It's an iPad!

World is getting to know the latest gizmo on offer, the much-hyped Apple tablet, called iPad. Looks impressive, no doubt.

At San Francisco, a couple of hours back Steve Jobs took the covers off the device that he described as ''more intimate than a laptop and it's so much more capable than a smartphone.'' It's going to be priced from $499, and it will be available in 2 months.

This device falls between a smartphone and laptop, an area yet to be a rage among the public. Looks like Apple is trying to do a one up on Kindle, with lots of hope pinned on the all-in-one touchscreen.

The potential to hit it big in this category is enormous, when wireless is the definite way forward. You can browse, download and play music, videos and games; read and create text and images, and so much more. An upgraded and enlarged iPhone, if one could say so.

But will Apple be able to pull it off?

Trip to Sabarimala

It was a hectic pilgrimage to the abode of Lord Ayyappa. This was my 11th, but the first time I was spending such a short time at the hill, 6 hours. Every previous occasion, I spent the evening there and returned only the next day.

I am terribly deprived of sleep. Since Monday 8 am till now (Wed 8 pm), I have slept only for 7 hours in 4 instalments!

We reached Pampa at 2 am today. The crowd was moderate. The climb wasn't very tiring: the fact that it was night helped.

We reached the foot of the sacred 18 steps at 4.30 am. We had to stand in the queue here (nadapandal) for a little over one hour, which is nothing by Sabarimala standards.

The queue was largely orderly and no one was pushing his way ahead. The odd man who showed some impatience was firmly brought in line by fellow pilgrims or the policemen.

Good crowd management by the police also helped; there were intervening gaps created at regular intervals in the long barricaded queue, so that the pilgrims could be better controlled. The ''police swamis'' are extremely courteous and helpful.

We climbed the holy 18 steps around 5.45 am. After the hurried a-few-seconds-long darshan, we checked into Sabari guest house at 6.45 am. We arranged for abhishekam, prasadam; freshened up, had breakfast and went for another round of darshan.

We started back at 10.30 am and were at Pampa by 12.45 pm. Coming down the hill is at times harder than climbing up, and we felt more tired, probably also because of the heat.

The approach road to Sabarimala and facilities there have vastly improved. There are bright reflectors along the road divider, and barricades around the sharp hair-pin bends. Along the path up the hill, there are cardiac centres, supply of free medicated drinking water and free oxygen parlour.

But nothing has made the climb easier. The steep inclined uneven path at many places is paved with sharp stones. And it's this that makes the pilgrimage unique and challenging.

The hard way is a great leveller too: every pilgrim irrespective of who he is, takes the same path. There are no separate queues for the privileged.

Climbing along with us was a pilgirim on crutches. The sight was as much moving as humbling.

A year since 26/11

Is India safer today?

The very replacement of home minister Shivraj Patil by P Chidambaram itself brought in a qualitative change in our approach to the problem. Some institutional safeguards have no doubt been put in place.

But at the ground level yawning gaps remain. Squabbling politicians and their misplaced priorities do not give us any sense of security.

It's the practise of patriotism rather than a show of it that will make India strong.

Dream tweetup with Tharoor

A couple of days back when I got to know on my Twitter that there will be a tweetup with someone no less than Shashi Tharoor on Friday, Nov 6, I was so excited like a schoolboy getting to meet his favourite cricket star. In fact, it looked too good to be true, that I restrained myself from telling anyone about it.

It mustn’t have been any different for other tweeple either. For, Tharoor is the icon of the Indian tweeting community. This was the moment the tweeple were waiting for.

What a meteoric rise it has been for this former diplomat on the popularity chart. After narrowly missing the post of the secretary-general of the United Nations, he was the surprise choice as the Congress candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. That was the first time the Indian aam janata was getting to this greatly accomplished person.

That he was advised by his aide, Jacob Joseph, (currently Office on Special Durty to Tharoor in the MEA), to open a Twitter account and connect with his constituents shows the faith people have on this microblogging platform.

Tharoor won by a huge margin, became the minister of state for external affairs, and quietly along with his work his fan following on Twitter too has been growing. From zero followers on March 16 to 3,99,388 on November 6 – is this some sort of a record?

