Googling Life

Last week I got my hands on my first 3X3X3 Rubik's Cube. I'd seen it in the hands of one my friend’s in school. It had fascinated me then, what with its bright colors and strange patterns. My friend told me the objective of this game was to arrange the small cubes in such a way that cubes of same color are on any one side (all six sides at once). It was a frustrating experience trying to get it in the original configuration. I could never do it.

Getting back to last week, the experience this time was different though. No, I was not able to solve it this time too...but I searched for a solution on the Information Superhighway and lo-and-behold: Google returned to me the solution and the explanation I was looking for! I had finally been able to learn the logic and had been apply to apply it on my magical cube.

If only Google could provide answers to life's jumble...

My Neighbor gets a TV

Possessing a Television Set back in the 80s brought along neighbors envy, although in my case it was rather curiosity. I'd heard about Television and had seen the Yagi Television Antennas on few Roof tops. Looking at them made me always wonder how could people stare at it to view the pictures (poor me, I didn't know about the CRT then!). So when my neighbor across the road bought a Television (a color TV! oh my God!!), I hopped into their living room to take a look and was offered sweets (in celebration), not to mention that I was also awed by the TV.

If I remember correctly, it was a Sunday and Good Old Doordarshan was telecasting the serial Rajni (Remember the famous woman crusader played by Priya Tendulkar who fought for the rights of the common man?). I was very excited... the TV was controlled by a remote - neat! Since then, I was their regular visitor until my father got us a Sony 21" B/W TV. I'd had to be content with it until I moved out for further studies and bought my own Color TV when I got a Job.

I'm now in Pune on a Project; had to sell off the TV (sigh!)

The Third World

The other day, I was watching a documentary about casteism in India being aired on BBC. It was about how the Indian caste system meant that those in the upper caste wanted those lower in the caste system to remain poor so they could be powerful and how those lower in the chain of caste were trying to emerge out of this trap.

Unfortunately I could only watch the last 15-20 minutes of the documentary where-in it was shown how some of these down-trodden had taken up arms in Bihar; so had some of them in the upper castes to counter these forces. The documentary also featured the changing India, people in the lower caste moving to bigger cities to make a living, where the Caste line was a bit blurred if not erased, their struggle and their way of life.

The documentary was prepared by a team of foreigners, or so it was shown. At the end of the program, when the credits rolled they showed some 'behind the camera' scenes a-la Jackie Chan movie style - and that is what made me sit-up (what? not the documentary?): The Camera panned to show another cameraman who had accidently stepped into ankle deep mud, the kind the Swine love. A local offered a mug of water to him for cleansing, which he accepted with a dhanyavad (thank you). When he did not succeed in cleaning the mud completely with the one mug of water provided, someone from his crew said in the background, "Clean the whole thing, you are not coming with us in the car with that."

This small clip said much more than what the whole documentary would have: that someone would have to get into the mud to get the caste system in India abolished. That someone has to be us - the cameramen.