Desicritics Author: kpowerInfinity

Theatre Preview: Evam's And Now For Something Completely Different

kpowerInfinity — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:19:01 EDT

I had written about Five Point Someone by Evam back in July when they performed in Chowdiah Hall, and they asked me to write a small preview of their next show in Bangalore: And now for something completely different which is adapted from Monty Python. The sub-title goes "The greatest comedy show ever" -- and I can very well imagine that it's going to be funny (from Evam):

This colorful show promises a lot- Meet King Arthur and his trusted servant Patsy who have ridden the length and breadth of the world by banging coconuts! Catch Inspector Tiger trying to solve a crime straight out of Agatha Christie’s novel; Get surprised by Spanish Musketeers; Get tips on how to get through an interview without going bonkers; Enjoy being served by the finest Chinese Mayonnaise cooks in town; Get emotional for the man who bought an ex-parrot; Propose marriage and get accepted-in less than 10 seconds!! And learn how to defend yourself against pointed sticks!

Surreal plots, intelligent yet slapstick-laden humour, gags, idiosyncrasies of British life and a completely whacked out fun evening- a non stop 80 minute entertainer with choreographed set change matching the pace of the humor on stage- Errm..If this is not different then what is!!!

Yumm ... sounds tasty. Considering the fact that they did such a good job with Five Point Someone, I can very well imagine that the execution will give you great exercise for your tummy muscles.

Of course, in theatre, the means are as much fun as the end and luckily, they didn't send me a professionally prepared collage or poster, but rather pictures of the group practicing, pranking, posing. It's a lot more fun watching people rather than actors:

It's being performed at the Chowdiah Hall in Vyalikaval, Bangalore on Sunday, Sept 23 at 3.30 and 7.30 PM. The damage to your wallet would be Rs. 500/250/150 but the lung exercise you would get is probably worth it! To book, visit evam.in or call 99162 14062/98402 22363.

Unfortunately, I would not be able to watch the show myself since I would be traveling, but I am sure you wouldn't want miss it!

More details can be found in this Zip file.

P.S.: Interestingly, I got a lot of people visiting my blog searching for the name of the female lead in Five Point Someone, Uttara Krishnadas who played Neha Cherian. Perhaps, I should mention the name of the actresses in big bold letters to get more hits ;-)

Additional tags: Evam, Monty Python

Overcoming The Terror

kpowerInfinity — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 01:14:52 EDT

Abhishek was rather happy. His first semester mid-terms just having ended at his engineering college, he and a bunch of friends had taken a long train journey to Hyderabad to enjoy the frills and thrills of a big city. Life in a rustic small town in the state of Maharashtra can get rather dull, without too many sources of entertainment. They all need a getaway. A chance to see traffic, high-rises, to savour pizzas, and to ogle at pretty women sashaying in a mall. Even a ride in an amusement park is a fair deal. And there was a laser show lighting up the sky - what luck!At the same time Sheila felt a craving for aloo tikki. It had been such a long time since she crossed the Narmada and made her home in a place where she could not find roadside chat vendors, who would charge a pittance for a mouth watering snack. Having gone to Koti Bazaar to buy some GRE books, she always inevitably landed up at a chat vendor to relive those moments, that taste.

Abhishek and Sheila were both excited, and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Hardly did they know that their luck had just run out. Some SOB had made sure that it was the last time they were amusing themselves with such trivialities. Who would tell them that it is safe no longer in India to walk around on an idle weekend.The two blasts that ripped Hyderabad yesterday terminated Abhishek. Ctrl + Alt + D, as he would have learnt so early in his engineering lessons. And mutilated Sheila - she who had high hopes of studying abroad, of liberating her family. Smashed.

The Times of India writes:

The killing just doesn't stop. At least 40 people were killed and scores injured in two powerful blasts in Hyderabad, one at an amusement park packed with weekend holidayers and another at a landmark eatery in the heart of the city on Saturday evening...

Weekend holidayers ripped open in a blast. The sad part is (via The Hindu):

A group of 45 students from the Amritavahini engineering college in Sangamera town, Maharashtra, on a sight-seeing trip to Hyderabad, took the brunt of the massive explosion at Lumbini park.

