Chp 359. Hard Disk not detected by DVD Player

Sorry for the lame post title, but I have to use this for SEO’s sake. Yup, this week’s post is a little bit technical, and I am doing this so as to help others who may have the same problem – Why is your DVD Player usb slot not detecting your portable hard drive?

First of all, the main reason why I am writing this post is that, problems like this are rare. Very few people (like me) still watch movies on their DVD Players these days. It’s all computer this and computer that, so if you try to google for a solution, most of the search results will be quite irrelevant.

I went through many tech forums and even mentioned my problems there, but the replies were all unhelpful. Most of them told me, “Why don’t you just watch it on your PC?”

Uh… what if I don’t have a computer or don’t want to buy one? What if I am content watching movies using my plain old DVD Player and TV, the old fashion way?

So after a lot of trial and error, I finally found a way to solve this problem.

These days, all new DVD Players come with a usb slot. Gone are the days of limiting your entertainment to just CDs or DVDs on your DVD Player. We can just take our pen-drive, copy the movie file we want, insert the pen drive in the DVD Player usb slot, and enjoy the movie.

After that comes the next level – Instead of inserting my 4GB or 8GB pen drive, what if I insert my portable 500GB hard drive? Will that work too? And won’t that be awesome?

And so, a lot of us tried, and the DVD player of course couldn’t detect the hard drive.

“DEVICE NOT SUPPORTED” the DVD Player proudly displayed.

Many so called “experts” on numerous Tech forums then said that the DVD Player didn’t detect the 500 GB portable hard drive because it couldn’t support such a huge data storage size, it was not built that way, blah blah blah…

BOLLOCKS!

Last night, I finally got my plain ol simple DVD Player to detect my 1TB portable hard drive! Yeah, one freaking TB, baby. 1000 gig of Movies, TV shows, Music etc. Suck on that.

So here’s how you should do it.

First of all, let me just briefly explain the basic – Your hard drive can be formatted in either FATxx (FAT16, FAT 32 etc) or NTFS. NTFS is a more popular file system, and considered to be safer, faster and more space efficient.

Most hard drives come pre-formatted in NTFS, while most pen drives are formatted in FAT32. In FAT32, you cannot save a single file that is bigger than 4GB. You can do that in NTFS, but it has many compatibility issues with third party devices.

And that is where the PROBLEM lies.

Your DVD Player cannot detect your portable hard drive simply because it is in NTFS format. You will find the same problem with a car music player that has a usb slot, your PSP etc.

The simple solution to this is to format your drive and convert it to FAT32.

Of course this is not so simple as I learnt recently.

First of all, formatting a 1TB hard drive using command prompt is apparently not possible. I googled and found the correct cmd command – Suppose the drive you want to format and convert is G:

Then type: convert G: /fs: FAT32

It will start converting. Slowly. Very slowly. 10%. 40%. 98%... Since it was converting a 1TB drive, it took nearly 3 hours to complete!

And finally when it’s done, *drumroll* I got the message that the drive could not be converted to FAT32 because it is too big! Aaargghhh…

Next, I tried formatting it directly, like how most of us would format pen drives – Right click on the drive letter, and select “Format”.

The problem is, Windows does not support formatting a hard drive of more than 32GB size to FAT32 format! And so, while you have the option of selecting either FAT32 or NTFS while formatting a pen drive, if you do the same with a hard drive that is greater than 32 GB, you will not get this option. Instead, there is just NTFS and a vague FATxx option! (See screenshot below)



So one of my colleagues took my 1 TB hard disk, formatted it in NTFS using Windows, and then converted it to FAT32 using a Linux system.

mkfs.vfat /dev/hd7

In just a matter of seconds, my 1TB drive was converted to FAT32! Whoah!

So I rushed home all excited and all… connected my newly FAT32 formatted 1TB drive to my DVD Player… and bloody hell got the same freaking message that the device is not supported again! Aaaarghh!

So yesterday, for the last time, I googled again, trying to be more specific. I did come across some discussions saying that Linux formatted FAT32 drives sometimes don’t work well on third party devices. Which didn’t surprise me much because it took just 4-5 seconds to convert the 1TB drive. Lolz. Linux systems are not exactly my area of expertise, so I browsed for some more time and took another advice – Use softwares like Partition Magic to format it in FAT32.

I found the perfect software – Aomei Partition Assistant. Using this, I could format up to 2TB partition in FAT32! Me Gusta!

There’s a freeware version from the link mentioned above. Less than 3MB file, the software is very easy to use. I formatted my 1 TB drive to FAT32 in 5-10 minutes.

And FINALLYYYYY my DVD Player can now detect my 1TB hard drive. W00t!!

Imagine all the movies and TV series I can fit into this and easily watch via my DVD Player and TV. And 1 TB portable hard drives now come cheaper than 5 grand, so it is indeed a good investment.

Of course there are many disadvantages to having a FAT32 drive, like you cannot save a file that is bigger than 4GB. So if you are a gamer, you will come across many .iso files that are bigger than 8GB. Also, many of these HD movies are more than 4GB per file.

So in the end, it’s your call. Meanwhile, if you just want your DVD Player to detect your portable hard disk, whether it is 250GB or 500GB or 1TB or 2TB, it can be easily done the way I’ve mentioned above. Don’t let any so called tech expert tell you that it cannot be done because of the file size limitation.

Friday cheers!


Edit: WARNING!!! Please BACK-UP your files before you format! :D I was working on a new 1TB hard drive above so I didn’t have any data on it, but if you are doing it to your existing hard drive, do back-up all your files first before you format, or you’ll lose everything. [Thanx @mnowluck]

Chp 358. History of STUDS in Mizo Society, 1980+

Who is a stud? The exact definition may differ from culture to culture, but at the end of the day, a stud is one who is surrounded by women or can easily be with any chick he wants. As the universal Bro Code aptly puts it – A stud is respected by all other Bros.

Yes you may find this post a tad sexist. Like how my friend Jerusha would say, “If a girl sleeps with different men, she is labeled a whore, but if a guy sleeps with different women, he is called a stud? That’s not fair!” Or as my friend Amos would say, “If a girl sleeps with different guys, she is called a whore, but if I do the same, then suddenly I am called gay? That’s not fair!”

A stud is a guy other guys respect, especially by us nerds and geeks. While we slogged our asses off during engineering exams, he was constantly on the prowl, always in the company of women. We respected him and envied him at the same time. “Don’t worry nerds, study hard for your exams and you will get all the bitches you want later,” he would tell us, as he took the assignment we did for him with one hand, and held the hottest girl in college with the other hand.

Oh we hated him right then. Because we didn’t want any female dogs. Why the hell would we want female dogs? We just wanted to speak to women, that’s all. But even though we never actually understood him, one thing’s for sure – We may have hated him, sometimes even loathed him, but at the end of the day we respected him!

In our Mizo culture, the word we use for such a person is “Luck”. Yes, it is derived from the English word, and it means exactly that. “Tlangval luck” means a guy who has a lot of women admirers or one who has no difficulty appealing to the opposite sex. There is hardly any moment in his life when his relationship status remains “single”.

In Mizoram, things are different.

