http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/admitted-children-sex-primarily-pleasure-81691/
I'm preaching this on Facebook, but can I practice this with my own children?
I've been reading about gender-neutral restrooms recently. Somehow they've been making the news. The restroom here has sanitary napkin disposal bags in the men's room. Bangalore shows the way forward!
Commercial air travel has to be one of the biggest scams perpetrated on humanity. We figured out train travel centuries ago. Everything that's come after that, whether automobiles or airlines, is not comfortable, economic friendly, or affordable.
You pay 6x the ticket fare; arrive more than an hour before departure at ungodly hours, at an airport well outside town with no decent parking and absolute chaos in the drop off area; queue up to actually enter the damn place; queue up in a never ending check in lane; get harassed and penalised for having the audacity of carrying luggage on a trip; queue up in the security lane; empty your pockets; fish out your laptop, tablet and mobile phone, laying them out in trays, all the while worrying someone is going to flick them; get X rayed and groped (thank God I'm done having children); witness your favourite nail clipper, the one that doesn't leave your nails scratchy like a cat's, being thrown into a dustbin; repack your bag; walk for miles to get to your gate; get checked Again; get on a crowded bus that jolts around all the way to your flight; get checked AGAIN; fight to find a place for your hand baggage; get dirty looks from the air hostess for having your phone on; and squeeze past your co-passengers.
All this for what? For the most miserably small seat ever invented. How small? You can't even adjust your ass an inch throughout your flight small. And the seat won't recline because you are in front of the emergency row.
And then you get overcharged for stale cold food. Not to mention the stale air interspersed with bursts of gases (formerly packaged inside humans or tin cans).
And then the lady to your right wants your arms off the armrest so she can put her arm on the armrest. Like she's the maharani of Jodhpur.
Train travel is so much vastly better, no comparison would do justice. Whether you take the train in India or in Canada, you drive/bus into a station in the center of town, and within minutes are walking into your compartment. You did not get checked, frisked, or submit to any sort of state sponsored sexually exploitative security theatre. You get a full flat bed, ample space for your luggage, fresh linen, warm food, and the occasional breath of natural fresh air whenever you want it. You get woken up only once, to attend to the ticket checker, not every time someone next to you decides to crawl over your toes on the way to the restroom. And you can stretch your legs by walking all the way to the dining car for your hourly snack.
I mean, how does this industry even survive? The airports are no longer subsidised. The fuel isn't subsidised. The aircraft manufacturers aren't on government dole. People are actually paying to travel cattle class?!?
Oh God. Someone farted again. I've got to go throw up.
But before I leave, the parting shot. So where does all this take you? You endure this misery to get where? The Bengaluru International Airport. But there's nothing Bengaluru about it, being separated from the metropolis by a 60km wide glacier of traffic. And there definitely isn't anything international about it. So what's in store for me after I land? A road endurance test that will last longer than the actual flight.
Damn it Indian Railways. Why did you not conform my tatkal ticket and subject me to this never ending nonsense.
Headed to bangalore, chennai. Let's catch up guys.
Vinodh Kumar
Tushit Jain
Ayush Jain
Sri Krishna
Alistair Remedios Dsouza
Pallavi Phatak
Meera Kri
Ari Janga
अमाँ खाँ Kal Penn तो भोपाली हो गए अब...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal:_A_Prayer_for_Rain
Every once in a while, my phone amuses itself by setting its ringer to silent. Without me actually prompting it to do so.
I dread the day we have real AI. I'm already not such a big fan of gadget sense of humour.
Woman on my flight borrowed my phone to call her family. Now she's started blabbering all kinds of personal details about herself. Her travel plans, where she works, her visa status, blah blah blah. I'm not even responding, but she's going on and on.
Who lets such blithering idiots loose on the world? I'm reminded of this old Lays ad where this cute kid goes 'My Mom says I shouldn't talk to strangers'.
Fat, elderly gentleman next to me, indulging in unabashed gluttony. The look of sheer joy on his face reminds me of Kavin with a cup of ice cream. Not a care in the world.
After a long time someone asked me today, 'शंका हो रही है क्या?'
And that too outside the Hindi belt. Euphemisms in Hindi are stranger than English euphemisms.
Zabardast police bandobast here in Mumbai all day. Voter turnout may be low, but malpractices should also be low (Same prognosis as in Bangalore). Also, Middle class mumbaikars suck.
Really FaceBook?
Mumbai friends, am still around. And totally jobless on Thursday, because neither can I vote in Mumbai nor be a polling agent. Do give me a buzz if you'd like to catch up. I'm staying in Goregaon and probably visiting Colaba later in the day.
Mumbaikers, Namita and I are headed for dinner. Anyone wanna catch up?
