Brown Motion

I was browsing online one evening when I happened on a recording of maestro Jagjit Singh in concert at the Sydney Opera house where he regaled the crowds with his (true to his name) indomitable voice and sang a famous ghazal called  - Wo Kagaz ki Kashti (One paper boat). This ghazal that Jagjit belts out showcases why he is indeed a master singer where he reminisces and gets nostalgic of a past that he misses dearly.  He longs for a simpler time where kids play in the rain water with paper boats.  He remembers how wisdom was not some complex idea but metaphorically an old lady on the corner with her million wrinkles that always had a long story to tell about many a thing and time flew by when listening to her tales. That made me think back some 40 years when my paternal grandmother who visited our place in Bombay with a Quasimodo like back and entertained me and my sibling through many an otherwise boring evening with tales of kings and kingdoms of a past that seemed...

Autonomous or self driving vehicles are buzzing in the news in Silicon Valley.  As in they are yet not buzzing on the roads of the valley or any other meadow or hill.  Yet.  The pundits are out in force and fantasizing about what the future might hold. One of the things on their pundit scale likely to hit the road soon is an automobile that requires no driver.  No intervention during the course of transportation, whatsoever.  No accidents, no lawsuits, no hospital trips and no policing?  Tap, tap and go.  Snooze, make out, watch a movie and arrive. Now there are a lot of questions surrounding this idea least of them having to do with the actual technology to pull it off but with the regulatory framework the government would need to put in place to allow said form of mobility. The idea is that with more sensors per vehicle than popcorn in a bag the average person is going to be ensconced in a computer on wheels that will never make a mistake and ...

What do Indian Halwai's (dessert makers) and Google's mobile operating system have in common? That depends - apparently a lot of said purveyors of desi delicacies use their trusty Google OS (Android) powered phones to operate a business or conduct idle chit chats (to go with some chaat). Also in its latest incarnation of an oriental twist on a western brand, Android is out to get a short list of sweet names for its latest OS version.  Hot contender after Jelly Bean is Kaju Katli. I saw other suggestions like Ladoo, Jalebi and even Vada Pav (desi burger).  If that came to pass you can imagine the local yokels saying they have the latest Kaju Katli in their pockets.  It can be viewed favorably or with angst by Chitale (a regional brand leader in desserts comparable to a Parisian Bakery) and their other Bandhu (brethren).  Imagine people wanting to come to Chitale and ordering their mithai (sweet bites) and then walking to the phone shop next door...