Charged ! %^@$*#`~

I am a Charged individual.

I never knew there were so many connotations of the word 'charged' until I looked it up just before writing this post. For example,

charge (chärj)

v. charged, charg·ing, charg·es

v.tr.

1.

a. To load to capacity; fill: charge a furnace with coal.

b. To saturate; impregnate: The atmosphere was charged with tension.

2. To load (a gun or other firearm) with a quantity of explosive: charged the musket with powder.

3. To instruct or urge authoritatively; command: charged her not to reveal the source of information.

4. To make a claim of wrongdoing against; accuse or blame: The police charged him with car theft. Critics charged the writer with a lack of originality.

5. To put the blame for; attribute or impute: charged the accident to the driver's inexperience.

6. Electricity

a. To cause formation of a net electric charge on or in (a conductor, for example).

b. To energize (a storage battery) by passing current through it in the direction opposite to discharge.

7. To excite; rouse: a speaker who knows how to charge up a crowd.

v.intr.

1. To rush forward in or as if in a violent attack: dogs trained to charge at intruders; children charging through the house.

---

Synonyms: charge, imbue, impregnate, permeate, pervade, saturate, suffuse
These verbs mean to cause to be filled with a particular mood or tone: an atmosphere charged with excitement; poetry imbued with lyricism; a spirit impregnated with lofty ideals; optimism that permeates a group; letters pervaded with gloom; a play saturated with imagination; a heart suffused with love..

Adj.	1.	charged - of a particle or body or system; having a net amount of positive or negative electric charge; "charged particles"; "a charged battery"
	2.	charged - fraught with great emotion; "an atmosphere charged with excitement"; "an emotionally charged speech"
	4.	charged - capable of producing violent emotion or arousing controversy; "the highly charged issue of abortion"

You will find the complete list of connotations of 'charged' at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dict.asp?Word=charged.

‘Complete list’? Is there more? Of course! J Anyways… the meaning I’d like to dwell on just now is Definition 6a. (Yeah… I can’t escape the influence of my professional life!) (Oh, btw… using parenthesis is a bad idea, I read somewhere, since it denotes that the writer is unable to bring about a logical connection / flow between ideas. Seriously… does anybody care?!)

So… now that you know what I’m talking about… I can see that big grin beginning to light your face (didn’t I just mention electricity? :D) But… hold your horses! I speaketh the truth; the whole and naked truth; and nothing but the truth: so goD save you… that is, if HE Exists!

(Ellipsis, Parenthesis, Smilies, Bangs, Old English words, wrong CaPiTaLiZatiOn, bare (un)truths, wild and atheist claims… all in the same para. Wow! Broken ever so many rules of Grammar... and some more! Ain’t that simply LOVE-LY?)

Cutting a long story short… Coming straight down to the point… To hammer the nail bang! on its head… I’m electrically charged.

Now, don’t you scoff at me! I have witnesses – people who at first scoffed just like you, but are now Believers. ‘Who are these people?!’ you say? They are the ones who’ve seen and felt "The Spark". I’m not kidding! Many a time have I seen a spark jump right across the tiny space between my skin and some surface or the other person’s skin. And, it always occurs at the most unexpected of times.

My team-mate (& friend, & colleague, & companion, & fellow-sufferer – I can’t find ONE word that wholly and aptly describes these individuals) and I are working together at one desk. I suddenly put out my hand to grab the mouse before he gets to it and lo! There’s a spark jumping from one end of a strand of hair standing at attention on some part of my hand and one placid strand of hair on his. I pretend I saw nothing, felt nothing and try to carry on. But he recoils instantly and ‘Ouch! Did you feel that?’

‘What?’ I fix him with the most innocent look that I can manage. (Actually I believe I’m a good actor. Or is it actress? whatever!)

‘I got a shock! From you!’ He can’t believe it: he won’t believe it; he doesn’t want to believe it; but he HAS to believe it.

As I watch the struggle unfolding on his face I’m tempted to say, ‘See… NOW do you believe me?’ Instead, I say ‘Oh! Okay...’ averting my eyes, trying to convey an impression that the conversation’s ended. ‘Anyways… as I was saying… shouldn’t we be doing it like…’ I continue.

