Searching for the "best search engine"...

A lot of abnormal activity has been happening with the search Engines for the past couple of days. Every one is trying to give Google a run for their money.

First, there was Cuil which was released with much fanfare. Much of the debate has been centralized around how Google is going to take on - for the first time - its own ex-employees. Three of Cuil's co-founders – Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier – are former Google engineers, while CEO Tom Costello, Patterson's husband, has two prototype search engines to his credit. Patterson sold her specialized archival search engine to Google four years ago; and Monier is a former chief technology officer at AltaVista and helped build the search engine on eBay Inc.'s online auction site.

Cuil claims to have the largest index of webpages. At this moment of writing this post, the home page reads close to 121.617 billion pages. But Google beats it pants down when it comes to relevance and the number of results returned. For example, I did a quick search for arreosambar on the day it was launched and doesn't return any results at all. How come the largest index in the web ignored my blog? Fishy!

Although it is very easy to write it off, somewhere at the back of my mind I feel that this wouldn't become a damn squib.

Today afternoon I was reading an interesting article on a parody about Yuil, a mashup of Cuil's UI and Yahoo's BOSS, running on Google's App Engine. Boss opens up tremendous opportunities in this era of content aggregation and the possibilities alone are worth a separate post.

Just a few hours after the news, the site announces that Yuil is dead and you can get the same results with Yahoo!

However, the good thing is that the entry of Quil has brought in some interest in the Industry to take on Google. Any race is interesting only if there is interesting and when you have someone to compete with. I, for one believe that Microsoft has lost the battle long ago and and would not be able to catch up if it continues with the current trend.

I had twittered that I'm pretty impressed with Ballmer's email to All-Microsoft employees last week. The fact that they understand that they clearly trail Google in the search front and are trying to make amends - either by trying to acquiring Yahoo! or otherwise is highly appreciated. But, it is interesting to see how these words are translated into action.

These particular lines from the email caught my attention.

We'll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white page with 10 blue links to provide customers with a customized view of their world. This is a long-term battle for our company--and it's one we'll continue to fight with persistence and tenacity.

And, any guesses on how it has been put into action. See it for yourself! Presenting the new Live Search homepage...

This is a part of the new facelift that it has got today and it it definitely much more aesthetic and appealing. The new design features background images that will change frequently, augmented with what they call "hotspots." These interactive areas highlight parts of the image and help you explore search results related to the highlighted area. For example, they have you researching about Okavango Desert, Mosquitoes and Safari in Bostwana when you go to search something.

Ha, Ha! When will they learn that it is the content that should be given the preference over the User Experience?

Sorry Mr. Ballmer. If some one, gives me better results in a white page with blue links, I'm game for that rather than falling prey to your colors.

Update: A couple of readers have written/said to me that they are unable to see these images in the Live Search Homepage. As told in the MSDN blog link, the feature is available only for US users. A simple hack to get this feature would be to Click on your country displayed in the info bar on the top and Select United States (English) from the list. Alternatively, you can click on this link to go to the US page.

Until then, hail Google!

A day out in Boston...

I’m starting to enjoy posting travelogues! More than the  tips or anything else being useful to others, I’m cherishing the moments when I think back on what happened and pen those thoughts. Rather, I should say key in the thoughts! :-o)

So after the NYC tour, it was time for a day out in Boston! Senthil, a friend from the college days at CEG gave me company (or is it excuse?) to roam around. He is in the US for a short term assignment for his company.

He arrived in Boston on Friday Night (7/18) and was to spend the weekend here. After catching up with college gossip that we missed out for the past two years, we hit the sack. The only major plan was to rise early and start towards the city. Nothing else! Nada..! It all happened quickly and given the busy(!) work schedule, there was very little time for planning...! [Yeah, my boss has started reading the blog :-D]

Those who have read the New York Chronicles would remember how much of a lazy bum I’m. Having said that I managed to wake up around 9AM and within half an hour we were all set to catch the bus to the Subway. Although Boston is not a very busy city like New York the parking cost is exorbitant. So, it isn’t the best idea in the world to drive around.

