Corporate Reaction to a Rape

What should be the reaction of a CEO when an employee of his company is raped and murdered? If you are Som Mittal, the IIT- and IIM-educated CEO of HP Global Soft, India, your one and only action should be to cover HP's ass, and not care a whit nor show any empathy for the raped and murdered victim, her family, your other employees or humanity.

Background news:
BPO rape, murder clouds Bangalore from The Indian Express

BPO worker raped and killed in B'lore, driver held from The Hindustan Times

Before I go further, please read this article published in The Deccan Herald: No lapse on our part: HP CEO. For the reader's convenience, I am pasting a copy of the article below, at the end of this post.

When I read the article, I was shocked and angered by the reactions of Som Mittal, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard GlobalSoft Limited, India. (The company has a very strange website, by the way. It has just one section for investors, and nothing else!). Mr Mittal's statements and reactions show without a doubt that his sole motivation is to cover HP's ass, so that the company is not adversely affected by any fall-out from this rape and murder case. In the process, he displays zero empathy and concern for the victim and for his other employees. He talks like a perfect company boy who is devoid of any humanity whatsoever. There appears to be not even a pretense of care or concern. Look at some of the statements he has made in this article, published three days after the news of the rape and murder came out. Would he make similar statements if a lady from his own family had been raped and murdered?

Som Mittal said that there was "no lapse" on the part of the company or the transport firm engaged to ferry the employees.

This is clearly not true because:

1. The criminal driver who picked up the victim from her home knew her cell phone number and knew at what time to pick her up. He also had similar information about two other female employees who refused to board his vehicle prior to his picking up the victim. Clearly, he got this information either from HP GlobalSoft or from the transport firm, SRS Travels.

2. When the legitimate driver, who was actually supposed to pickup the victim came to know that she was picked up by somebody else, he informed HP about it. HP took no action on that information. There were no alarms, no checks done.

3. HP arranged for the pickup of a lone female employee in the middle of the night, without any protection or escort.

4. When the victim's husband called HP to report that his wife was missing, all that they told him was that she did not report to work. The fact that they had been informed about her being picked up by a different driver was lost somewhere.

Keeping all this in view, how the heck could Mr Mittal claim that there was "no lapse" on his company's part?

Asked what precautionary measures have been taken, he said “the element of risk is always there” and that the query was like asking “what precautionary measure can be taken against a suicide bomber.”

This is just nonsense! If there was no way to protect oneself from a suicide bomber, then every president of the United States and Israel would have been a victim of suicide bomb attacks. For decades, the presidents of these countries have been hated by countless suicide bombers. Yet, none of them have been killed by a suicide bomber yet precisely because of the precautionary measures taken in ensuring their safety and security. We are not asking for the American president's secret service type of security for employees. Even simple measures like ensuring that no female employee is ever transported alone would have saved the life of the victim in this case.

“We haven’t even gone into it”, was his reply to the question on providing compensation. It is a one-of-its-kind case where the policy issues of the company are yet to be looked into,” he said and merely noted, “We do provide coverage on PF and Gratuity,”

"What the fuck!", is all I can say in reaction that statement. Hello? It is three days after the tragic news came out, and you guys have still not "gone into" the matter of compensation? It could be acceptable that no decision has been taken in this matter, but it is unacceptable that the CEO of HP GlobalSoft India did what every wussy manager in the history of management has always done: hide behind "policy issues"! You are damn right, it is a "one-of-its-kind case", and you think there is a policy written by HP about what compensation to give for an employee who might be raped and murdered? What the fuck again! This must be the worst example of a manager using the age old "policy" argument to escape responsibility! I doubt that there are many managers who can stoop lower. And then he talks about PF and gratuity like it is a favor the company is doing! If no decision had been reached about what compensation to provide, could he not have simply said they will do their best?

Queried whether HP will take the lead in addressing some of the policy issues the incident has thrown up before BPO industry, he said the company was open to discussing and sharing the best practices within the industry.

Yeah, right! This is another typical lame management response: "We'll see. We'll discuss." Once again, I have to get personal with Mr Mittal: If something like this had happened to a personal relative of his, would he be sitting on his thumbs and making vague statements about discussing and sharing best practices to ensure the safety of the rest of his family? No, he would be doing something about it.

To give an example of what could be done, on the same day that this article a fine exhibit of Mr Mittal's management competencies was published, this was part of an email that Wipro circulated to its staff:


Some of the measures taken by us while operating transport for late night and 24x7 project operations is as
below :
• A dedicated Wipro manned helpdesk to handle queries/concerns.
• All vehicles and drivers are from professional transport companies.
• We maintain all the details of the vehicles and of the drivers such as Driving license copy, residential address, vehicle details etc. in our department.
• All vehicles are fitted with seat belts and are not more than 3 years old.
• We monitor operations with the help our own transport team.
• No first pick up or last drop of lady employee.
• All employees are picked and dropped from/at their homes.
• Display of all contact numbers for any concerns in the vehicles used.
• Display of the route identification in all vehicles.

Some more measures being planned in the near future include
• Police verification of all drivers servicing our requirements.
• ID cards to drivers
• Deploying escort guards in vehicles ferrying lady employees in case of a last drop.

We wish to reiterate a few important points for your safety and request you to adhere to it :
• When traveling alone in the cab make sure you pass on the vehicle registration number to your relative / friend with the estimated time of arrival at your destination. Make sure the driver also hears this conversation.
• Lady employees: Please insist on another male employee to be present in the cab during the night pick-up/drops (between 2100 hrs-0600 hrs). If you happen to be the first pick-up / last drop / lone traveler please do not board the cab. Wipro transport desk will ensure an alternate arrangement is made.
• Please do not board the cab if the identification display is not available. Check with the transport help desk before boarding.
• If any aberration in your pick-up schedule, please notify the Transport desk and confirm before boarding the cab.
• Avoid discussing your personal / immediate plans while in the cab. Keep mobiles charged and with sufficient balance to make emergency calls if required.
• Avoid being friendly with drivers or withdrawing cash from ATMs en route.
• Never permit unknown persons or drivers associates to ride in the same vehicle.
• In case the vehicle stops at a secluded / lonely spot and the driver makes an excuse of engine malfunction / no fuel, get down from the vehicle immediately and from a safe distance, observe his actions and call up the help desk or your Supervisor and inform.
• Any concerns/suggestions or issues to be communicated to the Transport help desk please.

Safety is each one’s responsibility and it always pays to be paranoid than be sorry.
Few useful tips when in danger…
• Your elbows are the strongest points – use them to the extent possible
• Lock doors and leave as soon as you get into your car.
• If ever stuck in a boot of a car, kick out the tail lights and signal through the hole
• When a robber demands your bag, toss it away from you and run in the opposite direction.
• Be alert to anything not normal
• Appear confident and do not panic


While Mr Mittal sits on his thumbs and gives out his company boy's statements as a reaction to one of his own company's employees being raped and murdered, other companies have gone ahead and taken specific, concrete action. Sure, these actions may not protect their employees from a suicide bomber, but these measures would certainly have saved the person and life of the poor lady whose only crime was to work for HP in the middle of the night. And oh, to trust the driver of the transport company hired by HP!

Neither HP nor Mr Mittal should be let off easily. The story of most of India's problems is the story of poor accountability. Anybody can do just about anything and escape if they have enough clout, money and luck on their side. Such lack of accountability encourages and perpetuates more wrongs and evils nationwide. HP should be made to pay heavily for their undoubted lapse. As for Mr Mittal, he should go back and get some much needed training in the basics of being a caring, empathic, sensitive human, before he can be the company boy manager!

---+--*--+---



No lapse on our part: HP CEO

DH News Service Bangalore:

Three days after the news about rape and gruesome murder of one of his employees who was on her way to work, left this booming BPO city rattled, Mr Som Mittal,CEO HP Global Soft, India, said that there was “no lapse” on the part of the company or the transport firm engaged to ferry the employees.

Three days after the news about rape and gruesome murder of one of his employees who was on her way to work, left this booming BPO city rattled, Mr Som Mittal,CEO HP Global Soft, India, said that there was “no lapse” on the part of the company or the transport firm engaged to ferry the employees.

Asked what precautionary measures have been taken, he said “the element of risk is always there” and that the query was like asking “what precautionary measure can be taken against a suicide bomber.” Mr Mittal described what happened to Ms Prathibha Srikantamurthy as “shattering.” But answers to the questions on the larger issues that the incident has thrown up were not forthcoming.

