Seen and Heard – III November 29, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Rants.1 comment so far
**With all due respect to the female gender (and I am of the unshakeable belief that the female species is infinitely superior to the male)how do you make casual conversation with a co-worker who is visibly pregnant? In my short career I have had the opportunity to deal with all sorts of people ranging from fresh-out-of-school geniuses to elderly grouchies, but this one leaves me stuttering for the right things to say. I usually shift from leg to leg in that I-need-to-go-to-the-toilet-now manner that most expectant ladies just start feeling sorry for me and walk away. What am I expected to say? “Congrats”? “When did it happen”? Or do I ask when they are going away on maternity leave? Nothing beats the time when my poor friend from Madurai started on an epic narration explaining the nuances of the seemandham to his utterly befuddled colleague.
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** Another piece that calls for worthless debate – what are your thoughts on popular web hangouts like rediff.com devoting gigabytes of server space to such seemingly inconsequential events on celebrities? Why does Sania’s Haj outfit need more coverage than the poor little children being exploited in Sivakasi’s factories? I really cant comment though – I unfailingly check out every bit of Page 3 information that ever finds its way to the hallowed portals of desi news arena. After significant deliberation, I divided people who thirst after such news articles into 3 esteemed categories. Tier 1 belongs to those who actually take the the time off to go through the six pages of photographs of Sania in various garbs. Then there are those (Tier 2) who bother to peck away a comment or too at the sad state of media covering such inconsequential bits of news on their front pages. Tier 3 is the most pathetic of them all- shamelessly picking out those elevated commenters and even going as far as writing up a blog entry and even providing a link to reflect extreme levels of hypocritical joblessness.
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**What’s it with people and gadgets in this side of the Atlantic? There is a level of fanaticism associated with the release of the latest gizmos that is beyond belief. How else can you explain people camping for days under pouring rains and torrid snowstorms just to get their hands on the PS3 or the Nintendo Wii or an Apple iPod. Granted that this is a rich country bursting with disposable income, but getting into fistfights over a pathetic video game? Unexplainable. Probably the closest equivalent that comes to mind is the thousands of fans that Vijayakanth and Ajith command on the opening days of their movies. Go Captain!
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**One of the things that pisses me off amongst the desi community in general is the attitude of some neo desis who literally start oozing superiority when they are confronted with another desi who is lower in the pecking order (It gets uncontrollable when the spouses are around). None better illustrated in the folks who work for the so called “Product” companies vis-a-vis those who work for a solutions company. How many times have you felt infinitesimally small when a desi in Oracle swaggers his way to a potluck dinner with a gang of Infoscions who have come to Uncle Sam to help Wal-Mart on database maintenance? The fact that both the jerk from Oracle and the folks onsite for Infosys probably spend most of their days documenting help files on MS Word and MS-Excel is conveniently ignored. Amazing what the tag around your neck can do to supersize desi egos.
Living in a country that has no social borders should teach us a thing or two about self proclaimed career narcissists. And in spite of all the bromide that I spit over America in this blog- I salute its spirit of professional dignity. You may be a billionaire Silicon Valley, but you are worth no more than the janitor at the subway restrooms- both take pride in earning their money- by working hard and working legally for it. There are no societal boundaries based on what you do to earn your daily bread, and your respect in society stems from how well you do your stuff- not how much you make out of it. Explains why the driver on your local town bus still wishes you good morning every single day. At 8 bucks an hour, he really need not- its just that he wants to because he is proud of doing what what it takes to earn every cent of that.
So next time you are pounding away on MS-Word trying to complete that mammoth help file, try for once not to sulk in your seat and bitch about that colleague who got a chance to do some actual coding. Just do your job -and be honest about it. And the next time the Oracle prick smirks on something that you just said, just look at him first, then your friends in Infy, and start laughing like there is no tomorrow. He’d probably pee in his pants, hell, he’s a prick after all.
On pocketing streaming media November 15, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Technology.3 comments
Ok guys and girls, make way for the Tivo (EDIT: albeit a “barebones” one) of radioland. For those of who are armed with broadband connections, this is probably the biggest killer application since the days of Napster. This site promises to help record streaming audio into …..well a mightily familiar file format that stripped threadbare the concept of portable music.
