Karth Inc.

Long time!

2007-12-16T13:28:00.000+05:30

Maintaining a blog can be difficult and figuring out good content can be even more difficult!
Not that i am complaining...ever since i moved back to India(Yeah its been a month since Karth returned!) I have had hassles pretty much with everything! It took close to a month to get my internet connection going, almost 2 weeks to get my mobile connection and of course not to mention the 40 km drive to work!
Things are settling down slowly and i should be able to frequent the blogosphere more regularly. I have had tons of unread items in my google reader and tons of stuff i want to blog about.
Hoping to update my blog atleast once a week now. Gotta go now..Karth will be back soon!

Hello world

2007-10-15T19:56:00.001+05:30

Wow. Been quite a while isn't it? . Not that my POWERSHOT is keeping me away from KarthInc, Actually a mix of busy weekends and general tendency for slackness!

So what the heck was keeping this lazy guy "busy" you might ask.

It all began with the Twenty20 world cup. I ended up spending late nights, evenings, mornings and weekends finding and watching live streams of the match. So if i wasnt watching cricket, i was sleeping :-( But all in all, was good entertainment after a disastrous ODI world cup. On that topic, it was pretty sad to see the non-cricket fraternity sulk when the netas started showering moolah to the cricketers. Well the point is, In India other than cricket no other game sells. No point going on hunger strikes!

I also had a chance to go on a unforgettable and pulse racing rafting and canyoning trip in Minakami. Its a beautiful place about 2 hrs from Tokyo and was it fun or what! I have never done rafting or canyoning ever before and the weekend spent there was worth every penny(Or should i say yen?). Rafting was at least something i have seen on the "WORLD OF SPORTS " program on DD decades back, but Canyoning was a complete mystery. When we got there, we figured out Canyoning the hard way. Just walk up to the top of the mountains, and come all the way down sliding down on the waterfalls. Some of them as much as a 30 degree slope! Easy right? NO.!!! But all in all it was one heck of a trip!

After that fun and wet trip, the next weekend we made our way to the "Ryogoku Kokugikan" to watch the Annual Sumo Championships in Tokyo. Well,In contrast to the previous trip this was boredom at its best! We went to the stadium early morning and to our surprise found the stadiums near empty! Eh! Wasn;t it supposed to be one of the premier sporting event here? Whats going on! A quick glance on the schedule for the day answered our query. It turns out that on a typical tournament day all the preliminary junior division matches happens on the first half and the big guys come out to the ring only late afternoon. But when they did turn out it turned out quite exciting. Especially the ring entering ceremony and frustrated fans throwing cushions on the big boys. Now compared to we throwing bottles and rotten apples on our cricketers, this shows the politeness of the Japanese!! Check out our excitement levels though, most of the first half was spent on catching 40 winks!
Meanwhile i also had a Japanese test, which i failed! Doh! Well i am not to blame if the passing marks were as high as 80% Anyways my sensei was kind enough to let me take a retest with an added bonus-The question paper remains the same:-)

I also had a chance to witness the display of Indian Music at its best. A brilliant Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi performances followed by a melodious Flute and tabla composition. The best part was this was performed not by Indians but by Japanese! Awesome. Actually,One of the Bharatnatyam dancer was my friend's wife and we went there to give our vocal support as well.

Apart from these, I also went down to Harajuku and Ebisu. Harajuku is famous for some of the best modern Japanese fashion. Right from the weird hairstyle to the clothes, its one colorful place! Ebisu on the other hand is a small quiet town famous for its Beer Musuem and also has a Beer named after it!

I guess thats enough rambling and after all those words, i will let the pics speak the rest of the words!

Luna!

2007-08-27T22:37:00.000+05:30

384,403 kilometers away from us, the Moon is something which inspires many people in different ways.

How did it inspire me?

I am starting to love my powershot already:)

Freeze time!

2007-08-25T22:52:00.000+05:30

I am now a proud owner of the Canon Powershot S5 IS!!!

Its going to be fun learning and using this amazing piece of machinery.
I have been researching on DSLRs and Digital cams for over a month now. I am still pretty much a newbie when it comes to photography and i suppose this cam will help me learn and graduate to the DSLR level rather easily.
The good thing about this cam is it allows me to experiment with the manual controls and there is also a flexibility of adding other lenses.
Check out some amazing pics this can take, of course by some highly talented people:)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/canonpowershots5is/

I am excited and its time to freeze time!

On a totally different and sad note, i just saw the news about the hyderabad blasts. My heart goes out to all the victims out there and i sincerely hope and pray that the fatalities don't increase anymore.
When is this all going to end..........

Cash-The review

2007-08-17T22:31:00.000+05:30

If there is someone in Bollywood who can Make Hollywood feel they have a Brain Drain, its none other than our highly ambitious, technically efficient, lateral thinking Bollywood director Anubhav Sinha.

When Anubav Sinha was asked whether he was he inspired from John Woo for all his movies, he quicky replied John Who?

Some famous director said, "there are good movies and there are bad movies" and some producers have said "there are hit movies and there are flop movies" .

But what happens when bad movies becomes hit movie ?

Apart from the fact that the producers laugh all the way to the bank leaving the audience to cry all the way back home, more bad movies begin to follow.

After watching Cash, the latest in the "Diamond Heist" genre, I was left with a bad taste for hindi movies, a sense of nausea and a deep deep sense of sympathy to all the junta who watched this in the theater.

The movie starts with Zayyed khan in a nearly empty first class cabin of a flight-a scene which mirrors the nearly empty theaters screening cash-the only difference is there are 2 people in the flight and just one guy in the theater. An insanely voracious glib Ayesha Takia meets Zayyed khan and then the story begins or rather the sequence of narration begins.

Well, the story is all about who gets to steal the famous diamonds and the guys running for this race are all highly talented with these skill sets basically in no particular order.

Suniel Shetty-The man who can take upto 7 bullets in his back..mind you any more than 7 bullets, he will turn back and shoot you down. Any less than 7 bullets he doesn’t care.Here he is seen trying to drive a car blindfolded and mouthing the dialog "Yeh aaram ka mamla hain". Too many Briefs ads have this kinda effect.

