Saw Heartbreaker. This song was my takeaway from the film.

Whatever happened to the great escape
The finest enemy
Crafted with pride by monsters on the train
The world is great to suckers

We have the story of the impossible
A tale passed on so frail
One of make-belief
Maybe impossible to achieve
And really close

Who sew the lions hungry in the cage
With the confidence of a clown
The little man who rises on the stage
As he falls without a safety net

We have the story of the impossible
A tale passed on so frail
One of make-belief
Maybe impossible to achieve
And really close

Whatever happened to the great escape
And all the plans we make
Crafted with pride by Monsters on the train.
The world is great to suckers.

We have the story of the impossible
A tale passed on so frail.
One of make-belief
Maybe impossible to achieve
But oh so close

Bet you got it all planned, right
Bet you never worry, never even feel a fright
Bet you got it all planned, right
Never fit to worry, never even feel a fright

Single sleeps alone and I know you don’t really mind
Five years by your side, so I know you really don’t mind

But don’t you nevah
Be down
I said don’t evah
‘Cause it’s gonna keep him hanging around

Nevah
Be down
I said don’t evah
Because it’s gonna keep him hanging around

Bet you never think it’s right
Bet you think you have to but it doesn’t feel right
Bet you never think it feels right
Famous-sounding words make your head feel light

Petals getting picked with the love-yous and the love-you-nots
Five years going by, everyone is staying on their side

But don’t you nevah
Be down
I said don’t evah
‘Cause it’s gonna keep him hanging around

Nevah
Be down
I said don’t evah
Because it’s gonna keep him hanging around

Five years going by, everyone is staying on their side x 2

Bet you got it all planned, right
Bet you never worry, never even feel a fright
Bet you got it all planned, right
Never fit to worry, never even feel a fright

If i told you things i did before
Told you how i used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?
If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?

I did before and had my share
It didn’t lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like you
It doesn’t matter what you did
Who you were hanging with
We could stick around and see this night through

And we don’t care about the young folks
Talkin’ ’bout the young style
And we don’t care about the old folks
Talkin’ ’bout the old style too
And we don’t care about their own faults
Talkin’ ’bout our own style
All we care ’bout is talking
Talking only me and you

Usually when things has gone this far
People tend to disappear
No one will surprise me unless you do

I can tell there’s something goin’ on
Hours seems to disappear
Everyone is leaving i’m still with you

It doesn’t matter what we do
Where we are going too
We can stick around and see this night through

And we don’t care about the young folks
Talkin’ ’bout the young style
And we don’t care about the old folks
Talkin’ ’bout the old style too
And we don’t care about their own faults
Talkin’ ’bout our own style
All we care ’bout is talking
Talking only me and you

And we don’t care about the young folks
Talkin’ ’bout the young style
And we don’t care about the old folks
Talkin’ ’bout the old style too
And we don’t care about their own faults
Talkin’ ’bout our own style
All we care ’bout is talking
Talking only me and you
Talking only me and you

Talking only me and you
Talking only me and you

1. Started by making a ball of dough with multi-grain flour, chopped spinach and green chillies, oil, water and baking powder.

2. For the topping, I sauteed one chopped onion, sliced chicken sausages, parboiled corn, one sliced capsicum and Maggi Pizza Sauce. Added Basil at the end.

3. Roll out the dough into pizza bases and bake them for 10 minutes @ 200 degrees.

Add the topping and cheese and bake it for 10 more minutes.
Hope it doesn’t taste raw like mine did. muhahahaaaaa

First app: Wikitude

Augmented Reality is the coolest thing to happen to your mobile device. Wikitude lets you use your camera to scan an area, and as you pan, you can see virtual tags overlap in real time.

Click ‘Around Me’ and the app shows you various POIs (points of interest) : These include user-generated information like Foursquare check-ins, geo-tagged tweets and Flickr photos and Wikipedia articles about areas. So I tried use it to scan the area around my office at DN Road and as I panned the camera, I could see Flickr images of CST station, Foursquare checkins at nearby restaurants and twitter user profiles (not very accurate as of now).
Nice TP. You can connect using Facebook and create your own overlay of places that interest you. Leaving airtags can be fun.

Next we’ll see people’s profiles popup as we scan an area using our cellphones. Imagine scanning a space in mall, finding someone interesting-looking and then clicking on their profile to ping them using your phone. Scary ha? But fun too.

