"Kitna"
"Aap bolo"
"pachas, 50"
He nods. I get in. "Andar tak chorna bhaiya". He doesn't say anything so I repeat to set the expectation, "Andar tak jana hai, haan bhaiya?"
"Ghar ke andar tak?" Hmm sense of humor, a first in my auto travels. "Haha, nahin bhaiya, pehle bolna padta hai na, otherwise aap wahan ja kar bologe andar jaane ke das rupye aur". He assures he'll drop me where I want to be.
We fall silent for some distance.
Further ahead, the road is clogged near the petrol pump. It's a herd of vehicles filling the landscape for the national geographic season one filming 'The Great Indian Traffic'. Every Day. City by city. The herd, slowly fills the mystic landscape, of this ancient civilization. Every Day, it's a fight for survival. There are the I10s, civics, buses, autos..and the majestic beamers and mercs. Cycles are almost extinct in this city. There, amidst this myriad colors and cacophony of the herd, you can almost hear the primal honk of the little Hyundai. Will this Hyundai I10 survive a dent tonight? (Related coverage, Chaos Prevails at Petrol Stations)
The autowallah says "Kal sab bandh hai, auto, bus" and falls silent. He repeats everything is bandh again, I figure he's in a mood to talk. "Auto pure city main bandh hai? MMTS bhi?", I entertain, he says it is.
"Kaun karwa raha hai bandh yeh?"
He tells me it's all the big people, I tell him I know KCR is the leader, but who else is involved? He repeats it's all the big people. I ask him if he's from Telangana and on which side he is and if a separate state will make a difference to his life.
"Telangana se hain hum. abhi saare logan bahar see aaten, tabhi develop hota. wahi log aake itna develop kiye, abhi state hota nahi hota, logan nahi aayenge toh kuch nahi hoga.
Abhi tak sabhi logan chup baithe the.. paise mile honge na sir, ab paise khatam ho gaye unke paas, isliye sab bandh
Hum toh pahle bhi auto chalaten, baad main bhi..govt job nahi milta.
Sabhi milke rahne ko hota..hindu muslim, milke rahne se accha hota".
Oh I see. So he's from the Muslim community most likely and is a non-entity in this entire Telangana episode?
My destination has arrived. Okay, my place has come. I've give him 50 and take a look at his face to find out who I was talking to.
We smile and it's goodbye.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Lost
In an early chapter of the book "Ascent of Money", Professor Niall Ferguson writes
Wait a minute. I was taught in my high school about Fibonacci. They didn't tell me about matrameru. This is plain wrong, this prof's research is incorrect.
No but seriously, what happened to us? We are the ones who know how to get a pyramid into a bus, train, and an airplane while the west still fancies making a line for it. Why are we standing last in the line of research with our history unknown among our own people. Why are we a footnote in the history that is being written now?
The son of Pisan custom official based in what is now Bejaia in Algeria, the young Fibonacci had immersed himself in what he called the 'Indian method' of mathematics, a combination of Indian and Arab insights. His introduction of these ideas was to revolutionize the ways Europeans counted. Nowadays he's best remembered for Fibonacci sequence of numbers*..
.. But the Fibonacci sequence was only one of the many Eastern mathematical ideas introduced to Europe in his path breaking book Liber Abaci, 'The Book of Calculation', which he published in 1202. In it, readers could find fractions explained, as well as the concept of presnet value (the discounted value today of a future revenue stream). Most important of all was Fibonacci's introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals.
(Footnote)
* The Fibonacci sequence appears in the Da Vinci Code, which is probably why most people have heard of it. However, the sequence first appeared, uner the name matrameru (mountain of cadence), in the work of the Sanskrit scholar Pingala.
Wait a minute. I was taught in my high school about Fibonacci. They didn't tell me about matrameru. This is plain wrong, this prof's research is incorrect.
No but seriously, what happened to us? We are the ones who know how to get a pyramid into a bus, train, and an airplane while the west still fancies making a line for it. Why are we standing last in the line of research with our history unknown among our own people. Why are we a footnote in the history that is being written now?