Zayed Khan: The computer hacker. Now how many zillion times have we seen bollywood heroes look so much like "alice in wonderland" when it comes to using a computer. And how many gazzilion times have we seen the message "system is being hacked….pls wait" and "system hacked..". Very user friendly.

An additional skill set of ZK is his ability to stay underwater for real long time(sometime days..) and the moment someone says "lights, camera, action" he would come out on his motor boat flying and clapping his hands!! Yeah no kidding..clapping his hands right on a motor boat from under the water.

3. Isha deol: After driving the aam junta crazy, she now tries her hand on driving cars. And her favourite dialog is "mera pastime hain cops ko gumana"!! Less said about her better. Did i say she resembles a cartoon in one of the scene?

4. Diya Mirza: No special skill here. So she tries to ape Maryiln Monroe by performing the famous "when there is wind, my skirts fly" scene, but hey nobody cares coz in the background is Mr Suniel Shetty with 7 bullets in his back is trying to drive a car blindfolded. Just as the great King Dhritarashtra says in Mahabarath "Yahan itna sannata kyon hai bhai…", Suniel Shetty mouths this dialog as well…of course 7 bullets peet mein.

Later she clarifies in an interview "I was just picking up my hanky, and the scene came out very naturally..hain na?"

5. Shamita Shetty: The police officer/Detective/Mountain climber: I think Shamita Shetty(SS) knows what not to do after following her sister's carreer from close quarters. She also knows following the path of Vijayshanti EPS(eternal police officer) as police officerini in all movies would guarantee her unimaginable fame and success. But Vijayshanti was a police officer who used to follow the rules, but SS doesn’t seem to know hers. Clad in the same costume(the jockey banians and lara croft pants with 3 guns and lathi) she goes around finding the criminal.

But being a very innocent and sexy police officer, little does she know her husband is the criminal she has been searching for the last 25 yrs of her career.

And oh, btw these are her hard working assistants who help her on strategical issues. Now what is it with Hindi movies shooting in abroad? Why are all the phirangis shown as real dumb people? I don't get it!

6. Ritesh Deshmukh: Now if RD had been working in the circus, which in itself is a great acheivement for him, he would have been the worst clown in the show. But as you know he decides to act in Hindi movies, which pretty much resemebles a huge circus in itself. He is the guy who can pretty much win every chase with the cops and chase every cops with his "funny" dialog.

Now there is this scene which tips the entire movie in his favour. The challenge for RD is to flick a painting from a heavily gaurded art exhibition and if you are paid 2 "karore" to do it, you would do it without any questions asked. Fair enough. But to do it without a plan..well that can be done by the one and only RD . Mind you this is no exaggeration , RD walks to the exhibition, tries to be funny, fails miserably, gets frustrated, recites the mantra for success(failure in this movie)-"kabbadi, kabbadi" and this gets really infectious with the phirangi security gaurds. The next thing you know, MR RD picks the "costly exhibit" and amid "Sir, pls keep it back sir" and "Sir we will shoot you" dialogues he starts running! Yeah plain running. Nothing clever Nothing smart. Just run. Now if that is not good enough, he seems to be too good to carry the look of a theif along with a parachute, a pouch to keep the exhibit, a skate board and the falls of the building. Next thing you know, he "crash" lands in the open arms, I mean open car of our Isha deol who seems to have taken driving lessons from Sunny deol. The rest as they say is history.

7.Ajay Devagan: Now I had huge respect for this man, however after seeing him in Cash, my respect for him has increased by couple of notches. Who else other then AD, can pull of a role as complicated as that of the Shehenshah?
He is the innocent looking writer cum husband of a CBI officer cum don cum "bumb" expert whose favourite pastime is to fix bombs on bridges and blow up bouncers with Leo car bombs. UK police need to watch for this character.

The movie interpresed with animations, cartoon characters, chase and lots of narrations(I mean it!) At one point there is ZK narrating a story to AK, AD telling a story to DM, DM to SS and SS to a weird guy called "Uncle" will keep you on the edge of the seat,and later will make you kneel on the floor and later will make you plead guilty for watching this movie.

I bet Anubhav Sinhia and the rest of his gang are now thinking "kaash..." and "Crash!!"

Now did I tell you I watched only half the movie ? I had to live another day to say the story right?

But thanks to the support of my well wishers I have decided to complete it after completing my will.

So watch out for the sequel soon!

Culture relativity

2007-08-11T13:05:00.000+05:30

When you are living in a foreign Country, your mind is always in a "Relativity" mode-meaning you are always comparing the culture, the people, the food, the social life etc.

Basically comparing anything and everything.

The "standards" that we set are from what we have seen back home. Yesterday while returning back from work, i witnessed a small incident which made yet another dent to those "standards".
On my rather longish walk back home, there is this narrow stretch of road which is a one-way only for vehicles excluding cycles. Usually unlike India, drivers here are more law abiding.
But yesterday i saw a car approaching from the wrong side. He probably did not notice the one-way sign.

But thats not the point. What happened next completely flummoxed me!

All of a sudden a cyclist dude coming in the opposite direction, stopped mid road facing the car speeding from the opposite direction.The car braked hard and screeched to a stop, literally centimeters away from the cyclist.

Now i thought this cyclist dude has had it. My mind started churning out pictures of a street fight and volleys of curses. I was ready to shoot the scene for a icaught moment.

But hang on, this is not the streets of Bangalore or hyderabad or Delhi.

The cyclist dude in a very polite manner informed the guy in the car that this is a one way and he is driving in the wrong direction. The driver apologized profusely and thanked the cyclist and turned the car back.

eh! Thats it? No "tera baap ka road hain kya"(Is this your father's road?) or "tu saale, kya commisioner hain kya" (are you the commisioner here?) dialogues??

But Having seen hundreds of duels on the roads of Bangalore just coz people don't want to let go of their ego, this small incident was a welcome change. And sure did make a deep dent to my "standards".

The bubble that went bust

2007-08-05T17:00:00.000+05:30

Tech workers, dont panic after seeing the title. If you already have, then well..i can't help it!

The results of the much coveted, much awaited, much whatever, Olympiadistic(woah i just invented a new word!) Jammy's "Speech bubble Contest" has come to a rather disappointing end

As you can see, Karth has managed to finish a distant 4th.

