I am very happy on having taken the decision to be a part of a new play.

This morning I got a chance to direct a small portion of it. I loved it. I got a taste of how it feels to direct a play and I loved it a lot.
I was also quite pleased with the outcome.

I had to wake up at 5 am to make it for the rehearsals by 6. This made me think about how I failed to wake up on time when I had planned to go to the gym or to go for a jog.
But doing a play is different. I am extremely passionate about it. Waking up at any unearthly hour in order to rehearse for a play is something that I will do ten out of ten times, with unwavering enthusiasm.
I met new people and some old friends. All of them seem extremely talented in various aspects. I personally learnt a lot this morning and I am sure all rehearsals are going to be a lot of fun.

This morning brought back memories of my first play, the Mousetrap, for which I would wake up at 5 in the morning, go for the rehearsals, then rush to office, then back to rehearsals in the evening, practice till about 11 in the night, and then wake up at 5 again the next day.
I did this for around 3 months and I loved every moment of it.

More details of the play later. Or probably I won’t reveal anything about the play now. The show will say it all

Negativity decides to take a back seat. Life rocks, ladies and gentlemen.

While going through the highlights of the Indian budget , searching expectantly for a huge slash in prices of laptops, I found the following:

A girl child will get Rs 3,000 deposited in a bank account after she enrolls for eighth class examination and the amount would be given when she becomes a major.

Now that is really interesting. While reading this, the thought in my mind was that from now onwards most parents (around the poverty line) will ensure that their daughters enroll for class eight examination.

I would like to know more details of this proposal. I would specifically want answers for the following:
1) Will the government give the money to any girl who just enrolls for the examination with or without prior education?

2) Or will the government give the money only to those who clear the examination (thereby checking whether the girls have undergone schooling or not)? But this is a tough one. I am not sure whether such a filter should be present.

3) Why not ensure that this money is given to them once they “graduate” or appear for the tenth standard board exams?

4) Why is it set at standard eight examination? Why not take it standard ten examination? By doing so we could atleast ensure two more years of education for the girl child.

My proposals:
1) Why not deposit some amount as part of class eight enrollment and some more amount as part of class ten enrollment? This will act as an incentive for the parents to send their daughters to school for two more years.

2) Give the money to the girl once she becomes a major (as already stated). If the girl goes in for a graduation degree, then give the girl an additional incentive. If we can encourage and propagate university-level education, I think we shall be doing a world of good for our next generation. Every educated girl is bound to pass her learning to her offspring. Considering the fact that India is going to have the highest population in the world by 2050, it makes a lot of sense for India to invest in the education of the girl child. I understand that it is not the only solution, but it will definitely help in making matters a little clear.

I don’t care whether laptop prices have decreased or not. I am definitely glad on reading this policy proposed by the finance minister. I would also like to ask the government to create awareness among people and spread the news about this incentive.

As part of yesterday’s rehearsals for a new play, I came across one line by our president:
A child who does not attend school means that our country has lost one enlightened citizen.
(Words are mine, since I cannot recall the exact statement).

We are back to the series which lists out some of the quotes I encountered in the past few weeks:

“There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.” – Pablo Picasso

“Maybe this world is another planet’s hell.” – Aldous Huxley

“I went into a McDonald’s yesterday and said, ‘I’d like some fries.’ The girl at the counter said, ‘Would you like some fries with that?’” – Jay Leno

“God runs electromagnetics by wave theory on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the Devil runs them by quantum theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.” – Sir William Bragg

“Let’s have some new cliches.” – Samuel Goldwyn

All quotes courtesy: QuotationsPage

An interesting article on prime numbers in nature.

Prime numbers are known to have been used as an evolutionary strategy: Different species of insects called cicadas (both from the subspecies magicicada) emerge in Eastern North America, every 13 or 17 years to breed. The logic for this in nature appears to be that a predator specializing in magicicadas would have to emerge at the exact same frequency to find its prey. If magicicadas had appeared say every 12 years, then predators appearing every 2, 3, 4, 6, or 12 years would be sure to meet them. Over a 200-year period, average predator populations during hypothetical outbreaks of 14- and 15-year cicadas would be up to 2% higher than during outbreaks of 13- and 17-year cicadas. Though small, this appears enough to drive natural selection towards a prime-numbered life-cycle in this insect.