But he’s not listening to me. I know that. He’s staring at me stupidly, unable to believe that, for once (maybe, just this once), I wasn’t speaking ‘off the cuff’ when I first told him about this. He’s grudgingly turning into a Believer.

If I show the slightest interest to discuss the topic with him now, I’d have broken the Magic of the Moment. I let his innumerable questions hang in the air (a “charged” atmosphere… if you will). He’ll hit me with them some day, when he feels he has the right audience. I better watch out and be prepared so as not to appear a moron in front of those morons. But, at least, for now… I have one more Believer!

A simple hobby

I've found myself a new hobby.

It's really simple and hardly costs you anything. But instant gratification and satisfaction's guaranteed!



Pre-requisites:

1) A sim-card with a great (read CHEAP) SMS-offer

2) a pesky, neurotic, slightly-psychopathic brother

No doubt, except for the few unfortunate, all of us are blessed with these.



Method:

1) Wait until your brother uses up all his free messages for the day.
Note - You could help speed up this step by egging him on.

2) Then, you gloat thusly -- "Haha! See... I told you I have a better offer on my sim! :D"

3) Next, you offer your sim-card in an act of great sibling-affection - but only for a short while.
Attention- The duration of sim-loan must be large enough to allow him time to get into mischief, but short enough to not let him complete.

4) Now, go and DEMAND All That Rightfully Belongs to YOU.
Note- The objective can be achieved with just your sim-card in this case. This will also ensure that you don't spend too much time on this activity.

5) Return to your sanctuary; replace the sim in your phone

6) Wait for a few minutes to receive the Residual Messages (from your brother's conversations).
Note- Obviously you don't recognize the sender's number, nor they yours.... 'coz if they're his friends, they'd know he's signed off and not bother messaging his older sibling. So, rest assured that he's reliably delivered his goods.

6) You reply thusly -- "Who're you?"
Note- In 9 out of 10 cases, you'll get a reply saying "Who's this?"

7) Aha! Now you're FREE to express yourself in whatever way you want.
You don't know the person at the other end, nor does s/he know you.
So have a BALL!
Remember- At no cost, and at no point, will you reveal your true identity.

Note- For an enhanced dose of self-satisfaction and pride, you could be as witty or as nasty or as good-ly as you have always never wanted to be in your real life.

8) When you've had enough, sign off with a polite 'good day!' or 'gn'.
Note- Ignore all pleas; reply no more.

9) Sit back and enjoy.
You've done a great deed today - you've got someone THINKING.



Simple, ain't it?



P.S. Drop me a line about your results.

Sued for $1 billion

Have been reading articles about the $1 billion suit. Brings back a question that's been repeatedly playing in my mind...

Is it legal for any entity to profit by showcasing another’s work, when the entity from whom the material originates gains nothing from it?

In what scenarios is it perfectly legal? When's it sketchy? When's it a definite no-no?

Omniscient Google - Part 2

Google is one of my obsessions.

Anything about Google interests me - be it good or bad. In one of my earlier posts, Omniscient Google - Doesn't it bother you?, I expressed some of my concerns.

Of late, I'm reading 'The Search - How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture'. J.Battelle lends words to my thoughts when he writes thus...



"In essence, we have taken much of our once-ephemeral and quotidian lives - our daily habits of whom we talk to, what we look for, what we buy - and made those actions eternal. It is as if each of us, every day, is tracing a picture of Joycean complexity - recording the mundane and extraordinary course of our lives - via our interactions with the Internet, be they through our personal computers, our telephones, or our music players, and our interactions with businesses, either online or in the store ...
...
... Through companies likes Google and the results they serve, an individual's digital identity is immortalized and can be retrieved upon demand. ...
...
As we move our data to the servers at Amazon.com, Hotmail.com, Yahoo.com, and Gmail.com, we are making an implicit bargain, one that the public at large is either entirely content with, or, more likely, one that most have not taken much to heart.

That bargain is this: we trust you to not do evil things with our information. We trust that you will keep it secure, free from unlawful government or private search and seizure, and under our control at all times. We understand that you might use our data in aggregate to provide us better and more useful services, but we trust that you will not identify individuals personally through our data, not use our personal data in a manner that would violate our own sense of privacy and freedom.

That's a pretty large helping of trust we're asking companies to ladle onto their corporate plate. And I'm not sure either we or they are entirely sure what to do with the implication of such a transfer."