When I think about it, I cringe. Barely a year ago, I was myself in an engineering college. And since it was in a village setting, we often made trips to a big city (Calcutta) to satiate our thirst for city lights. And who doesn't crave for chat? Those mouth watering snacks you can get for a pittance?

Even if we forget the suffering of the victims, the unbearable agony of their families, and the rude shock to their friends, forget about individuals and stare at a larger perspective:

Such vicious attacks prove that cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore, emerging icons of a vibrant nation, are firmly in the cross-hairs of terror groups which have made India a country with perhaps the highest number of civilian victims of terror (leaving aside war-torn countries like Iraq). [TOI]

I am not sure what our reaction should be. We mourn for those who suffer, but we need to show the perpetrators that we are not affected by them. Our lives should carry on -- we flinch but we fight, we are devastated but determined. The growth phase that we have been celebrating lately -- which has obviously been an eye-sore for many -- can not slow down -- not because of a bunch of freaks. We need to push further, undeterred, unrelenting, unwavering. The elephant, pulsating with energy, must show empathy, but not slow down. For that is what the freaks have been hoping for. For that is why she should not succumb. For that is why the country needs to learn from Bombay. For India is more than geeks, nerds, corrupt politicians, baniyas and snake-charmers. For it is also the land of milk and honey children extol. For it is that India for which we live. And fight. And, we shall overcome. Someday.

[Of course, the stories are made up. But not the reality]

Technorati Tags: Hyderabad, Blasts, Terrorism

Lesions from Cooking

kpowerInfinity — Thu, 2 Aug 2007 00:10:53 EDT

For just under one week now, I have been the proud owner of a gas cylinder, a stove and a refrigerator, and I daresay my life has been completely revolutionized. That I have learnt oodles of nuances about cooking is sadly a statement I can not make as yet. However, as one interminably perseveres along the solitary and arduous path of cooking (thankfully I have a roommate for company!) for one's survival, one gradually begins to realize that there are probably more lessons about life in the culinary arts than Deepak Chopra can possibly pontificate. It is a journey beset with teething problems for the tongue.

To start off, one begins learning to make choices and trade-offs. With the limited knowledge and experience of the lead protagonists, it is evident that trade-offs have to be a part of the equation right from the beginning. One learns to accept reality and live with it. Self-appraisal teaches us that one should not bite more than one should eat, or cook. It's best to get your fundamentals right -- eg., how to roast a toast, and toast the occasion.

One learns early in the journey that things are not going to be easy. One is neither born nor can cook with a silver spoon. It requires tremendous foresight to make sure that the kitchen is well-stocked, and one can only acquire such perspective through experience. Not a virtue one can expect to find in bachelor housing. The absence of the most innocuous of objects can be a sore point when you need it. Small, dark, black balls can be infinitely useful especially if they happen to be called cumin seeds (jeera). Rains may bring down the mercury, but they certainly don't help the cause of the amateur cook. He (especially if it's a lazy he) feels beleaguered, cheated by the rain gods, with fast finishing supplies has to battle hunger, and finally does the obvious -- drops the item from the recipe.

One learns to persevere -- just slug it out. When it's a matter of life and death (Ok! Hospitalization), one cares not for the simple pleasures in life -- for instance, dinner can consist of more than mere omelettes. Half burnt omelettes. Half-burnt omelettes that look like a perfect equilateral triangles (for want of a better shape). Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao ande - the words ring in your ears, tear your ear-drums apart, test your tenacity, humiliate you, try to break your back and upset your stomach, but like a Spartan warrior you doggedly keep fighting all instincts, all temptations. Like a sanyasi, one has to resist the apsara's smile, with a toll-free number promising home delivery. If one has to achieve nirvana, however, one has to eat rock, metal and egg.

Hardships are, of course, part of any journey. Small cuts and bruises are passe, there is danger of getting burnt. The weapons one has to resort to are deadly -- the can cut even the holder of the weapon. Salt is always at hand and on the burns. What's all the brouhaha about nuclear weapons?

There is the ecstasy of the omelette actually turning out to be eatable especially when the bread also got toasted the right red -- a feeling unparalleled in the dictionary of human emotions. At the same time, there is enough crying, running noses and sneezing (onions and chilly powder) to fill a full season of Ekta Kapoor's. I am sure Indian satellite television head honchos haven't yet got hint of the melodramatic quotient of it all, else there would have been a flurry of Kaun Banega Captain Cook with King B and Big Khan both compering it together. And not to forget people sms'ing their favorite garnishing to 8888 and winning exciting prizes. Or perhaps a Kitchen Idol, whom millions of Indians cheer and vote for from the comforts of their living rooms (thankfully smell is a sensation that has not yet been televised).