Over the weekend we will be in pune. Pune friends, do try and meet up.
An evil child has been kicking my seat from the back all through the movie. The villainous thoughts that are crossing my mind...
This joke aptly describes inspector raaj in India:
Poultry Farms Ki Inspection Ho
Rahi Thi,
Inspector: “Aap Murgiyon Ko Kya Dalte Ho?”
Sharma: “Ji, Bajra”
Inspector: “Wrong Food, Arrest Him” Phir Usne Sath Mein Khade Doosre Bande Se Puchha.
Verma: “Ji, Main Chawal Dalta Hoon”
Inspector: “Wrong Food, Arrest Him”
Ab Santa Ki Bari Thi, Is Se Pahle
Inspector Kuch Puchta, Santa Ghabrate Hue Bola
Santa: “Ji, Ham To Murgiyon Ko 5-5
Rupaye De Dete Hai, Ki Jo Khana Hai Wo kha Lo“...
So much people. So many heat. Too much hurry.
The hell is wrong with Mumbai?
The mark of democracy starts looking weird in a few days...
When lady Diana died, a lot of people cried. Afterwards, many of them felt awkward that they cried.
After the elections are over, a lot of Indians are going to feel very awkward. Some will gloat or whine about the outcomes for the next five years. Most will just wonder what spirits had possessed them in the early part of 2014.
Let's hope some parody videos are released before the awkwardfest begins, to ease the process of transition.
ई हमार पहला food porn फोटू
Campaigning for Medhatai is borderline slum tourism for me. Big similarities between living conditions of the poor in Mumbai and Gurgaon.
Real people. Real issues. Genuine support. And all encompassing filth, squalor and paucity of water and space. The more things look different, the more they are actually same for the poor across India.
Hanging out with Prof types
Hoping to catch up with some friends this weekend
Millions of engineers graduate every year in India and other countries. They desperately look for internships and jobs. More often than not they just sit at home.
On the other hand, serious bugs like Heartbleed persist due to a lack of serious eyeballing of open source code. Linus says every bug is shallow in front of a multitude of eyeballs. But clearly that multitude is spending time on the wrong sites - monster.com etc.
Is the bug hard to find? No. Would finding the bug make you famous for life? Yes. Do you need anything beyond a laptop to find and fix such bugs? No. Is there a dearth of such bugs? HELL NO.
Fresh grads. Quit wasting your time applying to thousands of companies. Stand out from the crowd. Commit some FLOSS code. Find some bugs.
On a different note, someone recently asked me if C and computer architecture are still relevant. Suck on this! The online world exists because of C, not python, java or node.js.
I'm sure such bugs exist in every web stack.
Millions of engineers graduate every year in India and other countries. They desperately look for internships and jobs. More often than not they just sit at home.
On the other hand, serious bugs like Heartbleed persist due to a lack of serious eyeballing of open source code. Linus says every bug is shallow in front of a multitude of eyeballs. But clearly that multitude is spending time on the wrong sites - monster.com etc.
Is the bug hard to find? No. Would finding the bug make you famous for life? Yes. Do you need anything beyond a laptop to find and fix such bugs? No. Is there a dearth of such bugs? HELL NO.
Fresh grads. Quit wasting your time applying to thousands of companies. Stand out from the crowd. Commit some FLOSS code. Find some bugs.
On a different note, someone recently asked me if C and computer architecture are still relevant. Suck on this! The online world exists because of C, not python, java or node.js.
I'm sure such bugs exist in every web stack.
Co-passenger in the train: there is a 90% chance Modi will win. He has spent a lot of money. He should win.
And look at this kejriwal. He wants to win without spending any money. Yeh koi baat hui? Dhande mein paisa to lagana padega na ji.
Mind. Blown.
Anyone willing to host me in Mumbai over the weekend?
You do not need a voter ID card to vote in this election.
You do not even need a proof of identity such as a passport or aadhar card.
Please visit your polling booth. If your name is in the voter list, the person outside the booth will give you a slip with your polling number on it.
(if your name is not in the list, curse yourself for not acting sooner, and go back home).
The official inside the booth will crosscheck this number against the voter list. If you name is there, your photo will also be there. If you have an identity proof, present that for verification. If you don't, the official will compare your face with your grainy photo in the list. If s/he is convinced, you can vote.
I had an identity proof with me today. But I was told that this is how people without a photo id are voting. Your mileage could vary.
Most government issued photo identity cards will do. You don't necessarily need a voter ID card. My mother's voter ID card had my father's name misprinted, so the official refused to accept it. However, my mother also had her passport with all details correct, so she was allowed to vote.
Please exercise your right to vote in this election.
