How to be a Bond girl

This article (link through www.mi6.co.uk) outlines the latest fitness craze to hit the USA.

As if the female of the species wasnt already deadlier than the male !

Brain's sarcasm center located

According to this article, researchers have located the brain's sarcasm center.

On a 'related' note, Sarchasm is defined as "The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn't get it." Source of this definition and other words are here.

A disturbing trend

This article in The Hindu mentions that stressed students, before and after the Plus 2 exams, have kept the distress helpline busy. Most of the callers say that they considered committing suicide. The most disturbing fact about this is that some of these suicide-comtemplating students have scored as high as 88% !

What sort of society are we turning into where anything less than 90% is considered too "low" ? Since when did 95% marks become de rigueur ? Why is it unacceptable for a student to score less than 90% ?

Some parents do their bit by constantly pushing their wards to score high grades, telling them that if they score poor grades, their entire future will go down the drain. And since "high grades" are defined by grades in the higher nineties, is it any surprise that only a select few get there, whereas the less-fortunate are left to jam the distress lines and vent their thoughts about taking their own lives ?

Time and again, the follies of depending on the results of just one exam to determine the fate of a student has been highlighted in commission after commission, survey after survey. But do the authorities in question have any intention of implementing the recommendations of the survey ?

While congratulating those who top-scored in the exams, we would do well to keep in mind that some of the low-scorers "may be...potentially superior to those who just memorise and do well in examinations, without comprehending very much."( Yashpal Committee Report 1993).

Let this thought provide succour to the minds of those who are complating such dramatic actions such as taking their own lives.

May this also serve as a pointer to those parents who compare the performance of their wards with others and spur children towards competition.

Revenge of the Sith

Read an excellent review of "Revenge of the Sith" at DecentFilms.com by Steven Greydanus. Click here to read.

SPOILER WARNING : If you havent seen the movie, you may want to give the review a miss.

R(ough) D(igital) X(perience)

Navin, Vidya, Shanthi and I went to Sathyam Theatre to see "Revenge of the Sith" yesterday. The movie was a grand visual spectacle and as dark and foreboding as the reviews mentioned.

The digital projection system installed at the theatre delivered rich sound and crystal clear pictures...whenever it was working, that is ! Our movie viewing was marred by the occurence of a couple of technical snags, the second one lasting almost 15mins just as Master Windu and Emperor Palpatine were wrapping up their duel.

As Navin and I went out into the lobby to find out what was happening, we found a small group of people talking to the theatre management folks. They informed us that the outages were due to power failure compounded with a malfunctioning UPS.

Apparently, the digital projection system takes about 20mins to "reboot", which was what happened during the second time we lost power. We were further informed that the digital system had been tested for about a month before it went mainstream on May 20. We were assured that these wrinkles in the system would soon be ironed out.

I have high regards for the management of Sathyam Theatres, after they managed to locate(at 2am !) a mobile phone that I lost in their premises, and hope that they do deliver a Real Digital Xperience soon !

Fan(atic)s of the Force

The Beeb has a reporter's log covering his experiences at the Star Wars movie marathon at Leicester Square in London.

Reading the log makes me go (yoda)green with envy ! If only I had been in London now....

Went to Sathyam Theatre yesterday to find out when advance bookings for "Revenge of the Sith" will open. The "helpful" person at the counter asked me to check the newspapers. I thought briefly of crushing his trachea a la Darth Vader, but since my midichlorian count was running somewhat low yesterday, thanks to a recent viral infection, I desisted.

Akshaya Trithiyai

"What is Akshaya Trithiyai ?", asked Suchi on Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM today. This was the SMS Poll Question on her programme "Hello Chennai".

Choices :

a. Akshay Kumar's bday
b. A day to "thiruthu"-fy("Thiruthu", Tamil for "Correct") Akshay Kumar's mistakes
c. None of the above(I dont care, just gimme the prize)

My answer : an occasion for people to engage in a mass hysterical act of buying gold in the fervent hope that they will continue to get wealth throughout the year to follow.

Traditionally, it was believed that if a person performed a good deed on this day, he/she would be rewarded multi-fold. The usual practise was to give food and clothing to the needy. Gradually, people began to believe that any deed(especially, buying gold for oneself) would be rewarded multi-fold ! The jewellery companies were quick to catch on to this practise, with the result that this day witnesses people indulge in a frenzied shopping for gold.

This year, elaborate traffic arrangements have been made in and around T.Nagar(where most of the jewellery shops are) so that people will not be inconvenienced in their efforts to "acquire wealth". Most jewellery outlets in this area are open from 6:30am to 10:00pm today !

Most jewellery outlets allowed people to book jewellery a week in advance and collect it today ! No mess, no fuss !

Quite a few Indians have joined the billionaires club in recent years. Reasons: Entrepreneurial skills ? Booming Indian Economy ? Or buying gold during Akshaya Trithiyai ? You decide.

As for me, I am going to step out and buy that gold ring that I reserved during last year's Akshaya Thrithiyai.

Guruvayoor Trip

Athirapally Falls
Originally uploaded by s vibhu.

Made a trip to Guruvayoor for Raghu's wedding on May 6.

Also visited the splendid Athirapally Falls. Navin, Naveen and I were totally bushed by the time we finished viewing the falls, but it was worth it !

"Objective Reality"

According to this article on the BBC, tsunami victims in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands received some "ridiculous" cheques, as tsunami relief, from the Indian government. The one that takes the cake is a cheque for the sum of Rs.2 !

The island administration has said that it is now probing the incident.

Genesis

After some persuasion from friends, colleagues and other "do-gooders", I decided to take the plunge into the blogging scene. It remains to be seen if I am as profilic as some bloggers whose output I have read and relished. Will my innate sense of laziness triumph over my ambition to share my thoughts and ideas ? Time will tell....