Robert’s got a quick hand.
He’ll look around the room, he won’t tell you his plan.
He’s got a rolled cigarette, hanging out his mouth he’s a cowboy kid.
Yeah he found a six shooter gun.
In his dads closet hidden in a box of fun things, and I don’t even know what.
But he’s coming for you, yeah he’s coming for you.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run, outrun my gun…
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run, outrun my gun…
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

Daddy works a long day.
He be coming home late, yeah he’s coming home late.
And he’s bringing me a surprise.
‘Cause dinner’s in the kitchen and it’s packed in ice.
I’ve waited for a long time.
Yeah the slight of my hand is now a quick pull trigger,
I reason with my cigarette,
And say your hair’s on fire, you must have lost your wits, yeah.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run, outrun my gun…
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run, outrun my gun…
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,
You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

[whistling]

Repeat, repeat, repeat

So today I had an interesting day. Visited the National Gallery of Modern Art at Colaba for the first time. It’s beautiful and was previously called the Sir Cowasji Jehangir Hall.

There was an exhbhition of paintings by Polish artist Stefan Norblin whose paintings had been displayed in the same hall in 1944 after he became a popular artist in India. I loved his work especially the huge oil on canvas murals that he made for the Umaid Bhawan Palace after he was commissioned to do so by Maharaja Gaj Singh in 1942.

On the right, is one of his paintings. I love the colours used. This one was huge.

Also at the gallery was the reconstruction of a swimming pool, highlighting the painted tiles of the pool. I loved it becauase we could walk on the tiles which were mere light projections. The effect (not sure what it’s called) lets visitors interact with the exhbhit and so we made ripples in the water while the calming sound of splashing water played in the background.

The gallery itself is beautiful and you must climb up to feel the large dome overpower you. You can hear an echo everytime you take a step in the dome hall.

Below is a photo I took at the entrance of the gallery (Really need to work on my camera technique, which I intend o master in 2012). Visitors can sketch and create lil masterpieces of their own, which the gallery later pins up for all to see. My friend Nazia painted a camel over a pair of eyes. Interesting combo ha?

Telecom & IT minister Kapil Sibal is being abused on the very social networking sites he was trying to pre-screen. Facebook and Twitter were filled with “defamatory comments” about the minister on Tuesday.

“I urge you to write KAPIL SIBAL IS AN IDIOT as your Facebook status message, use the hashtag #IdiotKapilSibal on Twitter, and write a blog post with the above title, because there may soon be a day when he may prevent you from doing so,” blogger Shivam Vij posted on Kafila.org, as a reaction to Sibal’s preposterous demand. (He actually wants Google, Facebook and friends to manually approve content before it is uploaded on social networks. Does he have any idea about what he’s talking about? Does he know how much content is uploaded on these per second? And this is extreme censorship!)

Soon after, the hashtag was trending on Twitter India and furious netizens used it to vent their anger online.
- User Bhavika Sicka tweeted, “Kapil Sibal is a downright idiot if he believes he can monitor and circumscribe our space and right to expression”.
- Among others, was author Chetan Bhagat who tweeted, “I hate some of the stuff written on the Internet, but I’d hate it even more if they were not allowed to write it”.
- Mumbai-based user Dhaval Faria posted, “What’s wrong with Kapil Sibal? Are we following China, Pakistan, Middle East countries in censorship? Pathetic”.

Meanwhile, on Facebook, users posted images of the new ‘Kapil Sibal Like Button’. Faking News, an online satire news website interviewed a Facebook employee who explained: If a status update doesn’t have a ‘Kapil Sibal likes this’ response by default, it means that our filters have somehow missed it.

Tweet reactions from ministers:
- MP Shashi Tharoor first reacted by tweeting, “As a frequent victim of “disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content” on social media, I wish2stress I’m not in favour of censoring it,’’ but he later changed his stand with a tweet that read, “Have to say I support Kapil Sibal on the examples he gave me: deeply offensive material about religions & communities that could incite riots”.
(Dear Tharoor, I guess you changed your stand realising that this is the only way you can continue in Indian politics.)
- Supporting Sibal’s demand Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah posted, “I hate the idea of censorship but have seen for myself how dangerous inflammatory content on #facebook & #youtube can be.”
- MP Varun Gandhi on the other hand posted against it, “The Internet is the only truly democratic medium free of vested interests, media owners & paid-off journos. Can see why Sibal wants to gag it. ”

He wasn't spared on Twitter. #IdiotKapilSibal was trending all day

What made the minister angry? Did Kapil Sibal Facebook search his name?