Now seems like i have a mysterious admirer among the crowd, coz i remember voting 12 times and it turns out i have 13 votes..hmmm kaun hai woh chupa rustum?

Since i am such a bad loser and to uphold true losing spirit i will go on and list why i did'nt win.

1. Too lazy to keep voting through the day. (Serves me right!)
2. My comment was not fully visible :(
3. PRG had way too much time to keep on voting.
4. After campaigning for 48 hrs, i figured out that none of my friends had internet.
5. Since i have Rs.501 in my bank balance, Rs.500 is a meagre amount for all the effort.
6. And so on....
7. And so forth.
8. Thats all.

Now can't wait for the next olympiadistic event from Ouchmytoe :)

すみだのはなび-Sumida Fireworks show

2007-07-29T12:52:00.000+05:30

The slacker blogger is back :-)

Yesterday, In a quest to quench my thirst for exploring Tokyo, I went down to the Sumida River in Asakusa. The Hanabi (fireworks) season usually begins around this time of the year and the Sumida firework show is by far the biggest and oldest.

Legend has it the first firework began as early as 1733! Wow..thats pretty old!
Legend also has it some 20,000 fireworks are blasted. Not sure about this though, the crackers were blasting non stop for over an hour and at the end of the show, i had a bad neck pain :(
The one thing that strikes you almost immediately in Asakusa they were so many people!

About 100,000 easily! And that's a lot of people for a fireworks show. My expectations soared when i saw the crowd but i was slightly let down by the show.Only slightly though. I mean, if the same kind of crackers were burst for over an hour,one tends to get distracted rather easily.
But with a lot of cute Kimono-clad Japanese girls around, there was much to keep me occupied.

Overall i enjoyed the show per se.

Some photos here...

The crowd in the station...Totally Jam packed!

This is what i meant by "cute-Kimono clad-Japanese-girls".

A part of 100,000 strong crowd ! Notice how people are sitting on the road. The trick is finding a a good spot for the view. It was crazy humid and beers were guzzled down as fast as they came.

And finally let the show begin..........!

The colours were vibrant.

So, with my thirst for exploration quenched, we returned back sweating and dripping :)

Addiction to Change!

2007-06-27T19:31:00.000+05:30

One of the manager I had worked with in my earlier project was going on
to become a CIO in a different country.

Today was his farewell day speech.

He moved from Singapore to Japan and after 10 years of working and managing large teams(Pretty successfully and mind you, he is not fluent in japanese!) in Japan, he will be moving to Dubai as the CIO.
Looking back at his career, he acknowledged that there has been tremendous growth but it has come at a cost. The cost is "change".

"I am Addicted to Change" was his way of putting it.

Makes perfect sense! If you are in your comfort zone for a long period of time, you reach a point where things stand still.

Moving out of the comfort zone and quickly adapting to change would be the key and addiction to this will guarantee you tremendous growth!

Awesome!

Things that made me say...Wow :-)

2007-06-20T20:10:00.000+05:30

Finally managed to get out of Tokyo last weekend!

We headed to Nikko World heritage shrines and also to see its splendid natural and scenic beauty..
Anyways this post is not about "things to do at Nikko" or "what to see" at Nikko..i am sure there are better resources out there.
This is more about my fascination of the Japanese sense of service which never ceases to amaze.
I mean every shop you go in Japan, you are always greeted by the "irashaimase" or the "ohayo Gozaimasu"and when you get out of the store the arigatoos follow from all the salesmen.Even if you don't pick up anything ie. :-). I have not come across this kind of hospitality in any big shops in India .

To illustrate, we all started on the Saturday morning and had to take a train from a place called Asakusa at 10.29 AM. However as luck would have it we took a train to Akasaka instead of Asakausa( I know..How lame!! ) and by the time we realized our folly,we were almost sure about missing the train...so finally we ended up going to Asakusa and we had just about 2 mins to get on the train, by which time we had to buy the tickets, figure out the platform and pick up the Nikko passes.Well, a 1 hr wait for the next train was staring at us..But nope!

We reached the Nikko Sightseeing service centre, told them about our predicament, half-expecting a blank NO, but guess what..the helpful rep immediately dialed a few numbers, gave us our tickets, and took us to the compartment through a interior shorter route..So thanks to this amazing sense of service, we were happily on the train..the rest as they say is history:-)

Awesome isn't it?

On a similar note, i saw a Korean restaurent which had used the power of "word-of-mouth" to great effect..Check out this picture..Ask a user for his/her review, take a snap..and put it out for the world to see..hmm..well i almost stepped in..if only i was a little bit more adventurous.

Orkut Google Map mashups..err messups

2007-06-08T22:54:00.000+05:30

Hey have you seen the new Orkut-google maps mashups? It basically pulls out your friends
list and shows their locations on the google earth map. Neat.
Except, seems like the orkut team has got its geography terribly wrong.
Check out the screenshot below. My friend who very much is in India is shown as being in Canada. (?) Also none of the other friends in India are shown. I do suspect my friend(trupti) wouldn't have any issues about this:-) She likes Canada.

Although i think it is still in its early stages-don't see it for all friends, i would have thought a company as big and as smart as Google would have ironed out these before going live. No? Well i am in no capacity to beat their quality analysts..but hey i am the end user, the customer...and as the saying goes, the customer is always right :-)

Jinshen!!!

2007-06-02T18:55:00.001+05:30

14.46, June 02. Place: Japanese class.

Just when i was starting to begin my countdown for end of class, i felt it. It began with a gentle rocking and an immediate jolt. My sensei gave out a small squeak while my classmates woke up from their mid-day siesta. The sudden jolt lasted for about a second, which gave way to more rocking..an ironical indication of putting someone to sleep....
Japan met confirms it. A magnitude of 4.6 on the richter scale. Although this is the third time i have experienced it, cant help but think how small and negligible we are compared to nature.

Btw, heard from local folks that japanese homes can withstand upto 7 on the richter scale.
So no worries! All safe and sound here!

Karth lives on............

Bangalore traffic woes remedy?

2007-06-02T18:26:00.000+05:30

After a lot of craziness-good craziness ie. i am back to the blogosphere finally!

