Bummer!

Made a major mistake on CR131. Sandhya brushed it off, but I think I've let her ..... & myself, down. Damn!

Premonition? Intuition? .... search me .....

Soon after all of us in G8 got through the Campus Placements, Div had come forward with a prediction ..... all of us were going to get posted together in the same city. Arni informed today that IBM had posted him here at Bangalore. That makes us 6 out of 8 here. A 75% success rate for Div! Not bad.

That get together in Goa is looking like a distinct possibility now. Still, I can't help wishing for Div's prediction to be 100% true. That would be just swell.

Things NOT to be done on weekdays

1. Stay up late

2. Get drunk

Because if you do, then the next day & all the plans for it get seriously f***ed up.

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

Lyrics from 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day

Wonder why such lyrics appeal so much to me?

India's official entry to the Oscars this year is Paheli! What were those people thinking?

My kind of music

Pritam is the new music composer on the block. After the monster success called Dhoom, he's come out with 3 new films over the last 3 months, Chocolate; Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena & the latest Garam Masala .... & the music for all 3 packs serious ballast.

Heard the OST for Garam Masala today & loved the fast paced, high BPM, car-stereo-friendly tracks. In fact, Pritam's version of Ada sounds more rocking than the remix of the same song (by DJ Suketu, no less!). At last, a guy who composes each of his songs the way I like them. Hindi film music finally moves up the ladder!

MLTR had their second concert in India yesterday, here in Bangalore. They used to be my favourites in school, ........ before rock & hip hop took over. Pritish is still a loyal follower & predictably, attended the show & enjoyed it too. I'm glad I outgrew that mushy, romantic stuff they belt out ..... why then, do I feel this tinge of disappointment at having missed out? Maybe 'cause 'Someday' remains a favourite.

If I were to name one guy who loves his drink & absolutely revels in the post-drink buzz, it's got to be Baba, friend of Sid's friend Swapnil. This guy loves the high & cares 2 hoots for anybody else!

Chocolate is the food of the Gods, ...... I concur.

Am beginning to like The Black Eyed Peas' music.

Ganguly vs Chappell

As if the unbroken run of defeats in ODI finals wasn't enough, the captain & coach have taken to washing their dirty linen in public. As of now, the dissociation of either from Indian Cricket seems imminent. The 'team' is riven into factions. Gag orders have been passed asking players to keep their mouths shut. It's such a pity. Contrast this with the time when India reached the 2003 World Cup finals. It's been downhill all the way since then. The Pakis must be having a hearty laugh.

Annnnd .... Alonso is the champ

Yup, with 2 races still to go, Fernando Alonso is the new F1 champ. I'm happy that Schumaker's supposed 'reign' is over, but it would have been better if Kimi had ended up No. 1. Anyway, Renault with their initial domination deserved it. They've just about managed the driver's championship & given the way the Silver Arrows have stormed back into contention, I don't think they're gonna get their hands on any more silverware. Ferrari?, ..... I'm glad they're down & out. McLaren rock! Anyday!

The Boss says ....

“Fifty-eight years after Independence, one question remains in my mind: why did we struggle for independence? For close to three centuries, British colonial rule was the norm for our countrymen. Even before the British, our nation had only known the rule of kings, monarchs and emperors. Having barely experienced any other form of governance, what then triggered the powerful independence movement?

I think the answer lies in understanding that the independence movement was not a struggle against the British. Rather, it was a struggle for an idea of India—a democratic ideal that first existed in the minds of a few and then sparked an entire nation. Paraphrasing from our Constitution, this is the idea of a society where the spirit of brotherhood reigns among the people of India, transcending all diversity; a society that protects nature and has compassion for all living creatures; a society of humane citizens; a society that strives towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity,” says Azim H Premji, Chairman & Managing Director, Wipro Corporation.

Hmmm .... interesting line of thought.

Heard 'everybody wants to rule the world' on Radio City yesterday, .... after a long time. Brought back memories of the time when it used to be Bobby's fav song. Those days seem so long gone now. Even 'Amar Cottage' is no more, having been replaced by 'Narin-Kar Towers', .... another victim of the march of progress & the lure of money.

nano desires ....

