Prose and Crons

Another new year!

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:00:29 GMT

Each day spent vertical is a blessing goes a saying and so, it's a nice feeling to see another year roll past and a new year roll in. Birthdays and new year days are times when one feels happy for just having made it through all the tests and turmoils that the previous year saddled one with.
Year 2010 promises many changes and challenges, on the work front, on the personal front and even on the entertainment front. At work, I'm gearing up for new responsibilities as I'll be personally looking over a yet to be formed team which will focus on bleeding-edge R&D in HPC. On the personal front, I hope to continue to be regular at the gym and get into a much better (read as leaner and meaner!) shape. I also have a sneaky suspicion that my single days are now in extra-time, an end seems to be somewhere, just around the corner. On the entertainment front, my all time favorite Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher is back! This time around, instead of the familiar red livery of Ferrari, he will be donning the silver of Mercedes. I have always rooted for Michael and largely, because of Michael, Ferrari. I loved the professionalism demonstrated by the Ferrari crew, race after race, coming good even when the chips were down.

The period following Michael's retirement was a tough one for a Michael fan. There were so many occasions when one could not but feel 'If only Michael were to be around, things would be different!' but one moved on. I loved the way Felipe Massa took on his much more highly reckoned teammate Kimi Raikkonen and came out winning, time and again, be it the scorching qualifying laps or the race starts (where Massa time and again grabbed positions, even if he didn't start on the front). This year, it'll be tough as a supporter for I'm torn between rooting for Massa/Ferrari and Schumacher/Mercedes but I think that one can root for more than one driver/team at the same time. May the best combination win!

This year's Formula 1 season also sees some brand new names, both in the teams and amongst the drivers. Campos, US F1, and Virgin are the new names while Lotus makes a comeback into F1. Last year's zero-to-hero Brawn GP are now Mercedes GP. Bruno Senna (nephew of the great Ayrton Senna), Lucas Di Grassi and Nico Hulkenberg are the new drivers with confirmed drives while the late surprise sprung by Toyota last season, Kamui Kobayashi is expected to get a drive in one of the new teams. With more teams and drivers than ever before, the rules have been radically changed too. The new points system awards points to the first ten finishers in 25-20-15-10-8-6-5-3-2-1 instead of the older eight points winners in the 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 format.
This year also does away with in-race refueling, forcing drivers to drive around with a full race-load of fuel in their cars, significantly affecting strategies and outcomes. Formula 1 has changed and tinkered around with rules several times in the recent past, some changes being more successful than the others, one of the worst rules in recent times being the one-set of tyres per race rule which backfired horribly.

It remains to be seen how exciting the sport would be with the new changes, but the season promises to be full of excitement with the spotlight on being able to see Michael in action alongside the current F1 'heroes'. Will Michael kick butt in this innings too? He sure would try! That's for sure! It's now just a 69 day wait!

Thespian Vishnuvardhan passes away

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:42:25 GMT

Veteran Kannada film actor Vishnuvardhan passed away in the early hours of 30th December 2009 upon sustaining a massive heart attack. Vishnuvardhan, originally called Sampath Kumar was an extremely talented theater artist who caught the eye of maverick theater and movie director Puttana Kanagal, who set about grooming the youngster for the silver screen. It was Puttana Kanagal who gave young Sampath Kumar the screen name 'Vishnuvardhan', the name by which countless fans would know him by. Vishnuvardhan made his silver screen debut in award winning Vamshavruksha, but it was his starring role as an angry, egoistic and highly opinionated young man in Puttana Kanagal's 'Nagarahaavu' (Cobra snake) that won him rave reviews and kudos from just about anybody who was a somebody in the Kannada movie industry. The movie went on to become a smash hit and won Vishnuvardhan the first of his many screen awards and acclaim.

Vishnuvardhan went on to change the very look of Kannada movies with his dashing image and presence with his next three movies. Since the only major stars at that time were Ambarish and Rajkumar, comparisons could not be avoided. It was not long before the audience craved to see Vishnuvardhan alongside Dr. Rajkumar, who by then had over 150 films to his credit! This unique duo got to work with each other in Gandhada Gudi, Dr. Rajkumar's 152nd movie and Vishnuvardhan's 5th movie! Unfortunately, disaster struck. In what is an extremely controversial incident which remains unexplained to this day, in a scene in the movie where Vishnuvardhan shoots at Rajkumar, the blank bullet had been substituted with a real, live bullet. Rajkumar was fortunate as bullet missed him by a whisker and thudded into some props placed behind him. This incident caused a huge furore with fans of Dr Rajkumar claiming that Vishnuvardhan had plotted to kill Rajkumar while Vishnuvardhan fans claimed it was an act of sabotage which was aimed at maligning Vishnuvardhan. Though the cause could never be properly ascertained, Rajkumar never allowed Vishnuvardhan to act alongside him ever again.

Vishnuvardhan however went on in his inimitable style, notching up hit after hit. Most of his roles were of adventurous young men, many of which included portrayals of police and army officers. He formed an alliance with Dwarakeesh, a notable comedian who went on to become a director. The Dwarakeesh/Vishnu combo movies became extremely popular and they went on to share screen space in as many as twelve movies.

Even after growing too old to portray the typical hero, he kept getting a steady flow of scripts custom-written to suit him and went on to star in many movies as the stern but fair patriarch. Many of the roles played by Vishnuvardhan have been portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan, in the Hindi remakes of the movies.
Vishnuvardhan led a spotlessly clean life, both on and off the screen, unlike many of his peers, including the famous Dr. Rajkumar who had two wives and a son out of wedlock. Vishnuvardhan was deeply religious and made several trips to Shabarimala (Lord Ayyappa's temple). He was also deeply philanthropic. He converted his palatial house into an old-age home which he took keen personal interest in and moved to a smaller accommodation himself. He married actress Bharathi and went on to adopt two daughters, all of whom survive Vishnuvardhan.
Vishnuvardhan will be sorely missed and cherished for a long time to come. May his soul rest in peace.

