The Second Life

If you want to really see how far Internet 2.o has come, take a look at www.secondlife.com.

The wiki page for the same is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondlife
If you thought that the world changes more quickly than you could comprehend, try this for size - the secondlife community has 2 million registered users. Though the number of real users is expected to be closer to 100,000, that's still 100K people spending real dollars on creating a virtual identity, not to mention their time and effort. The secondlife is complete with everything that you can buy in the real world - real estate, clothes, buildings, wars, etc. Quasi-game quasi -reality, because, in order to be successful in the secondlife, you need to buy Linden currency using your own hard-earned real world money.

So, how is the real world going to keep pace with a nirvana-promising, existence, where no one cares if you are a dog. The idea for a secondlife is not new, and indeed I have discussed the same in the past with friends, I just had no idea that this had developed so quickly.

What next? Companies that provide easy ways for you to make more money on secondlife, promising a second chance at fulfillment? Fascinating!

Diaries

As someone given to "living in the mind" as one reader once mentioned, I have always been given to wondering if I should keep a diary. Unfortunately, I am also not someone who is regular at anything ... just ask the folks who work in the gym I am a member of.

However, I did a search for diary on google and this is something that came up. Worth a quick read

http://www.soulfulliving.com/discoveringjoy.htm


As with most things in life, there are points of view against and for it, and there is medical scientific research that supports either side. Lends credence to something I have always believed - it is possible to prove almost anything in the world.

I also searched for online or free downloadable diaries and didn't find anything. Another market opportunities for those relentlessly pursuing the online retail customer with free goodies - is anyone listening at Goog and Yahoo?

INSOMNIA

I think I am into one of those phases where I will be insomniacal for a few days. Tried to go to sleep at 1230, woke up at 230 and it is 4 AM. I'm awake enough to keep goal for Manchester United. An hour later, the 4th Ashes test will begin. Thank God for small mercies.

Have a bunch of books on my desk pending reading
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Like the Flowing River - Paulo Coelho
The McKinsey Mind - Raisel
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits - Fisher

I have attempted reading the first of these with little success. After the success of the first three books, this one begins with a lot of rust in the wheels .... you can almost tell whats coming in the pages - Harry is getting his ass kicked by that Uncle and Aunt and that silly fat cousin of his, some owl, some ghoul, some Quidditch (did I spell it correctly). Poor Ms.Rowling, or rather, the rich Ms.Rowling seems to be searching for a story in the early pages ... seems like it arrived .. the book is some 500+ pages long (Groan). I can't remember if I was excited by the third book. The first two, I really liked.

On the other hand, I discover that "Like the Flowing River" is a collection of posts that Paulo places on his online journal "Warrior of the Light". If you haven't already read the online journal, you should.


The last 2 books I just picked off my friend's shelf. The McKinsey Mind looked like something I could idly browse to, if only to wonder why I went to B School those years ago. As for the book on investing, it came highly recommended and from what I have observed, is something of a classic.

A walk in the honks


So I have taken a few days off and will get back to work only in the new year. After running a few simple chores, some grocery shopping, paying some LIC premium for my investment proof, etc, I stayed at home pretty much the whole afternoon watching "The Asassination of Richard Nixon". This is the first movie I have seen of Sean Penn. Great performance. Although the movie was quite dark, Sean's performance made it totally worth it!!

On the downside, this was pretty much in line with "The Inheritance of Loss" .... very dark and hopeless, so I needed a dose of endorphins.

To turn the tide all by myself, I walked out after an early dinner, boldly into the streets hoping to walk away from all the darkness and get some yogic-breaths into my existence. I walked for well over an hour and despite my best attempts, could not ignore observations of our great penchant for honking on the streets. Noticed some evolution in the activity. Earlier, it was the pre-emptive honk when a motorist approached an intersection or when he spotted someone walking on a narrow road. Now it is just all out honking for no reason at all and all the time. A couple of taxis honked in the pattern of a repeating siren for the length of the road and then increased it to a cresendo when they approached a turn It's almost like the driver is saying "I'm in a vehicle . ... look Ma, I have no brains...... and everyone please get out of the way".


Can't help but notice that the % of autorickshaws with tampered silencers is now approaching 100%. I once asked an auto driver why he added noise to his vehicle by actually spending money on boring holes in a new silencer in a new autorickshaw - he replied without blinking that he would like to be "heard" when he is on the street, implying some kind of a need for differentiation. He said there was no real fuel efficiency that the bore provided despite my asking. I wonder what the next tactic is going to be. Maybe they should just allow autos to paint themselves any colour that they want, if they give up tampering.

So now, onto solutions:
1. The Tax lever: The Govt of Karnataka provides a tax break to all call-centre and software industry hired vehicles who are prepared to disconnect the horns of all their cabs - owned directly or indirectly. This will definitely lead to some succor since these are the worst offenders. The drivers are young and uneducated and new and are completely oblivious to any road sense or honk-sense... to them honking is as natural and as necessary as stepping on the gas.

