The Grasshopper

A very interesting article that was forwarded to me by a friend. So accurately reflecting the state of affairs in India I had to blog it.

Subject: The Grasshopper

OLD VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building
his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper
thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food
or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building
his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper
thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a
table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding
that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government
for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper. The
Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) . Opposition
MP's stage a walkout.Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West
Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.CPM in Kerala
immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat
so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian
Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism
Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of
the winter.
Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in
educational
Insititutions & in Govt Services.
The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having
nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by
the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony
covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it
'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of
the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN
General Assembly.
Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up
a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley. 100s of
grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in
India ...
As a result loosing lot of hard working ants and feeding the
grasshoppers, India is still a developing country..... .

Bollywood on Colbert

Amitabh and Shah Rukh Khan made it to the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. It's hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgVrygLx-hY

Multiples in the womb

Yesterday Mr.PureAnarchy and I watched this absolutely amazing, intriguing, visually awe striking documentary on "In the Womb : Multiples" on National Geographic Channel. While our 'sitting-together-and-watching-TV' days are far and few these days, we had put this one on our agenda to specially it watch together. Using revolutionary 4-D scans they showed unique footage of how fetues mark their journey from inception to birth - their fight for space and nourishment during gestation and their final journey into the outside world. Some key take-aways:
1. It was fascinating to see how humans first interact with their siblings even before entering the world outside - reaching, touching, pushing and even engaging in some game playing that continues after they are born
2. The personalities they develop in adult life are to large extent groomed in the womb.
3. 95% of all multiple births in United States are twins and it has increased by 400% from 1980-1998.
4. The record number of human fetuses in one womb at any one time is 15

This gave us a good prelude to life ahead with Arin and Riya...

Chandler in the WSJ

As part of Scott Rosenberg's book review by WSJ, Chandler made it to the WSJ. With the upcoming 'Preview' (beta) release of Chandler in Spring, we are hoping this will give us the right publicity we need before the launch. Go Chandler!

Dreaming in Code

Scott Rosenberg's new book based on software development titled 'Dreaming in Code' will be out this month. He has used the software development of 'Chandler' - our PIM software as a basis for his book. Scott has been a friend of OSAF - sitting in our meetings, hanging out at lunches and gathering the data for his subject. I am waiting to buy a copy of the book to read about the early years of OSAF when Andy Hertzfield, Lou Montulli and others were active contributors. A lot has changed since then - the people, the product vision and the business strategy. The latest copy of Business Week(Jan 15th 2007) has also reviewed the book calling it a "fascinating look inside a software development project". Katie Capps has since then updated our osaf blog with where we are since Scott's narrative leaves off - around the end of year 2005. For all of you wanting to know where OSAF is going with Chandler and Cosmo, there's your read for the day.

the ultimate travel companion

10 years back when we first came to this country and did some extensive traveling, I remember taking paper maps of the places we went to and as a co-driver/navigator my biggest role on a road trip was to make sure we were taking the right freeways, the right exits, the right turns. It felt quite equipped with paper maps even though we needed ton of them as we spanned different states and then narrowed down to the areas within each state. Then came the age of Map Quest and Yahoo! maps. Some 5 years back I remember making this statement that I couldn't imagine life without Yahoo! maps. It was as simple as mapping your routes and keeping those print outs handy while driving. Really that simple compared to carrying those dozen maps.
Just recently we bought a new GPS gadget the Garmin nuvi 360- the ultimate travel companion. Since the iPod I have never gone so gaga over any gadget. Not only does it map routes and speak out the directions, it has bluetooth, speaker phone and an MP3 player. That means my blue tooth phone connects to Garmin as soon as I enter the car and then I can use the speakerphone on it to chat while I am driving. Makes your driving experience truly enjoyable. I have always desired this in an automotive and now the wish has come true.
Wouldn't you agree technology has truely enhanced the quality of our lives? Just the last 10 years are an outstanding evidence. Wonder what we'll have to say in a few more years.

teething pain...times 2

In some ways I and my 7 month daughter are going through similar experiences. While she is going thru teething pain for her first 2 pearly whites, here I am going thru the pain of losing 2 of my wisdom teeth. While I got orajel for her, I got the adult orajel for myself. While she is taking infants' tylenol for her pain, I am taking the extra strength tylenol for mine. She enjoys cold yoplait and so do I. The only difference I guess is she wants to bite into everything within reach and I am staying away from biting just about anything.