I have been fairly irregular in updating my journal these days, which has resulted in a lot of people writing to me privately, asking “wassup?” amongst other things. Let me use this journal entry to answer the most commonly asked questions:
Thoughts on Criticism
Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins.
– American Indian Proverb
How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.
– Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881)
Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.
– Christopher Hampton
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain – and most fools do.
– Dale Carnegie
If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
– Donald H. Rumsfeld (1932 – )
To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
– Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)
Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
– Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962)
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
– H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956)
Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1834)
Criticism comes easier than craftsmanship.
– Zeuxis (~400 BC), from Pliny the Elder, Natural History
and finally:
You aren’t remembered for doing what is expected of you
– Atul Chitnis (1962 – )
Mauritius and Open Source
ehlo world!
(If you think that the above is a yet another example of dyslexia, you are not a geek)
I am back from Mauritius, and a whale of a time. Way too much to into detail about, but I can tell you this – I can’t wait to get back there again.
Of the seven days I spent there, five days were spent talking about Open Source – to business people, NGOs and of course the Government of Mauritius. One thing is clear – that place is *made* for Open Source (or Open Source was made for Mauritius): just made for each other.
Beep from Mauritius
Hello there from Mauritius, where I have been these past we days, and will be till next Tuesday).
This country has definitely gone Open Source crazy. Either that, or they just love me – in the past three days, I have given several talks, been in the newspapers, was interviewed on the radio, and apparently there is more to come. This Cyber-Island rocks to the tune of Open Source.
This is my fourth day here, and believe it or not – I have not yet gone swimming! Shubha has done some shopping, but I have been in one meeting after the other.
That ends tomorrow – Saturday and Sunday are reserved for sightseening, swimming and generally relaxing, before Monday sees me back to OSS Evangelism again, and then we depart Tuesday very very early in the morning.
This country is a strange one for me – everything looks Euopean (the roads, the buildings the signs, etc.), but everyone looks Indian! This half-German Indian is thrilled to bits to see his two cultures jammed together in one small 60km x 40km area! 
And BTW – the weather rocks – no rain, a bit on the cool side, but amazing! Wish I was here on a holiday instead of work!
More later (if I can).
Stereo Vison, and a cloudy paradise
Been a while since I updated. Lots has been happening. Let me squeeze it in – there is news about my eye, my travels, and other stuff…
Baby you can drive my car…..
Yesterday, I found myself in a situation. I had to get to M.G.Road for a meeting of the Palm User Group, but it being Sunday, my driver wasn’t around. And because of my eye problems, I havent driven a car in nearly three months, and had no clue whether I was ready for this.
So I decided to give it a try.
Eight feet and lotsa hiss….
This afternoon, I was in the basement, quietly soldering cables, installing software, cleaning instruments and tweaking mixer in preparation for some serious jamming and recording, when my dogs came running in, all excited.
The younger one (Nicky) exited soon after, but Judo stayed.
I didn’t pay much attention, until (out of the corner of my eye), I saw Judo lunge forward, then scramble back.
He was fighting with an eight foot long snake…..
Two weeks later…
Hmmmm…
It has been two weeks since I last updated my journal, and more than two months since I got laid low with health problems. Time for an update.
Two weeks ago, on the evening of the 21st of June (known throughout the world as “Harry Potter 5 Day”), we went to Khader’s birthday party, where we had a blast. Heeding my plaintive cry, Khader served pizza in gargantuan quantities – we even got to take some home! Burp!
(Non)Productivity, and Thumbs Down!
Ahhhh, one of those days.
Earlier today, Sushanth managed to kill any further productivity for the day by cruelly mentioning this piece of evil in his ‘blog. If you have java installed in your browser, try it out. It looks like a simple game, but looks can be deciving. It gobbled up most of my time today as I battled to complete the 12 levels. When I next looked at the watch, it was 9pm.
No pizza
I am a big fan of pizzas. Especially pepperoni pizzas. The bigger, the better. With lots of cheese.
But in Bangalore, I don’t get any pizza anymore.