“We haven’t even gone into it”, was his reply to the question on providing compensation. It is a one-of-its-kind case where the policy issues of the company are yet to be looked into,” he said and merely noted, “We do provide coverage on PF and Gratuity,” Should BPO companies go in for in-house transport options? No, he said. Just as companies like his are hired by others for specialised services, his company has hired professionals for its transport requirements, he explained. On why the company didn’t check up on Prathibha when she was absent without intimating the office, Mr Mittal responded thus: Absenteeism in this industry is about 12 to 15 per cent. Some inform, others don’t. The latter are referred as the “no shows”; the back-up staff simply fill in their slot. It is not exactly an alarm and at three in the morning we do not call back home. The alarm for us is when we receive complaints of driver’s misbehaviour or non co-operation. Mr Mittal noted that he has already spoken to NASSCOM in the wake of the incident. Queried whether HP will take the lead in addressing some of the policy issues the incident has thrown up before BPO industry, he said the company was open to discussing and sharing the best practices within the industry. In what amounts to a bid to reassure the guardians, Mr Mittal noted, “Parents can come and interact with us, and check for themselves the work place (of their children)”.


Source: No lapse on our part: HP CEO

Vegetarians get the stepmotherly treatment again!

Yet another office party come and gone, and vegetarians get step-motherly treatment again! By the time half the people at the party had taken the food, all the vegetarian appetizers were gone. The vegetarian entree was never ordered at all! The only things left for vegetarians were the salad and pita bread! In contrast, the non-vegetarian dishes not only lasted through the party, two trays of the non-veg entree were actually left-over!

I am not only unhappy because I am a vegetarian myself, I also feel guilty because I was in the organizing committee for the party. And I told the other committee members that vegetarian dishes are something that everyone consumes, where as, meat dishes are something which only the non-vegetarians will touch. So, although the number of vegetarians might actually be smaller than the number of non-vegetarians in absolute terms, we should order more vegetarian food than non-vegetarian food. Here are a couple of responses I got to my point:

1. From an American lady: Usually non-vegetarians eat only non-veg dishes. I have often seen that the vegetarians will want to try a little bit of a chicken dish or something. That is what usually happens.

2. From an Indian guy, who should have known better: Usually non-vegetarians take 75% non-veg items and 25% veg items. So, we should order 75% non-veg items and 25% veg items.

The person who finally placed the order reviewed the order with us. It all seemed good because the vegetarian appetizers were going to be ordered for everyone, and the vegetarian entree was also going to be ordered in sufficient quantity. But, when the order was delivered, for some reason, the number of vegetarian appetizers were half of what was expected, and the vegetarian entree was totally missing!

This party is not the first time that I have seen this. It happens all the time. If a group of us friends go out for dinner, and some non-vegetarian orders the food, he'd usually order non-veg and veg dishes in equal proportion. There would be enough non-veg dishes for the meat-eaters. The veg dishes would disappear fast because everyone eats them, not just the vegetarians. If someone orders pizza for a team of 10, out of which 3 are vegetarians, they order just 1 or 2 veg pizza thinking that is more than enough for the 3 vegetarians. Turns out that everyone, including the meat-eaters, like the veg pizza. So, at the end, there is meat pizza left-over, where as, the veg pizza is all gone, and the vegetarians might have gotten less slices than they wanted. For two years in a row, we have run out of the small number of veg burgers we took to the company picnic. Vegetarians who came in late had to spend the whole afternoon eating finger food like chips! In some meetings and gatherings, when the organizers pre-ordered food without checking/informing with the participants, they have totally missed ordering something for the vegetarians present. The vegetarians had to just sit around munching on chips, while others had "real" lunch.

I am convinced that non-vegetarians cannot get the food right (quality nor quantity) for vegetarians, unless they are really, really experienced, have that rare thing called common-sense, and an even more rare thing called consideration.

Bangalore Vs Bengalooru

Apparently, there has been an announcement that Bangalore's name will be "changed" to Bengalooru (pronounced Bengalooru), effective from Nov 1st, 2006, the Golden Jubilee of the formation of Karnataka state, of which Bangalore is the capital.

The announcement has sparked a debate in many circles, including articles and opinion polls in the media. Unlike the debates over the name change of most other cities in India (Bombay to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata, Madras to Chennai, Trivandrum to Thiruvanantapuram) and elsewhere in the world (Peking to Beijing, Edo to Tokya, Constantinople to Istanbul, etc.), the debate over the name "change" of Bangalore is happening at local, national and global levels. The debates have found participation from a lot of "outsiders". By "outsiders", I mean people who are not locals of Bangalore and those who are not residents of Bangalore. Sometimes it appears that more number of "outsiders" are debating the topic, than locals. That is because of the position and stature that Bangalore has gained as a major IT hub of India and of the world. The city has even resulted in a new word being added to the English language: Bangalored!

Here's something interesting to keep in mind regarding the name "change" of Bangalore to Bengalooru. It is not really a name change like Bombay to Mumbai and Madras to Chennai. It is more of a spelling change to reflect the correct pronunciation. It is just an adoption of a more Indian, less anglicized pronunciation of the name, and the corresponding spelling.

Further, the Kannada language media has always written and pronounced it correctly as Bengalooru. So, they are finding it a little awkward to explain what the name change issue is all about. For example, a Kannada language article might say something to the effect of, "There is a proposal to change the name of Bengaluru from Bangalore to Bengalooru"! That sure is awkward and somewhat confusing!

Not surprisingly, most "outsiders" are not in favor of the name Bengalooru. Bangalore being a city where the immigrant population is quite high and increasing on a daily basis, many media polls show that the majority of the people of Bangalore are not in favor of the name Bengalooru. When asked, the people who oppose the name "change" give the following reasons:

1. The name "change" involves an unnecessary expenditure of the taxpayers money. The government should instead concentrate on other, more important issues.

2. The name "change" will adversely affect Bangalore's international image and global branding.

3. The third reason is that... well, there is no third reason. Many "outsiders" oppose the name change "just cuz". Just cuz it sounds unfamiliar, just cuz it sounds too local and down-to-Earth, just cuz whatever they feel!

Reason number 1 will be articulated more often and with higher decibels. Reason number 2 is mentioned less often. Reason number 3 is almost never truly articulated because it is less rational and more emotional. However, I suspect that reason 3 is the biggest and most truthful reason for people's opposition. That is purely speculation on my part, I admit. But I think I am right.

If reason number 1 is truly what bothers people, why do they not debate, complain, protest and raise a voice against the government's non-performance, mismanagement and wastage of taxpayer's money on a daily basis? Why don't they raise the voice against the corruption which pervades every level of government functioning in Bangalore and the rest of India? Why don't they urge the government in no uncertain terms to go forward with improving the infrastructure of Bangalore, completing the international airport project which has been languishing for over a decade, implement a badly needed mass transit system, etc? The money that will be spent for the name "change" will by far be less than what is wasted due to corruption and mismanagement everyday.

As for reason number 2, it does not need much debate. Calling Bangalore as Bengalooru will not make or break the fortunes of the city, its businesses and people. Everybody will quickly adapt and move forward. It will be business as usual. The image and brand of Bangalore will remain intact the world over. After all, changing Bombay to Mumbai and Madras to Chennai are examples of true name changes, and those cities were not adversely affected.

The majority of people who oppose the name change because of reason number 3 - conscious or subconscious emotional dislike of the name Bengalooru - should give it some rational thought. If Kannadigas, the people of Karnataka and the local people of Bangalore want to change the name of their city for sentimental reasons, let them do so. Their sentimental reasons are rooted in their feelings for culture and language. Let them feel their sentiments, let them feel their pride. Let others not oppose them or make fun of them just because the others feel that the name is unfamiliar and has a very local flavor. If the case had been vice-versa, if the popular name of the city had been Bengaluru all these decades and people became familiar with that name, and then someone wanted to make Bangalore the official name, there would still be people who would oppose it "just cuz". So, the "just cuz" reasons and opinions should not distort and influence the debate.

Remember, what is happening is not a real change of name. Suppose a foreigner mispronounced your name, and they spelled your name to match their mispronounciation. Wouldn't you want to change the spelling to match the correct pronunciation? Wouldn't you want to teach them to pronounce your name right?

That is the case with the name "change" of Bangalore to Bengalooru!

Related: Bengalooru! Bengalooru! Bengalooru!

Epiphany of an IT Coolie

A few hours ago, I had one of those epiphanic moments we sometimes have only in the rest room. I realized that how much an organization values its employees, and how it treats them depends on what they directly contribute to the organization.

"Well... duh!", you might say. But hold on for a moment. Of course, that is common sense, and I always knew that. The special thing about today's realization is that, it reveals to me my job situation, my entire 8-year career in the software services business, in a new light. The key concept in my realization is, what we contribute directly to our organization.

What I realized was this: Suppose you are employed by a company, whose basic business is to provide services to other client companies. Meaning, your company deploys you to work on projects/systems of clients, and bills the clients for the work you put in. Consequently, your main direct contribution to your own company is simply the money your client pays for your work. All the hard work, passion, dedication, emotion, heart and soul you put into your work do not go to your company. They go to your client.

