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FTOTW69 – best links of the week ending 20-January-2013

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness.” http://t.co/f2L86D8A ~ brilliant /Via @gautamghosh – Original Tweet

2. RT @abmarkman The Surprising Reason Why We Break Promises @hghalvorson http://t.co/kmglxZg2 via @HealthyLiving ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

3. RT @dorait The half-life for startup knowledge must be very short” http://t.co/EL69gSz6 ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

4. RT @amanet The Profound Lesson Cows Can Teach Us About Leading People. (RT @markccrowley) http://t.co/hZemktqS ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

5. Scientists discover the leadership gene http://t.co/0Kabbz1w ~ vv interesting /Via @smartbrief – Original Tweet

6. RT @berkun Why Conferences Have Bad Speakers (and how to fix) http://t.co/y5Dliu5g ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

7. RT @distilled_view What Habits Do Happy Couples Have? http://t.co/Iogqkmlu ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

8. RT @jk533: Which upcoming mobile OS has potential to dethrone #iOS and #Android? http://t.co/AZosoQ5N ~ interesting – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

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FTOTW68 – best links of the week ending 13-January-2013

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. How Twitter uses Amazon Mturk to process search terms in near real time http://t.co/FGd4cRLA ~ brilliant /Via @waxpancake – Original Tweet

2. RT @varnam_blog Jared Diamond: what we can learn from tribal life http://t.co/Dxkb6MOc #history ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

3. Ask your entire team to read a book together for team building/alignment http://t.co/ovVDSBJO ~ vv interesting /Via @smartbrief – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

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Thailand Trip – Part 3

If you’re reading this, you might also want to read the previous post in this series – Part 2.

Visitors to Bangkok will be spoilt for choices – be it upscale malls such as Gaysorn or Central World; or night markets and weekend markets (such as Chatuchak). Most visitors simply head to MBK.

MBK (Mahboonkrong) is the mother of all malls. Think of it as a “Spencer’s Plaza” (a Chennai shopping hub) on steroids. It is a chaotic maze that’s difficult to make sense of. One can buy literally anything under the sun in MBK – luggage, electronics, clothes, shoes, toys, pirated DVDs, watches, food. We read that on an average 100,000 people visit MBK everyday. There’s no concept of fixed price in MBK: You have to haggle. This naturally means that most of the big name labels sold here are fake. If you don’t mind buying a fake Fendi bag for $50, MBK is your kind of place.

Like most parents we bought our child things she didn’t need: more clothes, toys, shoes, bags and other paraphernalia that kids these days can’t live without. Being a woman, I naturally gravitated towards handbags and found unbeatable bargains 😀

The best part of MBK is its food court that offers a wide variety of international cuisines – including Indian and Vegetarian, to Sana’s great relief.

After 2 hours of roaming around in MBK, the women (me & my kid) wanted to get back to the hotel, while the sole male in the household felt peeved. “What gives? We haven’t shopped enough! We haven’t bought half the things on my list!” he whined in an aggrieved voice. The stereotypes around gender and shopping simply aren’t true these days. We dragged a reluctant Sukumar back to the hotel, where he spent the next hour bleating about the treatment meted out to him.

We always try to see a local music or dance performance, wherever we travel. We were lucky enough to catch the “Mukteshwar Dance Festival” when in Bhubaneshwar. Likewise, we wanted to see “Siam Niramit”, a popular dance program in Bangkok. But, our guide asked us – “Why not a Thai Classical Dance program at the Ruen Thep Dance Center in Silom Village?” It’s a good idea to listen to locals, so we unceremoniously dumped Siam Niramit from our plan.

We were glad to know that the program featured live music and was based on the “Ramakien”, the Thai version of the Ramayana.

Silom Village is not far from our hotel as the crow flies. But we were not crows – clearly a disadvantage – so we took a taxi. We spent a nerve-wracking hour in the taxi while the traffic moved languorously. By the time we reached our destination, I was foaming in the mouth like I had a bad case of rabies and felt like destroying the entire solar system.

The wonderful dinner served at Silom Village fortified me and brought out the best in me – and the worst in Sana. “But I want Maggi noodles”, she pleaded with me. “Keep quiet and eat the curry”, her mother hissed. “Else, I’m exchanging you for a pair of Baboons tomorrow”.

Thailand has a rich repertoire of dance forms – the most famous being “Khon”. Usually a dance drama, Khon dances were performed earlier solely by men wearing masks. Nowadays, women are part of the performance and not all men wear masks. The dance is performed with the traditional “Piphat” orchestra/ensemble – which included a Xylophone, a Drum, a small drum, an Oboe and Cymbals.

All the dancers were dressed beautifully – they were glittering from head to toe. They danced gracefully in a style reminiscent of Odissi. Perhaps facial expressions aren’t that important in this dance form. Phra Lak (Lakshman) was smiling cheerfully at Hanuman when Thotsakan (Ravan) and Phra Ram (Rama) were battling fiercely.

