Things People Write on Currency Notes

I am not sure if this is a global thing, but the practice of writing stuff down on currency notes is rather widespread in India. If you are reading this post in India, check your wallet right now. I am sure that half the notes would have something scribbled on them.

The most common thing is the count of notes. Usually, when people are making stacks of 100 notes, they mark the count on the topmost note. In my wallet right now, I have 7, 49, 84 and 100 marked on notes. Another common thing is names and/or phone numbers.

But it is a rare note that is blessed by a poetic verse or a shopping list. I got this one as change a couple of days ago:

I didn’t even know there was such a deodorant on the market!

I have edited out the mobile number scribbled on the note. Also check out the serial number – a pretty good hand to hold while playing Liar’s Poker.

Now, what do you have in your wallet right now?

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Bugging Me

I interrupt my holiday to bring you this bug from your nightmares:

Now, my question is: what the heck is it called? Can someone point me to a Wikipedia entry on this creature? The only other information I can give you is that this thing is about the size of a housefly (Musca domestica). They have been invading our house for several days now, and not knowing their identity is bugging me a lot.

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How I Became a Cricket Fan

Over at Smoke Signals, Prem Panicker has published an American’s account of becoming a Cricket fan. Prem adds:

On Cricinfo Gopal Rangachary talks of how he became a cricket fan. Strikes me, though we are all fans of the game, each of us acquired our fanboy status in different ways. Chikodi and Gopal have their stories; what’s yours? [Smoke Signals]

It reminded me of of my own entry into Cricket-fandom.

I was a voracious reader from an early age, and reading a newspaper was part of my daily routine by the time I was 7-8 years old. At the time, it was just the regional Hindi newspaper. I especially liked to read the op-ed page and the serialized comic-strip that this paper published. A lot of this reading was beyond my intellectual grasp, but I read it all anyway because there was something new to read every day – something that was not possible with books, though they had their own place in my reading scheme.

It must have been either around the time Tendulkar and Kambli created a new world record, or when Tendulkar played his first series in Pakistan (or was selected for it – my memory is fuzzy on the exact details). There was a newspaper article about Tendulkar, and what a phenomenal talent he was at such an early age. The article also carried a photo of Tendulkar.

It was that photo that made me think – if that young kid (just a few years older than me) can do it, then so can I. Parents were urged to purchase a bat and a ball, cousin sister was recruited to play against me (“one more thing for you to better me at“), stumps were drawn on a wall with a piece of red brick, and a new Cricket fan was born.

A few years down the line, and I was setting 3:00 AM alarms to watch the action in Australia (also triggering my English-learning in order to understand the commentary). A while later, I bunked school for the first (and last, I swear) time to watch a game, which turned out to be the game in which Tendulkar hit his first ODI century.

I could go on and on, but perhaps this should be kept to a personal story about one’s initiation to the game. The longer story of being obsessed with Cricket (going to the extent of watching Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Test matches) is for another day.

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Pandora’s Gearbox

This is one of those games that will leave you wishing that it had more levels.

Pandora’s Gearbox is puzzle game where you’re trying to get a ball though a machine to the finish area. You can’t see into the machine, so you have to guess what’s inside. You have several tools that help you in your task. You can move objects that are red directly. You also have a robot with built-in sonar that can explore the inside of the puzzle. [IndieBird]

Once you solve a level, the black curtain will come off and you’d be able to see the entire set-up for that level. The puzzles are just hard enough to be challenging, but not so hard that they aren’t fun. While the levels go from 1 to 10, I don’t think you’ll find them as being of increasing difficulty. I found Level 9 to be the toughest, and a couple of other levels had their own “aha” moments.

The game has a nice background music, and the graphics are pretty neat too. A really enjoyable game, and totally worth one’s time.

Go get it now! If you get stuck at a level, play another level and come back to it later. Have fun!

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Reasons Why Norwegian Nobel Committee Awarded Obama

First of all: WTF, Norway?

Now, I am just guessing, but one or more of these had to be factors in the decision:

1. Award ceremony’s TV ratings were falling.

2. Nobel committee wanted to get photographed with Obama.

3. Obama is so handsome, the Committee wants to take him behind a middle school and get him pregnant [Ref].

4. Will award anyone who quotes Gandhi. Yeah, still making amends for that one.

5. Committee chairman’s daughter wanted Obama’s autograph.

6. Just making sure that America doesn’t start another war.

Readers, feel free to add your own.

Update (Oct 14): Not that there is anything new about it, but I was pretty much on the mark here. It was a variation of (1), (2), and (5) above.

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