I still remember being asked by a friend in Bangalore when he saw me play a riff of “Hotel California” and end it with the intro of “Sweet Child of Mine” – “Dude! You’re bloody amazing with the guitar! You must be having a lot of chicks after you, back in Mizoram huh?” Hahaha! Nopes. In Mizoram, women don’t give flying crap if you play the guitar or whether you're in a rock band. Because 90% of the guys can play the guitar over there. It’s as if we were all born with our fingers clutching an A minor chord and the first time we cried in the hospital bed, we probably did so in tonic sol-fa.

Nah, things are different in Mizoram. There are actually different time periods when a person with a particular designation was considered a stud. Every profession had an era of being deemed a “Tlangval luck”.

Here are some of them, and the reason why many Mizo children (like me) had once upon a time dreamt to become just like that person, so that we too would be surrounded by women. Ah… the dreams of a folly youth!


1. The TV Antennae Twister

This is as far as I can remember. During the early 80’s, Mizoram, which was not even a state then, was just starting to develop. The insurgency led by the MNF was slowly coming to an end, and few “privileged” people started buying TV sets. There was only Doordarshan channel back then, but Mizoram being situated on a high altitude and lying between Burma and Bangladesh, we could get (free) channels from Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, and even Korea, simply by adjusting our TV antennae reception!

That’s where the Antennae twister stepped in. He’s usually around 20-25 years old, jobless, clean shaven, smokes like hell, skinny, and really got a badass talent of climbing up the roof and twisting the TV antennae to find a particular channel. Women used to sigh in admiration as he twist and twist and twist… androgenic sweat dripping off him as he turned the antennae… switching from Burmese channel to Korean to Bangladesh… ahhh… ohhhh… ahhh…

Watching the women squirm in ecstasy, that was when a lot of kids decided they wanted to become just like the antennae twister when they grow up. And maybe that’s why a lot of guys started training by practicing with their little antennas first…


2. Driver/Handyman

The mid 80’s saw the signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord, and Mizoram became a state. Employment rate started growing and more and more people bought vehicles. Of course people who had vehicles were considered affluent, but they were not considered “Tlangval luck” because most of them were married and had a family. But the drivers were not. And boy oh boy, they had all the women!

Whether you drove a private vehicle or a government vehicle, being a driver was the new definition of being a stud. My dad was working in the Power & Electric department then, and I used to go with him during his tours across Mizoram. He usually moved in a convoy of 4-5 vehicles. And during those tours, I spent more time with the drivers, probably because I have three elder sisters and no brother, so they were like the elder brothers I never had.

During the tours, I used to just sit with them and listen to their campfire stories as they exchanged stories about their conquests and sexcapades, about the many virgins they "conquered" at this village and that village etc. And they weren’t just bullshitting. Wherever we went, while my dad and other senior officers were working inside the local office, these drivers always managed to find a village damsel they could take to their rooms. I was young then, but I understood.

And the best part about being a driver was that sometimes many of these drivers, especially truck drivers, had handymen. The handyman acted as the wingman. Now what better ways to score than having the stud reputation of a driver with an equally cool wingman! Ah, it was Paradise for them. That was definitely their era. In my mind, the studification process started right then.

So after we got back from one of those tours, I told my mom I wanted to become a driver when I grow up. She nearly had a heart attack. Strangely, my dad never took me along on his tours again…


3. SDO/JE

With more employment opportunity and Government sectors opening, the late eighties saw a sudden surge in a new stud category – the SDOs and JEs. The SDO (Sub Division Officer) and JE (Junior Engineer) bachelors were the center of attraction at every function, regardless of whether they were in the P&E dept, PWD, PHE, etc.

Maybe it was because of their lifestyle and the way they partied, even till today, if you go to any Mizo house party, people will be doing the “SDO dance”. And yes, to have an SDO or JE son-in-law was the desire of many Mizo parents back then.


4. Doctor

During the 90s, the stud crown was passed on to the doctors. Hell yeah, they not only saved lives, but made lives, if you know what I mean. They were that “lucky”.

In fact, I think more than the girls, it was the mother of the girl who was more in love with the doctors – most of them would do anything to make sure their daughter married a doctor. Now this kind of fight and attention, every guy loves, right? And so, many of us slogged hard for various medical entrance exams, hoping to become a stud one day too.

In addition to that, I was hooked to Robin Cook novels those days, so I really used to think doctors had an extremely glamorous lifestyle. After school, I was probably the only Mizo guy who had never even kissed a girl, and the ambition of becoming a doctor only became stronger.

But then, after the entrance exam results came out, I got into Guahati Medical College (GMC) which is a well reputed college, but I got a much higher rank in the Engineering entrance exam – So after much consultation and contemplation, I told myself – Ahhhh chuck it. I’m a nerd. And I’ll always remain a nerd. I’ll die alone, unknown, unconquered, unridden. Let the other guys enjoy, maybe this is my fate.

And so with a heavy heart, I said goodbye to GMC, lost the opportunity to become a stud, and dwelled even deeper into NerdDom and became a Computer Science Engineer. After graduation, I went back to Mizoram and everybody thought I took a four year course on how to install Windows. Now which mother would want their daughter to marry somebody like that huh?


5. Pastor

Ahhh now this is one stud who isn’t a badass and yet commands deep respect. He’s the apple of every mother’s eyes, the gem of the locality, and sometimes even the entire local community would go around searching for a fitting bride for him!

Take this scenario for example. Guy comes across a beautiful hot girl. He asks people around about her, and learns that she is extremely homely, devoted to God, sincere, honest, and all other things nice and sweet. He doesn’t think, “Dayymm, I gotta nail that” or “I gotta marry her”. Instead, the first thought that comes to his mind is, “Yeah, she’s perfect for our Pastor. I gotta fix them up!”

See, that’s how Pastors roll. Wicked! You come across such a girl and you do not hope that she likes you. Instead, you hope that she likes your Pastor! See? Bros before Hopes! Yeah, even the Bro Code works perfectly fine here.


6. IAS

IAS (and recently MCS) bachelors are another batch of studs who have no difficulty in finding a partner. I think they are currently the reigning stud-pions in Mizoram.

Line up a couple of suitors for the hand of a girl, and the one with an IAS designation will blow every competition away for miles. They are like the Terminator of bachelors, powerful and feared. Some are humble, some are badass, and some are humbly badass. All in all, they rock!


Conclusion:

So where do we copywriters stand in the stud ladder? Well, for the fact that most people in Mizoram will not even know what I actually do for a living (the term “copywriter” does sound like somebody who spends his whole day in a government office copying files and writing them out manually into a new document right?), I guess we don’t even make it to the ladder.

...which reminds me of that animation “Shark Tale” (with the voice of Will Smith) –

Sykes: Now I have to pay Don Lino protection, so everything you owe me, you owe him!
Oscar: How do you figure that?
Sykes: Simple - the food chain!
[Pulls out chart]
Sykes: On top there's Don Lino, there's me, there's regular fish...
Oscar: And that's me!
Sykes: No. There's plankton, there's single-celled amoebas...
Oscar: And then me!
Sykes: I'm getting there, I'm getting there... There's coral, there's rocks, there's whale poop, and then there's you.
Oscar: That's messed up.