Kapil Sibal groups on Facebook

According to news reports, he was angry with a few ‘Anti Sonia groups’ and of course bringing religion into the scheme of things…  he claims there are groups that hurt religious sentiments, and could potentially be the cause of future riots. It’s like Sibal just started using the Internet. I mean, offensive material is available if you look for it. Duh.

Here’s what happened when Cyrus Mistry was appointed
Till Wednesday evening, there was no Wikipedia entry on Cyrus Pallonji Mistry. But as soon as the first report declared that the 43-year-old MD of Shapoorji Pallonji Group would succeed Ratan Tata as the chairman of Tata Sons, Wikipedians quickly scrambled to create a page on him. The first entry at 6.27 pm by user Alok Prasad simply read: Cyrus Pallonji Mistry has been selected to succeed Rata Tata as chairman of Tata Sons.
Subsequently, the page underwent over 35 edits in just two hours with users adding bits and pieces of information. The only reference cited on the page as of Wednesday evening was a Reuters story that announced the development.

Today, as news of Sharad Pawar being slapped is told and debated on TV, contributors to Wikipedia silently update the politician’s page on the website. Fascinating.

The conference, which is set to become an annual affair, is aimed at providing a common platform for all Indian Wikimedians to discuss challenges and exchange useful tips, best practices and other information related to the Wiki project.

“We are also looking at encouraging more users to contribute in their mother-tongues so that we can build and improve 22 Indic-language projects including the Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati Wikipedias,” said Hisham Mundol, Consultant and Head, India Programs Division, Wikimedia.

“Of the 1 lakh people who contribute to Wikipedia, only about 3,000 are Indian. We want to encourage more people to write articles about the country,” he adds.

Co-founder of Wikipedia and chairman emeritus of the Wikimedia foundation, Jimmy Wales will kick-start the event with a keynote address.  This will be followed by by users presenting on Wiki-related topics, including a visually-impaired user’s experience on using the service and a talk that encourages women to contribute more, considering that only 13% of Wikipedians are women.

“This will be the first time, users from different parts of the country, contributing to different language Wikis, will be able to discuss tips and problems they face while writing and editing articles,” says Pranav Curumsey, Chairperson, Organising Committee, WikiConference India.

Editathon and Hackathon

Besides the presentations, an Editathon (where participants will be encouraged to edit as many articles as they can after being coached by Wikipedia pros) and a Hackathon (where techies will collaborate to build programs and applications to improve the user interface and mobile access of Wikipedia) will also be held.

“We have also organised a separate track for contributors of Marathi Wikipedia to discuss topics including the problem of typing in Devnagiri font,” said Moksh Juneja, Secretary, Organising Committee, WikiConference India. With over 35,000 articles, Marathi Wikipedia is the third-largest regional wiki in India.

Starting app
Erstwhile copywriter and present-day “digital strategist” Siddhartha Banerjee was not a techie until last year when all of a sudden — because of his “love for Apple and admiration for Steve Jobs” — he decided to take a plunge into app development.
“I wanted to do something different from advertising; something innovative where I could blend creativity with technology. And app development for the iPhone and iPad seemed like the perfect venture,” he says.
Banerjee took time off and began learning Objective C – the programming language that would help him create applications for the iOS platform.
“I studied for 13 to 15 hours a day for almost two and half months,” he says. “My first app called MeterDown was created to see how I’d stack up against other app developers in the market.”
His “free” program helps Mumbaikars calculate their taxi and rickshaw fare. Users enter the reading on the meter. The software takes into consideration the new fares to compute the exact amount that passengers have to pay.
“The app was a hit and was downloaded by more than 40,000 users from the iTunes India Store.”
Banerjee didn’t make any money from MeterDown, but its success encouraged him to try out a few other projects, including a $1.99 SARI App that provides women with step-by-step instructions on how to drape a saree.
“SARI is actually my wife Bhavna Sharma’s brainchild. It is based on an insight she gave me: women need a saree manual on the go.”
The app is a success and has been downloaded around 1,800 times since its launch on March 8, 2011.
“In 2012, I’m hoping to take up app development as a full-time business,” the Mumbaikar says.
In nearby Pune, Sagar Bedmutha has already made app development his career choice. In 2008, he launched his company Optinno Mobitech from a mere 300-square-foot room with two other employees.
Today, his app, SMS blocker, has been downloaded by almost 70,000 mobile phone users from more than 110 countries, giving him worldwide acclaim.
Bedmutha admits he would not have been able to make it this big as an entrepreneur if it wasn’t for the new software market created by the proliferation of smartphones. “With mobile apps, small start-ups and individual developers can reach out to an audience spread across the world in a shorter period of time,” he avers.

