What would others think?

We are social animals, they said. Each of us cannot live in isolation and our lives are not lived by us alone, but by people surrounding us as well. That includes parents, siblings, relatives, friends, well wishers and society. All our decisions must be in the best interests of all these entities. However, to what extent?

I make a choice for my haircut, one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose my eating habits and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose the music I listen to, and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose the clothes I wear, which are decent, and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

I choose to spend my earnings, the way I wish to and one of them would say, “What would others think?”

We have become answerable, more to society than to our own conscience. Suppressing the desire to chase dreams, making sacrifices, remaining in shackles, being part of the continuum, of the rinse-repeat cycle.

To not answer the question, “What would others think?”

Getting so far wasn’t easy. It, however, didn’t involve answering that question.

Why Flipkart is Awesome

• Because they cared to listen to my suggestion.
• Because saying that the suggestion is something to think about is better than shooting it down.

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1. 

   Vivek@milcom_

   @Flipkart Had ordered 4 items to be delivered as gifts. Got delivered as separate shipments. Aren’t gifts supposed to go as “one”?

   Tue, Jan 29 2013 05:49:29

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2. 

   flipkartsupport@flipkartsupport

   @milcom_ More often it isn’t possible to ship together, given the items get shipped from different warehouses and have varied schedules.

   Tue, Jan 29 2013 22:20:07

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3. 

   Vivek@milcom_

   @flipkartsupport Why not add a special service(for a fee) where “single shipment” is an option? Logistics are hard, I understand.

   Tue, Jan 29 2013 22:28:35

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4. 

   flipkartsupport@flipkartsupport

   @milcom_ Definitely food for thought.

   Wed, Jan 30 2013 02:27:54

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Paalak Dal : Recipe

Domestic helps and cooks in India (not sure if such a concept exists in other countries) have the unique characteristic of being AWOL when you most need them to turn up, especially if one has had a tired day or is a little sick. Their excuses range from “I was sick” to “My kid was sick”. Anyway, our cook didn’t turn up this evening and my roommate and I were put in the dilemma of what to cook, which is more complex than planning what to order from a multi cuisine  restaurant. The fact that we finally decide on Dal-Chawal (boiled lentils and rice) doesn’t deter us from having an intense discussion.

Anyway, we also had Paalak (spinach for the Popeye lovers) at home and decided to cook Paalak Dal (the second word means lentils, if it was difficult to figure out from the last paragraph) after he consulted his mom about the recipe and the only information I registered was garlic based seasoning and no onion.

What was meant to be an experiment ended up being an excellent dish which went really well with steamed rice.

Ingredients

• Toor Dal(Yellow Pigeon Peas, is what wikipedia is calling it) : 3/4 cup
• Paalak(spinach, doh!) : 1 handful, chopped
• Garlic : 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
• Red chilli powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Jeera(cumin seeds) : 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil : 3 teaspoon
• Salt : to taste

Cooking Instructions

• Pressure cook dal and paalak along with 3 cups of water for about 20 minutes(pressure cooker will give 3-4 whistles). Ensure that the dal has attained a thick, mashed consistency.
• Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and wait for them to pop.
• Add garlic and ginger. Allow the garlic to attain a light brown colour.
• Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Allow it to cook for the raw smell of the powders to disappear.
• Pour the seasoning into the boiled lentils.
• Serve hot with steamed rice.

#treadmilcom : Fun hashtag, (not so) serious business

3 years back, I went home for a small vacation and my parents were shocked to see me. I was a mess with a bulging waistline, wobbling biceps, not to mention pants which were loose a few months back going very tight. I wasn’t realizing the spiral I was being sucked into. I never thought that someone who was underweight in school and college would gain so much weight and become a potato. I had gained 14 kg over 5 months. The realization dawned finally one fine morning when I had to carry something heavy and I started panting after about 50m.

It started with joining a roommate on his daily walks. 10 rounds of walking along the pavement inside the park. That would roughly be about 2.5-3km. We would do it intermittently, going one day and skipping another 2-3 days. However, the important part was that we were getting more workout than usual. I also cut down on my snacking habits. Going down from 250g of moong daal a day to 100g a day. The progress started showing in the way I started feeling healthier. Very soon, I was doing an extra 1.5km every day in the form of walking back from the shared auto drop point to my apartment. In the next 3-4 months, I shed 8 kgs, felt slimmer and fitter.

