Learning to swim- Part 1

Been wanting to write this post for long. Been much busy without much work. :) Anyway here it is.

In this post, I wish to just lay down the foundation for beginners.

1. Get equipped! : The fear and discomfort most people face in the pool is when the water gets in from all sort of places - ears, nose, mouth and rattles your internal sensitive nerves. So investing in protective gear to avoid this puts you in a better condition.A good eye goggle and a silicon swim cap is highly recommended. Goggle is obviously important as it protects your eyes as well as makes it easy for you open your eyes inside water- you want to be able to see where exactly you are in the pool! Swim cap, sometimes is given a skip by people(esp. guys) as they think it is a beauty tip. It is more than that as you can pull it down to cover your ears too, so you cover one more entry points of water.

2. Understand how to breathe once you are in: Its a no-brainer- we are not fish so we cant inhale inside. Still it takes a bit of control to tell your nose and mouth to think before performing a function they have doing all your life almost automatically! The simple concept is - Inhale from mouth when it is outside the water(large air in less time) and exhale from nose inside the water(less air leak in more time).

Here is a video which explains this:

Breathing Exercise

Just note this and try to stick to this rule. When you goof this up inside the pool, I bet you will know it. :)

In the next post on this topic, I will try to cover floating and basic leg movement. Feedback invited!

My swimming learning experiences- introductory post

Swimming is one thing which I have always wanted to do. I think the desire got stronger after I was instructed by ENT doctors to avoid swimming as I had a big perforation in my right ear. My visits to water parks and swimming pool, as a result, have been limited to being in the shallow waters and pretending to be relaxing in front of swimmers around. :) To save myself from this embarrassment, I got my ear fixed some 1-2 yrs back and about 10 days ago I started going to a nearby swimming pool to learn this cool thing. :)

I have been searching on usual internet resources to learn the basics of swimming, but have come across only myriad scattered pieces on different topics like different swimming strokes, maintaining balance, squeezing more speeds, etc. I didn't easily find a web resource for beginners, a resource which covers the aspects novices need to know in order to swim. The small steps I have taken in last 7-8 days have been full of learning and unlearning. So I thought I would make a note of my learning process here so that it might be of help to someone else. These notes will largely be a result of my browsing on the subject, my swimming trainer's words and my own experiences in the pool. As a result, these notes are subjective and I welcome any comments/advices from experts. I will try to experiment with such advices in the pool and will update the posts accordingly.

Hope this will help somebody somewhere to learn swimming faster.

book review- The Fourth Estate (Jeffrey Archer)

I have been reading this novel: "The Fourth Estate" for about a month. Finally finished it yesterday. As expected from Jeffrey Archer, it is a well plotted and riveting story with a good measure of twists and turns thrown in. My verdict is a definite thumbs up, though there are somethings I wasn't convinced with.

First the plot. It kinda reminds me of the plot of an earlier novel by Archer, named "First Among Equals". There it was a battle of 4 politicians for the top chair in England, here it is a battle of two ruthless publishers- Keith Townsend and Richard Armstrong- to become numero-uno in the world publishing and newspaper industry. The real beauty in this novel is that you keep changing sides throughout this battle for supremacy- one moment you support Keith Townsend, another moment you go back rooting for Richard/Dick Armstrong! The reason for this wildly swinging loyalties is hidden in the basic human nature. Both of the chief protagonists demonstrate strengths unique to them and at the same time manifest common vice- a complete disregard for the means to achieve the ends. And thats where the famous Archer twists come in as you never know who of them might stoop to new lows to outsmart the other.

Coming to the writing style, its atypical of Jeffrey Archer. Keeping the readers guessing till the end of novel is a skill which is now mastered by many authors but doing the same continuously with each event in a 450 page novel is perhaps mastered by few like Archer. The novel begins from the end of the story and then ensues a long flashback after which the story comes back to the present.

[******Spoiler warning******* skip the next paragraph to avoid it.]