The new iPod nano released some days ago. The 'older' iPod Mini is dead.

I want one ..... desperately!

Fido Dido!

Another of my adolescent obsessions. When Pepsi launched in India sometime during the first flush of liberalisation in 1992/1993, they used Fido as the mascot for 7up. And he became maniacally popular among people my age.

I used to collect all his ads & doodle away drawing his likeness in class. I think I still have some of those ads & sketches, although I'm not too sure about the kind of state they're in.

Back in the 80s

Michael Knight with Knight Rider, Jessy Mach with Street Hawk, Stringfellow Hawk with AirWolf and B. A. Barrackus & his van with A Team ..... my first exposure to American TV comprised mainly of these & other serials like McGuyver & Freegle Rock.

Those were the 80s & India wasn't a shadow of it's present booming-economy-IT-power self. Doordarshan ruled the airwaves, courtesy a governmant mandated monopoly. The Cold War was on & India being the USSR supporter that it was, there was no way it was going to telecast American TV shows. But I was lucky (very lucky, now that I look back at it).

You see, I happened to be neighbours with Bobby & Pappu ... 2 dudes slightly older than I was, and who were big time Americana devotees .... a craze that fed off the loads of stuff their dad used to bring back for them from the gulf where he worked. This included VHS recordings of the said TV shows & boy, did we love watching them!

The antics shown on these serials were hugely fascinating & totally never-seen-before (Hindi films had started their downward spiral into B & C Grade cinema that would continue until the mid 90s). The theme music of each of these serials also stood out (in fact, they make great ringtones these days). I remember watching the tapes for hours, & then watching them all over again at Bobby's place.

The vehicles shown were especially good to watch. All that could be seen on Indian roads then were Ambys, Padminis & Jeeps, so the American cars were an object of fascination. I think this was the time when the foundations of my current love for all things automotive were laid. Hell, I remember playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City (which was set in Florida, 1986) & choosing to drive the 'A Team' style vans even when sports cars were there for the taking.

Those were the great, carefree days of growing up & these serials are an integral part of them. No memory of those days will ever be complete for me without recalling these sleek black machines that still look so appealing.

Soumya's off

Soumya's PM wants him to go to Italy for 2-3 months!

Rushed weekend

Am not in much of a composing mood .... so here's my staccato best.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness ..... & Godliness I think, is next to impossible.

James,Chocolate .... Mohit Ahlawat has great potential for the future, provided he speaks more. Nisha Kothari, Tanushree Dutta .... way too much exposure, very little acting talent. Action in James .... fantastic slash, bang, cut style with the right amount of slow-mos. A trifle unrealistic at times, but if Uma Thurman can take on, & beat the Crazy 88, apna James was taking on only 5 or 6. Paisa Vasool. Chocolate .... looked good till I learned that it was a scene-to-scene lift of Usual Suspects. Both films .... fantastic background scores, Dolby DTS is worth paying for.

Sweta's b'day party on Saturday .... Holiday Village off Kanakpura Road .... met up with Seth, Munda, Manna, Shyam, Shail, Ankesh, Rakesh (hasmukh) after a long time. Nice food, great conversation, good party.

Character assassination time again on bitmca02. Same target .... Sweta, new targets .... Antara & Sam. Real bad stuff flowing out of a putrid sense of imagination. Same knee jerk reaction .... moderation .... Deepanjan & Ankur acting the moral guardians. When will we realize that we are all grown ups & that censorship gets you nowhere?

Saturday night spent debating the pros & cons of extremism & India's secularism/democracy. Found two unlikely allies in ..... umm, better not take their names. Soumya took us all on single handed. Went to sleep at 7 in the morning.

Deepanjan got bashed up by 2 louts who wanted to make off with his cell & wallet near Christ College. He managed to escape. Still can't open his mouth fully.

Today is the windiest it's ever been in EC. Am beginning to like Bangalore's weather. Makes me feel like I'm not in India.

This week wrapped up

Sandipan has dropped a hint that I'll have to make a move to .NET soon.

