Bachelor Essentials - 2 (Computer)

Computer is an essential part of everyone’s life. In less than 50 years, the world has become dependant on this technology and certainly not for the wrong reasons.

We had listed bachelor essentials in previous blogs. All those essentials are tied to computer in one way or the other. We can satisfy our need for each essential through computer. Mr. Bachelor’s essentials are no different. He gets all information on all topics from the computer. Below is the list of essentials and how the computer helps in each.

- Food : To find a good restaurant, to know a simple recipe to survive
- Communication : To email/ chat with people
- Travel: To find great deals on airline tickets and find maps to new places
- Work: Everything at work is related to computer
- Hobby: To find new techniques and get tips from the professionals
- Computer: To resolve any issues with the hardware, software
- Sports: To keep track of the game scores and watch replays
- Music: To listen to new music online before buying
- Books: To read reviews of the best sellers
- Entertainment: Read and write reviews of new movies, serials, etc.

Technically, anything and everything has something to do with the computer. It is difficult to understand the world without it. Think about a scenario where you wake up and there are no computers in the world. It is a scary feeling; it is like a world without language.

The computer technology has advanced tremendously in our lives. It has become a part of our life and in some way rules our life as well. It can be said that “In a long term, we drive the technology and the advancements in computer world. However, in short term, the computer and technology drive us and the world”.

In spite of that, computer has not made Mr. Bachelor his slave. Instead, the computer is his new best friend. Dogs are obsolete. The new best friend is truly “The Oracle” for Mr. Bachelor. He can explore the world around him and the world outside with his friend.

The friend goes into meditation when not disturbed for a long time. However, Mr. Bachelor brings his friend back to life with one touch on the keyboard. The room fills up with the aura and the Oracle is ready to answer any question. It is amazing how such a small thing holds a vast sea of knowledge and capability to perform the unthinkable. Mr. Bachelor has no words for the inventors of his friend; they were the true Gurus of the modern world. The 104 keys with numbers, letters and characters hold the combination for those infinite answers.



And with his hands on the keyboard, Mr. Bachelor now has the world at his fingertips.

Bachelor Essentials – 1 (Food)

“I can cook anything as long as the microwave has a button for it”.

Most of the bachelors will agree with the statement above. We bachelors can do anything under the sun but nothing over the gas flame. Solving a complex mathematical model with multiple variable inputs can be a cake walk for us. However, making the dough for the cake itself will be the toughest task we ever did. Ever since I was a kid, I used to be proud to say that I “Live to eat”. The entire equation has changed after I started living by myself. Today, I “Eat to live” since eating is no longer a luxury for me. I am sure that whoever says that he lives to eat has not experienced being a bachelor.

Nutrition for Bachelorhood has stages that are very well explained by Colleen Sullivan in the stages of grief. This is a story of Mr. Bachelor who went through all the stages to understand the first Essential of a Bachelor; Food.

Stage 1: Denial
This stage is the very first stage after a person decides to live a bachelor’s life. It begins with a great feeling as he is free to do whatever he feels like. For the first time, there is nobody to stop him from eating outside food. That is exactly what he does. Mr. Bachelor starts eating outside food frequently; practically everyday.

Stage 2: Anger
This is the first change where Mr. Bachelor feels the pinch of stage 1. Outside food costs much more money than he ever imagined. No wonder my family didn’t dine outside that frequently. As a result, Mr. Bachelor reduces his trips to the restaurant. He starts skipping meals.

Stage 3: Bargaining
The less frequent food intake affects the health of the bachelor. He certainly needs more food for his regular activity and other essentials. Thus, he finds a cheaper solution; He starts getting instant items from the market. Yipee, Success at last!!! Less cost and frequent food intake.

Stage 4: Depression
Mr. Bachelor’s attempt to substitute expensive restaurants with inexpensive fast food does not help him. He gets frequent heart burns and upset stomach. What can he do? He becomes helpless and attempts the unthinkable. This is the first time he realizes that he has to “Eat to live”. That’s exactly what he does. He starts surviving on milk, water and fruits.

Stage 5: Acceptance
The tasteless and bland diet from depression leaves the bachelor with only one option. The last stage is something that he lives for the rest of his bachelorhood; nirvana for the struggler. Mr. Bachelor understands the importance of home cooked food. With few tips from his well wishers, he begins his exploration into the vast world of ginger, garlic, cinnamon, coriander, masala, turmeric, chilli, sugar, nutmeg, pepper, basil, and innumerable other spices and vegetables.

