Monday, May 26, 2008

Animal Farm, George Orwell

I finally got around to reading this book and honestly i couldn't appreciate it. I quit after about 100 pages. I guess it has lost it's relevance now or maybe you need an understanding of Soviet Union's history to appreciate it. The only part that made sense to me was it's analogy to the corporate structure as my friend and colleague Kartikeya put it: You've got the Pigs at the top of the hierarchy who are the thinkers/ decision makers, then come the Dogs who's agenda is to do Pigs' bidding and get the job done and at the bottom of the pyramid are the Sheep, the doers.

Where do i fit in my organization's hierarchy? As a Product Manager I think i'am versatile and switch hats depending on situation... sometimes am a pig, sometimes a dog and sometimes a sheep... however for the past six month i think i've mostly been a sheep.

Passport Renewal

My passport renewal experience...

When i reached the passport office at 8:30AM I was surprised to see a mile long queue. There were 150+ people ahead of me. I wasn't prepared for the long wait - no umbrella (sun was already sharp), no book. At around 9:05AM i experienced a 'stepping into God's favor moment' (in Joel Osteen's words) - a teenaged boy approached me and said he had reserved two spots up front and now one spot was open as his friend wasn't coming. He asked if i wanted it. No prize for guessing what my response was :). In moments i went from 150+ to 22nd position. Apparently people at the front had been waiting since 5:30AM...

Passport Office opened at 9:30AM and they started issuing tokens - they do preliminary check of the documents before issuing the token. After that comes the more detailed review and then form submission.

When my turn came to submit the form, they wouldn't accept the form because i didn't have address proof. I had to got to Citibank Suvidha Customer Care Center on MG Road for the letter. God bless Citibank! Within an hour i was back at the Passport Office and thereon flow was smooth - submitted the form, met the Deputy Passport Officer which is an additional step for Tatkaal applications, paid the fee (Rs. 3000 for Jumbo booklet with 50 pages) and was out at 12:40PM. Am supposed to receive the new passport by post on Thursday.

About the meeting with Deputy Passport Officer, Mr. Ramesh Bhat. He was extremely nice - polite, professional with human touch. At the end of the interview he said, 'Best of luck Beta. God Bless You!' How often do you meet government officials who are that pleasant?

List of documents required for passport reissue/ renewal if you already have the ECNR seal:
(a) Application Form # 1 - can be downloaded from http://kar.nic.in/passport
(b) Two copies of the first and last four pages of the passport PLUS valid/ active visa pages
(c) Address proof like voter id, BSNL phone bill or letter from the bank (see website for complete list) is required if current residential address entered in the app form is different from the address in the passport. New passport will be delivered to the current residential address and that address will appear in the new passport as well
(d) For Tatkaal applications (delivery within 3 days) you need to submit couple other documents: Annexure I on stamp paper and attested by Notary (i got this from BCD Travel. Ph: 080 4040 6720). And a hand written request letter addressed to the passport officer

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

What do actors mean when they talk about 'baring their soul' on screen?

I've heard this phrase twice in less than a week. Shefali in her thank you speech after receiving the Zee Cine Award for best supporting actor in Gandhi my father said something to the effect of, '... am happy they acknowledged that it's hard work baring one's soul...' and then Nandana Sen talking about skin show in the forthcoming Rang Rasia goes '... baring the body is easier than baring the soul...' Now, what's this soul baring they are talking about? How could an actor who is playing some fictitious character on screen be baring his/ her soul? I wonder...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Books I read recently

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
Another tear-jerking tale about Afghanistan. This time the story is about women and their struggle for survival in a country where war & death is common place and there's no escape from domestic violence. It's a good read with some new insights about Afghanistan's history and lovable characters. I hope his next book will be more upbeat and he won't kill the protagonist.

World Without End, Ken Follet
Sequel of "Pillars of the Earth" and just as enjoyable as the first book with unexpected twists and turns. I loved this one.

The Source, James Michener
First Michener book i managed to read end to end and with pleasure. It's a history book about Israel & Judaism written in the form of short-stories set at different points of time - it starts at the beginning of Agriculture Age and ends in 1964. It's a excellent book but am glad it's over it was making me very depressed and spiritual :) I have new found respect for the oldest religion and the resilient spirit of the people who have kept it alive for 5000 yrs now.

One common thread between these three books is religion - A Thousand Splendid Suns is about Islam in 1900s. World Without End is about Christianity in 130os and The Source about Judaism. To me the underlying message is 'Religion provides laws for living in this world... without these laws life would be chaotic... So Religion is good but only as long as it doesn't start repressing the human spirit by making the laws too restrictive/ hard to follow...'

Thats a lot of heavy reading, now i want to read something light and fun like 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, God Wild and Got a Life'... Plagiarized or not, it was a fun book...

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Return to VividhBharti

Couple years ago there was influx of FM stations playing Hindi music in Bangalore. That was a blessing as my commute to work would vary between 45-90 mins each way. Things started to change slowly... i think it started with 98.3 FM which started playing more regional music and everyone followed suit and now when you turn on the radio all you here is regional music with some Hindi music peppered around. I find it hard to believe that there are no takers for Hindi only music stations with so much immigrant population from North.

So now i tune into VividhBharti (102.9 FM) when i'am in the mood for Hindi music. It seems like nothing has in the past 30 yrs. They still play 'Mann chahe geet' at 1:30pm and 'Fauji bhaiyon ki pasand' at 7:00pm... and their sponsors haven't changed either. You still hear the good old 'Vicco vajradanti, tooth powder, tooth paste' jingle... It's nostalgic.