Mickey Magic Show

Yesterday we went to see the Mickey's magic show. They are traveling all over the world and were in Bangalore as part of their tour.

As usual, the Disney's display was crisp and professional. And should I say, as usual, the organizer was anything but professional.

OK I am complaining as usual. But I am confused or fail to understand or whining or whatever but I fail to understand the lack of common sense where you think it is so common sense based .

1. I bought the tickets online and got the seats assigned. I go to the venue and realize that they have been given to someone else already. Huh? It not just with me. It was with someone else too. Later on they gave us different seats. I say, you dumb folks, is it soo difficult to manage the tickets? I too have organized concerts in the past with a bunch of 20 folks in the past and we could organize these things much more professionally.

2. Next in my whining list is the Koramangala Indoor Stadium. What a shameful construction it could be. Can you imagine I could find a freaking urinal there? There was this small Gents toilet which did not have a urinal. I still fail to believe this fact and wil only be happy to realize that I missed the urinal. But did 100 other folks around me also miss it? ha ha

3. Third , the parent. Folks!! Moms!! Dads. learn how to teach your kids behave. Yes Magic show was a kids show. I have seen many animation movies and childrens' shows in the past but never had seen this kind of unruly mob. Felt like, do we have a mob in the making? Or do we have these incompetent parents who are hell bent on showcasing the fact that their kids are wonder kinds jumping all around like monkeys? Interesting things were what I was hearing from the people sitting near me. So in the magic show, the artists were calling a kid from the audience. Man!! unbelieveable it was to see that he was being mobbed by the kids trying to go the stage. I am sure its the parents who cannot make their kids sit in a disciplined fashion. In fact, the kid with his mom on the seat next to mine started crying desperately when he was not taken to the stage. I get scared at what are these parent teaching their kids? Failure to accept the facts? Failure to accept the failures? I get worried to see these kids growing up into some obsession paranoid full grown individual incapable to accepting failure and willing to do anything to get the things like. Hopefully not at the cost of harming others. I even heard a lady saying these artists should not call one or two children on to the stage. Guys!! get a life OK? You are behaving like a ridiculous loser. If it was her son/daughter, then life very fair huh?!!

Parents get your act straight!! I am not generalizing but I see this so often in Bangalore that I wonder are these parents so clueless?

OK, now that I have vented out my frustration at these frustrating clueless parents, let me tell a little about the show itself. The show was very professional. But it was not out the world. I would rate PC Sorkar at leagues ahead. :-) One funny thing that I noticed in the show was the Cinderella item. It seems that Cinderella is in a really shabby dress and the magician will get her new shoes and dress. And guess what happens when the new dress and shoes were brought in magically? A new lady comes up :-) So different from the original lady. :-) Ah come on. did the magician change her face too? :-)

Overall I would say a crisp show. I wish Riverdance will also visit Bangalore. But do we have the auditorium to hold such a show?

Marasim

Out off the blues, I suddenly remembered Marasim today. This was an album by Gulzar and Jagjit Singh and I think it came out long time back in 1999. What an awesome album it was. Beautiful lyrics by gulzar rendered craftily by Jagjit Singh. In the middle of ghazals, there are short thoughts by Gulzar. I cannot forget those ever . Here are a couple :

Subah Subah ek khwaab ki dastak par
Darwaazaa kholaa dekhaa
Sarhad ke us paar se
Kuchh mehmaan aaye huye hain
Aakhon se maanoos the saare
Chehre saare soone sunaaye
Haath dhoye paanv dhulwaaye
Aangan mein aasan lagwaaye
Aur tandoor pe mote mote rot pakaaye
Aaankh khuli to dekhaa ghar mein koyi nahi tha
Haath lagaa kar dekha to tandoor abhi tak bujhaa nahin thaa
Aur hothon pe meethe gud kaa zehtaa ab tak chipak rahaa thaa
Khwaab thaa shaayad Khwaab hi hogaa
Sarhad par kal raat sunaa hai chalee thi golee
Sarhad par kal raat sunaa hai kuchh khwaabon kaa khoon hua hai

************************************

Mujhko bhi tarqeeb sikhaa koi yaar zulaahe
Aksar tujhko dekhaa hai taanaa bunte
Jab koi taagaa toot gayaa ya khatam hua
Phir se baandh ke aur sira koi jod ke usme
Aage bunne lagte ho
Tere is taane mein lekin
Ek bhi gaanth giraah buntar ki dekh nahin saktaa hai koi
Maine bhi ek baar bunaa thaa ek hi rishta
Lekin uski saari girahein saaf nazar aati hai mere yaar zulaahe
Mujhko bhi tarqeeb sikhaa koi yaar zulaahe

RF and Communications Posts will be on new blog

Just to keep things separate, I have decided that Math, DSP, RF, Communications posts will be on a different blog from now on. So if you are interested in these topics, you may visit :

http://rfandcommunications.blogspot.com

Built To Last

I am currently reading the book "Built To Last" with an intent that at least this time I will read till the end. Everytime one or other thing would come and I would halt the reading. My colleagues have told me that I am using too many phrases and philosophies from that book.