The C-Force clients from K.L. are here again. All I've been hearing over the last 3 days is Mandarin-accented English & it's starting to get on my nerves. Thank God, I left that project when I did. It's not going well & the team members, especially Prabhu are a frazzled lot.

Am back in touch with Shobha after 8 years or so. She's nicely settled in life now. Wonder when I'll be able to say that about myself.

Prateek's been sending some great MP3s over the mail .... some original Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan recordings, Pink Floyd & the best one, 'B.C. Sutta' .... if you ever thought that Indian bands lacked talent, listen to this one.

Chinki (Arvind) got a job at Thomson after months of interviews. The delight on his face was to be seen to be believed!

Deepanjan, Ajay & the rest of their SAP batch at Accenture have been benched .... for 2 months .... & alloted workstations .... with Internet.

Sittu & Ajay are flirting their hearts out. And I'm reviewing client change requests, writing test cases & testing work flows. Plus there's no TV or PC at home. Life sucks.

Praveen & Sweta both had their birthdays this week & I remembered both occasions (courtesy, birthdayalarm.com).

Have been listening to the original sound tracks of some early 80s films (namely, Star & Disco Dancer), on Raaga.com. Must say that the Disco hits of that time sound just as appealing today. And no amount of remixing can make them sound better than the originals. Biddu was a genius, albeit in Disco, & his combi with Nazia & Zoheb was awesome.

And finally, it's a Friday & there are 3 potentially good movies releasing ..... Chocolate, James & Kal. Hope I can catch at least 2 of them before the weekend is through.

Time passes, things change ....

TEN YEARS OF INTERNET, MOBILES IN INDIA
S Sadagopan
The Financial Express

The year 2005 is special, indeed. It is not only the 10th year of Java, but also marks 10 years of Internet usage and mobile phone adoption in India. These 10 years have been historic, not just for the technology landscape, but for the common man and woman as well. Let me elaborate.

It was on August 23, 1995, that mobile telephones started ringing (that, too, in the most unexpected place in India, namely, Calcutta (it has since changed its name to Kolkata and is trying to change its face under a new age ‘Buddha’). Interestingly, Internet was first made available to an average Indian by the monopoly public sector overseas telephone service provider, VSNL (that has now become a Tata company!) on August 1, 2005. Though the Ernet project brought the Internet to educational institutions in 1998 and Nicnet brought it to government officers in 1991, Internet was not available to the general public until VSNL started offering its service.

Look at the extent of growth over 10 years and the significant ‘paradigm shifts.’ In the whole of the first 20 months, India could not add 2,00,000 customers; the average rate across mobile phones was Rs 16.40 per minute; mobile to landline cost Rs 32.80! Mobile phone handsets cost above Rs 20,000. Today, India is adding 80,000 customers every day. The average rate is Rs 0.40; there are handsets available for Rs 1,100, though many taxi drivers in Mumbai buy camera-fitted phones that cost about Rs 6,000.

The MNC service providers (AT&T, Singtel, Telstra, Hutchinson) entered the market and exited after getting tired of government apathy and corruption (minister Sukh Ram was the epitome). But all of them have quietly re-entered the Indian market through partnerships and acquisitions. The highest FDI, of more than $2 billion, is in telecom. Landlines numbered just 80,000 in 1947 (when India attained Independence), crossed one million in 1971 and five million in 1991.

In October 2004, the mobile phone population surpassed the landline population of 46 million. And on January 14, 2005, the Indian telecom population officially crossed 100 million! Bharti Telecom became a billion dollar company in 2004. We download one million paid ring tones a day (average cost of Rs 9) and send 100 million SMS messages every day.

(The writer is director of IIIT, Bangalore.)

Came across this article today. Makes me remember the time Bobby's dad used to bring back Wrigley's, Nikes, push button pencils, Knight Rider/Freegle Rock videos, Mitsubishi TVs, Hitachi VCRs & other such 'imported' stuff from the gulf in the late 80s & me & Jolly used to stare wide-eyed with amazement at them. Now, the scene is a little bit different. These very companies/products are after Indian consumers like me & it feels great!

The Champ is here!