Tinu Cherian, Hrish Thota and Santhosh P pulled off this big-ticket tweetup with Tharoor. The tweeple who had assembled at the Bangalore International Centre, TERI complex, Domlur, couldn’t wait for this moment. And, no sooner Tharoor had completed his witty brief introduction (mainly into how he got into politics and tweeting), questions gushed in torrents. And the nouveau politician fielded them all with aplomb very much the way a diplomat would do.

A reference to his cattle-class remark was inevitable. And it soon happened. “It did a lot of damage,” he admitted lamenting how the joke had, not just fallen flat, but metamorphosed into multiple distorted versions. He recalled the difficult days when he was asked to defend Twitter on TV and was called by the Prime Minister to explain what Twitter was. “Someone even advised me to give it up for the sake of my political career.”

Why did he persist then? “I am not revealing any state secrets or breaching the Official Secrets Act. I see it as a good tool to demystify the process of governance. It also brings in transparency and accountability.” An overzealous tweeple was only quick to suggest that tweeting must be made compulsory for all ministers, to which Tharoor quipped, “I shouldn’t be the one to do that.”

Has been able to inspire other politicians to tweet. “The negative publicity in the mainstream media has scared them off. But I am absolutely sure that they will come back.”

There were questions on his work, his suggestion for Indo-Pak cricket match in the US, how he has been dealing with the Left Front in his constituency and so on.

As an example of how Twitter can serve a social purpose, he spoke of an instance when he tweeted about a girl who had lost her leg in an accident in Kerala. After seeing the tweet, many people came forward to help the girl.

At one point, during the tweetup, it seemed the roles had reversed — Tharoor was the listener. The audience, comprising mostly software professionals, generously offered suggestions on how his ministry could be made more transparent and interactive. But it looks there is a long way to go, as Throor himself said, “Twitter is banned in the MEA.”

(An abridged version of this appeared on page 2 of today’s Times of India, Bangalore)

Handkerchief or tissue: which do you prefer?

There are often occasions when one finds oneself out of sync with the world around. One such for me was when after dinner I reached for my handkerchief while everyone else went for tissues.

My preference for the hanky is out of habit. I never felt a need to go for the tissue.

Of course, tissues are trendy while the hanky looks anachronistic (I don't mind). It's not without reason tissues have caught on. For one, they are not just clean but look more handy than the hanky. Two, when dirty, tissues can simply be trashed. Three, they are soft and easy on the skin.

But, mistake not, the good old humble hanky is no less convenient and useful than its new upmarket 'cousin'. All said, hanky is another piece of cloth that we carry around, is it not? How can it be such a bother that it has to be dumped in favour of the tissue?

A hanky might get soiled at the end of a day. So do a pair of socks and other clothes, don't they? They are all washed and reused, and why should we find fault with the little hanky?

Some people, especially when they have cold, find it repulsive to keep blowing their nose into their hanky and carry the nasal mucus all around.

Well, I agree, it's not a pleasant state by any stetch of imagination, but the use of tissue doesn't dramatically better the siituation either, does it? The soiled tissues would be dumped in the nearest trash bin, but a soiled hanky can be washed and used again. If there'sn't a rest room facility, in such occasions, it helps to carry two hankies.

Ironically, the trendy tissue culture has run into an equally trendy modern concern -- environment conservation. The tissues are made from what are called virgin fibre of trees. Manufacturers don't use recycled paper because they say it doesn't give the softness that a tissue supposedly requires. For the same reason, remember, a tissue used once and thrown, can't be recycled and ends up in a landfill, unlike a cotton hanky that can be reused. Thus, manufacture of tissues does indeed result in loss of trees.

Secondly, strong bleaching agents are used to make tissues whiter and softer. These chemicals aren't good for health or environment.

Three cheers to my humble hanky. I don't think my habit is out of sync with what's trendy and politically correct.

My default weblog is on Wordpress at http://pradeepnair.in

I am on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bpradeepnair

Please visit these sites.

Thank you.