Yesterday in TOI(Check out the epaper version www.epaper.timesofindia.com) there was an ad from the traffic police department about fulfilling 4 out of the 10 promises made by them.

Pretty novel ideas-the BTIS traffic management system and the easy auto ones.
As soon as i saw the ad, i went over to the website http://www.btis.in/.
This website gives details on the traffic status all across Bangalore and driving directions can be sms'ed to your cellphone.
Although it is a very novel concept, i don't think it is of any great use other than its novelty factor.

Say, if i have to go to electronic city, irrespective of the traffic delays, i don't have a choice but to go on hosur road.(atleast now). It is also a no-brainer that during peak hours there will be jams on 90% of the roads.

I think the need of the hour is to figure out a way to smoothen traffic rather than giving the aam aadmi the "traffic control room" status. More often than not it is the general indiscipline among drivers that causes a traffic jam. While we drive, we have a sense of urgency which we carry about. This leads to people driving on the wrong side of the lane, driving over footpaths(yeah!), skipping signals, zero pedestrian respect, haphazard parking and so on....

Here in Tokyo, most roads are narrower than in Bangalore, but there are few very simple guidelines which make driving a breeze.
Like for e.g.. Every T-junction or intersection will have pillars fixed with mirrors. this helps the driver to exactly see what is on the other corner. So no banging bumpers!

All stop lines for vehicles stopping at signals are placed much before the intersection. This helps in easy turning for the vehicles coming from the other side. Of course, no one ever skips signals. At least I haven't seen anyone.

Back in Bangalore, if you are waiting at a stop signal and there are no pedestrians crossing or no vehicles approaching, folks will happily drive on. If you want to be the rule fearing person, you have no choice but to go deaf thanks to the blaring horns.

Simple things like this do not cost a lot and easy to implement rather than having hi-fi gadgets(blackberries for policemen!?), traffic status or building a loop flyover for 10 years.

Looks like Mr. Kumaraswamy is in a hurry to show some quick wins and this is the way he can do it!

Have Fun with Dumpr!

2007-04-03T17:57:00.000+05:30

Break from Crickeet! :-)

If you are looking for some fun with your Photos, here is a great mashup!
Check out www.dumpr.net.
Nowhere else will you get your photos on the museum !!
Voila am famous!!

You could also play around with creating jigsaw puzzles, reflections, paper sketches..and much more!

And also..make some amazing circles:-)

Cool!

ICC world cup SWOT analysis:WI vs Australia

2007-03-27T16:35:00.000+05:30

India, Dead and Buried. Pakistan, Thrashed out.

While India's and Pakistan's exit has filtered out the causal fans, cricket purists will no longer have to wait for some lip smacking dose of their favourite game.

Here comes the Super 8. Here begins the World cup.

SWOT time for the big match of the Super 8 today! Hosts West Indies clash with Defending champs Australia!

West Indies

Strengths: Lara loves Aussies. Lara Loves Antigua. The likes of Shaun Tait and Bracken shouldn't give any sleepless nights to Lara. If he along with Chanderpaul, Gayle and Sarwan get going, i definitely see them giving the Aussies a run for thier money.
And talking of run, expect good young legs on the field from the Windies.

Weaknesses: Well, WI will surely not depend on their bowling to get them out of the dumps. Also Gayle has not been scoring for sometime and is surely a cause for concern.

Opportunities: WI have beaten Aussies in the past(remember the DLF and Champion trophy?) Australians come to Antigua from St. Kitts and the conditions there was totally different from here. If Australians go with the flow they had in St. kitts, they could be down the dumps.

Threats: Entire Australian team!

Australia:

Strengths: I would say the Aussie batting is definitely better off than its bowling attack with Lee and Warne out. It is their biggest strength and the one which they have not failed to use to its potential. Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Symmonds...Bowler's nightmare!

Weaknesses: Except for a tad inconsistency in bowling, its one mean winning machine,

Opportunities: Gayle's low form and thier own current form!

Threats: Not much teeth in the WI attack to be a threat to the Aussies. Lara is the only man who can stand up to be counted as a threat. Home conditions for the West Indies and big crowd support.

Karth Inc predicts: Its gonna be yet another win for the Aussies. If the West Indies do win, it will be the 3rd biggest upset of this cup!

ICC world cup SWOT analysis:India Vs Srilanka

2007-03-23T16:14:00.000+05:30

Cricket is not a matter of life and death, its just a silly old game for christ's sake!!!

The Killing of Bob Woolmer does'nt say so.

Our own coach, Greg Chappel's motivation talk to the boys would be something along this line "Please win today guys..You ain't want me dead right? "

OK..Lets head straight to SWOT Analysis for THE big match.

Srilanka:

Strength: Many! 2 perfect wins, a team with some great hitters in Jayasuriya and Sangakkara, awesome bowling options in Vaas and Murali and everyone brimming with belief.
You cant ask for more!

Weakness: Experience. This is pressure situation at its very best! Even though Srilanka are through to their next round, they would be at a great psychological advantage at the super 8 if they lose this. They have not been challenged in the World cup yet so this will set up the stage for them.

Threats: Indian batting will hit them hard. IF and i stress IF the Indian batters can recreate the magic of taunton or the Bermuda bash, Srilanka will be swept away.

Opportunities: Plenty! And i say this because, the Indian bowling has looked very meek this series and Kumble's record against Srilanka doesnt look great(Not sure if he will play though). Srilanka can easily steal 20+ runs if they target some old legs and weak hands. Murali's terrific record against the Indian top order can be handy too.

India:

Strength: Batting, Batting and Batting. Anyone who knows remotely about cricket can vouch for that. A team fully loaded with batsmen who can on thier day can tear any bowling apart. Yes that includes Vaas and Murali.

Weaknesses: Top 3 would be Fielding, Bowling and Consistency! I was watching the SA vs Netherlands match the other day and the south African's fielding was in a different league altogether. Compare this to our team, well, we better be good enough to hit 20-30 more runs to factor this in. Also don't think our bowling has enough teeth to take 11 wickets unless the Srilankans think otherwise.

Threats: Jayasuriya's hitting at the top, Sangakarra and Jayawardene's stability in the middle, Vaas and Murali's tricks with the ball.