Somewhere in between, I also started mixing up my morning walks with some light runs as well. I would usually do 4-5 rounds of running in the 10 rounds that I used to do around the park. I started getting bored of the same trail and same faces at the same time every day. That is when I decided that I needed to hit the road. This happened only a year and a half back because I was still very irregular and would probably have been doing 12km a week, including the walks back in the evening.

All in all, I was getting some activity done, even though it was sporadic. In the meantime, my workplace got a gym in place and I happened to read a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers about the Couch 2 5k plan. Doing a bit of research showed me that it’s a hugely successful concept.

The story didn’t end there. Since I was running regularly by now, I decided to start from week 4 of the plan. I was stuck on week 4 forever though. I just didn’t have the mental strength to do week 5 where the 3rd run is a full 20 minutes without any walking breaks.

I went to Sweden in between. I also got engaged and took a pretty long break from work which meant that I was simply hogging away and not moving my ass.

I gained 4 kg in 2 weeks due to all the beef and pork and I was afraid of the downward spiral again.

Once I got back from vacation, I resumed with week 4 for a week. This week, I did all the 3 runs of week 5, including that dreaded 20 minute mini marathon. I felt really proud after that. I would like to take this journey all the way to the finish and further.

To track my progress, I have also come up with a new hashtag #treadmilcom because I started doing the program on the treadmill and then started hitting the road, once I got a decent pair of running shoes. I intend to keep everyone updated about the progress through this hashtag and who knows, it could even become a movement of sorts to convince my friends to take up running(by friends, I mean everyone interested).

PS : I slyly added two important events in my life

PPS : I also received a new Android phone as a gift which has helped me track my pace.

PPPS : Please cheer me up on this journey, no?

N 1100 : Hands On With New Features

Will you want to buy one? Like any of the top-end phones with which it’s competing, such as the N3310 and Lolsung’s SGH E700, buying the top-end version will be a big commitment.

Two groups of people will be delighted to snap this up: anyone with an N3315 from before 2002 and anyone who wants to get superfast mobile snake gaming and is vendor neutral. The first group will be delighted to get a new phone; the second, to get a really pleasurable experience on the gaming scheme of things.The screen isn’t bigger than the N3315, and only a side-by-side comparison with the (as yet unreleased) N1110 will tell how their torches match up.

Lolsung users considering a switch will probably enjoy features such as T9 (the equivalent of T7, but already bigger because N3310 has a larger user base than  SGH E700).

And the software that runs T9 works on every N phone since 2002. There’s nothing as good as the T9 text input on any other system. And the simplicity of use is something people clearly like. But if you leave Lolsung or Carbonator, you’ll have to abandon your ringtones — although the equivalents are almost certain to be available on the Composer. The only difference? You might have to compose your own tunes. N3310 users also like keypad shortcuts built into the system, which they won’t find on the the Lolsung.

Carbonator users meanwhile will miss the two separate green and red buttons for connect/disconnect — but they’ll like the new turn off button which is concave and really pleasing to hold. And they’ll like all the ringtones. The messages software will have to be closely compared against Lolsung’s; but the addition of detail on delivery reports means that even though N is cutting more its ties to the mobile giant, the messages look great: during the demonstration N showed off a delivery center editing feature. Early UK users of the software already say it’s great.

The new “thin pin” charger, which makes about a billion existing ones obsolete in a flash, isn’t going to ruin your life – you’ll be able to get adaptors.

If you don’t have a phone, the cost will look daunting. (Though the prices of the older N phones have come down substantially.) Lolsung’s SGH E700 is becoming cheaper, and Carbonator may be able to compete — once we know the prices. But the key difference there is that neither company designs the software that runs the phone. Lolsung uses G’s Ancioid; Carbonator, MS’s Symbiotic parasite OS. That limits both in subtle ways. N offers a walled garden, it’s true – and it’s hard to break out once you’re inside. Lolsung has the advantage that it offers many different brands, while Parasite is borne up almost entirely by Carbonator. But with any of these you’ll only buy once every couple of years. If the time and the price is right, the N1100 is definitely the most integrated phone out there.

NOTE : This is a spoof on a very vague review of the new Apple Phone here.