Yup, in the Stud hierarchy within Mizoram, we copywriters are so messed up. Hehe…

Maybe there’s an important lesson in this. If you want to be a stud, then be one. Remember the old saying, “Nice guys finish last”? Yup that is so true. If you want to be a nice guy, that’s well and good, but don’t regret finishing last. I wanted to be a stud when I was younger too, but later chose the nerd path. And now, I am definitely not regretting that decision at all. What matters in the end is, regardless of who you are, are you happy? Once you learn the importance of happiness and job satisfaction, being a stud suddenly becomes insignificant.

Friday cheers! :)

Chp 357. Gaming it to the next level - 1

With the smart-phone gaming industry still at its nascent phase, there are indeed a lot of games (and features) I would like to see in the future. I may not have the resource to produce such games, but it won’t hurt spilling out my reviews & ideas here.

First of all, before I begin, I’d like to share something I discovered recently – For all you Androiders, if you go to the Android Market, not the mobile version but the actual site market.android.com and login with your Google account, you will see a complete list of all the apps/games you have downloaded till now!

Lolz. Yeah, all those three-letter-word related apps and other apps you have downloaded and kept hidden from friends and family… they are ALL THERE! Listed. Recorded. Archived. With complete details regarding the download date, version, file size, etc etc. haha! Not so private now huh?

Anyhoo, here is my first review, one of my recent favorite games, and how I think the developers should take it to the next level.



Contract Killer

Originally an iPhone/iPad game, this is probably one of the most awesome games I’ve played on my droid. You’re a contract killer, and your job is to take out the mob. You get orders now and then, sometimes from a rival mob, an informant, or from the cops, and you can also refill your ammunition or buy better weapons using the in-game cash/credit.

Every contract requires around 5 energy, and whether you fulfill the contract or not, you end up losing that much energy. So, as addictive as this game may be, you cannot play the entire day. You need to quit the game now and then after your energy runs out and wait for it to recharge. You can also use your credit to buy energy, but trust me, it’s not worth it.

But it’s been more than a month now since I last played this game. Why? Because if you don’t intend on spending money (real money), it is close to impossible to buy the good guns, especially the Zerstorer!

As I kept advancing, the bad guys were harder to kill, and the level kept getting more difficult, and yet, the bounty did not increase at all. Eventually, if you subtract the cost of ammunition per contract, I wasn’t getting anything at all. I even stopped buying the medikit to get more cash per contract, such that I would die during an ambush rather than buy expensive medikit, but even then, I realized it was going to take me forever to reach my target money to buy the awesome guns.

Plus there is no cash-credit converter. Some guns like the Zerstorer costs 400 credits. Yet, even if I have collected a million cash during my missions, I cannot use them to buy those special guns that can be bought only through credits. Hence I need to buy the in-game cash and the in-game credit separately with real money. A Zerstorer gun, costing 400 credits, would be around $20 (INR 900!)

And yeah, couple that with the fact that the game gets boring after some time… repetitive kills and instructions. You can easily start predicting where the boss’ goons are going to come running out from.

Hence the reason why I stopped playing this game.

----------------------------------



How I wish the game could be like this:

With such an amazing (and realistic) game as this, I wish Glu (the developer) could make it a bit more interesting. Here are some of my suggestions. I’m not talking about changing the interface of the game, like players should be able to run towards an enemy and stab him etc. I’m sticking to the original game action. My suggestions are purely about the gameplay and the kinda story that can come in etc.

1. Locations:

First of all, I want to stop using the single map selection theme.

Instead, how about making this game truly global? Give users the option to travel from one country/continent to the other.

And the user will end up losing quite a lot of energy as he travels, which is ok, as he can always recharge his energy once he lands at his new destination.

At his new destination, he will of course get new sets of orders and who to kill, and most of the targets will be region specific (example – the Yakuza in Japan, the Triad in China, Cosa Nostra in Sicily, Drug warlords in Cambodia etc etc).


2. Weapons:

The guns can also change from region to region, depending on the availability.

Hence, even if the player has managed to buy really good guns in the US, he cannot take his guns along with him when he flies to other countries (for the obvious reason). So he has to start from scratch.

He can take his cash (and credit) along from one place to the other though. And when he returns to a place he has been before, he can use his existing gun there (he probably has a safehouse where he stores his guns and ammunition).

This way, we are making everything more interesting just by introducing different characters and maps, even though the gameplay is the same as before – you get info from somebody and you take the contract.

Remember, at the end of the day, the backend logic may be the same, but if the game is coated with different characters and maps, it will definitely make the game more interesting. Take Storm8 for example. All their games like Ninjas Live, Vampires, Zombies, World War, iMobster etc are (almost) all the same. Take away the character names and tasks, and they are all quite similar, yet most of them are the top downloaded games at the Android Market and iPhone App Store. In the end, the way we package a product really counts too.


3. The Bounty:

Like I mentioned earlier, it sucks when the level gets harder and harder but the bounty remains the same. Collecting money takes too long. If the amount of bounty can increase per level, then it is worth spending more on medikits and ammunitions too. Otherwise, it is purely a waste.


4. Non-scope guns:

Seriously, there was actually no point buying non-scope guns like SMG, shotgun etc. They are not effective at all, and I usually end up wasting an entire clip of ammo before I finally manage to take down one gangster. If this can be changed a bit so that even non-scope guns have their uses (trust me, I thought they would be more useful in the Dockyard fights etc when the enemy is relatively closer to my hideout compared to the other locations, but they still take time to die there too if I use non-scope weapons).


5. Silencers:

Ah this is my dream feature for this game. There should be some guns that can be attached with a silencer/suppressor. How awesome would that be! That way, we can quietly kill off some of the boss’ men one by one, and I can be discovered only if one of the gangsters is within, say 10 meters from the dead body. Unlike currently when I fire one freaking shot (even a tranquilizer gun) and the entire mob descends upon me like a swarm of bees. The silencer should be an option during the gameplay, and I should be able to use it only 5 times. After that I need to purchase it from the store again.


Trust me, making these small changes will definitely change the game a lot, and I for one, will definitely come back to playing it.

Ending this post, here are some screenshots of the game for those of you who have not played this game yet.

Disclaimer: All images in this post are from The Droid Guy, 148 Apps and I code and code.

Chp 356. Just Completed Three Years!!!

This post may not be a big deal to many of you, but to me, it is indeed a big deal. For today, I have just completed my three years of work experience! I can’t believe it’s been just three years though… lolz.

I know many of you have been working for around 10 years now. I remember all the sermons and preaching my close friends used to give me about being “so old” and yet not working or doing anything worthwhile.

Maybe I was lazy, maybe I was unqualified, maybe I was spoilt, maybe I was just too scared to work on a job I might detest later… whatever be the reason, I ended up wasting my life for almost 6 years after I graduated from college, just partying, blogging and drinking my life away.

And then, when I finally decided it was high time I started working and doing something meaningful with my life, my friends warned me about rejections… That somebody like me who’s “old” and yet without any work experience was not exactly the most suitable candidate, and that I would have to go through many interview processes…

I understood.

Since advertising had always been my passion and I knew the digital space quite well, along with JV and my sister, we decided that I should aim big and go for the best digital advertising agency in India. That way I would surely get rejected and move on to smaller agencies, yet without feeling the pangs of rejection.

I called up my friend Pawan, who told me that the number 1 digital agency in India then was Webchutney.