We took the subway to our first stop. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If Engineering is your religion, then MIT is like the Mecca or the Vatican or Tirupathi! Although my management aspirations are pretty much there, I haven’t converted into that religion yet! :-D Straight out of Kendall Station, we headed to the MIT Main Campus passing through the Stata Center which houses the Laboratory for Computer Science. Well, Mr. Gates sponsored 20 Million bucks for the building and yet it wasn’t the top funding. There has been critical response for the architecture (look photo below). Above the fourth floor, the building splits into two distinct structures: the Gates tower and the Dreyfoos tower. For the record, Alexander Dreyfoos is the 3^rd major sponsor for the building after Ray Stata and William Gates.

The facade of the Stata Center

Then we headed onto Building 10 - MIT's Great Dome and Killian Court - which identifies the MIT campus world wide. The great dome brought in nostalgic memories of the Guindy ‘Red’ Building where I roamed around during my undergrad days. We strolled through the building entering from the Mass Ave., Entrance and finally exiting through the great lawn in the (front) Memorial drive entrance. The friezes of the marble-clad buildings surrounding Killian Court are carved in large Roman letters with the names of Eminent Scientists like Aristotle, Newton, Pasteur and others in large Roman letters. After an extended photography session, we decided to proceed further for a long walk in Memorial Drive.

MIT Entrance in Mass Ave.,

Above and below : The Great dome

 

The Frieze with Newton's name

The view of Downtown Boston from here (the other side of River Charles) is worthwhile. For a city as significant as Boston, the skyline isn’t filled with that many skyscrapers like NYC or others. Instead, what we find is a sea of smaller, beautiful buildings which paint a perfect picture of the old city.

Above: Boston Skyline from Memorial Drive

Again, after a prolonged photo session, we proceeded back to the Subway Station walking past the Pierce Boathouse. Our next destination was the Downtown. We headed first to the Boston Common. The Boston Common is our own version of the Central Park! Although it is not as big as its counterpart from the Big Apple, the Boston Common has a vast History.

Life is Good, an apparel company famous for its charity work was hosting another festival at the park that day and it was great! Kids, Colors, Games, Magic Shows, Buffoons, live music and what not! It was great fun to watch and time well spent.

Preparing the kids for a war in life!

I was there...!

A juggler...

Live music...

Then we decided to take a long walk, window shopping through the stores in Newbury street towards the Prudential Center. En route, we covered the Boston Library and the John Hancock Tower. The Boston Library is the largest municipal library in the United States. According to Wikipedia, It was also the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to borrow books and other materials and take them home to read and use. The Hancock Tower is actually the tallest building in Boston surpassing the prudential towers by a few feet. However, the observatory in the top deck of the building was closed to the public, quite controversially post 9/11.

A cathedral...

John Hancock Tower

The Boston Public Library

Old and new in perfect symphony.

The Prudential Tower, as discussed above is the second tallest tower in the City and it has a open observatory at the 52^nd Floor. Unfortunately, there was a private party – a wedding on the tower that evening and a portion of the observatory, the side facing River Charles was closed. But that didn’t stop us from taking the skywalk. Again, the view of Boston’s heritage was awesome in its own accord.

Looking ahead...

Longfellow bridge from Prudential Towers

A beautiful view

The long fellow bridge is one of the few places where the Subway is elevated. It carries road, subway, and pedestrian traffic!

Halfheartedly, we climbed down and made our way towards Haymarket popular for its old open-style markets. Well, it was not much different from our own Koyambedu Market. One was greeted with “One Dollar, One Dollar” shouts from the moment of entry inside! This place is close by to the Faneuil Hall Market Place which quite contrastingly is well known for its upscale offerings.         

Faneuil Hall

The Custom house tower

Right outside the Hall was a dance group performing a Jazz dance. Although I can’t identify the nuances of dancing, It was quite a performance. Their stamina and the coordination through out the performance were quite amazing. Once it was over, we didn’t have much to do there. So, we took a Window Shopping tour around Quincy Market and arrived at another performance. This time it was a street side circus show with just 2 performers. They were witty and kept the audience on their toes. I liked their interactive style and their ability to draw attention and keep the audience engaged throughout their performance.

