Spam - Mails, comments and now traffic

Have to admit I am a fan of spam. Spam mails are funny, I make it a point to read my spam box, It is always funny , the only key is that it assumes you are dumb. If you are not dumb it is funny.

There is this Nigerian group that puts as much 0's as they like and say you have won a lottery or the commander general/ prime minister or big estate owner of civil war torn country sending mails to you as they you knew him from childhood asking you to take care of his money.  How dumb can things get?

There are few people where greed for money covers their eyes, ears, brain etc and fall in to pits. One has to always remember whatever you get has to be earned, if it is free its not yours, maybe not going to stay.  There are legal lotteries people win but then they die protecting the money :) There are no free lunches int his world.

Coming back to the point , it is not so strange to find the motivation behind these people sending mails or putting links everywhere either they are cornering you to steal your money or they are paid for whatever they are doing. They do their job, google/yahoo etc they do a decent job in sending these directly to spam folder.
Sometimes good mails do land up here but it is a necessary evil.

What I fail to understand is the spam traffic that hits the blog. Sitemeter which to some extent I believe shows 10 visitors to the blog last week (of which 7 must be me :) ). However blogger stats shows traffic in thousands which come by using firebird. It is clear someone benefits by pumping fake traffic to blogs but who does it and what benefit they get beats me. Its nice to see some traffic even if it is fake.\

Spam is always funny unless you react to it!

19B: Lick me Lick me Not

If you can relate even remotely to the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio in the Movie "Aviator" then it is not advisable to travel on the city buses. We have come a long way from buses having people spit on the floor and all. Buses are relatively neat now a days. However the conductor has not changed much.

In olden days where bundle of tickets were used, the conductor used to lick his finger and touch the bundle just to make sure he issues only one ticket and not two. Then he would have to pay for this grave mistake by maybe paying from his pocket.

One can only imagine that he has to show the number of tickets he has dispatched and pay corresponding money, it is obvious that he had to be extra careful in ensuring he gives you exactly one ticket. If you are receiving the ticket better be careful to know where to touch the ticket and where not to :)

Things have modernized and so have the ticketing system (atleast in AC buses), now there is a machine that instantly prints one and only one ticket and there is no problem for the conductor to give this ticket, he no longer needs to lick his finger before tearing the ticket from the machine. All is safe and clean .

Well one can only hope so as still the money is in his hands, sometimes in the mouth too and the old bank notes sometimes make love to each other and refuse to separate and one has to be a bad parent to separate them. Now what comes handy, the finger and the tongue. They play a good role in making sure he gives you only one ten rupee note rather than two.

One has an advantage now, the 10 rupee and 100 rupee notes have bigger square area, so you have more options where to hold the note and avoid the watered areas :)

19B: The hallucinator

Well if you are lucky or unlucky to sit in the last row and your luck has sold you like match fixers in IPL you may well get to sit next to this hallucinator. 

Yes sometimes life is strange, it may not be as bad as it can but it does show you how bad it can get. This person travels on 19B and have seen him sit in the last corner seat of the bus. He usually keeps his bags to the side to keep some space for himself but would ultimately give up. Then he starts talking to himself or rather to the imaginary friend. It is not just a talk it is a fight and it seems to get physical at times.

He is very decently dressed and one can at first sight identify him as an IT professional. He has a smart phone, buys ticket for his destination and replies to conductor when asked to provide change and all that. He even reads tamil magazines.  One can mistake him to be talking on the phone if he plugs on his ear sets .

However as time progresses one would realize that he literally tries to beat or push the imaginary nearby person and he talks a bit louder mostly saying "no no dont" and sometimes "I need flow diagrams" and sometimes "then we will have to beg on the streets".

So far no one has really freaked out and have given him his space but when he physically moves its a bit of a challenge for person sitting in front and side. He does not harm anybody and no one really cares.
Well is that the problem - No one really cares?

What is his story? I she really employed in an IT firm? Does he undergo medication? Does he have a family? Why no friend accompanies him, if this is just a translational phase?

