aditya kumar's weblog

So I haven’t been spending much time on the internet updating my blog and not reading much of others as well. A few other things keep cropping up that need my attention and I have seldom had this sort of “break” or “time-off” from blogging. I can’t promise regular updates for now!

Anyway, I had this opportunity to attend a talk by Dr Vint Cerf, last Wednesday. For those who don’t know him, he is said to be one of the “Founding fathers” of the internet, as we know it. The thing about listening to people like him is that you can’t afford to miss out a single word, yes, a word of it. A talk of one hour can give you subject matter for months of research. Their words are short, concise and to the point. They know what they are talking about and more often than not, apart from the ideas being a brainchild of their brains, they have well researched content to back it.

Getting a little ‘geeky’, Dr Cerf is also credited for writing the TCP/IP protocol. The most important thing, I felt, was not the technicalities associated while developing a network standard but was the foresight which went into it, while its development was going on. I think that holds true for any “standard”. We’ve seen the Y2K problem and it is one of the best examples of what lack of foresight can land us in. Hence, the challenge was not just to develop a standard for packet routing on the network. The challenge was to make it a common protocol — such that any piece of hardware or software, irrespective of the environment it is set in, could make use of the protocol to communicate with other devices, which may be set in other, completely different environments. No matter what device you use it on, the expected results must be invariably the same. The result is that today most of the devices that you use to connect to the Internet use the TCP/IP protocol. That includes your mobile phone, laptop, the PDA, the MP3 player. Tomorrow it could be your refrigerator and your bread toaster. I am not kidding.

A single protocol, though, can’t be expected to solve all the purposes that it is designed for. Because needs keep changing, sooner or later, something comes up that the standard is not capable of standing. An ideal protocol, therefore, would be one that solves not all, but most of the purposes that it is designed for. In that respect TCP/IP has been a very successful standard, for it holds true even after more than 30 years of its existence. At the same time, it has had its own share of problems, one of them being that it is not as secure as we’d like it to be.

Apart from that, according to Dr.Cerf, if the planets didn’t rotate on their axis, we could still use TCP/IP for inter-planetary communication through space. Again, no kidding here.

I have always considered myself lucky to be on the Internet while it was in its infancy, at least in India. I made my first email ID, back in 1997 and we used to connect to the Internet using a phone line. I think that era is still not gone. Much before that happened, I spent a lot of time browsing the few BBS’es hosted in and around New Delhi. Most people today do not even know what a BBS is. At that time I used to hear that one day we would not need to connect to the Internet using a phone line. That we will be able to login on the instant messenger, chat for hours and go to bed while being still logged-in, because we will not be billed on a per-minute basis. Not a question of “if” but only a question of “when”.

I am glad that it has worked out much before than expected my many of us, including yours truly.

Note: There are no spoilers in this review.

The gap between parallel and commercial cinema, lately, has been reducing. At one stage the trend seemed to be going towards the Urban, brand-loving society of the cities while lately we’ve had movies like ‘Maqbool’, ‘Omakara’, ‘Iqbal’, which have taken the camera back to the villages and small town India. In that regard, ‘Eklavya’ joins this elite group of movies.

For quite some time, I had a desire to see a Vidhu Vinod Chopra directed movie, made in our times. Before ‘Eklavya’ came, we saw Chopra direct a movie in 2000, with ‘Mission Kashmir’. Bollywood has come a long way since then and it would have been interesting to watch how much Chopra has been with the times.

Let me put the point upfront. Chopra falls short of what could have been a majestic take. Well, Just falls short. In this two hour movie, while the camera work and background score keeps you gripped — the story telling falls apart for brief but critical periods where eventually lies the difference between a 4/5 and a 5/5.

Amitabh Bachchan shows why he is hailed the best of Indian Cinema, even today. As the main character of the movie, the story looks out for being carried on his shoulders and The Big B pulls it off, yet again. The other good thing and perhaps the factor missing in most star studded flicks — is the individual performances of the actors. Saif Ali Khan does justice to his script though I still insist that his best was in Omkara. Sanjay Dutt, whom I expected to play a much bigger role, gives 150% to whenever he is on screen. In that respect, his performance stands apart. Jackie Shroff is his usual self. The actor he is, one wonders why he comes up with those once-in-a-while forgettable movies. Jimmy Shergill plays the arrogant guy, for a change and delivers. Boman Irani and Vidya Balan could sleep walk through their roles.

It is those post-interval, critical periods which could have been better. Either the running is smooth or when it’s not, it’s very intense and suddenly too much seems to be happening. Besides, there is a little forced humor that the movie could have done without. The subject is serious, probably the most serious Chopra has taken up after ‘Parinda’. It gave me an impression that the Director has tried a bit too hard at times, tried to do too many things with lots of stuff happening. Too hot to handle?

If you’ve seen ‘Omkara’, you will know what I am talking about. Vishal, the director of Omkara and Maqbool, is a fearless director. He did well to strike a balance in both these movies. If you’re making a serious movie, you’re making a serious movie. In ‘Omkara’ and ‘Maqbool’, there is not a single scene that the script could have done without. In ‘Eklavya’, Chopra, it seems, is tempted to add some romance, some humor, a pinch of melodrama — albeit in negligible quantities.

But that doesn’t take away the anything from him, Chopra – The Director, someone who has his name on the credit listing of some of the best movies that Indian Cinema has had to offer. My verdict — 4 out of 5.

