Hey guys,
I have created the website for my mother. It is a very basic website. Check it out at www.akalpitaparanjpe.com. Do pass on the word about her candidature to all you know. We need the change and passing on the word is the minimum we can do.
Yashwantrao gele Americela will be back soon
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Rukawat ke liye khed hai
Sorry for the delay in posting blogs of late friends. I am currently (rather unsuccessfully) working on a website for my mother who is contesting the elections from Mumbai South Central Constituency. This is taking up a lot of my free time and therefore, no blogs. Sorry.
On a more serious note, I would like to post more information about my mother's candidature. My mother has always had a passion to serve people. For 25 years, she held free consultations thrice a week to guide people on homeopathic and ayurvedic medicine. I always saw her as a visionary with dreams of serving the country and got the feeling that us three kids were holding her back. Once we were all out of college, she began to focus on her true passion, nation building. In 2007, she quit her job and dedicated herself full time to her passion. I truly believe her to be a great candidate, a brilliant scientist with the vision and passion to lead a samartha samruddha Bharat desh.
She is contesting as a candidate for Bharat Uday Mission, a party with only one mission, the rise of a great nation. This party was initiated by IITians 3-4 years ago to promote professionalism in politics and remove corruption. My mother is its current president. For more information on the party, you can visit their website at www.bharatudaymission.in.
Please pass on the word about her candidature. If you are interested in knowing more about it, mail me at shriniram@gmail.com or leave a comment and I will get back to you with her vision, her goals and her biography.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
YGA becomes a bestseller
In a strong testimony to the popularity of this blog, Yashwantrao gele Americela (Hindi title - Yashwantrao gaye Amrika) has found a place in the Book Channel's "One billion things to read before you die" guide. According to their website, the list was created after asking everyone on the planet for their vote. Yash's book was nominated by him, his parents and two of his room-mates. The researchers involved were surprised by the high number of blogs that found a place on the list, 99% of this one nominated by one person or less. In a shocking turn of events, one of the most popular literary figures of all time, William Shakespeare found none of his books on the list.
In an unrelated story, Wikipedia reports that none of the Bard's relatives are alive today.
In an unrelated story, Wikipedia reports that none of the Bard's relatives are alive today.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The birthday that changed it all
We continue today with another excerpt from Yashwantrao gele Americela. The topic is the birthday of Narendra Sharma aka my room-mate urf Jaipur ke kunwar-raj alias nirvanainme also known as Bebe.
"It was Spring of 2009 when the birthday of nirvanainhim Narendra Sharma changed all laws of birthdays. Here are some myths that were shattered (or proven if exceptions prove the rule:
1) A birthday party makes the house dirty: Our house was actually cleaner after the party since we had to clean up the table to place the cake, chips etc and those got finished so the house was cleaner.
2) Cake is bad for the carpet: Commonly cakes have a problem of falling to the ground after being applied on the face. However, due to optimization by all the Industrial Engineers and IITians present, proper cake texturization with guidance from the food scientist (my roommate Shriram) and 99.99% absolute pure luck, the cake had enough adhesion to stick to Narendra's face and was not a slave of gravity.
This also helped in the house being cleaner after the party.
3) Chappals and shoes do not hurt once you have attained moksha: Narendra was given his last set of birthday bumps (or so the grad students claimed as they let off all their frustrations) since he would be married by his next birthday. Although Narendra has seemingly attained nirvana (freedom from suffering), the smile disappeared on each shot.
Here are some pictures from the party. To find out more myths that were shattered at that party, read "Yashwantrao gele Americela" out in hardcover and paperback only from Deshmukh Publications, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Maharashtra, India. Available online at www.yashwantraogeleamericela.com. Price only Rs.999 ($34.99 in the US)
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Yashwantrao gele Americela to continue
I have decided to restart the book excerpts. I have to say the book excerpts did bring their own publicity despite the lack of a suit against me. The blogs on the book excerpts attracted a grand total of 2 (non self) comments. What's more, they attracted a comment on the immediate next blog post, more of a UNESCO report to the Gossip girl status of the book excerpts. All of this led to 3 consecutive posts getting their own comments, a flurry of activity unseen in the history of this blog. Therefore, the book excerpts are back on public demand!!!