The end of the novel however left me a bit unconvinced. I didn't expect Armstrong to commit suicide, specially after the solidarity he showed in his end days. In the last board meeting in which the chariman resigned, he was as steadfast and ruthless as ever and didn't show any sign of surrender. It is also difficult for me to digest that a fighter like him who fought all his life would not look for any rescuer like Keith got in EB. He knew he was in mess and he knew he needed $50 mn to survive. Why he made no attempt to generate that money, with the exception of thinking of selling his stake in NY star to Keith, is not very clear to me. He simply gives away his empire and disappears in disgrace and oblivion.

As someone who is interested in business side of our world, I wonder why Townsend and Armstrong were always after acquisitions of big established names in the newspaper industry. Townsend was in fact so desperate to buy newspapers that he could be sold coal mines at an exorbitant price in a package deal. Also, in most of then novel we are told only about the insane expenditure by the leading men- how they got so rich is kind of not clear. The figure of $3 billion, which Townsend offers for a major media firm in USA, looks a little too inflated to me, more so considering that it was supposed to happen in early 1980s.

One more thing. I like Jeffrey Archer novels for the learning opportunity they provide. I remember in my early days I was told by him about how Swiss banks work. Then, his short stories had me appreciate tiny tid-bits about life- legal loopholes, politics, etc. In this novel, I learnt more a range of topics- Nazi torture camps, Hitler's nickname- "der Fuhrer", menace of labour unions, etc. It makes the reading so more interesting!


Final Verdict: 3.5/5

My other verdicts to give you some idea my rating scale and my literary tastes:
1. Atlas Shrugged: 4/5
2. Fountain Head: 4.5/5
3. 32 Short Stories by Archer: 4.5/5

after a long hiatus..

Ok so I get it now- a little bit of procrastination can soon add up and keep you away from blogging for days and days on. A mental note registered in my mind- write something here twice a week at least.

Oh, btw, did I tell you about the two contradicting inner selves of mine? Well, like most of us, I hear two voices from within- a positive one which basically says- "you rock dude!" and the other self doubting, cynical one which always seems to say - "Umm. Are you sure you can pull it off?". For eg. right now I am telling myself - "Make it a point to blog here, whatever it may be" I say to myself and pat comes the reply from the cynical self - "who reads your blog anyway?". :)

Anyway, one more decision I have taken now it so write something more worthwhile on this blog. As you might have noticed I have written more about my personal outbursts and opinions. And as the famous cliche goes- "opinions are like you-know-what holes", now I plan to write some unpredictable stuff. Like what?. Umm, I haven't really thought much but I guess there will be some tidbits about technology, book reviews, etc.

Back to work now. Sigh.

New year laundry list..

HNY 2009 to all of you!

For me this is slated to be an important year. This is what I wish to accomplish in this year:

1. Hit the gym. The tyre needs to lose some air..:)
2. Look at the entrepreneurial stuff seriously. Been fantasizing about a few ideas off late, but not doing anything serious with them. Time to take the plunge!
3. Learn a new language. French. Why is French so popular?
4. Marriage? :)
5. Read some more books. More of Ayn Rand?

I am pretty enthusiastic about this new year. Let me know if anyone wants something to be added in this list. This is your dream chance to get me changed(for the good)!

Why people like Raj Thackrey should be stamped out in Indian democracy, right now!

Okay so I have been against Raj Thackrey since the first day he spat his venom on "north Indians" settled in Maharashtra. I used to think that people like him who want to gain votes will keep trying to polarize the historically easily dividable Indians and people should just just ignore him.

But what I realized yesterday, got me scared. It also made me see clearly why people like him should be made to shut up or sent to jail right away. I may look shortsighted and unnecessarily "worked up" but let me try to make you see what I see now.

Let's forget about Raj Thackrey for a moment. Let's see the history of the Hindu-Muslim divide which gifted us Mumbai attacks a few days ago. If you go back to early 1900's, all was well in India. Indians were standing up to oppose the British raj and the freedom movement was building up.Then something happened. Britishers played the "divide and rule" card and turned Hindus against Muslims. From nowhere, a guy called Jinnah became a rival to leaders like Gandhi and sparks started flying everywhere. Soon partition happened and 60 years from then, we are still not able to recover from it. Thanks to the image which was portrayed in Indian movies and media, I used to believe till now that it was Jinnah, who played a key role in this painful partition.