The dance group...

The Street Circus...!

It was close to 6 PM by the time the show was over and we decided to call it a day. After taking a breather at home, we headed out to the Jordan’s Furniture Store nearby and enjoyed the Liquid Fireworks show that I shared in this blog a couple of days back.

At the end of the day, it was one satisfying tour around the city. It was tougher than the 3 day NYC tour as this involved a lot more walking.

I deliberately decided to give a few places a miss this time…! Harvard (remember my future religion?), The Museum of science, Boston Aquarium, The Fenway and The Freedom trail. Everything except the Freedom trail is in my To-Visit list and I’m planning to make separate trips to these. With regards to the Freedom trail, I’m not particularly interested in it, having seen quite a bit of history back home. Well, if the site of the Boston Massacre where FIVE civilians were killed is a major attraction, I hope you may understand why…! :-D

Are there any other places that I should be adding to my To-Visit list? Do let me know...

Restaurant Review - Mysore Veggie - Lowell, MA

It's strange that being the foodie that I'm, this blog doesn't have any reviews about restaurants! In fact, the closest ever that I have gotten here is a the Ten commandments for Treatgoers which I had written sometime in January 2007.

Okay! Without dwelling into this any further, let's hop on to the subject. I had been to this restaurant twice in the past week and to cut the long story short, I have a mixed response in this review!

I heard about this from my ex-boss over a lunch conversation! And the USP about this was, well - Unlimited Dosas! What more can a group of bachelors who have to cook their own food think of? The very next day, a Wednesday was the D-Day when the place has the offer and we were immediately game for it! :-o)

Being a net freak, I googled for reviews and stumbled upon one by Supriya Raman of The Ode to Food. Her response was mixed and was more about how "Non Iyengar" the Iyengar Thali that is served there turned out to be! She rated everything below par which wasn't quite what we heard from my boss and hence, we decided to go on with the plans!

Mysore Veggie is located in Lowell, MA which is like 20 odd miles from where we live. Interestingly, we had been to the very next building to this place a couple of weeks back, again for another Indian Restaurant - Udupi Bhavan! So we were saved from the usual homework of looking at the map, noting directions and all that and all that!

We reached there around 8PM and the ambience was pretty much like most Indian Restaurant's. It was not crowded given the fact that there is this special going on and for a change, there was this blaring Tamil music from the movie "Ram".

An American lady attended our table and patiently explained that Wednesday was dosa night and all we needed to pay was one flat rate - the price for one plate of idly and vada to get unlimited dosa and uthappam with it! Of course, we knew it before hand!So we jumped into the fray right away!

For the next hour and half this is what I had! - Idly, Vada, Masal Dosa, Tomato-Chilli Uthappam, Onion Rava, Sada Dosa, Paneer Masala and Butter Masala! There was Sambar, Coconut Chutney and Tomato (Kara) Chutney. Hmm, All for just 12.95. To finish it off, we ended with Gulab Jamoon.Although the wait time for the initial few dosas were a bit long, they equaled our pace as  time progressed and I have no qualms over the service! Overall it was a very satisfactory and enjoyable experience!

The marketing strategy behind these deals and promos is customer retention and word of mouth publicity and the mysore veggie got both of these...! The next day our tryst with dosas spread like wild fire in the office...

So, yesterday (Sunday) another colleague and I decided to check out the hotel again... I was alone as my roomies were planning to feast upon Home made chicken Biriyani and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity for me.

This time, it was a full fledged Vegetarian Buffet, of course with the option of Unlimited Dosas. By the looks of it, the menu looked promising enough for another feast! Again, the loud music from the movie "Ram" was playing along! :-D

To start with I had Rava Kesari, Vadai and Rava Kichadi. They were okay. Then it was Hot Pooris and some Veggie korma. There was one pinch of salt too much in the korma. Well, it was actully more than one pinch and it was applicable to most of the items there. Pitch this with a few Indian Restaurants which forget to add salt at all to the food. So, I was okay with all the other dishes other than this!