The acceptance is indeed a great finding for Mr. Bachelor. I have gone through most of the stages above and currently accepted the last stage. I am a person who used to hate cooking (yes, dislike would be too mild to use). Now I get some sort of satisfaction after cooking. It is certainly a good way to past time that doesn’t go unproductive and the result is certainly tasty and fulfilling. Food is an essential part of a bachelor’s life. He has to find the likes in cooking as he has to survive and we all know that it is the survival of the fittest.

For Bachelors, “Kitchen” has been an unknown territory with irresistible smell of food and unheard sound of sizzles. And thus to inspire the bachelors out there to unveil the secrets of the “Kitchen”, I quote the famous line from Star Trek.

“To boldly go where no man (until bachelorhood) has gone before…”.

Synopsis - Bachelor Essentials

My friends and I discuss a lot about how bachelors live and their needs. The needs go beyond “Roti, Kapada aur Makaan” (Food, Clothing and Shelter). The picture in my previous blog depicts the basic necessities of bachelorhood.

I will be dedicating the next few blogs to the series “Bachelor Essentials”. The series would elaborate each essential need. The idea is to put forth the way a bachelor lives his life around each need. I will try to be generic around the topics. However, most of the examples would be from my personal experiences.

Hope you enjoy the series!!

Being a bachelor

"OSO" or "O So NO NO"

What was Shahrukh Khan thinking? After a good movie like “Chak De India”, I thought that King Khan is back to his senses and will choose his movies wisely. However, my hope only lasted until I saw OSO. I have been hearing about this movie for a long time for various reasons. It started with the hype of the 6 packs and eventually brought the 31 star song in the limelight.

I watched the movie last night. I knew that the movie was about reincarnation. This movie is more than that. It is also rebirth of my disappointment with Hindi cinema and the entertainment media. OSO is a reincarnation of few old movies including “Karz” and “Karan Arjun”. There is absolutely no originality or creativity in the movie. Some of the shots are direct pick from some videos that you will find on Youtube. Two people who are born to completely different parents with no family lineage have the same face. Moreover, both have the same “Om” mark on their wrist??????

I would rather watch Fardeen Khan direct a movie than Farah Khan direct any other movie. The movie is a great school for how NOT to direct. The storyline completely fails as there is no connectivity between the old and the new. Another accolade is to the editor of the movie. My barber can cut the film in a better fashion than Shirish Kunder. It was a bad idea to let Farah Khan’s hubby edit the movie.

People are seen repeating the same dialogue over and over again. “Agar Kisi Cheez ko Dil se Chaaho…” is repeated not only by Shahrukh Khan in 70s but also by Shahrukh in 21st century and on the top of it by his mom (played by Kiron Kher); multiple times. Another dialogue that you might have heard in the trailors is “Picture abhi baaki hai…”. This dialogue is even scarier when you watch the movie. The dialogue makes the audience realize that even if they are dead bored of the movie, they cannot get up because “Picture abhi baaki hai…”. Actually, I there are couple of instances when I thought that the “Picture” is actually over. But alas, the narrator had to say, “Picture ….”. Yaar koi to bolo ki “Picture abhi khatam hui..”. Also, Shahrukh Khan uses “10-4” (one of the 10 codes used for voice communication) inappropriately. Some homework is required.

Lets talk about the 6 pack. Yes, they look great. But King Khan has put too much effort on the 6-packs and ignored the wrinkles on his face. “Sir, you look old and hence act as per your age”. There is no way that Khan can pull off a early twenties hunk by growing hair and building 6-packs. Abhishek Bachchan looks far better with his single pack  and he (Abhishek) didn’t have to humiliate himself in the movie.

Of yes, the 31 star song!! Its nice to see all stars in support of the movie and I think the movie needs it. The song is so evidently placed to awe the audience and nothing else. Actually, most of the songs are inappropriately placed with the exception of “Main Agar Kahoon”.

Shahrukh Khan acted very well in “Chak De India” or should I say that Shimit Amin did not let Shahrukh Khan put the usual face on the screen. I am tired of the sympathetic look that accompanies him in every single movie. He poses with his arms wide open and makes a face that is very similar to the “Puss in Boots” cat face from Shrek2 (picture below for reference).