Democratizing development
Indeed, software development is beginning to see a democratisation of sorts what with more and more programmers finding it easier to fund their own mobile start-ups because of the lower overhead costs. Besides, they don’t have to invest thousands of rupees on guerrilla marketing before launching a product. With online market places like the Apple App Store, Google’s Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store and RIM’s Blackberry App World, it is cheaper and easier to reach out to customers directly who are willing to spend a few bucks on a good app.

Also, these markets have a ranking system — based on user ratings and number of downloads — that pushes good apps to the top of the charts, thus ensuring that even the smallest developers, if they have a good product at hand, have a chance of making it big.
Three years ago, Shailesh Prabhu’s Mumbai-based Yellow Monkey Studios was left in the lurch after the publisher of a Nintendo DS demo game they had developed went bankrupt.
“So we decided to evaluate platforms where we could publish content on our own,” the 29-year-old CEO says. “It was then that the Apple App Store had just launched. It gave us a great opportunity to be able to publish our own games,” he adds, explaining how his company was drawn into the world of app development.
Still, making it to the top is not easy. “You have to be ranked in the top 100 in the paid US iPhone market to make money. And to get into the top ranking it has gotten a little harder these days with tons and tons of apps and all the big players entering the market too,” says stay-athome mother of two, Survi Gopal, who quit her job at a multinational to take care of her children and now makes apps for her company Niyaa in her free time. Her ‘Monkey and the Crocodile’ (an animated app that narrates the Panchatantra tale) broke into the Top 10 in the Education category of the Indian App Store, while her app ‘Hindi Alphabets’ managed to make it to the top 50.
Speaking of big players, Udipi-based Robosoft Technologies — with a head strength of more than 350 developers — made over a million dollars from their mobile camera app, Camera Pro.
“The paid version ($1.99) which comes with better features has been downloaded close to a million times, and the free version has been downloaded over 20 million times,” CEO Rohith Bhat says.

Cutting the clutter
Given the potential of earnings, app developers are trying every trick in the book to promote their offerings, improve market-place rankings and to reach out to consumers: Banerjee, for one, is offering his SARI app for half its price (99 cents instead of $1.99) from October 10 to 30 in a “festival sale”.
Bedmutha, on the other hand, believes in seeding the marketplace with free versions of his apps. “We gave out our SMS Blocker app for free in the beginning as a means of promotion, but now we have added a few extra features and made it a paid app at Rs 199,” he says. Most small-time entrepreneurs also make it a point to attend developer’s meets such as those organised by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) and Mobile Monday Mumbai, a forum for mobile professionals and enthusiasts. Besides, interacting with their peers and exchanging ideas, these meetings sometimes result in international funding, especially since venture capitalists and private investors attend these events to find maverick app developers. “We don’t have deep pockets like big software firms so we usually publicise our products amongst peers on social networks, by using email marketing, getting reviewed on web sites and even participating in international festivals and contests,” says Prabhu.
In September, Yellow Monkey’s game app for the iPad ‘It’s Just a Thought’ bagged the Best Original Idea Award at HoPlay ‘11 – an international video game festival that was held in Spain.
“The event gave me a great opportunity to interact with peers on a global scale. These events are always good for developing contacts in international markets,” Prabhu says. “Besides, if it wasn’t for my app, I wouldn’t even have made it to Spain,” he jokes.

The census method used in Mumbai’s only wildlife sanctuary involves old techniques like pug mark tracking, identifying excreta left behind by the Hanuman Langoor, looking for leopard scratch marks on tree trunks, spotting a spotted deer and making note of any antlers that have been shed.

Wildlife experts claim these methods are outdated, and that newer methods like camera trapping and studying DNA of leopard droppings should be used. Anish Andheria of Science Asia says that even calling the exercise a `census’ is incorrect.

“The numbers derived are not anywhere close to the total count which is why it should be called a population estimation or density estimation,” he says.