Next up was a Masala Dosa, which was quite as usual. Then I moved onto Rasam and Puli Kuzhambu. There was something missing in both of these and for me, it definitely didn't taste right. The rice was not hot and a bit hard which didn't make the dish any tastier. There was some Veggie Briyani which I didn't dare to taste and I moved onto the eternally tasteful Curd Rice with More Milagai which tasted Yummy and delicious!

Then, there was this Semiya-Jav Arisi Payasam which was by far the best of the dishes in the buffet! And, it tasted just perfect!

Later that evening all three of us complained of uneasiness and the only conclusion that we could hop into was - Something was not quite right with the food.

To sum up, here is how I would rate the restaurant.

Dosa Night:

Service - 4/5 | Ambience - 3/5 | Food - 4/5 | Price - 5/5 | Overall Experience - 4/5

Lunch Buffet:

Service - N/A | Ambience - 3/5 | Food - 2.5/5 | Price - 5/5 | Overall Experience - 3/5

After one satisfying experience, this was not how the review was supposed to be. But, Hey! The first time was really good and I would still say it is definitely worth a try if you are a game for a little challenge! :-D Well, I meant the Unlimited Dosas and not the food as such!

Have a nice time and enjoy the food. Do share your experience here...

Guess Which Country Supplies the Most Oil to the U.S?

After the startling news that CA alone consumes more oil than any other country in the world (Including India and China!), here is another interesting question...!Who supplies the most to the U.S?The answer was a little surprising. None of the Middle Eastern countries were at the top of the list.

read more | digg story

Shoppertainment - Taking Shopping to the next level?

Shoppertainment is the buzzword these days! Well, this isn't something that is new. We have had it for ages even in India where children are presented with something new and interesting to keep them occupied when their parents do the shopping. It can be something very trivial starting from balloons to decorations outside the store to buffoons or other cartoon characters outside the store..! Every year, during the festive and the sale season these things to up to the next level! I believe that this is the "Aadi Sale" season and the shops in TNagar would be all set with the frenzy..!

But what is the USP of your store when just everybody around you is coming up with the same thing that you offer? There is no point in being one among the herd. Especially, if you are Warren Buffet, the richest man in the world.

A classic example is the Jordan's furniture Store in Reading, MA which is right next to my house...! This store is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Well, it is just a furniture store which is like 4 times the size of the biggest Saravana Stores in Chennai! If it had stopped just there, there wouldn't even be the necessity for this post!

The store calls itself the Official Furniture store of the Boston Red Sox. Hmm! Official drink, airline, clothing and now the furniture store! :-D You sure can do interesting things if you have money! The store jumped into the limelight when it offered full rebates on certain pieces of furniture bought between March 7 and April 16 2007 - provided the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. The store took out an insurance policy for approximately twenty million US dollars. Since the Red Sox did win the World Series, Jordan's Furniture gave an estimated 30,000 qualified orders away for free! A promo has been made for the year 2008 too if the Sox sweeps the world series winning the first 4 games! But, considering the current standings, it seems highly unlikely! :-(

Coming back to Shoppertainment...The entire facade once you enter the store is made out of Jelly Beans..! A Town Hall, the statue of a knight, garden and what not everything made out of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans! Then, there is an indoor trapeze school, a ice cream store which tastes better than most places, an IMAX theater. And last but not the least, you have an amazing water fountain which they call 'Liquid Fireworks!".

Above and below : Bean Town and the statue made out of beans! 

Video: Liquid Fireworks... It was amazing! I'm not quite sure if this video can convey the full experience, but it is definitely worth watching! And needless to say, I shot it myself! :-D

It is truly a kid's paradise! And more than everything, they know how to bring in the Children in here and while they are at ease playing the parents can do the casual furniture shopping! It isn't every day that your kids wake up and want to go to a furniture store and well, the number of visits that you make to the store should definitely have an impact on the sale, right?

