The Lego Kolu

Kolu is a traditional South Indian festival where toys are displayed on steps during the navarathri season. Toys are mostly deities ( Gods and Goddesses) arranged in steps. It is a part of some age old tradition to display all this at home, invite guests, make some of them sing and distribute goodies. On the flip side there are lot of things that happen behind the scene. All the toys are stacked and stored in lofts, wrapped in clothes, well protected for use in the next season. They do occupy considerable amount of space, they are heavy and not reusable.

I was watching this documentary "Inside Lego". I was amazed by how innovative ideas can be constructed using these lego blocks. So this idea struck me ..." What if we have a "LEGO KOLU" ?
I am not sure if we can construct all the deities we need using lego but if there is a considerable demand i am sure lego can do some amount of customization. Lego blocks do not occupy much space, they can be dismantled very easily. The kind of toys that can be made using lego is endless.
It might take considerable effort in making Indian deities during Kolu but that will definitely be more interesting.

Kids can take this as a project during their holidays. Adults can build and display the toys of their choice instead of buying and displaying what is available. Maintaining will also be easy. Kolu will not be the same anymore. The creative quotient will improve among families. Of course those toymakers who sweat during that season to make the traditional toys will become jobless. I am sure they will be able to find a different profession by then or use lego and get more innovative ...
What say ? Just a thought... 

What if the CEO of a Company is an Artificial Intelligence Software ?

With the advent of Machine Learning and smart devices we are not far from the day machines will be used for decision making. Will that be any effective ? So i was think about this scenario when a machine ( AI Application) takes over as the CEO of a company. What would happen ?

Assuming the application is Male ( This is just for the voice) or I think people can choose from a list of options. He would be pervasive ... Everybody in the company just needs to download the app to gain access to the CEO. Decision making is data driven so to get directions they need to just enter the data to get their new goals ... An executive assistant will still be required to feed the data ... CEOs will not be needing an office with expensive items ... No golf sessions ... Board meetings will be different ... No travel expenses ... Only application hardware cost and server maintenance .. Assuming there is a one time cost involved in writing the algorithm and constructing the application ...

The world would be a different place altogether ...  not sure how the firing policy will work ... every tenure of a CEO can be a new version/flavor/avatar of the application ...

Looking at the economic perspective ... we are replacing men by machines ... so there will be job loss... CEO salary will not be as high as it used to be ... no annual bonus ...

So will we be better off ? 

India's Ben Stiller

The first thing that stuck me after seeing this face was ... Is Ben stiller acting in a hindi serial ? Seriously this guy looks like his indian twin. His name is Arav Chowdhary , an actor in many popular hindi serials. Unlike Ben, Arav is a very serious character artist. 

Ben Stiller on the contrast is a comedian. 

How on earth could they look similar, do a similar profession (Acting) yet live in different countries? 

This is good fodder for many story writers ...  

Stochastically Deterministic

The other day i was reading about these unmanned / automatic / driverless cars. They are supposed to run without any human intervention.  Thats an awesome idea. We will not see any drunk and drive accidents, machines can multiplex i.e text and drive ... World will not be the same. But every great invention comes with a price. Apparently the insurance industry has raised eyebrows on how to account for insurance in that scenario. The whole insurance and risk management industry strives on the random behavior of humans and their outcomes. So if machines take over , then the question of randomness is ruled out. Sometimes these randomness or the stochastic nature of events make things more interesting. With more and more predictability when we think we have brought order to the world we have actually not .... What say ?? 

Jigarthanda

Probably the awesomest tamil film i have seen in years.  I felt every thing was original in the movie. The director is a very young guy and this happens to be his second movie but what a piece of work.
The famous director Mani Ratnam once said " An Artist is someone who expresses his thoughts and feelings in his own way" This director's screenplay and story telling is case in point for the quote.

THe movie cannot be characterised into a specific genre but every frame entertained me . My favorite scene was the one where the villan gets ready for a sambavam to uncover the rat in his team. He stands in front of all the deities  and prays for a while.

