T20 League in Dubai ?

This is just a test of effect of IPL on International Test Cricket. The success of IPL has apparently triggered similar event in Pakistan. I am just waiting for UAE to host its own version of T20 league. It is quite clear that the amount of money that has been pumped in IPL has a lot to do with its success. And no one in this solar system can compete with Dubai when it comes to spending money on such things. I won't be surprised if the deals cross billion dollars mark if Dubai jumps in.

It would be interesting to see what England and "rest" of the "third world" cricketing nations then do to stay alive...

I want everything in my life but am not prepared to do the required hard work.... Hopeless

Yahoo spam filter

I often use self emails (email sent by me to me) as reminders. Few days back I sent an email to myself with something I wanted to the next day. And Yahoo spam filter marked that as "spam". On the other hand it fails to filter at least 5 messages per day which are real spams.

This is ridiculous. I haven't seen a worse spam filter. No wonder Microsoft is offering only $42 billion for the take over...

Even fewer reasons to go back

Accept it. There are much better carrier opportunities in US compared to India. Especially in the field I am in (Computer Science). There are a lot of other reasons as well for me not to go back to India. And in addition to all those, I got this news that our (so called) honorable Supreme Court has ruled in favor of government in the OBC reservation case. So now in addition to SC, ST and women (in some cases) even OBCs will get their cut of the cake. If MNS and Mr. Raj Thackrey had their way, they will also introduce regional reservations. Wow...

Knowing all this, why should I even consider going to a place where I know my children will be discriminated? Why should I even bother about it ? As far as I can see such decisions will be leading to the ultimate doom of Indian people and the nation as it exists today. So why shouldn't I secure my future. Of course, you may say that true Indian should fight rather than running away from battle. But who am I fighting with? They are neither Britons nor Afghan raiders, They are my fellow countrymen. And I see no point in it. Some may argue (reminds me of Madhavan in RDB), that I have to go their and change it. But to be honest I don't have balls to do that. There is a nice quote in RDB that (effectively) says "If you are unhappy with a system, either change it or accept it". I can do neither. So I decide to leave it. And I don't see anything wrong in that.

I know that in this country (US) I will always be treated as "resident alien" but at least my children will not suffer. Whereas in India, not just me or my kids but (possibly) my generations to come will suffer for crimes committed by my ancestors. So it makes all the sense to leave it to its fate.

Next time someone in India talks about brain drain, I will be ready to whack his ass.

And now its a hail-storm

Last one year has been .... funny. I have experienced every damn weather condition. First it was intense Hyderabad heat. Then came enervating Mumbai-humidity. Just before I left for Uncle Sam's land, I saw crazy Mumbai-Monsoon.

Then it was beautiful Lansing Fall followed by bone-chilling winter. Now, the snow has melted and spring is round the corner (some say it has already arrived but I disagree). Today, I was caught in a hail-storm followed by torrential rains. It was fun (yes despite the chilling winds it was fun).

I am blessed !!!

Finally my laptop is complete

As I had written in one of my older posts, I was facing issues with sound drivers. ALSA was not able to record anything and OSS was recording but not playing anything. I even fiddled with Pulse Audio but had fell back on alsa. Today I installed latest OSS (just because I did not want to study). And to my surprise this version actually does work. I can play and record. That was a pleasant shock. When I first switched to GNU/Linux, a lot of things were missing (webcam being one of those). Today for the first time in last one year, every feature that my laptop hardware offers is being used. I am happy.

Long live Gnu....

The Fellowship of The Ring

Today I completed first part of the great book by JRR Tolkien. Many may consider this absolutely insignificant. But some who know me will appreciate it. I must accept, I am nowhere near a good reader. I don't even read newspaper completely. It took me many months to read this one. So for me it is an achievement. It renews my confidence that I can complete the entire book.

Anyways, Having read it, I must say that Peter Jackson has done a splendid job. He has captured all that is important without hurting the theme much. Of course, he has changed a few things here and there, but that's acceptable as "cinematic liberty". In fact I did find the book boring and uninteresting in places and Jackson has smartly abridged those portions or dropped them altogether. Otherwise, he really has tried to capture the exact words of Tolkien. In fact, I would have never considered reading this book if it was not for the Jackson's trilogy.