Tusker @ Bhadra Wildlife Reserve

Date : 10-Feb-2007

River Tern Lodge -- Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary

Over the weekend, six of us college friends had been to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and stayed overnight at the River Tern Jungle Lodge, which is about 4 kms away from the sanctuary. The lodge pampers your senses with both man-made luxury and the scenic beauty of the Bhadra river on whose banks it is built. Each cottage (named after a bird species) overlooks the river and offers a soothing view of the river which lulls you with the sound it makes as it constantly cleanses the rocks that line its banks. In the pitch dark and deathly silence of the night - when the moon is nowhere to be seen and all the tiny noisome creatures seem asleep - the sound of River Bhadra's gentle waves lapping the surface of the smooth-worn rocks seems no less than that of angry sea-waves crashing and tearing into the rocks that dare to offer the slightest resistance in their paths. At once it is both serene and disturbing, depending on your thoughts and moods.

Omniscient Google - Doesn't it bother you?

Sometimes I worry about Google. It knows close to everything about me ever since I've switched to Gmail exclusively for all my emails and also use Orkut, Blogger, Google Calendar, and Google Docs. I don't know how useful one individual's information is to Google. If I had just as much information about any one person - friend / foe / stranger - I can't estimate it's worth and don't know how I would use it either. Yet, the fact remains that Google still has a major portion of the dope on my life. And that's quite unsettling!

--
------------------------------------
It is the mark of an educated mind
to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it.

-- Aristotle
------------------------------------

Picture Perfect

Road @ View Point, Dharamshala, originally uploaded by dogz_mn.

This picture has it all - snow capped mountains, clear blue sky, winding mountain road, nature's brilliant display of colours in the vegetation and man's small stature in comparison.

I'm proud to say that it was me behind the camera and I managed to capture this slice of the great scheme of events unwinding all around us.

NICE lake

Directions to reach Agara Lake

Agara lake, near BMIC NICE road connecting Kanakpura road and Mysore road.

Agara Lake - a silent, serene place

Dalhousie Winter Trekking Expedition - Group DW_10

This blog is an excerpt from a letter to a favourite aunt.

Hi N,

Sorry for the late reply. Yeah.. it's back to the routine now.

... ...

The trip was one Biiiiiiiig story. So stop and take a break now if you want :)

Someone first told me about such a trek when I was still in Cisco. First thing I did after joining EMC was to look it up and enrol into YHAI. Then I convinced Sh and she readily accepted. We set out on 27th Dec and returned on 7th Jan (early morn).

Nothing was ready until 26th night and we had a huge list of things that we had to buy. Thankfully S aunty lent me all her gear - thermals, gloves, hunter shoes etc. So I just came home and dumped everything into a backpack and a large bag. Next morn I realized the backpack didn't have any straps and went to get that fixed early in the morn, coz flight was at noon. But meanwhile SpiceJet called and said the flight's PREPONED (ever heard of that??) by 1.5 hrs. Damn! We somehow still reached in time - only to find that we had to wait 2.5 hrs before we left. Then too we almost missed boarding the flight 'coz I was too engrossed in solving that day's Sudoku :)

Uneventful flight. Reached Delhi. Auto / Taxi guys quoted exorbitant rates. Took a cab to some place and got off so we could take the Metro. Loved that ride - but it was over in just 2 mins and we had reached our destination (Old Delhi station). Thanks to SpiceJet we were starving. So we ate at some local hotel and food tasted like heaven.

We were almost 2 hours early and waiting for our train at the platform. Then on a hunch we called Bangalore and had our friend check the train timings and station. He called back in 15 min and said we were supposed to be at New Delhi station. We barely had enough time. But thanks to Metro we got to the station just in time. Train took off on time and we slept peacefully through the night. But Delhi's suffering from smog due to cold weather. So our train reached Pathankot 5 hrs late and it was noon.

There we took a taxi to Dalhousie. Ak, An, Nil & Nit, who had traveled with us in the train, carpooled with us. We had a 4 hr journey and reached Youth Hostel base camp. But these guys were to start their trek a day before us. So we got our batch changed and preponed everything by a day.

