Shadows of the Sun...

Did you even want to send an email so that it reaches after a certain point of time? l8r is the solution. l8r is an interesting web email scheduling service that allows you to send time shifted e-mails. It could possibly have a number of uses. Here are a few that I came up with:

 

1) Send love notes to your spouce at regular periods of time by composing all at once.

 

2) Create birthday / anniversary wishes and schedule for later delivery, particularly if you are a person like me who keeps forgettting dates.

 

3) This is the way that I use it: I use it to post articles in my blog. Blog, as you might know, requires frequent updation

 

and no- l8r is not paying me to write this.

I have a rather peculiar problem and I wonder if there is anyone out there who shares it. Avid reader that I am, I experiment with new authours from time to time. When I do that, I usually like the first book that I read of the authour. Then when I moven on to his/her other works, I donot find it so interestng as the very first one. I always wondered why. Let me give you a few examples: I got hooked on to R.K.Narayana by reading "The guide". I never found any of his other books that matched up to beauty and complexity of "The Guide". "The English teacher" comes as a close second but only by so much. Michael chrichton's "Jurassic park", Thomas harris's "The red dragon", Sashi Taroor's "The riot", John grisham's "The partner", P.G.Wodehouse's "Thank you, Jeeves"... the list goes on endlessly - I like only the first one I read. Is it because I come to know about the authour because of his most popular work? (and therefore the best). Or is it because, for the first time, I am unfamiliar with the style and in the second time, I have a frame of reference?.

 

I remember somebody once said that a person can hope to write one or atmost two master pieces in his lifetime. I wonder if I read the authour'smaster pieces first. There are a few exceptions though -Arthur C Clarke, Carl sgan and  Eliyahu Goldratt. All the three never cease to fascinate me - no matter whatever book I pick of them.

Friday atlast! Atlast I have some time to do something meaningful. I am trying to put together information from different sources about the apple iphone. Here is where you can find out what I have been upto: http://iphonerevealed.blogspot.com/

Yesterday happened to be the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of this millenium (07-07-2007). Given the mysticism that surrounds the supposedly lucky number seven, you would think that people around the world would probably find this date amusing at the most and carry on with thier normal lives. I wish people were so sane (me included). There were interesting reports in magazines about how wedding chappels around the country were booked months ahead on this date. You would think it must be a coincidence, right? 'After all, it is a nice summer Saturday. So, whats the big deal?' I hear you asking. In contrast, a year before, on 6th June (06-06-06), Wedding chappels saw the lowest level of bookings in years. (6-6-6 is a Satan's number) Coincidence again? Nah. People are smitten by the lucky seven bug. It is fascinating to see how many businesses encash on this oppurtunity. A Casino named Foxwoods announced that it would give aways 7000$ every other hour to lucky winners and would give away 77,777 $ to one lucky winner at 7:07 PM for this day. My friend Pawan and I, for lack of better things to do, decided to go. (hee.. hee... scratch... scratch..)

 

I belong to the category of people who enjoy the drive more than the destinations. And what a drive it was. A sports car, scenic roads, great music, light traffic, and an eager anticipation of the night ahead. Somebody said that heaven must be a sexual moment frozen in time. To me, heaven is that never ending drive. The beauty of the american country side never ceases to fascinate me. When I see the lush green trees gently swaying against the wind in warm sunshine all along the way, I can identify with the great american love affair with the roads.

 

When we reached Foxwoods, we could understand that there is such a thing as over-promoting an event. Cars were lined up a mile ahead of the Casino. All of them smitten by the lucky seven bug, I could tell. We reached there around 8:30 PM. With the parking lot already full and no one ready to leave the casino yet, It took us about an hour to find a parking space.

 

Did we tell you about our state of financial affairs? My friend had about 10 bucks in his account. In contrast, I had considerably more - all of it borrowed! So what can possibly explain our two hour drive to a casino ?  No, we did not come here in hope of winning a fortune. We came here to feel the rush of gambling with no money to buy gas on our way back. There is a beautiful saying that my friend keeps telling me, "You have to be young and stupid in order to be old and wise".

 

If you have never been to a casino, I strongly suggest that you should go to one. If not for gambling, atleast for the experience. Casino's are entire townships by thier own right. As Casinos really like to attract and retain within thier premisses as many people as possible, you can find all kinds of avenues for shopping, food and entertainment other than gambling.

 

Given our financial constraints, we could not possibly play any of my favourites- the Russian roulette, Black Jack, Craps or Poker. We settled for the 1 cent slot machines. (hee.. hee...) The best part about the slot machines is that you can play for quite a while without loosing much. We played for quite a while before we finally got tired and decided to leave. We lost about 20 bucks each. I guess the only lucky ones were the casino guys.

 

This years July 4th happens to be the first anniversary of my acceptance to join Babson college. People in Boston decided to commomerate the occassion with much fanfare and fireworks.  I personally do not prefer such publicity so I hesited initially. They kept insisiting so I finally let them have thier way. (In an unrelated note, somebody also mentioned that it was also America's independance day - an amazing coincidence, I must admit). So we had the presidential convoy waiting at 10:00 PM to takes us to see the fireworks. We didn't want to attract too much attention so we decided to take the subway instead. I told my friends to maintain a low key as I didn't want to attract undue attention.  I knew that is not going to be possible with all the media coverage that my blog is recieving. As we were getting dressed in mundane street cloathes, my friend reminded me to take my pen. I thanked him for his presence of mind. With fans rushing for autographs at all possible places, a pen is defenitely a good thing to have. When we arrived, the place was jam packed. I guess half of Boston was at the river banks to watch the fireworks. Luckily for us, they were too engrossed with the fireworks to notice me. So, here folks - here are the photos.

