detail about a single topic and come up with new theories in their respective fields. These theories provide the stepping stones for the other genre, the "implementors" who actually put this theory into practice, by their innovations, experience and talent. Theory which gathers dust in the books is of no value, till implemented for public use. Let us take examples of some "implementors" in this blog.
Religion: Here in the name of texts we have the sacred "Veds" and "Upanishads". These are very difficult to understand as they dwell upon the basic structure of our existence. However, there have been a number of preachers who have brought the core knowledge to the common man in a palatable format. For example, Sankaracharya with his "Advaita Vedant", Swami Dayananda with the establishment of "Arya Samaj" and Swami Vivekananda with his speeches on Hinduism in the U.S. and his complete works, that try to simplify the language of the "Veds".
Science: Offers plenty of examples. Thomas Alva Edision, is one who probably revolutionized the entire concept of using scientific research, for commercial purposes. His entrepreneurship opened the flood gates for inventions of technological devices in the field of science and technology.
Sports: For this I will select a more contemporary and "local" hero, Rahul Dravid! Yes, in case you have watched him bat, he demonstrates that all that is written in the text books on batting in cricket, can actually be applied on the field. What is more important is that he is phenomenally successful, and improvises on all conditions across the entire world where international cricket is played. Though the "best batsman" of our times can go wrong in tough conditions, "The Wall" rarely makes a mistake.
Art(Music): Some may even chuckle after reading the name, Jagjit Singh. But the fact is that he has always tried to package the Hindustani Classical music into a more attractive form for the younger generation which is bombarded by the western music broad casted from the skies above. In return he has always received brickbats and criticism from the "connoisseurs". He has been critised for introducing santoor, guitar and synthesizers in 'ghazals'. Seniors have frowned when he demonstrates his strong knowledge in sound recording and sound engineering. But these masters, forget that the entire non-film commercial music industry was brought in by him in our country of which even the classical music is an integral part now.
To finish off, just a small sample, where the master is trying hard with the sound-engineer, to get the difference between a note to the correct frequency. Isn't it great to see a "semi"-classical singer trying to get the sound effects right, so that it pleases the audience?
This was on 6th of May 2006, before the San-Fransico concert. Along with the usual band of his musicians, it is a pleasure to see Deepak Khazanchi on guitar, albeit a much older look now!
Religion: Here in the name of texts we have the sacred "Veds" and "Upanishads". These are very difficult to understand as they dwell upon the basic structure of our existence. However, there have been a number of preachers who have brought the core knowledge to the common man in a palatable format. For example, Sankaracharya with his "Advaita Vedant", Swami Dayananda with the establishment of "Arya Samaj" and Swami Vivekananda with his speeches on Hinduism in the U.S. and his complete works, that try to simplify the language of the "Veds".
Science: Offers plenty of examples. Thomas Alva Edision, is one who probably revolutionized the entire concept of using scientific research, for commercial purposes. His entrepreneurship opened the flood gates for inventions of technological devices in the field of science and technology.
Sports: For this I will select a more contemporary and "local" hero, Rahul Dravid! Yes, in case you have watched him bat, he demonstrates that all that is written in the text books on batting in cricket, can actually be applied on the field. What is more important is that he is phenomenally successful, and improvises on all conditions across the entire world where international cricket is played. Though the "best batsman" of our times can go wrong in tough conditions, "The Wall" rarely makes a mistake.
Art(Music): Some may even chuckle after reading the name, Jagjit Singh. But the fact is that he has always tried to package the Hindustani Classical music into a more attractive form for the younger generation which is bombarded by the western music broad casted from the skies above. In return he has always received brickbats and criticism from the "connoisseurs". He has been critised for introducing santoor, guitar and synthesizers in 'ghazals'. Seniors have frowned when he demonstrates his strong knowledge in sound recording and sound engineering. But these masters, forget that the entire non-film commercial music industry was brought in by him in our country of which even the classical music is an integral part now.
To finish off, just a small sample, where the master is trying hard with the sound-engineer, to get the difference between a note to the correct frequency. Isn't it great to see a "semi"-classical singer trying to get the sound effects right, so that it pleases the audience?
This was on 6th of May 2006, before the San-Fransico concert. Along with the usual band of his musicians, it is a pleasure to see Deepak Khazanchi on guitar, albeit a much older look now!
