tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62194090238110217032011-11-28T04:51:42.566+05:30Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-81763672508204647592011-01-21T19:26:00.000+05:302011-01-21T19:27:09.762+05:30

Working for a corporate, you pick some habits over time that can make you look like an idiot outside the office. I am talking about the ID tags that we use to open doors at work. I am so used to flashing my badge every time I see a door that a few days ago, I was in front of a door that refused to open inspite of me flashing my badge repeatedly. It took me a full minute to realize that I was

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-88807880541793812692010-12-17T21:39:00.002+05:302010-12-17T21:43:56.094+05:30

Wikileaks is back in the news again. And not because its name sounds like Wikipedia just went to the bathroom. But it sure has a lot of people pretty pissed. The sensational disclosures that are now out in the open are causing quite a stir in the international circles. Sample some of the stunning disclosuresThe Arab countries wanted US to bomb Iran The US wanted to get hold of Pakistan’s enriched

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-14144221954921523982010-11-03T20:47:00.003+05:302010-11-03T20:52:41.921+05:30

I think I am beginning to develop some kind of sixth sense. These days, when my mobile starts to ring, I am able to correctly guess who the caller may be. As I have grown older, the stronger my clairvoyance seems to have got. Or in other words, the number of people who call me has come down to the bare minimum. It appears that only the closest of my friends call (that’s about three, right now).

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-15530956347079749472010-10-16T21:11:00.004+05:302010-10-16T21:25:07.664+05:30

A couple of months ago I got a mail from IT Nature Club (it’s India Terrain and not Info Tech) about a trip to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh purportedly in the quest of snow leopard sighting. This was too good for me to pass and so I signed up immediately. What follows below is the account of that trip.Spiti is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan range. It lies in the rain shadow region

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-13819138978522029892010-01-27T14:33:00.002+05:302010-01-27T14:40:17.456+05:30

I had the privilege of being part of the Tiger Estimation activity (It is not called Tiger Census anymore) at Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary from 21st to 25th of Jan (Had to skip 26th and 27th for work related reasons). Bhadra is around 500 sq kms of moist deciduous forest. I was assigned to the Lakkavalli range which is about 70kms by road from Muthodi where all the volunteers, around 40 of us, had

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-68185965249868267992009-09-27T10:19:00.003+05:302009-09-27T10:37:02.768+05:30

Picture this, you are hanging off the edge of a plane, 15000 feet lie between you and the ground below, 15000 feet to where normal people live. And you ask yourself “Why in the name of God am I doing this ?”. Well, too late because you should have thought of that before you signed up for the sky dive.Sky diving was not really on my to-do list in this month long trip to the US. But AJB, my fellow

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-18823229211128032902009-07-20T15:15:00.004+05:302009-07-20T16:42:36.388+05:30

This is a quick update post. As last time, the past weekend too (18th, 19th), we covered a bunch of villages. This time we saw a banana plantation field that was completely ravaged by elephants. The villager to whom the field belonged was understandably agitated and asked if we could do something about elephant raids. It is difficult to talk about conservation when livelihoods are at stake.

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-32075712240492795882009-06-29T19:02:00.004+05:302009-07-08T17:12:45.793+05:30

Few months ago, while surfing the net, I came across the web site of Wildlife Conservation Society of India and had sent across a mail to them inquiring about any opportunities for voluntary work. After several weeks, I got a response asking me to participate in a meeting aimed at exploring the activities that needed volunteers. One of the activities that were identified was towards sensitizing

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-47766372832050195142009-06-16T17:42:00.007+05:302009-06-29T19:09:41.369+05:30

It has been more than two months now since I blogged anything. So this is more of “Hey I am still alive, if you care to know” kinda post. So what have I been up to the last couple of months ?...nothing much apart from pretending to work that is. The humor part of me has either taken a hiatus or taken leave for good. No news excites me these days. There was plenty to parody about, the Indian

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-30688541450569823422009-03-23T16:17:00.001+05:302009-03-23T16:19:05.874+05:30

The last two weeks I have been laid low by a persistent pain in the back. No, no, I am not talking about quality processes at work. It was really a physical back pain which kind of sneaked up on me. I think it was a muscle pull or a really bad sprain that decided to hang around for a couple of weeks. Infact, on a few days it was so bad that I could not get out of bed. And, take it from me, it is

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-39284771430083015762009-02-23T12:08:00.008+05:302009-06-29T19:07:58.237+05:30