But no. Here I need your attention. This is what wiki says about Jinnah:

"Some historians like H M Seervai and Ayesha Jalal assert that Jinnah never wanted partition of India and independence of Pakistan —it was the outcome of the Congress leaders being unwilling to share power with the Muslim League. It is asserted that Jinnah only used the Pakistan demand as a method to mobilize support to obtain significant political rights for Muslims."

So, he never wanted partition but still used to demand for Pakistan to gain support. Rings bells? This is exactly what I am told by some of my Maharashtrian friends, who don't see anything wrong in Thackrey apart from his violence for North Indians. They say that Raj Thackrey is just doing this to gain votes but his real intention is for upliftment of Maharashtrians and there is nothing wrong in it.

And this is where my dread starts. If my educated friends don't see the far reaching consequences of this separatist movement, even god can't save this country. Remember, what was just a demand for Pakistan, created the great animosity between Hindu and Muslims; animosity which feeds on blood of innocent people. What if same thing happens today? Hatred doesn't take much time to seize control of one's mind. We have seen that again and again. How easily Indians get divided? First came Hindu vs Muslim, then came Mumbai vs Lungi(South Indian), Tamil vs rest of India and north Indian vs Maharashtrian. Somewhere, some self serving leader wants votes, calls conferences, targets a community and people get divided, just at the drop of a hat.

Yesterday I watched "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" in full. You would be amazed at the fact that the feelings expressed by the characters are so relevant even today. You would also feel anger at watching a few scenes like this one:(the video is a comparison of this movie with its original "12 Angry Men". Listen to the dialogues of the person in the original too, they are relevant in Indian context too )



Now imagine for a second what is being said in this scene about Muslims, being said about a Bihari by a Mahrashtrian in future. Looks ludicrous? Today, yes. But if we don't wake up now it may as well be possible.

I am all for development of Maharashtra by people like Raj Thackrey. Reserve jobs for less privileged if need be. Reserve seats at colleges and schools. But for god's sake don't divide India again. You will come and go, after reveling in power plays but the hatred you stoke today will never wither out. If we don't wake up now, India will again become a collection of small states, as it was before the Indian republic was born.

I see a devil. I see another Jinnah. I am scared.

India waking up...

So it seems it took one more disaster, the jolts from the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai, to wake the giant sloth of this nation of 1 billion. Or at least thats what it looks like today and as given the forgiving tendencies we Indians nurture, the giant may doze off again soon.

But this time it does look like a different awakening. I am not sure what exactly was different this time around than the previous attacks, most notably the attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. But this time it does look like, at least to me, that the way people are disturbed because of this incident is totally different from the previous ones. This is what I think explains this wide spread public anguish and loud voices to bring about a change:

1. This time it was death, minute by minute, unlike a big blip on the radar, at one point in time. The seize lasted for 60 hours which were covered in detail by the prodding eyes of media. People had their eyes fixated to their TV sets, getting updated about minute by minute actions from both sides.

2. The attacks were carried out in one of the most brazen way, one which took everybody with surprise. No one had thought that out coastline and deep seas were so unsecure that people could sneak in with so much ammunition all the way from Pakistan!

3. The shocking(and myterious) demises of top 3 security forces of India, all the the same time! When the news came that three top bosses from three different security forces fell simultaneously, people were shocked to the core. How can three popular chiefs fall in what can be called a "soft dismissal"?

4. The attacks had all the elements of a typical bollywood flick- corrupt, inept politicians, foreign hostages, black commandos, hand grenades being flung around. All this sensationalized by the media round to clock.

Whatever be the actual reason for this powerful response to this version of the act, I thank god that at least now the general public is taking it seriously and asking the authorities right questions. And the ripples have started getting formed already- state home minister and chief minister are already stripped of their power and asked to resign "on the basis of their own conscience". At the center, the union home minister has been forced to resign "voluntarily" too.

I see a lot of activity on the blogosphere too, with people from abroad reacting sharply and caustically to the incident. Closer home, the reform lists are being prepared by the media(eg. TOI wish list) and I hope new home minister- P.Chidambram will pay heed to these.

Hope this is not an initial euphoria and we all don't just fall asleep again. Not this time.