Opportunity: If India chases and chases well,there is no question our batters can see us through big totals. I am counting on a Indian chase!

Karth Inc predicts: All reasoning and logic says Srilanka have a definite edge...hey but so did we did have an upper hand against bangladeshis..So did pak against Ireland.
I so hate this cliche, can't help but say it...Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainity...my heart says..Jeethega bhai Jeethega...Hindustan Jeethega!!

By the way, TOI has its own SWOT analysis for today's clash(can't find the link). Check it out in the epaper version

p.s Tommorow is a cracker of a match! Dress rehearsal of the finals perhaps?

Gibbs does a Sobers!!

2007-03-17T08:38:00.000+05:30

It had to happen! The minnows are minnows after all :-(

Van Bunge will never want to bowl again.

Check out this Gibbs 6 in 6!

Ohh btw did I say English are gonna make it? Well the Kiwis turned the tables over!!

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Eng Vs NZ!

2007-03-16T17:01:00.000+05:30

Wow! Yet another big match today. Kiwis taking on the English!! Expect it to be nothing short of a blinder!

Sample this: Eng V Kiwi Matches played 58. England won 27, NZ..well 27 too! Hmm that doesn't help does it?

Lets get straight to business. SWOT time!

New Zealand

Strengths: Kiwis can bat and bat deep. Also going by their recent form(link to the Hadlee series) , looks like they can chase anything under the sun!
Jacob Oram is definitely the key player here. Vettori and Bond will play a key role as well. With the old ball, this spin-fast duo could prove lethal, more so if Bond is able to reverse it.

Weakness: Inconsistent!. Fleming needs to score if NZ want to go deep into the tournament. Kiwis are just not the same side while playing outside NZ.

Opportunities: Not so great English bowling attack if James Anderson misses play today. Collingwood might be the best In-form batsman for Eng but against the Kiwis he averages a dismal 20.8(His career average is 34 odd).

Threat:Craig McMillan might not play due to his toe injury. Andy Flintoff loves to take the wicket of Fleming which he has been doing pretty consistently.(Link here for stats)
England won the CB series playing against Aus and NZ..that will be a physcological boost.

ENGLAND

Strengths: Impact players-Flintoff, Collingwood and Pieterson. Can tear apart any attack on thier day. A very balanced side as well.

Weaknesses: hmm..Couldn't think of many. if James Anderson doesn't play and the pitch turns out conducive to seam, he will be a great miss. Also compared to Kiwis, the English doesnt seem to be very experienced lot. This could matter if the match goes down till the end of the wire.

Opportunities: Going by the Ken Vs Canada match conditions, Not to forget, Monty panesar who has a great chance of showing his skills on the big stage.

Threat: Well, Not sure if Michael Vaughan can hold up the full match due to his hamstring. Vettori will be a big pain if the condition is anywhere close to his likeness.

My prediction...Its going to be England all the way! Mind you..its not gonna be a easy one tho!

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Match#1 WI vs Pak

2007-03-13T18:53:00.000+05:30

We are couple of hours away from the most awaited event of the year for all the cricket crazy Indians- The Ninth Edition of the ICC world Cup Cricket 2007.

Here in Japan, not surprisingly there is not even a whishper about it :-(

Being an avid follower(and of course played) of this game for the last 15 odd years, i try to present here a SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis for all crucial World cup matches.

I hope you enjoy it!

Match 1: West Indies Vs Pakistan

West Indies

Strengths: Batting Department-Gayle, Chanderpaul and Lara of course!
Young legs on the field. Should able to save few runs.

Weakness: Bowling line up not upto the mark. Heavy reliance on Gayle, chanderpaul and Lara. Ability to collapse like 9 pins-remember the 93 all out against the Kenyans and the more recent 85 all out?

Opportunities:Home ground advantage. Crowd behind them. Weak Pakistani bowling attack.

Threats:Mohammed Yousuf - One of his best batting forms and Inzy can belt the WI's rather weak bowling attack.

PAKISTAN
Strengths: Batting definitely. Yousuf, Inzaman and Imran Nazir can belt the leather on his day.

Weakness: No Akthar, No Sami, No Razzaq. Do i need to say more?
Not that great fielding side as well. If Danish Kaneria plays, dont think he will trouble the heavily Left handed loaded WI team.

Opportunities: Capitalize on good starts. Getting a big total helps nonetheless. Not so great WI bowling attack too.

Threats: Extremely weak bowling attack. Slow legs on the field.

Karth Inc Predicts: This is a toughie. Both teams which have a equally good strengths and bad weaknesses. I am going to stick my head out and say, WI should be able to win this!

Leadership lessons from The Wall

2007-03-11T12:04:00.000+05:30

9, 17, 65, 0, 18, 11, DNB, 19, 12, 46

(Source: www.cricinfo.com)

Well, this has been the performance of Sehwag in the last 10 matches he played. An average of 21.88. Not impressive by any standards, let alone International cricket.

However put this question to Dravid, and this is what he shoots back

"It's not like I'm supporting Joe Blogs or some Ramdin or something. This is a kid who's got 300 runs, someone who has done some things in international cricket. I get asked this question, 'Okay, you are supporting Sehwag.' I wonder if it's Joe Blogs or something I'm supporting?"

Strong words from the Wall.

A very subtle but strong hint for Sehwag to pull up his socks.

We all know Dravid’s great technical ability but here he shows his leadership skills is something every aspiring leader should learn a thing or two.

I always believe as a leader, you should have immense faith in your team. Dravid, by sticking out his head and supporting him here, would have imbibed a great sense of confident in Sehwag.

With the selectors and Indians all over vouching for Sehwag’s exit, I bet it would have been tough for Dravid to shout back his support for him, but as a leader Dravid has played his cards well.

This not only gives Sehwag the much needed support, but the other team members will be queuing up to win Dravid’s confidence. This also doubles the team's unity and improves the camaraderie in the team.

Now usually one can see captains speaking for their non performing members with caution and advice, you know something like “well he is a good player, and we hope he does well” and stuff like that.

But from Sehwag’s perspective, his captain by sticking his head out and backing him up will be ten times better than a backroom one to one talk.

Hmm.I wouldn’t be surprised if Sehwag comes out with blazing performance in the World cup.