I am not sure what the director was trying to convey but i was spellbound after seeing the scene. Every character has done full justice to the assigned role. Set in Madurai , the film captures many elements of life in and around the place. I could see shades of Quintin Tarantino like storytelling and BGM  in this movie. The BGM was very unique with a mix of classical and contemporary tunes.

It is nice to see young directors taking bold risks in new ventures like this. I feel this a one pathbreaking film in the history of Tamil Cinema. Hats off to the crew.

Customer Service

The other day my wife and I went to this popular pizza place. Both of us are pizza fans and hence decided to go there. We ordered our favourite pizzas. We are vegetarians and my wife does not like mushrooms so she ordered her pizza with no mushroom topping. After a few minutes we both got our pizzas and i started devouring. Her pizza had mushrooms. She was reluctant to have it. She called the waitress and said she ordered a pizza sans mushrooms but she got one with mushrooms. The waitress took back the pizza. The manager came to our table and apologised for serving us the pizza with the mushrooms. He offered us a deal. He said he would  get us a pizza with no mushrooms and asked us to take the other pizza with the mushroom in a to go box. On the one place he could have very well not charged for one pizza but instead gave that for free and gave us the right pizza.

I tried to analyse this from a shop owner's perspective. The cost of not charging for the wrong pizza was $12 and the cost of making a new pizza was $3. He has effectively lost only $3 for making the new pizza when he could have lost $12 for not charging us for the bad pizza. In the end it was a happy customer with the right pizza .  Clever tactics i say... 

Mahabharatham

I have been following Mahabharatham serial in Vijay TV. I am quite impressed with the direction and screenplay. Though the story has been interpreted differently, a fair amount of justice has been made in the presentation. All the characters look ostentatious, the men have maintained their figure, they are well groomed all tending towards the 6 pack look and the ladies look flashing.

I am really fond of this story. My grandma exposed me into the world of mahabharata during the late 80s when they used to telecast it in doordarshan. I could hardly comprehend then. Only thing i remembered then was when Arjuna shot one arrow a zillion arrows flew across to kill the soldiers and in the beginning of the episode a strange sound used to say " Mein Samay Hoon " other than that nothing was vivid. I later read C. Rajagopalachari's Mahabharata. That was a very good interpretation by Rajai.

Mahabharata has some of the most complex twists and turns in its story. I personally liked 2 aspects of it 1.  " Yaksha Prashna" that part when Yaksha questions Yudhistira. The conversation has some of the most philosophical thoughts made simple.

“What is weightier than the earth itself? What is higher than
the heavens?” What is fleeter than the wind? And what is more numerous than
grass?” Yudhishthira's answer, “The mother is weightier than the earth; the father is
higher than the heaven; the mind is fleeter than the wind; and our thoughts are more
numerous than grass." These are just some of the questions.

and 2. Bhagvad Gita . I am not an expert in BG but little bit of what i learnt impressed me profoundly.

Coming back to the serial that is being telecasted ... There are some larger than life portrayal of characters. Technology has been used to a very good extent. I felt the guy who is playing Krishna is doing full justice to his role but director is compromising a lot to fit the story into the screen . That is what happens when you cut short an epic.

I cannot stand suspense. It has been a while since i read the book so i forgot he storyline. Everytime they show what is going to happen in the next episode i quickly take the book and read what would come next . I need to get rid of this but can't help it.

This epic has been interpreted in different forms by different people. I quiet like Mani Ratnam's take in Thalapathi. Boy what a contemporary interpretation.  With the advent of Social Media there are lot more mashable interpretations. I want to bring in some concepts of probability and interpret it differently ...
for example Shakuni and Stochastic Process ..... may be sometime later ...  after all it is just a myth ...

The Half Marathon Experience .