Have you seen any interesting ideas like this? Do share it in the comments section!

New York Chronicles - The Last Leg...

July 6^th was the last day on our trip and it meant that the fun was about to end. Finally we got up at 8 and made our way out by 9AM.  By 10, we were waiting on a queue to take the ferry to visit “Lady Liberty”. Most part of the wait for getting into the security clearance area was mundane but for this brightly dressed African-American singer who sang for alms.  He asked the bystander where he hailed from and changed his lyrics to say something about that place. Most of his replies were instantaneous and funny!

This guy was very funny!

Hat Tip 7:

As we discussed in Part 2, Post 9/11 the terror threats to the Lady have increased manifolds. So, Airport like security is in place. Although you are allowed to carry backpacks onto the island, Strollers are a strict No-No. So, if you are planning to visit on the last leg of your journey like what we did, plan in advance on what you are going to do with your strollers. Thankfully for us, all we had were backpacks.

Hat Tip 8:

Ferries are the only means of transportation from the mainland to the Liberty Island. You can take the service either from the Battery Park like what we did or from New Jersey. From NYC, there is one ferry about every 20 minutes and it was mostly crowded. On the other hand, the ones from Jersey weren’t. If the frequency is good enough, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a ride from there.

The ferry...

Once aboard the ferry, which was more like a small cruise liner we got a breathtaking view of the lower Manhattan Skyline. Again, the twin towers were sorely missed here. The Journey lasted 15-20 min in all and half way through it everyone was engrossed in taking pictures of the Majestic Lady. At the dock, we were greeted by scores of people waiting to get back! Hmmm… Another queue?

Hat Tip 9:

Everything in Gotham City is grossly overpriced. So be prepared to pay unearthly prices for almost anything. Like a bottle of water for 3 dollars. Weird! Nothing in this country has the M.R. P printed on it! For one, we spent almost what we would spend on water in a year in India during these 3 days. But hey, this is the city! If you don’t mind, carrying a few cans of water with you won’t hurt – at least your pocket!

Getting back to the subject…

Proof of visit!

We had our lunch in the Liberty Café, drank Liberty Water and strolled around the park reading a lot of trivia about the majestic statue. I never knew that this statue was actually made of copper and it turned green because of Patination or The Statue of Liberty was engineered to withstand heavy winds. Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway 3 inches and the torch to sway 5 inches.

The Copper sheeting of Statue is just 2.4 mm thick. Memorabilia Copper coins are minted with copper of the same thickness before you for just 3 bucks and I think it is souvenir worth the price!

And just incase you didn’t figure out yet, we arrived at the Battery Park at 10 and not 7.30 thereby missing the hard to get, limited entry monument passes. That meant with a full circle around the pedestal was the end of our visit to Lady Liberty’s.

Standing tall...!

Back in the ferry, we met a few guys and gals who were on a US tour. They were actually a part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program and were from different corners of the world – Brazil, Germany, Finland, New Zealand etc.,. The camaraderie that they shared was quite amazing…! It is definitely an exciting opportunity. I wonder if India sends out folks to programs like this…

In the mainland, we met a few Chinky artists offering to draw caricatures for five bucks. I gathered enough courage to get one for myself in the memory of NYC and now it majestically sits in my drawing room.  Well, I haven’t told anyone that it is actually me who is in the picture! :-o)

And it was time to bid adieu to Mathan, our host for the weekend! I hope we didn’t bother him much during our stay…! We boarded on another roof top downtown tour towards Times Square planning to take a cruise from the pier by 42^nd Street. But by the time I reached there, it was almost 3.30 and I had to catch the bus to Boston by 5 PM. Half heartedly I had to bid adieu to Gaurav and Kamal. They went on to ride the Beast, a speed boat with a max speed of 45 mph and told me that it was one nerve wracking experience! For me, I boarded another bus towards Chinatown and started my journey towards Boston!

A roof top bus driving through Times Square, The cross roads of the world.

9/11 memorial somewhere in SoHo. It was decorated entirely by 11-13 year olds!

