It's been a while but...

to those very very few that still visit this place in vain, I thank you and salute you for you are indeed the most devoted of followers. I've been tied up with oh so very much over the last year and shelved blogging much as I didn't intend to. Fortunately for me, the dust has settled and with the quietening over in my life, I have been left with with more time to ponder over useless facts and events. Indeed ladies and gents, I have been smitten by the writing bug yet again, and after doodling short write ups in my notebook I decided to reboot my forray into the blogosphere...

but before you start mentally high fiving me I'd like to inform you of some changes. This is officially my last post on this blog after which I am abandoning it, much like I did my 6 year old jeans last week.

However I will be kicking off an exciting new blog - http://scalingthewall.typepad.com/

It will be a very different kind of blog, chronicling my new life on wall street and (hint hint) how I'm tackling the bulls and bears of life. Unlike this blog, I intend to be far more regular and far less emo. I'm not sure what exactly I'll be writing about, but most probably it'll be about wall street, finance, business, technology, life and it's host of peculiarities not to mention current events ranging from britney to baghdad to basketball to bearingpoint.

Alright then, I'll see you there!

Cheers,

o_d

grad school is tedious. bah.

random things heard on street corner

As I trudged towards chipotle in the sweltering heat to get myself a massive post- lunch- coma- like- sleep- inducing burrito, I saw a lady walk down the street communicating in an animated fashion into her cellphone. Suddenly in a most sagely way she asked the person at the other end, "wait... why are you talking to me on the cell phone while you're swimming?"




...lol

DJ Tiesto's last few mix tapes have been disappointing and just as I'd written him off, a colleague of mine introduced me to Tiesto's latest offering In Search of Sunrise Vol.5:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EGDBUQ/102-7788406-5191330?v=glance&n=5174
It's a 2 disc album. The first disc is a mix tape with pretty much music to chill out on, and trust me people - it doesn't disappoint! Great for chillin' on weeknights.
However, ladies and gentlemen. It's the second disc that totally blows your fuckin' mind away. Trance in it's purest form. It's an album designed for summer night parties with strong club beats. Tiesto has experiemented with progressive trance and it worked for him. Overall I'd give ISOS5 a 4/5. Check it out folks!

today i heard "Run away" by the Real McCoy after like 5 years or something. Memories of 1995...

I rest my case

This blog summarizes exactly what I meant by Wall Street's reaction to the Indian government's decision to ban blogs:

http://www.informationarbitrage.com/2006/07/et_tu_india_.html

Today I found myself in the most awkward position at work, defending India's honor due to the government's absolutely stupid move to block blogs on Indian bandwidth : http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200607181922.htm

Not only do I whole heartedly disagree with the DoT's decision, I question the government's commitment to honoring our pledge for democracy. Freedom of speech is the fundamental foundation and more importantly birth right of every human born in a democracy. The government meddling with a set of rules supposedly immune from tampering, leaves me a tad concerned with Indian policy makers and their minions.

How dare they block a medium of thought? This is why time and again George Orwell's 1984 scares the crap out of me. The largest powers in the world are slowly moving towards Big brotherdom. Claiming that terrorists carry out their propoganda through blogs and hence they should be blocked borders on retarded. Terrorists can use phones, instant messaging, email, websites, message boards, news fliers, and a loud mouth to spread their words. Are we going to block all of this? Furthur more, blocking specific blogging services like blogspot and typepad is really silly because hey, they can get around this! Just get your own proxy.

Back to my rant - wall street is keenly watching India. She is like a rising star and all eyes are on her. While the praises are lavish, every mistake brings on scathing criticism. Today's accusations over the blocked blogging issues have dealt almost wholely on double standards, hypocrisy, designer democracy and such. While I strongly denounce the government's actions, sometimes I get the feeling that I am an ambassador for India at my company having to be politcally correct so that my colleagues don't get a wrong idea about India. Tough call. I need a beer. Mmmmm, beer...

So I check my portfolio this morning and see that Infosys (NASDAQ:INFY) has dropped 44.14% overnight! Are you fuckin' kidding me?! Oddly enough, all the news on the BSE indicates that Infy is booming or atleast a good buy. Glitch? Or long expected?

Thank you Seattle. We love you.