John Cena is certainly the best there is right now in the WWE. I'd been losing interest in it ever since The Rock & Austin departed, but this guy is helping revive it. What I like about this guy is his WYSIWYG attitude, his use of hip hop & bling & his love for a no-holds-barred, all-out-physical fight. He ain't called the "Doctor of Thugganomics" for nothin'.

..... and Baba's gone

Abhiroop appeared for his interview & left for Chennai yesterday night itself. But not before Soumya & me managed to extract some Bacardi from him. Returned home late & crashed even later. Haven't slept well for 4 days now. Thank God for my daily shot of Coffee.

Baba's here

Abhiroop, or Baba as we called him at Loyola, came to Bangalore this morning. Working for Godrej at Chennai, he's one of the few not-working-in-I.T. friends of mine. There's no love lost between him & Chennai & he's looking to relocate here. Met him after about 7 years. I couldn't believe the amount of hair he'd lost (he's become almost bald). He couldn't believe that I had gained weight. Come to think of it, I weighed 52 kgs in std. 11, now it's around 67 kgs. I guess 15 kgs is quite a gain.

It's raining

It's beautiful outside. There's a fine drizzle & the sun is shining through the silently floating raindrops.

Bridging the digital divide ....

Jolly has not only managed to teach Daddy how to start/shutdown the computer but also how to start Winamp & play songs! I must admit that I never thought this would be possible. Given that Mummy now knows how to use the cellphone, it seems my parents are well on their way to bridging the digital divide. Cool!

This is where I work ....

Some shots of the WIPRO E-City Campus at Bangalore.

Bull run

The BSE sensex crossed 8000 points last week for the first time ever.

Salaam Namaste

Saturday & it was time to check out Yash Raj Films' latest super hyped offering. Sid & me hopped it to Swagath where Sweta was waiting for us with the tickets, bought off the blackers of course, .... that girl is one smart cookie.

The crowd consisted almost entirely of college goers & young professionals like us. For once, it even seemed that the girls outnumbered the guys. I'll hand it to Yash Raj ... they know how to market & hype their releases.

The movie itself turned out to be pretty interesting. The first half moves super fast from one gag to the other & there are laughs aplenty. Also, it's entirely shot in Melbourne which comes across as one beautiful city.

It's remarkable how far Saif has come .... after his initial stop-start success with multi starrers like Yeh Dillagi & Main Khiladi Tu Anari, he seemed down & out. But he's risen, like the proverbial phoenix from the ruins of a listless career & a broken personal relationship ..... inspiring stuff! His comic timing is improving with each film & he's carrying off solo hero projects with ease now.

Preity is her usual bubbly, lively self. Not many actresses can light up the screen with their presence like she does.

The surprise packeages of the film, & welcome ones at that, are Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffery & Tania Zaetta. Arshad is at his usual hero's sidekick-slapstick best whereas Javed shows reason why he's one of Bollywood's most under-utilised talents. He's mimicked the pants off Feroz Khan (first time somebody's done that on the big screen) while speaking Bihari english & outfitted like a cowboy .... eg-jactly! Tania .... well, what do you say? It's probably the first time an aussie has a role like hers in a Hindi movie.

But, as always, there are a few shortcomings .... the script is wafer thin, the second half tends to drag & there is more than one situation when you feel you've seen this kind of a scene while watching 'Friends'. Also, age is showing up on both Preity & Saif even though Preity appears in some of the briefest outfits since Soldier.

My best scene in the movie ..... when just before the title song, the aussie bloke yells, "everybody, clothes off!", & those awesome aussie babes take off their formals to change into bikinis ......... yeah, man!

Speed Rox!

There was something wrong with the proxy server for Tower 11 today. Internet, Webmail, Gateway ..... everything had been running excruciatingly slow since morning. So much so, that the downloading speed was showing as 20 bytes/sec & slowing ....! Couldn't download Jal's Wo Lamhe & Aadat all morning because of that. The ticker would get stuck at 2% after 10 minutes. Opening a new mail took all of 5 minutes!

