Daylight saving time

A couple of days back, my manager was talking to a colleague of mine, discussing the need to change timings at which the servers are bounced every single day. I could hear words like 'Clock advancing', 'DST', and 'Last Sunday of March'. But i was too occupied with my task, & simply ignored.

Now today, i noticed that my Laptop read 11.30 am, though my Alarm clock read 10.30 am. I checked my cell phone to cross check from a third reference & it acknowledged that the former is correct. I thought my Alarm clock might have drunk a bit over, until i recalled my manager words.

Hence i Googled, & realized something's special about the morning. DST has just been implemented. With a hazy look on my face, i advanced my clock by an hour to synchronize everything.

Laptop clock was proper because it has Automatically adjust feature. Cell phone was correct because it has the similar settings as well.



Damn !! DST just stole an hour from my life (I'm still confused whether it added one to the lot, or took it away). I remember mugging this up in Geography as a kid. But then, we don't really believe those things we read right ? Ofcourse, until we see it for ourselves. I told my gal about the fact that we can talk an hour longer now, she was like crazy over the fact. Obviously it's hard to digest.

Wikipedia says it has a lot of benefits, one of them's that evening's are longer. As to me, a man who prefers keeping his room dark even in broad daylight, it's a crappy curse. This picture is taken at 8pm today.





Another page gives the formulae used to calculate the beginning/end of European Summer Time:

Sunday (31 − (5y ÷ 4 + 4) mod 7) March at 01:00 GMT
Sunday (31 − (5y ÷ 4 + 1) mod 7) October at 01:00 GMT

What the hell. How wonderfully complicated !! Couldn't they keep it a little simple ?

Guys here told me that by the time i leave this place, i.e. the end of April, sun will rise at 5 in the morning, & go down by 9.30 pm. It's impossible to imagine how bizarre life can be...

My schedule leaves me no time for early morning jogs.
I guess i can go jogging now after dinner !! hehe...

10 things to do before i die

I'm those kind of suckers who maintain a to-do list all the time - to-do in my pocket diary, to-do notes stuck on my office PC, even a to-do widget on my iGoogle page. Easy going guys would say that sucks, but that's how it is for me. Now dying is not a pleasant notion, but it's the truth of course. Gotta accomplish a few things while i'm still breathing.

I'm not the first intellectual to pen this down. Google throws some 30.5 billion search results on the aspect. Loads of blogs, BBC, even dedicated sites working on the same. You could see aspirations ranging from diving with dolphins, sharks to skydiving. Adventure, grandchildren, & loads of emotional/crazy things.

To list a few
100 things to do before you die
50 Things to Do Before You Die
10 Most Incredible Things to Do Before You Die
BBC TV's 50 Things To Do Before You Die
2dobeforeidie.org
squidoo.com

Now i ain't dying. I ain't a character from DasVidaniya either. I'll consume this planet's oxygen for another half a century, & will be 18 till i die !! But, you gotta do what you gotta do !!

To-Do before i die...

1) Be a good lead guitarist: Rhythm ain't enough. I promised someone to cover Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb for him someday.
2) Learn how to swim.
3) Work for a part of my professional career with Google.
4) Attend a big rock concert, spending a huge amount on the tickets.
5) Punch someone, right in the face: damn, I'm 24 & i haven't had a good one. i gotta do this. Gotta see how is it to have a fight.
6) Stage a band performance, at least once: Not just any band. I know Music isn't going to be our profession. I want my crew, the raw like a stone voice, that insane bassist, & the world's best Drummer. None else. & the first track's gonna be Say Anything. i won't lie, but I've had dreams on this one.
7) Pen a sound article in a leading newspaper.
8) See Angelina Jolie once, for real.
9) Write a fiction novel, on life, & it's glory.
10) Spend an year in my 50s farming on steps, spending every evening watching sunsets, & living in a sweet little cottage on countryside, with the love of my life (I'm glad even she likes the idea )


I'm sure it's gonna grow with time, like love.
But i hope i'd strike out a few soon !! Clocks ticking...

