Gaaji mannan..

'2-G', 'dokku', 'baby over', 'kaava', 'waitees'.. These words dominated my childhood as the next Indian boy. Reading them here (link is http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_cricket) I felt some pretty special memories creeping back - almost being run over by cars, breaking window panes, ill-fated-Rhodes-inspired dives that land you on a rusty nail...! I couldn't believe however, that there was no mention about 'Book Cricket' - probably the most widely played sport in Indian classrooms, during Chemistry/ Accounting classes.
So I thought I'd write this up on this single activity that sharpens our collective mathematical brains:
The game is played with the any book (more pages the better) with a minimum of two opponents. Batting team representative opens a page in the book randomly and records the score (last digit) on the even-numbered page (2, 4, 6 or 8). A 0 ('zero') signals the long walk back to the pavillion. At the end of innings, book is handed over to other team representative. Game depends on luck, requires minimal skill and can be played during boring lectures worldwide, regardless of weather.Whilst doing wonders to arithmetic skills, it also requires the 'bowling team representative' to keep a sharp eye on the batsman, who may be too eager to turn away from getting caught out.
Link via Rajan.

Newsweek International

Latest edition of Newsweek International profiles India Rising. There is an excellent article by Fareed Zakaria on India- Asia's Other Superpower.. The messy, chaotic market economies entangled within corrupt beaurocratic channels, in turn chained to whims of political coalition are explained with ease. Gurucharan Das writes about India's Private-School Revolution as one of the reasons behind India's growing economy.

Pandora and music

If you are more curious than Pandora but less patient than me, this is just the tool that'll help you find music similar to what you like..

Privatized roads = No potholes?

This interesting article spans libertarianism, liberalism and even has a Valentine's day message. But what caught my eye was this quote:
"Public property is a misuse of hard earned money stolen through tax."
(Link through Varna)

Planetary atmospheres

Earth and Venus were borne out of the same primordial cosmic dust and were formed at similar distances from the Sun. But why do they have such vastly different atmospheres?