Static Dust

Today (it's past midnight now, and so I mean yesterday) I lived in a pasta dream.

In the morning, there was a meeting with the wonderful Science Direct people (the guys who bring you all the best scientific journals online ... for a Price with a capital P). It was in Claridge's on Aurangazeb Road, Delhi.

Man, was the continental stuff amazing! Brussels sprouts and pasta salad and chicken in tomato basil sauce.

And then Bhatti gave us his farewell treat at Italianos off MG Road, Gurgaon. We had Minestrone soup, Lasagna, Ravioli, Tiramisu for dessert and what not ...

And the pizza was the GENUINE stuff. Not the coarse slab of bread spread with greens that Pizza Hut and Dominos offer.

Believe me, every bite tasted different. There was a bottle of genuine Tabasco on the table, and did it add a fiery zest to each dish! ---> except the Tiramisu of course ;)

Poor Bhatti had thought of and calculated a 'cap' for expenditure ... and we were so carried away by the heavenly tasting stuff that the cap was exceeded and the bill doubled!

Oh yes, and i didnt tell ya about the most important bit - the Garlic Bread. It should win a Guiness Records prize or Michelin stars or something. Oh my god - soft, tender, fluffy, buttery, chewy, garlicky. Shame on you, Pizza Hut and Dominos.

We sure kept the waiter busy!

Oh yeah - I didnt tell ya. I am a Food Technologist by training.

Today, I spent time in two activities that might seem disparate, but to the mess of neurons that make up my brain, seem similar.

First: Shopping for clothes at the malls with a lady friend.
Second: Searching for drum loop music files on the net to create songs.

Strolling through malls = Googling for loops
Searching Shops = Selecting Websites
Window Shopping = Sighing at sites that offer cool loops, that are alas, not free
Shop with a sale = Site with shareware or freeware or free loops

So you select a shop/website, and enter.

Now,

Different sections (Formals, Woolens, Casuals, etc) = Different loop categories (Rock, Metal, Hip Hop, Pop, Raggae, Rap, etc)
Seeing clothes on shelfs = browsing through titles of loop files available for download
Lifting a tee-shirt = downloading a loop
Trying it on = unzipping and playing the loop in Hammerhead or Fruity Loops or plain old Winamp.
Rejecting the tee as 'just not me' = deleting the file
Selecting the tee = playing the loop, plugging in your guitar and creating a song

Grumpy salesperson = website that does not let you download multiple files

Wearing the bought clothes = playing the new songs to friends


Final opinion of friends: "Does not suit you. It suits Bryan Adams/Britney Spears though"
(the opinion applies to either the clothes bought or the songs created)

No wonder people say I am a Nerd.

Now TENM is a book by Roger Penrose that I have been reading on and off since the past few days ... it is somewhat dated, and what with "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter being more popular ... anyway, TENM I got second-hand for Rs 100 wonly at Delhi Gate and GEB being only a cool Rs 750 (new) at Om Book Shop, you know what I settled for ...

It tries to address the question: "Can consciousness/intelligence arise just from a set of electrically interacting (brain) cells or is something else required?". Penrose takes us through chaos theory, computational complexity, and his home ground of quantum mechanics as he tries to answer the question ...

I dunno how well he does ...

I'm saving up for GEB ;)

Today, I enjoyed some quality 'Beach Time'

Naah ... I dont mean shorts and sun and sand

At the workplace, whenever you are off-project, you are on 'Beach Time'. Or when filling out the time-sheet for the day, whatever time you spend in non-revenue-generating activities, is to be charged to BT.

And it is not usual for junta in my division to enjoy BT. But with Jan 26th around the corner ... and lotsa people taking leave today, the office was near deserted ... to add to the 'haunted' feeling, two neighbouring divisions have gone for their annual off-site trip ...

So I put my shoes up, wore my silly hat, wore the reddest sweater I could find, and lazed on my seat with my feet on the desk ...

Some die-hards who were in office were trying to work, but I tried to irritate them as much as possible

Unable to get tickets for Amir Khan's eagerly awaited 'Rang De Basanti', we (Bhatti, Porwal and me) decided to watch 'Chronicles of Narnia'. Never mind the fact that it is a movie for kids and we are all a youthful twenty-plus. And anyway, after the horror show called 'Neal N Nikki' I had vowed never to watch Hindi movies again.

So ... no story spoilers here because I want you to enjoy the movie ...

The initial few minutes showing children getting evacuated in a back-drop of World War II confused us. (Porwal: "Where's the lion? Where's the lion?" Bhatti: "Where's the snow? Where's the snow?" Me: "Where's the popcorn? Where's the Coke?")

Then a few enlightening scenes and a 'wardrobe in a spare room' later, we finally entered the magical world of Narnia.

Beautiful imagery, just the right touch of CGI and not overdone, lovely acting by the youngest heroine, a human portrayal of how families break and rejoin ...

And of course ... the eternal story of good versus evil ... and a little bit about sacrifice ...

Definitely worth a watch ... even if you are twenty-plus

Hey, I think, if you are young you SHOULD watch the movie before the 'harsh realities of life' corrupt you :)

Unfortunately my childhood was not blessed by the pleasure of having read C. S. Lewis's book on which the movie was based ... but still I feel it has done justice to it (based on reviews of the book that I have read)

Tomorrow: back to work in the 'exciting' world of patent analysis.

The ones at the bottom
Suffer least from a fall
By being below
I'm above you all