So how many black bucks are there in Jayamangali nature reserve ?. Ok, the question is not as profound as “Are we alone in the Universe” but it still is a pretty important question considering that black bucks are an endangered species. Once found abundantly all across India, now they are limited to only some parts, thanks to habitat destruction (and trigger-happy movie stars). The Wildlife Aware

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-3689170881880403682009-02-12T17:49:00.007+05:302009-02-12T18:05:16.882+05:30

So it is that time of the year where love is in the air because VD is just around the corner. Just to be clear, I am not referring to venereal disease but to Valentine’s Day, a day where couples reaffirm their love for each other by buying tacky gifts while others sulk, the others include the singles and the married.But this year, we have a self styled moral police group called ‘The Army of Lord

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-11913497698825502882009-01-28T19:07:00.006+05:302009-01-28T19:16:30.804+05:30

The past few weeks, the coffee table discussions have been hijacked by a couple of my gadget freak colleagues who have discovered newer ways of using their mobile phones. So now they can do pretty much everything they could on their laptops...compiling code, surfing the web, checking mail, in general wasting company time !!. And they have been trying to convince me into buying one of those cool

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-41646689230782329772009-01-15T21:37:00.003+05:302009-01-15T21:43:14.889+05:30

The Japanese are freaking goofy. They made robot dogs and cats and even robot humans. But this is just crazyRent a pet or...a relativeSo now they have started renting out relatives !!. How much dysfunctional does a society have to get before the people decide it is easier to rent friends and relatives than to actually make one. They already have an aging population, lonely young people and now

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-72255451438359379302009-01-06T17:12:00.002+05:302009-01-06T17:15:30.293+05:30

The year 2009 has set in. And I have decided to look into the future and predict the events that shall unfold in the year ahead. Here are my predictions.Prediction 1:India ups the ante against Pakistan, the official stand being raised from “Grrr” to “Bow wow”. Pakistan continues to deny any involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks even as the Indian government provides the family tree chart, DNA

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-85362802712389748092008-12-15T15:30:00.004+05:302008-12-15T17:20:56.895+05:30

Sometimes, we friends get into a highly informative mail exchange that will leave us all a lot more knowledgeable than before. Here is one such exchange that took place a few days ago. I am posting it here for lack of anything better. ======================================================================= From: G, D [mailto:*] Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2008 5:35 PM To: S, V; A G A; slv@; P A

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-23546248298953397522008-12-09T09:44:00.002+05:302008-12-09T09:48:31.904+05:30

Why should anyone bother to be patriotic ?. If the word even means anything these days. I rarely write on a whim but this news item really got to me http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7771243.stmWe have our very own Valarie Plame episode here. Only this time, it is the brazen stupidity of the Calcutta police that was responsible. A friend of mine who was scathingly critical of the intelligence

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-51103548707511133042008-11-12T19:42:00.003+05:302008-11-12T19:48:35.153+05:30

Ok, since I could not think of anything else, I might as well blog about..well..what I blog about. I see that my posts overwhelmingly lean towards humor. It's not that I don't attempt other areas but I prefer humor for a few reasons. Firstly, a blog should and will invariably capture the personality of the blogger. Blogs reveal the domain of comfort of the author and for me that domain is humor.

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-44239060736536501002008-10-30T20:59:00.002+05:302008-10-30T21:12:16.484+05:30

“Ouch, there are the cramps again” Anju moaned as she sat down on the chair clutching her stomach. Jai looked at her with a scowl on his face “Well, I have been telling you to go see our doctor but you never listen to me”“It’s not a big deal really, must be acidity or something. You better finish shaving and get ready quickly. You are already running late for work”“You have been having these

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-81859627614329383572008-10-23T17:25:00.004+05:302008-10-23T17:31:03.656+05:30

Time for some good news and bad news - first the good news, ISRO scientists have made the nation proud with the successful launch of chandrayan. The bad news – they forgot to put Mamatha Bannerji onboard. On inquiring with ISRO on this omission, the spokesperson’s response was “Not far enough”. Apparently, ISRO plans to start work on an even grander space shuttle and will make sure that

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-76010184952766473772008-10-03T20:29:00.006+05:302008-10-03T20:40:14.040+05:30

It is that time of the year when people with two or less brain cells are rewarded for their outstanding achievements in science, (‘outstanding’ that is, like a baboon’s bottom in a Miss Universe pageant.)Yes, dear folks, the Ig Nobel prizes for the year 2008 have been announced. Ig Nobel 2008Check out the prize for work on cognitive science, a Japanese research team showed that slime moulds can

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-64308160064159923442008-09-26T18:15:00.001+05:302008-09-26T18:18:34.196+05:30