I am not going into specifics, but for all you Bollywood and A.R. Rehman afficionados caught in an alien land, a couple of radio channels and a little bit of hard drive space is all you need to complete the kit. Sub woofer speakers help- of course.
Sambhar Vadai, Fries and a Milkshake November 10, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Chennai/Madras.1 comment so far
Sangeetha at Chennaiist has a very captivating article on the rise of the “Keyyendhi Bhavan” in the gastronomic circles of Chennai.
The origins of fast food in Chennai are still debated upon, for everyone seems to relate to a neighborhood tea kadai since time immemorial, when Madras was still Madarasapattinam and Robert Clive was still eating Strawberries in England. But for sure, the last decade has probably redefined the paradigm of a “quick bite” for regular Chennai folks. For a long time all you could find in a typical small-scale tea kadai was your regular single /double /masala /elakkai tea, the only complementing snacks were glass jars filled with butter biscuits, stale “cake”, buns and the ubiquitous bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling.
Over time, these evolved, with your regular tea kadais diversifying into synthesizing delicious mouth watering bajjis and bondas, some enterprising ones went one step further serving set dosais, masala vadais, and of course, the eminently unforgettable oily samosas. These gradually came to be known as tiffin stalls – their core business now beyond the economics of serving up tea in its myriad variants. Nowadays, you can find the hip Gen-Z outfits, which have metamorphosed into more chic dishes, serving up mouth watering Gobi Manchunrian, egg fried Chinese noodles, chow mein and the likes. They have a fast and fierce clientele, and like Sangeetha observes, it’s not uncommon to see the blue collared staff fight a bunch of Armani clad executives over a plate of suda suda idli sambhar.
The last decade and a half has seen an expected boom in the fast food market, with greasy western foods being the rage of the teenybopper crowd. I still remember that Hot Breads had set a trend with their super soft bread and creamy Black Forests that ushered in the first outlet of the now extinct Wimpy’s. Sandwiched between Alsa Mall and Cisons Complex in Egmore, the joint never took off as much as it was hyped and quickly folded into oblivion. But hey, for a kid like me, getting a cold drink in a paper glass with a transparent cap, and stacking all my food neatly in a plastic tray, squeezing ketchup out of a real squeeze bottle, paper napkins; these were exciting beyond imagination. It was as though we had been magically transported across continents into the realm of Archie and Jughead and Pop Tate’s Chock’ lit Shoppe.
Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, and three hundred other pizza delivery services followed suit, with their yellow scooters and 39 minute delivery times, and whilst it took quite a bit for our parents to adjust to the idea of 300 rupee pizzas, the emergence of the DINK (double income no kids) community provided a ripe market for these to remain in business for a while. They still are, but have now been lost in the multitude of a thousand other similar outfits that have sprung up over the years.
Of course Madras is still the land of idli-vadai-sambhar, so The Saravana Bhavans and Ananda Bhavans continue to laugh their way to their banks and our stomachs. Pot bellied salesmen and teenagers alike continue to patronize Woodlands Drive-In and Ratna Cafe; and it does not look like that’s going to change anytime soon. Madras has always been the paradise for tiffin addicts – and as Murugan’s idli shop exemplifies, the idli Sensex does not look like it will ever crash.
On a personal note, it’s been a while since I have eaten in any sort of commercial establishment in Chennai. Every visit back home ensures that my folks do every bit they can to flush down the transfat from my burger engorged stomach. And Pepsi in supersized paper cups with snap on caps don’t get my attention like they did a decade ago; and I would gladly give an arm or a leg to swap that frozen pizza in my freezer for meal of adai aviyal and jaggery.
Hey, after all home made pongal-gotsu is still the best dish in the world.
PS: On a separate note, the inimitable Ramesh Mahadevan writes on Dhabas and tea Kadais in yet another enthralling piece of mouth watering literature.
Seen and Heard – Part II November 8, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Rants.add a comment
** It has started snowing. That’s right, in November. Lets be candid here, snow only looks lovely under the lens of a Nikon D60, or when Kajol is rolling in it in a chiffon saree. Otherwise its as hellish as only hell can be – and most of my budget in the winter months is allocated towards the extortionist coffee shops.
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** Speaking of coffee shops, it never ceases to amaze me that Starbucks can charge a ransom for its cuppa-latte and get away with patrons who I swear, are capable of strangling one another if they don’t get their coffee on time. On the other hand, seeing New York fries transforming fried potatoes as a profit churning business model never ceases to confound me – even as I sit nibbling at my $8 cup of extra large Fries with veggie works, my fourth this week.