Sunday, November 11, 2007
A Nightmare
I always dream of this nightmare. It came yet again yesterday. Our house is somewhat close to the domestic and international airports and the Western Air Command (Around 6 km from the airport). Often the aircrafts fly past our houses at a low altitude, for the final landing.
From time to time I have this dream, that some aircraft has crashed into our colony and everything is burning all around. This basic form is sometimes modified to another form. In that version, I see an air combat in operation and one or two of them get hit and crash land. I literally see the combat in progress!
I have had these sort of dreams many times. It is infrequent though, maybe once in 6-7 months. I don't know what is the physiology behind all this, and neither do I ever want to ponder much about this. Just wish that this never comes true in my life!
From time to time I have this dream, that some aircraft has crashed into our colony and everything is burning all around. This basic form is sometimes modified to another form. In that version, I see an air combat in operation and one or two of them get hit and crash land. I literally see the combat in progress!
I have had these sort of dreams many times. It is infrequent though, maybe once in 6-7 months. I don't know what is the physiology behind all this, and neither do I ever want to ponder much about this. Just wish that this never comes true in my life!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Troubled Neighbourhood
Our neighbour is in trouble and it saddens me. I would like to see the happy faces and a peaceful existence for the common man in that country.
The steps taken to contain rising terrorism and military reverses there, are open for debate, and I am least bothered with them. What worries me is the fact that if things go wrong, we could have a situation, where the military revolts, and different factions are formed within the armed forces. When that happens, all hell will break loose. A neighbour who is internally disturbed tries to find quick solutions by diverting attention to external issues, and 'manufacturing' situations in the region. I hope we are prepared and our neighbour is matured enough.
Reminding me of the 'marshal law', I heard very strong comments by Ahmed Faraz, when it was imposed during the younger days of his life. He even cited, the reason for staying out of his mother land painfully, in his ghazal "Qurb-e-jaana na maikhaane ka mausam aaya....".
Staying with Faraz, just remembered a classic rendition by Lata Mangeshkar of his ghazal in 'Sajda':
Aankh se door na ho dil se utar jaayega,
Waqt ka kya hai guzarta hai guzar jaayega.
Tum sar-e-raah-e-wafa dekhte rah jaaoge,
Aur wo baam-e-rafaaqat se utar jaayega.
You can listen to more of this ghazal in Faraz's voice:
The steps taken to contain rising terrorism and military reverses there, are open for debate, and I am least bothered with them. What worries me is the fact that if things go wrong, we could have a situation, where the military revolts, and different factions are formed within the armed forces. When that happens, all hell will break loose. A neighbour who is internally disturbed tries to find quick solutions by diverting attention to external issues, and 'manufacturing' situations in the region. I hope we are prepared and our neighbour is matured enough.
Reminding me of the 'marshal law', I heard very strong comments by Ahmed Faraz, when it was imposed during the younger days of his life. He even cited, the reason for staying out of his mother land painfully, in his ghazal "Qurb-e-jaana na maikhaane ka mausam aaya....".
Staying with Faraz, just remembered a classic rendition by Lata Mangeshkar of his ghazal in 'Sajda':
Aankh se door na ho dil se utar jaayega,
Waqt ka kya hai guzarta hai guzar jaayega.
Tum sar-e-raah-e-wafa dekhte rah jaaoge,
Aur wo baam-e-rafaaqat se utar jaayega.
You can listen to more of this ghazal in Faraz's voice:
| Ankh_se_door.mp3 |
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Dil ya Dimaagh
It is different fun altogether, when the entire team goes out for a movie, and that too in office hours! We did exactly that today, during the closing hours of our workday. This luxury was awarded to us, as we yet again received the highest possible customer satisfaction rating from our client.
Now for the movie, "Jab We Met". As confusing is the title, the story and performances are left wanting. The popular "Mauja hi Mauja" song is most misplaced, as it appears at the end of the movie. As is the custom amongst the audience of Delhi-NCR (and may be other cities), they stood up to leave as soon as the credits started rolling on the screen, thus missing half of the song.
At one place though, a very serious question came up in the story. This dame had to take a decision about which guy to chose as her beau. One was a decision based on her wishes of the heart and the other one with her mind and the prevailing situation surrounding her.
This is a question that has bothered me for sometime. Should love be as blind as
बेवफ़ा भी हो सितमगर भी जफ़ा पेशा भी,
हम ख़ुदा तुमको बना लेंगे तुम आओ तो सही| -- मुमताज़ मिर्ज़ा
or should the decision be based on careful thought about the future of the relationship?