Well I get down most days with lot of questions but no answer. However he keeps reminding me that life can go anyway one has little he can do.

I sincerely hope he gets well.

Rooten eggs, Bad Apples , IPL and entertainment

Expectations bring Disappointment.

Not trying to be philosophical but just being practical. If someone thought that Cricket were a religion and IPL was a ritual that was being performed and it sanctity destroyed... ew!

Cricket is no longer the gentleman's game and all men involved are gentle enough to fill their pockets. The going under the hammer auction in itself was a start of the direction IPL was heading. It was clear that  when players were sold at millions that billions were at stake.

Cricket in itself is entertainment and just IPL redefined it and took it to the next level. If someone felt that it was to promote cricket , I pity them. If they feel they have been deceived by the spot fixing well I can only laugh at them.

IPL is nothing but a reality show with lots of twists and turns, when one can watch a movie knowing very well that the hero is the one who is going to ultimately triumph, is it not match fixing? Has there been a successful movie where the villan has won? No. Then it is scripted, all entertainments are scripted and so is IPL. When WWE/WWF can have scripted sports why can't cricket have its share? It is alleged that even all reality shows (like BigBoss etc) are scripted to some extent.

So treat IPL as though you treat a movie, laugh when the player hits a six, cry when he gets out, pray the hero wins. In this case sometimes the villian does win and well can any other entertainment top that.

If you treat cricket as a religion and think these people represent the country in a war with other nations like an army soldier. Well good luck and be prepared for more heart brakes, for its money that matters not the nation or the sport. Besides these people represent BCCI and not India.

Entertainment is best forgotten when the TV set is switched off.

2G, Coal, Rail, ... IPL

As usual there is a lot for meat for the media in the latest IPL scandal. It is a golden opportunity to earn some TRP ratings. It is time to grab some CCTV footage and let all Inidans know how they were cheated and deprived of ....well wait what are we deprived of.

"One billion people cheated" flashed the headlines and I started wondering do all the 1 billion watch Cricket and that too IPL. Of the 1 billion , many women do not watch or even like Cricket. Some many too do not watch or like Cricket , some are crazy for Man U that they don't give a damn even if Bradman is batting.

So that wipes out maybe a half of that 1 billion. How many follow IPL really, is it so popular in cities outside of where they are played? Anyway lets leave the statistics and come to the cheating part.

Did I loose money, No someone betted that some team will won , he lost, maybe he won so what is in it for me? Nothing

Did he take my tax money and paid for the bets? No

Did the exchequer loose money? No

Ok he paid money for people to underperform so that he can win money on bets.
Did someone force me or even ask me to watch the match? No
Did someone force me to follow a team/player like crazy thinking they are the Gods and Demi-Gods? No

Did I miss some work or lose my pay for watching Cricket? No

When I think of the other bigger scams where my dear earned money I paid as tax was looted, price of commodities increased as someone siphoned off with my tax money, when the exchequer lost lakhs of crores , it did hurt, it was a blow below the belt but this well this is just entertainment.
Media better stay focussed on issues that matter.

19B: Display of the Dog's collar

Earlier posts 19B

First of all no offense meant.

As far as I remember in my childhood only dogs used to have collars which would identify a dog to its owner. Then slowly the IT industry and now every corporate has enforced employees to wear one. Yes I am referring to the ID card that hangs around your neck.

For various reasons mainly related to security, this has been enforced. It makes corporates think that these tags ensure the physical security of their premises. Well there are many loopholes and myths surrounding this (thats for a later post) but anyway these tags provide necessary security.

The ensure the security guard that only authorized person is entering the premises and also doors are now a days access controlled. One is given access to a certain door one and only if he is eligible and needs to use it. Fair enough.

My point here is why should this be displayed in public and in public transport vehicles. This needs an analysis

1. To show off that one works in a reputed company, IT company and is to be respected. Well the conductor gives a damn about it and the autowallah ensures he asks you double when you display your tag.