Finally, as the denouement draws near (and the omelette gets made) one has a sobering realization under the Bodhi tree, err. Chimney. One realizes that one is responsible for one's actions. Passing the blame around is not an easy task when you have volunteered willingly for such calamity (though one can certainly pass the plate around). It is all our doing -- we have to take responsibility for our actions, and suffer on our own account (next morning with a knotted stomach). Cooking is the ultimate leveler, with immediate feedback loop and completely ownership, division of labour and accountability for actions -- a manager's dream, an epicurean's nightmare.

A humbling experience. Of course, it's easy to succumb, to eat out, to order pizza, to resort to Maggi. But then, one has to remember, that as Robert Frost once rightly said:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

[Many thanks to Dipika for proofreading this]

Theater Review: Five Point Someone by Madras Players

kpowerInfinity — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:08:29 EDT

Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore was brimming with youngsters yesterday (Sat, July 21) when Evam presented the Madras Players' production of Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone. The theatre group is based out of Chennai and the book was adapted and directed by Nikhila Kesavan.

At the outset, I must confess that it can never be easy to adapt a book like Five Point Someone to stage, and I was pleasantly surprised. Five Point Someone is the story of Alok Gupta, Ryan Oberoi and Hari Kumar, three freshers who make it to the hallowed Indian Institute of Technology at Delhi, from completely different backgrounds and vastly different takes on life. Alok has a family to look after -- he is the only hope for his paralyzed father, school-teacher mother and a simpering sister. Ryan is ubercool, with parents earning a dollar salary, but indifferent to the needs of their child, and as a result, the son has turned into a cynic, a brilliant cynic. Hari is a rolling stone, and most of the moss he gathers is what Ryan feeds him. The three who become friends right in the first few days of their stay during a ragging incident, decide to take life light, enjoy the 'best' years, and end up as five-pointers, and barely make through the semesters, who are supposed to be scorned at, humiliated in class, and as a result spend most of their time outside of it rather than in it. They however, find time to fight with each other, make up, fall in love, lay inebriated on the institute terrace, get caught stealing question papers, and finally make it out of IIT. The story is well known -- the book having sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but capturing the magic on stage was not an easy task.

It is at this point that one needs to commend the director and the actors. If I said that the audience was in splits, I would be undermining the amount of noise the auditorium generated. The book is in first-person narrative style, and the director stuck to it, introducing the author who was recounting his story as a fellow actor while we saw the actors on stage. The play was full of punch lines -- about how students lived their life at 'Sassies' (the all night eating joint), the inability to understand the female species, the altercations with the professors -- and the audience raised the hall with their claps at each of them. The directory was also able to portray the emotional parts well especially the dichotomy in Alok's mind. The sets were minimalist and most of the action was limited to a single room. The lights were well-handled except for a lapse or two in the entire play, which really commendable since they were used very heavily since the two likenesses of Hari were together on stage a lot of times. I am afraid I didn't much notice the music except for Floyd's 'Brick in the Wall' before the beginning and after the end.

Sarvesh Sridhar as Alok was the pick of the actors. This monologue about being a 'loser' was really well done since at no point the audience felt that it was dragged. Also, little things like always running when he got on stage (and near perfect cueing) made it a treat to watch him perform. Abhijeet Mohanty as Hari was faltering, as the character demanded. However, his movements felt a little too unnatural and forced at times. Praveen Bharatwaj as Ryan was blase, but one hoped to see something more exciting -- and the maverick didn't come out that well. S Vidyuth as the author was detached and the high-point was when after Hari and Neha have sex, and the author comes on stage and blushes! Uttara Krishnadas as Neha handled the romantic scenes quite well (which were well applauded), but the emotional scenes became a little drab. The other professors did their small roles quite well, esp. Shankar Sundaram as Prof. Dubey.

While he play was very well adapted and very well presented, I personally felt that two of the scenes they had left out should have been there -- the initial ragging scene, and the scene where Hari goes to give his Viva having had a few rather large shots of Vodka. Those two scenes would have been superb, and I was silently wishing that they would be there. The little things which as a hostelite I have lived and experienced, and the (perhaps not so much) pressure at another such institute that I have seen, really made it a personal journey.