तेरे बिना ज़िंदगी से कोई शिकवा तो नहीं
शिकवा नहीं
शिकवा नहीं
तेरे बिना ज़िंदगी भी लेकिन ज़िंदगी तो नहीं
ज़िदगी नहीं
ज़िंदगी नहीं
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/narendra-modi-mentions-wife-in-poll-affidavit-for-the-first-time/
Candy Crush
Unlimited hot water in the swimming pool shower today. अमरीका की याद आ गई यार। बस नंगों की कमी थी।
'Papa dekho purane zamane ki car', Nilay screams on spotting a brand new Ambassador.
Poor Hindustan Motors.
Dropbox has gone from being my favourite piece of cloud software to being my nemesis. What happened?
I've already moved my entire photo collection to BitTorrent Sync. Total control and peace of mind - nothing is ever visible to others by mistake.
http://xkcd.com/1344/
Anyone who has configured config.sys, autoexec.bat and win.ini in the 90s will relate to this.
And before you ask... I don't use powers of 2 as my ATM PIN any more. I use a completely random sequence of numbers as the seed. Someone's phone number I learnt back in 1989.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Na96ufmxBMI/UCnK-Xv9P_I/AAAAAAAAAiM/UCREMoT4dLQ/s1600/Great_Indian_Life_Advice.jpg
The great Indian infinite loop.
Holi with phuphu.
Spotted. YY sweating it out at Raahgiri
Raahgiri Day mein herogiri
Nilay 'graduated' from class I today. He's also changing schools. Received an award for 'creativity in art'.
Wanderlust. It preys on your mind in the middle of the night, as you stare vacantly at the same old ceiling.
Wanderlust - more powerful, more evil than love.
Eeeeee धड़ाम
As if an elephant had fallen over
Participating in a disaster rehabilitation conference in Dehradun. Anyone in the extended neighbourhood?
Attending Vimit's sagai
Google navigation always talks to me in the urgent, commanding voice of some Caucasian American woman. Today I got an error in the middle of my route - Google text-to-speech has crashed. At the next intersection, I expected silence. Instead, the soft voice of an Indian woman filtered in through my bluetooth headset. She calmly suggested that perhaps a U turn would be in order.
I need this crash to happen everyday. I'm done being ordered around by my own phone.
The Thinvent team is hanging out at Pragati Maidan again, at the EFY Expo 2014. We are here from Thursday till Saturday at Booth G19.
On display is our entire range of products - digital signage, thin client, point of sale, manufacturing automation, kiosk and solar powered computers. There is a special focus on our custom product development capabilities.
Please do visit. We are also showing some nifty toys that we use for our research projects - the raspberry pi, cubieboard and marsboard.
Who's cuter? The computer or the kid?
PS: I was involved in the making of both :p
Please use the complaint book in Indian railways trains to register your issues with air conditioning, catering, cleaning, misbehaviour of staff, etc. The complaint book is in the pantry car usually. Do remember to get a copy of your complaint. The TT has never denied me access to this book when asked. Within minutes of the complaint being registered, action is usually taken. This is because each complaint is properly followed up, as evident from the attached letter, and also goes into the service record of the personnel.
Oh no! Looks like there's no stopping the ugly retarded mess that is systemd.
http://www.zdnet.com/after-linux-civil-war-ubuntu-to-adopt-systemd-7000026373/
One great advantage of moving my phone to cyanogenmod - I can now switch my phone between 3G/4G and 2G. Somehow HTC had eliminated this basic Android feature from all its firmware for the One S. My phone, which earlier didn't last even half a day, is now the Energizer Bunny.
Can you go to sleep listening to Led Zeppelin? I'm trying to...
At a wedding where every imaginable cuisine in the world is present. Some folks are still eating Domino's pizza. An actual domino's delivery guy is present.
More ComicCon awesomeness
Lots of cosplay at ComicCon India 2014
Attending an IIT Madras alumni event
Nilay: why are world war movies black and white?
Me: they didn't have colour back then.
Nilay: not even on their clothes?
Me: I meant they didn't have colour in TVs back then.
Nilay: had they invented TVs then?
Me: (facepalm)
Kids fact check everything these days. Don't give hand waving answers.
So much to left to see... so little time...
The blue boxes are what I'd like to visit in the immediate future... 2014-2015. In the comments, I'll be tagging the names of friends I'm hoping will help me get this covered.
Notice how the ties are coordinated?
Pushpa Achanta, we did this for you. Remember?
Mithun Sundar, how are you doing today man?
I have hardly any photos from my own college days... but I have this...
I was hauling all kinds of people all kinds of places in that old tin can.
From the time machine!
You learn something new everyday!
C has an atexit() function. My programs would have been so much cleaner...