2. Men may display this again to show off to woo women.

3. Women is where I don't understand why display ID card in public. You are giving more details to a stranger than necessary, One can easily find what company you work for, what is your name, in same cases blood group and why not even home phone number could be there. Why would someone display so much personal info in public.

Beats me!

DD Days - 2 : Johnny sokko and his flying robot

Saturday evening around 4:30 I think there used to be a scramble to watch the nearby TV wherever it was available. Not all houses had TV those days, and most were mere black & white ones. However this program called "Johnny sokko and his flying robot" was quite a popular one.

This program was one that showed larger than life pictures on television. It I guess introduced the concept of robots to many a common man and children. One can still remember Johnny soko controlling his robot from outside a perimeter kind of place (more like a boxing ring) and fighting other alien kind of things which as far as I remember had tentacles and all.

The Giant robot would follow instructions of Johnny and kill the enemy alien. Well the story was more or less the same every episode and Robot and Johnny would win all the time. There was a team behind Johnny helping him and the robot.

The people were mongoloid looking (Japanese) but they used to talk in Dubbed English but as I said the story did not matter the sheer larger than life and an entry in to an imaginative world was good enough to get us hooked for half an hour and wanting more.

Now I see Wiki Entry it has lot of information and also there is an online shop for the episodes (cannot vouch for the same).

Those days it did not matter much one was happy to have a window to something unique and refreshing, even if it lasted all but half an hour for 6 months. It has stayed for long in the heart.

19B - To Give or Not - A Begging Issue

Begging in India is rampant. This is a known fact, this is also a business for some people. I sometimes feel it is so big that it has to be given an industry status. Yeah the Begging Industry .

One Company of this industry does operate in the T.nagar bus terminus. A bunch of 4 to 5 women with little children are the CXOs of this company. Their labourers are some less than 5 year olds, I sometimes wonder whether these are their own real kids or were they borrowed or stolen from some places. I also wonder if some people rent their kids to these beggars to beg.

One does wonder why should these people give birth to kids whom they cannot take care of, on the other hand it maybe a rampant industry practice to give birth to kids so they can be used as catalysts for begging.

This group must be aged around 35 or so, with very good hands and legs and can do labour work sits idle or sometimes carries the kids around and begs. They also have a chit that says please help us we are affected by Bhuj earthquake . I can only smile on reading this, I was in school when the quake happened and if still these people are suffering , then no wonder they don;t do any work.

The poor kids go around buses, telling people they are hungry and ask for money. I am not sure why the authorities of the stand do not do anything, the bus drivers and conductors do not encourage this. One day the bus started leaving the stand when a kid was still inside and he shouted "anna anna". The driver give a sound trashing to the kid before he let him go out. It was the most unpleasant sight one had to watch in the morning before going to work.

Are they really weak - No they can work, their mothers or so called mothers are physically well fit
Are they their own kids - I doubt, were they kids that were kidnapped from somewhere else? Where is the father? No male is seen around these women.
What are the authorities doing? - Are they getting a share of the loot (yes I call it a loot as it doesn't seem right)

With these hard pressed questions it is difficult for one to give the poor kids any alms. Most likely it is going in to wrong hands and one is only encouraging the practice.

PS: Having said all this, Begging is present all over the world and I have seen beggars in every country. Only difference with India is that its population is huge so the number of beggars are huge. If one takes percentage of total population to that of total beggars it may be mor eor less comparable to other countries.

DD Days : A journey back to DoorDarshan

It was quite amazing feeling to be able to talk about a particular program on TV the next day at school knowing exactly that every other person in the class would have watched it. It was not the over hyped IPL match or the recent block buster movie but the daily soap operas and weekly movies on the TV. Yes I am talking on those days where Chitrahaar and Rangoli were the only hindi song programs and Oliyum Oliyum was the only tamil song program for an entire week. Imagine hardly 1.5 hours of filmi music for a whole week!