Everyone loves compliments and I am no exception. But there are some compliments that I believe are designed solely to make you feel good for the moment but are actually insults in disguise. And I seem to be getting more of these as time goes by.“Hey, you look great today” said a colleague and I felt nice about it and thanked him. But then I thought “Wait a minute, I look good today ?. As opposed

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-60370058205618314822008-09-16T16:30:00.003+05:302008-09-16T16:42:44.250+05:30

“Oh, your hair is turning grey. I think you should get married now”I am beginning to get this comment increasingly these days. I really don’t understand what the connection is!!. Ok, so I get married and my wife is somehow going to turn my hair black again ?. It’s as if women have these amazing remedies that they are going to tell you only after you marry them.“Dear, now that I took the advice of

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-85365904506333886402008-09-04T13:56:00.001+05:302008-09-04T13:58:18.538+05:30

For many years now, I have had a burning desire to discover my latent photography skills. Ok, maybe ‘burning’ is too strong a word; let’s say lukewarm tending towards hot. So I bought a digital SLR camera last week. My inspiration has been these fabulous shots of birds that I find on the net. I have always wanted to shoot pictures like those. Of course, being an avid bird watcher with a keen eye

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-89758092694796054392008-08-29T16:37:00.002+05:302008-08-29T17:17:53.991+05:30

[I had posted this last week but just realized that it is missing, I must have deleted it by accident. So here goes]In this post, I shall put down my thoughts on how I go about writing humor. If it seems gratuitous, that’s because it is. I just could not think of anything else to write this week and hence I thought I might as well jot down a post on how I approach the ‘Laugh Out Loud’ posts that

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-86842670549193277892008-08-25T20:33:00.001+05:302008-08-25T20:37:59.941+05:30

The Olympic Games have ended. This post completes my blog trilogy on the Olympics which involved in-depth analysis and comprehensive coverage of the games which I followed diligently. Diligently, that is when ever I could find time to switch channels from cricket.During one such channel flip, I caught some swimming action. There were these beautiful legs coming out of water and moving in perfect

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-4352527692705959082008-08-19T17:36:00.004+05:302008-08-19T17:48:22.497+05:30

This being the only blog in the blogosphere that has officially been authorized to bring you the inside secrets of the Olympics (all the rest have been banned access by China), it is my responsibility to keep you abreast of all the sensation happening behind the scenes. My investigative journalism has led me to this starling discovery.Michael Phelps is the love child of a sailor and a mermaid !!!

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-90082831279012036502008-08-14T17:33:00.001+05:302008-08-14T17:44:27.560+05:30

The Olympics has begun. Even as I type these words, there are people who are running as fast as they can, jumping high obstacles and using all their strength to overcome hurdles. But let us not worry about what goes on at the US - Mexican border. Because, dear friends, the eyes of the world are on China where the best athletes are competing against one another to claim the ultimate prize – an

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-25103031346004365882008-08-07T20:08:00.003+05:302008-08-07T20:13:57.234+05:30

The whole issue of the nuclear deal has created so much brouhaha that it is time for me to step in and explain to you ignorant masses what this is all about. And when,I am finished, you will want to use candles instead.To understand the deal, we would need to first understand the basics of nuclear energy. For that, we will have start at the beginning since if we start at the end, this post would

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-51717856099051816132008-07-25T11:55:00.002+05:302008-07-25T12:01:52.719+05:30

Monsoon, the season when thick clouds envelope the sky and the cool breeze bring much needed relief from the heat of summer, the rains quench the thirst of the parched earth, the trees sprout back to life with new greenery, the birds chirp away in search of a mate and the drains overflow, the mosquitoes breed like crazy and then there is a cholera outbreak.Well, excuse me for being an unromantic

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-3299127429511215702008-07-18T18:06:00.003+05:302008-07-18T18:13:29.153+05:30

Every time I think about all the idiots who are in power, running the world, I am on the brink of becoming a cynic but then something happens that pulls me right back. And this time, it is the following news that gladdened my heart Californians want to name their San Francisco sewage plant after George Bush. I really hope, for San Francisco’s sake, that this renaming happens. I can already think

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-68973088460699646532008-07-14T11:20:00.002+05:302008-07-14T11:25:50.033+05:30

This was a total bummer of a weekend. I stayed put at home the whole time, looks like age is catching up with me. How I miss those wild weekends during college when I would throw all caution to the wind and spend hours in the.....public library. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I guess I never was much of a people’s person. But that is material for another post.Coming back to my weekend memoir, I