No wonder that so often, the experience of such professionals who work on client projects is that, the clients seem to understand and appreciate the value of their contributions and talents, more than their own employers. The employers just treat them like bodies which earn a certain X number of dollars per hour. Why would they not? From their perspective, that is exactly what those professionals are. And unless that amount X which an employee brings in is really, really big, the company has no reason to take special notice of her/him. What is worse, since the average amount X is just homogeneous cash, the company does not even truly look at the employee as a unique, individual person. S/he is just one of many other homogeneous employees who can bring in the same amount X. S/he is dispensable and replaceable.

The situation is not very different from a pimp and his prostitutes. The pimp sends out prostitutes to earn money by the hour, by the day... or er, by the night. For the pimp, the prostitute is only a body who brings him some money. Money is his only real concern. He is concerned about her well-being only so far as she can get him money. If something goes wrong, he is more than willing to replace her with somebody else who might bring in equal or more money. He has no more interest in her health or feelings.

This is not a very pleasant realization to have after putting in eight years of work for my company, the best years of my 20s! But that is the bitter reality.

I work for one of India's foremost software services companies. I have spent most of the last 5 years of my career at client locations in the US. During this time, I have worked alongside employees of the client organizations, doing equal and at times, more work than them. I have seen these employees progress, get yearly pay raises, promotions, etc. Some of the more deserving employees have received big promotions. In contrast, I have gained precious little mileage within my company. I am embarrassed to admit it myself, but that is the truth.

Oh, sure! I too have received pay increases and enhanced roles. I have received pay increases about 6 times in the past 5 years. And, I now lead projects, rather than just work as an individual programmer. But all that brings little personal benefit to me. The pay increases are all applied to my Indian salary. Meaning, I would start getting the higher pay only if/when I go back to India and continue working for my company there. My pay in the US has not changed in the past four years. So, effectively, I have not received any pay increases at all during that period! And my enhanced roles and responsibilities have not come with any corresponding increase in grade. Not at all!

When I ask my supervisors for enhancements to my pay and grade, the kind of responses I get can only be described as bull shit.

Today's epiphanic moment is important because it has revealed to me why this is so. As far as my company is concerned, there is no big difference between what I was five years ago and what I am now. Five years ago, I was a body that earned X dollars per hour for my company, today I am a body who earns X+delta dollars per hour. All my work, knowledge, experience, enhanced competencies over the years have not directly contributed to my company. They have been useful only to the clients. So, the clients recognize and appreciate them. My company does not. Even the enhanced responsibilities and roles I have received have been awarded by the clients, not by my company. That is why the higher responsibilities and roles have not come with higher grades and pay. That is the nature of this business, the nature of this system.

I know that if I had been directly employed by one of my clients, my work would have directly affected my employer's business systems. It would have made a tangible difference to their business. Consequently, I wouldn't be just a dollar earner for the company. I would be the person who made the business function better. So, the work I have put in over the years would have been suitably recognized and rewarded. I would have been in a much better position, than I am in right now. I have seen how much clients value, respect, recognize and reward their employees who put in good work, who have good talent and potential.

If you are in a situation like mine, where your day-to-day work and talents are not directly contributing to your own company's systems, if all that your company is getting from your work is a few dollars per hour, let this be a lesson to you. Do not stay in such a job for long, unless one of the following is true:

1. The personal rewards/compensation you are getting are significantly high. You can afford to put your long term career interests on hold for sometime, while you earn some good money.

2. It is only a temporary situation and you are confident that you can quickly move into a position where your day-to-day work directly adds value to your company. By value, I don't mean the dollars per hour you might earn your company.

3. The dollars you earn for your company is very, very high. So high that, the CEO or his direct reports know about you.

If either of these is not true, you would serve your long term career interests better by looking for a job where you can directly contribute to the company.

I have decided that I will never again let myself be trapped in this kind of a system on a long term basis. I want my company to recognize and reward me for what I am, for my talents and contributions in making things better for the company, for my contributions to the company's business. I don't want to be just a coolie who adds another buck to the maestri's* kitty!

*maestri - Indian word for the leader of a group of laborers. The maestri negotiates the laborers' rates with the clients, supervises their work, gets money from the clients and pays the laborers.

Love Happens!

Someone asked this on a message board:

I was/am more good looking than both my ex-boyfriends. I am intelligent, loyal and very very committed. Place my relationship first, before 'everything else'. I loved them so much. I wanted it to work so badly, but it did not. Why didnt it work. I wonder what kind of girl they must be with now. What does she have that I dont. Why will they like someone else. Everybody like attractive partner. I am very very attractive, very beautiful. They couldnd stop telling me how beautiful I am. And I was funny. And I loved them with all my heart. I never left them. They left me. I am still alone. They both moved on so fast. Moved on with their career, with their life. I am not so whiney in real life, as I may sound in this message. I am fun. I am very fun to be with. And I deserve to be happy. But I am not.

My response:

The only word which comes to my mind right now in association with love is, "happens". Love happens. Cannot be forced, cannot be made to happen.

Love does not wait to see if you are the best person there is. Nor does love wait to see how you love. It happens when it happens. It stops when it stops. It moves on when it moves on. That's all.

There is no point in analyzings the why's and the where's and the what for's. Just let go and let love.

- Swami Libran Lover

Random Updates

9th Dec, 2005: My office desktop (which actually sat on the floor and served as a convenient high-rise foot-rest), was replaced by a laptop today. I have been using laptops for official work (at home) from 2000, when laptops used to be a status symbol. However, during all that time, the laptop was only a second computer for use at home or elsewhere. I always had a desktop PC at work. This is the first time the laptop has actually replaced my desktop. I remember reading a Computer World article not too long ago that this is the trend in companies across the US. When a laptop can give us everything that our old desktop PC could, plus the mobility, for only a few hundred bucks more, companies are increasingly replacing old desktops with laptops. For my work and play, today's laptops are more than enough. My personal machine at home is also a laptop. This makes me wonder nostalgically, if I will ever use a desktop again.

11th Dec, 2005: For the first time today, I flipped the middle finger to another car driver. The light changed green, and I started to take a left turn onto a ramp, to get on the freeway. There was this Dodge Taurus truck which had stopped behind me at the light. As soon as we were both on the ramp, the truck guy revved up speed trying to pass me. The ramp had two lanes at the beginning and the idiot misjudged his speed or my speed or his truck's power, or all three of these. By the time he could come anywhere close to my car, the two lanes of the ramp had merged into one, and yet this guy insisted on passing me on that single lane, and he did too despite my honking. Did that give him any head start on the freeway? Of course, not! He had to deal with the freeway traffic like everybody else. Within no time, I had caught up with him, passed him and flipped a finger at him! If you drive too fast or too dangerously for the sake of the thrills, I have nothing to say to you, idiot! However, if you are doing that because you are in a hurry to get somewhere, I have this piece of unsolicited advice: unless you are driving really really far, driving fast doesn't save you much time. Suppose you are going to a place 20 miles away. If you are driving safe and well around the speed limit at 60 mph, you will reach the place in around 20 minutes. If you drive fast and reckless at 80 mph, you will reach the place in around 15 minutes (this is assuming you can drive at a constant 80 mph, through the entire trip). So all you are doing is saving a lousy 5 minutes or less... most probably less! Believe me, it is not worth putting yourself and other people on the road in danger.

Update on 12/14/2005: I just got my auto insurance renewal notice. A speeding ticket for driving 20 mph over the limit is costing me $200 more than what I used to pay, for 6 months coverage! And the insurance guy told me that the speeding ticket points will remain on their system for 3 years! So, that ticket might cost me $1200 in addition to the fine! Yet another reason to maintain some sanity while driving.

Update on 12/30/2005: I just went online to pay for my auto insurance renewal. The amount shown there did not have the extra $200, I have mentioned above. In fact, it was lesser than my previous renewal amount.!I called up insurance company to check. They told me that the extra $200 had appeared on the renewal notice by mistake, and the lesser amount shown online is correct. Woohoo!

To be so... let it be so!

I am starting a new work day right now. So far, I have attended the daily morning meeting, and sent out three work-related emails. I am sitting at my desk now. I should really get started on my work. But my mind is on an article and a story I need to write. I know that I will have a good (if I say so myself) article and story in hand, if I spend the rest of the day writing them. Ah, to be a full-time writer!

It is not every morning that I am in the mood to write something. There are mornings when I just want to get on with my tech job. There are mornings when I wish I could be doing some simple menial job which needs no thinking. There are mornings when I wish I was cooking in a restaurant kitchen. There are mornings when I think I should be on the radio running a talk show for Bangalore. There are mornings when I want to be out travelling. There are mornings when I don't even want to get out of bed. Ah, to be so filthy rich that I could do whatever I wanted with my mornings!