Next day (day 3) they took us for an acclimatization walk and made us carry dummy load in our backpacks. This gave us time to get to know our group. They have a packed scheduled and are very particular about maintaining it. They feed you decent food (not good) and liquids from time to time.

Day 4 we set out on the actual trek. We were given a ceremonial sendoff by the next group. This is also part of the schedule and every group gives the sendoff to the previous team (each day about 50 ppl leave from base camp).

Flag-off Ceremony @ Base Camp, Dalhousie

We covered 8 kms and ascended 4000 ft and reached the highest point called Kalatop (10000 ft). The movie 1942 A Love Story is said to have been shot here. On the way I saw snow for the first time. This was the only place where there was snow. Although we reached before 5, the sun had begun to set. It was great to see the snow changing colours in the mountains in the distance. It was close to freezing. Nobody knew the exact temp but the localites said it reached 2 degree Centigrade. That's the coldest weather that I've ever been in. It was great there! I was enjoying it. But Sh was freezing and struggled through the night. Everyone was forced to sleep by 8pm that day. Though hyper, I somehow managed to sleep that early.

View @ Kalatop - 1

View @ Kalatop - 2

Next morn (day 5), we set out to this plain called Khajjiar (12 kms). First we descend through the forested mountains and then reach a stream. There the localites would have reached before you and have steaming tea and Maggi noodles ready for your lunch. From then on you climb quite a bit. It's almost a 60 degree slope most of the time.

Enroute to Khajjiar

This was the toughest part of the trek, although the whole trek is actually quite an easy one. And then you reach this plain (Khajjiar). We went horse riding around that plain. It's about 1.5 kms and I loved that part. We got photographed with Kashmiri dress. I wanted to send those pics too - coz we looked so funny - but I'm yet to get them. It was 31st and we persuaded our camp leader to organize something and let us stay up for New Year. He was a damn nice chap and borrowed a music system from the neighbouring hotel for Rs. 300. we were 38 in our group (including 11 females) and each contributed 10 bucks for New Year celeb :) Someone figured out how to connect an i-pod to those speakers and then there was music and dancing till midnight. It was fun - seemed like we were on cloud # 9 literally, coz there was fog as well.

Night-out or not, schedule is schedule. So we're off next morning (day 6), according to schedule. It was just a downward slope throughout. But the track here is not so firm, but full of loose stones. I had taken my regular shoes and struggled at these spots (75% of the way) 'coz I kept slipping. However the forest and the scenery was breathtaking.

Broken bridge over stream, enroute to Chamba

For lunch we reached the base of the mountain range, next to another stream.Then it was a 4km walk along winding mountain roads. Thoroughly enjoyed that as well, since it was easy and you could just keep looking around. Was amazed that on those remote mountains the quality of the roads is far better than most in Bangalore. Finally we reached the camp at Chamba.

Map of Himachal Pradesh

Chamba is a major district in Himachal. Basically it's a set of closely located villages, which seem quite far if you use the roads only, but there are innumerable shortcuts and connecting steps along the mountain. Apparently Chamba is famous for its leather footwear. But the market has very few leather shoes shops.

The market was 4 kms away, but using the shortcut it was supposed to be 2 kms. So we went and kept asking for the shortcut and following the directions. Finally after 4 kms we reached the market place, and it was already dark and much colder than we had expected. We had hot jilebis in some arbit shop - by this time we had lost all care for cleanliness. It was good so we ordered more to carry back to camp, but finished it on the way only. Came back to camp half an hour after the time limit the camp leader had set, expecting some scene. Nothing! Dinner and the usual routine. Everyone was preparing to go to bed at 10. Then this Chennai group of 4 guys came after feasting on chicken (YHAI gives only veg) in some local restaurant. The camp leader (also the co-director of the trek) created a racket. All the guys were ready to pack up and leave with those 4, if he threw them out. Disappointment again! :(