2. The road hump: Strategically place road humps at places to reduce speed. Most honking is a warning mechanism to speed up or overtake.

3. Separation: Place barricades on roads in residential areas disallowing vehicles from honking their assess off at 3AM. Trust me .... even if there is absolutely no person, vehicle or ghost on the road, the simple sight of an intersection is sufficient for the Bangalore motorist to sound a siren with no regard for any child, man, woman or elder who may be awakened.

4. Plea: For anyone who reads this and operates a vehicle ... please please stop the honking and educate others. Honking is contagious..... and not honking can be contagious too. Lastly, if you must honk, please do it in the daytime and avoid honking in residential areas at night at all costs.


Few people realise that honking is as useless as the autorickshaw driver's attempt at differentiaton by boring holes into his silencer. There's too much honking for you to be heard.

Sarvajanasukhinabhavantu - may the world be happy.

I played my first concert today ... was a lot of fun.
The songs didn't work for a variety of reasons - the roof of the cafeteria was corrugated and therefore the sound was dispersed and distributed in a very unacoustic manner, we played a few songs at the last moment without any prior work, we hadn't practised singing together and last but not the least, I could barely hear myself or my guitar on the monitors ... be that as it may, it was my first time on stage, singing and playing guitar and it was a serious amount of fun.

I was told that "love will keep us alive" with which we ended the set sounded pretty decent. "when I saw you standing there" was supposedly quite decent as well.

Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all .... the room filling up, the performance, all seemed quite natural ... amazing the clarity and calm that comes with age, especially when you buy into the transience of all experiences.

And finally ...


India has finally recorded a test win abroad. The margin is a comprehensive 123 runs.

I liked Sreesanth's attitude and spunk. It's not something one sees very often. After Gautam Gambhir, he is the second Indian to launch an assault on Andre Nel. Previously, in a one-day game, (a comeback game), Gambhir, after taking some abuse from Nel, hit him to the fence and followed it up with a shoulder charge that any top defender in the Premiership would be proud of. Gambhir is about 5'4" to Nel's 6'3".

Nel should be fast learning that aggression is bitter when you are at the receiving end of it. That said, I do like Nel who is basically a nice guy with a strange case of bipolar disorder. Cricket is richer because of him ... and not just because he causes a 22 year old Indian tailender to hit him for six and then twirl and dance in a bizzare fashion. Nel is fascinating in his own right.

Indeed life is all about the unexpected. I have been observing the events in my life in the recent days quite closely and quite nothing has gone to plan .... or my plan at least. Nevertheless there seems to be a greater plan, a plan of the Universe at play. In so many ways I think Paulo Coelho and the Paramahansa concur. More on that another time.

Two news items

Its a Friday afternoon and today, I am buoyed and angry at the same time by two contrasting stories. Two angry people, both at points in their career where they fear the best may be behind them.

On the one hand, there is news that Saurav Ganguly, after 10 months spent in the quietitude of his self-doubt, insecurity and hope, has finally come to terms with the anger in his heart and produced a performance that will give him more solace than any screaming bloke in Calcutta or any career politician looking for his next issue. Saurav's reflexes may not be what they once where, but his determination is probably stronger than it ever has been. Saurav may have just reignited his career.


On the other, is the video of Michael Richards, or 'Kramer' from Seinfeld, completely losing it in a comedy club and yelling racist taunts at black audience members that lay bare all that is dirty about his existence and the undercurrent of racial hate that runs across societies. The scary part, is that he seems controlled, leading one to wonder what he might have said if he was sitting in the company of those who share his views and not standing in front of a live audience. Do a search on Youtube if you want a first hand experience. Deeply distressing. 'Seinfeld' is one of my favourite shows and Kramer is probably my favourite character. His career is now dead and buried forever, but I am still revulsed by him, and will continue to be so when I watch Seinfeld again, if I have the stomach for it after what I saw him say in that comedy club.


One career reignited, one buried forever.

O Sanam

O Sanam.mp3

First Hindi Cover- "O Sanam"


I have so many hindi songs that I love but its hard to find chords for them. Anyway, one of my favourties is "O Sanam" from Lucky Ali.




The video for the song can be hallucinating without even trying to be so ... the eyes of Lucky Ali's wife are the cornerstone of the video. Set against the backdrops of the pyramids, the video burns itself into your memory the very first time that you see it. It communicates longing, pain and the trysts of life in an etheral, poignant and yet straightforward manner. The song is a reflection on love itself against the backdrop of an impermanent reality ....

translated, the last verse reads
"to the world, the heart is but a toy
we will certainly die someday, why should we love?
But for now, do not steal glimpses of me,
And do not forget me when I die"

And the last couple of lines are

"You live in my eyes, but are far away
But this I do know, you are close to my heart"



You can find my cover on the "My Recorded Music" on the right.