However, since all of the above information can be detrimental to the pride of the blog owner, the official story is that we were paid to cover the book. The author of the book begged for the additional publicity this blog was generating on his facebook page. It is rumored that since this blog went live with his book excerpts, his profile has been bombarded with a flurry of no activity at all.
However, since all of the above information can be detrimental to the pride of the blog owner, the official story is that we were paid to cover the book. The author of the book begged for the additional publicity this blog was generating on his facebook page. It is rumored that since this blog went live with his book excerpts, his profile has been bombarded with a flurry of no activity at all.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Somebody else's problem field
I have been reading my creativity bible daily for the past couple of weeks (that being the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - the trilogy in 5 parts by the late Douglas Adams). I am constantly amazed by the amazing lateral thinking of the guy and how he makes amazing 'scientific' theories from human behavior.
One of these theories is the basis for his invisibility cloak. The concept behind the cloak is "Somebody Else's problem field". As you may have guessed, the 'scientific theory' is that people ignore stuff that they believe is somebody else's problem thus making it invisible in their minds. This is a not just great material for (comic) science fiction but also a deep philosophical thought.
If we just look around, we are all affected by this. As I think of it, I often rush to our lab manager when my computer is not working or when the internet has problems. He then suggests solutions which make me think "Why did I not try that." Often it is a solution that I have tried at home when my laptop or the wireless network at home is not working. However, I do not think about it at work because out there, it is someone else's problem. Now, if I get a problem, I try to see it as my problem and solve it before going to him (I always used to try and solve it before but I guess the SEP realization changed the thought pattern).
There are many such occasions in all our lives and we need to identify and change them. Although I gave an example from work, the bigger problems are with the poor, the sick, the oppressed and we need to treat their problems as ours and make sure that the less fortunate are not 'invisible' to us.
One of these theories is the basis for his invisibility cloak. The concept behind the cloak is "Somebody Else's problem field". As you may have guessed, the 'scientific theory' is that people ignore stuff that they believe is somebody else's problem thus making it invisible in their minds. This is a not just great material for (comic) science fiction but also a deep philosophical thought.
If we just look around, we are all affected by this. As I think of it, I often rush to our lab manager when my computer is not working or when the internet has problems. He then suggests solutions which make me think "Why did I not try that." Often it is a solution that I have tried at home when my laptop or the wireless network at home is not working. However, I do not think about it at work because out there, it is someone else's problem. Now, if I get a problem, I try to see it as my problem and solve it before going to him (I always used to try and solve it before but I guess the SEP realization changed the thought pattern).
There are many such occasions in all our lives and we need to identify and change them. Although I gave an example from work, the bigger problems are with the poor, the sick, the oppressed and we need to treat their problems as ours and make sure that the less fortunate are not 'invisible' to us.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
The end of the book excerpts
This blog was planning to continue the exclusive book excerpts from the book by Yash but he nor his agents have sued me yet and therefore, I am unable to extract additional publicity from this posting. Therefore, I am discontinuing the exclusive excerpts.
Friday, April 03, 2009
The book excerpt continues
We continue with our promised and much awaited exclusive book excerpt from Yashwantrao gele Americela (Yashwantrao went to America)
"One sign of progress is clean drinking water. If this is a marker of progress, however, West Lafayette is certainly in the stone age. The reason I chose the stone age is because the water seems to be purified with stones (or maybe, the water is spring water - from Stony Brooks). Look at the color of tap water shown in the picture below (the one on top, the other one being Walmart drinking water). Would you want to drink that water or have a shower in it? Well, we can avoid drinking it but with regards to showering we have no alternatives.
What the picture does not show is the quality of the water minus the stony complexion. On the days, the water is colorless, it still tastes like stones (hard water). Maybe they remove the color after the stone purification. Whatever it is, if this is the quality of water in the 6th most educated small township in America, give me my Pune anyday"
"One sign of progress is clean drinking water. If this is a marker of progress, however, West Lafayette is certainly in the stone age. The reason I chose the stone age is because the water seems to be purified with stones (or maybe, the water is spring water - from Stony Brooks). Look at the color of tap water shown in the picture below (the one on top, the other one being Walmart drinking water). Would you want to drink that water or have a shower in it? Well, we can avoid drinking it but with regards to showering we have no alternatives.