My blog gets a new name!

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:45:44 GMT

the_little_sasi was the person who urged me and many of my batchmates at NCST to start blogging, and in particular ljing , so it's sad to hear from him that he has 'retired' from lj. I certainly hope it's only a sabbattical, but with Sasi sir, you can never really hope for things like that. He's usual pretty final about things he says he's final about. _dodo_ also says he's done his last lj post and again, I hope he will reconsider. At times like these, when you usually start reconsidering whether you yourself ought to continue on or just hang up those creative 'boots', an incident at the breakfast table this morning gave me a new name for my blog, one that seemed apt and witty. I was discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a project proposal with a colleague when I uttered 'Pros and Crons' instead of pros and cons, a mistake that evaded my friend's attention but not my own. I had a hearty laugh and told him that I now knew, after more than two years, what I wanted to name my blog. That incident and a conversation with my usually immovable and enigmatic boss later, here it is, my few known readers and (hopefully) many unknown readers, the new name of my blog: Prose and Crons -A sysadmin+writer's journal about things geeky and not.

For the benefit of my non-techie readers, crons or cron scripts are a Unix/Linux user/administrators way of achieiving order in chaos, a magical way of ensuring that system related tasks just happen on time, whether you are around or not, as long as your machine is running. I wish I could write cron scritps for my life!

My blog's new name is probably just the change of taste that I wanted, and I hope to keep going on and on, with a renewed appetite. Onwards!

Realizations and epiphanies

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:03:32 GMT

The great thing about alcohol-induced epiphanies is that they can be very profound. The sad thing is that many of the things don't remain on your mind the next morning, when you are left nursing a headache at best or a full blown hangover at the worst, the discomfort being directly proportional to the depths of philosophy explored while under the influence!
Last night was one of those nights when I broke my own rule of only having a drink when I was celebrating, but I don't have any regrets. The desired effect was obtained and I even got something to blog about..

I was thinking about work and people who work, the working class. In my minds eye, I could see working people falling into three categories namely:

1) The hawkers: These are people with very little creativity and intellect. They have a few basic skills that allow them to accomplish repetitive tasks, the kind which require bare minimum levels of human intelligence, if at all. These are the people who neither have the intelligence nor the desire to rise higher up the working class ladder. It's because of these hawkers, who hawk their limited skills that a lot of things get done around us. They are by default the ones who earn the least.

2) The prostitutes: There are people with a lot more of creativity and intelligence. They don't mind using their intelligence, guile and charm to get opportunities even when none existed, but more often than not, it is they who get used by the system and feel shortchanged in the long run. It is to this group that most of us belong. We sell our souls, our dreams and ambitions in the pursuit of a little extra comfort, a better bank balance and the like. Given a choice, many of us prostitutes would like to go after the things that we truly aspire for and are passionate about, but then, few of us actually take the choice, even if it's available to us.

3) The mystics and mavericks: People with tremendously high levels of intelligence, passion and a desire to see things through, right to the end. These are the people who seemingly have it all, people who are not only good at what they do but also love doing what they do. These are also by default the people who get the plum jobs with excellent earnings.
While the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher, Quentin Tarantino, Lata Mageshkar and Barkha Dutt are a few obvious holders of the highest ranks amongst the m&ms, there are those who don't have all the traits but still belong completely to the elite group. Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam, the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa might not make it to any list of the richest individuals of the world but there is no questioning their membership.

The more intelligent and ambitious among the prostitutes look towards the mystics and mavericks for inspiration, often wondering how much more effort it would take to get there from where they are currently. Though most of us know Sachin Tendulkar, how many of us would know the dozens upon dozens of extremely talented youngsters put to the pasture due to politics in the selection committee and other such factors? For every R.K.Narayan, there were hundreds upon hundreds who started as humble proofreaders, copywriters, newspaper columnists and what not, all indulged in prostitution, hoping for that break that would take them to that exalted position of the mystics. Speaking of prostitutes, I'm reminded of the words of a prostitute who advises Maria, the protagonist of Paulo Coelho's Eleven minutes. 'Never allow your client to kiss you, for the kiss is sacred. Keep it for the one you love, it's the last shred of our dignity'. The words may not be an exact reproduction, but it comes close. It talks about prostitution and morals in the same breath, though the two seem very unlikely companions. Does it extend to our own jobs? Our own lives as prostitutes?

A very interesting person whom I happened to meet on my recent trip to Hyderabad had given up on her engineering degree to get into what she liked doing best, writing. It was apparent that the battles did not stop when she put her foot down to make the transition: she had to keep fighting each day. Could I do the same? Could I just chuck aside all time and effort sunk in into my current vocation and change tracks? A line from 'The Joker' in The Dark Knight goes 'If you are good at something, never do it for free', but does it apply to things that one is passionate about too? I think not. I'm good at my current job, very good in fact but my passion lies elsewhere, in writing, but my newly discovered epiphany screams 'If you are passionate about something, never do it for the money'. I love writing but if I decided to make it my vocation, would I still have my freedom? I might be asked to glorify the very things that I totally abhor and I'll have to do it if I need to keep my job. Turning my passion into a paying job might just be the equivalent of a prostitute giving up her last vestiges of dignity. I'm sure there are people who have their eyes on nothing but the stars, the ultimate goal of becoming a mystic, those who can make the transition from a struggler to a champion, a prostitute to a mystic. How many times would I have to do the things I despise before I make that transition? Or should I just keep the passion as a hobby and hold on to my dignity? Is it better to be hungry and free or muscular and chained? If I opt for the chains knowing that they will come off after an extended period of time, will I even remember how it is to stretch my limbs and spread my wings when they do come off? Or would I have gotten so used to the chains that I cannot even enjoy my own freedom?