Examples of occurences of prime numbers in nature:

2 = polynucleotide strands in a DNA double helix; the first magic number (physics)

5 = Fingers in the human hand; arms in a sugar sea star; ribs in astrophytum

7 = cervical vertebrae (common to humans, whales, and giraffes)

11 = pair of ribs in mongoloid children.

13 = Emergence by some subspecies of the insects called magicicadas every 13 years.

17 = Emergence some subspecies of the insects called magicicadas every 17 years.

19 = Bones in human hand & fingers, after the wrist; bones in human foot & toes, after the knee; pairs of chromosomes in cat and pig.

23 = Pairs of chromosomes in human and hare.

All information courtesy: Wikipedia

Anchored – A picture taken on the boat on the way to the island of Devbagh.

Heard Billy Joel’s Piano Man after a long time. Heard it over a drive from Inder’s treat back home and my co-passenger and I both love this song (although I differ with her on the point that this was Billy Joel’s only good song!)

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The Regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin

He says, “Son, can you play me a memory
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes”

…..
…..
And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they’re sharing a drink called loneliness
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone

I love the last two lines marked in bold.
Current mood: Mellow, Apathetic. Might slip into melancholy if not dealt with soon

Maneka Gandhi brings out the “reality” of the avian flu.

Avian Flu is a virus strain that is found only in birds in badly kept poultries. It affects some birds that are already ill fed, suffering from lung and bone diseases and kept on a steady diet of hormones and antibiotics and other bird carcases. It does not spread to human beings and since the virus is already 8 years old and has not mutated as yet, there is no reason to believe it ever will.

Are 54 deaths in 8 years an epidemic or even worse a PANDEMIC ?

What is 3.1 billion dollars spent on immediately? To buy 80 million vials of Tamiflu at $ 100 per dose – a drug that has no relationship to the virus. According to the authors of the “Total Health program” which looks into scams perpetrated in the name of medicine “Tamiflu, is a worthless drug that in no way shape or form treats the avian flu, but only decreases the amount of days one is sick”

Now that the Bush government has bought all these vials, how many people have been vaccinated. None.

On January 24, 2005, newspapers in Vietnam reported that “three brothers in northern Vietnam who MAY have contracted bird flu all drank raw duck blood at a family feast”. Raw duck blood could give any disease – try it.

If Avian Flu is that serious and Tamiflu is the answer, why is Tamiflu only been sold to governments and not to the public? The answer lies here: About the time that President Bush was buying the “vaccine” he also announced that the United States must approve liability protection for the makers of lifesaving vaccines as American vaccine manufacturers had been hit with a flood of lawsuits.

Read the full article here.
I don’t know whether this is true or not. Its difficult to believe anything these days. Reality is an illusion. Illusion is probably better to deal with.

Saw the following in one of the messages posted on a forum:

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up and knows that it will have to outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

And, every morning in Africa a lion wakes up and knows that it will have to outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

So, in Africa, it doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle. When that sun comes up, you had better be running.

Google introduces Google Page Creator.

“Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes.”

Click here to access Google Page Creator.

The scene as seen through my eyes right now:

A computer screen straight up,
A keyboard in front of the screen,
A paper cup with some left over tea on the left of the keyboard,
A plastic stirrer inside the paper cup,
A mouse on the right of the keyboard,
A mousepad below the mouse,
A water bottle on the left of the paper cup,
A couple of plaques on the right of the mouse,
A phone on the right of the water bottle,
A hundred odd tubelights on the top,
A set of drawers on the bottom right corner,
Blue and dark maroon bulletin boards on the cubicle walls.

Interesting to know that I overlook all this all day while I am working.