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Books
Read The Ineligible Bachelors.
Good read. Wish it had more poorjokes.
Read Immortals of Meluha and it's sequel the Secret of Nagas.
Good read those two.
Good read. Wish it had more poorjokes.
Read Immortals of Meluha and it's sequel the Secret of Nagas.
Good read those two.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Missing something?
A multi facility clinic, I am in for eye checkup. I walk up to the desk on the floor where ophthalmology section is. Everything seems a bit, er, stuffed.
"There are no tokens", the guy with a white mask, who I earlier thought was a patient, turns around from the horizontal file of people at the desk and tells me that when I manage to catch his attention.
"Then how does it work, my appointment?", he checks my name on a scratch pad. There's a computer right behind which probably has a hundred ways to manage this list.
"I'll call you when your turn comes"
I scan the hall, it's full, a few people are standing here and there, if there is a dress code for the staff I can't tell. Good times I figure, for the docs in this clinic. Business accha hai. A father is holding his kid is shouting for his pathology reports saying "the doctor is waiting yaar!" I look at him and he almost shouts at me to get the reports.
While I have grown up with this chaos, yet now it seems strange. What is it that makes us so Brownian? Anyways, this is how everything works here.
A kind cleaning lady brings some empty chairs, for a woman first, and for the rest of us. I look around to find most of the people have a confused, resigned look. As if their turn will never come. I understand with clarity now what it means to know a doctor, or have a doctor in your family. It is a privilege. Remember that cliche, "ek dost lawyer hona chahiye, ek doctor, ek chartered accountant, ek police inspector", it's true.
I open my laptop to pass my time. An uncle comes and stands behind me overlooking. "Ashool", oh it's me. Sorry uncle, the movie is over.
I walk in while I am telling the doc the issue he tells me to sit asks my age puts a machine scans left eye tells me not to blink scans right puts a lens in front of my left eye makes me read stuff puts a lens in front of my right eye makes me read stuff "I know you can read it! Just tell me which one is better", "I can't.." "So both are fine", "Uh..Yes" he gives me a prescription I ask his name shake his hand and he smiles me out. 5 mins. I go to the counter: Consultation fee Rs 300. It felt like the 4D aqua story in IMAX for which I spent $25 long ago. Worth watching once, but you still curse it for being so short that it almost feels zero value for money.
I walk out of the clinic, get the recommended medicine for another Rs 120. I wonder if this is private health care what would public be like. And is the 'care' missing in the healthcare.
"There are no tokens", the guy with a white mask, who I earlier thought was a patient, turns around from the horizontal file of people at the desk and tells me that when I manage to catch his attention.
"Then how does it work, my appointment?", he checks my name on a scratch pad. There's a computer right behind which probably has a hundred ways to manage this list.
"I'll call you when your turn comes"
I scan the hall, it's full, a few people are standing here and there, if there is a dress code for the staff I can't tell. Good times I figure, for the docs in this clinic. Business accha hai. A father is holding his kid is shouting for his pathology reports saying "the doctor is waiting yaar!" I look at him and he almost shouts at me to get the reports.
While I have grown up with this chaos, yet now it seems strange. What is it that makes us so Brownian? Anyways, this is how everything works here.
A kind cleaning lady brings some empty chairs, for a woman first, and for the rest of us. I look around to find most of the people have a confused, resigned look. As if their turn will never come. I understand with clarity now what it means to know a doctor, or have a doctor in your family. It is a privilege. Remember that cliche, "ek dost lawyer hona chahiye, ek doctor, ek chartered accountant, ek police inspector", it's true.
I open my laptop to pass my time. An uncle comes and stands behind me overlooking. "Ashool", oh it's me. Sorry uncle, the movie is over.