Ultimately, just after lunch, a guy (probably from IMG) comes & asks us to stop all web apps. Went to the library. Returned at 4 to find everything fixed. First thing I did was to download the songs ..... took just 2 mins for both. Am listening to them as I write this.

The contrast between pre & post lunch couldn't have been starker. Yeah, it's true, I love speed .... & how.

Jolly in Vizag

Yesterday was Ganesh Chaturthi. Sid, Ajay, Raghu, Soumya & me decided to have a dekho around 8th block. The 5 of us roamed around for a couple of hours to the accompaniment of lots of cig smoking, weed-cig-making (courtesy Raghu) & of course, weed smoking. Raghu proudly admits being 'born blown'. I think he's in serious danger of becoming a drug addict.

Called up Jolly at Vizag. HSBC's put him up at a 4 star hotel. Training's from 11-8. He's bought himself his first cell phone, a Nokia (what else?). He's happy.

Another final, another defeat

Yup, the Boys in Blue did it again. Lost the final to NZ. At least, they're being consistent about something.

DL 5 CB 4978

G8's standard getaway car. Also going-for-cricket car; going-to-BIT car; cruising-around-town-with-music-blasting car; going-for-a-drive-anywhare car; carmageddon-on-the-highway car; changing-room-during-campus-placements car; playing-chicken-with-army-trucks car; scaring-Pinaki-in-his-new-Corsa car; so many memories ............. Thanks Div.

Ultee ... met!

..... yes, that's how Netaji pronounces 'ultimate'.

Tomorrow's a holiday. Tuesday's feeling like a Friday!

Got together with the guys & did some good old babe-watching at the Amphitheatre. It's strange considering the short time we've been together but the trainee batch people seem to have bonded pretty well ..... there was a motley bunch of us today, Prateek, Sittu, Shiva, Kasli, Shailu, Gautam, Ajay, Arun .... even Sweta & Sid joined in for some time. As for the babe-watching .... well, that guy who posted "Beauty in WIPRO????" on the channelW forum, ..... he was right!

It's the tri series final & somehow, miracle of miracles, India are playing well against NZ. Right now, the score reads 153/1 in 23.5 overs, Kaif & Veeru knocking the stuffing out of the Kiwi bowlers. Great! Go, India go! ..... oh hell, who am I kidding?

Washed out weekend

Went to Soumya's on Friday evening. Raghu's bought himself a Daschund pup & named him 'Lucky'. Everybody in the house ..... Soumya, Arvind, Satish, Animesh & his girlfriend Dipti have taken to fawning over the little thing. It was raining really heavily .... heavy enough for me to delay going back to my place ..... a distance of about 50 meters.

Saturday afternoon found Prateek, Sittu & me on S.P. Road looking for cheap deals on Discmans. The cheapest one we spotted cost 3500/-! The place is good for computer & hardcore electronics hardware, but consumer electronics ain't it's forte. Went on to Majestic which too turned out to be useless. Back to base at Forum, inside which we had to stay standing for about an hour and a half as the rain outside just wouldn't relent.

Sunday afternoon & Ajay had to buy a book on ABAP, for which we decided to visit M.G. Road, not aware of the fact that most bookstores there are closed on Sunday. Drew a blank & had to take shelter under a store front since ..... yes, the rains were back. Took an auto back to Forum. The meter's speed matched that of the auto's & we were royally ripped off of double the fare. Onto Madan's then for dinner & a round of drinks & back home, the rain being a constant background presence throughout.

There were some high points though .... Sania Mirza reached the 4th round of the US Open where she faced Maria Sharapova & predictably, lost. But her wins made big news, so much so that India's ODI victory over New Zealand while chasing, yes chasing 280 was reduced to a side story. Now how often does that happen? Also, I got to hear Car Crashes (by Standfast) after a long, long time on Radio City. And, .... umm, yeah, that was it for the weekend.

Drooool.........

The 2005 BMW M6 & Mercedes CLS 350.

Two of THE most stylish models on the market right now. Hell, the Beemer is threatning to displace the Nissan Skyline GT-R as my all time favourite!

Too bad :-(

Gayatri Joshi and Chitrangda Singh.