Now for the movie, "Jab We Met". As confusing is the title, the story and performances are left wanting. The popular "Mauja hi Mauja" song is most misplaced, as it appears at the end of the movie. As is the custom amongst the audience of Delhi-NCR (and may be other cities), they stood up to leave as soon as the credits started rolling on the screen, thus missing half of the song.
At one place though, a very serious question came up in the story. This dame had to take a decision about which guy to chose as her beau. One was a decision based on her wishes of the heart and the other one with her mind and the prevailing situation surrounding her.
This is a question that has bothered me for sometime. Should love be as blind as
बेवफ़ा भी हो सितमगर भी जफ़ा पेशा भी,
हम ख़ुदा तुमको बना लेंगे तुम आओ तो सही| -- मुमताज़ मिर्ज़ा
or should the decision be based on careful thought about the future of the relationship?
Sunday, October 21, 2007
WoW VLC!
I remember blogging few months ago, regarding my experience with Vista. The only thing that was now causing trouble, was watching videos/DVDs on it. Vista kept on crashing. Searching the internet I came to know that this problem has a technical term in the industry now; Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR). This is well documented on the MS website.
Unfortunately, even after updating to the latest drivers from NVidia, the problem remained as it is. Last week, I downloaded the latest version (0.8.6c) of VLC Media Player for Vista and installed it. The same video that kept on crashing in WMP 11 or Real Player, worked perfectly fine on VLC! The DVDs too run absolutely fine now.
I have not been able to identify the exact reason, maybe it is the codec that WMP and other players use or the default codecs configuration in my system. Will do some R&D and post here, if I find the exact reason.
At this moment I am a happy Vista customer!
Unfortunately, even after updating to the latest drivers from NVidia, the problem remained as it is. Last week, I downloaded the latest version (0.8.6c) of VLC Media Player for Vista and installed it. The same video that kept on crashing in WMP 11 or Real Player, worked perfectly fine on VLC! The DVDs too run absolutely fine now.
I have not been able to identify the exact reason, maybe it is the codec that WMP and other players use or the default codecs configuration in my system. Will do some R&D and post here, if I find the exact reason.
At this moment I am a happy Vista customer!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
World Champion
This is not about our cricket team. Notice the singularity in the title. It is about "Vishy" winning the World Chess Championships 2007 in Mexico. This is the second time he wins the championship, the first time being in the year 2000 beating Alexei Shirov 3.5 - 0.5 in Tehran.
I remember way back in 1995, when he played his first championship match against Kasparov. He got visibly nervous, when Kasparov unleashed himself in the 10th game. They were playing the Ruy Lopez (Open Variation) and the game went; 14. Bc2! Qxc3 15. Nb3!! and Anand taking 45 minutes to respond with 15. ... Nxb3. Anand eventually lost the match as Kasparov established his hitherto unknown forte in the Dragon Sicilian defense.
Though I am a patzer, I have a lot of interest in the game. In those days the games got published in the newspapers and I used to cut the clippings and stick them in a notebook. However, due to lack of guidance I could not make much progress into these games. Now I have a powerful processor, all the games in PGN format, the necessary software to analyze the games, but no time to spend for the game! I find it very hard to concentrate on the board, 10 minutes into it.
Hoping that Anand wins a lot more matches, and inspires many more youngsters to take up this game seriously at commercial levels.
Kudos to him and his team again!
I remember way back in 1995, when he played his first championship match against Kasparov. He got visibly nervous, when Kasparov unleashed himself in the 10th game. They were playing the Ruy Lopez (Open Variation) and the game went; 14. Bc2! Qxc3 15. Nb3!! and Anand taking 45 minutes to respond with 15. ... Nxb3. Anand eventually lost the match as Kasparov established his hitherto unknown forte in the Dragon Sicilian defense.
Though I am a patzer, I have a lot of interest in the game. In those days the games got published in the newspapers and I used to cut the clippings and stick them in a notebook. However, due to lack of guidance I could not make much progress into these games. Now I have a powerful processor, all the games in PGN format, the necessary software to analyze the games, but no time to spend for the game! I find it very hard to concentrate on the board, 10 minutes into it.
Hoping that Anand wins a lot more matches, and inspires many more youngsters to take up this game seriously at commercial levels.
Kudos to him and his team again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
The moment of goodbye
Have you ever felt the heaviness, not just in your heart but inside your mind, when you realise that a person you are meeting at the instant...