What I also really appreciated was that the organizers were kind enough to give me (and my friends) tickets to see the show (divine intervention) and one was able to establish a personal rapport with a few members of Evam. And I came back with a bag full of chocolates as a prize for being super-insistent for the tickets! Thanks guys! I wanted to give a tempo shout (a celebration of victory) of my college after the play but sadly my friends were not willing.

A great show -- and I am sure everybody who saw it absolutely loved it -- and went back feeling much lighter and happier. And the intense stomach pain after the play due to all the laughing -- as they say hanste hanste mera pet phat gaya. A must watch!

WiTricity - Look Ma, No Wires!

kpowerInfinity — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:01:36 EDT

How many times have you searched for that elusive charger for your mobile phone? Searching in vain as your phone obstinately refuses to switch on? Or how many times have you carried those pesky power cables for your laptop, which always get entangled and stuck around the legs?

Well, fret not, since help is around from a bunch of MIT professors. Marin Soljacic and his students have been working on an idea of Wireless Electricity, which they call WiTricity. They demonstrated their work by lighting a 60W bulb from a power source which was seven feet away, and, you guessed it – without using any wires for the power transfer!

The theory is based on a centuries-old concept – resonance. When two objects are ‘tuned’ into each other, they can exchange energy very efficiently without any physical connection. Most stringed instruments are based on this concept. Perhaps one of the best examples is that soldiers are asked to break step when they cross a bridge, lest their marching frequency matches the intrinsic frequency of the bridge, in which case the bridge will oscillate vigorously (gain energy) and collapse. The reason they chose resonance as the underlying physical fundamental was because filling the atmosphere with electromagnetic-radiation leads to a loss of energy, and also might have unwanted side effects.

Soljacic et al, however use magnetic resonance because most other electrical devices do not interfere with magnetic fields. They were able to set up magnetically coupled resonators that could work at a distance several times larger than their own sizes. Magnetic induction, which is already used in transformers to transfer power from one coil does not use any wires, but that technology could not be applied because it degenerates as the distances become larger.

Imagine what you could do with this – you could just leave your phone, your iPod and your laptop at home, and they would charge themselves up automatically. In fact, the researchers claim that in future, it might be possible to do away with laptop batteries completely if the person is sitting in a “WiTricity hotspot”.

However, it might be sometime before the technology matures enough to be commercially viable. A lot of research goes into it, since what we are seeing now are only initial laboratory prototypes. Also, the effect of magnetic radiation on human body will have to be studied well, and certified to be healthy.

His cell phone waking him up in the middle of the night, because of low power, for the sixth time that month was reason enough for Soljacic to work on wireless power transfer and make it a reality. As he likes to say, future generations might find it very awkward to have batteries and wires around them. Who knows, a decade down the line, we might just have to retire the word ‘wire’ from our dictionaries.

More coverage: here, here, here.

In the Company of Friends: Bill Gates and Steve Jobs

kpowerInfinity — Wed, 6 Jun 2007 01:05:53 EDT

If founders of two of the staunchest rivals in the computer industry meet, you expect sparks to fly. And if it is Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Steve Jobs (Apple), expectations are even higher. One would expect them to lock their wits, bitch about their products, fight like cats and dogs. It might have happened if Ellison were there - but not with Jobs and Gates. Actually, even organizing a joint interview with Gates and Jobs sharing the same stage is quite a feat. It was made possible in the D5 conference, which is backed by Dow Jones, the owners of Wall Street Journal.

In the beginning of the interview, the high energy and the high tension was almost palpable with Gates and Jobs walking onto the stage with a cordial handshake, among a huge audience full of din due to the audience clapping. The interview started off soon after with the emcees (Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg) asking both Gates and Jobs what each other's contribution was.

Jobs thought that Gates has really built the software revolution with his vision that there could be a software company, a company which decided to survive on writing software in the world where everybody was building their own machines, a company which understood the big picture ('the higher order bit') and capitalized on it. On the other hand Gates, thought that Jobs really envisioned a personal computer, a mass market machine that people would own and use, the GUI! They also attributed their success to the incredible set of people working at their respective companies, without which they could not have built this up, a really humble statement coming from people who are possibly the most successful in the world.