After a year of preparation, i finally got to run the half marathon. I did not train for 13.1 miles but finally managed to finish. More than the finish it was the experience that i cherished. I did not sleep well the previous night  so was not sure if i would finish. The best part of the run was i got to see those localities of Atlanta that i would have otherwise missed. I started very cautiously, 1 mile into the race i wanted to pee , 3 miles into the run i wanted to poop. I thought this was the end of it , my race is over. I slowly got into my zone... moved with the crowd and was totally immersed into the race.
It was early spring ... the race started at 7 am ... there was gentle breeze ... perfect weather for running ... there was some early blossom on the cherry trees ... with the wind the petals were gently moving in the air just like the scene in Kung Fu Panda where master oogway bids his final adieu to po ... it was surreal but true ... back to the race ... i got hydrated in every water station ... sometimes it was water ... sometimes power aid ... finally after 8 miles i decided to pee ... i lost 12 minutes waiting outside for my turn ... then i felt light and continued ... i maintained a constant speed of 5 miles/hour.  After 11 miles my body was not cooperating ... but the crowd was awesome ... the best part of the race was the crowd... the signs ... funny banners ... cheering ... loud music ... just  awesome. I managed to pick up some speed and finally inched towards the finish line ... on the way i did pose to every possible photographer on the way ... this was my chance to show off  ... after 13 miles and 176 yards i managed to cross the finish line ... i felt good ... received my finishers medal ... it was truly a great feeling ... i was tired ... happy ... excited ... dehydrated ... palpitating ... all at the same time ... but in the end i felt i did achieve something ...

planning to take rest for sometime ... then start training for my next race.... 

Running !!!

I have been obsessed with this running for sometime.  I started more than a year back. First i ran for 20 minutes. I could hardly breath during my initial runs, then overcame that by practice. Nowadays i am able to run longer. Weekdays i have been running for 4 miles and over the weekend i am able to run longer. My emotions are mixed while running. Sometimes i get good thoughts, sometimes nightmares. But mostly when i get into the zone i forget the rest of the world. I loose awareness of my surroundings. Not sure if that is good but as soon as i reach the end i get back to my normal self.

I have registered for a half marathon this weekend. I need to run 13.1 miles. Not sure if i will be able to complete. The farthest i ran during my weekend long runs was 10 miles. I hope with the crowd cheering and more hydration i should be able to finish the race. I have been watching some good running documentaries to keep myself motivated. When 60 year old people can run 26 miles why cant I ?
I was running all alone .. it was good but sometimes felt like a joker who is running with no purpose. My knees hurt sometimes , my diaphram hurts , but once i get into the zone all i sense is the air coming in and moving out of my lungs ... Breathing is the most important aspect of running.
My senior architect at work is my inspiration. I share all my thought about runing with him. He has been running for over 20 years.  My first goal is to complete half marathon then run the full marathon and my dream is to qualify for the boston marathon and run there ... Miles to go ...

You Too Lance !!!

Dear Lance Amstrong,

I was your ardent fan. I used to fall back on your motivational quotes when i was down. I considered you my idol . I have spoken about you to a lot of my friends. I was amazed by your determination . I read your book and did shed few drops of tears after reading the way you suffered and overcame cancer. Man i thought you were one hell of a person . I traveled back in time to live the moment when you won the yellow jersey. I wore your live strong band for a long time. I wondered if such a human could ever live and walk on earth until i came to know that you have taken performance enhancement drugs to achieve all this.
I understand you overcame death to come back and cycle and also understand that it does require a super human effort to achieve what you have done but ... Sorry buddy i don't want to waste any more words to describe your so called achievements or share my agony ....

You Too Lance !!!

Kumki

Don't know what "Kumki" means but liked this song from this yet to be released movie.
It talks about things that don't have a limit like love, affection, relationships. Nice music.

The Cash Back Myth.