Gen Musharraf in India Today Conclave 2009

They've been setting traditions, really. It's really applaudable to witness such scintillating initiatives knocking literally on every aspect of what effects us. India Today Conclave 2009 was a grand phenomenon again. Takes a toll on a few every year. This time over, it was General Musharraf at the receiving end, atleast for a while.

I don't really have anything against him. I respect him for the fact that he managed so swiftly a crumbling democracy for over eight years, keeping good friends with US & a fairly walk-through relationship with it's largest neighbor, that he still commands respect from a large cult. But for the fact that he's big-mouthed (his childhood habit i guess).

It was high time, and a spectacular Muslim,a loyal Indian, General Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, & a Rajya Sabha member, Maulana Mahmood Madani couldn't take any more of his hateful words. & then followed what's termed as Stupendous !!

Please have a look...

Just, apt, & a sound bastian against intolerable provacation.
(Musharraf's retaliation was rather childish i suppose)

Personally, i've not had any close Muslim friends (that was just a flow of events), but i'd like to make a hand-shake with Madani Sahab, & tell him "Yes Sir, i'm one of those 70% Indians !!"

Hails !!
Our country, our society, the humanity needs Men of Honor like these !!

Full coverage of General Musharraf at India Today Conclave 2009

Recession : to me !!

Much have been said & written on recession. Seems to be the most talked-about subject the people of my age would have witnessed in their lifetimes. Now i always thought what recession implies on normal people - people like us, people like me. i mean as far as you are healthy enough on your professional front, you won't really feel the heat, obviously apart from the provocative thought process.

Now for me, & people like me, a few prevalent factors are

• * Job is fine & sound. Some effort to keep it that way, if not improve the bets.
• * Things are getting cheaper (adidas Ts literally cost just Rs. 400/- now). Go buy-buy.
• * Expect prices to fall for things you're planning to buy. Not a Problem. Pleasant wait, as they say.
• * Insecurity, due to copious news/rumors of layoffs in some part of the world or the other.
• * A feeling of not spending too much, in expectancy of something unfortunate that might happen.
• * Following RBI for it's moves (although we don't understand them in entirety).
• * Loads of stuff for discussion. Loads of Articles by economists to read. Loads of mail-chains & forwards spreading the news - of layoffs, of salary cuts, & so-on.

Other than that, it's just fine. We smoke, we drink, we party, we Rock !!
We Indians (to be specific), don't feel the heat until the brick falls right onto our heads !!

Now, i'm a man, sitting at home, on a specific Thursday, with no idea how to pass my time, just for the fact that i'm bound to take a certain number of leaves before March 31st (so are all my colleagues) so that my company can save some money on the rolls. (i don't complain though, it's a Spectacular cost-cutting measure, without a significant toll on Employees).
PS: i shouldn't be explaining any more of that, so as to abide by work ethos

Now, that's the first Direct impact of Recession i've felt in these bad times. & i can assure all of you, there'll be more to come . We are living in bad times. Frankly speaking, i'm still not effected by the collapsing market, apart from the fact that i'm now in a similar state of mind as him...



i'm BORED dude !!

Oscars '09 !!

i ain't a movie buff, but the Oscar fever generates a craze 4 watchin those big-business, award-winning flicks. After all, they've been critically acclaimed, praised the world over, must-watch things. This craze like engulfed us back in the final yr of graduation, & it continues. One should form an opinion about sumthin, gud or bad, rather than just play balls-balls It's like Sachin thrashed New-Zealand & someone asks you "did u see that !!", & u utter a somber "no". You gotta buy some tongues 4 urself dude.