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** Haldirams now sells ready to eat Bhel Puri chaat – in fact I even bought one and tried it out. Not much of rocket science there – straight forward kara pori with 3 teeny weeny packets of chutneys – one is the sour tamarind/pudina one, the other the sweet date one, and the third one I couldn’t successfully categorize. These are in little plastic sachets and clubbed together in a bag that looks as though it was sealed with a candle by one of the work-at-home maamis.
But a make it yourself Bhelpuri 12000 miles from the beaches of Juhu? Now that’s what I meant by “The World is Flat“.
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** Seems like the men in Khaki in Singara Chennai have taken a cue or two from their north Indian counterparts. When opportunity does not knock at your door, the next best thing is to go looking for it, no?
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** More sleaze- The Hindustan Times seems to be concentrating on being the next wannabe desi Sun with its Page 3 Glitterati. Its tabloid section is certainly not sensational, but hell who says you need sensational text when you have sensational photos? The layout leaves a lot to be desired to But hey, it aint no tabloid when advertising banners for Monster.com and and shaadi.com pop up over pictures of its models. Hell, its not even funny.
On the topic of of the IGNORANT American November 8, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Rants.3 comments
I am not a fundamentally angry man, but a lot of things do piss me off. Heck, I am entitled to have my opinion at least in this space, am I not?
My number one peeve in my list of American moronism is the extremely uneducated trollist-flame-throwing attitude that the a sizeable minority of average Americans exhibit out of sheer ignorance. Rather lets call it a total and utter lack of awareness on what’s going on around them and an equally obstinate attitude towards making an effort to learn them.
None better exemplified by the retarded flame throwers crusading the bulletin boards- I seriously don’t understand if these individuals throw in their totally needless opinion just to start a war on the forum, or if they are just shamlessly exhibiting some eminently immature demeanor of typing away before they can think. If they can think, that is.
Consider this comment thread on a topic that had to do with the former CEO of Computer Associates, of Indian ancestry getting arrested due to charges of embezzlement.
While I do not dispute the fact that everyone is entitled to an opinion, I seriously wonder if the opinion is worth its salt if its so utterly irrelevant to the topic under discussion; what does the arrest have to do with Muslims, or wife beaters or motel owners for that matter? Really, what in the devils name are you guys trying to say?
What irks me more is the fact that most of the sweeping statements made sort of blanket India as a “Muslim, smelly, radical society of wife beating drunkards and deity worshipping weirdos who have gotten lucky in stealing American jobs.” (Yes, there was an entire thread on debating whether India was an extremist Muslim state or not!)
This – coming from a bunch of nerds who I assume have (voluntarily) had upto 3 years of formal education in a system that prides itself as being the best in the world.
Its a pity that the innocent folks back in India simply have not had the opportunity to call their Trans-Atlantic partners just another bunch of obese, children shooting, mother raping and war mongering coterie of pagans.
Take that.
Its not so much this derogatory demeanor that irks me, as much as the fact that the comments have no base whatsoever. I wonder whether this (American) mindset stems from the roots of basic ignorance or if it is simply a manifestation of the wanton smugness that has been pummeled into every American’s mind in the last century- that their country is the greatest paradigm in the history of human civilization. So much so that your average Joe in baggy jeans and a basketball vest has taken for granted that merely being alive is a boon to the human race. When will the cockiness ever give away to that great little trait called humility?
Please, I implore you- Even if you have gone to school, its not enough being literate, its about getting an education.
Windows Vista Packaging Unveiled! November 2, 2006
Posted by The Jongleur in Technology.add a comment
So finally, the guys out in Redmond have decided to take the wraps off their most ambitious product releases ever – Windows Vista and Office 2007. A few shots turned up over the weekend. Here is a quick preview. More images can be found on Microsoft’s official pages.
The entire PR stuff seems pretty wacky so far considering the fact that public perception on MS’s packaging talents is now the butt of ridicule amongst the tech community. It remains to be seen if the hoopla and pretty packaging can help the sales of the the notoriously delayed OS . I doubt you will find people camping outside stores the night before the launch though. Anyways, How many of us have ever bought boxed software from a retail store before?