Language gaffes and class clashes!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:54:17 GMT

Even as I was about to pack up for the day, I found that another colleague had still not left. When I asked him how come he was still around, he said he had been speaking to somebody on the phone. When prodded further, he said the words that sent me into uncontrollably hysterical laughter. His words, I quote "I was speaking to a third-class friend of mine!" He meant that he had been speaking to a friend of his who had been his classmate in class three but English being a 'punny' language, it took on a wholly different meaning!

Caste clashes are passe. It's now the era of the class clashes. One Mr. Shashi Tharoor realized that the hard way around, I'm told.

Happy birthday to me!

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:56:15 GMT

In just a few hours, I'm all set to officially turn a year older. The primary purpose of this post, on the eve of my birthday is to ensure that I have a few 'Happy birthday' wishes on my birthday as opposed to 'Belated birthday' wishes in the days to come. Not that I don't mind the belated messages (better late than never), but there are few things more pleasant than knowing that you are remembered on your birthday. Ok ok! That's enough of shameless plugging for wishes for my own birthday! What does the day really mean to me?

Like on many of my recent birthdays, I'm going to do some quiet contemplation on whether I'm better off than I was, a year earlier, physically, mentally, emotionally and in every other way (did I mention financially? ;) For sure, the year has brought in a lot of changes. I've been trying to metamorphose into a more observant, a lot more disciplined and a lot less vocal individual. Have I been trying to change myself into a fly on the wall? Not exactly, but I have my reasons for trying to be less vocal. Probably the need for a greater amount of discipline has a lot to do with it.

I have once again started indulging in my favorite pastime activity, bicycling. I just can't even begin to describe how badly I was missing bicycling. Like most of my friends predicted, I seemed to stop bicycling as soon as I bought my motorcycle, but it was really a lost key to the bicycle that stopped me from pedaling. Sounds crazy but even something as trivial as a lost key can keep you away from your favorite pastime when you are preoccupied. The other day, I was watching this movie called Juno when I saw the protagonist, a young girl, riding around on a bicycle. That visual was more than enough to kick me awake and I knew right then that I had to get on my bike again. I had thought about the lost keys a hundred times before, but I always procrastinated about breaking the lock, telling myself that I would find the keys to it, even though a part of me knew that they would never be found anytime soon. Not this time. I grabbed a screwdriver, forced the lock open and there was my bicycle, all ready to be, well, lugged to the bicycle shop for a few fixes! After inflating the tires and lubricating the chain, I immediately got the broken lock replaced and there! I had my bicycle ready.

Riding for the first time in over a year, my breathing went shallow and I started sweating buckets till I settled into the rhythm.. and then, I seemed totally at ease, at home, doing something that come naturally to me. I couldn't help but feel the regret for having put away this joy for such a long time, but I knew that once again, I had surprised myself when I believed that I was beyond surprises. I suppose it's the best birthday gift that I have ever given myself!

Blogging like Peeyush, for a change!

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:28:17 GMT

Priorities, priorities, priorities.. so help me god!
(for those who don't know, the subject line refers to peeyush )

In sickness and in health?

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:31:01 GMT

Is it a coincidence that wedding vows rhymes with wedding woes? Or is it some kind of advance warning system?
People often go through the motions of a wedding according to their customs and it is a well known fact that a lot of people make up their own vows, adding a touch of personal touch to the process. Do wedding vows also have fine print? When one says '.. in sickness and health...' is it to be taken at face value? Or is just an exercise? Questions, the answers to which my unmarried friends would be looking too. Hopefully, my married friends would be able to shed more light on the matter, but then again, are these questions far too relative to have empirical answers?

Assorted ramblings

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:13:01 GMT

An online friend of mine died after battling with cancer for a while. This was the second online friend of mine that I lost to cancer. And in both cases, I had been out of active touch with them for a while, as often happens with online friends. I only hope she didn't suffer much, but from what I got to know, unfortunately that was not the case. May her soul rest in peace.

On the F1 front, after Felipe Massa's unfortunate encounter with a flying automobile spring belonging to Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car, it was revealed that Massa was out of danger but that he would be out of action for a while. The news that Michael Schumacher would be getting into Felipe's car was a pleasant surprise and a dream come true for Michael fans like myself, but it remained just that - a dream, as Michael felt that his own fitness was in doubt as he had not apparently fully recovered from a bike accident that he had sustained earlier in the year. Much as I rued Massa's accident and the fallout, especially since he was in great form and the car was getting better, I was very keenly looking forward to seeing Michael in action all over again, but I guess I have to settle for rooting for Luca Badoer, Ferrari's test driver for years and years. I hope he can grab a surprise result or two and make the best of the limited opportunity that has come his way.

On the Swine flu front, I see people all around me wearing masks of different shapes, sizes and colors, whether they are effective or not. Refreshing the ndtv.com page has become something of a ritual that we seem to take part in religiously as we scan for the latest updates. We dread to see the toll increase, as it has been doing over the past few days, but know in the heart of hearts that an increased number of infections and deaths is a certainty. People are doing everything to keep the dreaded virus at bay, be it wearing more than one masks at the same time to sniffing on camphor and eucalyptus oil! One wonder where this is really headed.... whether and when it will come to a stop.

A bride for Mr. Chengi

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:53:19 GMT

Ok.. This post is prompted by suddenlynita 's nudges! I've been procrastinating about writing, and that too about this piece, but I finally decided to come out of the closet!
The hunt for a bride for me is officially on, despite the dampener being the recession and all that! For my parents, as is the case with every parent, I'm the best and they just can't understand why they just didn't find the perfect match for me as soon as they set their minds to the task! Firstly, my parents were almost sure that I had already found somebody for myself, though dad had his doubts ('he has brought one too many nice girl home: indicates indecision and lack of success = still single'). When I said there wasn't anybody, dad gave me that 'I bet its your fault none of those nice girls decided to settle for you' look while mom said her silent thanks ('thank you god for not putting me through The test' ).

So, how's the progress been so far?
The boy doesn't want to leave his job in Pune for atleast another two years = Strike one.
The boy works for an R&D institution = ridiculously low pay = Strike two.
The boy only has a bachelor's degree, that too a BCA! = Strike three and out!

