Smartphone Wars

I am no conspiracy theorist but consider the following figures of Nokia's Market Cap over the last 5 years, in the context of Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's phone and services business .

Source: Ycharts.com

Even on Sept 25, 2008 Nokia's Market Capitalzation was 76.86B. Today, Sept 24, 2013, it is 24.87 B.

Was Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia (since Sept 2010; he worked for Microsoft as the head of the Business Division from January 2008 to September 2010. He will be joining Microsoft again as an Executive Vice President) a Trojan Horse, planted to devalue the company and prepare it for acquisition by Microsoft? Was he someone the board of directors anointed to help them sell the firm in bits?

Imagine you own a startup, which for practical reasons you can't continue to run anymore. (Competition, cost of doing business, other commitments). Subsequently, you decide to sell it with an initial asking price 10 million. But you get no buyers so you hire a consultant  to 'trim the fat'.  He/she suggests to close/get rid of some non-profitable businesses even if they are unique to your company. (In February 2011, Nokia announced that it would use Microsoft's Windows Phone OS as its primary Smartphone platform, and Symbian will become its franchise platform.) After the haircut and grooming, your company is ready to visit the marketplace. A wooer who was waiting immediately makes an offer of 6 million. You will take what you get. Only for Nokia, it is billions of dollars less than it would have been even 5 years ago.

Elop will receive nearly €19 million (€4.2 million in salary and bonuses and €14.6 million worth of share price-linked bonuses) from the deal.

Sharing intellectual property rights between the two companies  was an impediment to developments in the past. Now, Microsoft can speed up the progress of Window phone devices, just in time when Apple is struggling to make even marginal improvements.

Everybody wins. No?

Unless the Nokia shareholders sue someone.

10 reasons you are oversharing on Facebook

1. Your parents didn't love you enough in your childhood.
2. You are actually a very lonely person, and trying to deal with it by creating fake conversations online.
3. You have a chronic need for attention.
4. You are a social psychologist secretly, writing a research paper on what makes things go viral. Your posts are your experiments.
5. You don't know about other cooler online communities which lets you create and share more substantial content.
6. You just like to express yourself, FB is simply one of the many venues.
7. You like to stay in touch with your friends.
8. You read a lot of stuff online and you share them on Twitter/Facebook because those usually are the first two share buttons.
9. You find people more interesting online than in real life.
10. Find your own goddamn reason. I gave 9 already.

You Taught Me Love

I longed to be lost

To be blind in love

But you said-

It wasn't the way.

You asked me:

To open my eyes

To the beauty around

In the world to see.

You taught me:

To laugh aloud

When we made love.

And to trust like a child.

You wanted me:

To be in love,

But also be

Who I should be.

The Black Cat

In memory of my pet cat, whose affectionate ways I still miss.

In Bengali Hindu culture, black cats are considered inauspicious and harbinger of bad news; at least, it was, in the community where I grew up. My father encouraged me to question superstitions and think rationally:  how could the pigmentation of an animal be responsible for unrelated events?

I already had a male Japanese Spitz named Snowy. He was 10 years old when a black kitten found its way into our home. I think she started with foraging for leftovers from Snowy's dinner bowl. One day, when Snowy was in a foul mood, she tried to steal from him again. He gave her a chase, and she hid under our fridge. I heard him bark incessantly, and decided to see what the ruckus was about.

I prostrated myself on the ground and saw the poor thing - smaller than a rat. She looked scared and I feared she might have a heart attack. Snowy just wouldn't stop. I took him to another room, closed the door and offered a saucer full of milk to the kitten. After much coaxing, she appeared, hardly able to walk - a tiny baby. I wondered where her mother was.  I asked her.

But she seemed content to lap up the milk as fast as she could, and to show gratitude, she rubbed herself at my feet. I picked her up and petted her. She needed to be cleaned. Snowy had stopped barking.

A few days passed, she stayed on. No one ever came to claim her. And she became quite friendly with Snowy too. In the winter, she slept in his lap. Many times, I saw Snowy wake up before her but he didn't move lest he would wake her. He took his paternal duties quite seriously.

She demanded PDA frequently; hopped onto my chest when I lay on my back, massaged me with her paws, sniffed my lips, and licked me clean whenever I allowed her. It was her way of saying she owned me. I gave in most of the times, but it was worrisome when I had to study and she jumped on my study table and curled up on the book I had just opened, refusing to budge an inch until I petted her to her heart's content. My parents didn't make any fuss, but some of our neighbors reminded us constantly of the myths associated with a black cat. I felt furious but I couldn't change what they chose to believe, so I kept quiet. Sometimes, I argued that she wasn't completely black, she had some white fur on her chest- like that would help.