So I took a printout of my resume, hailed an auto, and went to Webchutney Mumbai office. It took me an hour because I was looking at a Webchutney Delhi office address! Hahaa. Finally, I reached the office and met the shocked receptionist Rihanna (who became a very close friend later) because I didn’t have any appointment with the HR.

The equally shocked HR Manisha luckily happened to be in a good mood, and interviewed me. Walk-in interviews are actually not allowed, and to fix an interview appointment, one needs to send his/her resume and an appointment will be arranged if that resume is what the agency wants. I was extremely lucky that day, hehehe. I don’t know what happened, but somehow the interview went well too, and I was called back the next day!

The next day, I met the ACD, who is now our CD (Creative Director) today. He interviewed me for an hour. Later he gave me a copy test.

I wrote my (first ever) copy test, and went home.

The next day, AGAIN, I was called to the office. This time, it was the Branch Head who wanted to meet me!

I met Poornima, who was our Mumbai Branch Head then, and finally after a long interview, I got the job! Lolz, if you think I was shocked, then you should have seen my sister’s face when I told her about the news. My FIRST job interview, NO work experience, didn’t even KNOW what being a copywriter meant, accepted in India’s LEADING digital ad agency!

Yeah, it felt like a dream.

I still remember my first project after joining Webchutney. Our ACD and Art Director were preparing for a pitch on an “Ocean Racing” campaign. I was told to get involved and help with the concept & strategy, and after listening to the brief, I came up with this –

   

   


HAHAHA… Seriously, that’s what I thought copywriters do, you know… write the copy in a stylish manner. Lolzzzz….

I have come a LONGGGGG way from there.

Much later, I asked my bosses what they saw in me when they first hired me. And it turned out - It was because of my blog! And no, it was not about any particular post. They saw the potential in me after seeing the creativity in my writing. Creative writing and thinking creatively for an ad campaign may be different, but at the end of the day, creativity is creativity.

And that’s what Webchutney did – harnessed my talent, taught me how to channel my creativity, and made me into what I am today. I will forever be indebted to Nishi and Meghana for this.

Today I am handling many leading national and International brands on my own, with my own dedicated team. And none of this would have been possible without what I have learnt during the past three years.



MY FIRST DAY @ WORK

July 1, 2008 - Exactly three years ago from today. That was when I was told to join this company.

On July 1, 2008, God probably decided to play a prank on me because maybe even HE couldn’t believe I finally started working. So on that fateful day, He sent along a mini flood.

Yup, that’s what happened on my first day. On July 1, 2008, as my sister wished me luck (like a child going to school for the first time), I braved the rain thinking it was going to be just another of those normal Monsoon rain spells.

[Google: “July 1 2011 Mumbai” and you’ll know what I’m talking about.]

Just after I left my apartment, my sister switched on the TV to see news channels everywhere warning people to stay indoors! Most of the roads in Mumbai were completely flooded, and there were landslides here and there! She called me immediately, but my phone was tightly wrapped in a polythene bag deep inside my bag.

I on the other hand, was preoccupied, battling the rain and thinking about my first day at work. All autos refused to ply and most vehicles were off the road, so I walked. I kept walking towards my new office, not noticing that the water level kept rising higher and higher… first I was avoiding the puddle… next my feet were completely submerged…. soon the water came up to my ankles…. then my knees… by the time I reached SV Road, the water was up to my waist!!!





Yet, I was determined because it was my first day at work and I didn’t want to screw it up.

I held my umbrella up along with my bag, which reminded me of those Vietnam war movies where the GIs would patrol through waist-high water in the jungle while holding their guns above the water.

And the thing about Mumbai floods is, you MUST follow the person right in front of you. Coz you’ll never know if there is a pothole or a manhole ahead when the muddy water is up to your waist. So this is one incident where herd mentality is a really positive thing. Lolz.

FINALLY, after nearly 3 hours of struggling through the water, I reached my new office. Very few people turned up that day, and the HR told me I didn’t have to come!

Hehehe… well, in the end, my first day at work was indeed a very memorable day, and I will never forget what I went through that day.

Cheers.


[I may update this post later with a video]

Chp 355. Social Media - A word of Caution

Yes, sometimes people tweet stupid things or bitch about their boss on their facebook profiles, eventually leading to serious consequences. But what about those who carelessly use an official account by mistake, thinking it is their personal account?

Yesterday, a well renowned PR agency lost its biggest account after a very unwise tweet from its official account -

PR agency loses biggest account with a single tweet

The PR Agency, Redner Group, was immediately fired by the client, popular game publisher 2K (of Duke Nukem Forever, Civilization V and BioShock fame).

We have also seen the recent case with Chrysler, when an employee from their social media agency on record, New Media Strategies, tweeted from the official Chrysler account by mistake instead of his personal account, "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive." Again, the employee was immediately fired, and Chrysler severed all ties with the media agency.

Chrysler Dumps Social Media Firm After Twitter Obscenity

Red Cross too has committed such mistakes, when an employee with access to their official twitter account, used that account by mistake instead of his own personal account and tweeted something not very "Red Cross-y" :)

Red Cross Twitter Faux Pas

And remember the U.S. Secret Service agent who tweeted, "Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can't. Deal. With. The. Blathering." and then realized he tweeted using the official Secret Service twitter id @SecretService and not his personal id, but by then, it was too late... lolz. Was he fired? Nobody knows, after all, it is the Secret Service. But I can bet my ass he was definitely transferred to Alaska. :D

If you guys have noticed yesterday too, there was a very strange tweet (lksdfghdfkg) from Hindustan Times twitter account @HTTweets. Of course they apologized and deleted the tweet immediately but people noticed it and it went viral like crazy. People tweeted:

Shahid Kapoor: Today's guest editor for Hindustan Times. RT @htTweets lksdfghdfkg

BREAKING: Sharad Pawar to Hindustan Times RT @htTweets: lksdfghdfkg

People at Hindustan Times are having sex on the keyboard. RT @htTweets lksdfghdfkg

We don't let our clients embarrass themselves like this RT @htTweets lksdfghdfkg

Things like this do happen a lot.

Even some time ago when GupShup was popular, I used to maintain a gupshup account courtesy a Mizo community site I run, with almost 1000 Mizos subscribed to our site’s news+posts updates. Once I sent a very embarrassing update by mistake while I was replying to another GupShup account... I didn't put the @ properly at the beginning of my reply, and so that sms instead went to the mobile phones of all those who were subscribed to our site's gupshup updates!

VERY embarrassing, especially since the gupshup account I was trying to reply to was sex related... ahem... and some of the honorary members and visitors of our site include the Chief Minister of Mizoram, Pastors, IAS officers, professors etc.. :(

What I'm trying to say is... in today's age of social media, many of us have access to twitter and facebook accounts of our clients, where the face of their company is actually represented by somebody who's not even a part of that company.

A few seconds of careless or hasty tweet can lead to a lifetime of regret, so we need to be extra careful when using our twitter and facebook accounts. Always check that it is YOUR personal account you are currently using, and not the brand's official account.

This is especially important for those of us who love trying out new apps and twitter/facebook clients on our mobile phones. Take extra caution as you may not be familiar with the settings of the new app, and end up using a client's account by mistake.

Posting stupid tweets on your account that can get you into trouble later (like Congressman Wiener) - well, that is your problem. But mistaking corporate accounts for your personal account - that can indeed be avoided if you're careful enough.

Cheers.

