Rains in Mumbai!!!!

Something more about the Mumbai rains!
This one is not a forward...
I am sure all of us have been reading reports about the mUmbai rains etc etc.... and the prevailing complaint about the fucked-up infrastructure and lack of efficient management of disaster by Municipal corporation....
I was wondering about whether is it actually the inefficiency of the govt. or people in distress only want someone to blame (for which I dont blame them.. I probably wud have done the same!)
But anyway, I did some net-searching to find major rainfalls in the world, and see how many people died.... I didnt get stats for many (since most of these things were in the pre-internet era)... However, I am sure none of us even heard that there was a comparable heavy rainfall in Australia just last month!! It recorded 510 mm (rains in Mumbai were 37 inches which is 925 mm).. SO its not as severe but still comparable...
Here's the links,
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1404408.htm
http://www.stormchasing.com.au/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=220

But the amazing fact is this:
Number died : ZERO
Missing: 2
Evacuated: 3000
The first two numbers are not surprising.... But guys, they evacuated 3000 people in 48 hours!!

Some 500 people have died in Bombay (and as far as I can read there really is no framework for managing these kind of situations in place..)
I am aware there are many mre factors in the two incidents and they cannot be compared.... But they still made sure noone died.... I am not sure of this but I think the average number of people dying in the not-so-rare earthquakes in US is like 10.
So I think it is not just people compaining, but the govt. really IS inefficient.... And the situation is really bad!

One last thing.... People everywhere on all websites are praising the amazing spirit of Mumbaikars etc.... I think the most amazing thing is that we still continue to pay more tax than any other city in India, pay also for the free ticketless train travel that takes place in UP-Bihar, not to mention the lacs given to the fuck-all politicians in Delhi.... and still dont get proper basic amenities not to mention the worst situations in times of disaster..... Also guess what.... when someone brings down a Masjid in Ayodhya, we are the ones who bear the riots/bombblasts et al.

Whatever..... Its all too too painful! Get back to work now!!!!
Vaibhav

Logic of any blog!

I was just browsing thru the blogspot pages (the little next blog link everywhere..) and I got this strange feeling about several people posting several blogs. There's this one guy, who is concerned about White House doing black activities, some mainstream album he spent 20 of his hardearned bucks buying, some stupid things going on around him... and on and on and on... The important thing was that he was writing.. constantly, without a single comment on any of his posts! I think this is more or less the case with most of us, we are here to talk... talk without a listener! OR even if there are some silent, unknown listeners, its like praying or something. Maybe meditating is a better word. your job is to tell Him about all troubles and ask help.... And after that the important thing is TO LEAVE IT TO HIM. You are not to argue, not to crib but at the time also not to give up and stop working. TO work without expecting fruits is I guess the essence of life, and I guess most bloggers follow it in a very different, but equally deeper arena. I guess THAT is the actual essence of blogging, to talk or write without caring for any listeners, it by the self to the self, and hence has no ambition for the self.
So guys, keep blogging!

Ratha at Mahabs 

Mahabalipuram 1 

Monolith of India - Mahabalipuram!

Today I thought I should upload some of the good stuff I have seen in India. Among other things I like to do (but somehow dont get to..) Travelling ranks pretty high. Mahabalipuram (or Mahabs as we used to call it when studying in IITM) is a nice 3-4 hr. drive from Chennai, the SOuth Indian city. The drive is along the beach all along, and there are several deserted beaches where you can just jump into the water and have a nice refreshing salt-water bath!
Anyway, the aim in posting this is to tell about the speciality of Mahabs. A peculiarity of India if you dont knwo is that every village,town, city or a hamlet has a temple somewhere nearby. Kings of the past times spent entire fortunes in building grand temples. The peculiarity of Mahabs is that all the temples here are 'monoliths'; meaning they have been carved out of a single rock! What is more profound is the sheer volume of each of these monuments, each temple and ratha (a chariot) is several hundred feet high and extends to very long distances. Every inch of the architecture is decorated with exquisite carvings depicting stories of Gods and Godesses of the past!
The mystiqueness of the place hardly ends here! Legend goes that there are 7 such temples at the same place but 6 of themm are under sea. Recent satellite images show an outline of some massive construction sites along the seashore, a few miles into the sea (Will post the links of the site soon) . Another astonishing thing about the place is that at no place on walls or at any place is the name of a single sculptor or architect found. So much for self-bragging!
I am uploading some photos of the place (they are not mine, but some better photographers took those and find them nice to put here...) .. If you do go to that part of India ever, visit 'Mahabs' without fail!
Adios!
Vaibhav.

Some links:
http://www.tamilnation.org/culture/architecture/temple.htm#Mahabalipuram
http://blogs.sify.com/blog_display.php?blogid=540&pid=17

The aviator

Well, so I happened to see this movie Aviator today... I actually did that for no reason, well if all things you do have to have a rason-tag, you can say I was pretty frustrated by the way things were going int he lab and it seemed a OK thing to catch some movie on a SUnday night..
ANyway, the point is I think its a decent enough movie to watch once dont know if it is all that 'Oscar worthy' stuff or not, but Dicaprico does a good job playing Howard Hughes although it becomes a bit painful in the middle with all his depression levels high and all..
1 thing I want to say, I think these schizophrenic guys are actually very smart, in fact a friend of mine, (whose mother is one) actually commented once so... I guess it takes a lot more imagination and memory to do so, which I think are integral parts of intelligience,,
Well, thats all from my side for the day, if anyone does stumble onto this site for some reason I cannot fathom(since noone knows about this blog yet) try to leave a comment..
Before I end, here's an advice from Mark Twain 'Its better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, rather than opening it and removing all doubt!'
Now you know why people think I am silent!
Vaibav.

some cAlviNish sTuff

Well,
Just to get SOME start I thought of posting from something thats my favorite! Quotes from CAlvin and Hobbes, I know there are a lot of these things around on the net, but what the hell! MOre of a reason why I shouldn't do the same....
So here I go!

• Reality continues to ruin my life.
• Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words
• In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks..
• This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen ...
• I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information
• I'm a genius, but I'm a misunderstood genius.
• I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know.

Will put some more here when and if I get enthu to do so..
Vaibhav.

Existence

Existence is not only temporary.. its pointless!
Bill Waterson.


One's existence is the biggest problem each man has to solve! Unless someone else solves it first!
Vaibhav Khire