She grew up to be a gorgeous cat. Her fur was glossy from the healthy food, and she took great care in grooming herself. Her vanity grew when suitors tried to woo her. We often wondered who she would choose- one was a rough looking tomcat, another a baby-faced singer who serenaded her with cat songs at 11 in the night - much to our chagrin. My bet was on the singer.

Soon enough, she had a litter of three kittens. A male we named Simba (her first born who looked like Babyface; we decided to keep him) , and two females we chose to give away. The second kitten was the prettiest I have ever seen, with eyes like Cleopatra- as if someone had drawn her winged eyelids on both sides of her eyes. I wanted to keep her too but it isn't practical, advised my parents.  Dad and I helped Mini  through her motherhood. She gave up her usual bed in favor of a cardboard box we got for her. The kids grew up fast and it was time for two of them to leave.

Snowy passed away owing to old age. And a year later, I left home for my undergrads and my parents moved their residence. I heard it was quite traumatizing for her initially and she hid for days. But she got comfortable with her surroundings eventually and started  going out again. However, one day she vanished from our lives just as she had walked in.

When I visited home, I asked my parents what happened to her, where had she gone, if they had looked for her. Years later, I was told something I choose not to believe : that she was seen  dead by the road. I wondered if someone had run her over, was it dark and they couldn't see her? Did she die a natural death? Was she in pain? I guess I will never know.

Suggested Further Reading:
Why do cats groom people (MNN)

Impasto

Tried my hand at impasto painting. Buddha- one of my favorite subjects. 

(Click to view larger image)

Sunflower girl wrapped in blue. Not really the way I wanted it, but time to move on to other things.

প্রেম

(This Bengali script will be best viewed in Google Chrome)

আজ 'চোখের বালি' দেখলুম। দেখে মনে হল প্রেম কত তুচ্ছ জিনিস। মানুষ কে কত সামান্য করে দেয় ! আমি অবশ্য চিরকাল বিশ্বাস করে এসেছি যে যেই প্রেম মানুষকে ব্যাথা দেয় , কাতর করে- সে প্রেম ত্যাজ্য। তাকে মাথায় করে স্তুতি করার ভুল করলে সে কালসাপ হয়ে দংশন করে। তার বিষ না পারে কেউ ছাড়াতে , না সেই বিষে কারো মৃত্যু হয়। শুধু অসহ্য বেদনায় আকুল হয়ে প্রাণ ওষ্ঠাগত হয়। প্রেমের সেই ভয়ানক রূপ আমার দেখা আছে।

আবার আমি এও জানি যে প্রকৃত ভালবাসা মানুষকে মহান করে তুলতে পারে। তার শত দুর্বলতা সত্বেও তাকে সক্ষম বানাতে পারে। সেই ভালবাসা পরিণয়ের প্রত্যাশী নয়, তাই তাতে প্রতারিত হওয়ার ভয় ও নেই।

কত যুগ ধরে কত মানুষ, বিশ্বের কত জায়গায়, কত ভাষায় এ ভাব ব্যাক্ত করেছে, তাই নতুন করে আমার বলার কিছু নেই। শুধু জানি- যার সন্ধান আমি করেছি চিরজীবন, তার উৎসমুখ আমার কাছেই। নিজেকে ভালো না বাসলে যে অপরকে ভালবাসা যায় না সে কথা গুণী লোকেরা বলে গেছেন বহু কাল আগে।

আর আমি এও জানি যে গোপন প্রেমে কোনো গৌরব নেই, আছে শুধু অপমান। মানুষ যা চায় তা সব সময় পায় না, তাই বলে তাকে অজুহাত বানিয়ে অন্যায় করা দুর্বলতার লক্ষণ, অপরিণত বুদ্ধির পরিচায়ক।
*

বিনোদিনীর মহিমের প্রতি আকর্ষণ হয়ত খুব স্বাভাবিক। বিনোদিনী সুন্দরী, সুশিক্ষিতা, প্রাপ্ত যৌবনা। কিন্তু বিয়ের এক বছর না যেতেই তার স্বামীর মৃত্যু হয়েছে। বৈধব্যের সকল ধর্ম পালন সে করেছে। সখের মধ্যে আছে তার একটু চা খাবার বাতিক। কিন্তু ১৯০২-১৯০৫-এর পটভূমিতে এ যেন সামাজিক প্রতিবাদ। সকল বাধার প্রতি এক তীব্র তিরস্কার- ম্লেচ্ছ সাহেবদের প্রিয় পানীয় পান করা। আমরা যখন বিকেলে চা এর কাপটা নিয়ে বসি তখন কি ভাবি এক কালে গল্পের এক নায়িকাকে কত অনুষ্ঠান করে এই পাপবোধটুকু দমন করতে হয়েছে যে সে মনের মত কিছু করতে পারছে।