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-50400563166341118242008-07-07T12:17:00.004+05:302008-07-07T12:22:21.319+05:30

It feels great to be back after three weeks of being away. It was a wonderful feeling to step out of the plane after it landed in Bangalore. Well, not because I missed home or my people, the reason is a lot less appealing. Picture this; you are on an overnight flight for 18 hours which basically means you are stuck in a plane full of people who have not brushed their teeth for a whole day. The

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-23833805700302255092008-06-26T22:43:00.003+05:302008-06-26T22:49:48.445+05:30

Oh what bliss !!, no potholes, no traffic jams, no blaring horns. I enjoy driving in the US. Of course, there are both differences and similarities to the way we drive back home in India. For example, they drive on the right side of the road here. But that is where the similarity ends.Now for the differences, firstly apart from the right side, we also drive on the left and every which way in

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-35484929834896999532008-06-19T02:36:00.002+05:302008-06-19T02:41:59.356+05:30

Jet lag is a wonderful thing. It gives you the perfect excuse to sleep at work.“You slept through the meeting today”“Sorry, jet lag”“You said the same thing yesterday and the day before. When will you get over it ?”“When will you stop having these meetings ?”But to be honest, eighteen hours of flight travel is indeed taxing. Especially, when you travel on an airline that does not have a personal

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-45220005303490321142008-06-10T19:56:00.002+05:302008-06-10T20:00:29.198+05:30

A long time ago, an English man came up with a bright idea to scratch himself in public. He called it ‘Cricket’. And since it also involved a lot of spitting on the ball, it was natural that cricket became very popular in India where spitting is a national sport. We practice it everywhere, through bus windows, while walking, when talking about politicians and so on.Over time cricket evolved into

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-6626558617696976742008-05-30T19:30:00.004+05:302008-05-30T19:34:56.637+05:30

Looks like this is a week of bizarre news, here is another one. Lady in the closetFor those of you who are too lazy to click on the link, here is a short summaryIn Japan, in a town called Fukuoka, a woman has been arrested for sneaking into a man's house and living in his closet without him knowing. Apparently, she was doing that for a year. He finally figured it out using surveillance cameras

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-86221738589057196542008-05-27T20:14:00.007+05:302008-05-27T20:26:16.651+05:30

The new Bangalore International Airport has been in the news the whole of this week. There have been both praises and curses about the new airport. To be fair, it sure does take some time for things to fall in place and hopefully it will happen soon. Although, call me pedantic if you will, I think it is fairly reasonable to expect an airport to know where its planes are. I refer to this news item

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-27028104702827782982008-05-20T20:51:00.003+05:302008-05-20T21:06:11.888+05:30

I am appalled, I tell you, simply appalled at the degradation of the English language in the hands of these cell phone users and their penchant for messaging. I suspect if Shakespeare had used SMS English, then Hamlet would be saying “2 b r not 2 b dats da qstn”. So in this post, I intend to take on the tough questions on the usage of English so that we may all write, like…you know, better or

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-51254606383730381362008-05-05T11:03:00.002+05:302008-05-05T11:09:48.002+05:30

[Preface: Since the past couple of weeks, I have been wondering if I could come up with a murder mystery with as few characters as possible and still create a doubt in the reader’s mind. So I took a shot at it. Do note that since I do not have the luxury to create an elaborate buildup of the storyline (this being a blog post), I have had to rely on conversations to build up the scenario. I don’t

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-30966030997467690822008-04-22T19:02:00.008+05:302008-04-22T19:17:42.980+05:30

Intelligence is a God given gift that not everyone is endowed with. And since you folks actually read this blog, it naturally follows that you must be atheists.This post is not about the merits (logical and irrefutable) or the demerits (you will burn in hell) of being an atheist because that’s a whole different topic. Instead, today I shall talk about what differentiates a less gifted person from

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-63241859090566916742008-04-16T18:00:00.003+05:302008-04-16T18:04:52.355+05:30

“Oh master, I have traveled from afar, All for a moment of audience with you Life has been tough and I am losing hope I seek your wisdom to help me through” “What ails you, my son?” asked the master.“Why do you despair so ? I sense grief in your heart And on your visage, it does show” And thus lamented the devotee “What used to cost one rupee now costs five Inflation is at an all time high Now I

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-5566679384639651302008-03-31T12:34:00.002+05:302008-03-31T12:37:50.185+05:30

Towards the end of last week, the unthinkable happened. Oh no, no, I am not talking about Rahul Dravid finally getting a hundred before the spectators died of old age. The issue was a lot less exciting than that. I was about to leave for work when my car refused to start. Nothing worked inspite of me trying over and over again. Well, being an experienced IT professional, I applied the standard

