IIM's under the media microscope

Currently the IIM campus placements are hot in the news. With some students grossing more than 1 crore paychecks abroad, most of the media is rife with the discussion of whether IIM students should stay in India and generate jobs or whether they should go abroad for the green money. I think the media should F*** O** and leave these guys alone.

What one has to do in life (whether its to earn money or start a business or do social service) is a personal issue. No external influence works here. Each person has a different dream and he should be able to live it. Supporting these students through IIM's does not mean that our country has any control over their future. These bright students would have found ways to complete their education one way or the other.

Now lets talk about the other people whom goverenment helps through their education. They are the economically backward and the students helped on by reservations. Does the country impose any restriction on their career paths? No!! So why go after IIMs?

Urban Legends

Everyone loves a good urban legend / gossip :
1) Will the earth be destroyed in 20 years?
2) Do mermaids exist in the sea?

Here is a bad news for all you guys..The Urban Legends Reference Pages, also known as www.snopes.com, is a website dedicated to determining the truth about many urban legends, Internet rumors, email forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin. Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a couple from California who married after meeting on the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban. The couple also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, who were credited as the owners of the site until 2005. The site is organized according to topic and includes a messageboard where questionable stories and pictures may be posted.

For those which are not in there....there is always google.com

Illusions

Recently I came across an amazing pavement artist..Julian Beever. He can create a 3D illusion using a 2D pavement. We all have drawn perspective drawings which was held perpendicular to the line of vision...but this is drawn on a pavement, which is parallel to the normal line of vision. Here's an example.

This is only a drawing...see that people are avoiding the hole. I think these are drawn the same way post-renaissance artists drew biblical images to create a illusion of depth on the walls. Eventhough I know very little about Art in general, I know for sure that this is the one I will pay for !!

Hats off to you Julian !!

Inertia

Recently I had the opportunity to experience inertia in practice. I have taken a reduced course load for my final semester at Georgia Tech. This means taking 2 courses instead of the compulsory 4. So many of you might start thinking that half the courses means half the effort and lots of free time. I also thought the same but experienced something different. I had to put in effort nearly equal to that of 3 courses rather than 2...the reason "Inertia".

Inertia is defined as following : bodies in motion continue to be in motion while bodies at rest continue to be at rest unless an external force is applied.

4 courses means working round the clock and is similar to bodies being in motion. 2 courses mean a lot of cold starts for working meaning requiring force (brain effort) to get the work done. Thus its like putting in a effort worth 3 courses rather than 2. This fact is also reiterated by many vacation goers who feel too lazy to go back to work after a vacation.

So when someone (esp. parents) call you lazy, blame it on Inertia !!

The international language..

Some of you may start of saying that as English has the potential to be an International language spoken and understood by all. Let me point you to a link citing 'Mandarin' has the most spoken language on the Earth. Neways thats not the issue of this post. Thats what is a fact but what about the belief?

Assuming 'English' as an International language is good as it ranks second in the list but what about Gujarati? Recently I had an encounter which was funny and frustrating. I was flying back to New York from Mumbai and had the pleasure of an aged person beside me on the flight. No sooner had I had exchanged hellos with him, he started blabbering in Gujarathi with me. Knowing that most of the people on a plane flying to USA are Gujrati's (Patels and Shahs), I kindly told him (in English, Hindi and Marathi) that I was a Maharashtrian and do not know Gujarati. He surely must not have understood it as throughout the flight he continued talking to me in Gujarati. Do not pity me but pity the airhostess with whom he also talked in Gujarati.

Now for the climax....that gentleman had a US passport !!

p.s I am not against Gujarati's and have many Gujrati friends...hope it doesn't sound like Kramer

Orkut Friends

Initially when I subscibed to Orkut a year back, I had to satisfy my ego of having more than 100 friends. Today I have more than 250 but my ego is totally crushed. Why?
I cannot talk/scrap to more than 30 people in my friends list.

This is a big disadvantage of Orkut. If u know a person, u add him as ur friend. If u don't relate with him then he lies in the hidden depths of ur Friend list. When time comes to actually talk to the person, one feels ashamed of being "Kama purta Mama". U haven't scrapped that guy in ages and hence u cannot scrap him now.

I have found a simple solution for this problem. Delete the guy from ur friend list and then readd him saying ur friend list got corrupted. He is happy as u added him again and makes ur life easy as u can scrap him now. A good solution isn't it !!

My grudge

Recently I watched the movie Grudge II with much anitcipation...but alas !!...it was a big disappointment. I had become a fan of Sam Raini after watching Grudge I but in the second part, he has bent down to the Hollywood style horror and produced a chaotic movie which leaves us clueless rather than terrified.

Older the better..like the ghosts

I have always found older horror movies more frightening than the newer ones. This can be attributed to the fact that a lot of props and special effects are used in today's movies. In older times all the horror and fear had to be acted out. Also the older movies concentrated more on psychological aaspects rather than loud sounds and blood.

Here is a list of all the old and new horror movies I have enjoyed.

OLD

1)Exorcist
2)The Shining
3)Changeling
4)Halloween I
5)Poltergeist I
6)Nightmare on elm street
7)Jaws
8)Clockwork orange

NEW

1)Grudge I
2)Descent
3)Texas Chainsaw Massacre
4)Saw I