(Final) Hat Tip 10:

To reiterate, Information is Wealth. Research and plan what you want to do carefully before going there. Search for ways that can minimize your waiting time. Book online. Save Time.  Enjoy to the fullest!

Having reserved my tickets online with Lucky Star, I skipped a loooong queue and was one of the first to board the bus. It was another no-nonsense trip back to Boston. Still hung over by the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, I hopped onto the T and arrived at Oak Grove, the nearest subway station to my home around 10 PM on Sunday. Well, only to receive the shock of life as I was the only guy standing outside the terminal…! Hmmm… I forgot that the mbta doesn’t operate buses on Sunday night. After waiting in vain for a cabbie for more than half an hour, I finally resorted to my roomie to pick me up…!

There… It was one helluva journey and it seemed as if it would take all the time in the world to get back to the groove…!

Well, Murphy had different plans for me. I was greeted with work right on Monday morning and it took a couple of night-outs to clear the entire load! After all, I had returned from the city that never sleeps and shouldn’t I be having a hangover?

This is the concluding post in the series! I hope that you enjoyed the it as much as me. If these tips that I have shared is anyway helpful to you, do let me know in the comments section. I will be more than happy!

Rewind - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Widescreen Photography

Here are a few Widescreen photos from New York City...I believe that quite a few of these are good enough to be wallpapers...!

Above and Below : The first look down from Empire State Building. I like the dull and foggy setting in these pictures...!

Lined up...! Part of the collection of Guitars at Hard Rock Cafe, NYC

These buildings were somewhere in Chinatown, NYC. Two almost identical building in absolute contrasting colors..!

This is Long Island from Manhattan. (The other side of R. Hudson). When I look at this frame alone, it seems as if it was taken in the America of the 80's. (as seen in Hollywood movies :-D )

Very familiar building and no explanations needed. Just waited for the perfect angle and clicked the above picture...

Taken from the ferry to visit Lady Liberty. Majestic view of the Lower Manhattan Skyline sans the Twin Towers with the American flag right in the center! I love this pic..!

Above and below: Lady Liberty! Handpicked from a sea of photos...!

Statue of in Sepia...!

The Classics - Flatiron Building in Sepia mode.

Another classic building in Sepia...

Caught in the right moment...! This cute little kid was pointing something to her mother when we were returning to the mainland from Liberty Island. And I was there with the camera to freeze it...!

Previous PhotoBlogs: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Keep the Sparks - A Fantabulous Speech by Chetan Bhagat

A lot has been said and written about Steve Job's Stanford Commencement Address and J K Rowling's Harvard Commencement Speech. Here is one such masterpiece.

Chetan Bhagat, Author of the bestselling novel Five point someone delivered this inspiring speech a few days back at Symbiosis. To me, The context, simplicity and the continuity in the speech makes it awesome. Having missed out the opportunity to see this in person, I 'm longing to see the video of this...!

Here is the complete speech presented as-is from Chetan's Blog...

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party - several months in advance - just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected,aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will Ilive? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades - how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose
the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it?

A realistic assessment of the time involved - movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result - at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan - I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it - not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few
opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment,frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive,
not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You.

Isn't it wonderful? Do let me know what do you think of it!

Boston Red Sox Vs New York Yankees!

Forget Cricket and the IPL...This enmity dates back even before the countries of India and Pakistan were ever formed...! And what is even more interesting is the fact that people go crazy run amok, just for sports even in a developed country like the US. 

And of course, the rivalry is purely based on sports. And that too, between 2 teams that are from the same country, privately owned and purely based on money!

One thing that never ceases to amaze me how the fans here (in Boston) spend so much time, energy and money on hating the Yankees.

If you want to know more about it, do check out this Wikipedia Article..!

This thought was kindled during a recent visit to Jordan's Furniture next to my place in Reading, MA. The photograph depicts a Monster, wearing Sox Jerseys holding a Yankees Star in one hand and a baseball on the other. The hand was moving towards the monster's mouth as if the star was about to be swallowed!

Go Sox!