Chp 354. End of a Season

Create a TV show and end the last episode of the season abruptly with a lot of suspense and drama – that is the age-old formula film-makers use to guarantee that viewers look forward to the next upcoming season.

Most of the popular TV shows have completed their one-year season last month and are currently taking a break. The new seasons usually start around July/Aug/Sept. A few shows are still currently running, like Game Of Thrones, which is like THE BEST TV SHOW EVER MADE so far. Ned Stark rocks. Khal Drogo rocks. Everybody in that freaking show rocks.



Ok, coming back to this topic now, the last episode of many TV shows this season saw a lot of the usual suspense and “must-definitely-watch-next-season to-find-out-what-happened-next” experience. Here are some of my favorite shows and how the season ended.

Warning: SPOILERS ALERT!




NCIS – Season 8.

Starting off with Naval Crime Investigative Service, one of my favorite TV shows that has been around for eight years now! Remember how season 2 ended with a shocker – Kate was killed, and then season 5 ended with an even bigger shocker – Director Shepherd was killed. Well, after that, the ending of season 6 (Ziva was held captive by a terrorist cell in Somalia) and season 7 (Gibbs was held captive by a drug cartel heiress in Mexico) could not be shocking enough.

And how did season 8 end? Utter disappointment! After all the buildup about the mysterious P2P (Port-to-Port) killer and how they were always one step behind him, the way he was finally (and easily) killed in the last episode of season 8 was such a letdown and disappointment it actually made me nauseous. Seriously?

And in the closing scene, when the new SECNAV secretary Senator somebody assigned Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo a secret task to spy on an NCIS agent who’s a traitor, it was obvious who they were talking about – Special Agent E.J.Barrett of course! Duh, what was that tiny capsule she extracted from her dead team member’s hand in the morgue? They didn’t have to show that morgue scene if they wanted to build more suspense around who this traitor could be. Dayymmmm…




NCIS Los Angeles – Season 2.

This is one of the few spinoffs I enjoy, unlike the many spinoffs of Law & Order and CSI. NCIS LA is completely different from the original NCIS in terms of characters, methodology, humor and plotlines. And there’s also the occasional crossover of characters such as Director Vance and Abby from NCIS who appear regularly in NCIS LA. I love NCIS LA mainly because of the two main characters – LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell.

The end of season 1 was about Callen, where he was about to discover more information about his obscure past, and maybe even a long lost sister. Well, the end of this season was also about, surprise surprise – the true identity of Callen again. But one shocker that took me by surprise at the closing scene was - Hetty turned out to be a member of the dreaded Comescu crime family! Whoah!




The Big Bang Theory – Season 4.

My FAVORITE comedy show that is currently running – oh how I LOVEEE this show! I can relate so much to the characters of this show as they are all extreme nerds and technogeeks. As fittingly described by Priya, sister of Rajesh and girlfriend of Leonard – they are nothing but boys trapped in the bodies of men. Lolzzz.

The last episodes of Season 1, 2 and 3 didn’t shock me that much – I mean, comon, we all saw what was coming up, that Penny and Leonard would eventually hook up. But the ending of season 4? Boy oh boy, I can’t wait for season 5 to start – Howard felt insecure because of Bernadette’s Ph.D, Leonard and Priya could be breaking up after Priya’s conservative Indian family in Delhi learnt about their relationship, AND – Penny and Rajesh ended up in bed together!!!! This is the shitz!




Criminal Minds – Season 8.

MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SHOW till now, across every genre. I WORSHIP this show. For six years, I haven’t missed a single episode. This TV show was what made me stop watching CSI and Law & Order: SVU. There was even a time when I actually used to analyze all my friends too, profiling them… lolz.

When Season 2 ended four years ago with Gideon leaving the BAU, I was as devastated as Dr. Spencer Reid was. Now season 8 just got over, and on its last episode, Hotchner called a team meeting early in the morning. The last time this happened was when Gideon left. However, I don’t think anybody’s leaving the show and the last episode ended normally with no suspense at all, except the last gunfight scene, I honestly thought Rossi was going to get shot by that psycho bitch because of the dramatic background music etc, but good ol Derek saved him just in time.

And oh, JJ’s coming back to the BAU! Wooohoooo!!!




Two and a Half Men – Season 9.

I love Uncle Charlie Harper. Sometimes I wish I was him. After eight years, Jake is definitely not the cute little “half man” anymore, but the show hasn’t lost its appeal. But then Uncle Charlie has certainly lost it. Much as I admire Charlie Sheen and support him on twitter with the hashtags #winning and #tigerblood, it sucks to say farewell to such a great run just because of… you know…

Bye bye, Two and a Half Men. I hear they are still going to shoot the new season, and Ashton Kutcher (it was almost Hugh Grant) is going to replace Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper. Whoever it may be, trust me, the show will never be the same without good ol drunken and womanizing don’t-give-a-shit Charlie Sheen. I don’t think Ashton will ever be able to fill those shoes… tsk tsk…




House MD – Season 7.

All I can say is WTFFFFF! I just heard from Tarana, who is our Vice President of New Initiatives division, and a hardcore House fan like me, that Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Lisa Cuddy) has left the show and will not be returning for Season 8. Damn!!!!

Apparently, FOX has asked three of the senior doctors (Wilson, Cuddy and Eric) to take a paycut. Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson) and Omar Epps (Dr. Eric Foreman) signed the new contract but Lisa refused and walked out. I can’t imagine how the show will be without her. She had been there right from the very beginning, being taunted, irritated and wooed by Dr. House every step of the way. Damn, another great loss… :(




The Walking Dead – Season 1.

AWESOME show! I am a huge fan of Zombies [Zombie Movie marathon], especially the slow moving ones in many George Romero zombie flicks. I hate the fast moving superhuman zombie types... very lame! And so when a TV show about slow zombies with a huge budget, a renowned director and star-studded casts was released, nothing could make me happier.

The Walking Dead is like any other zombie movie – it takes place during a zombie apocalypse. The difference is, it is a TV serial. There are only 6 episodes in season 1, and season 2 will start in October this year. Season 1 didn’t end in any suspense or surprise, and the survivors kept looking for more survivors in the closing scene after they managed to escape just in time from the self-destructing lab. But I am dying to see season 2. Zombies rock!!!




Sons of Anarchy – Season 3.

SoA FTW!!! Except for the fact that the main hero Jax (Charlie Hunnman) sometimes seem to be a bit out of place with the rest of the motorcycle gang, it is still one of the best shows around. The endings of both Season 1 and 2 had an immense “pull factor” that make you long for the next season to come out. First there was the murder of Donna by Tigs when Clay thought Opie was selling them out, and then Jax’s son was kidnapped by the IRA.

However, season 3 had a very “happy ending” with no suspense, except for the last scene when Tara found John Teller’s letters in Jax’s bag and read them, in which JT claimed that he would soon be killed by Clay and Gemma. But then, we have always known that this show was based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet so it’s no surprise that Clay and Gemma killed Jax’s old man.




Spartacus – Season 1.

Yeah BLOODY EFFF! We all loved ROME a few years ago, but unfortunately it was a limited serial. Spartacus too is quite like that TV show – lots of blood, gore and sex. This is the story of Spartacus, the gladiator-slave who rebelled against Rome and led a bloody revolution.