Here's a dream I have had for a long time now. I am putting it out into the Universe for what it's worth: I am a filthy rich writer. I have a few bestsellers against my name which earn royalty every day. I have enough money to live comfortably and travel in style. I spend half the year travelling, meeting people, collecting stories. I spend the other half of the year living in a peaceful country setting, putting those stories to paper. These stories will become bestsellers, earning me more royalty. Once a week or so, I teach at a local college, mentoring, encouraging and setting free impressionable young minds. I have interests, resources and hands in a few other projects - movie productions, tech start-ups, a restaurant. I have a happy, healthy, content and loving family. Ah, to be so... let it be so!

ENTIRE PORN COMPANY FOR SALE !!!

There is an entire porn company for sale on Ebay.com with a starting bid of $100,000!
Here's the link: ENTIRE PORN COMPANY FOR SALE !!!

If I were to buy this outfit, I would not spend any time or resources on the typical run-of-the-mill brainless porn. I would concentrate on:

1. Smart porn: porn with real stories, emotions and aesthetics. As opposed to the kind of porn which seems to be made for retards with no brains.

2. Porn for ladies and couples: most of the porn is made for the average male. A large market for ladies and couples is mostly untapped, I think.

3. Quickie Porn for handhelds: A set of 1-, 2-, 3- minute clips made exclusive for hand-held gadgets like cell phones, PDA, handhelds. Easily downloadable from my website for a small price. Designed for quickies.

4. Amateur porn: you make, we buy and distribute; on a one-time payment basis or royalty-sharing basis (special cases ONLY). Facial anonymity option available. Facial ONLY!

5. People next door porn: movies with "average-looking" (NOT ugly!) people. Not enhanced and artificial same old pornstar-looking people.

6. Porn-based reality series.

7. Tie-up with a gaming software company to produce porn-based games.

8. Introduce at least one new hottie (never seen before seen in the industry) every year.

I think that should give me a significant edge in the porn business.

Roommate Rules

After a loong time, I have started sharing an apartment with roommates, since this past September. I have come up with the following "Roommate Rules" to help make roommate arrangements an easier experience. Most of them are based on my experiences during the past three months, and from prior roommate experiences as well. Some are based on the experiences I have heard from others. The rest are based on common sense.

Before I list the rules, I would like to say one thing first and foremost: Rules or no rules, finding the right people is the most important thing. It is about people, people, people!

1. All of the following rules shall be discussed, understood and agreed upon in advance.

2. We shall discuss, understand and agree upon in advance practical matters like the lease terms, living arrangements (which room belongs to whom, etc.), lease breakage, etc.

3. I shall have my own room and bathroom. I need my private space.

4. As far as possible, we shall try to maintain the apartment/house as a "home". That includes sharing good company, cordial conversation and meals.

5. There will be no meat or eggs (in direct form) cooked or consumed in the house. Eggs in indirect form - as in cookies, pastries, etc. - are acceptable.

6. All shared areas (living room, kitchen, dining area) shall be immaculately clean at all times. Immaculate also means, "a place for everything and everything in its place!" This is applicable for everything including footwear, CDs, shopping bags, magazines, letters, miscellaneous papers, etc.

7. We shall work out a schedule for equal division of labor for cooking, cleaning, shopping. We shall stick to this schedule without requiring explicit reminders from me. I don't want to remind someone and feel like I am nagging them. We can help each other out during those inevitable times when we cannot stick to the schedule. During such times, we shall give as much advance notice as possible.

8. All monetary accounts for shared expenses shall be meticulously maintained. We shall be accurate and fair, and allow no errors of approximation or "adjustment" in this process.

9. Any shared items (tools, furniture, etc.) shall be returned back to their proper place, immediately after use. We shall not leave them lying around haphazardly.

10. Any left-over food items, shared or otherwise, shall be put in the refrigerator immediately after we finish eating.

11. No food shall be left uncovered on kitchen counters or dining table. There shall be no food pieces or crumbs left lying around on floors, kitchen counters or stove tops.

12. We shall have a clear distinction between cooking items and eating items. Items such as vessels, plates, cups, spoons which are used for cooking, shall never be used to eat with or eat out of. Items with which we eat such as plates, cups, spoons, forks, knives, etc. shall never be used for cooking.

13. There shall be certain spoons, glasses, plates which shall be designated as mine. Nobody shall use them under any circumstances. Roommates are welcome to designate their own personal items.

14. We shall use serving spoons to transfer food to our plates or cups. We shall not do so with our bare hands as much as possible. If touching with bare hands is not avoidable (eg: to pick up a piece of fruit), we shall do so in such a manner that our hands don't touch that remaining pieces. We shall definitely not use our bare hands to break a piece of pakora or any other snack on a common plate, pop half in our mouth and leave the other half on the plate for somebody else!

15. We shall never spit in or wash our mouths in the kitchen sink. We use that sink to wash food items such as vegetables, fruits, etc. We also wash cooking vessels there. It is not proper to spit into that sink. We shall use the sinks in the bathrooms to wash our mouth.

16. There shall be no "borrowing" of each other's items (such as money, blankets, pillows, gadgets) without prior request and permission. Very personal items such as articles of clothing shall never be borrowed or lent. Please let's not even think of asking to borrow them.

17. We shall not mix our laundry. If I have left my clothes in the washer or dryer and the roommate wants to use it, I would appreciate it if he called me to remove them, rather than he removing and dumping them on the dining table.

18. We shall not open each other's mail. We shall avoid listening to each other's voicemail as far as possible.

19. We shall throw trash in the trash can. We shall not let pieces of paper, including used napkins and paper towels, lying all around the house. We shall dispose trash regularly. We shall not leave the filled trash bag right outside our door. We shall take it out of the house, straight to the trash bins.

20. Last, but not least, we shall settle monthly accounts soon after the end of the month, preferably before the fifth of the next month. We shall not wait until the 20th of the next month to pay up what we owe from the previous month!

Update on April 2nd, 2006: Did not like what I have written above? Before you decide to comment, kindly consider the following:

• I did not just wake up one morning and make up these rules out of thin air. They were born out of necessity. Most of them have been made after something bad happened. Meaning, the rules came out of bad experiences.


• I don't like or enjoy making up rules, or asking other grown-up adults to follow them. Everytime a rule is broken, it takes more effort and energy for me to correct another grown-up adult, than the effort it would have taken for that adult to simply follow the rule in the first place. So no, I don't enjoy these rules myself.


• Some of the rules I have listed above may seem extreme. Before you just react to it emotionally, try and imagine the worst possible thing that might happen if that rule was not followed. Then you will realize why it is necessary to have that rule.


• When two or more guys live together in a house, it can turn into a pig-sty very, very quickly. Now, some guys may not mind living in a pig-sty. I am not one of them. You need proper rules and good practices to ensure that a house is clean and comfortable to live in like humans.


• Yes, I know that non-vegetarian food can be delicious. Yes, I know that some people don't mind sharing a bathroom. Yes, I know there are all kinds of people in the world with their own preferences, and you have your own preferences too. Similarly, I have my own preferences. So, let's not get into the "you are wrong, I am right" kind of arguments.


• Remember that while these rules may seem too extreme or outlandish to you, there are people who follow these rules naturally, without anybody telling them. There are people who live like this without any issues. Respect them just as you would expect to be respected yourself.

Now, if you still have something to say, go ahead and comment.

Seat Belts: Better Safe Than Sorry!

Accident report: 2 die, 5 injured in I-17 accident

This accident happened on Sunday afternoon on Interstate-17, just north of Phoenix, Arizona. A van with 9 people, was travelling North to the Grand Canyon. The driver lost control, the van rolled over twice across the wide median (the median is almost wider than northbound or southbound lanes) and came to rest on the Southbound lanes.

I saw the van on TV in Sunday night's news. It had some body damage on the sides, some damage in the front, otherwise it was alright. After rolling over twice, it had come to a stop in the upright position. All nine people in the van were thrown out, 2 died on the spot, 5 were critically injured. A police officer mentioned that ALL nine people were not wearing seat belts. He also said that if they had been wearing seat belts, they would ALL have walked away from the accident, with minor injuries.

A few months ago, one of my friends had a similar accident on I-17, when returning from the Grand Canyon. He was in a car, with his wife and parents. The car flipped over. Three people had minor injuries. They had all been wearing seat belts. The only person who was not wearing the seat belt had multiple fractures. She had been sitting in the backseat.

Please wear seat belts when travelling on the freeway. Even if you are sitting on the back seat, wear seat belts. I have noticed that many people who come newly from India are reluctant to wear seat belts. Some people think it is okay to not wear seat belts if they are travelling in the backseat of the car. This is a carry-over of our behavior from travelling on Indian roads. We should remember that the average speed on American freeways is double or triple the average speed on Indian highways. At such high speeds, the possibility of serious injuries due to accidents increases exponentially.

If you have a baby/kid, please ensure that s/he is belted down properly when the car is moving. Holding the baby in your arms is NOT safe. If there is an accident at a high speed, it is impossible to hold on to the baby in your arms. The momentum causes the baby's weight to feel as if it is 10 times more than the normal weight. So, holding onto a 10 lbs baby feels like trying to hold onto a 100 lbs object, which is flying away from your arms! This is not an exaggeration.