 

 

        The advertisement spending on all internet sites in india is still under 50 Million USD in India. (Somebodt told me that this is less then Google's coffee budget).  Websites which offer services like retail, automotive, leisure, entertainment, and packaged goods (B to C) segment, however, has amassed significant clout and it is now estimated that internet based revenues of these business stand around 150 Million USD. It is indeed surprising that a matrimonial site should alone have revenues of 30 Million USD which is a huge chunk of the B to C market. Finally someone has found something on the internet that people of India are willing to pay for.

        Matrimonial sites are a unique product of our times. I remember scoring through newspaper matrimonial columns with my father and online with my mother when we were trying to find a suitable alliance for my sister. It is both a entertaining and an enlightening experience. I have come to believe that it is a true reflection of the state of our society.

       How would you define beauty? Going through the matrimonial profiles, I get the impression that it is almost inconcievable to define beauty without adding the suffix "fair skinned or light skinned" to it. I won't be so presumptous to suggest that Indian obsession with fair skin takes from thier erstwhile light skinned english masters. I will also not go so far to state that it is a reinforcement of the superiourity of the skin colour aka the varna or caste system in India. I leave these debates to bigger and better minds. I believe in seeing things as it is-not good or bad, just as it is. I guess there is a unwritten societal concenses on what is beautiful. I wonder if they mention "small feet" in chinese matrimonials.

       So much has changed over the years and yet there is so much that needs change. On the bright side of things, it is not uncommon to find matrimonial ads with brides who openly refuse to pay dowry. It is also not impossible to find matrimonials which declare "Religion / caste no bar". The issue is that such ads are few and far between. I guess a lot of the brides and bridegrooms are pacifists like me. They leave anti-caste idealism when they leave movie theaters.

       With nearly 90,000 engineering graduates graduating from Tamilnadu (my home state) alone, I wonder why the "Engineer" tag hasn't lost it lusture yet. So many parents still look for engineer bridegrooms for thier daughters. It used to make sense in the license Raj when doctors and engineers were the only folks who made a decent amount of money. Not so now. Oh well, I guess some habits die hard. ( I hope it dosen't change any time soon as I am an engineer myself. hee... hee....)

        You know what is the most irritating aspect of the whole affair?  Parent's or siblings filling the matrimonial profiles! While there is nothing inherantly wrong with it, absurd stuff comes up in the "about me" and the "partner preference" sections of the profile. Here are a few gems from the "about me" section filled by parents: "adjustable girl. " (I swear. that was all!), "she is very brilliant.she is interest by doing extra actives ex: drawing,abacus", "Probably very active.", "My sister is a very homely and lovable girl.". After spending twenty odd years with somebody, Is this the best you could come up with to describe the person?

Yeah...It sure is funny. A bit of background first. I shall start with the distinction between an arranged marriage and "Love" Marriage. (hee..hee.., for lack of better word!) No, I am not going to dwelve into the intricate details of the two. On the surface, in most "Love" marriages, (note the word "most") there is much emotion attached to it that people who are in love with each other and decide to get married against the will of thier parents. It often so happens that they overlook the other crucial aspects of life such as social and financial issues. Some 'love" marriages end up in failure because of this.

         On the other hand, arranged marriages have thier short comings as well. There is often so much objectivitiy to the whole process of matchmaking. So much effort goes into horoscope match, Family background checking, social status, financial status, reference checks and stuff like that. However, match making on an emotional level, which is so crucial to the success of a marriage, takes a backseat in the whole process.  So what we have here are two flawed match making processes where one is too emotional and the other is so objective. Both have thier flaws. We need a different answer! . 

         Now, I understand the question in your mind - Where do I stand in all this? You know, honestly, unlike other issues, I refuse to take a stand on this one. While most liberals would argue for "Love" marriage, I have some serious reservations other than those mentioned above. First - time. Developing and building relations takes time. When I was working, My job as a mechanical engineer by definition does not attract many women. So finding someone was challenge. (Challenge is an understatement). I also happened to live in a deprived part of the world. Dating sites? I hear you ask me. Again, time. My job destroyed all hope of having a life outside of my office. This is a lame excuse, I know, but a honest one nevertheless.

         Second-I also have come to realise that I have been brought up to possess way too many inhibitions to make any reasonable efforts in this direction. Some traits have got so deeply ingrained in me that it is so hard to change. Again, I am not apologetic about it. It is the way I am. Honestly, I don't believe in caste or horoscopes or stuff like that, but then again, if there is someone who matches all my requirements and also those of my parents, I have no problem with that. Some people are incredulous when they hear this. 'How can you let your parents choose your life partner for you?' They ask me. 'Maybe it is not such a bad thing. My parents know more about me than I know about myself' I tell them. 'I always have the right to refuse someone I don't like' I try telling them. They refuse to understand. Oh well, It does take all types of people to make this world. Am I a liberal or a conservative? I am neither, I guess I am a realist.

         My dad asked me the other day what I expect from my life partner. I was struggling to give him an answer that he could use as criteria to select prospective brides. So many of the charachteristics that I was looking for cannot come out in the way traditional arranged marriage match making process. So I am facing a dead end again. All hope is lost? Well, not really. I am experimenting with these matrimonial sites. I am yet to see if any good can come out of it. On the outset, it does look promising. My impressions will follow in my next post. Watch out.