Season 1 (Blood and Sand) ended with the gladiators finally rebelling against their master Batiatus, slaughtering him and all his guests and guards in the last episode. However, season 2 could not be shot because the main hero Andy Whitfield was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer. While waiting for his medical result, the producers made a short 6 episodes serial called Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, which is a prequel to Season 1. However, Andy’s cancer intensified so they are now shooting season 2 without him. He has been replaced by Liam McIntyre. I wonder how good season 2 will be with this new Spartacus.




Modern Family – Season 2.

Ah, nothing much to say. This isn’t one of those TV shows that need to have a dramatic season ending. Every episode is hilarious as hell, and I am completely addicted to this show. In the last episode of Season 2, DO NOT MISS Luke’s “edit” of the tape they have made for Jay’s birthday - It’s awesomely hilarious (and cute). I’m so looking forward to season 3.




Castle – Season 3.

Everybody loves Richard Castle… or at least every wannabe writer loves Richard Castle. He’s silly yet adorable, charming, respected by his “homies”, and follows around a kickass hot detective. The endings of Season 1 and 2 were quite lame, and it was always about the on-off chemistry between Castle and Beckett.

But the ending of Season 3? Oh boy oh boy oh boy… The best ending so far! I read that some time ago that a main character will die in the last episode, and I always thought it would be either Ryan or Esposito. Man I was so wrong. What a twist! Captain Montgomery turned out to be the mysterious third dirty cop indirectly responsible for the murder of Beckett’s mom many years ago! And then the captain died while saving Beckett and atoning for his sins of past. In the closing scene, during the captain’s funeral service, as Beckett was delivering her eulogy, *bang* a sniper gets her! As she lay in Castle’s arms dying, Castle finally says the words – I love you. Scene fades out, season ends. Mannnn I can’t wait for season 4 to begin!




Covert Affairs – Season 1.

Ok this is one of those oddly timed TV shows because season 1 got over last September unlike most shows whose seasons got over last month. Season 2 has just started but I haven’t seen any episode yet. I like this show because it’s about espionage and CIA, and Piper Perabo is the main character.

Season 1 ended with Anne Walker’s mysterious boyfriend, rogue CIA agent Ben Mercer, getting shot at the back during an operation in Sri Lanka with Anne and Jai. Did he survive? I don’t know.

The show is star-studded, with not just Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) but a whole bunch of famous TV actors like Kari Matchel (ER), Anne Dudek (Mad Men, House), Peter Gallagher (The OC, Californication), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes), Christopher Gorham (Ugly Betty), Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half men, Smallville) and Eion Bailey (Band of Brothers). Don’t miss this show, if not for the story, then at least for the cast :)




Mad Men – Season 4.

Ah the GOD of TV shows, because it is about my profession - Advertising. Don Draper rocks. Everybody in the ad industry wants to be Don Draper. When faced with a tough brief, we ask ourselves, “What would Don Draper do?”

Season 4 ended well for all those who love Don and hate his ex wife Betty (it’s funny how we label Betty as the bad guy when in fact it was Don who was doing all the cheating while they were married!) – Betty’s marriage with Henry isn’t going too well, and Don proposes to his secretary Megan and later breaks up with Faye. Faye quits. Joan is pregnant with Roger’s child, and doesn’t know how to tell her husband who is stationed in Korea (or is it Vietnam?). Meanwhile, it looks like Peggy is planning to quit the company too! I hope not. I love her. And overall, Don’s Anti-tobacco campaign seems to be going quite well.

Let’s see what new challenges and drama the new season will bring. Apparently it is running late and we’ll have to wait for some more time before the first episode season 5 rolls out. Hurry up please!


---------------------------------------



That’s all for now. How many of these shows are you crazy about too?

There are still quite a number of TV shows whose final episodes I haven’t watched yet, like Nikita, Fringe, Dexter, etc. Comon, I don’t spend all my time watching TV shows. I have a life too, you know.

Chp 353. The June Pledge

Hello June! Today is my cousin Dr. Mash’s birthday. Tomorrow is my sister’s birthday. Day after tomorrow, I have a Facebook wedding invitation from a Facebook friend I’ve never seen before in my life. Life is indeed full of events.

This June, I too have my own special event.

Before I say anything further, let me just say it was the CEO of my company who inspired me to do this. He, along with our VP of Technology swore to get in shape and pose in their underwear by December 31, 2011. The name of their site is called Underwear model or bust. Great initiative. Go check it out.

So coming back to this post, this June, I have decided not to touch a single drop of alcohol. That means “drink” for all you smartasses out there. I call this The June Pledge.



Studies have shown that in today’s world where people are connected with different strangers and share even the most intimate or frivolous details about their personal lives, it is indeed easier to fulfill a promise when announced online, like this.

What is so special about The June Pledge, you may ask. Nothing. In fact I made it up.

I can come up with reasons like, hey, its June Pledge because June was named after the Roman Goddess Juno, and we all know how much the Romans like to drink from Asterix & Obelix comics. But then sometimes, not having a reason can be the greatest reason to do something too.

Cutting down on alcohol is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. But with such a hectic life in the ad industry, I find the sweet beckoning of an Old Monk rum at the end of a tiring day too tempting to pass. If you’ve seen Mad Men, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

But of course, that’s no excuse for my vice.

Even though alcohol has never interfered with my work or social life, at the end of the day, it is my health that takes a hammering, especially when I’m pushing past the 30 year boundary. So, this June, yes this ENTIRE month, I’ll be abstaining from anything that leads to the slightest intoxication. And please feel free to join me in this quest by taking the same pledge.

If you have the habit of drinking every night, then do take this pledge. If you want to make a change in your life, take this pledge. If you want to break away from the bondage of alcohol and stop being a slave to it, take this pledge. If you are a social drinker, then this pledge may not be for you. But you’re always welcome to join me nevertheless. The more the merrier.

I’m not being preachy or trying to act as if I’m better than anyone. I’m so not. And I’m not even asking you to quit drinking for good. All I’m saying is, give this one month dry period a shot. See if you can last one month without alcohol, beer included. After that, it’s up to you. But trust me, this one month will make a lot of difference in your life.

I will not bore any of you regarding this Pledge on my blog again. If you want to join me or read my “private journal” for the next one month about this, do catch me at mizohican.posterous.com


If you want to join me in this pledge, please enter your name below or in the comment section:




Being the techno-geek that I am, my phone is filled with alcohol related apps. You can find them easily on the android market.

App name: Drinking Games - Has a huge database of simple, silly and yet extremely fun drinking game list. I’ve done a lot of them with friends in our most inebriated state, and it will make you ROFL throughout the night.

App name: DrunkBlocker - You can set a time duration using this app when you start drinking, and once you’re drunk and the app is activated, you cannot make any calls or send smses during that duration. Very useful *grin*

App name: Drunk Tracker - It tracks and records your movement via gps, so that the next morning you can see where all you’ve been the previous night during your drunken stupor. Lolz a very useful app, but drains battery life due to gps.

App name: AlcoMeter - Based on your weight and sex, it calculates your blood alcohol level. All you have to do is enter the drink you’re having and how frequent you are drinking.

App name: AlcoDroid - Similar to the app mentioned above, but I prefer this one. Better interface, and it records your entire history from the time you’ve installed this app. Also has a huge list of different types of alcohol with their alcohol content (% vol.)