Recently my credit card company sent a mail stating that I would get a 10% cash back if  I purchased using my credit card for $30 or more at a specific retail outlet . So if I buy any merchandise for $30, I will get $3 back in my pocket. But should I really avail this offer ? Even if I don't have the need to buy at some place, just because i get a 10% cash back should I go and buy there ? A normal perception is to look at the $3 returns instead of the $27 that went away from the pocket.
A case in point for " A penny wise pound foolish".
 

Who Moved You The Most .

I have been following the American Presidential race closely this year. I am not an American Citizen to imbibe all that was promised by the candidates but as a rational thinker i feel it boils down to how convincing each candidate is at the end of the day. Half the time, the speeches are wasted in ridiculing the opponent's policies and the remaining half goes of in making as many people in the crowd cry or raise and give a standing ovation. If I had an opportunity to vote here, I would toss a coin and decide my candidate because the chances of me going wrong in my decision is just 50%.

On Making Mistakes !!!

Awesome Speech by Tim Harford .

Motivation !!!

One of my colleagues is a marathon runner. He is an ex-army man and has been running for the past 20 years. Today he gave me an interesting perspective about levels of motivation and training.

He asked me a question.  "You know what stops me from running ? " .

I replied ," Work " .

He corrected me saying "NOTHING !!! ".

He continued saying , "When you are comitted and motivated to do something then nothing can stop you from achieving it . When you start giving excuses then the slope gets slippery". 

I was wowed !!!

New Words

I am an ardent follower of the Know Your English column that appears in The Hindu newspaper every Tuesday. Mr Upendran has been authoring this since ages. Every week I learn something new and interesting just that off-late my retention power has been plummeting.
This week I learnt some really cool words.
1. Postmodem depression - I first thought this might be something like Alzheimer's disease but later realised that you get postmodem depression if you are unable to access the internet.
2. Textual Satisfaction - It is a satisfaction that you get when you realize that you have a text message or a missed call. Wow ...
3. Textually challenged - You are textually challenged when you you find it difficult to text...
Coming to think of all this... tiny lifeless things have started playing major roles in our lives. There was once a time when we lived and breathed without the internet and the mobile phone but today we are handicapped sans these things . Sad but true ...

More Salt than Pepper

I recently read this book " More Salt than Pepper" written by Karan Thapar. It is not a book per se but a compilation of his articles written under the column Sunday Sentiments in Hindustan Times. It was a good read. The language was a little sophisticated.
Since it was a compilation of articles the attention span required was very less. It was more like a roller coaster ride, by the time i started relishing an article it got over. He has covered different subjects but most of the articles are related to politics and his interviews with politicians. It was witty , sarcastic and critical in many occasions. On the whole it was a good experience reading this book . I got to know a little about many personalities. I feel this would be a good read while travelling.

Madharasapattinam

I was listening to the songs from the film Madharasapattinam. Was Impressed by one son "Vamma Dhuraiamma" . Song was composed by GV Prakash and sung by Udit Narayanan, Late Cochin Hanifa and Amy Jackson.

This looks like a period film set during the pre-independence era. The song is a tri-logue . One of them sings in tamil about Indian Culture to an English lady. The other translates it literally. The best part of the song is the translation.
Click here to listen to the song.

Beatrice and Virgil

I just finished reading Beatrice and Virgil written by Yann Martel. It was a different read. The content was very light and witty. There was not much take away from the book. Just a lazy Sunday read.

Few lines that caught my attention

Language is alphabets in disarray.
You don't eat an apple you conquer it.
A work of art works because it is true, not because it is real.

Raavanan

I have not written another movie review . I have just penned a few words on the film 'Raavanan'.
I made a big mistake by watching the movie a day after the release. Too many people screaming and not allowing the rest of the audience relish the dialogues.

Coming to the movie. It was a visual treat. Cinematography at its best. The twist in the climax was very good. It was not just another movie where the hero and heroine run around a snow clad peak in Switzerland. A lot of subtle messages conveyed through the visuals and the dialogues. On the whole it was a good experience.

Full marks to the cast and crew.