So, next time one of your team members is not performing up to the mark and if you have the confidence him/her, then shout out your confidence to the stakeholders! It really is a win-win coz if the poor guy manages to perform, your respect among everyone will soar and if he doesnt, you will still not lose the support of your teammates.

Learn Hiragana while you travel!

2007-03-10T19:57:00.000+05:30

Japan Newbie's(Don't let the name full you!) blog project on learning japanese through Ads is one hell of an idea! I love reading billboards, Ads and posters while i travel and what better way of brushing up your Japanese when you are travelling!

The other day, i had my Hiragana test and thanks to my office schedule and my own laziness to open the book and read :-), i was pretty sure i wasn't gonna do well. But,while i was travelling, with each passing station my Hiragana was improving and by the time i reached my class, i was very sure i will not screw up the test.

So how did it happen you ask? Simple, Keep your eyes open for the station name signboards!

Like the one below for Musashi-koyama. Longer the station name, even better!

Perfection tip: In some stations, the previous station name and the next station name will also be in Hiragana(not the above one), So try and read up all three Hiragana names before the train passes that station!

It can be fun :-)

Happy Hiragana Learning!!

Customer care ain't fun:-)

2007-03-01T18:52:00.000+05:30

Hilarious!!

Check out this video on Youtube customer care...well..Let me tell you, you can work for the best companies in the world, but if you are in customer care..Man you had it!!
Customers are always right..and they always complain:-))

The Journey....

2007-02-25T16:15:00.000+05:30

You know, i am amazed when i see the Japanese railway system. A train arriving at 8.49 will come at 8.49 not 8.48 not 8.50. I am also awestruck when i think about what might have gone in scheduling, planning and executing this amazing system.

But hey, wait a minute! Our Indian railways is supposed to be the biggest network in the world right? But if you wonder why isnt it on par with the japanese or the english rail system-
This eye-opening documentary from NGC brings out the realism in our railway system

Some notable points from this documentary
- Each train is designed to carry 1700 passengers, but swells to 7000!! WOW!!
- You dont have to wait till the train stops to get in or get out. If you do, you are a loser!
-About 2000 people are killed in a year in Bombay attempting to get in and get out of the trains!!

End of the day, i dont care if the train is late, crowded or dirty, i only hope there is no repeat of a samjhauta express blast or the 7/11 blasts.......

Hard work pays!

2007-02-21T20:38:00.000+05:30

After a "hard" day's work, i reached the station at 11.49 PM. Now If you are thinking, i will be greeted by a deserted platform, well, think again!
In Japan, this is what you will see!

The train station gets more and more crowded as the evening wears off. you will not be incorrect if you think most of these people are just leaving from work and of course, most of them would have started their day at 8.00 AM.

In fact, i wasn't the last guy out of office as well. I could see a few buried heads into their laptops.
Of course, it is a well documented fact that the Japanese are one of the most hard working lot in the world. Yes, the mandated working hours is still 40 hrs/week, but i am sure most of them would hit that figure by mid week.

On the surface though it is quite admirable that people here are committed and dedicated about their work.
But scratch the surface a little, you will surely notice, hard work is not directly proportional to productivity here.
Mind you,i am not in any way undermining their zeal for perfection and their commitment, but, come on, things can be done faster!
So if you ask an Indian worker to jump of a cliff and find out whats at the bottom, he will do it, break his nose and figure out he has hit a rock. Job done in 5 mins minus a nose.
Now if you have a japanese do it, he would come equipped with all sorts of equipments to figure out all details required to jump of a cliff, do some crazy impact analysis and figure out there is a rock, which weighs x grams, has been there for y years and has the capacity to break a nose.
Well you would be awed at the level of detail and the accuracy but of course you would have to wait for some time!

Get my point?

So how do you meet schedules, especially in IT where time is a luxury? Slog! Slog till the last train leaves!

So its not SMART WORK, but HARD WORK is what the Japanese office goer believes!
and looking at Japan, you can say "hard work pays!"

Proud to be an Indian!

2007-02-11T22:22:00.001+05:30

As i write this post, i am watching a program on Japan National televison(NHK) about the amazing Indian growth story.

The program talks about the Indian education system showing snippets from primary classroom about students learning maths, the role of IITs, and more importantly the growth of IT sector in the last few years.

It shows teachers in a primary classroom teaching multiplication tables of 17, it also shows students at IITs discussing a solution to a real life problem, and of course the Infosys campus budding with its young engineers.

These programs are building the brand of NEW INDIA. Gone are the days where India bought pictures of the snake rope trick and elephants crossing roads. India now for a foreigner means IT, IIT and growth.

Well, The economist might say India is Overheating but at this moment i am just proud to be an Indian!

The "Other" Reason.

2007-02-08T20:00:00.000+05:30

I read Rajesh Shetty's Life Beyond Code a month back. I must say it has influenced me in more than one way. The book explains in a very fluid manner, 9 different ways to distinguish oneself and how!

Hats of to you Rajesh, you can't get it more simple and effective than that!

One of the thing Rajesh explains in his book and also in his blog is the "Second reason". He says, for any activity(apart from building relationships) to do he needs a second reason, however significant or insignificant it is.

Since reading the book, i have rather unconsiously started thinking about the second reason for most of my decisions i make!
One of those decision was coming back to Tokyo. Apart from the learning you gain at work, i think 2 reasons have prompted me to come back to Square one!

One of them is to learn Japanese!. As soon as i arrived in tokyo, i signed up for the classes and have been slogging out the past 3 weeks! Must say its fun tho' tough!

So far this "other" reason has also been a catalyst for my primary reason and the effect has been great! One keeps pushing the other.

As far as the other "other" reason goes, well, thats for another day's discussion!
Well, there are some books that you read and move on and there are some books which stay with you for life..Life beyond code will stay!

Thanks Raj!

-Karth

Sorry!(Gomenasai!)

2007-01-30T16:36:00.000+05:30

SORRY!! Yeah for all the 6 of you(or maybe 3 of you now..) who have been checking out this blog..a BIG SORRY!
Thanks to my relocation to Tokyo(yeah!) and no internet connection at home, i have not been able to write as much as i would want. But i do have a lot to say !!

