Next Dimension

  

 I recently went and bought a Technic Set (8261) , and along with my Mindstorm set its amazing how good an outlet for creativity Lego can be when you're plain bored.  It helps to have a job, because I'm starting to realize that Robotics and Lego sets can turn into a pretty expensive addiction .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its one of those times when I feel the urge to buy something and I do. This wasn't *THAT* hasty a purchase though its something I had in

mind for a long while and I finally went and bought it - a brand new bicycle which I can use around my home or on bike trails and paths

 which are in plently in the Redmond/Seattle area. Two months ago I had this urge to buy umm something bigger -- a car -- but good luck

prevailed and the sheer paperwork required to purchase a car ( which is something I really don't seem to require in Redmond ) turned

out to be better for my bank balance. I had a rented car for more than a month and after a few weeks of zapping up and down on the

freeway from Redmond to Seattle ( and a few aimless rides into the hills ) the excitement soon died out and it doesn't seem to be

worthwhile to buy at least for a while.

 

So here is my bike.

 

 

So this is my latest 'aquisition'. 

 

I took it on one of the trails quite close to where I stay, and it was quite an interesting cycle ride. For one,

I was riding a bike after ages. Next, it took me a while to figure out which of its 21 gears  I should be using

at any point of time. Third, it gave me a much more interesting view of Redmond than the cut and paste

repetitiveness of the surroundings which blaze past me during car/bus rides on the freeways.

 

 

 

 

 

Recently I picked up 'The World is Flat' by Friedman.  Its about how he visits China , India and writes about how globalization is making different parts of the world pretty much similar. My concentration for some reason doesn't seem to permit me to read for more than 50 pages at a stretch - anyways most significant amongst the statments I read was : "Communism makes everybody equally poor." . And (with the little I have seen of Communism vs Capitalism) I remember West Bengal - every single time I arrived at Calcutta Railway Station, I saw a red flagged procession, and almost every part of the city was pretty much a wrecked, ramshackled place where every singe thing seemed to have entered a state of decay. West Bengal and its love for China, Russia and the inspiration it drew from them had made a conscious choice to remain detached from all economic progress. Contrast this with other areas in North,South and Western India. True, there is poverty in these places too, and the problems solved so far is far outnumbered by the problems they still face. But you can see the sheer energy there, in the form of IT Companies,Call centres offices n all. And I'm sure it trickles down to others too, given the number of hawkers , restraunts  and other small businesses which develop around the bigger ones. Certainly there is a disparity which can't be ignored, but then, wealth needs to be created before it can be spread. So the great hub of communism, West Bengal, has pretty much no future. To be honest people in that region seemed pretty non enterprising and lazy and maybe communism is an easy crutch for such people.  

Now coming to the Flattening ,, when I think of my workplace at Mumbai vs Microsoft, I can hardly think of a difference - the technology,infrastructure,communication etc.

Well true - I'm just talking about the Workplace at Mumbai - not mumbai as a city - the slums,the garbage etc. But the point is that at least such workplaces existed.

When I think of Bengal - except for my beloved Alma Mater- I find it hard to think of Bengal as anything but a big potholed ruin. And for the Cruel,Capitalistic society (as communists like to think of it) .... most corporations have huge giving campaigns,charitable functionaries etc and do way more for the world than communists ever will.