Arjun Rampal is a mistake. Arjun Rampal’s acting is like Sachin Tendulkar’s voice; Arjun Rampal should only model and Sachin should only bat. Kiron Kher and Shreyas have acted very well. I am sure that they had bigger roles that were edited by our friend Shirish Kunder. In all the clumsiness, I liked the debutant Deepika. She looks gorgeous and shows her presence in the movie. I hope she gets some good roles and chance to act rather than be a plastic figurine as seen in OSO.

Finally, I don’t understand the hype for the movie. The hype drew 50% of the crowd to the movie theaters and the rest were the hard core fans of Mr. King Khan. However, I don’t understand the media who hyped this movie over any other movie this year. Thus, I request the audience to make a sane call and rate this movie without getting influenced by the media around you.

Cricket World Cup Fever

The most prestigious event in the game of cricket is closing in as we speak. It’s an opportunity that comes every 4 years to earn the bragging right for the next 4 years. There will be 16 nations fighting for the accolade. Yes, the Cricket World Cup is less than a month away.

The World Cup will bring together the fans all around the world. Countries like India will virtually be at a stand still as their team progress in the tournament. People will forget about their problems, issues; even the diversity of the country or the political turmoil within the country will be excused for some time. The country will focus on the 11 warriors that are fighting for the cup. One billion people will be unified by this event; each fan hoping for the same result, each cricket lover praying for the same team; for once, you can feel the unity in diversity. Here are few glimpses of cricket in India.

People all over the country try to catch the action through various media

Crazy fans after the 1983 victory at lords

Fans performing Pooja of Indian Players for good wishes at the World Cup

Lots of things change before and after the World Cup; some are good, others are bad. Here are few things that you can expect to change in India. The country will begin honing their knowledge about the game, its history and statistics. Everyone will be expected to know the basics like the team members, the schedule, etc.

Work Place:
At work, you will see colleagues huddling near the water cooler to discuss the proceedings. They will analyze the games, debate and finally end the discussion with a “who cares!!” attitude. However, they all care and they all know it. Days before the world cup starts, people will start downloading Desktop Scoreboard. They want to be a part of the action all the time. Most visited websites will be cricinfo.com or espnstar.com. Colleagues will bet on the next game and discuss the strategy that the team should apply. Every meeting will begin with a short Ice breaker with the topic of previous day’s game.

Commuters:
It is not just the office space that is filled with the cricket enthusiasts; the commuters will be equally engrossed in the discussions. Trains and buses will share the same theme. People will discuss the game with a stranger sitting beside them. People will become more social towards these strangers. You will find 20-30 people crowding around a single soul with a transistor or mobile with a web access. For every 4 or 6 scored by the home team or a wicket of opposition, there will a huge roar and cheer, high fives, etc. The long tiring journey to and from work will become a prime time for hot topic of cricket.

Streets:
So what about the streets? Well, you will find all kinds of gadgets, clothes, stickers, posters of the home team. Kids and grown ups will be interested in the buy. This is a market that has a small window of 5-6 months in 4 years but still makes good profit. On a regular day, you will be overwhelmed with the number of people on the streets. However, during the cricket game, the same street will be haunted. It is incredible and you can’t help wondering how so many (and I mean thousands of people) can vanish in a matter of hours and remain so for the next 8 hours. During off hours i.e. hours when no game is played, you will see kids assembling on the streets for their own mini world cup.

Television:
The media is all over the place with cricket news. All News channels change the sequence of their Prime Time News. For the next 1.5 months, Sports will gain the top spot on every New Channel. Analysis, predictions, gossips, etc will be discussed over every single media channel. However, in this whole change of priorities, you will see that other TV channels will suffer substantially. Channels that telecast Serials, Soap Operas, movies etc are hit like a small island is hit with an unexpected hurricane. The rating for these channels will plunge in no time resulting in drop in market value.

Family:
Topic of discussion in every home will be cricket. This can be a healthy argument between father and son who will agree on the topic for a change. It can also be a quarrel between husband and wife as one of them forget an important date/ task (mostly it would be the forgetful husband).