Hang on people and Karth inc will be back!

Meanwhile check out this post from one of favourite blogger's- Digital Inspiration.

Must accept, This is also ONE of the reason why i want to keep this going..even though there are just 3 of you!!

The Sultan of Spin

2006-12-30T10:51:00.000+05:30

Being an Indian and that too an ardent Cricket fan, its very hard not to have a post on the "gentleman's game".
One of the game's greatest showman, the sultan of spin Shane Warne has decided to hang his boots after the sydney ashes test. The english must have been a releived lot. With another of the game's greatest also deciding to quit, the english cricket team must have been a relived lot.

Must have been a difficult decision, considering the fact that he was on top of his game. With a mind boggling 999 international wickets and all set to race to 1000+ wickets,this genius has left an indelible mark on the millions following this game.
The memories of Gatting getting a ripper of a delivery is still fresh in mind.

Check out this amazing video of the magician weaving his magic.

We miss you warney!!

The Japanese Connection!

2006-12-05T15:57:00.000+05:30

On my recent trip to Chennai and Coimbatore, i was amazed to find a lot of Japanese language and cultural schools. In Tokyo too, i could find a fair share of Japanese speaking tamilians(folks from Tamilnadu).

Probably, since the IT industry is big in Japan(2nd biggest IT market for India), cities like Chennai being host to a lot of IT companies , the demand-supply effect should have come into picture. Obviously right? But wait a minute, Bangalore(ok,bengalooru) is a bigger IT market, so going by that line of thought, there should be a lot more Japanese language schools as well.

However that does not seem to be the case. Just spending couple of days in Chennai, i stumbled upon lot more japanese language schools than what i have seen in Bangalore in the last 6 months. Also a quick search on this site reveals that there are more japanese language teachers in Chennai than Bangalore.

Interesting.

Why are the tamil people folk more attracted to the japanese language? Are they genetically attracted to the language?

Thats what it seems, if you go by Susumu Ohno-san's "THE GENEOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE LANGUGAGE'Ohno san's extensive research on this area has established the connection between Nihongo and Tamil.

But why Tamil? Why not other Dravidan languages? say Telugu or Kannada
Ohno-san reasons out like this-
First, it is a language spoken by a large group of over 48 million. Second, it is a very old language; 2,500 Cañkam verses, written in ancient Tam ii between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D., are preserved. Third, a detailed grammar of ancient Tamil survives, the Tolkãppiyam, written around the third century B.C. (Among other Dravidian languages, literature in the Kannada language can be traced back only as far as 1100 A.D., and that of Telugu, to 1200 A.D.,)

Makes sense. He also lists some words which have same meanings and similiar sounds.

Table 1. Word Correspondence (Jap. F: Tam. p., pp)

J. Far-u (to swell, expand)
T. Par-u (to swell {DEDR 3972])

J. Far-uka (to be far off)
T. par-a (to be far, wide [DEDR 3949])

J. Fat-u (to end, perish, die)
T. pat-u (to perish, die {DEDR 3852])

J. Fir-o (wide, great)
T. per-u (great, large [DEDR 4411])

J. Fo:k-u (to eulogize, praise)
T. puk-aJ (eulogy [DEDR 4235])

J. Fot-o (time)
T. pot-u (time [DEDR 4559])

J. Far-u (to become bulky)
T. par-u (to be bulky [DEDR 3972])

J. Far-a (field of sky)
T. par-am (heaven {T.L.2499])

J. Fat-u (first, new of the season)
T. pat-u (to appear for the first time (DEDR 3852])

J. Fuk-asu (to smoke, steam)
T. pok-ai (to smoke, vapor [DEDR 4240])

J. För-ö (cloth cover)
T. por-vai (covering [DEDR 4590])

J. Fut-a (cover, lid)
T. put-ai (to bury, hide, cover [DEDR 4509])

J. Fur-c (village)
T. pul-am (village, place [DEDR 4303])

J. Fun-c (ship)
T. puri-ai (raft, boat [DEDR 4321])

J. FOr-ö (tumor, abscess)
T. purr-u (scrofulous, scurby one [DEDR 4336]

J. taF-uru (to die)
T. tap-u (to perish, die (DEDR 3068])

J. öF-ö (big, to flourish)
T. upp-u (to become big, bloat [DEDR 666])

J. aF-u (to meet, be fit)
T. opp-u (to agree, be fit [DEDR 924])

J. köF-u (to beg)
T. kupp-u (to join hand as in worship [DEDR 1894])

J. tuF-a (spittle)
T. tupp-al (saliva [DEDR 3323])

J. suF-u (to suck)
T. cüpp-u (to suck, sip [DEDR 2621])

I am not sure of the Japanese words, but most of the tamil words in the list seem to be colloqial, but yeah the connection cannot be dismissed.

No wonder, tamil actor "superstar" Rajanikanth is pretty well known among Japanese film aficionados!

Convert your PC game to a PS2(or PS3)!!

2006-11-28T10:07:00.000+05:30

For all you hardcore gaming fans who are in dire need of a PS3 or even a PS2, but do not want to dig deep into your pockets, here is a tried and tested way of simulating the fun!
Minimum requirements:
A decent laptop with a s-video output
A S-video dongle-Either S-video to S-video, if your TV has a S-video port or a S-video to RCA cable.
A logitech dual action gamepad
A TV(HD TV?,even better!!)
and of course a PC game.

Now for the conversion...
Step 1: Take a deep breath..(yeah right!)
Step 2: Use your S-Video dongle to hook up your TV and Laptop.
Step 3: Connect the game pad to your laptop.
Step 4: Change your laptop display settings to either clone your laptop or dual view.(Right click desktop-->properties-->display settings-->advanced)
Step 5: Rev up your game and there you go! the display is on your TV and you can get going with your gamepad!!
Step 6: Get some beer and get your game going!

Easy isnt it? If you really want to enhance this setup..Get yourself a good sound sytem(preferably a creative sound blaster) and a gamepad with the shocker and rock on!

The best part-All this at 15% the cost of your PS2 and less than 5% the cost of your PS3!!

Let me know if you need any more info.

License to Kill!

