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February 28, 2005

imdb.com is awesome!

In case you thought IMDB wasn't cool enough, check out these biographical entries:

1, 2 and 3.

And for another fun IMDB thingammajig: The Terminator degrees-of-separation game.

Posted by Vishy at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2005

Ten things I miss about Cambridge...

... and Boston.

In no particular order:

1. Walking and people-watching along Newbury St in the summer.
2. Christina's icecream on Cambridge St, near Inman Square.
3. An afternoon spent browsing fine food at Cardullo's in Harvard Square.
4. A summer afternoon spent lying on your back in Killian Court at MIT, reading.
5. The Pythagoras Band swinging bells at the Kendall Square T stop.
6. Relatively clean subway cars.
7. The Boston Botanical Gardens.
8. Sunset views from the Esplanade.
9. The footbridge near Harvard Square, connecting Memorial Dr and Storrow Dr.
10. Old South Church and the surrounding plaza at Copley Square.

Posted by Vishy at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

Titles for Kim Jong-Il

Leafing through the February 2005 issue of Harper's Magazine, I found a list of titles that North Korean state television claims are given to Kim Jong-Il, the president and supreme dictator by "prominent leaders from 160 nations around the world."

Normally, I don't copy lists verbatim from publications. I had to make an exception for this one. Curious?

Posted by Vishy at 11:03 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2005

Useless Factoid of the Day #3: Two random facts about Vishy's life

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Work has been busy and even my weekends have been otherwise gainfully occupied. The two factoids are truly useless -- they are only about me and will be of no use to you whatsoever. If that bugs you, then what are you doing here on my blog?

Factoid #1: Vishy's voice
Welcome to the Customer Care Line. This call may be recorded for quality assurance. Your call is very important to us, please stay on the line... Me: Hello? Hello? This is Nicole with [credit card]. Your name and account number please? Vishwanath Venugopalan. I'll spell it out for you. First name V-I-S-H-W-A-N-A-T-H Last name V-E-N-U-G-O-P-A-L-A-N ... O-P-L-A-M? No. O-P-A-L-A-N as in Nancy. Okay, what can I do for you today, ma'am? Actually, it's Sir. What can I do for you? I need to report a lost card. Okay, let me bring that up for you... [Hold music... My attention wanders around the room. I think of food, various attractive women, work...] MA'AM, MA'AM, are you there?? I told you I was a Sir. Thanks for holding, ma'am. I'll need to get some security information from you...

I don't have a very deep voice. The pitch of my voice fluctuates with my mood, my general level of excitement and even maybe my level of hydration. Unless I am sick, however, it stays within reasonable limits from what people consider to be my average voice. Neither me nor my friends think of me as very feminine sounding. However, about half the time, I get mistaken for a woman on the phone. Most of these times, my repeated entreaties to address me with a title appropriate for my sex are ignored -- something that pisses me off to no end. I have mostly given up on correcting their impressions of my sex, especially if I have been put on a long hold already and I am impatient to get off the call.

The even stranger thing is that the people who mistake me for a women are overwhelmingly women themselves. It's very rare that male customer service representatives mistake me for a woman. My best theory for this (which I don't really believe in myself) is that I naturally get nervous when talking to *any* woman, even if I am only going to speak to her once. This results in a higher pitch and therefore a higher probability of being mistaken for a woman.

What about other guys who are reading this? Do you have similar experiences?

Factoid #2: My new apartment
I live in apartment number 9-K. If A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and so on, K = 11.

Replace the K with its number and my apartment is 9-11. How afraid should I be?

Posted by Vishy at 10:22 PM | Comments (1)

February 02, 2005

Manhattan -> Brooklyn Heights

It used to be the ultimate sin for an Indian -- crossing a body of water. If an Indian, particularly a high-caste Indian, crossed the seas, he instantly lost caste and became a mlechha, a disgusting outsider. The only way you could return to a normal life back in India was if you underwent a symbolic cleansing ceremony at a major temple near the coast. Think of it as an immigration post guarding a port of entry into the spiritual life of India. This ancient prohibition on foreign travel didn't prevent Indians from traveling abroad and doing trade. Those people would do it anyway. It did, however, exert a strong influence on ordinary Indians, especially from the more educated higher castes. Of course, today this prohibition isn't relevant anymore.

I am a member of the highest caste in the Indian caste system -- a fact that has had some influence in my upbringing perhaps, but is anachronistic and entirely irrelevant to my daily life. Technically, I lost caste when I came to the United States, or when I visited my aunt in Navi Mumbai, which is just off the island of Mumbai. Was I ever confronted about it? No.

Still, your ancient heritage has ways of catching up with you...

I moved off the island of Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights. I still live in New York City, but not on the cultural and financial center of the universe, Manhattan. Just one mile away from it.

When I announced to friends and coworkers that I was moving to Brooklyn Heights, I got several surprised and somewhat shocked looks. Why? Why Brooklyn? Why leave Manhattan? An endless litany of questions. It was almost as if I was losing caste by crossing the East River from Manhattan into Brooklyn.

First, I *love* the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. It is like me -- quiet and somewhat quaint and old-fashioned. It has a stunning view of Manhattan while not being the theme park that is Manhattan. Second, I found a great deal in Brooklyn Heights, which will enable me to save more money and pay off those pesky student loans faster. Third, the year of living it up in New York that I had promised myself was over. Fourth, adding an additional 5 minutes to my morning commute didn't seem like a big price to pay for living cheap in a good neighborhood.

Of course, I am not saying it is all dandy. Everything takes time to get used to. I miss the ability to take a random walk in Manhattan and find myself in a bar, a restaurant or a coffee shop. I miss the activity and buzzing vitality on the streets. I get enough of it (with a dollop of sleaze added for good measure) around Times Square during the day, but I used to notice it less when I went home to the same sort of thing. I miss my two 24-hour corner delis. I miss the Blockbuster across the street. I miss the zillion restaurants that would deliver food to me at odd hours of the night.

However, I found that with all the conveniences of life in Manhattan, I was not living my life deliberately enough. I would allow myself to experience life in a stream of consciousness. With a greater contrast in my work and living environments now, I would like to change that. I was feeling a bit down in the first couple of days. However, I am already getting more settled into my new apartment. Being able to get online and write a blog entry about it made a big difference! Come spring and summer, I am going to enjoy Brooklyn Heights even more. I can't wait!

Considering I live right at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, a symbolic cleansing to get myself readmitted into Manhattan can't be more than a mile away!

Posted by Vishy at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)