If you are driving the car, insist that all your passengers wear seat belts. Better be safe than sorry.

Airport Pickup Misadventures with FOPs

The Indian Students Association of Arizona State University has a separate page devoted to picking up incoming students from the airport. It is very nice of them to offer this voluntary service to fresh Indian students, most of who would be landing in the US for the first time in their lives. There is one interesting and important passage in red in this airport pickup page:

If you have any relatives or friends at ASU or in Tempe or around, and they can come and pick you up then you are requested not to ask ISA to pick you up. We have had several instances wherein, volunteers get to the airport to receive the students and finally it so happens that their friends come to pick them up. Kindly cooperate to reduce the inconvenience to the volunteers.

Apparently, there have been "several instances" when FOP (fresh off the plane as opposed to FOB) students have requested the Indian Students Association volunteers to pick them up at the airport, and at the same time had a friend or relative come to the airport. This is poor planning and inconsiderate behavior on the part of such students.

Picking up FOP desis from the airport can be iffy.

Years ago, we had a colleague who was going to be our roommate in the US, ask us to pick him up at the airport, when he landed from India. We went to the airport and looked around for over an hour, without finding him. The airlines told us that he had indeed been on the plane which had landed just when we arrived at the airport. So, where could he be? We called home from the airport. It turned out that, our hero had met another Indian on the plane who had been going to the same location as where we stayed. So, he shared a cab with the other guy, without bothering to wait for us or look for us in the airport!

More recently, like the day before yesterday, we went to the airport to pickup another FOP colleague. Before going to the airport, I went into my apartment to get my car keys, while my roommate waited near the car at the apartment parking lot. During these crucial two minutes, when I was away from my roommate, the FOP colleague called him from the airport. The fact that I was not around when that call came in, would decide the outcome of the rest of the afternoon.

When I came to the car, my roommate told me that the guy had landed and would be waiting for us in terminal "24". Terminal 24? The airport here has only FOUR terminals. I thought my roommate might have misheard terminal 2 as terminal 24. You see, the colleague was coming by United Airlines, as per the itinerary he had emailed us. And United always lands at terminal 2 at the airport here.

Long story short, we waited and did several rounds all over terminal 2 looking for him, for over an hour. We even had him paged over the public announcement system. Finally, we asked the United Airlines desk if he had been on their plane. Were we surprised when we were told that he had not flown in on United at all. Instead, he had come by another airline which landed in terminal 4! Off we went to terminal 4, several rounds there, still no sign of him. Finally, we got a call from our apartment. The guy had taken a cab and come straight to our apartment from the airport! WITHOUT bothering to call us before leaving the airport! Three hours of our afternoon, our day and our lives lost!

We came home fuming. After several "sorry sir"s, we asked him why the heck did he not call us before leaving the airport. He tells us that he did not have coins for the public telephone! Could he not have gotten coins from the stores in the airport? None of them would break a $20 note to give him coins, he said. "You could have bought something at the store, a coffee or a juice, and gotten change! The company would have even reimbursed the cost of the coffee for you," I told him. Then I asked, "How did you get change to make the first call soon after you landed?" He said, "Some guy at the airport gave me 50 cents!" What about the itinerary, which said he would come by United Airlines? How did he come on a different airline? He has no idea! Between the time he emailed us the itinerary from India and the time that he actually started his trip, there was some change about which he does not seem to be aware, and we were never informed!

FOPs, I say!

Two-Minute Cooking School: Learning to Cook

This is a quick two-minute tips session on learning to cook well. These are my own tried and true tips.

1. Eat well. You got to have a good taste and appetite, if you want to cook well. Try different cuisines and dishes.


2. Spend time in the kitchens of other people. Watch them cook. You will learn a lot about the process and techniques of cooking, even if you don't learn specific recipes.


3. First learn to make just one or two dishes. Let it be a staple and simple dish. Let it be a main dish, meaning something which can be served as part of the main course or the main course itself. I don't recommend learning to make an appetizer or any other minor dish first. We may or may not make appetizers and other minor dishes often. But if it is a simple, staple dish, the chances are good that we will make it often.


4. Once you have learnt one or two main dishes, make them often. Make them for yourself, make them for others. Become an expert in making those dishes. Try small variations in them.


5. Gradually add other main dishes to your repertoire.


6. Once you have learnt to make at least 5-6 main dishes, expand your repertoire by learning to make other parts of a full-course meal, such as appetizers, soups, side dishes, desserts, etc.


7. Cook for others. I can never stress this enough. Cook for a gathering of friends. Take a dish to potluck parties. Invite people over for meals and cook for them. Cooking for others is the only way for you to graduate from being a barely okay cook to a good cook.


8. Last but not least, enjoy the whole process.

I do believe that cooking is an art. Like all arts, some people have an inherent talent for it, and some people don't. And like all arts, regardless of what your talent level is, if you enjoy it enough and practice enough, you can learn to do it well enough to enjoy your creations by yourself and with close family/friends.

Related: Two-Minute Cooking School: Prospectus

Two-Minute Cooking School 5: Baingan Bharta

Baingan Bharta (Click for bigger pic)

Come on over for dinner! :-)

Recipe for Baingan Bharta:
Baingan Bharta is a North Indian dish. Baingan means brinjal, or egg plant as it is commonly known in the US. This is a yummy curry of baked brinjal and spices. As with most other recipes in the Two Minute Cooking School, this may not be 100% authentic. But I can vouch for the fact that it is 100% yummy. My home-cooked baingain bharta tastes better than those I have had in many Indian restaurants in the US!

Ingredients: A whole big brinjal, nice and firm. Chopped onions (not finely chopped). Chopped tomatoes. Finely chopped green chillies. Chopped coriander leaves. Fresh juice from half a lemon. Red chilli powder, as per your preferred spice level (optional). Garam masala powder. Dhania (coriander seeds) powder. Tiny amount of cinnamon and cloves powder. Tiny amount of turmeric powder. Tiny amount of jeera or cumin seeds. Ginger garlic-paste. Salt to taste. Cooking oil. Ghee (optional).

Cooking steps:
Pre-heat oven to 375 F. Place the whole brinjal in the oven, on a baking sheet, for 45 minutes to an hour. The brinjal should be cooked well on the inside. The outer skin should have become visibly darker and uneven. If you don't have an oven, you can heat the brinjal over an open flame.

Hold the cooked brinjal in cool water and remove the peel. The peel should come off easily, almost like a banana. In a bowl, mash the brinjal into a good pulp using hands or a spoon. If really necessary, put it in a blender for a few seconds.

Heat oil in a cooking pan, with the stove on medium setting. Add the jeera and fry slightly. Then add the chopped green chillies. Saute for a few seconds. Next, add the chopped onions. Fry them until they become translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for 30 seconds to a minute. Then, add the garam masala powder, dhania powder, cinnamon-clove powder and turmeric powder. Fry them all together for a few seconds. After that, add the chopped tomatoes, then salt. Fry well until half the tomatoes almost become a pulp. To this, add the mashed brinjal and mix well. Fry on the medium flame until the whole mix is consistently hot. Use the mixing spoon to mash the brinjal some more, if required. If you would like to make the dish more spicy, use the red chilli powder as described next. Heat a little bit of ghee in a cup. Remove the cup from the heat, mix the red chilli powder into the ghee, and then pour the whole thing into the dish. Do not heat the chilli powder along with the ghee. Add the fresh lemon juice and mix well. Turn off the stove, sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top.

Baingan Bharta is ready! Great to eat with rotis, paranthas or rice.


Two-Minute Cooking School: Prospectus

Two-Minute Cooking School 4: 7-Layer Dessert

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Dinesh and his wife Shilpi from whom I got this recipe. They served this dessert at a dinner in their home, and I had them pack most of the left-over dessert to take home with me.

Ingredients:
* Chocolate-chip cookies.
* Coffee decoction - instant coffee is quite fine.
* Cake - angel food cake works best.
* Sliced fruit - apples, bananas, strawberries (your choice).
* Custard.
* Nuts - pecans and walnuts are great.
* Chocolate syrup/sauce.

Recipe:
The following pictures were taken when Ginkgo and I made this dessert for a recent potluck party. You may click on the pictures to view them in bigger size.


Lay out chocolate-chip cookies at the bottom of the tray/container. Break them if you feel the need.

Pour luke-warm coffee decoction over the cookies and soak. Not so much coffee that cookies turn into mush!

Lay out half-inch thick slices of angel food cake on top of the chocolate-chip cookies and coffee.

Lay out slices of fresh cut fruits of your choice. Apples, bananas and strawberries used here.

Pour custard on top of the fruit slices, covering the fruits completely.

Cover the fruit slices and custard with another layer of half-inch thick slices of angel food cake. Spread out nuts (pecans and walnuts used here) on top of the cake.

