1466

Finally I started posting blogs at my new opinion site. Check out today's article on Indian Railways Budget at http://vadapoda.blogspot.com/2008/02/indian-railways-budget-2008.html

It was 1 A.M., and I had to draw money from the ATM to book hotel rooms for my parents when they come down here to IIM Indore for my convocation. I thought I'll take a walk to the ATM. It was a pleasant night, a perfect time to walk. But what struck me most was the quietness of the entire hillock which was only broken by the rustle of the dried leaves and the occasional vehicle that passed by on the Pithampur Road. The road from hostel to the main gate (where the ATM is located) was fully lit by sodium vapour lamps, giving everything an eerie glow. It was a very different feeling to walk alone in such a setting at that time of the night. The whole walk was as such uneventful. While coming back, I had an idea. Why not count the number of steps I need to take to walk from the main gate to my room? I got so engrossed in doing this count that I don't even remember how exactly I made it to my block. But finally, I had a concrete number in mind - 1466.

Now, if somebody asks me for a walk to the main gate or ATM I can respond in one of these ways:

• "Oh sure, now I'll have 1466 steps of walk to enjoy with you."
  
• "Look buddy, it's gonna take me 1466 steps. And I'm not ready to waste so much time and energy right now."

Anyway, all these wishful thinking of alternate ways of responding are numbered. With just about a week or so left here, I am more than willing to go for a walk any time. It will end up being "A Walk to Remember".

Below are some night time pictures that I took along with Robin during a photo walk we made a few days back.

It's finally here!

My long standing wish of splitting my current blog into a personal and an opinion blog has come true today with the successful launch of Vada Poda site. Hereafter, this blog is fully dedicated to be my personal journal while Vada Poda will be the medium for voicing my thoughts.

Check out http://vadapoda.co.cc

Vista in XP

I spent the whole of yesterday tweaking my computer. Thanks to the Vista Transformation Pack and other third party applications, my laptop now has the body of XP but the face of Vista. This is how my screen looks now.

Here's the list of applications to be installed for achieving the transformation:

• Vista Transformation Pack
• People using Intel's Graphics Driver may get an error message while installing this. They will need to download this patch and follow the steps given in that.
  
• LClock for getting Vista-like clock
• True Transparency for transparent windows and borders.
• ViStart for Vista-like Start Menu
• Visual Tooltip
• WinFlip for 3D Win+Tab switching
• Google Desktop sidebar

Update:
Here's the one-click link to all the relevant files.

Cultural Differences

It's quite interesting to see the way interpersonal interaction changes from one culture to another.

During my trip to New Delhi recently, I happened to go to Saravana Bhavan for lunch. Since I was dining alone, I got to share the table with another person. When I went to the table, there was a person already sitting. A quick 'hi' to him just got a nod. He was waiting for his lunch to come he was free. Any sort of attempt to strike a conversation was futile. And then he got busy on his mobile phones. I gave up and started giving my order. He finished his lunch and left. A few minutes later a Chinese girl came and took the same seat. And boy, she was really talkative. From trying to find out the type of food that will taste good to the purpose each one of us were there in Delhi, the conversation was pretty interesting. I had to leave in a few minutes of meeting her, but we seemed to know atleast something about each other and the type of culture we are from.

Two persons with so much contrasts, within a span of few minutes. Maybe the guy was thinking just about the work he had in mind and so he didn't talk. Maybe being a girl from around my age and from a different culture, I just happened to talk a lot to her. But considering the fact that I am not someone who easily starts talking to strangers and especially girls, I can only see how differences in culture make people act differently.