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-3991884561687121462008-03-24T11:30:00.001+05:302008-03-24T11:34:17.071+05:30

Ever woke up in the morning thinking “Damn, not another day doing the same old job"? Every one of us has felt at some point that what we do was the worst job in the world. That is a gross exaggeration unless...unless you are a specialist in curing piles and fistula. I saw this hoarding advertising a doctor who had expertise in this specific area of ailments, actually I have seen such hoardings

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-70133164492613222002008-03-03T12:11:00.002+05:302008-03-03T12:13:39.922+05:30

Sherlock Holmes looked at Watson; he had that glow on his face that suggested that he had figured out the answer to Watson’s challenge. Watson had got married for the second time and he had placed a bunch of photographs in front of Holmes defying Holmes to identify the person he had married. Holmes ruffled through the photos and finally picked one and handed it over to Watson.“There you go, she

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-85341746595394371852008-02-21T19:32:00.002+05:302008-02-21T19:36:24.207+05:30

Stress is a four letter word that makes your brain go all wonky like, for example, it hampers your ability to count the number of letters in a word. And in this modern world of constant pressure, stress can be a serious problem. Being a well informed and extremely well read professional, I shall, in this post, counsel you on how to handle stress. By the way, did I mention that stress can also

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-34475368382640303292008-02-14T09:34:00.000+05:302008-02-14T09:35:04.286+05:30

She had seen him stealing glances at her for many days now. Those coy smiles that he would throw at her every time their eyes met sent her heart racing. And on Valentine’s, she finally walked up to him and said “Open out your heart to me, as you look into my eyes, tell me what you see”. He replied “Well, that’s a pretty bad case of conjunctivitis you have there”. So she stabbed him with her

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-19213719390234632682008-01-30T20:17:00.001+05:302008-01-30T20:32:08.968+05:30

Sometimes my readers (both imaginary and real but mostly imaginary) send across questions that they are desperately looking for an answer to. Their questions range across a wide array of topics from office problems, to personal issues, to Paris Hilton’s latest exploits. But since this blog post has been certified PG 13, I refuse to entertain any questions on Paris Hilton. So let’s get started

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-61409680033349514332008-01-17T20:28:00.000+05:302008-01-17T20:30:40.302+05:30

He was smitten by her the moment he laid his eyes on her. She was the most exquisite thing that he had ever seen. He was trying to get her attention but she would not look his way. Was she playing hard to get or was she really not interested in him ?, he conspicuously kept moving around her, hoping to catch her eye. His efforts finally seemed to pay off as he saw her reciprocating his interest.

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-66287242134976103522008-01-08T19:21:00.000+05:302008-01-08T19:24:45.672+05:30

A year ago around this time, I made an indelible mark on the literary world, I spilled some coffee on a poetry book I had. And in an unrelated incident, I started blogging as well.So as I look back on the year that has gone by, I can proudly say that I have gone from being a ‘nobody’ to…well…‘Nobody’ (notice the capital ‘N’).You being a reader of this blog are really special too. This blog is the

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-29945570516902851162007-12-20T18:45:00.000+05:302007-12-20T18:49:02.259+05:30

Yet another bad hair day, I told myself this morning as I tried my best to press down an unruly mop of hair on my head that stuck out like a bunch of overgrown weeds on a neatly mowed lawn. The zit on my nose right between my eyes seemed to have gotten bigger overnight. Pushing thirty and still having problems with zits, that’s not really comforting. The traffic was a monster on my way to work

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-18956423181696840452007-12-10T19:52:00.000+05:302007-12-10T19:55:34.303+05:30

The winds of religious rhetoric have begun to pick up speed again in the subcontinent. Be it the Taslima Nasreen witch hunt or the Gujarat pre-election campaigning where Modi is going all out with his Hindutva babble, religion is again in focus for all the wrong reasons.I cannot help but wonder if our Gods up there are having a good laugh at all this insanity.The Jews await their Messiah, the

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-9468550746593836612007-12-05T10:16:00.000+05:302007-12-05T10:33:01.151+05:30

So what I suspected for a long time has finally been proved by Science that chimpanzees are smarter than you and me. http://deccanherald.com/Content/Dec52007/foreign2007120539491.aspFor a keen observer of the human race, this should come as no surprise. I can think of a few reasons why1. So how many world wars do you know that were started by chimps ?. We have two on our side and maybe if we try

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-31957072368078609242007-12-03T18:30:00.000+05:302007-12-03T20:41:16.759+05:30