These were two absolute beauties who also had loads of acting talent. Chitrangda received rave reviews for her debut in "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" & Gayatri is known to everyone for her debut opposite SRK in "Swades". Well, I for one, was looking forward to seeing more of them in future, but it seems it won't be so.

You see, Chitrangda is golfer Jyoti Randhawa's wife, & he doesn't want his wife working in the movies anymore. Gayatri, on the other hand, just got married to some filthy rich tycoon, so she'll also be saying bye-bye to the movies. I guess, our loss is their husbands' gain.

Get a hold of THIS!

New Orleans in deeper chaos

New Orleans, Sept. 2 (Reuters): New Orleans, fell deeper into chaos today with gangs roaming the streets and corpses rotting in the sun a full four days after Hurricane Katrina lashed the city and exposed federal aid efforts as a failure.

Hospitals lacking drugs and power were in a desperate fight to save critically ill patients, police hid in their headquarters and thousands of people who lost relatives and everything they own in raging floodwaters sat helplessly on sidewalks waiting for help that has not come.

Hit by mounting criticism that his administration was too slow to respond, President George W. Bush conceded the rescue efforts were “not acceptable”.

“I want to assure the people of the affected areas and this country that we’ll deploy the assets necessary to get the situation under control,” Bush said as he left Washington to tour the region.

In response to Bush’s assurance, an emergency military convoy of aid supplies arrived in New Orleans today to help in the relief effort.

Thousands of people are feared dead and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said he was furious at the lack of help his historic city had received.

“I need reinforcements. I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man,” he said in a radio interview. “Now get off your asses and fix this. Let’s do something and let’s fix the biggest goddam crisis in the history of this country.”

Police kept to their headquarters in fear of the anarchy as looters, shooters and gangs ruled the streets.

Plumes of thick black smoke rose after a mighty explosion rocked an industrial area hit hard by Katrina. Stunned residents stumbled around bodies that lay rotting and untouched.

Most of the victims were poor and black, largely because they have no cars and so were unable to flee the city before Katrina pounded the US Gulf Coast on Monday. The scenes of destruction and mayhem resembled those of a major Third World refugee crisis, angering politicians and local residents who said the lack of aid was unacceptable in the world’s richest country.


Katrina exposes social divisions

London, Sept. 2 (Reuters): The world has watched amazed as the planet’s only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society.

World leaders and ordinary citizens have expressed sympathy with the people of the southern US whose lives were devastated by the hurricane and the flooding that followed.

But many have also been shocked by the images of disorder beamed around the world — looters roaming the debris-strewn streets and thousands of people gathered in New Orleans waiting for the authorities to provide food, water and other aid.

“Anarchy in the USA” declared Britain’s best-selling newspaper The Sun. “Apocalypse Now” headlined Germany’s Handelsblatt daily.

The pictures of the catastrophe have evoked memories of crises in the world’s poorest nations such as last year’s tsunami in Asia.

“I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering,” said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo.

“Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the US we can easily see where the civilised part of the world’s population is.”

Some newspapers compared the sputtering relief effort with the massive amounts of money and resources poured into the war in Iraq.

From The Telegraph, 3rd September, 2005

All that comes to my mind is ..... !!!

Unbelievable!

Is this Iraq, asks stunned US- Looters on rampage in hurricane-hit New Orleans

New Orleans, Sept. 1: “It’s like Iraq!” — an American blurted out on TV, voice heavy with stunned disbelief.

Looting in the land of opportunity. It’s a picture of America staring out of TV screens round the clock that Americans hadn’t seen, let alone the world, much of which — like India — has had its eyes mesmerised by the power of the greenback.

Across New Orleans the rule of law was swept away by the floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina destroyed almost everything else. Authorities fear thousands may have died in Monday’s storm.
In a city shut down in every other way, the young and the old were walking into stores of all sizes and varieties and walking out with armfuls of candy, sunglasses, notebooks, soda and whatever else they could need or find. Wal-Mart, the symbol of US department store success as much as McDonald’s is for fast food around the world, was not spared.