“You know, people think I bought this big house (because) I wanted to live in a big house. But the idea is I am from Delhi and everybody lives in big bungalows there. For a Delhi-ite it’s not a big house even though I am a middle class boy.”

Shahrukh Khan says it here.

Now, I find this strange, coming from SRK. Especially that part of the quote where he says that everybody in Delhi lives in “big bungalows”. I lived in Delhi for a good 7 years and now I realise that I was living in a bungalow. Wow.

Err…so he lives in a bungalow because he is from Delhi? And he is a middle class boy who lives in a bungalow that is not a big house?

Throughout this interview, SRK lays importance on the point how middle class his family is. This is nothing new, because I have never come across any Indian celebrity interview where they say that they belong to the upper-class. Or rather, don’t say that they are middle-class.

I sincerely respect SRK for his humble beginnings, his continued rise to stardom, his acting in Swades and most of all, his work ethics. But this? Strange.

Many people ask me, how do I find so much time to travel. Finding time is not difficult, if you want to. Okay thats not a practical answer. I have a few of rules I follow. First, Jump at every and any opportunity to travel that comes your way. Second, Take at least one long vacation in the year. Long vacation means far away. Say, from Bangalore to Kasauli; or to Kohima (that trip got cancelled, last year, thanks to whats been happening in Assam). Third, never be afraid to travel alone. I realise not everyone can do that, but I do it. Fourth, feel it big. How many times have you travelled, usually a short 2 day trip, and not really felt it? Short trips appear trivial. But if you observe, look closely, look at the people, the land that lays ahead of you, you will experience a thousand different stories. Be open to it all. And then you learn.

You feel your feet are happy when you travel, longing for more.

About my last month’s trip to Goa. The good thing about going to Goa, my ‘home’, with a bunch of friends, is that I have to show them around. I become almost like a tourist guide. Normally, I won’t go and visit any tourist place, say, a cathedral or so-and-so beach. I mean, going to home for 3-4 days — I’d rather spend time at home with family than look around. But guests change that. I go to places I have gone only with guests. It’s like my own, exclusive, pre-decided ‘package-tour’. So last month when I travelled to Goa with my friends, I ended up taking long walks alone on the sea shore, clicking pictures while the gang played ball in the waves. Lots of quality time spent in solitude and the result? — Some of the best pictures I have ever clicked. I think so, neverthless.

Pictures below. Comments, as always, welcome.

House beside the sea, Dona Paula

St. Catherine’s Cathedral, Old Goa

The Cross, The Sky

Classic Goa

The Sun, The Land, The Water, The Sky and a Cosmic nature thats common to all

Panjim Church, Panjim City.

Downtown Panjim.

A few days back, were some murmurs about a certain “Goa Regional Plan, 2011”. Since I was too far away from online reading and research, it missed my attention but now that I have learnt about it, I think its imperative that I mention it here on my website.

The Goa Regional Plan, 2011 (We’ll call it “GRP”) is a plan that aims (actually, aimed) to industralize Goa by opening up land for sale (Land in forest cover) and open up industries in the state (again, at the cost of land in forest cover).

Converting the green state into a concrete jungle while claiming to industralize it, was how it was planned. There is a strong link here — the one among politicians and the land mafia. I quote a post from Goa Blog here:

Viswajit Rane, (the son of Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane), on paper, is Congress general secretary but they claim he is using his influence to make a huge bid for a piece of Goa’s real estate action.

Documents show how between March and August 2006 in just five months 14 real estate companies have been floated, many of them in the name of Viswajit’s wife Divya Viswajit Rane.

The haste with which the companies were floated is evident in their registration numbers that run successively.

The suspicion is that Viswajit used his influence to convert forest or farmland which the companies bought at throwaway prices and then sold to builders at inflated prices.

And that could be just the tip of the iceberg. These builders belong to the land mafia of Mumbai and Delhi, who plan to build multi-storeys there, along the coast.

In fact, an article calims that the deals have already been done. The GRP was just a show to cover it all up. It was expected to be well received, a well scripted plan that would be appreciated all over — just like how it would have been celebrated in cities like Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi. Greenery, Forest land and environment protection are terms which hold no meaning in our society. It will continue to be so until India’s exemption from the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end.

Except of course, the residents of Goa, the strong willed they are, made sure that The GRP didn’t materialise. They came up with “Goa Bachao Abhiyaan (Save Goa Campaign)”, (website, www.savegoa.com), a campaign particularly aimed at demolishing The GRP. This was serious, even Pop Star Remo Fernandes voiced his support for it. As the agitation grew and the public anger apparent, the Government had to scrap the plan.

I can tell you, among all the people that I have come across, the people of Goa have always had a strong resentment against “Indian” politicians. I think some of it comes when they compare their times, not so long ago, with the Portugese. Besides, our politicans are a good for nothing lot. So, I’d say this is the biggest jan-andolan of our times. The verdict of the Junta. It’s an example of what education can accomplish, for Goa has one of the highest literacy rates in the country.

This plan would have been a disaster for the state. Being against this plan is not being against industralization but its being against over-industralization. For once, if I believe that there was not even a single culprit politician involved in it, I’d still say the administration’s greedy. Goa does not need an IT Park. There is ample employment in the state, enough revenue already (and increasing) through tourism. It seems a perfect script, a great place that has been well maintained by the residents and the Government, fishing and tourism being the major revenue earners. People are visiting the place more and more, the focus should be to preserve what we already have, instead of destroying it.