rantlust

Posted by papi on September 28th 2005 in India, Literature, Society
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English has always been my favorite language, notwithstanding the fact that it’s a remnant of India’s colonial heritage. Perhaps I should feel guilty about this, but I don’t. During my school days, I was fortunate to have some very good teachers, none more so than my English teacher, Mr. Nakulan. His command of the language helped cement English’s already impregnable position as my favorite subject of all (followed closely by Physics). My friends and I would discuss Wodehouse and Maugham during lunch breaks, though the world they wrote about, with its Ascots and gentlemen’s gentlemen, was so far from ours it might as well have been Mars. Nakulan-sir, as we used to call him, would sometimes bring tapes of poetry recitals to class, to show us how to read poetry aloud, and how proper pronunciation and delivery could bring the written word to life.

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Posted by renéejo on September 27th 2005 in Music, Nature
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There are probably references to the great song from Led Zeppelin with the same name as in the title and the hurricanes in the US. I thought the lyrics are so poignant. According to Wikipedia, this song was originally written by a couple in Memphis in 1929 after the great flood of Mississippi in 1927. I have only heard the Zep version.

If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s goin’ to break, [X2]
When The Levee Breaks I’ll have no place to stay.

Mean old levee taught me to weep and moan, [X2]
Got what it takes to make a mountain man leave his home,
Oh, well, oh, well, oh, well.

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Posted by tafkap on September 26th 2005 in Developing Nations, India, Movies, Society, Women
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It seems that India and Pakistan’s problems are not a simple case of kissing and making up. I’m not a follower of the Bollywood scene, but the first joint Indian Pakistani movie production ‘Nazar’ has found itself in some trouble. The movie allegedly has a scene where Pakistani starlet ‘Meera’ kisses her Indian co-star Ashmit Patel. She has subsequently faced death threats and is moving to India. There is also a court case seeking a ban on the film in Pakistan. I came across Meera’s travails at the Washington Post’s world opinion roundup blog.
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Posted by anupcs on September 26th 2005 in Photography, Travel
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I stood outside the lobby of my hotel - Casa de Don Tomas - at 4am, waiting for my ride to come. It was close to or below zero degrees Celsius. I had been rudely awaken 30 minutes earlier by an extremely annoying alarm clock. I was prepared for the chills with my best outdoor technical clothing and wasn’t too uncomfortable during the ten minute wait. I was the last one on board the 15-passenger van and we were running close to capacity. It was a bumpy, bone-shaking ride for the next three hours climbing from 7874ft to 14,100ft. While most of my fellow passengers were sleeping (or at least seemed to be), the shaking was too much for me to catch any shuteye. Judas Priest was coming on strong on my iPod to keep me entertained. When we finally arrived at our destination, where the temperature was definitely sub-zero, it immediately dawned on me that this was absolutely worth the torture.
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Posted by prchandr on September 25th 2005 in Business
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I recently read an article in the Economist which talks about the current internet bubble where companies are spending huge amounts of money to acquire other internet companies. Examples being Yahoo buying Alibaba , Ebay buying Skype etc. Though Skype doesn’t make much money, Ebay still paid a ton of money for it. Also the technology that Skype uses can be duplicated easily and so competition is going to be intense and growth is not going to be easy in terms of revenues.
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Posted by anupcs on September 25th 2005 in Rants
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Yesterday, a few friends and we had the misfortune to take a SF Muni train back from the Love Parade (more about this in a future post) to Noe Valley. The ride itself wasn’t the problem; it was the forty-five minutes or so wasted in trying to get the $1.50 (apiece) tickets for the ride.
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Posted by anupcs on September 22nd 2005 in Movies, Raves, Society, Sports
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I have always felt that the Thais are the friendliest people in the world. This is evident from visits to many Thai restaurants in the US and elsewhere. The wait staff seem to bend over backwards to make one feel good and not just with the tasty food. While I have never been to Bangkok, I have indeed been to Phuket (pronounced pooket) and neighboring islands (before the Tsunami) and loved the whole experience primarlily because of the reception of the Thai locals. While in Phuket, I had seen a few Muay Thai (or Thai Boxing) fights and didn’t think much of it until tonight.
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Posted by papi on September 21st 2005 in Cars, Science, Technology
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As the price of gasoline keeps up its skyward streak, with no prospect of a dip in sight, the question that keeps popping up into everyone’s minds is: do I really need the expensive primo stuff for my car? Well, the experts answer that question here.

I’ve had this discussion with several people from this site, and opinions vary widely. Most people think they’re getting something extra for the money they pay, but the experts seem decidedly lukewarm on whether it’s worth it. I used to fill up with premium gasoline before the price went above $3 a gallon. At that point, I had a heart-to-heart with my baby, hood up and all. Basically told her that I’d looked after her quite well so far, and that she was now going to have to pull her share of the burden, and lower her standards a bit. Since then, she’s been putt-putting along just fine on mid-grade. Based on this article, it might just be time for another earnest conversation.

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