2006-11-22T11:41:00.000+05:30

"Thou Shall Not Drive on the Left Side,but on Whatever is left"
Thanks to this, this and most recently this, the Indian Road transport system is changing the rules for issuing driving license.

Oz gotta wait!

2006-11-20T17:18:00.000+05:30

“Here I am,This is me, There's nowhere else on earth I'd rather be
Here I am,It's just me and you; Tonight we make our dreams come true

It's a new world,It's a new start; It's alive with the beating of young hearts
It's a new day,It's a new plan; I've been waiting for you
Here I am”….

H-Hullo? Karth here…

The sinister voice on the other side growls…”What took you so long to answer your phone? Master has given the orders…its time now, Make sure the task is completed”

Click

Shaken more by the tone rather than the order, I manage to mumble…”y-yes” and hang up the phone.

The Master has given the orders finally, the task has to be done, no matter how difficult the path leading up to it..i am the ONE, the CHOSEN ONE...there is no one else better than me to do this gruesome task…the master has smiled upon me….

The End does justify the means finally…

I step into the swanky new Airbus A380 plane that will take me to “THE” destination, the “FATEFUL” destination.

The plane and the plan is about to take off….Suddenly,

“Here I am, This is me, There's nowhere else on earth I'd rather be
Here I am, It’s just me and you; Tonight we make our dreams come true

It's a ...Hello?!..Karth-on-the-plane here….

The same “Sinister-voice-on-the-other-side-of-the-phone” growls….”ABORT MISSION”

Click

Trrrrrrrrring..Trrrrrrrrring..Trrrrrrrrrring.. I see the casio next to my bed..8.45 AM..Just when i was sitting on my bed and thinking whether it was a dream or a nightmare..the phone rings.........
"Karthik, this is your manager calling from Sydney, Dude your trip to Oz Gotta wait!"
Click!

Loose Control!

2006-11-03T08:09:00.000+05:30

Just when i was on a "auto-pilot' cruise mode, certain developments have ensured that i stop slacking and get back to business.
Interesting things have happened in the last few days...
Bangalore is out and BENGALOORU is in---I dont think it is a great idea to rechristen it, more than the name Bangalore is a brand and changing the brand name is akin to destroying all the hard work that went into building brand bangalore.
One thing the change of name shows is our way of going back in time instead of going forward. The city is deteriorating day by day and all it takes for the entire city to come to a standstill is a single drop of rain! So out goes bangalore the city dressed up like a village and in comes bengalooru the village trying to transform to a city.
One other exciting stuff and the one that is keeping me away from Blog is my travel to Sydney!!
Co-incidentally the English cricket team will also be travelling over for the ashes and i have a feeling its going to be one hell of a season!!

Indians Game enough?

2006-10-01T21:12:00.000+05:30

K has a very interesting post on Gaming, Xbox and India. Incidentally, today i was at E-zone(the consumer appliances store by Pantaloons) and there was this demo of X-box out there. Having been a proud owner of the console whilst i was in Tokyo, i went ahead to check out if there were any differences in the "desi" version. So while i was checking out the NFS Most Wanted, i observed a bemused 30 something couple staring at me probably thinking "bacche ke park ka jhoola mein yeh kyon baita hai??!!" and had that "Kids-these-days-look-overgrown" look. Also sadly in the store apart from a few curious kids the demo setup hardly generated any interest. In contrast a Phillips home theater system had a more audience :-(
I wanted to know how much it had sold and Ezone, but couldnt get hold of the sales guy there(there was no one!)
In stark contrast, when the Xbox was released in Japan, it did generate tremendous interest and of course the console sales were disappointing but i remember seeing long queues in front of Game parlours and stores. When i did buy one, my Indian colleagues were offering ideas on what better products could one buy for 35,000 JPY and few japanese friends were like "Sugoi desu ne"!!!(Is it cool or what!!!).

Gaming in India, especially of the console type is still in a very nascent stage compared to US and Japan where it is a much more evolved and mature industry(around $35-50 billion dollars). We are still in the PC games era, even though console gaming is getting a good exposure thanks to places like Reliance Web world, it still is a question of affordability and more importantly acceptance!

Orkuttin' can get you a job!

2006-09-27T07:26:00.000+05:30

Orkut is BIG and is a fast catching trend out here in India(and i suppose in Brazil too). More and more users are signing in to orkut every day, to network,connect with lost links, dating and also building communities.
However one interesting set of people are viewing this avenue as a tool to recruit people in thier organization-the talent scourers and the recruiters.
Off late, i seem to be getting more and more "scraps" from such recruiting firms and also direct companies.
Interesting, apart from being a free and huge database of prospective employees, it also gives a good insight into the person's interests, likes, attitude and yeah, links to other prospective employees.
So if you are looking for a job and have an Orkut account, you might want to refine your "about me" section and refrain from having stuff like "Corporate whore at day..." , "Insanity is my girl friend..." :-)
Web 2.o is ON and i need to scrap!

Okonomi Yaki!

2006-06-19T07:06:00.000+05:30

Okonomi Yaki!
This sure is an interesting place! I havent tried a lot of japanese restaurents, but among the restuarents i have been, this one sure rocks!

Wiki says "Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き^?) is a type of Japanese pan-fried batter cake with various ingredients".

The Uniqueness of this place is, they dont serve you hot food here, you got to cook it for yourself! Yeah thats right..every table has a stove and huge pan.We get the vegetables,shrimps, meat and chizu(Cheese!) all raw..and then well what are you waiting for..get cooking!

Apart from the stove , the table had a few other interesting useful stuffs, like oil, Pepper, salt,typical japanese soya sauce, but by far the coolest thing was a small Hour glass! yeah each turn is for 3 minutes...why 3 mins? Coz thats the time it takes for the okonomi yaki to fry nicely!
You can never complain about the food coz hey..you cooked it!!

Wondering if this kind of concept will work in India,because back home we go out to break the monotonous routine of cooking..the last thing you would want to do is cook your food at the restaurent too!

Another interesting thing..i asked my Sensei(Japanese teacher) whether she cooks at home..prompt came the reply "eh...I dont have a kitchen"!! That sure was a hard thing to digest!

More information of okanomiyaki here reminds of DOSA...Ssslurp!

Cheers
Karth!