I walk in while I am telling the doc the issue he tells me to sit asks my age puts a machine scans left eye tells me not to blink scans right puts a lens in front of my left eye makes me read stuff puts a lens in front of my right eye makes me read stuff "I know you can read it! Just tell me which one is better", "I can't.." "So both are fine", "Uh..Yes" he gives me a prescription I ask his name shake his hand and he smiles me out. 5 mins. I go to the counter: Consultation fee Rs 300. It felt like the 4D aqua story in IMAX for which I spent $25 long ago. Worth watching once, but you still curse it for being so short that it almost feels zero value for money.
I walk out of the clinic, get the recommended medicine for another Rs 120. I wonder if this is private health care what would public be like. And is the 'care' missing in the healthcare.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Random surf
One evening, friends and I ended up discussing out of body experience among other normal things that we usually talk about.
Being the youtube junkie I am, I found a youtube in which a math prof goes around research centers exploring the answer to another question and undergoes, an obe. What else can you expect of a math prof anyway.
There are a lot of other interesting experiments in his video, like for example, for a particular experiment, the experimenter could predict exactly 6 seconds in advance what the decision would be before the person making the decision them self had made it, consciously.
The secret you
Here's another video where the researchers are scanning the brains of tibetan monks to understand the affects of their meditation
Transform Your Mind, Change Your Brain
Being the youtube junkie I am, I found a youtube in which a math prof goes around research centers exploring the answer to another question and undergoes, an obe. What else can you expect of a math prof anyway.
There are a lot of other interesting experiments in his video, like for example, for a particular experiment, the experimenter could predict exactly 6 seconds in advance what the decision would be before the person making the decision them self had made it, consciously.
The secret you
Here's another video where the researchers are scanning the brains of tibetan monks to understand the affects of their meditation
Transform Your Mind, Change Your Brain
Sunday, August 28, 2011
jung
aiye bharat ek baar phir
mulaqat teri ek khwaab se hai
ladai is baar kisi aur se nahin
apne aap se hai
- oh just felt like writing something on the current events :)
mulaqat teri ek khwaab se hai
ladai is baar kisi aur se nahin
apne aap se hai
- oh just felt like writing something on the current events :)
Friday, April 29, 2011
The Forward
The teacher was demonstrating in the class. He took a glass jar, and put some stones in.
"Is this jar full now?", he asked.
"No Sir, you can fit in some pebbles", a kid responded.
"Good idea", he put some pebbles in. The jar was filled to the brim.
"Is the jar full now?"
"No sir, you can fit in some gravel, and sand", said another kid.
"Smart thinking", teacher said, asked a kid to run and get some sand.
"Is the jar full now?"
"No sir, you can still add some water to replace the air"
The teacher added some water.
"Anything else?", the teacher asked, sounding frustrated
"Yes sir, you can add some color"
The teacher realized he had been taken for a ride. He was going to demonstrate a forward that he had received in email, on time management, how the larger stones were family, health etc, and how you had to fit in the important things first, and there would still be space for other smaller things.
However, he wasn't prepared for what came next. In habit, he asked, "So kids what did you learn from this, that large stones are the important things in your life..."
"Sir", a kid at the back benches interrupted
"This is the Indian Traffic. And we can make it freaking move".
"Is this jar full now?", he asked.
"No Sir, you can fit in some pebbles", a kid responded.
"Good idea", he put some pebbles in. The jar was filled to the brim.
"Is the jar full now?"
"No sir, you can fit in some gravel, and sand", said another kid.
"Smart thinking", teacher said, asked a kid to run and get some sand.
"Is the jar full now?"
"No sir, you can still add some water to replace the air"
The teacher added some water.
"Anything else?", the teacher asked, sounding frustrated
"Yes sir, you can add some color"
The teacher realized he had been taken for a ride. He was going to demonstrate a forward that he had received in email, on time management, how the larger stones were family, health etc, and how you had to fit in the important things first, and there would still be space for other smaller things.
However, he wasn't prepared for what came next. In habit, he asked, "So kids what did you learn from this, that large stones are the important things in your life..."
"Sir", a kid at the back benches interrupted
"This is the Indian Traffic. And we can make it freaking move".
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