Most of these have been encounters I have not even had the pleasure of actually encountering, but there have been a couple of gems. I spoke to a girl who wanted to know more about me. We chatted online.

Prospective bride (PB): What do you do?
me: I work for an R&D institute. I'm a systems administrator. My group manages a supercomputing facility.

PB: How come you are in Pune, though you hail from B'lore? This (B'lore) is the IT hub right?
me: Yeah, but I'm in a specialised field, called High Performance Computing. Not too many opportunities in Blore in HPC, especially with my current level of experience.

PB: Oh.. so you don't plan to move to B'lore anytime soon?
me: Nope.

me: What do you do?
PB: I work for a stock brokerage firm.

me: Wow.. so you must be a wiz with stocks?
PB: Yeah..

me: So you must be investing in stocks too?
PB: Yeah.

me: You good at picking the right ones?
PB: Yeah.. so good infact that I bought my own car last month with my earnings..

me: oh... that is great....

me: Say, you have a car and all.. what if your prospective husband can't afford a car?
PB: Well, he must!!! That's a basic requirement!

me: Well, I can't afford one.. A car is not even high on my list of priorities...

<awkward silence>

me: Hey, it's great chatting with you....
No-longer-prospective bride (NPB): yeah... let's be friends... and wish you luck with your search..
me: You too!

Sheesh!

First F1 race of the season: Brawn GP records 1-2 finish in the Australian GP

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:39:25 GMT

With Massa's mystery problem which resulted in a retirement and Kimi's sudden show of affection towards the wall, Ferrari's cup of woes overflowed on a day on which the Brawn GP cars stole the thunder. Rubens Barichello, the most seasoned F1 driver on the circuit, was quite fortunate to finish second. He drove his brand new but rather battered Brawn GP car across the chequered flag behind team mate Jenson Button after Sebastien Vettel and Robert Kubica, running strongly in second and third positions respectively took each other out of the race. With the stewards ruling against Jarno Trulli, Ferrari's arch rival and defending world champion Lewis Hamilton ended up reaping six invaluable points in a race of attrition.

We are united in our defeatist attitude

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:32:57 GMT

India is the perfect example of unity in diversity, a melting pot of race, religion, caste, creed and languages. Remember lines like these and others that were thrust into our sleepy heads back in school ? Why, they meant a whole lot more than marks on offer for emptying that on the exam paper.. It was something that we could take pride in and celebrate..

Have you ever thought back at those lines that we read and drank deeply of ? Where is this unity in diversity ? It's said that individuals cannot corrupt the whole, yet when we come across Raj Thackeray openly threatening to bash up Biharis and even more openly carrying out his threats, we can expect this unity in diversity thing to wake up in our dormant minds and oppose what we see right? Irrespective of whether where we hail from? Hell, no.. I see young Marathi colleagues of mine (read educated and professionally qualified youth) whom I don't really know in person, having Raj Thackeray's mug-shot set as the desktop wallpaper. I dread to think what would happen to me if they here me talking about what I really feel about him. I didn't see collective disgust pouring out of people when unspeakable atrocities were carried out.

Many of my own friends cheered when Muslims were slaughtered in Godhra and they said they got what they deserved. They had it coming. I didn't know what I was to feel. I certainly didn't feel like remembering the lines from our school books then.

Is there anything at all that we are united in? All of India united over something? Yeah... I suppose our defeatist attitude. We have such a tremendous sense of believe in fate and destiny that we don't feel the need to do anything for that destiny to be shaped into reality. We don't succeed and what do we do? We just shrug our shoulders and put the blame on destiny.

I came across a quote by Gandhi on my friend _dodo_ 's blog:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?

Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

Now, who are these poor people that I need to imagine while thinking about what I want to do or not ? And pray how are their lives supposed to reflect any change in my decisions? I'm a system administrator and a conscientious one at that. It's my concern to see to it that my facility operates without a hitch. How the hell would a poor homeless guy on the road be affected whether I do my job well or not ? It's something I can't even begin to comprehend. Now, had I been in a communist state, my salary would have been snatched away towards a gazillion causes I didn't even know existed and I probably would have been only slightly better off than that homeless guy on the street, and even that is not to be taken for granted. At least that's the idea I got after reading Ayn Rand's 'We the people', a caustic account about communist Russia.

Rand writes about qualified engineers not being employed just because their parents were private businessmen (bourgeois) or because they did not belong to the communist party. Are we living is such a society? Thank God Communism or it's tattered remains remains only in parts of India and not the whole of it. Are we not the best nation on the face of the planet for having the best of culture and traditions and a tolerable governance? Or is that a myth?

We have our problems with governance but when you see a picture as stark as the one painted by Rand, one feels we are on paradise. Nobody stops us from achieving whatever it is that we set our hearts upon. In the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness', Will Smith's character wonders how Thomas Jefferson knew to include the word 'pursuit' in the declaration of independence. The actual line in the American Declaration of Independence says
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Don't we often revile the Americans for their lack of culture ? Their lack of family values? And pride ourselves on our culture and heritage.. And still they could come up with such a gem while we couldn't.
Even after more than fifty years of our own independence, we don't believe that we can get what we want by stretching ourselves. Reservations are required to help bring up the downtrodden. Downtrodden?? Who are we trying to kid? Those who are downtrodden continue to remain so while those who are reaping the benefits of lower academic cut-offs and subsidized fees are the ones who zip around town on the latest two-wheeler in the market or better yet, an imported SUV!!! And what of these downtrodden? Will they ever reach out and come up? No, how can they? Their fathers and grandfathers could not. It's destiny that dictates that they can't come up.