But I think, it is up to us to take what we want and not what we dont want. I personally think this is a great book and is a must read for everyone irrespective of whether they are in sales, marketing or R&D. It is a must read to get some perspectives about dealing with life too. I agree that we are looking through the mirror of author. Well they have done lots of research. But still I agree that we are reading their perspective, their thoughts. But we can always average out and come out with lots of good points.

There are many great points about the book and quite some not so good too. Some companies mentioned by the book as visionary companies may not necessarily be great companies.

Some of the key take aways for personal development as well include :

• You do not have to be street smart.
  
• Be desperate
• Be determined
  
• Be dreamy
  
• Be ready to fall down and get up
  
• Do not be discouraged by failures
  
• Do not be distracted and discouraged by negative feedback
  
• Keep trying whatever it is.
  
• Learn as you keep trying
  
• Do not be bogged down by thinking about a big problem in whole. Think small and keep building.
  
• Try different things
  
• Try with a goal. Well this is same as try with some product in mind.
  
• When things are not working, it is very easy to shun it, give up. And also these are moments when many may say that it is not worth trying. But if your heart says it is worth trying, then listen to your heart. You may be right!You may be wrong. But at the end of the day you would be happy you listened to your heart.
  

Coffee House er Sei Adda

And life goes on....

Walking through the music aisles of Landmark, I stumbled upon a CD of Manna Dey songs titled Coffee House er see Adda ta.... A perennially favorite song of my heart, it did not take me a second to pick it up and purchase it.

Last night when I put the CD in, I did not listen to the first song, second song but the last song first and that was the "coffee house er sei adda ta aaj aar nei"

As the song progresses, as the stanzas progress, you are taken into the reminiscent days of the past. More prominently striking are the teenage days when most of the time is spent in the social shaping. Spent with friends. Spent at college. Spent before tution. Spent after tution. Spent soon after the morning starts. Spent till the evening lasts.

How fascinating were those days... How sweet was it to ride on bicycles. Soon after the school would end, we would bike ourselves towards our homes but would park under a tree on the way to spend some time chatting about everything under the sky. Would it be about the future? Would it be about the exam? Would it be about the beautiful girl passing by? Would it be about the things we want to achieve? Very difficult to predict.

Then those tutions that many of us would attend. Most of us would eagerly wait for the tution to end so that we could bike ourselves fast to the singada/chop shop nearby to enjoy nice chop, singada and chaa. Each of us would take turns every week to feed others or sometimes we would just chip in whatever coins we would have in our pockets...

And days went by... we passed our exams.... We joined colleges....We made new friends....We got jobs....We moved places....We moved countries....We lost contacts....We shed old lives....We entered into new lives....

I am sure all of us were left with memories of those sweet days....

Coffee house er sei adda ta abaar hok ?


P.S : Lot of words, phrases used in the above post are in Bengali. They mean as follows :
Singada : Samosa (in hindi)
Chaa : Tea
Coffee House er sei adda : Time pass group meeting while having a sip of coffee
Aaj aar nei : No longer exists today
Abaar hok ? : Let it happen again ?

Auto Fares in Bangalore

So finally , after a long drama involving strike by Autos demanding the hike in fares, finally it was official that auto fares have increased starting friday, february 1. The rates have been increased to Rs. 14 as minimum and Rs. 7 per km there after .

We make a lot of noise about this increase. Ofcourse this noise is within ourselves and our friends and it is not like "We all will stop getting into autos". :-) That would be funny to observe you know. Suddenly autos are running around empty and people refusing to get into them.

Well, I think we should also appreciate the fact that the rates had to increase and should increase. This is, after I had this interesting discussion with the driver of the auto in which I was going home on January 31, the night before the new fares were to come into effect. He told me how the gas rates have increased to Rs. 37 (I cannot confirm this figure). He told me how this increase has made the restaurant owners to increase the food price. And how, now he has to pay Rs. 7 for his cup of coffee. It all made sense you know.

It seems that this new rate is for some number of years or till the gas rates increase, whichever happens first.

But when I was telling to this to my colleague, he asked me, how is it possible that the rate is Rs. 5 per km in Mumbai? Well, I dont have an answer. May be, Mumbai is cheaper than Bangalore. :-)

So, next time, think about that cup of coffee....

Sunscreen

A colleague sent me this link on Youtube. Thought its a nice one. So here it is for those visiting this blog.

Everybody Free to Wear a Sunscreen