Pour chocolate syrup or sauce (melted chocolate will do) on top of the cake and nuts.

Final Note: Avoid inter-mixing of layers. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or more. 7-Layer Dessert is ready!

Two-Minute Cooking School: Prospectus

Baby's Got Back!

Know whose back you see in the picture? It belongs to Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994! Yes, that voluptuous picture is of Aishwarya's back.

This picture was taken at the Cannes International Film Festival, in May 2005. However, I saw this picture recently and was surprised. Pleasantly so.

I am not a fan of Aishwarya Rai, nor am I into celebrity watching. However, I am not a hermit living in the mountains. If you are an Indian, it is impossible to miss her in numerous print, TV and Internet ads, as well as in the movies. During the past dozen or more years that I have seen her in the media, she has never appeared less than perfectly "modelled". Meaning, she has never looked nor acted as anything but a super model, complete with put-on mannerisms and smiles.

So, I am surprised to notice that Aishwarya has the average "medium-built" Indian woman's fleshy back. This picture makes me see her in a whole new light. And I like what I see. It makes her appear more alive and real, less made-up and artificial. The average fleshy back does for me what all the super model looks and mannerisms could not! I mean, which young man cannot feel a stirring, if he were to imagine that back bent before him?

So, here's a cheer to your back and here's wishing you a very happy birthday, Aishwarya! May the passing years make you prettier in real, natural ways...as opposed to the artificial, cosmetic market-driven ways!

Notes from the Future - 2 (My Buddy)

Important: As far as I know, the device called Buddy does not exist in the year 2005. The name, design, concept, features and functions of the gadget named Buddy (also referred to as My Buddy) are the intellectual property of Libran Lover alone, pending patent processing. Any unauthorized use of the name, design, concept, features and functions of the Buddy will be in violation of the law governing patents, copyrights and goodwill. If anyone wants to turn the concept of this fantasy device Buddy into a reality, they are welcome to contact Libran Lover.

Notes from the Future - 1 (My Buddy)

My Buddy as a Universal Phone:
My Buddy is the coolest phone you have ever heard about. For starters, it is a VoIP cum old-fashioned conventional phone. Since we have Wi-Fi Net access throughout the city, all my calls get routed directly through the Internet. When I am in areas with no Internet access, Buddy functions as an old-fashioned cell phone. The calls placed through the Internet are all free. No kidding! This is the day and age when Internet phones are the rule, and conventional phones are the rare exceptions. Literally everyone I know uses an Internet phone. So, calling them on the Buddy is free, no matter where they are in the world. It is like the free voice chat of the old days. Except, the clarity of these phones are like no voice chat you'd experienced in 2005.

The second cool thing about phones these days is that, we no longer have phone numbers. That's right. When all the phones moved to the Internet, there was no need to be tied to hard to remember numbers, based on country codes and area codes. All you need is a person's chat id, and you can call them on your phone. The address book on My Buddy is full of people's chat/email ids. Absolutely no numbers. I don't need anything else to get in touch with people. And, as long as the person I want to talk to is logged on to the Net using any device - a cell phone, a home phone, a computer, a handheld computer, a music player, a Buddy, whatever device, and s/he is logged on using the chat/email id I am trying to reach, I will be able to reach her/him.

Gone are the days when caller-id on the phone meant displaying only the person's name. Today, when I receive a phone call, I can see any information about the caller that she/he wishes to reveal. It is a caller-profile. Not just a caller-id. The caller-profile could include her/his picture, base location, current location, current status (in class, in a meeting, sleeping, travelling, out of reach, whatever), her/his business card, blog, website, entire history!

The phone functionality of My Buddy is no different from the chat clients of the old days. In fact, the phone interface on the screen even looks a lot like the olden days chat clients... only it's more ditzy and feature-rich. Needless to say I can use the Buddy to not only talk to friends who are afar, but also to send text messages, multimedia messages with pictures, music, video, even live video! I can do everything but teleport myself or my caller through My Buddy.

My Buddy is my phone wherever I am. It is my cell phone, it is my home phone, it is my office phone and my car phone. It is truly a universal phone.

My Buddy as a Universal Modem:
A lot of people use the Buddy, coupled with a wireless router, as a universal modem in their homes. When they are home, they just place the Buddy in a dock of their wireless router. The wireless router then connects every device in the house - every computer, conventional-type phone, camera, TV, music system, even the cooking range and oven, dishwasher, refrigerators, washing machine and drier - to the Internet.

You may wonder why we need a modem and a wireless router if every corner of the city and every room of the home is already blanketed with wireless broadband from our Internet Service Provider. This is where the concept of needing less number of static IP addresses comes into the picture.

We are charged for our Internet access based on the number of devices with static IP addresses we use. I already told you that I pay 50 bucks for 5 static IP addresses. But the number of Internet-connected devices my 4-member family has in our home and in our pockets, could easily be upto 15! I do not want to pay $150 for 15 static IP addresses. I don't need so many static addresses either. This is where the Buddy steps into help us.

My wife, our two kids and I have a Buddy apiece, each with a static IP address. We have an old Buddy at home - my very first Buddy - which always sits in the wireless router's dock. This device has our fifth IP address and uses it to connect every other device in the home to the Internet. My faithful old Buddy channels enough bandwidth for all the devices in my home to share! The is why it is our universal modem.

My Buddy as a Universal Media Player:
My Buddy has a sophisticated sound system built-in. This sound system makes my voice calls great. But to really appreciate it, you have to listen to its musical output. This palm-sized unit is one of the best music systems ever created by humans. The same is true for the Buddy's video system too. The sound and video systems, combined with the versatility and portability, make the Buddy a true universal media players.

With the Buddy, there are no hassles of downloading and storing any music or video files. Most of the times I play multimedia directly from the Internet. All the radio stations now broadcast on the Internet waves. I can choose to play only the audio or the audio-and-video content.

I can listen to the music, holding the Buddy upto my ear like a phone. I can listen through the ear phones. I place the Buddy in a dock which is connected to speakers which can blast you away. I have such a dock and speaker system in my office. At home, my speaker systems are already connected to the Buddy through the wireless router.

I have a dock for the Buddy in my car as well. I don't need a separate music player for the car. As soon as I enter my car, I place the Buddy in the dock and play anything I want on the car's speakers. I can even route my phone calls to the car's speakers, with a mic built into my steering wheel. When there is an incoming call and I wish to answer it, the Buddy automatically mutes the music and routes the call to the speakers. It is really convenient.

Incidentally, the Buddy is also my GPS navigation system. I avoid using that functionality when I am on the road. I study the map before setting out. Once I am on the road, I just let the road take me where it goes. My wife teases me about being a typical man who will not take directions from his own Buddy! :-)

I can watch video on the Buddy's sharp and clear screen. Or, I can choose to connect it to my TV or computer monitor via a dock, and watch the video on an LCD screen. Like the speaker system, all the TV and computer monitors in my home are connected to the Buddy through the wireless router. And like music, all the video these days is available on the Internet. All the movies and music videos, as well as all the TV programs, and sports. DVDs, VCDs, VHS tapes have all become obsolete. Nobody keeps any sort of disks in their homes. Businesses like Blockbuster and Hollywood video have completely gone online and serve their movies through the Internet. And, we stream it into our TVs via the Buddy.

My Buddy as a Universal Remote:
I can use my Buddy to control any, I literally mean any device in my home. When I bring home a new device, like say a new TV, I download the remote control software for the TV onto the Buddy. Voila! My Buddy can now function as the TV's remote control. The touch-pad screen of the Buddy displays a picture of the TV remote, and I can touch it to control the TV. We can do that for pretty much every device in our home including the cooking range, the washing machine, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, etc. We can turn on or turn off the stove in the kitchen, while we are in the living room watching a movie.

In my home, we have stored the remote control software for all the devices in my old Buddy, which acts as the modem. All the other Buddies in the house can now interact with the old Buddy to access the remote control interface of any device. So, we don't have to store the remote control software in every Buddy we have in our home. Yet, we can control any device using any Buddy.

My Buddy as a Personal Computer:
For most of my computing needs, I don't require a big computer with a powerful processor and lots of memory. The memory and processing power of the Buddy, combined with its powerful web browser, are quite adequate. This is true for most other people as well. My Buddy has put the "personal" back into PCs (personal computers). How much more personal can you get with computers than the Buddy? Unless you embed a computer within your body!

Gone are the days when people stored their data files on personal hard drives. Most of the files are now stored on the Net. We have all our emails, media files (music, pictures, video), work data files (documents, spreadsheets, databases), etc. on the Internet. Even many of the software applications which are needed to work with these files are not installed on our personal machines. Web-based applications are all the rage now. I can do word processing, spreadsheets, database functions, graphics, etc. using free applications which are served to me over the Internet. As such, I hardly use 50% of the 100GB flash memory available on my Buddy.