Once a poor man, always a poor man.. anybody who questions their fate is a heretic. While a few raise themselves above the squalor and stench of their gutters, most prefer to remain right there. I have seen people of South Indian origins selling vada pav and chai in 'kopchis' (little thatched roof/tarpaulin covered hutments) in Mumbai, facing up to the strong-arm tactics of Raj Thackeray and his kind, the corrupt police officers who demand steep haftas (bribes) to allow them to operate, and still make enough money to not just sustain themselves, but also to help their families and relatives back in their native places. I met a Bihari paan-shop (betel nut) owner who said he was sending money back home where his son was studying law!
Are these people exceptional human beings? Or are they just going in pursuit of happiness which is what every living human being ought to be doing?

We are so used to attributing our failures to destiny and what not that we even express keen surprise at times tinged with jealousy when we come to know that a person succeeded in getting out of the rut. A typical exchange would be like this:

"Do you remember that xxxyyy? The guy who used to borrow my spare slippers to wear to college? The guy who used to beg me to give him my old clothes ? I saw that guy in a Honda City the other day! He saw me, but did not even salute me! The gall of him! He just waved cheekily as he sped away!"
Now, here is a guy who lent a needy man slippers he would not wear, and clothes he would have thrown away and expects the other be subservient to him all his life! Such is the attitude our own loved ones just one generation separated possess.

And that Gandhi quote that set off this entire blog post.. Why the devil should I worry how my actions will affect the anonymous poor ? Do they worry about how their own actions and non-actions will affect their own lives? About how they can get out of their own rut if they try ? Poverty is something that can be shaken off, but what cannot be shaken off is their firm belief that they can do nothing about their own suffering. It is this very thought that unites most of us Indians.

Quote Unquote: A movie meme

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:05:39 GMT

I saw this on shrads_m 's blog and loved it. And did a ctrl-c, ctrl-v, except for the actual quotes! I also reduced the original number of 20 movies to 10 (I didn't have twenty favorite movies!) Hope you like this meme. Here's how it works:

1. Pick 10 of your favourite movies.
2. Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put the title of the movie and who guessed it.
5. No Googling/using IMDB search functions. That's cheating and it ruins the fun!

These then, are the quotes from my favorite movies. Happy guessing!

1. From the moment we enter this life, we are in the flow of it [the time]. We measure it and we mark it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we ? Have we not each experienced the sensation… that a beautiful moment seemed to pass too quickly… and wished that we could make it linger ? Or felt time slow on a dull day… and wished that we could speed things up a bit ?

2. What kind of place is this? It's beautiful: Pigeons fly, women fall from the sky! I'm moving here!

3. I never f**ked anybody over in my life that didn't have it coming to 'em. You got that? All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don't break 'em for no one. You understand? That piece of s**t up there, I never liked him, I never trusted him. For all I know he had me set up and had my friend Angel Fernandez killed. But that's history. I'm here, he's not. You wanna go on with me, you say it. You don't, then you make a move.

4. I'd like to share a revelation I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to another area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.

5. No, you're wrong Stanley. Thousands die every day for no reason at all, where's your bleeding heart for them? You give your twenty dollars to Greenpeace every year thinking you're changing the world? What countries will harbor terrorists when they realize the consequences of what I'll do? Did you know that I can buy nuclear warheads in Minsk for forty million each? Hell, I'd buy half a dozen and even get a discount!

6. You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen. We don't need Him. F**k damnation, man, f**k redemption! If we are God's unwanted children, so be it!

7. I know you hurtin' and worryin'. I can feel it on you. But you oughta quit on it now. I want it over and done with. I do. I'm tired, boss. Tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to, or coming from, or why. Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?

8. You know, it's funny what a young man recollects. 'Cause I don't remember being born. I, I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetiest voice in the wide world.

9. You see, I'm a musician of sorts on my way to give a very special performance.

10. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting...protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye.

Fame and acceptance

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:40:20 GMT

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine in which we were discussing ambitions amongst many other things and here's a transcript of that conversation which revolved around the importance of fame and the need for acceptance/getting noticed. I'm reproducing the transcript here with her consent and as promised, I'm leaving her name out, so she is just noname(nn).

nn: leave it yaar... let me first become something in life......

me: and what is that something, nn? Is it a definite goal or a horizon without an end?7:30 PM nn: fame, money ect etc.....

me: To what end, nn?

7:31 PM Is fame as important as life? nn: well...tell u once i get these two...

me: Some of the people who do the greatest acts in their lifetimes don't get fame..

7:32 PM Rudolf Diesel, after whom the fuel is named, the inventor of the diesel engine was not even recognized for his invention till after his death.. he died in poverty..

and fame is something that Rakhi Savant can get if she parades semi-naked on a show..

7:33 PM Is fame more important than achieving something worthy of fame?

nn: lol....

me: No seriously..

which aspect of fame are you after?

The aspect of doing something great, or getting noticed for it?

7:34 PM nn: tough to answer....

me: It shouldn't be...

7:35 PM ask yourself..

if you would do things going out of your way for the benefit of people, even if you don't get the recognition..

or whether you just want to be a page 3 celebritity..

nn: well m not rakhi sawant nor diesel..

7:36 PM me: I always thought you were a confident and ambitious person, nn..

Confident people don't need to hanker for fame..

After all, what is the meaning if somebody recognizes your work or not?

7:37 PM Will it change the effectiveness of what you do?

Steve Waugh comes down several times to India to help underprivileged children and NGOs and he does it whether the cameras are clicking or not..

7:38 PM nn: well... i dont know abt othrs..wht they did n wht they not.. i jus want to get noticed ..thts it....

7:39 PM me: What drives that desire, nn?7:40 PM nn: donno

me: You are a strong person, nn..

you don't need somebody to endorse that you are so..

So I don't understand this need to get noticed..
7:41 PM nn: no...m not... i think all useless things......

7:42 PM me: and where is the happiness here? If ten thousand people say you are a great person you fell happy? Vindicated? What if the next day twenty thousand people call you a b***ch? something worse? Is that when you start thinking that you are worthless? nn: LOL...dont make me think too much prashanth....

7:43 PM me: Not at all, nn..

You should be the index of yourself...

and not allow somebody else to make a judgment about you..

You should know your worth.. and not let somebody else push it up or pull it down at will..

