Energy and Blah

I think, on the whole, we have made ourselves too dependent on petroleum. Even our renewable means of energy production require some bit of petroleum input, to be produced and sustained. To really derisk ourselves from this erratic and mad scramble for oil, I think we need to look for ways of energy production that don't have any dependence on petroleum whatsoever.

Yesterday, the petrol price increased by a whopping 10%. And over the past couple of years, it has increased many times. Well, it doesn't affect me so much, as I do have some extra money, and it really doesn't matter to me if my monthly expenses increase by a few hundreds or even a few thousands. I won't even come to know if it's just that much, coz I don't really keep track of exactly how much I'm spending (beyond some approximation). And I don't have to support a family. But for the millions of Indians who just manage to make the ends meet, and for those who don't, every rupee rise in petrol price is a new disaster. Not that if we have another powerful and efficient energy source, the problems will end, coz politics will spread its wings to engulf all opportunities for political exploitation at the cost of the common man. But may be having another means will spread and lessen the intensity of the pain. Having said that, I am sure capable people are researching on ways and means of energy production that can replace petrol and other fossil fuels, and are also safe. And I am sure the world will change tremendously in the next 50 years, as the fossils will reach their exhaustion, and human energy needs will keep on increasing.

It's crazy how we discovered an energy source and finished it off in a couple of centuries. And in the process created a human world running on interesting stuff that work with energy controlled, stored, flown, burnt, etc. to give us great lives. And soon we need to find another energy source big enough to keep this going and grow it further.

Probably this post does not bring in any new insights or thoughts or information. Anyway, I had to do something lying down in this beautiful park :-)

Have a great weekend!

Let's live and die

Life is so uncertain, particularly when it comes to the end of it. I feel that more nowadays than ever before. Probably after the death recently of one of my batchmates at IIML. And the thought has been getting reinforced by news of deaths of famous young people.

The realization that all this is going to end soon for me too, and possibly at any moment, and that we all have very limited and short time alive, is so sad and disillusioning. Of what consequence is all that I think, feel and do? What and why is all this going on? Why should anything be given any importance?

Thanks to our design, we all have an internal urge to live, to create, to want, to understand things, apply and demand logic, feel emotions - enough of a recipe to make us do something of our lifetimes. Come out of it, though I guess we can't, our existence is over. Or rather, we are not capable of talking about what we would be if we are not what we are. Is death that state of liberation from the trap of being human? Of life? Or is it just and end of what is, and there is nothing thereafter? We don't know. We can only imagine and write stories of crazy Gods, who are supposed to know everything but never show up. May be we are designed too weak to get into all that. But certainly we do poke our noses into everything that's going on. May be our innocent laws and equations, to explain what is, amuse some infant God, for whom we are metaphorical teddy bears who play when the key is wound, and who stop when it's totally unwound. Rewind and we are in a new life. Perhaps God needs a rechargeable battery for us. Perhaps we'll create one for him some day. Till then, let's live and die.

Tips to an IIML prospect

A couple of days back, a guy called me on the eve of his IIML GD/PI, for some tips. He was one of those high work-ex MBA aspirants, who crack CAT partly by chance and partly coz IIML gives low-percentilers some respect if they have slogged for a few years somewhere after graduating. But he ended up revealing his worries about whether he would get a good job post MBA. I couldn't lie, and told him that high work-ex is a disadvantage at any IIM. But then, there had to be a reason for him to perform the next day. So I tried to convince him that job should not be the sole reason for getting into IIM, and that there are many other things, of a far greater value. For me it was loads of free time, sleep, jogging, booze at insti-parties, books (non-academic), good internet connection, tension-free education loan, Sahara Ganj, Gomti Nagar, Dominos Pizza and the wonderful winters of Lucknow. I couldn't get laid coz a couple of alpha males in our batch dominated that department. I did try Axe and Wild Stone, but I guess it's not just about smell. So, in a nutshell, the best thing about MBA from IIM is the experience. There is not much of any real value otherwise, which you wouldn't have had anyway if you were frustrated enough with life. Of course I did not tell that guy what I actually liked about my MBA at IIM. Instead, I talked about stuff like personal growth, personality development, value addition, contacts, friends, etc. He was not going to be convinced anyway, coz he had a dream job, which he described to me, and nothing else mattered to him. (Dream jobs exist only in dreams. I think I have enough "diversity" in my work-ex to make this statement with a high level of confidence.) I told him many companies come to IIML with such jobs on offer and so he had good opportunities. And, that probably worked. Although, my earlier point of high-work-ex-you-are-doomed-at-IIM point had cast a permanent dent in his mind, I am sure he'd temporarily overcome that with the pre-MBA I-can-do-anything mindset.