We have only one conventional desktop computer in our home. We have it because my kids and I play a lot of computer games, which require more processing power and memory. Sometimes I use that computer as my software lab. We have LCD monitors or TVs with wireless keyboards and mouse devices in almost every room in the house, except for the kitchen and the bathrooms. We use these to connect to the Internet through our wireless router and the old Buddy, or to work with our personal Buddies. So, our Buddies pretty much take care of all our computing needs.

You see how useful and ubiquitous the Buddy has become in our lives? I bet by now even you have started to think of the Buddy as a "he" or a "she"!

Concluded for now.

Notes from the Future - 1 (My Buddy)

Important: As far as I know, the device called Buddy does not exist in the year 2005. The name, design, concept, features and functions of the gadget named Buddy (also referred to as My Buddy) are the intellectual property of Libran Lover alone, pending patent processing. Any unauthorized use of the name, design, concept, features and functions of the Buddy will be in violation of the law governing patents, copyrights and goodwill. If anyone wants to turn the concept of this fantasy device Buddy into a reality, they are welcome to contact Libran Lover.

My city is blanketed with cheap wireless Internet access at broadband speeds. I can access the Internet from literally ANYWHERE in the city, even when I am travelling in my car or the bus. Almost overnight, this has revolutionized my lifestyle.

The Wi-Fi Net access is not free... yet. We all know it will be free at sometime in the future. But for now, it is not costly either.

Back in 2005, I used to pay a little over 50 US dollars for my cable broadband service alone. In addition, I had other expenses like a big cell phone bill (for voice and text messages), and a bigger international calls bill for my calls to India. Cable TV services were extra, of course.

Compare that to what I have today. I pay my Internet service provider (ISP) 50 US dollars to access wireless Internet using gadgets, with upto 5 unique IP addresses, from anywhere in the world. And this takes care of all my communication needs. Yes, I do mean all: my cell phone, my long distance phone calls, my home phone, my cable TV and computer.

If I want to access Wi-Fi with more devices, having more IP addresses, I have to pay extra. But as you will see below, 5 IP addresses is an overkill for me. By the way, these are static IP addresses I am talking about. IPv6 has made it possible for everybody in the world and everyone of their devices to have static IP addresses. What's more, intelligent gadget design has actually made it possible for an individual to need fewer and fewer IP addresses. You will read more about it below.

First, I want to introduce you to my Buddy. It (I always have to remember to refer to this gadget as it and not a he or a she like most people do. Irritating!) is actually called a Buddy 6-Gen. We just refer to it as Buddy. And it is an extraordinary palm-sized, cellphone-sized device. I just got the newest sixth generation model for $399. I know that is too much money for a gadget which will probably become old design in 6-8 months, and I did not want to buy it. But my wife bought it for my birthday last month, and I am glad she did. My Buddy is a classy black device, with a FULL screen front. That's right, a FULL touchscreen front. No physical keys (well, except for four). The virtual keys appear on the touchscreen whenever I need them. And the screen is so big, clear and beautiful!

Before you get too bored with the physical description of my Buddy, let me list its functions:

1. It is my wallet - stores my ID, driver's license, credit cards, debit cards, cheque book, library card, club cards, house keys, car keys, desk keys, auto and medical insurance cards, and I don't even remember what else. In short, it stores everything I had in my physical wallet in the old days (including pics of my wife and kids), except physical currency notes and coins.

2. It is my universal phone - cell phone, home phone, office phone, car phone.

3. It is my universal modem - connects every device in my home to the Internet.

4. It is my universal media player - personal audio player, car audio player, home audio player, including radio. But it is not limited to audio. It has video functionality also.

5. It is my universal remote control - for every device in my home.

6. It is my personal computer with a 100GB of flash memory (that's right; no spinning hard disk).

My Buddy as a Wallet:
When I receive a card, any card (credit card, insurance card, library card), I call the issuing organization using through my Buddy and enter the card number. They send back a highly encrypted secure digital key, which is stored in my Buddy. Now my Buddy is as good as the card. I lock away the card in my home. When I need to use the card... for example, when I have to use my credit card at a store, I press a button on my Buddy and it sends out a Bluetooth signal with my encrypted secure key. The store's receiver accepts the key, validates it and completes my purchase. The whole process takes less than a minute to complete.

So, can anybody who steals my Buddy use my credit card? Yes and no. Yes, if I am foolish enough to leave my Buddy open to hacking. No, if I have chosen my security setting with care. The Buddy offers different levels of security which are all optional:

1. You cannot start or use the Buddy in any manner without entering a password or placing your finger on the fingerprint sensor or both.

2. You cannot start or use any or all of the software applications or cards stored in the Buddy without entering a password or placing your finger on the fingerprint sensor or both.

3. The password entering and fingerprint sensing can be done on the Buddy or the store's system or on both.

As you can see, there are many levels and combinations of security settings possible. If I wanted maximum security on something, I would do ALL of the following:

1. Setup my Buddy to start only after entering right password and using the correct finger on the fingerprint sensor of the Buddy.

2. In addition, setup my card or software application to be usable only after entering the right password and using the correct finger on the fingerprint sensor of the Buddy, for the second time.

3. In addition, configure my Buddy so that it is necessary for me to use a password and finger print on the store's system, for the third time.

This gives me three levels of protection, using passwords and fingerprints. But most of us don't bother to have such high security. We just use our fingerprints on the Buddy - fingerprint to switch on the Buddy, and fingerprint scan on the Buddy only for financial transactions. We are not comfortable leaving our finger prints on store machines.

Just as every card has an ecrypted secure digital key, our homes, cars, desks... literally anything which needs a lock and key has an electronic lock now. And, each of these locks can be configured to open with a Bluetooth signal from the Buddy and/or our fingerprints. For my home and car, I use the digital key from my Buddy and my fingerprint.

I guess I don't have to tell you how my wife and kids' pictures are stored on the Buddy. In fact, the Buddy has dozens of pictures stored on its flash memory. However, I have thousands more pictures stored on the Internet, and I can access them all using my Buddy.

As for physical currency... I have stopped carrying them. There are still some (mostly older) people who walk around with physical money. I used to do that too during the initial days that I started using the Buddy, but then I found that I almost never had to use the physical money anywhere. So, I put them away in the locker at my home. I think they will be valuable antiques sometime in the future... probably before I die.

Rest of My Buddy's features continued in Notes from the Future - 2...

Optimum Ecosystem

Consider a young sapling which will eventually grow into a tree. The sapling will flourish and grow into a healthy tree, if it is planted in an ecosystem which will ensure that:

• It is adequately protected from the forces of nature, including other beings which may harm it. The type of protection the tree needs may be different at different stages of its lifetime.



• It gets adequate water, sunlight and nutrition. Other trees (of the same or different kind) do not take away its fair share of water, sunlight and nutrition.



• If the tree is too crowded in by other plants and trees, it may not flourish. On the other hand, if it is too exposed to the sun, winds and seasonal changes, it may die young.

The tree needs an ecosystem which is best-suited for its growth. I call such a best-suited ecosystem as the Optimum Ecosystem. An optimum ecosystem is an environment in which a living being can flourish, grow and lead a happy, healthy life, achieving the best possible life expectancy.

The same concept can be applied to a person who works in an organization. A person will experience good learning and progression, and make useful contributions to the best of his/her ability in an organization which is an optimum ecosystem for her/his talents and career. Such an organization will have the following characteristics:

• It will be of the right size for the person's energy, drive and opportunities he seeks. Some of us do better being big fish in a small pond, others do better in being a small fish in a big ocean.



• It will provide the right kind of learning opportunities and challenges to the individual at different stages in his professional life. Too many challenges might overwhelm a person and cause a breakdown, too few challenges might waste his/her time, talents, energies and corrupt the person. Too many opportunities might cause confusion and induce complacency. Too few might cause frustration and adversely affect the morale.



• It provides the right quality and variety of colleagues to the person. If most of the people in the organization are no different from the person, s/he is just one of many and s/he may not be adequately valued. It is also important to have colleagues who can guide, coach and inspire. If the benchmarks for talents and performance of everyone in the organization is low, even the new employee will perform at lower levels.



• It will value and reward the person right. Most people usually think they deserve more pay than they are actually receiving. Most organizations are willing to offer a higher pay package to a new hire from outside, than they actually pay to a person within the organization with same/similar qualifications, skills and experience. These are hard facts of today's organizations. Despite these facts, a good organization will not let it's people think that their pay-packet is too unfair, too far below the market rates.

These are only a few of a long list of qualities which make an organization the optimum ecosystem for a person's career. In addition to being a great working place, an organization has several other important objectives, such as profit-making. It has to balance all these objectives. In the bargain, it may sacrifice some of the qualities which make it a great work place.