It might be hard to believe for kids and teens of today but those were the days of doordarshan. The music of Pandit Ravi Shankar on Band-1 Channel-4, Band-3 Channel-7 were like a grand opening to our evenings. One channel one program, all viewers were the mantra those days and the emptiness on the streets were proof of the fact that everyone watched it whether they like it or not. There were no fights for remotes, in fact I hardly remember a remote :)

There were no malls to hangout and no pepsi/coke products to drink and most televisions were black and white. Life was simple too and TV watching did not complicate it. There were only a very few peeks available to the world outside one's own. There was the DiDi's comedy show and the World This Week which showed glimpses of Western world. Disney cartoons were shown for an hour every week.

This is a series, rather a nostalgic trip to those programs that marked our days in Black and White .

19B: It is a matter of "change"

On any of the MTC bus you travel in Chennai , change is evident. By change I do not mean the change that Obama meant, it is the change for the currency or the exact bus fare. Conductors are always on the lookout for change, one can evidently see that they are well trained to first look for exact fare from the passenger and only if he/she does not have it they give it.

Fair enough. One can see boards inside the bus and maybe in major bus stands also asking and announcing passengers to tender exact fare. Though reasonable it is not practical. One usually sees that both the conductor and passenger understands the nuances and share the change :)

However sometimes things go out of control, there are the usual response , medium response and big response from conductor.

The usual response is when the conductor says you have to bring change and if  everyone shows me a 100 rupee note how can I give change to everyone and reluctantly gives it or asks for other denominations to match it.

Medium response is when he shouts on top of his voice same as above and is adamant in getting the change or gives the ticket to the person at last after he gets some change. Once it was ridiculous that one of the conductors asked an American lady for change and said "Daily you come by this bus you have to bring change" in a rude voice, the same dialogue which he repeats to all fellow passengers. One for a fact I hardly saw the lady before and it is not easy to spot a white lady in a MTC bus and secondly it was bad advertisement for the country to treat a foreigner like that. I am sure she never would board an MTC bus again.


Big response is when he asks one to get down and stop the bus.

If things go bad one can complain at mtc_edp@dataone.in

However on the flip side of the coin one has to see that it is reasonable for the passenger to carry sufficient or decent change. The conductor usually does not demand all change from you but if you have alternatives he should be happy, except in cases where he is already in a bad mood. One tip would be that if you already know the fare provide some change already, like if ticket is say 45 rupees, you can provide a 100 rupee note with 5 rupee. Mostly the conductor is happy to see the 5 rupee.

In case one needs bigger change for say 500, it is better to let the conductor settle down after issuing tickets or while one is getting down to get a change rather than asking for change when conductor is busy issuing tickets.

A little bit of understanding always helps in a smooth ride and a fresh start to the day.
Well on retrospect, it is true for any relationship too.

Sachin and DRS

Cricket was once a gentlemans game. If you knicked the ball you just walk to the dressing room. There was no hot spots, no snickometer, no third umpire, no replays, no technology. It was just pure heart and soul.

Well as modern man progressed so did his cricket. Maybe cricket is just a reflection of the culture of mankind. Whenever I see a Virat Kohli throwing expletives often and even in unnecessary situations I can see that the gentleman's game is long dead.  Not even when the infamous MonkeyGate happened was this a feeling, it seemed provoked and Aussies are known for it. It felt good to give it back in the same coin.

Coming back to DRS, if playing fair was the main aim and playing in spirit was the right attitude then why should use one be averse to technology. Just because technology is not as reliable as a human why should it be rejected. If one can accept a human error why not accept a technology error.

Coming back to the dismissal of Sachin, it was shocking to read an article in Indian Express 
scolding umpire Erasmus for using technology. Well shouldn't one be happy that the right decision was made in the end. Did you guys not shout when Steve Buckoner gave such Howlers in the infamous Sydney test.

Why is Sachin always measured with a different Yard Stick. 

Somehow my definition of a gentleman would have walked long before the square leg umpire was even called.