7:44 PM

Nobody is perfect, nn..

nobody is fearless

7:45 PM Nobody is free of temptations.. nn: i know yaar....

me: nobody is full of virtue..

but every single person has to have faith in oneself.. nn: :)

7:46 PM me: You are a great person, nn.. and you should not feel the need to get it endorsed by a group to realize it..

Fame is what insecure people aspire for..

They think it's a cloth that can cover all the bad patches..

hide it from public view.. nn: hehe,,,,

7:49 PM so u tell me...wht should be done....

me: Aspire to do great things, that is a worthy ambition nn..

What is fame? Money?

They are no goals..

7:50 PM Money is still a good goal..

For you need money for everything in life..

but fame? that is a silly pursuit..

not unless you believe the fame can propel you even further.. you and your cause that is..

7:51 PM nn: hmm.... well m nothing now....so want to become something first.....

me: that's not at all true..

If you have nothing now, you can never be anything, nn..

I'm being very blunt, sorry for that..

But you need to realize that there is latent potential in you..

That's not nothing..

7:52 PM If you don't have talent, potential, you will go nowhere..
nn: hmm

me: Everyone of us has something..

7:53 PM But many think they don't have anything. ... and that's when they go down in life..

I might not be earning a fat pay-packet today, but I know I have potential..

I believe that I can manufacture my own opportunities to come up even further.. that's not nothing..

7:54 PM My bank balance may be nothing, but I'm NOT nothing..

nn: :) thts very much true wht u said abt u...

me: And it's true about you too, nn..

7:55 PM There is only one type of respect that really matters in this world, nn..

That is self-respect.

nn: :)

me: I don't need somebody to tell me that I am worthy of their respect before I respect myself..

nn, you don't need fame..

You need self-respect.

The Prophet, on Love

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:59:44 GMT

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.

And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Gibran, through the voice of 'The Prophet', on love. So simple, yet so profound. So 'unmathematical', yet believable.. Every single time I read it, I feel I notice new words and meanings. Time and again, I have believed that I have mastered the mantras of love and relationships and that I have been successful in putting together my own blueprint for love, a chart of where to tread and where not to, to succeed in finding love while avoiding the painful traps along the path, but every single time I have been made to realize the futility of these mantras and formulas. Love takes us on a rollercoaster ride, a completely unpredictable one at that, unlike any man-made rollercoaster ride. One cannot truly prepare for what one cannot anticipate, and so it is with love. One just has to be willing to face all the challenges and the queasiness that comes along, if one gets on the ride. I dedicate this post to a friend of mine.

You can find the complete works of Gibran which are now in the public domain, over here.

My crusade against offensive ads on lj

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:55:25 GMT

It's been two mails to the admins of lj so far and on both occasions, the ads have disappeared for a few hours, only to come back like a bad penny. This is nothing short of spamming! I'm going to continue my crusade to get these ads removed from my page, whether there is support from my friends or not. I'm going to bombard lj with my petitions to remove these ads till they respond. My friend Atul was talking about a satyagraha to take this on.. while I feel that it was a pretty dramatic suggestion, I think the situation actually merits it. I'm not going down without a fight.

Inappropriate advertising on LJ - an appeal to my fellow ljers

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:11:09 GMT

Dear all,

I don't know how many of you have observed this or for how many of you this is true, but of late, all of the ad slots on my blog have been taken up by 'Advani for PM' ads. I noticed this on blogs of quite a few friends on lj too. A friend who happened to read my blog for the first time wanted to know since when I started promoting Advani's campaign!
Let me tell you why I think of these ads as a slur and a malicious act.

A lot of my posts are about Formula One and hence my blog often has ads related to Formula 1 merchandise, tickets, hotel reservations and the like and I have no complaints about it. This is the reality of targeted advertising and we often welcome it, as by principle, one will not see unrelated and inappropriate ads. I don't write about the fastest means of increasing the length of certain anatomical parts with pleasurable results and ergo don't expect to see ads promoting such solutions on my page.

However, since each and every one of us has been exposed to targeted advertising, we tend to associate the ad somehow with the content which belongs to the author, and maybe even with the thoughts and feelings of the author. It is at this point that this particular ad-campaign becomes inappropriate and even malicious. I hate politics and politicians in general and use my blog to highlight their foibles whenever my blood boils and I certainly would not want to use my blog to promote politicians of any color, caste, creed or nationality, nor would I want to happily sit and watch my blog being used for such a purpose. I know we don't enjoy the privilege of deciding the actual ads which go on, when using a free version of lj, but I hope lj won't resort to using such means of advertising which is no different from spamming. Livejournal does give us a means to provide feedback about the ads that are posted on our blogs. This is the link. I have made my opinion on the matter very clear and hopefully, the ads, which to me are repulsive, will be removed. If you truly endorse and welcome this manner/content of advertising, well, you don't have anything to do, but if you feel as I feel, I request you to take a minute and fill in the feedback.

Bollywood comes of age - Dev D reviewed

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:30:46 GMT

Dev D is a totally modern take on the novel called Devdas authored by Sarath Chandra Chattopadhyay. While the original novel and the spate of movies it inspired over the years all showed the protagonist wasting himself to his eventual death from alcohol abuse after being unable to come to terms with his unrequited love for his childhood friend Paro, Dev D in a refreshing change. The novel has been given a complete overhaul which it needed to stay relevant with respect to the ultramodern and cosmopolitan lives that it's intended audience lives in a modern India.
A very enjoyable movie, and unlike any other version of Devdas, it has a happy ending! The complete review is on my other blog.

My dream too has come true!

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:17:26 GMT

For the longest time, I have wanted to own one of them, but I guess it had just not happened. When I had the moolah, I was not in the mood and when I had the mood, I didn't have the moolah and now, when I least expected it, I got one, and that too as a present from dad!

It's smaller than a Cadbury chocolate bar and slim enough to make even the slimmest of mobile phones look obese in comparison and I think it's the best thing that's happened to me since the first of my bungee jumps! Ladies and gentlemen, I now own an ipod!