পুরুষ-নারীর মধ্যে বেধাভেদ রবি ঠাকুরের সেই গল্পে শেষ হয়ে যায় নি। আজও বাঙালি ভদ্রসমাজে এক বিপত্নীক বছর না ঘুরতেই (বোধ করি চক্ষু লজ্জার জন্যে) দ্বিতীয় বার বিয়ে করতে পারে; কিন্তু একজন বিধবা যদি একটু সাজতে চায় বা গাঢ় রঙের লিপস্টিক ও লাগায় সেটা নিন্দনীয়। তার অবশ্যই কোন পুরুষবন্ধু আছে যাকে মোহিত করার জন্যে এত সাজ সজ্জার বাহার। মেয়েরা যে নিজেদের জন্যেও সাজতে চাইতে পারে, তা এখনো মহিলারা অনেকেই নিজেরাই বোঝেন না।

বিধবার জীবন হবে চিরভারাক্রান্ত , বিয়োগব্যাথাপূর্ণ এক নির্মম অভিশাপ। যার নিত্য কাজের মধ্যে একাদশি, যার রন্ধন শিল্পে এক ফোঁটা পেয়াজ-রসুনের ছোঁয়াও থাকতে পারবে না- সে যদি কামভারক্লিষ্ট যুবতী হয় তার উপস্থিতিতেও অশুচি  হয়।

আমি অবশ্য বিনোদিনীর ছল-কপটতা সমর্থন করি না। আশালতা তার বান্ধবী। স্ত্রী-পুরুষ এর আকর্ষণের সকল অভিকেন্দ্র বলের উর্ধ্যে সেই সম্পর্ক। আশালতার স্বামীর প্রতি তার দুর্বলতা এবং তাকে কাছে আনার সকল কলা কৌশল অভক্ষ্যভক্ষণ ।

SF Pride 2013

I have wanted to attend the Pride Parade in San Francisco ever since I knew it existed. Finally, this year we made it. It was the 43rd annual parade but definitely not the one to miss- only days after Supreme Court overturned the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and granted privileges to legally married same-sex couples. (Read the Rulings).

Commute could have been a hiccup, but unlike previous years I didn't let it deter me. We usually drive to SF from San Jose-  a matter of 45 mins to an hour on a regular day. But finding a parking spot in Downtown SF on days like these can be near impossible . So, we parked at Millbrae station and took the BART to Powell St. A lot of people got down at Civic Center. The parade started at 10:30 am. We had started from home at 9 am and reached Millbrae at 9:30 am. But it took an hour before we could get the BART tickets in the crowd. We took the yellow line.Significantly, a child with two Moms was in the seat in front of us. She looked happy and smiled at me. I don't care if the kid doesn't have a father, as long as she has enough love from her parents.

We used the public transport after years; I remembered the first time I had ridden the Boston Red Line with SG on my first day to my university.

The parade had already begun when we reached Market and Powell around 11 am. The atmosphere was celebratory. It smelled of weed, beer and fried food, like most rock concerts do. I found a very convenient spot right in the front (900 Market St) and took as many pictures I could. Someone asked  how the pictures were coming, I said I was trying, but it was difficult to focus. He said maybe I should walk into the street. I didn't think it was a good idea. He asked me where I was from and he mentioned that he had lived in India for 10 years from 1986- 1996. He asked me if I was from Calcutta when I mentioned I'm a Bengali. I told him I was from North-East but my husband was from Kolkata. We chatted for a while. SG found me and put his arm around me.

One of the largest assemblages was 'Free Bradley Manning'. We saw SFPD, Sheriff's department, Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), other straight elected officials who have worked for gay rights, employees from Chase, Facebook, Safeway and students from schools and universities supporting LGBT rights. Many of the couples in the parade were announcing their engagements. We saw a contingent  of senior LGBT members too.

We were given fiesta beads, wristbands, candies, condoms and lubricants as freebies. I took so many shots, my fingers hurt. It was a new experience for me in many ways. And overwhelming. So many people out on the streets walking for equality. And pride.