Finally, as an avid fan of cricket, I myself will fall under most of these categories. The next couple of months are going to be exciting as well as tense for me. I expect wins and losses, triumph and heart breaks and all that will affect me. You will find me disappointed, mad and even cursing at the television or the computer. I will be short tempered or overly happy. However, please do not worry as I am just bothered by the epidemic that hits a lot of Cricket Lovers all over the world and it is called “The Cricket World Cup Fever”.

Global Warming

I was at a Seminar at work where the speaker mentioned various factors that our business customers are noticing and the companies should identify them too. One of those factors was “Green” factor or awareness of Environmental issues. In the same context, the speaker mentioned the book “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. The coincidence is that very same day my roommate brought home the DVD, “An Inconvenient Truth”.

“AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it” (http://www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm/). I should call it as a recorded presentation or documentary by Al Gore instead of a movie. I have seen numerous movies; movies that have spent millions of dollars on special effects, crew, exotic locations. However, it is surprising to see how a single stage, a large projected screen, a flat screen TV and few pictures, footages and data can impact you more than the multi million dollar projects.

Al Gore talks about facts backed up by scientific data. He begins with the most beautiful picture of earth taken from space and then dives into what could be changing this beautiful world. Gore talks about increase in the amount of Carbon dioxide and the risks associated with the increase. The increase is not gradual over the last few decades. The steep climb in the recent years is the reason why few years have changed something that millions of years haven’t; the increase in temperature. In one of the charts, Gore shows how the level of CO2 that has always remained within bounds for thousands of years have shot up in the last few decades. It is no longer funny when I think that it hasn’t snowed in Richmond, VA this winter. The picture below from the book “An Inconvenient Truth” depicts the inconvenient truth.

Another issue that we have to think about is population? Gore talks about the massive mission that we have overtaken and how quickly we overstepped on it. The population that reached 2 billion in early twentieth century has quickly risen to close to 7 billion today; that’s a 5 billion increase in a single century. Thus, what mankind reached in 20 centuries, we managed to nearly triple it in 1 century. The population consumes resources and we are finding it the hard way. Cutting down trees is not helping the cause but instead it is worsening it. Few pictures that show how land masses have changed over the course of 20-30 years are shocking and scary. All this is still not enough for the world’s population. Another example that Gore mentions in the documentary is that about 40% of the world’s population depends on the water that flows from the Himalayas. The snow covered Himalayan ranges are melting quicker and that could lead to a massive problem for the World’s top 2 populated countries that rely on it for water sources.

There are various other facts presented by Gore; facts that are true and eye opening. Few other topics touched by the documentary include glaciers and ice masses like Arctic and Anti-Arctic ice masses that are changing more rapidly than expected. The changes to these ice masses could mean about 20 feet increase in the sea level and also increase in the water temperature around the world.

I am not huge on political issues. Gore to me was always a political figure. However, after watching this documentary, I am convinced that Al Gore not getting elected could be a blessing in disguise. Gore is trying to persuade people into thinking about their future. He brings around a point that everyone is aware of but no one is acting on. It’s a point that could have the same response that Galileo received centuries back. No one might believe the seriousness and the urgency around it. I knew about the Global Warming issue; however, I never knew how quickly it could impact us. There is a part in the documentary where Gore talks about oceanic currents and how the pump keeps the planet alive. It startling you when he mentions that if the currents stop flowing, it could take approx. 10 years for us to go into Ice Age.

The movie has definitely made me think about a lot of things around me. It has implanted the worm in my brain that wiggles to make something happen. I or for that matter any individual would feel helpless and insignificant in this vast galaxy. However, the tiny planet that we live on is changing very day and it is not changing for good. I can understand that we cannot stop it from happening. But we can definitely slow the damage. I look at it as a disease that is not completely curable. However, with proper care and control, we can increase the life expectancy of the planet.

Finally, it is not for anyone else that you do it; u do it for yourself. The documentary is just an awareness drive. Gore uses an analogy of a frog to illustrate the need of awareness around the world. The story goes that a frog, placed in hot water, will immediately jump out of the boiling water. However, when placed in lukewarm water whose temperature is slowly rising, the frog will not notice the change. Well, that’s the extreme since there will be frogs that will jump out eventually. That is exactly what we want from people; to understand the rising issue and work on it.

We have received a lot from planet Earth for thousands of years. It is now our time to give planet earth something that is long overdue.

Please visit the websites below for more insight on global warming.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org
http://www.climatecrisis.net