Dad won an ipod at his office for noteworthy performance and "knew straight away what to do with it", to quote his own words.
I opened the smartly wrapped package to find a 4gb fourth genenation Apple ipod Nano and I even loved the color!
I could barely wait for the three hours that the manual recommended for a first time charge and no sooner was it ready, I copied my favorite music onto it and to say that the experience of listening to my favorite music on my own ipod was mindblowing, would be an understatement. I have listened to music on ipods many a time in the past, but the pleasure of doing so on my very own ipod is that much more! It's loaded with a gazillion features which I'm sure for the average reader of blogs will be very mundane, but I'm loving the experience of figuring out it's features, much like an explorer would enjoy discovering new lands!

The sadistic and sociopathic side of me can't help but smile in glee about all the people who will have a hard time in getting their voices through the new firewall around my ears! Hope my boss isn't reading my blog!

Prash's obituary

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:00:55 GMT

While reading the autobiography of Samuel Langhorn Clemens aka Mark Twain, I came to know that while he was a cub reporter in a newspaper, he had ran his own obituary in the paper, just for kicks! I wondered then and I still wonder as to how one can find humor in what is so clearly a morbid topic. While a lot of people talk about death and dying in the lighter vein, few are those who haven't squirmed when discussing death of their own selves or that of loved ones.

I got to know today that a colleague's brother-in-law and mother-in-law were killed in a road accident early yesterday morning while she herself, along with her husband, are in the hospital with multiple fractures. How often have we heard about accidents on the highway and just shrugged it off with an absent 'People must take better care on the highways' line? Yet, today, when it was a colleague who was the victim, things were just not the same. And it set me thinking about impermanence of life.

When I left my apartment for work today, I definitely had plans of returning back in the evening, just as my colleague and her family had plans of coming back to the city from their vacation over the weekend. While I'm not the kind to get paranoid about death and impermanence, I did think a lot about last messages and obituaries. In DasVidaniya, the character played by Vinay Pathak plans in advance for the printing of his obituary in the newspapers. What I realized was that one doesn't need to be afflicted with a terminal illness to plan for a few basic things that would roll into play after our deaths.

In times like these, I realize the importance of my father's work. He is a financial advisor working for an insurance company and has in his own words, secured the futures of the dependants of a lot of people. While finances are very important, there are other things, like messages for loved ones that cannot be purchased against currency.
So, should we have a book/journal in which we write down the last messages for the people we care about and update it whenever we feel like it, so that a fairly updated message-book is ready for public release after our 'tragic' demise?

I'll start with my obituary/epitaph, which will be about how I would like to be remembered after I'm gone. The challenge in writing such a piece is that it is damn hard not to sound too self-centered/self-obsessed and still be happy with the piece! Lemme try:

Prashanth Chengi.
In his own words, a quarelsome & headstrong but loving son to his parents, a caring brother to his sister, a doting uncle to his nephew, an insignificant and egoistic nothing to his relatives, a loyal friend to his friends, a spouter of heavy (and often unwelcome) philosophy to his ex-girlfriends, a talented, at times even brilliant yet underperforming asset/liability mix to his boss, a self-declared connoisseur & critic of food, movies & books and a die-hard fan of Michael Schumacher & Formula 1 racing. May his soul rest in peace!

Watched four movies in the past five days!!

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:17:12 GMT

I had been intending to write about them, but I guess it was Peeyush's post about watching three movies that gave me the push! I did one more than you, so there!!!

Unlike Peeyush, however, I happened to see three movies I absolutely loved and the fourth, well, less said the better, but the other three more than made up for it.
Let's see.
The first and fourth are related to each other as the latter is a cheap rip-off of the former, and is a recent movie which is breaking box office records in Bollywood. No prizes for guessing, the former is the original, Memento while the latter was Ghajini.
First stop was Ghajini. I was keen on seeing Aamir's performance and so caught the movie with my flatmates who loved it. I barely managed to stay awake. The movie was so pithy that it left me feeling like I had downed stale coffee. I hated Jia Khan's portrayal of a medico: totally hogwash. Aamir with his bulging biceps and ear-splitting screams was not at all the class act that I was expecting. Ghajini reminded me of another movie in which another super-star actor starred, bulging biceps and all. The movie was Abhay, starring Kamal Hassan. Like the older movie, this too had little other than the bicep show but what Ghajini did was to whet my interest to catch the original, Memento.

I loved every bit of Memento, feeling almost in first-hand, what the protagonist was going through. Guy Pearce did not need to look like a WWE wrestler to impress upon the viewers. Probably Aamir thought just having such a body would make everything else, including acting uneccessary. The ending was a total class-act, teasing the brain with further angles and possibilities, giving the mind something to chew on. Ghajini only gave me a head-ache, in comparison.

The third movie I saw was Slumdog Millionaire. Excellent movie. Brilliant acting by rank new comers. Take a hint, Aamir, SRK, Akshay Kumar and all the others. Your days of being able to sell crap just because it has your signature on it, are coming to an end. Real soon.
The obvious question that came to the mind was why can't Indian directors come up with a movie like Slumdog which is set in India and is about Indians? Director Anurag Basu, in an interview to 'The Hindu' has stated that Indian directors don't easily grab such opportunities as they read less or don't read at all. Amazing isn't it? Why read books when you can load a Hollywood movie into the DVD player and see how it can be ripped-off? Creativity, anybody???
The movie was very enjoyable, taking the viewer on a rollercoaster ride starting in the slums and ending in riches. One would be tempted to call it a 'feel-good' movie, but it does not attempt to sell a sugar-coated pill. It makes no attempts at all to mask the sleaze and the slime. What you see is what you actually get or rather, what you actually get is what you get to see, in the movie.
On a side note, I thought that Rehman's Golden Globe winning 'Jai Ho' song was very ordinary, by his own standards as well as by that of Bollywood. Does it mean that our music is way ahead of our filmmaking abilities?

