$2,275 to change the destiny of Indian Roads

As $2,275 or the 1 lac car from Tata Motors is getting ready, my worst apprehensions about Indian road traffic and the emission levels are all set to be true. In a country where car has been a status symbol, 1 lac is no big deal to move into that status. More cars -> more traffic -> more gas -> more parking -> more pollution...more God knows of what!! Gas will probably shootup from Rs.45 a litre to Rs.60+ a litre. Most of the shopping districts, entertainment centers, business districts do not accomodate parking lots, forcing the car owners to park them on the roads creating huge road blocks for the moving traffic. Its too huge a problem to be postponed even by a single day OR to be thought about in a single dimension. Wish I had a part to play in solving these huge problems.

PS: $2,275 has the potential to spread the same problems to most of the developing countries making them more unmanageable!

A bad idea: Spell Check for IM

While I was exploring Google's new IM, it re-struck to me why spell check is such a bad idea for IM. Most popular case against a spell checker can be that its a very informal mode of communication and hence you dont have to be pedantically right.

I think that a bigger point against spell check is that: Given a context, we are extremely good at auto-correcting. IM, being a conversatory mode of communication, defines and keeps re-defining context clearly. Also, we humans are good at re-iterating mutual feelings thru conversations, thanks to paraphernilia like :) , lol , ha ha, :( , :D , :P ....

Ironically, there are hundereds of spell check plug-ins readily available for every IM client.

PS: Here's a poem that passes thru a spell check. It makes good sense to humans too. But its a total nonsense to an English teacher.

Eye halve a spelling chequer,
It came with my pea sea,
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I'm shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh,
My chequer tolled me sew.

Arnold in India

When Terminator 3 got dubbed into Telugu, Arnold Schwarzenegger was translated as Anna Swarnasekhar. Yeah, "Anna Swarnasekhar natinchina Terminator 3". (Arnold stars in Terminator 3). Wondering what he might be called in Tamil Nadu? Anna Saravananan? (An extra -an to make it a little more tongue twisting.)

Different and Unlikely

Indian movies use two words a lot, when they write down the synopsis of a movie.

One: Different. "This movie is so different from the rest of the stuff." Remember (A')' = A ? Yeah, thats the case with Indian movies.

Two: Unlikely. "The girl realizes that love happens with the most unlikely guy in the most unlikely circumstances ." I have started questioning the very meaning of unlikely after all those unlikely usages of the word.

Why is Amitabh such a mainstream actor even now?

I think thats mainly because its only he who provides writers to write a story/script that does not entirely revolve around cliched love stories and still managesto make money at the box office. What do you say?

Water Tragedy

It takes about $1.7 billion a year to provide fresh driniking water to everybody on the globe. And about $9.3 billion for sanitation. The irony is that there is an annual spending of $46 billion on bottled water!!

The Rising

A bunch of kings revolting against Lord Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse and then another bunch of soldiers revolting for a thing as silly as animal fat. Now, how interesting can that be for a movie?

Answers?

"Computers are useless. They only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso

Yeah, the greatness lies in asking the right questions.