One of my longest relationships came to an end this weekend. It was heartbreaking to say the least. But I had to do it, the holes on my t-shirt became so big that a freight train could pass through them. And it was with great difficulty that I brought myself to discard it.I am sure all of you have one such wardrobe jewel that you simply cannot part with. This t-shirt was with me for 9 long years

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-64496077839322644842007-11-27T17:41:00.000+05:302007-12-10T20:35:31.331+05:30

There is a lesser known story in the BibleAnd God said "Moses, take the children of Israel to safety and you have two options to do that, either take them through Bangalore or attempt the impossible". Moses took one look at the streets of Bangalore and decided that impossible was better so he parted the red sea. - Exodus 41 Every time I am stuck in a traffic jam, I fervently wish for the power

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-83553472897297818952007-11-19T14:00:00.000+05:302007-11-19T14:20:08.661+05:30

George Bush can now rest in peace for the weapons of mass destruction have finally been found.And I cooked them. Now if you can please rub that grin off your face, I can proceed to tell you that in spite of what it sounds like, I am not such a bad cook. Hmmm....on second thoughts, get the grin back on.Ok, let me narrate why such a state came to pass. I decided to try my hand at cooking this

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-16582748640610502582007-11-12T12:45:00.000+05:302007-11-12T20:13:26.263+05:30

I have had enough. A couple of weeks ago, a grandmother across the street beat me in walking up to the end of road. That did not bother me much, clearly grandma was on steroids. Following week, a school kid did that too, so ok it hurt a little. But then, a stray puppy out ran me on the streets and that, my dear readers, is simply unacceptable. My first impulse was to take my car out and drive

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-58382528080243334112007-10-30T18:23:00.000+05:302007-10-31T16:24:40.834+05:30

I love politicians. They make dung beetles look classy. I say this in reference to what is happening in my State right now. But it does not matter if you are not aware of the local politics of this State, I am sure you have your bunch of politicos who compete just as hard to keep the beetles on top.The hankering for power by politicians and the total lack of any principles serves one purpose, it

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-28171368472266152482007-10-30T08:14:00.000+05:302007-10-30T08:16:52.973+05:30

As we approach, November 1st, Karnataka Rajyothsava day (State formation anniversary of Karnataka), I would like to mention that Wikipedia is going to publish an article on Karnataka, as their Featured Article on their main page.Do check this out on Nov 1http://en.wikipedia.orgThe info on Karnataka can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnataka A friend of mine is a Wikipedia contributor

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-46553884783979923302007-10-26T12:21:00.000+05:302007-10-26T12:26:54.882+05:30

The Indian cricket team has been sued for insulting the national flag.Apparently, the way the flag was handled during the after match celebrations was deemed insulting. Team India accused of 'insulting' tricolourWe seem to be seeing more and more of such lawsuits that border on the trivial. A couple of months ago, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy was subjected to this farce as well for allegedly

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-78916621902523121432007-10-22T11:09:00.000+05:302007-10-22T12:46:16.205+05:30

I watched Spiderman-1 again this weekend and I must say I love this guy…I mean Spiderman the character not Toby McGuire. For me Spiderman is the best of the superheroes there is and I will tell you why. If you are a Batman or a Superman fan, stop reading now and do something else like watching cartoon network…Let's begin with Batman. Firstly, what kind of a superhero needs an assistant ?? If that

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-88670953418741871992007-10-11T18:00:00.000+05:302007-10-11T18:07:50.585+05:30

The Ig-Nobel prizes for 2007 were announced last week. Mr. Einstein please make way, here come the next set of breakthrough achievements that may impact science in ways unknown and preferably it will stay that way.2007 ig nobel winnersOf interest is the guy who won the Ig-Nobel for chemistry. He had this burst of inspiration and discovered a way to extract vanilla out of...hold your breath....cow

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-38765180225579223202007-10-03T19:06:00.001+05:302007-10-04T09:41:52.166+05:30

Africa, a continent that is ever so stunning in the diversity of wildlife, I have always wanted to witness the beauty of Serengeti and the raw wilderness of the Masai Mara. So I flew to Cambodia. You see I had a chance to avail a free round trip in lieu of the air miles that I had accumulated over the past few years. The air miles were good enough to take me as far as any country in south east

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-75361566356593183952007-10-01T10:28:00.000+05:302007-10-01T10:31:47.882+05:30

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"A quote that you may be forgiven for thinking was made by some gun toting general during a war. It was a war alright, a war against an empire and instead of a gun toting general, there was a thin, half naked old man with a stick. Win he did and how !!. I realise that this is my second post on Gandhi (after ‘In

