Interesting Trivia

Wifey is a textile designer and specialises in weaving. I am a Software Engineer. These two fields being so divergent from each other have a point of convergence in history (which a lot of people know but are not conscious about). There was a gentleman called Joseph Jacquard who was a weaver. He created an automated loom for which he invented a mechanism to pre-store and provide input through 'Punched Cards'. Yes. That is the convergence point. Punched Cards were the 'ancestors' of all storage devices (floppy, hard disk, Flash Memory).
And that loom also evolved. Today it in in an avatar where designs are created in computers on a digital pad, saved in a floppy disk and fed into the loom via an attached disk drive from which the loom reads the design and begins to weave.

Very Important Day

Monday - 18th December 2006 could be a Historic Day for 3 reasons:

1) Verdict on the Fodder and Corruption case against Lalu.
2) Verdict on the Jessica Lal murder case.
3) India might win their first Test in SA and for the first time go ahead in a series there.

I am going to go to work and do my job with as much dedication as possible and hope that the respective people involved in the events mentioned above also do their job correctly and with utmost dedication.

First Test

I spent a great part of the weekend following the match. India are definitely in a strong and a potentially match-winning position and I really loved the fight, the dedication and the attitude displayed by the team.
Now there is still a chance that SA might make a match of it. Prince and Boucher currently batting with Pollock to follow, there is definitely an opportunity for SA to get the approx 260 runs required to win because the pitch has also eased out and become better for batting and Kumble is not producing anything yet.
Still, the gutsy fight in the first inning and even more so the fight by the batsmen especially Laxman and Zaheer in the second innings would ensure that even if India loses from here, the Indian cricket fan would be pleased by the will to fight shown by the players. Ultimately that is what the fans want to see. The heart to fight.
I loved the way Zaheer batted. It should be a lesson to the top order. Leave EVERYTHING outside off stump. Just leave it. Anything coming close to off-stump, go right behind it and play it down. And then when the bowler gets bored and straightens the line even more, smack him twards the leg-side. Simple. Sensible. And Damn Effective. So many great thing in life are the simple ones.
It ensured that India lasted amost all of the first session on the third day and raised the Target to an unlikely 400 after Dhoni and Kumble departed early playing loose shots.
Of course, Sreeshanth antics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjEYzm-nHrw) were a great booster :-)

Fashion Show

First Live Fashion Show - thanks to wifey who got passes for the event. Final semester Fashion Designing students of Pearl Academy are each given an opportunity to present 5 designs of their collection to be displayed on ramp in front of parents, teachers, guests from fashion industry and media. This is like the final presentation or submission of their course.
Just imagine the exhilaration of the students who are not yet in the industry but have their designs modeled by the likes of Jesse Randhawa and even Isha Kopikkar on the ramp.
From an outsider's point of view, I enjoyed the presentation of the event, the glamour and the vivaciousness there. I did try very hard just to concentrate on the Models ! But my attention was digressing to the clothes and the music again and again and again. Even from my perspective I did manage to get to like a few designs on the clothes. The names that were given to the collections by the students were no less astounding and creative. Check out a few :
Chastity of Radha, Vicca, Delicate Sensibilities... when there is style, it is there in everything in the event.

The Delhi Weekend

So my Bro-in-law was visiting and had never seen the Qutb Minar. I had also visited it more than 15 years ago and because one could see it everytime one travelled from Gurgaon to South-Delhi and back, somehow it hadnt appealed enough for a visit during my more than 3-yr stay here.
We decided to go to Qutb Minar and then see from there what to do.

We reached there in the afternoon and the sunny winter afternoon made the visit quite pleasant. There is huge open space around the Minar which is carpeted with lush green and well maintained lawns. The Minar and other monuments inside the complex are like interspersed in the middle of the green carpet. I have begun to believe that I am developing into someone who has started appreciating the arts because I was just fascinated by the beauty of the carvings around the Minar. On every floor of the Minar was an exquisitely carved balcony that hung outward and the intricate work on those took my breath away. In short, the winter afternoon sun and the beauty of the monument made the visit extremely enjoyable.

Then we decided to pay a visit to CP/Janpath, first for a bite and then for a shopping trip for wifey. We hit the much celebrated South Indian place called Sarvana Bhavan. While the rest ordered assorted dosas, I ordered Paneer Dosa and after 10 minutes they said that it will take 15 minutes for them to prepare. As I was quite hungry by the time I asked them how much time would Idli take and they said 'Immediately'. So I asked them to get me a plate of Idli immediately and follow it up with the Paneer Dosa. Idli was good but even after my having finished off the idli they said that paneer dosa would take nother 15 minutes. Clearly, they did not want to serve me Paneer Dosa. They tried to push Mysore Masala Dosa which I accepted because I was extremely hungry. What arrived was a very spicy plate of Dosa 'dripping' with oil. The others too had got their Dosas dripping with oil. The sambhar and chatni were good but we were really put off by the oil-dripping dosa servings. Wonder why the place is so famous and is called the best South-Indian food joint in Delhi. Naivedyam chain is much better in terms of service and preparation. I have been eating there since 2000 and the experience has always been very good.

It was dusk when we visited India Gate and drove along Raj Path right to the gates of Rashtrapati Bhavan. When you drive up Raisina hill and park the car next to South Block and turn around, you feel GRAND. I wonder how many tourists in Delhi go down that road. The drive to Raisina hill and the view of Raj[ath and India Gate from there are really wonderful and highly recommended for anyone visiting Delhi. It just takes 10 minutes to start from from India Gate. Stop for some pictures from between North Block and South Block and return and the time is worth it.

Weekend Specials in Delhi

I feel so short of ideas when I am confronted with outing in Delhi. I am done with the malling and CP-ing routine. I am not interested in another shopping trip to Karol Bagh. I am not interested in watching a movie at times. I am done with Qutab Minar/Red Fort.
There are a couple of places to go around Gurgaon but I want to SEE Delhi for what it is.
Going to search the net and find a few places to see this weekend.