What the picture does not show is the quality of the water minus the stony complexion. On the days, the water is colorless, it still tastes like stones (hard water). Maybe they remove the color after the stone purification. Whatever it is, if this is the quality of water in the 6th most educated small township in America, give me my Pune anyday"
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Retraction
I should retract the statements I made about Earth day a few blog-posts ago. I still believe that we are becoming a generation which is hell bent on raising awareness without doing anything but maybe there is a valid reason for it.
I was at a symposium on sustainability yesterday and had dinner with one of the speakers later. The speaker was from a major food company and mentioned that their company began pushing for it after its CEO attended a conference on global warming and became aware of the impact it had on the environment. Maybe, that is the best way to proceed with hot topics in today's world. Every additional person that is aware of a particular problem is on a sub-conscious level going to work on it. If through this chain, we reach an important person in a position of power, that is going to affect millionsand make a big impact towards solving the problem.
Also, the previous generation did have doers but the major problem that created was a lot of strikes, movements etc which often created animosity without ending the problem. This generation has realized that we are, at the end of the day, not important enough as individuals to make big differences. Our actions may not have a big impact on society. However, if awareness is raised in society, the big corporations and leaders observe this and make the necessary changes.
After all, we are in a world where big corporations are keeping an eye on what we are doing not directly by asking us but through stealth. There was a documentary recently on CNBC which showed how corporations can, if they want, track every photo we take, every CD we burn and every move we make. There is also a website, pipl.com, which keeps track of every reference of your name on the internet and sorta has a 'file' on you. This website needs to make money and corporations need data to understand you better. So, the more people that are aware of problems and the more we let corporations and politicians know that we care about them (through seemingly stupid ways such as writing in tweets or by tying a band), the more they are likely to change. Hail Earth day! Peace dudes and dames.
Though it is interesting how the world works. The previous generation had to shout themselves hoarse and noone listened. Today, we know that they turn a blind eye to us because they are eavesdropping on us so if we whisper our concerns, they are more likely to get it.
PS: Sorry for going all over the place in this post. I wanted to bring in a lot of points and did not really give any thought to an order.
I was at a symposium on sustainability yesterday and had dinner with one of the speakers later. The speaker was from a major food company and mentioned that their company began pushing for it after its CEO attended a conference on global warming and became aware of the impact it had on the environment. Maybe, that is the best way to proceed with hot topics in today's world. Every additional person that is aware of a particular problem is on a sub-conscious level going to work on it. If through this chain, we reach an important person in a position of power, that is going to affect millionsand make a big impact towards solving the problem.
Also, the previous generation did have doers but the major problem that created was a lot of strikes, movements etc which often created animosity without ending the problem. This generation has realized that we are, at the end of the day, not important enough as individuals to make big differences. Our actions may not have a big impact on society. However, if awareness is raised in society, the big corporations and leaders observe this and make the necessary changes.
After all, we are in a world where big corporations are keeping an eye on what we are doing not directly by asking us but through stealth. There was a documentary recently on CNBC which showed how corporations can, if they want, track every photo we take, every CD we burn and every move we make. There is also a website, pipl.com, which keeps track of every reference of your name on the internet and sorta has a 'file' on you. This website needs to make money and corporations need data to understand you better. So, the more people that are aware of problems and the more we let corporations and politicians know that we care about them (through seemingly stupid ways such as writing in tweets or by tying a band), the more they are likely to change. Hail Earth day! Peace dudes and dames.
Though it is interesting how the world works. The previous generation had to shout themselves hoarse and noone listened. Today, we know that they turn a blind eye to us because they are eavesdropping on us so if we whisper our concerns, they are more likely to get it.
PS: Sorry for going all over the place in this post. I wanted to bring in a lot of points and did not really give any thought to an order.
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