The color of the mask depends on the character – Thotsakan always wears a green mask and Hanuman always wears a white mask. This reminded us of Kathakali and the importance given to the color of the face paint.

Taxis in Bangkok are metered. They’re supposed to be. On our way back from Silom Village, the Taxi driver told us “200 Baht for Rembrandt hotel, OK?” “What?” I snapped. “I’m getting down now!” The driver looked uncertain and asked nervously “150?” This kind of behavior shouldn’t be allowed, I thought grimly. “We gave 100 on our way in! And that’s all we’ll give you!” we said. “120?” he asked piteously. “Fine!” we agreed graciously. Buddy, we are used to the Auto drivers in India. BTW you won’t last a day in Chennai, we thought mercilessly.

I’ll nag Sukumar till he does a photo blog on the temples, so stay with me – OK?

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FTOTW67 – best links of the week ending 6-January-2013

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. /Via @smartbrief paradox of skill http://t.co/b5Xeob23 ~ brilliant – Original Tweet

2. RT @gvaidees While in womb, babies begin learning language from their mothers http://t.co/ITkhxv7t ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

3. @yarapavan sciam: How to Gain or Lose 30 Minutes of Life Every Day http://t.co/EeatavGc ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

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Thailand Trip – Part 2

If you haven’t read the 1st post in this series, check this out.

Bangkok has 2 zoos – “Safari World”, where you drive through (part of the) the wild animal enclosure & the “Dusit Zoo”. I chose the former through a very scientific method (Eenie Meenie Miney Mo), while Sukumar selected it because it was highly recommended by friends. If you’ve seen a zoo in any developed country, you should skip the zoos in Bangkok: unless you have young children. Then it doesn’t matter what you want to do. Firstly, when you become a parent, you lose all rights. Secondly, I’m digressing.

On a serious note, we must mention here that various animal rights groups (such as PETA) have taken exception to the treatment of some of the animals in the zoo – mainly, the Orangutans.

Safari World is quiet some distance from the main city. Its “Vely Vely Fah”, our driver told us gravely. This L-R Rhotacism is exhibited by most Thais. I wonder how in the world the Japanese (who don’t have “L”) ever manage to communicate with the Thais.

It is impossible to spend more than a few hours in the zoo due to the heat. We loved driving through the open zoo to see lions, tigers, rhinos, bears, ostriches, zebras, giraffes and various species of antelopes. This is the best part of Safari World. The various shows left us “Meh”. They lack the finesse and showmanship typical of zoos in developed nations.

The animals we loved most were the “Pygmy Marmosets”. One of them seemed to love me right back. It followed me around, closed its eyes, bared it tiny, rice-sized teeth & muttered something inaudible. We suspect he wanted us to take him home with us. An envious Sana (our daughter) tried to befriend a marmoset in the next cage. It sniffed at her and promptly peed on her feet – making her hysterical. We had to hold its paws to make it stop crying. I meant our kid’s paws.

A memorable part of the trip was the Giraffe Feeding. We were given a bucketful of bananas and uncooked sweet potatoes. We had to use a stick with a pointy end to pierce the food and offer it to the giraffes. The animals clearly preferred the bananas. When we offered sweet potatoes they usually spat them back – squarely on our faces. When we vainly tried to feed a giraffe a sweet potato, it seized the stick from our hands, promptly swallowed it with relish and walked away from us swinging its butt. A giraffe with an attitude.

One could also feed elephants. Since we’ve fed enough elephants in India, we were not interested. But, please refer paragraph (1). Sana demanded that she feed the elephants. A bucket of bananas was given to her and she offered them to the elephants. The elephants polished it off in 15 seconds. Then, joyously tried to lift their little benefactor – amidst bone chilling screams from her. I’m surprised the elephant didn’t pass out in fright.

The zoo has many birds – among them, many Macaws & Cockatoos, vociferously announcing their presence. One could take a picture with a bunch of parrots perched on their arms, shoulders & assorted limbs – for a steep price. We may have balked at the price, I can’t remember – because just then our daughter screeched, “Photo! Photo!” louder than the Macaws.

Axiom #2 in parenting: Parents will be stupidly optimistic about their offspring, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Bristling with pride at the newfound courage of our daughter, we beckoned the photographer. But the minute the squawking parrots, resplendent in blue, red and white feathers, approached us – our lion-hearted daughter whimpered & tried to flee the zoo. In the end, 3 of the parrots sat on mom, while 1 rested on dad’s head. And thus we posed for the picture, holding a terrified kid – who was hollering “But mom! It is looking at me! Tell the bird to look away!”

More to come – Our visit to the temples is next. Stay with us for Part-3.