My Frivolous Blog

Having liked Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, I couldn’t wait to see his hugely successful directorial effort, The Passion of the Christ. Just saw it on DVD. Not trained in religious matters, I can’t speak for the authenticity of what was shown in the movie but I give high marks to makeup/visual effects teams. Absolutely top quality [...]

I just saw Dr. Sunitha Krishnan on public television in San Francisco. I can’t believe I had to step away from Hyderabad to find out about her. I never heard of her in Hyderabad, my home town in India, where Dr. Sunitha Krishnan is doing her incredible work. I am glad I now know who [...]

Although it has been a fun month of joblessness so far, I will have to look for a job sooner or later. While I am still enjoying the freedom of not having to show up for work, I thought it would be useful (and fun) to refresh some of my programming skills…without the pressure of [...]

It is amazing how much they spend on painting ‘em autorickshaws with various motifs—political, religious, nationalistic, romantic, cricket, bollywood, hollywood, tollywood, etc. Depending on one’s taste, it can be debated whether the artwork is not garish or otherwise. If you are like me, the sad part: we can’t escape it. The bedecked autos are [...]

Not sure if it is because of my new toy, Nikon D50, or if it is because of my frequent visits to magazine sections in bookstores, but I am seeing newer, glossy photography magazines in local bookstores. I picked up Better Photography and smart PHOTOGRAPHY on my visit to Himalaya Book World. Of course, I [...]

I am back in Hyderabad to attend a wedding in the family. It is going to be a short trip…just a week. I am glad it will be short…the daytime temperature is over 40° C and in the night it is close to 30° C. Since the day is so hot, the little drop [...]

It is great to be in silicon valley again. It was hot, dusty and hi-tech companies in Hyderabad. It is cool, clean and even more hi-tech companies here! Despite the tiring flight from Frankfurt, the cool weather and the thought that I will be enjoying it for the next few weeks make forgetting fatigue of [...]

Since I don’t have much to do ’til 1.15 am tomorrow, I figured it doesn’t hurt to stop by at a good book store. Went there looking for Managing Projects with GNU Make, Learning the bash Shell (my favorite shell), Agile Project Management with Scrum and Agile Java. Found all but the last one. Again, [...]

Since I will be away from Hyderabad for sometime, I thought of checking out Hyderabad Central which I have been avoiding since it opened. Yesterday I forced myself and conned a bunch of my family and friends—fourteen, to be precise—to see Ram at the PVR Cinemas. Here are some of the thoughts I am left [...]

Having nothing to lose, asked my boss if I could work from here—in California—for a few months and his response was: Sure, no problem. Will be back in cool California soon to enjoy terrific weather…which means, I will finally be away from hot Hyderabad during summer. I am glad I asked.