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-27355907242622887122007-09-12T16:37:00.001+05:302007-09-12T17:44:35.218+05:30

At last, Russia now has a bomb that Greenpeace would be proud of. Russia builds 'most powerful bomb'The article mentions that the Russian deputy chief of military staff said that unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn't hurt the environment.Oh, bless the Lord, that's such a relief. Because when I am lying on the ground with my limbs missing and a few hundred thousand corpses strewn around, I

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-73067697082287715762007-09-10T13:55:00.000+05:302007-09-10T19:14:41.859+05:30

Of all relationships, friendship is the most valuable one especially if you have friends who can lend you money and think that you will one day pay them back. Mr. RelationshipMan shall today advise you on tips to keep the bond of friendship alive. Lesson 1 :As you grow older, the time that you spend on the phone with your friends drastically reduces. And it becomes that much more difficult to

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-25337557549268883382007-08-24T17:46:00.000+05:302007-08-24T17:50:35.011+05:30

There is a profound ancient Chinese proverb that goes "Never overestimate the amount of toothpaste left in the tube". Oh alright, it is not ancient nor is it Chinese, I just made it up. We all know that ancient Chinese never brushed their teeth, that's why they invented toothpicks.But you have to admit that it is profound. Anybody who has made the mistake of not buying a new tube until it is too

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-69706282992395606792007-08-02T09:53:00.000+05:302007-08-02T17:18:38.159+05:30

Am I the only one or is television really getting on everyone's nerves. May be we should conduct a poll on that one or better still get a panel of experts (aka anyone with an opinion) to discuss this for two hours. Not to mention, the constant stream of captioning that scrolls across the screen keeping me abreast of all information that I don't care jack about.Breaking news....We interrupt this

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-14817333454301644862007-07-23T16:31:00.000+05:302007-07-23T16:45:49.070+05:30

Ok, now we have our first woman president. This is a powerful statement on women empowerment, let's all applaud this defining moment of our post-independence history and please stop nitpicking about how this means squat for the common woman on the street. But then I digress, coming back to the presidency, the elections for the president is more of a display of political maneuvering by the ruling

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-29624733262297797112007-07-16T16:26:00.000+05:302007-07-23T12:27:44.504+05:30

I approach another intersection and the signal turns red. The vehicles behind me continue to honk urging me to jump the signal. After a while, they give up. I look around and see an autorickshaw to my right, the driver is revving up the engine in anticipation of the green. Behind me is a bus that is packed with people who are jostling for space. A couple of two wheelers squeeze in between me and

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-28783221273287060572007-07-02T18:58:00.000+05:302007-07-02T19:10:44.161+05:30

"I talk to dead people". No, this is not a line from a Shyamalan movie. But this is what possibly our future president is believed to have told (atleast the gist of it) in a public forum. I don't know much about Pratibha Patil but what I do know is that she will have to get a lot smarter at what comes out of her mouth if she has to pull off the presidency of India. She is being touted as the

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-61537485293109132352007-06-11T17:54:00.000+05:302007-06-11T17:58:17.258+05:30

It so happens that sometimes I begin thinking (I admit it does have a strain on me) and this time I came up with some completely zany ideas to help improve the state of affairs in this country. And as usual, they make a lot more sense if you read this after a glass of wine (how much sense? depends on how large the glass is). Here goes1. Remove all traffic rules but give everyone a gun. This way

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-19155600119357641432007-06-04T15:29:00.000+05:302007-06-04T15:39:00.113+05:30

There is a thin line between humour and prediction. A couple of months ago, I had uploaded a post titled 'Infratructure Woes'. Looks like someone else at CNN-IBN thought on similar lines. Check this out http://in.news.yahoo.com/070603/211/6gld6.htmlFor the record, it was me who first thought of this brain dead idea...where is my royalty cheque Mr.Sardesai !!