Forest officers say that the new scientific methods require money, which the department is always short of. Environmentalist Bittu Sahgal agrees that monetary support is required to implement the guidelines set by the Wildlife Institute of India protocol for better estimation techniques. “Mumbai needs 30 pairs of camera traps where individual leopards can be identified by their spot patterns. Like human fingerprints, each individual leopard’s spots are unique,” he explains.

Concurrently held at Tansa, Karnala and Phansad forests, the last day of the census, which began on Sunday, is the most anticipated. Census volunteers say that on Saturday night, the full moon will be at its brightest just before the monsoon, making it the best time to spot a leopard. Every year, the census is carried out during the peak of summer when waterholes dry up, forcing animals to congregate at man-made water ponds and lakes. This year, over 20 bamboo machaans have been rigged up near the water holes for volunteers.

On last year’s census, zoology student Vandan Jhaveri spotted a leopard at Tulsi Lake. This year, Jhaveri is headed south to the the Kudremukh National Park in Karnataka. “They use professional methods there like camera trapping,” he says.

The leopards have steadily dwindled. From 42 in 2001 to 24 in 2008. One of the culprits, experts say, is the massive illegal encroachment on forest land. A BNHS study shows that the leopard’s staple diet consists of either the domestic dog or rodent, instead of the deer or wild boar. “Leopards feeding on dogs that in turn feed on garbage is not a good sign,” says Sahgal.

Click to view slideshow.
Today their NGO supports 896 villages in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Awarded the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize at the World Water Forum in Istanbul this year, the couple’s efforts to carry out rain water harvesting in an inclusive, equitable, sustainable and gender-sensitive manner have been saluted internationally. The focus on involving marginal groups like shepherds, women, landless labourers and tribals won them 28,000 USD.
At every step, the villagers were taken on board. Sarpanch Chimaji Kondaji Avhad explains, “We were banned from allowing free grazing and then asked to give shramdaan.” The onion farmer recalls how many landless labourers didn’t want to help because they didn’t know what the benefits would be like. “When the results came in, we had water to drink and for irrigation too.’’ Today, unemployment isn’t a problem. In fact, Darewadi’s farmers now hire labourers from outside.

Also stranded along the route are cars packed with tourists. Take Ronit Mehta. After spending five days in traffic that didn’t move an inch, the only pleasant memory Mehta has is the generosity of the truckers. Without expecting to be paid, the truckers gladly share their freshly cooked meals with helpless tourists who are less prepared to face week-long traffic blocks. The truckers on the other hand, are fully equipped to weather the extremities of the cold, Himalayan altitudes and long waits. At 13,000 feet, there are no dhabas or restaurants in sight. So the driver’s cabin is converted into a makeshift kitchen — for him and other hungry travellers.
A metal kerosene stove, pressure cooker, cooking vessels, glasses, spoons, seven kilos of rice, tea leaves, sugar and vegetables comprise Bhaag Singh’s indispensable survival kit. Singh has been driving on Himalayan roads for the last 20 years and experienced routine one-day traffic jams and more extreme six-week traffic jams as well.
Every meal that Singh cooks tastes the same. He has even nicknamed his food majboori ka khaana. Mehta had ample time to observe Singh whip up a meal. First, he sautés potatoes and tomatoes in hot ghee in a pressure cooker. He then adds rice and green, yellow and orange slices of Shimla mirch to the mixture. The dish is popularly known as ‘brunj’ by the truckers, most of who belong to Himachal Pradesh. “I was warned in advance about the epic jams on this route and so I came prepared with biscuits and packaged food,” Mehta said. “But nothing beats a freshly-cooked meal that’s served hot. It’s the best way to counter the cold climes outside.”

The simple repast cooked to satisfy the driver’s ravenous hunger is laden with fat. Singh and his driver friends reveal that they have never cooked the dish for their wives because of its high fat content. They like to call it akele aadmi ka khaana. The greasy rice meal is eaten with pickle and onions, when available, and looks like khichdi.
To be sure, the truckers find eating rice day in and day out monotonous. But rotis, which they hanker for, are out of the question equipped as they are with just a pressure cooker and stove. Unlikely chefs like Bhaag Singh also offer stranded tourists tea which they make using cold glacier water that they climb the sides of the mountain to fetch. Bikers who traverse the terrain vouch for their fine tea.
The world takes surreal turn for truckers weighed down by the tedium of being stranded for long months on some of the world’s highest and most solitary roads. In times like these, what keeps them sane is the reassuring warmth of a hot bowl of brunj.