Suresh's Random Ramblog

Happy New Year - 2010

Suresh — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:10:52 +0000

In Memoriam Goofy: June 1995 - 17 December 2009

Suresh — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:09:41 +0000

Goofy, my pet dog of 14½ years passed away on the 17th morning. He had been sick for two days and I was with him when he breathed his last. We buried him in the garden with all his favourite foods and his entire extended family in attendance.

I know that he had a long life for a Pomeranian and his time was due but it still hurts like crazy. Although he had slowed down in the last few years, I never expected the end to be so soon. He was lucky to have been healthy and mobile till his last. I keep thinking of all of his mad antics that brought so much joy to our lives. I remember the day he came into our lives, hardly bigger that my palm and could hardy open his eyes. He was such a frightened fellow! He wormed his way into all our hearts, becoming family.

He was allowed to roam free around our house and was rarely tied up. Mom’s rules were he wasn’t allowed into the house but he managed to charm her and could be seen sneaking inside. In his mind he was the undisputed ruler of all that he surveyed and woe betide anyone who dared challenge him! Sometimes, if our gate was left open, we’d get stray cows wandering in attracted by the chance of a quick meal. If Goofy found out, he’d rush to the cows fearlessly barking at the top of his lungs and would chase them out. Yes, that’s cows — I’ve seen him take on three cows at once. Whenever we brought a new car home he would jump into the footwell as soon as the door was opened and do a 360˚ spin before jumping out. He would do it just once for each new car. His final seal of approval was when he peed on the wheels!

At times he would do a madcap dash through the front door, across the house and exit through the kitchen door and vice versa. This came to an end when we installed a bug screen door in the kitchen. One of the big mysteries in life for him was that door. He couldn’t understand why, while could hear and smell us, he couldn’t see us nor could he enter as he wished.

Mornings he would sense when I was having breakfast and would come begging for his share of cereal. He used to love Kellogg’s Chocos and could get quite angry if he was ignored!

He just loved to be petted and scratched. Whenever I sat in the front porch, he would jump onto the chair snuggle next to me with his head on my lap. If I hadn’t been home for a couple of days he be so deliriously happy to see me that he’d just throw himself on me.

Deepavali was a particularly disturbing time for him — all the firecrackers would frighten him so much that he’d even ignore his nightly biscuit. His only aim would be to get indoors and hide. This was the only time he was allowed to sleep in my room.

Goofy — in many ways, big and small, you brought us unmeasurable joy and happiness in the time you spent with us. I was lucky to have had such a companion, I can only hope you felt the same about me. The grounds around the house feel so empty without you. I hope you’re chasing cows in a better place now. You are sorely missed and will always be in our hearts. You truly were a best friend. Writing in my blog after a 2 year hiatus is the best tribute I can give you.

Requiescat in pace.

Life as an exhibitor - Days 1, 2 & 3

Suresh — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:51:00 +0000

Life as an exhibitor - Day 0

Suresh — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 07:55:38 +0000

One of the many odd things I do, other than being a Doctor trying to run a hospital, is run a software development company. We develop medical software and almost anything under the sun people ask us to develop as long as they pay us good money (or even bad money - as long as it’s not counterfeit). This year we decided to exhibit our software solutions at Medicall a “Hospital needs Expo” in Madras. We’re concentrating on PACS software and VoIP PBX server. This is the first time we’re doing anything of this sort so I thought I’d write up my experiences.

The expo runs for three days from the 3rd of August to the 5th of August. An advance team from left on the 2nd to set up the the demo hardware and displays in the booth. They reached the venue at 8 p.m. Although the hall was supposed to be ready for occupation from 4 p.m. all that they could see was an empty hall! Work was still going on in getting the cubicles ready. The team just checked into the hotel for the night with a plan of getting things ready in the morning. I would also be joining them by then.
If anyone would like to check us out, we’re at booth 113 in the ‘B’ hall under the name Raster Images.

Writing about my exhibiting at a expo reminded me of something I read earlier this year called Should I Exhibit At Macworld? (there are 4 parts I recommend you read them all.) Although the contexts are different, there are a lot of similarities.

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New authors, new horizons - Part 2

Suresh — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:48:53 +0000

It been a while since I’ve been able to make a post. Travel, travel & more travel is the culprit. I’ve been on three trips to South Ease Asia in the last 5 months along with several trips within India. The silver lining, apart from the fact I’m a travelholic - I love to travel, is I’ve had ample opportunity to catch up with my reading - so here comes my second installment of new authors.

Prayers for the Assassin

The basic premis is a bit far fetched - imagine that by 2040 the Northern part of USA becomes an Islamic Republic at civil war with the Bible belt south! Once you can get over that with a long stretch of imagination the book becomes a good read. Islam as a religion is treated in a balanced manner. The text is well written and written from the alternate point of view. If you like conspiracy theories then you’ll like this book although the plot and story line is easily guessable. There’s a sequel in the works.

Bangkok Eight & Bangkok Tattoo

I picked up these books on a whim because the blurb on the back sounded interesting. It’s also just coincidental that after buying these I’ve made several trips to Thailand this year. Imagine a detective who, once he hits a dead end, meditates and in his meditation sees his dead partner provide him with some fresh avenues to look into. Meet Sonchai Jitpleecheep, Thai Buddhist detective extraodinaire. To me the mark of a good read is one which leaves me wanting more. Let’s just say, I’m looking forward to the paperback release of the third installment Bangkok Haunts. The books also do a lot to educate the reader about Thai & Buddhist culture. Definitely worth a read but be warned - it’s not for the faint hearted or squemish.

