Archive for October, 2005

Rabindra babu’s expressive lines

I wrote some poetry as a kid. But rhyming was really hard, and after a couple of attempts, I gave up. Rabindranath Tagore got me writing again. Look, for instance at these beautiful lines from We are to play the game of death: I kissed her gently on her lips and whispered softly in her [...]

Poetic

Delhi blasts: this is the limit

Yet another blast. Innocent families shopping for Diwali and Id killed. How long are we going to tolerate this as a nation?

Misc

My Brother Nikhil

There’s strong data to show that a lot of married Indian men visit sex workers and subsequently pass on HIV to their wives and unborn children. So for married women, bedroom is the most dangerous place. According to AIF, women need to be able to negotiate safe sex in the bedroom. Education is a very [...]

Misc

How to punish bloggers?

Forbes has come up with an invective article attacking bloggers. BoingBoing’s take. Dan Gillmor is apalled by Forbes’ trashy journalism. The question on bloggers being journalists remains open.

Misc

Images: 100$ laptop

Images of the MIT Media Lab’s 100$ laptop.

Misc

Barbaric Delhi

I am horrified on reading this firsthand account of a man being hit and dying while people around him plan to make money out of it in Delhi. Why is the city turning more barbaric by the day?

Trivia

No newspapers in Manipur today

Journalists on strike in Manipur, following frequent interference by militant outfits in the running of Media organizations.

Misc

Infinite corridor – a social pipe?

I made an observation today. While walking in the infinite corridor at MIT, I meet a lot of people that I don’t usually see. Many of these are people that I have just met once, briefly, but remember talking to. This is probably why my subconscious has been directing me to walk down to 77 [...]

Media Lab

Lets help the Silk sari weavers

Mans pointed me to an article about the terrible plight of Sari weavers in Varanasi which has led me to rethink all my concepts about free trade, globalisation and development. As the story points out, chinese silk traders are having a ball

Misc

Making sense of Skype Google and eBay

For some reason that I don’t fully understand, when I think of Skype, I invariably end up thinking of Google. Not just because both are competing in a Voice over IP segment, with Skype’s entire existence being on its excellent VoIP software for broadband connections, and Google bringing out Google Talk that seems to be [...]

My research

Vikram Seth, Two lives, and An equal music

Vikram Seth is in the news again. Another book. Number 1 on the bestseller list in India last week. Two lives is the latest from this outstanding Indian writer. This piece is about an older work. Just a background for the curious. I read half of An equal music on a train to Guwahati.

Poetic

Is it OK for an organization to publish defaulters’ bills publicly?

Is it correct for an organization to publish the bills of a defaulter publicly?

Trivia

An overview of recent Skype related articles

Skype VoIP viral communications

My research

Cellphone manners

Cell phone manners etiquette wifi

My research

To revered teachers

Ever heard of teachers who hate questions? Keep your mouth shut and listen. They glare if you raise a point. Persist, and face a counter-questioning barrage to teach you a much-needed lesson. Behave like a good kid and take notes and pretend you understand. When exams come, I’ll ask questions from these notes, so just [...]

Trivia