Some Americans were reminded of scenes of looting in the streets of Baghdad after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The world leader was getting a taste of the miseries of the less fortunate.
In another chilling similarity with Iraq, there were reports of a Chinook military helicopter pressed into rescue operation being shot at.

Such was the lawlessness that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered police to drop rescue work to fight looting and other crimes.

A “furious” Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco said: “What angers me most is disasters tend to bring out the best in everybody, and that’s what we expected to see…. Instead, it brought out the worst.”

Even President George W. Bush was forced to issue a warning against the looting. “I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump.”

About 1,500 of the city’s police officers, nearly the entire force, were forced back into their traditional law-keeping role. The mayor was quoted as saying that the looters “are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas… hotels, hospitals, and we’re going to stop it right now”.
Some frightened residents took security into their own hands. John Carolan was sitting on his porch in darkness just before midnight when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard.
One said, “We want the generator,” he recalled.
“I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum,” Carolan recounted to the New York Times. “They scattered.”

No one excused the looting, but many officials were careful not to paint every looter as a petty thief.

“Had New York been closed off on 9/11 who can say what they would have done?” said Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, vice-president of the New Orleans city council.

Although officials said the floodwaters had started to drop, they warned that it could take a month for it to fully drain out. Some 60,000 people had gathered at a stadium, the Superdome, waiting to be evacuated from a city known for its tourist attractions and as the birthplace of jazz.
“When there’s no food, no water, no sanitation, who can say what you would do? People were trying to protect their children,” Morrell added.
Outside a store, a woman was loading food, soda, water, bread, peanut butter and canned food into the trunk of an Oldsmobile.
“Yes, in a sense it’s wrong, but survival is the name of the game,” she said. “I’ve got six grandchildren. We didn’t know this was going to happen. The water is off. We’re trying to get supplies we need.”

With no officers in sight, people carried empty bags, shopping carts and backpacks through the door of the Rite Aid, a chain store that predominantly stocks medicines, and left them full.
Someone had earlier smashed through the front door with a stolen forklift. It still stood in the doorway. As the looters came and went, they nodded companionably to one another.

From The Telegraph 2nd Sep, 2005

All I can say is ...... Unbelievable! .... the US gets a taste of the third world.

Busy!

It's strange how the week passes by in a whirl when you've got lots of work to do. Test cases can be a real chore as I found out this week. It was the same routine everyday, 9-1 and then 2-6. Thank God for the lunch breaks in between & the online radio channels which helped me maintain my sanity! I seem to be the only guy in the ODC who uses headphones!

It's strange but I don't even feel like composing this post. My mind ain't into it as much as it should be. I guess it's the stress.

Jolly leaves for Vizag today. May he fare well in whatever he does. Mummy & Daddy are going to be alone for the first time, not knowing for sure when or for how long either of their children are going to be back home. Well, at least they have Chhotu for company. I miss my pet.

Got into a minor war of words with Abhishek Sandhwar on the group. First, manged to piss him off real good & when he retaliated, gave it back as good as I got. Funny, but sometimes pissing people off can be fun too! Anyway, I think he was acting too smart for his own good ..... better me to set the record straight than anybody else.

Having access to raaga.com & punjabizone.com has opened up a goldmine of old & new tracks for me to listen to. Tracks that I've been wanting to listen to for a long time are right there in front of you ...... great! As Deepanjan would concur .... hail Open Source! Some of the tracks include ....

- Kangna; Shake by Dr. Zeus & General Levy
- Jawani; Tera Roop; Luteya by Jazzy B
- Tera Naam Liya To by Ali Haider
- Yaari; Nachna by Hunterz
- Aashiqui; Ishq Vich Jogi by Jassi Sidhu
- Salaam Namaste (OST)
- Chocolate (OST)
- Aashiq Banaya Aapne (OST)

Will try to access some sites playing english tracks next week. It's been sometime since I got my dose of Evanescence, Linkin Park, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi ........

Div & Prav are in Bhubaneshwar. Their joining was on the 31st of August. Arni & Neeral are in Kolkata. And the 4 of us in Bangalore. G8 is all over the country now! Wonder when we'll get together again? In December, perhaps? At Goa? DCH revisited! I would love that if it happens.