App name: Today’s Reason to Drink - lolz this is my favorite. It has 365 reasons why you should drink (so you don’t feel guilty about drinking every day, haha!) Like, today, June 1 – The reason why you should drink is because today is National Go Barefoot Day! lolz. It also has a link telling you more about this event, and also a recipe for a cocktail called “Barefoot on the Beach”.


I guess these are the five apps I will not be using this month.

Alright – 30 days dry period, here I come! And do join me!

Chp 352. Goodbye illusionaire

After eight years of blogging, it is with a heavy heart that I bid my blogging name “illusionaire” adieu. For the sake of consistency and to avoid any further confusion, my blog name will now be just Mizohican, the same as my blog url.

I started my blog as illusionaire back in 2004 with mizohican as my url. As I have described here in this post The story behind your (online) name:

illusionaire: This was a name I coined from the words illusion and legionnaire – hence illusionaire – A “Dream trooper”, a warrior well-versed in the mystic arts of illusion and black magic. I’ve always been fascinated by phantasmagoria and the supernatural, and I used to have a large collection of comics with fantasy-based themes. I wanted my writings to deliver just that. Hence, illusionaire.

I was happy being illusionaire. It was not a common name, and it gave me a new identity.

But we all know how unpredictable the internet is. Things that were popular before, soon became passé in no time. New technology pops up every day, and we have to constantly keep up with what’s going on around us.

Likewise, many popular social networking sites and community platforms came up, and the url you have chosen for those sites usually becomes the name of your site too. Twitter, posterous, tumblr, facebook, last.fm, foursquare, youtube, skype, mashable etc etc… I am known as Mizohican in all those sites, simply because my url is also Mizohican.

Hence that is why, after much consideration, I will no longer use the name “illusionaire” on my blog and will be just Mizohican from here on.

Now I have just two online identities –
* Sandman – for all Mizo specific sites
* Mizohican – for the rest.

Having a consistent online name is important. You don’t want to be called by different names at different sites if you want to be recognized or make an impact. At the same time, having a unique name is very important too. You don’t want to share that same “nick” with other people. Both illusionaire and Mizohican are very unique. “Sandman” is not, but then, I use this only at Mizo centric discussion forums.

I never use my name “Kima” online because it is a very common Mizo name. There must be at least a thousand Kimas who are regularly online.

With a name like “Mizohican” I can go to any new sites (like “Quora” recently) and I have no issue registering a new account because the username “Mizohican” will always be available.

So without further ado, goodbye illusionaire.

Chp 351. Osama news and the internet

10 years ago when the World Trade Center came crashing down, I was in college. My roomie Thomas Joy’s dad called us up immediately to tell us about the shocking news. Those days, mobile phones were still a luxury and we even had to pay for incoming calls.

10 years later, many of us here in India woke up, checked our mobile phones as usual without leaving our beds yet, only to find our twitter timeline flooded with breaking news about the death of Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the attack on WTC.

Technology sure has changed a lot during these past 10 years. And it is now so advanced that a man in Pakistan, an IT consultant called Shoaib Athar, was actually live-tweeting the entire attack without anybody else (including him!) knowing it was Osama that was being attacked!

Well of course President Obama and his small team of suit clad bureaucrats would have known about the attack, after all they planned it. But the rest of the world was oblivious of this attack until much later. And Shoaib dude was just sitting there, tweeting about the incident and not knowing the significance of his tweet or that it would make him an overnight celebrity.

Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).

Go away helicopter – before I take out my giant swatter :-/

When he realized from others that the incident he was tweeting about was the attack on Osama, he tweeted immediately –

Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it!

His followers went up from around 200 to 100,000 in just one day, and he was bombarded with calls and requests from journalists all over the world. Watch video about him here [in English] or read it here [in Mizo].

As for me, I am a complete TV series junkie, and some of my favorite shows are about the CIA, black ops and covert operations (NCIS, Covert Affairs, 24, Alias, The Agency etc.) so maybe it’s because of all that that I couldn’t help thinking how Obama would have reacted on reading Shoaib’s tweets while the rest of the world didn’t know about this clandestine attack. I mean, comon, the CIA obviously listens to “chatters” for certain keywords, and I’m sure “Osama” or “Abbottabad” were high on the list of words they were keeping a tab on that day.

Imagine some of the analysts and advisers in the “Situation Room” telling Obama about Shoaib’s tweets before the attack started… would it have gone like this?

@ReallyVirtual: Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).

@BarackObama: @ReallyVirtual hehehe… if only you knew, dude :D Watch the fireworks in a few minutes. SEALS #FTW #Winning



The internet has so revolutionalize the way we get information that within a few hours, many netizens have already reviewed the location of Osama’s hideout on Google Maps!



And some of the reviews are really funny –

- Heat sources are undeniable. This place is blazing!
- Cold and drafty at night, walls full of holes.
- Located in cozy, quiet neighborhood. Interrupted only occasionally by machine gun fire.

And of course Foursquare wasn’t far behind. Somebody has already made a picture of this (Would love to give credit but don’t know who made this).



And the reviews on Foursquare are equally hilarious too –

- Crappy food and no beer
- Shhh! Don't tell anyone we're here!
- Hey you looking for Osama? He's over there, and there, and a bit over there!


According to mashable.com, various statistics reports on that day alone are –

- News sites saw 4 million page views per minute
- Search for “Bin Laden” went up by 98,550% on Yahoo search alone.
- 13,000+ uploads on YouTube within the first few hours.
- Pic of Obama & his staff at the Situation Room saw 600K views in 1hr.
- 442,000 likes on Facebook page “Osama is dead” within a few hours.
- 12.4 million tweets/hr on twitter immediately after the news broke out.

And here is the kicker. Mashable conducted its own poll regarding how people heard about Osama Bin Laden’s death, and from the 20,000+ people who took part in the poll, 31% said they heard the news on Twitter, while 20% said Facebook. 17% said they saw it on television and 12% heard it from phone calls. Clearly twitter is leading the frontline when it comes to breaking news.

As I have said before, things are definitely different from 10 years ago. The internet has changed everything about the way we receive information. Another clear proof of this is – just take a look at the numerous number of viruses and malwares floating around on Facebook and other popular destination, all masked as something that is related to the Osama killing. Lolz.

Just. Don’t. Click. On. Any. Of. Those. Links.

Chp 350. Great musical tribute to Zika

I blogged a few months ago about ZIKA, a hornbill, who was shot. As I mentioned before, ZIKA was special to many people and touched many hearts. I even compiled a short video I took of the bird just before leaving Mizoram this Jan.

Recently (on my birthday! ) Scavenger Project, one of the more prominent rock bands of Mizoram, along with various artists from other renowned Mizo bands, released a song tribute to ZIKA.

The song was of course met with a lot of harsh criticism from the Mizo online community, with many people posting negative comments about the music video. Some of the main reasons for their contention being –

1. It was a tribute to ZIKA, so the song should be in Mizo, not English.
2. The lyrics are very lame and the song sounds like a nursery rhyme.
3. Spending so much money (& energy) over a dead bird is stupid.
4. Artists of such caliber shouldn’t have sung for such a lame tribute.
5. The music too totally sucks and the artists are just fame-whores.