Slumdog Millionaire
IMDB Ratings - 8.6/10

Well well well. Anticipated. Applauded. Celebrated. Awarded. 8 Oscars is sumthin 2 b cherished really. i can't really take the glimmer away from the movie by simply sayin i didn't like it. i'm not a politician or an acknowledged man to make my statement appeal for any logical reason. i choose not to criticize.

i'm sad though at the fact that we Indians are so fucking mad that we let the world mock at us, in lieu of some prizes. now Anil Kapoor yells for those Oscars they grabbed - makes sense. Our mad nation celebrating the Oscars THEY grabbed - sounds really foolish.
For some godforsaken reason, anything that makes fun of our country hits the charts globally (another example - The White Tiger - it wasn't so mesmerizing after all)
Furthermore, we all know the movie wasn't really a commercial success atleast in the Indian market.

Now that the track Jai Ho (i don't find it worth listening to) grabbed an Oscar for the Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Original Song. Great !! Good music by Rehman !! so great that it could make to the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart only after Pussy Cat Dolls (god i hate the name) made a little tweak (News) so that i can't bear it for more than 5 seconds now. Try it if you want to mp3

Now my mother called me up while i was still sleepin & she was thumping with joy when she narrated how the news channels announced Oscars count for that movie - endlessly increasing. i told her patiently "aap please ye movie mat dekhna, bohot gaaliyan hain".

Okay, Apology. Enough of Slumdog. i just can't contain myself when it comes 2 this movie.

Changeling
IMDB Ratings - 8.1/10

Based on a true story. & the true story itself must have been so mesmerizing that the movie turned out 2 b a gud thriller in all. A balanced narration of the role by Jolie though, but the only constituents were Drama & purported depiction of emotions. Nothing really useful.

The Reader
IMDB Ratings - 7.8/10

Interesting. Kate did really deserve that black metallic lady she was bestowed with. Subtle is the word. Love is the theme. Ignorance & crime walks past by, making this flick a really good bet. I went to a book-store recently and the novel really seems 2 b enjoying gud part of the success it's curtain counterpart made. What an apt title !!

Milk
IMDB Ratings - 8.0/10

To b truthful, i couldn't get done with the movie. i left it half way through i tried hard, but couldn't pull it through. u may tag me contemporary if u want 2. i'm not against Gays or Lesbians for that matter. It was a splendid reality on part of that man, & on part of American evolution into a great nation. It was indeed worth the praise. But it's just that these kinda movies are simply unbearable. Utter slow, guys kissin each other passionately, political speeches. i couldn't. i'm sorry !!

The Dark Knight
IMDB Ratings - 9.0/10

that one needs no praise. it's unimaginable how a movie can be so great a success as to attract largest mass of all times on the first day of it's release. people were crazy over this 1. the special effect ought to be exemplary. Heath Ledger was fabulous. i've known people who opted for this movie 4-5 times.
But for the fact that i haven't seen it, neither do i plan to see it just not my kind of genre.

Revolutionary Road
IMDB Ratings - 7.8/10

that was an epic drama. there was some scintillating real life content into it. i do not intend to say that it was inspired by a true story. it's just that it was so natural, & so close no normal realistic situations that i loved it for some strange reason. the titanic pair looked good, & the plot was well built in. good narration. good acting. A little short on content though. & the Paris thing was so adorable. we all dream sumthin of that kind i guess.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
IMDB Ratings - 8.2/10

i finished this one just 15 minutes before i started writing this blog. & i'm still under a hang of it. Benjamin !! It was indeed a curious case. Man o man. Splendid. 3 Oscars (Slumdog really left no room for others). if a director is somehow adamant on making an off-the-road movie, that's exactly how it's gotta be done. if u gotta see a pure drama, that's what it's gotta b like. high on emotional content, vis-a-vis an excellent portrayal of the character by Brad Pitt. i still gotta think. & outta all the movies i've seen this year, this would be the one i'd be gladly willing to give another watch. there's more to life than a simple romance, action, special effects, or a thriller cinema.

That was Oscars. That will be all for the night.
(but i still can't get rid of Anil Kapoor's face jumping & yelling while the Winners were being announced . That would be a nightmare that'll definitely haunt me till the next Oscars)