Moreover, everybody is not suited to all kinds of organizations. Despite our best efforts, we may not be able to know everything we would like to know about an organization before we join it. There may be times when we discover only after joining an organization that it does not suit us. Also, different organizations suit us at different stages in our career. In modern times, very few people find the same organization to be an optimum ecosystem for their entire career.

Fortunately, unlike plants and trees, we are not rooted to one place. We have the option of leaving and moving on. We must always be conscious about the kind of ecosystem our organization provides for our careers. We must know what our career needs and aspirations are, and be aware of the kind of ecosystem in which we can flourish. We must constantly keep ourselves informed about the kind of ecosystems offered by different organizations. We must make educated choices and not be afraid to move on, if that is necessary.

To stagnate in a non-conducive or adverse atmosphere is to do a great disservice to ourselves. At the time that we are actually stagnating, we may not realize how much it is costing us. However, everything in life is cumulative. What we do in a particular year does not go away easily. The costs and benefits accumulate and influence the rest of our life. That applies to our work life also. Hence, complacency regarding our career ambitions and aspirations must be diligently avoided.

Everything I have mentioned above about the optimum ecosystem for our careers, can be extrapolated to cover all aspects of our life as well.

Google Bubble!

The hype about Google is just unbelievable. The Google bubble seems to be getting bigger than the dot-com bubble in terms of expectations.

I have heard even the average non-IT and IT people say with a certain expression on their faces, "Google will take over the world!" As for real geeks and techies, they literally have mental orgasms when they talk about Google and its products/services.

Don't you guys feel it is a little too much hype based solely on future potential? I mean, what concrete things has Google delivered until now? Just these as far as I know:

1. Search Engine - we accept that there are almost no competitors who come close to this service.

2. Specialized search engines - Image search, blog Search, local search, etc.

3. Google Tools & Services - Gmail, Google Maps, Picasa, Talk, Toolbar, Earth, Desktop, etc.

All of these tools and services are great. I don't deny that. All of these have shown some innovative improvements over other products in the same category/market. I totally agree to that. Even their specialized and relevant advertisements philosophy is effective. Their approach goes beyond just bombarding the general audience with general ads, like it is done on TV or even some unevolved websites. Google's ads are very specific and relevant to the context. There is a difference between watching general ads for a restaurant on TV, and getting specific restaurant recos on your mobile device in a strange town.

But which one of these tools and services have truly changed the way we compute, use the Internet or live life? I don't think any of them have truly created a paradigm shift.

Like everybody else, I too am hoping and waiting for Google to shift our personal computing paradigm. Meanwhile, I accept with thanks and happiness, the small free tools which Google puts out periodically. And I hope to God, the Google bubble does not burst!

Unfortunately, all bubbles burst at one point or the other. The important question is, how will Google change the world before the inevitable burst happens. So far, Google has not changed the world, the way Microsoft or Intel-based computers have, although it is often touted that Google will will replace Microsoft, the way Microsoft replaced IBM.

Google's biggest service continues to be the search engine. The impact of all other tools and services they offer is much smaller in comparison.

IMO, Google should concentrate more on doing the "next big thing" - on par with or better than their search engine. The smaller applications are nice, but Google should not spend too much time or energy on those.

The question is, what could be this "next big thing". Unlimited wi-fi access around the world and the associated applications could be that big thing. That does have lifestyle altering potential.

We'll wait and see. Meanwhile, even this blog post is yet another mouthful of air which blows up the Google bubble!

Hard Workers vs Smart Workers

Are you a hard worker or a smart worker?

Most of us know a few people who work long hours, who don't seem to have a life outside of work. It is fairly easy to see if a person is at his/her desk for 8 hours or 12 hours or 16 hours of the day. However, unless you are a very close teammate or the person's immediate supervisor, it is almost impossible to know what the person is actually getting accomplished in all those hours.

Is the person who is spending long hours at the desk, actually working hard or hardly working? Is s/he actually getting more stuff done in those extra hours? Or is s/he simply taking longer time to do something, which could be done in a much lesser time by a smarter person? In short, is he just a hard worker or a smart worker? There is a simple way to answer this question.

Before we go further, a disclaimer: What is written below is a generic statement which is applicable for a majority of people. As always, there are definitely unique individuals and special circumstances which are exceptions to the observations below.

I have often seen that people who are smart and organized in one aspect of life, are also smart and organized in other aspects of life. Similarly, the people who are not smart or are disorganized in one aspect of life, exhibit the same qualities in other aspects of life as well.

Note that when I say "smart", I am not talking about a person's knowledge. It is not possible for anyone to be experts in all aspects of life. When I say "smart", I mean the ability to quickly learn new stuff, the ability to apply the learnings in making useful choices or educated guesses, and equally important, the ability to recognize what one knows, what one doesn't know, and where to look for additional information/knowledge.

If a person exhibits one or more of the following qualities in personal life or in non-work aspects of life, it is a good bet that s/he is not a smart worker on the job, regardless of how much time s/he spends at the desk:

1. Flaky - Does not deliver on commitments; doesn't live upto expectations s/he has set explicitly or implicitly; is not dependable; is not punctual.

2. Sloppy - Disorganized with space and time; unclean person and surroundings; not able to find/remember things; forgets things, especially commitments.

3. Indecisive - Does not make an assertive choice or statement; is easily swayed/persuaded by others; takes a non-committal approach/attitude in negotiations or discussions.

4. Dumb - Is just dumb; no explanation required.

City of God - Movie Review

I just have to write about this authentic, gripping movie I saw recently, called City of God. It is one of those works which can be most appropriately described as a tour de force. It was an intense experience which left me drained and exhilarated by the time I finished watching it. The authentic realism of the movie was draining, the artistic cinematic quality of the movie was exhilarating.

The movie is apparently based on a true story, set in a true place, a slum in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, a slum called "City of God". The tagline of the movie says, "Fight and you'll never survive... Run and you'll never escape". That pretty much sums up life in the slum. The story is about a couple of boys, who grow up to be barely men. One of them fights, and the other longs to run to a better life. Will the former survive? Will the latter escape? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

The main focus of the movie is not about showing the struggles, the ugliness of the life in the slums. The main focus is to simply tell a great story. The struggles and the ugliness, the violence and the desperation are revealed in the context of the story. It is a gangster movie unlike any gangster movie you've seen before and will probably see again. The story is highly interesting and entertaining. It effortlessly captures our attention from beginning to end, keeping us wondering about what happens next.

When the movie starts, the protagonist of the story is one the verge of witnessing a street shootout between a drug-dealing gang and the police. Both sides have their guns drawn ready to fire (bottom half of the DVD cover picture shown above), and our guy finds himself planted right between them with nothing but his camera. Before we know what happens next, the story is narrated in a flashback, from the time when the main characters are boys, barely 7 years old, watching/participating in the life of petty crimes their brothers lead. The story follows them as they grow up (never seeming to cross 20 years of age), one of them becoming the most violent and feared drug dealer in the city, while the other struggles to keep himself out of trouble and follow his dream to be a photographer. The lives of the two boys are interwoven with each other, and with the lives of several others (most of them also boys) who come in, and go out or die, mostly die. The story is narrated with great skill, never losing or floundering the different narrative threads which are interwoven, always keeping them taut and just right. There are half a dozen or so separate narrative threads, each with it's own title. There are times when the same events are shown from different angles, as different threads come together and culminate at one point of time and space. The whole saga finally comes to a dramatic climax in a street shootout in broad daylight.

It is a movie about crime and violence among drug dealers. The story seems to happen in a different planet, a different reality because of how far removed the life depicted in the movie is from the kind of life most urban people in today's world know. I have seen science fiction movies which are more believable, which seem to be more in the realm of possibilities than some of the scenes in this movie. The violence is relentless and realistic from beginning to end. Some of the scenes are very disturbing and heart-rending. The movie shows kids who are not even into their teens doing drugs, dealing drugs, looting and shooting. The whole movie is indeed about kids, young and old. All the main characters never grow up to look (nor behave) like adults. That renders a sickly, tragic air to the whole drama. And despite the realism, it also makes the story hard to believe.

Yet, when I watched the special feature that came on the movie DVD, I realized that everything shown in the movie was all too real. The special feature is a 56-minute documentary made in the late 1990's, called "News from a Personal War", about the drug scene in the slums of Rio. The documentary starts by mentioning that a person dies in Rio every half an hour, and 90% of those deaths are due to violence! And then it goes on to show interviews with real people, involved in exactly the kind of life as shown in the movie. The documentary had interviews with kids who dealt drugs and killed people, families, policemen. It showed real police shootouts with the dealers and arrests. It went beyond what is impersonally reported in the news. It showed the personal face of the drug war, the personal perspective of every party involved. 56 minutes of crazy stuff!

City of God is a masterpiece of a movie, made mostly with amateur actors and the dialogs are supposedly in the authentic slum slang of Rio. The movie has received top reviews from all corners. This is not a movie to be missed.

City of God page on RottenTomatoes.com has links to all the reviews and movie info.