PD Ponders

Soul search at Seoul When to do or not to do's at the South Korean capital. If you think NY is bigger than Seoul then sorry, Seoul hosts over 10 million residents in an area slightly larger than Chicago. The city is large, vibrant, bright and cheerful. Being a capital city of a young nation, the city is driven by the innumerable by businesses it hosts. The city has comfortable weather throughout the year except for the winter months between mid December to end of February when Siberian winds take the temperatures below zero for days.  So book tickets between September to early December, when the flight prices also dip. If you are a family travelling to experience the rich cultural splendor then visit during November when the whole city celebrates Seoul Lantern Festival.  Yes they do light up the city and two fun filled weeks of dancing and singing.  Foodies will have a blast in Seoul, from rice dishes to BBQ meats and from fried veggies to wholesome sprouts they have a ne...

Article written for Vijay Times CIRCA ‎‎28 ‎December ‎2001, ‏‎00:05:02 JAY VARMA - THE PENCIL MAN When was the last time you used colored pencils? For your school project or for coloring your house walls? Had you ever thought that this could be as powerful medium of art, which could fetch international fame? NO - then, meet Jay Varma, purebred Bangaloreian and Internationally acclaimed colored pencil artist. For the international exhibition organized by Color Pencil Society in Michigan his painting (of an old Hoysala temple which is neglected by the Government near Sagar town of Shimoga district) 14.5 X 21.5 inch masterpiece of huge pillars of the temple won him the Stanford award for exceptional merit, one of the three top honors at the convention. Whats more? Jay belongs to the sixth generation of Raja Ravi Varma the great artist of huge fame during 18th century.  Jay’s paintings are instinctive and he has undergone no formal training for the same.  His only guidance was his...

Article written for Vijay Times CIRCA ‎10 ‎October ‎2003, ‏‎01:27:34 Marathis in Karnataka  Karnataka has been the socio-cultural hub for many years starting from the time of Vijayanagara till the time of Bendakaluru.  Kannadigas have been known to welcome and accept new creeds into their lives.  One of the oldest communities is that of Marathas who have been part and parcel of our lives from hundreds of years. The history dates back to the Marathi's inscription at Shravanabelagola, which is found at the foothill of the statue.  Then during Shivaji Maharaj's time his brother Shah Ji who came in to Bangalore and then moved on to Tanjore and lived his complete life there.  His army and court men who stayed in Bangalore never got any instruction from their superiors to go back so they stayed on and the first major influx of Marathi's was on the history books.  The Bangalore presence can be seen in the stone inscription in the Kadu Malleshwara Temple in Mallesh...

Disclaimer: I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 Use and Need of Obscenity and Cultural ethos defining the change ‎ 20 ‎April ‎2004, ‏‎10:53:58 The play's promotional campaign reads, "Persons below 18 years will not be admitted".  It opens to a bunch of curious audience who get to see audiovisual images, which they are used to seeing on TV or in Movies.  Nevertheless, they are disturbed and could not believe their eyes and ears.  This is common with plays, which are purely for adults.   But this is true with most of the plays, which are being staged worldwide.  There has been a separate category created for such kind of plays called In-Your-Face Theatre.  There are many exponents for this play and this started as a parallel theatre culture to converse with the audience in more realistic and hard-hitting way. We could trace the history of this not...

Disclaimer: I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 What a man??? Not a hero!!! ‎27 ‎April ‎2005, ‏‎00:16:16 I remember the time when we as kids used to sit in front of TV hours before we hear our favorite song and cartoon serial – Spiderman… Spiderman… friendly neighborhood Spiderman… When I saw the first movie, I thought this is a good start, not an excellent one. When I saw the second movie I swear I did not have any intentions of being happy or satisfied. How many of us go to any movie excepting things? Not many I have realized. But at least with Spiderman we expect swinging and jumping around and quality action. Well what happens in Spiderman 2 is a disaster. I go to the hall as exited as the seven-year-old sitting next to me and wait for the movie to start in all anticipation. Image Courtesy - Rotten Tomatoes The first shock comes when Spiderman decided not to be Spiderman!! H...

Disclaimer: I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 Relationships - The Expecting Father ‎21 ‎February ‎2006, ‏‎01:31:24 With the coming of new life into a family there are many implications in a mans life too.  Not only the impact of the big responsibility coming his way its also a expression which lacks words.  Not because I am one of the expecting father but also of what I spoke with other wannabe and already fathers.  The importance of a pregnancy goes well towards the mother since she needs lots of attention.  But the fathers are normally sidelined specially in a country like India with the onslaught of functions, which follow from the time of confirmation of pregnancy. The expecting father has to go through the phase of recreating him self, starting from his childhood to his parent days.  Well there are millions of books and web pages about parenting bu...

Disclaimer: I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 DID WE BELIEVE THIS? 20 ‎April ‎2004, ‏‎10:55:02 There was a time when computer buffs and professionals were a rarity.  A handful IT professionals were operating through their corporate cool offices and were as inaccessible as Gods.  That was the time when I first learnt what a web page is all about and how it works for you 365/24.  I am sure if I would have gone to a corporate with such an advertisement proposal 15 years back they would have personally seen to it that I am kicked out of their facility, on second thoughts their locality!! With very less work and maintenance web pages were a dream come true to put across my crazy ideas to the world.  More over it was cheap and the reach was extraordinary.  With my introduction to the subject and the technicalities of a web space and storage space etc. was the...

Disclaimer : I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 IT - Call centers (BPO) and cultural changes 21 ‎February ‎2006, ‏‎01:31:12 When the IT boom happened in India it was thanks to the congress government efforts of globalization.  MNC's noticing India's English competency came in with full swing mainly from Europe and America.  The first of its kind boom started with the rise of dot com industry.  The Y2K boom and bug closely followed the fall of dot com industry.  American software industry was full of Indian techies working in all sectors from NASA to AT&T. The success of hotmail and Subir Bhatia the Indian brain behind this venture was like a landmark case study for the entire Indian IT segment.  The amount of money he made overnight was like a carrot behind which the Indian IT industry ran.  When the dot com bubble boomed there were millionaires...

Disclaimer : I wrote a series of articles for an online magazine called Cheers between 2004-2006, am putting them out here since I found them in Lockdown 2.0 Elections in India - The onlooker's perspective ‎20 ‎April ‎2004, ‏‎10:55:18 This was the time in our childhood that we used to get weeklong holidays since our school was the polling booth from the time of its existence.  The awareness well was very limited (even to my fathers generation) about the politics of parties and governments.  Although we belonged to the "elite-educated" class we never knew who even was standing from our constituency. Things have really changed over the years I still remember the time when our young rebel Prime Minister "Rajiv Gandhi" who reduced the voting age from 21 to 18.  I immediately was eligible for voting and that increased the voting population by 20% in India.  Well look at 20% of Indian population (93 million) that time.  Quite a huge number for the benefit of Congress,...