The last movie that I caught was DasVidaniya. Again, an exeptional poignant movie. Brilliant acting by Vinay Pathak as the geek who gets rudely shaken out of his routine by a terminal illness and decides to make the most out of the rest of his life. Shades of American Beauty are visible here and there, like the conversation Amar (Vinay Pathak) has with his alter-ego, when he realizes he has been 'dead' for years and decides to get his life back, including getting back at his boss, but the shades are just that, a salute of sorts and definitely no ripping off.
Movies like DasVidaniya and 'A Wednesday' are the only reason why many viewers including yours truly have not completely given up on Bollywood. About the rest, it's time they stopped thinking that building biceps like the world is running out of steroids and dressing up like Chinese and cracking corny jokes can be substitutes for acting.

What men go through, while dating!

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:22:18 GMT

'Pearls before Swine' by Stephan Pastis is my favorite cartoon! I've loved other cartoons in the past, but this one has that extra something for every mood of mine! Here are a couple of clips and do they convey something or not! You be the judge of it!

Pearls Before Swine

by Stephan Pastis

Pearls Before Swine

by Stephan Pastis

Test post. Please ignore.

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:57:06 GMT

pammygonyas@cdac.ernet.in pammygonyas@cdac.ernet.in pammygonyas @cdacindia.com pammygonyas@cdacindia.com
Test text

Apathy, insensitivity and arrogance: Brought to you by Indians

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:47:25 GMT

Mumbai got bombarded with terrorists and escaped from further damage due to the bravery of our commandos, and how do the politicians treat them? The by now infamous 'Dog-lover' Achuthanandan abuses the parents of slain Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, others play it down as 'minor matters' while the hapless Prime Minister thinks that the best he can do is offer to offer his resignation!

If that opportunity was not enough for our fellow Indians to display their apathy, insensitivity and arrogance, they got another one yesterday, at the International Marathon organized to bring about awareness about Aids, in Pune.
The organizers seemed to think that 'good management' meant ensuring the presence of top-billed actors from Bollywood at the venue, the infrastructure and venue management and even the actual participants be damned!
Here's what transpired: The good route guide got lost and took the race off the track, increasing the distance of the run by a staggering 3.5 Km. This confused other athletes and in the absence of anybody to guide them, they took off in different directions and got lost.

Fifteen athletes, mostly people coming all the way from Kenya and Ethiopia got muddled and got disqualified for no fault of theirs. The crowning insult was delivered by the organizers and the technical committee who said that the mistake was the fault on the part of the athletes for not sticking to the pre-advertised route. Wow! To err is human and many use that adage to excuse their mistakes and blunders, but is it pardonable to blunder and toss the blame on other innocent people? 'What the heck? A bunch of Kenyans and Ethiopians lost their way in our magnificient city. Hardly our fault!', These were the words that the organizers seemed to convey by their actions and statements. Pune is a city which I have now been residing for the past year and a half and I can quite easily get lost on many roads here, yet a foreigner, who has probably never been to this city ever before is expected to find his own way, just by looking at a map the day before the race!!
The second galling thing is apart from having to run the extra mile (literally!), the runners had to negotiate their way through city traffic! (Yeah, you guessed it.. the roads were open for traffic.) Imagine running hard and getting a lungful of soot-filled exhaust excreta when you take that gulp of air.. Wow.. That seems so soothing.
Why is it that we seem to showcase our apathy, ignorance, insensitivity and arrogance as if we are so proud of them? And that too with such regularity? I suppose mediocrity has become an all pervading force, so much so that even Himalayan blunders are pooh-poohed away.

F1 update: Japanese GP, 2008

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:51:35 GMT

In a totally topsy-turvy race in Japan, the top three lines of the final driver-board read thus:
Fernando Alonso
Robert Kubica
Kimi Raikkonen

The race saw much drama, as early as the first lap, with David Coulthard veering off with a mechanical problem and crashing heavily into the wall, safely away from the track and the other cars. Race over for DC, but the real drama was shaping up ahead in the order as Lewis Hamilton closed the door a tad too late on a charging Kimi Raikkonen, an offense which brought about a drive-through penalty for the championship leader, but more was to come. Lewis ran too wide, lost positions and got into a tussle with Felipe Massa. Massa committed a braking error to give Lewis an easy overtaking, but was too impatient and decided to take the position right back. Massa drove aggressively but Lewis was in no mood to give up his racing position resulting in Massa touching Lewis and causing him to spin, the incident bringing up Massa's own drive through penalty. Lewis lost out as the spin caused him to wait for the remaining cars to pass him, and that, combined with the drive-through penalty that he had earned earlier and had yet to serve meant that he did not finish on points.

Massa, after taking on a lot of fuel in his routine first stop and serving his own penalty came up in P13, just one position ahead of Lewis and produced some stunning overtaking moves and a string of fastest laps to come up to P8 and was set to finish higher when another disaster struck. Sebastien Bourdais, after his final stop exited the pits and tried to hold off Massa who had got almost half a car ahead, touching Massa in the process and sending him into a mini spin, the only consolation being that Bourdais did not take Massa out of the race The incident is still under investigation and the eventual verdict will decide whether he trails Hamilton by 5 points or 6, but it appears to be Bourdais' error and may earn him a penalty which may or may not benefit Massa. Massa took his final pit stop rejoining in P10, brought about another fastest lap made one more on track overtaking, crushing Mark Webber clinically, and clinched the final points position to stay in a position from where he can put pressure on Lewis in the remaining races two races. The biggest gainer was Robert Kubica, ever the dark horse, as he collected 8 points, finishing behind Fernando Alonso and as a result now trails Lewis Hamilton by just 12 points, meaning that at least technically, he is still a contender for the title while having a more realistic chance of finishing in second position.

The current championship standing:-

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	84
2	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	78
3	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	72
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	63
5	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	56
6	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	51
7	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	48
8	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	30
9	Sebastian Vettel	German	STR-Ferrari	29
10	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	20