Next morning (day 7), a bus came to the camp and we boarded it and left for Dalhousie. The trekking was over and only after boarding the bus did I realize it. It stops mid-way at a very scenic spot where everybody got off and took pics. One man whom the entire group had mockingly nicknamed "Sweety uncle" (the only other person from Blore), climbed up a hill to take pics and many of us climbed onto the bus's roof (he considered himself to be an ace photographer, whereas I had taught him how to use a digicam at base camp in Dalhousie). He took a few snaps of us as well. Then the bus left and I got in, expecting the others to follow 'coz the group leader was throwing his weight around. They didn't turn up and I couldn't bear the fact that I wasn't on top. Then I realized that Sweety uncle wasn't around and told some ppl. Everyone too happy to do anything about it :) The next time the bus halted for a few seconds, I was back on top. Then I realized he wasn't there either and we had a good laugh. We sat up there singing songs and I stood on top of a moving bus, with a deep valley on one side. It was an exhilarating experience, but the others worried too much and forced me to sit down. 10 min later the bus stopped and we started stopping every bus and asking if they had picked him up. This was the best part of the trip! Everyone was laughing so hard. Finally after 15 min, Sweety uncle caught up with us and went in. At the next halt, he climbed up and joined us :( The guys relentlessly mocked him and sang songs with words replaced with "Sweety". Poor fellow - he still didn't get it :D

Finally we reached base camp. The field director was waiting for us and welcomed us back. We immediately picked up our luggage, returned the borrowed stuff. There was a small ceremony in which everyone was awarded a certificate. Then we had a massive photo session and dispersed.

Group DW_10 @ Base Camp, Dalhousie

Meanwhile Nil and Nit (2 of the 4 who were with us from the train) had halted a bus going to Dharamshala. The bus waited for us for 15 min totally :) Another 60-yr-old man from Chennai, R uncle, the oldest member in our trek was also with us. So the 5 of us went to Dharamshala. the journey was 5 hrs and we reached at sunset. So we just checked into a hotel and went and had good food for the first time after reaching Dalhousie.

Next day (day 8) we went site-seeing together in a Qualis. Dharamshala is where the Dalai Lama lives. So there is a big temple and his residence, which is the main attraction.

McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala

View Point, Dharamshala

View from Kangra Fort, Dharamshala

There are a couple of view points, a fort, an army memorial and a Jwalamukhi temple (about 20 kms away) and the Dalai Lama's summer palace. Jwalamukhi temple is so called because it is said to have this fire which was burning naturally for years together but is now sustained by the priests. I had expected something big, but this was disappointment. There is a small flame which you can hardly see, but many other flames which appear blue - I'm sure they're all gas flames. We couldn't see the summer palace coz it was too late and it had closed.

Next morn(day 8), Nil and Nit left for home. Sh, myself & R uncle took a bus by noon to Pathankot. We reached in the evening and killed time till our train arrived. Then the 2 of us got in and I fell asleep immediately. Uncle stayed on in Pathankot for the night and had plans to visit many more places, and would return to Chennai on Jan 31 (he's still not come back).

We reached Delhi in the morning (day 9) and immediately went to the Delhi YHAI. We reached at 9 and the guy there said a bus that would take us on a Delhi tour arrives at 9.30. We completed all the formalities, checked in with all our luggage, freshened up, had breakfast and were ready to leave. I can't believe we managed all that in 30 min :) I guess that's the fastest we've ever been. The bus picked us up from the gate. We visited Qutub Minar, some permanent Rajasthan fair, Lotus Temple, Akshardham, Raj Ghat, India Gate, had lunch in AP Bhavan, then Indira Gandhi memorial and lastly Nehru memorial. We reached YHAI at 7 and checked out asap. We went to Nizamuddin after asking around a million times and ensuring it was the right station :) Rajdhani was delayed by 45 min. But we got on and again I slept peacefully thru the night.

Next day (day 10) I realized how boring a train journey can be. I had picked up a terrible cough which wouldn't let me sleep for long and when I finally managed to sleep the kids in my bay would start screaming. I could have banged their heads with something real hard - it was so irritating. Plus Sh was completely out with initial jaundice symptoms (we got to know after returning) and I had absolutely nothing to do. Rajdhani gives you a lot of food and I ate both mine and Sh's share, 'coz she couldn't have anything anyway and I had nothing else to do.

Next morn (day 11), I woke quite early and was so thrilled as we neared Bangalore. I wasn't homesick or anything but I was so happy that now I dont have to call every Tom, Dick & Harry as "bhaiyya" :) Took an auto, dropped Sh and came home at 9.

And that's the jist of it! :)

Admire your patience if you've read all the way through till here. He he... anyways... was fun writing it.

:-)
Madhavi.