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-66968905275712647862007-06-01T15:00:00.000+05:302007-06-01T15:05:06.610+05:30

Everyone has a story, stories that intersect those of someone else at different points of time. How many of our stories have triggered completely new ones for so many others?. The stories happen all the time and will continue to do so long after we are gone. We have always strived to understand this, not the stories themselves but why they have so many ramifications on so many people. The

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-91296104516660113872007-05-16T18:13:00.000+05:302007-05-16T18:16:49.091+05:30

Uncomfortable Moment 1It so often happens in the workplace when you see this other colleague walking your way, both of you know each other but not enough to stop and have a conversation. That leaves just a smile and a ‘hi’. But the important part is the timing of when you do that. If you have eye contact too early when the other person is still a distance away, then you will be forced to say ‘hi’

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-81066966678405257562007-04-26T07:12:00.000+05:302007-04-26T07:14:59.396+05:30

“An equation to me is meaningless unless it expresses a thought of God” – Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dec 22 1887 – April 26 1920 )A man whose leaps of inspiration enriched the domain of number theory so much so that research into his works are still in progress. Only as recently as February, a group of mathematicians announced that they have finally solved the mystery of the mock theta functions that

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-83006279153023388372007-04-03T16:09:00.000+05:302007-04-03T16:15:36.435+05:30

The first rule of the stock market is “There is no stock price so low that you cant buy some more before it gets even lower” - yeah, you can quote me on this.This has been my mantra for stock market investments and it has not failed me ever. Today, I can claim to have discovered the fastest way to turn 100 bucks to 30 and it’s tax free !!!. Even a ring tailed lemur can invest better than I can. I

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-72092572755045261392007-03-22T17:50:00.000+05:302007-03-22T17:54:40.844+05:30

Picture this, you are driving along on the flyover on Richmond circle and right there, bang in the middle of the stretch, without any warning you see…that’s right....Sunil Shetty doing the Macarena…ha ha, I am kidding of course, we all know Sunil Shetty can’t dance. Seriously, you would see a traffic signal. A traffic signal on top of a flyover !!. Pardon my nitpicking but aren’t flyovers built

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-62372765633771658062007-03-12T18:23:00.000+05:302007-03-16T10:50:43.882+05:30

My latest hobby is bird watching. Did you know that crows and parrots are not the only birds around ?. Yeah I know, I was astounded as well. Apparently, there are many more species. So apart from crows and parrots, I can now identify blue birds (“Hey look, blue bird !!”), green birds (“Wow, green bird !!”) and ostriches. Though there are not many ostriches near where I stay, I am sure if one of

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-79366664489542975932007-03-05T12:07:00.000+05:302007-03-16T10:50:43.883+05:30

A few weeks ago, I was unfortunate enough to watch another braindead movie (or as Jack Nicholson would say "Is there another kind ?" ). The almost empty theatre should have been my first clue but I braved through hoping that this was a niche movie appealing to those with refined tastes or as I came to realize later..to those with IQ levels of a mop.The movie was so bad that three people died in

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-55237822859285911612007-02-19T11:36:00.000+05:302007-02-19T11:48:21.154+05:30

After a long time, I had the opportunity to do something I have wanted to for a really long time...to attend a herpetology workshop. No, it has nothing to do with herpes and no, it is not the study of your girlfriend's pets either. It is the study of snakes(actually reptiles and amphibians) and being interested in them from my childhood, I signed up, I also signed my will you know..just in case.

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-26319757257107192402007-02-13T12:20:00.000+05:302007-02-05T12:18:57.684+05:30

Given enough time, any system of practices tends to degrade and lose the essence for which it was created in the first place. And no where else has it manifested itself so apparently as in India. A country where rituals abound and sheer force of habit overcomes reason.I still remember from school, one stanza from Tagore’s Gitanjali that went something like ‘Where the clear stream of reason has

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-49341639141489648922007-01-30T13:40:00.000+05:302007-04-24T03:53:39.767+05:30

59 years ago on this day, three bullets from a 9mm beretta ended the life of one of the greatest men ever to have walked on earth. A man whose power of convictions changed the destiny of a nation. I am an unabashed admirer of the Mahatma. From my childhood days, I have held Gandhi in high regard. Initially, it was mostly because of what I was told in school. I must confess for a very brief period

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-77063512236934608042007-01-09T15:05:00.000+05:302007-01-09T15:12:07.004+05:30

In the corporate world of hectic activity and perpetual deadlines, it is always a challenge to keep expectations realistic and ensure that employees have some time for themselves. Work-life balance is an oft heard term to define this line between public and private time. In pursuit of this balance, some limit themselves to merely "doing their job" as defined by their roles. Individual capability

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219409023811021703.post-24349703500454345272007-01-05T19:29:00.000+05:302007-01-05T19:40:36.158+05:30

Finally found time to create a blog for myself. The challenge is to ensure that i post something regularly which of course nobody would care to read. Not that it really matters since I am..hmm..creating content on the Internet (according to the Time magazine is the reason why all of us internet users have been chosen as the 2006 Person of the year, which shows that they are running out of ideas

Aprameyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07140542224541400285noreply@blogger.com0