I for one disagree with all the points. But then, that is what we love doing I guess – criticize people, as long as it is not us standing in front of the firing squad. That’s considered “normal” today. Of course some of those who criticized the artists said all that intentionally without actually meaning it, which again I guess is “normal” psychological behavior.

I will not put forth an argument about why I find the criticisms to be unfair. In fact, I do understand the sentiments of some critics, especially if they don’t know who ZIKA was or have never interacted with him personally. And it would be plain silly of me to criticize a criticism. lolz. (Yeah I think it is a growing trend among many writers and columnists today - When other writers write a review of a book or article, some of these writers actually write a review of that particular review! Hehehe!)

All I wanna say is a big THANK YOU to Zolife, Scavenger Project and all the artists who took part in this notable project. To me, this song means a lot, and I love you guys for rekindling fond memories of ZIKA. And hey, even if you hate this song, that’s ok. Haterz gonna hate and nobody can change that.

For those of you who haven’t heard of this song, here is the music video. Do check it out, I’m sure you’ll like it.



Nice, right?

Chp 349. Meh Birthday

Aha. So I’ve finally did it. Crossed the 30 year milestone, considered by many as the halfway mark of Life (since most retire at 60). Today I start the second chapter of my life. 31, here I come. Be gentle with me please, this is my first time.

31. Not much to say. And I will not bore you with the same. Keeping it really plain and simple, I have decided – I’m gonna do something different today… something I’ve never done before… and yet something that is really simple… and of course something related to digital (online).

And it struck me – I’m gonna livestream myself (at work) the whole day today!

Haha. After all, hey, it’s my freaking birthday. I can do whatever I want without you judging me.

Lolz. Yeah, I’m gonna be here live on an embedded video the whole day today. Who the fuck would wanna see an old fart the whole day, you may ask. True. Nobody would. But at least I’m doing something different, haha.

And some of you can finally see the man behind this blog, even if you are watching for just a few seconds. Not the young “Mohican warrior lookalike” anymore. Just a fat old man with balding hairline and triple chin. If you wanna wish me, I have activated guest chat at my uStream channel, so that I can say thank you back personally on the video. Hey, if you ask me to dance, I may even do so right there on the spot. Or if you want me to sing, I can. Or request any song. Hell, I’ll even strip for you if you want me to. Lolz.



So that is what I’ll be doing today. Boring, you may say. Well, sometimes that’s life.

My Live Stream:


Live video by Ustream

Live chat with me for any request:



Anonymous chatting (without registering at uStream) has been enabled, thanks to a hack I found at UnitedTechGuys. But your name will not show, so do mention who you are if you want to talk to me during the live video session. Mucho gracias.


Ps. There may be around 10-15 seconds lag…

Pps. This live video stream will be reactivated again today when I come to office, prolly around 10am IST, hopefully with a hangover.

Chp 348. Corruption: Not right = Wrong?

Tata Tea’s social awareness and anti-corruption campaign Jaago-Re is not just a great initiative and amazing campaign, it also fills me with immense pride to be one of the many admen who have worked on this project.

It’s not every day that we get to work for a cause we are passionate about (AND get paid for it, Lolz). As is evident from the recent Anna Hazare incident, corruption is something all of us detest, but still, it runs rampant in our country, like a horde of barbaric Vikings pillaging a defenseless village and leaving behind nothing but trails of destructions and ruins.

And corruption can come in different forms. The Grim Reaper wears a hooded black cloak and carries a scythe, but sometimes I’m sure he goes around dressed in Armani suit carrying the latest Android phone. But he is still Death, nonetheless.

Today I saw something that made me wonder about the other forms of “corruption” I’m sure many of you may have witnessed before too. The question I want to ask you is, “Yes, I know what the cops are doing is not right, but is it wrong?”

Every day I pass two busy junctions near my house. Since the two junctions are on service lanes and not the main road, there is usually just one traffic cop handling both junctions. And when there is a deadlock (car coming from West turns South. Car coming from East turns North, blocking first car. Car travelling from South to North blocks second car, but cannot move forward because it is blocked by first car. And all three cars cannot reverse because many vehicles are behind them, honking their horns), the entire service lane can even be jammed for hours.

Yesterday there was no such deadlock. There was a traffic cop in one of the two junctions, dutifully manning the junction. At the other junction, there was an auto-driver! He too was manning the junction, making sure no such deadlock occurred.

I was impressed! That was extremely altruistic of the auto-driver to spend his morning (especially during rush hour) making sure there was no traffic jam, I thought.

This morning, again there was another auto-driver doing the same selfless work! A traffic cop was manning the second junction while this auto-driver was commanding the first junction. I became curious, so I asked my auto-driver how these “civilians” could sacrifice their time (and money) doing the work of a traffic police.

My auto-driver laughed.

That was when he told me about them. It was never about service to society. My auto-driver said that those people were being “punished”. It seems, sometimes when cops catch errant auto-drivers (probably for jumping a red light or not wearing uniforms), instead of fining them or confiscating their license, sometimes the traffic cops make them do some work, like the ones I saw today and yesterday!

So basically, the traffic cops became judge, jury and executioner right there on the spot. They had no rights (or power) to do that, but then again, because of that, many of us reached office in time. At the end of the day, I know it is still like bribery. Instead of paying the cops cash, you are giving them something else so that you don’t get caught. Does this make the act any less serious? Does it make you feel less guilty?

This reminded me of an incident back in B’lore around 6 years ago.

A bunch of my friends were partying and things got a little out of hand. They even got into a fight and created quite a ruckus. It was around 3 in the morning so the neighbors complained.

A police jeep (Hoysala) and a police van soon busted the party.

As they were transported in the police van, my friends sobered up real fast, and they all behaved very politely with the cops. And so, instead of taking them to the police station (or even asking for a bribe), the cops stopped the jeep and van, and made the guys clean the van! Lolzzz.

And so, at the break of dawn, my friends were busy filling water in a bucket from a roadside pump and scrubbing the police van thoroughly while the cops were sitting nearby having tea. After an hour of intense cleaning, the cops told them to stop and let them go. No charges. Just a warning not to create trouble again. My friends were more than happy to walk free, and didn’t mind cleaning the police van at all.

Again – right or wrong? I know your conscience says wrong but… yes, there is that feeble “but” too, right? Hard to explain, I guess.

3 years ago, back in Delhi, I lost my phone and my mobile service provider was not willing to give me a duplicate sim card without an FIR report from the cops. So around 8 months ago, I lost my mobile phone again. This time I went straight to the police station (with a Maharashtrian friend) to file a report.

My friend said the cops would take time to process my request as there were many people at the police station. So we approached one senior looking cop and told him about my problem, and that I needed a letter from the police.

I was praying the cop would not ask me for a bribe. He didn’t. But instead he did something else. He told me he would write the letter of course, but… he pulled out his drawer, shook his head, and said he didn’t have any sheet of paper! And so my friend and I went to the stationary shop on the other side, bought one set of A4 size paper and gave it to the cop. He took one sheet, wrote his statement, sealed it, signed it and we were good to go. He kept the remaining 199 papers with him.

Was that a bribe? Well, technically speaking, he didn’t demand money and I didn’t give him money either. But deep inside, I still know it was not right. It’s just that, the guilt felt less heavy.

At this point, I’m sure some of us try to convince ourselves that “not right” necessarily does not mean “wrong” sometimes. Am I right or wrong?