Learning Guitar

Am enjoying learning guitar these days. Little by little, as I have begun playing sounds that make musical sense, it feels awesome! I want to play it well. And I want to be able to sing along. Can't wait to get there. Hope I do get there this time :-)

A Win Down-Under

Finally the Indian Cricket team wins a match down under. I suspect it's all been one smart strategy - to not waste energy playing hard to win those boring 5-day so-called test matches and to focus on one-days and 20-20s, which are smaller in length, more exciting and more lucrative; and while Indian team did this, let the Australians get exhausted. It's too early to make this conclusion though, coz this last victory may just be an aberration. But still, what the heck... I'll make it nonetheless.

A funny comment I read under a TOI article last night said that India, Pakistan, West-Indies, Sri Lanka etc. should all voluntarily and officially move out of test-cricket altogether. And let only Australia and England play the boring version and feel proud about it if they will. I couldn't agree more.

Even if indeed this victory is not representative of the Indian team's abilities, the fact still stands that test matches are terribly boring and need to be gotten rid of ASAP. Although I am proud that it was a test match in which Bhuvan and his team defeated the angrez to shut their mouth that shouted teen goona laggaan, they really had no choice and power to decide or enforce the version.

Let's hope now that we win a few more matches and our team of uncles makes us proud. Don't stop expecting from them. Remember the times when the team had only one uncle - Robin Singh - who was more active and energetic than every youngster in the team. (Handsome kahaan hai aajkal?) I am sure he can still come back and dive like a kid, if only some of the youngsters could retire.

Got Some Change?

Let’s talk about one common problem with the available denominations of the Indian Currency – the fact that there are things available at prices for which coins/notes of right denominations are scarce, and which is forcing a lot of vendors in the unorganized sector to price their products at the higher and nearest round figures, or charge somewhat like that with the difference either covered with Dairy Milk Éclairs or just a plain simple thhenga. We may even be adding, as a result, to some inflation (unaccounted) and consumption (unwanted) in the economy. (Who would buy Dairy Milk Éclairs otherwise?)

There is one Panipuri shop in Magarpatta (Pune) where the shopkeeper refuses to give any change that is not in multiples of 10. But his Panipuri is priced at Rs.15.00 per plate. So you have to either pay him the exact amount of Rs.15.00, or eat 2 more Panipuris by paying Rs.20.00 or not eat there at all, which he doesn’t mind. Interestingly, he always readily accepts when you pay him exact Rs.15.00, but whenever I didn’t have change, he didn’t have it either, or he just said so, and he didn’t bother if I went away and ate somewhere else. And this kind of stuff keeps happening very often with me these days. And probably even with Chikni Chameli, jo pahua chadha ke hazaaron ke note khulla chhutta karaane aayi! Some vendors even forgo a few bucks here and there, as running around for change is not always worth the effort.

So the point is - most of India still transacts in cash and coins, but sadly, we are not minting them enough to allow ourselves all combinations so as to easily arrive at any odd natural number.

Bollywood Bonanza

Actual Answers by Callers:
Konkona Sen - Ranbir Kapoor
Diya Mirza - Imran Khan

Vidya Balan - Bobby Deol
Sushmita Sen - Upen Patel
Rimi Sen - John Ibrahim
Madhuri Dixit - Sunil Shetty
Katrina Kaif - Akshay Kumar
Aishwarya Rai - Tushar Kapoor
Vivek Oberoi - Manisha Koirala
Deepika Padukone - Ashmit Patel
Sonam Kapoor - Aftab Shivdasani
Esha Deol - Harman Bhaveja
Vidya Balan - Sunny Deol
Sunidhi Chauhan - Karan Johar
Sonakshi Sinha - Salman Khan
Rani Mukherjee - Salman Khan
Sonam Kapoor - Salman Khan
Shilpa Shetty - Salman Khan
Lara Dutta - Salman Khan
Kareena Kapoor - Salman Khan
Bipasa Basu - Salman Khan
Asin - Salman Khan
Juhi Chawla - Salman Khan
Anushka Sharma - Salman Khan
Neha Dhupia - Salman Khan
Karisma Kapoor - Salman Khan
(At this point a hint was given that the gal's name started with the letter "P", and after this hint, last 4 calls were to be taken...)
Priyanka Chopra - Salman Khan
Prachi Desai - Salman Khan
Pooja Bhat - Salman Khan
Preity Zinta - Salman Khan

Can it get crazier? Can I sue Zoom (or whoever makes this stuff) for fraud?

Have you ever tried calling them up to play? I did once, but only ended up wasting a lot of money without even getting connected. Ya, I was stupid. Is there anyone else like me? And someone who got connected by any chance?