While on the topic of books I see Navin’s been shopping on the pavement of Abids in Hyderabad again. Abids on a Sunday is a book lover’s candy shop. Imagine a deserted section of the town with the pavements full of second hand book stalls. I had a chance to shop there last month with Navin and picked up close to 20 books - mostly established authors that I haven’t read much or have been meaning to. I’ve already read two books from that collection - James Patterson’s Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls - Both of them were good reads - the kind that keep me up till all night trying to finish it. I just finished Kiss the Girls yesterday morning at 5 am.

I’ve just started to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I picked up the book last week but avoided starting it because I didn’t want to be hit by the feeling of loss that there’d be no more Harry Potters to read. However if I delay it any further, I might come across a spoiler on line or during a conversation. Last week’s Sunday paper had already declared the fate of Harry Potter in bold headlines - I wasn’t even reading the paper - someone next to me had it open on that page. Grrrr!

Rangoli!

Suresh — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 19:04:34 +0000

Vijay’s dug up some old rangoli pictures of what we did back in medical college. I was the third guy in the team of 12 - I did some of the filling in work. My responsibilities included making sure there were enough supplies (colour power, glitter, etc) on that crucial morning. Second year I remember going to the main wholesaler in Coimbatore and buying out his entire stock on the previous day - so much so that the third years, against we were competing, couldn’t get their hands on enough and had to come to us and ask if we could spare some for them. Revenge is a dish best served cold . Our team won the Rangoli competition all the three years we competed.

Old wine in a new bottle*

Suresh — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:36:08 +0000

I came across this new Wordpress theme called iTheme. It had the magic words in it’s description “Mac like”. Once I’d read those words I had to try it out. It also supports Widgets a customisable side bar. Still playing around with it.

In other news it good to know Navin & Vidya finally have broadband in their house. Navin’s started blogging again - he’s been off line since moving to Hyderabad. Now all that’s remaining is for Vidya to start again

*I’ve always wondered about the saying “Old wine in a new bottle”. Personally I’d choose this over “New wine in an old bottle!”.

“Culture Guardians” outraged again

Suresh — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:54:49 +0000

If you haven’t heard the news, the so called “Guardians of our Culture” are at it again claiming to have been offended by Richard Gere giving Shilpa Shetty a kiss at an AIDS awareness rally. What I’d like to know is who appointed them as the cultural police. Why does my culture need defending by these guys? I’m aware of my culture and I don’t need such idiots to defend it. It reminds me of the hysteria when Tamil actress Kushboo made some comments about premarital sex and it was blown out of proportion.

There are far more pressing problems in India. Why don’t crimes against women such as dowry, rape, murder, female infanticide, corruption, etc. evoke this kind of reaction. Aren’t they more of an insult to our culture than two consenting adults kissing in public?

New authors, new horizons - Part 1

Suresh — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:27:46 +0000

One of the benefits of travel is it allows me to catch up with reading.

Of late I’ve felt that my old regular authors were becoming stale and were re-hashing their plots. Jeffery Archer, Tom Clancy, Robin Cook, Micheal Crichton are a few names that come to mind. Robert Ludlum continues to haunt from his grave with ghost authors writing in his name. I still read their new books out of loyalty but I no longer get the thrill of a good read.

Instead I’ve been trying out new authors and it’s been rewarding so far. The books that I’ve read in the last few months are

Adept by Robert Finn

Although this book is compared with the DaVinci Code and The Rule of Four, the book is nothing like either of them. However it ’s different and a good read if you don’t mind reading about supernatural powers and mysticism.

Bareback by Kit Whitfield

This book is about werewolves but with a twist: 99.6% of the population turn into werewolves once a month. The remaining 0.4% who don’t are called Barebacks. Barebacks are tolerated since they are needed to run the planet and police werewolf activity during that one day. Warewolves are supposed to lock themselves in a secure room (which every house has) since they loose all normal behavioural controls and are a threat to society.

Barebacks are, however discriminated against. They do not have a choice of professions. Once the reach their teens they are forced to work for the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity (thanks Vijay for correcting it) which policies Warewolves and investigates any crimes that take place on such nights.

At the core, the book is just a detective novel set is a strange world. It’s well written and an enjoyable read.

Travel, travel & more travel

Suresh — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:19:26 +0000

I haven’t forgotten my New Year’s resolution. However travel has kept me from blogging. End of January had me in New Delhi for a wedding. That was the first time I’d attended a North Indian wedding in North India - the hospitality and arrangements were amazing. The wedding function was for 3 days - I got to attend it only for a day though.

February saw me in Bombay, Nashik and Hyderabad. In Nashik I got a chance to test drive the new Mahindra Renault Logan - The car’s great, BTW. Hyderabad gave me a chance to visit Navin & Vidya in their new house. Navin also took me on a visit to his office. While it might not be the Googleplex it’s still a Goolge office with all the legendary benefits (free snacks and drinks). There were a couple of visits to Bangalore and Madras in February.

March saw me off on a vacation for 11 days visiting Pattaya & Bangkok in Thailand and Langkawi & Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. It was a great break. I espically enjoyed drinking till 5 am in a beach bar in Pattaya

Oh, I’ve also started to exercise daily. I started in the middle of February and have managed to keep it up even during my vacation. I go for a brisk walk in the morning followed by a swim. A bunch of us are in the exercise group including Vijay. The target is 32×32, i.e. to have a waist size of 32.