With jibes and wisecracks, discussions about old advertisements ('thousands of people have discovered the Apple computer'), how Microsoft developed software for the Macintosh and is in fact one of the largest software partners of Apple. The story of how Microsoft's Basic was incorporated into Apple (Jobs - 'Let me tell the story'). Woznaik wrote the best basic compiler ever, but never got around do including floating point operations (Jobs - 'These are one of the mysteries of life'). They brokered a deal with Microsoft to supply them with the basic for Apple, and Gates flew down to California with the cassettes.

From the days of yore - 128K memory, the start of the GUI - to the iPhone and the iPod and the Zune replacing the PC as the dominant devices, the cloud and the rich client and how the marriage of the rich client with services on the cloud is the way of the future -- they complement and complete each other, it was one long discussion about all things Digital.

However, the best part was when the two stalwarts would reminisce about the past, peek into their pensieve and recall forgotten memories from the times when computers were barely taking shape, of rivalry and partnerships, of how Apple and Microsoft competed but still collaborated, of the past long gone by, and the future yet to come.

What better way to end than Gates' opening line -- "I am not fake Steve".

[The complete transcript of the interview is available here, and a highlights video is available here.]

Social Interaction Should Not be Curbed in The Name of Ragging

kpowerInfinity — Wed, 30 May 2007 00:09:01 EDT

Lately, a lot of articles, a few even in leading dailies, have been published depicting ragging in a very negative light, and somehow I personally cannot relate to it. While I do agree that in many Indian colleges, ragging has taken an extreme monstrous shape, which instills fear of the unknown senior, I do believe that it has its own benefits.

First of all, at the outset, let me state that I do not wish to condone anybody who behaves with juniors in a manner unbecoming a gentleman or a lady. I have personally seen students who had been so frightfully affected by the treatment meted out to them as soon as they joined a prestigious institute that they retracted into a shell, their hopes and dreams shattered, and many of them left the college they had so expectantly gone to. Besides, many times, ragging takes a nasty turn when people try to get sadistic pleasure by physically harming others; accidents are not unheard of and such malevolent behavior is something that should not be pardoned.

However, coming back, all interaction is not unhealthy. These interaction sessions or orientation programs are a great learning experience, and really help break the ice with people you are going to spend the next few years with. It is not for no reason that people make lifelong friendships in residential hostels, which are notorious for ragging. In my own college, as soon as we reached the senior hostels, we were made to learn the basic introductions (name, native place and stream) of all our batchmates. While many spurned the idea, it later dawned that if you know somebody’s name, it is always so easy to start a conversation. It really helped us have a close knit community over our stay for the next few years.

Apart from that, our seniors organized various cultural and sports events in order to find new talent to participate in inter-hostel competitions. Before joining our colleges, we have hidden desires and latent talents, but the rigmarole of competitive examinations leaves little time to explore these other facets. This is an excellent time for exploring the unknown within us, since there are no expectations and no big-achievers to discourage us. This was the humble initiation of many among us who were later to become stars in the same competitions.

I have seen many of my friends transformed – a hesitant immature adolescent to a confident adult, who knows that he can carry himself in many situations in life and who has a lot less apprehensions than he had earlier. The period can really be used to break free from the protective shell that most of us are enveloped in while we live at homes under the protection of our parents. From holding back to letting go may seem a small change, but is exactly what a caterpillar goes through as it becomes a fluttering butterfly.

At the same time, as seniors, the same students later learn essentials like how to manage subordinates, how to earn respect, how to be sensitive to the needs of others, how to manage mass events and how to gauge people and how to deal with people of all kinds.

Interaction provides a lot of valuable and practical guidance on anything under the sun – from how to choose courses, to what is important for our future and how to land a coveted job, from how to fight stage fright to how to impress that girl. Valuable experience and invaluable friends – essential for the leap we take after we graduate.

It remains important that the authorities at these institutions channelize the interaction to make it both fun and educative. They should strictly enforce rules, but organize various events. Parents of kids who are going to join a college should also encourage them to participate in various events interact healthily with the others. A lot of energy is dissipated in unhealthy ragging, which can be made very fruitful if the interaction is done the right way. Colleges are, after all, a microcosm of life, and the interaction period is one of the best times to learn life skills.