Time...in due course of time

Time is a continuum and there is no such thing as probability. Why do I say that ? Suppose you step out of your home for a Sunday morning walk. You get out of the front door, pass the gate, cross the street, go past the milk booth after walking exactly 255 meters, go past the bus stop after another precise 210 meters, reach the intersection on the main street exactly 400 meters from the bus stop..and so forth. There is no probability at work here. It is not as if you are not sure if there is a bus stop on your way and it is not like there is a 55 % chance that you will see a milk booth on your way. Now, the same is the case with time. You travel in time (albeit in only one direction : the future). There are milestones on the way (events that take place). There is no "probability" about events. They do take place. Its just that we do not know about these events for sure. In our first example of the morning walk, it would be analogous to our first walk in the neighborhood. The first time we step out of our house (the very first time, mind you !), we do not know if there is a milk booth or at precisely what distance it is from our home. But that doesn't change the fact that the milk booth is there for sure ! (All references to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle need to be held at an arm's length for now, please). Our normal lives are the same. As of today, we can only travel in time in one direction. Hence, it is analogous to saying that when we step out of our home for a walk, we never return to our home again. So, we cannot trace our path, we cannot retrace our steps. We cannot study the terrain and familiarize ourselves with it. Once we cross the bus stop, we can never ever get back to the same bus stop; of course, there would be similar bus stops further ahead in our path. Also, if we are careful enough or retrospective enough, we would find a trend : something that tells us that there is a bus-stop every 1500 meters (or something to that effect). Given a knowledge of this pattern, we are able to "predict" when the next bus-stop is due: this is risk-management in its most rudimentary form. But all this does not, for a moment, make any difference to the actual number of bus-stops in our path. It is not "fate"; it is just geography. The second factor about our lives is that we all travel in time at the same rate. As of today, no one knows how to travel through time "faster" than the rest of us; no one has found out how to "reach" the future before the others. As a result, there is absolutely no one who can "go to the future" and inform the rest of us about the pitfalls in the path. Also, for the same reason, no one has an unfair advantage on this front. We are all equals in our ignorance of the future (unless events are "fixed": like sports events, for instance). The third factor, is that we cannot take a break in our travel in time. Everyone has to keep moving. Time does not stop. Or, to rephrase, we do not stop traveling through time. (I somehow feel it is better to say we are traveling "through" time rather than "in" time which gives readers a sense that I am talking about time-travel sci-fi). This boils down to saying that you absolutely have to take the Sunday morning walk: you do not have the option of staying back at your home. What if we could travel in time ? What if we could travel in time in both directions (I am assuming, for reasons of simplicity, that there are only two directions in which we can move on the terrain of time) ? What if we could take a break in our movement through time ? What would be the consequences ? First of all, is it possible to travel "in" time ? I think it is. I think it is just another skill that humans will master in due course of time (pun unintended). It is like flying: it took us time, but we finally learned how to do it. The same will happen with time travel, I feel. OK, so what would be the consequences ? I don't think they will be as drastic as they are made out to be. When we have the option of retracing our steps in time, more of us will be able to re-visit their youths, their childhoods. We could do more things by trial and error: if the first time some initiative does not succeed because of some unforeseen event, we could go back in time and restart from scratch: only, this time, we would cover for this "unforeseen" event. If we hurt someone by acting harsh or speaking rudely because of the "heat of the moment", we could go back and reverse the whole affair. We could reverse death. Or could we ? I feel death is outside our time travel area. Once a person is dead, that person cannot travel anywhere, let alone time. Death is the closing point. All the above seems to suggest that life would become more predictable. However, I believe, humanity craves for the unknown. There is some kind of pleasure that we get through suspense that keeps us going towards uncertainty. I think after the initial excitement over time travel wears off, people will go back to the old way of an unpredictable future because it is so alluring. It is in human nature to seek the unknown: no one likes the dull and predictable life. What about ethics ? Is there an ethical question involved in time travel ? Will the church not stand up and say that is against the writ of God to predict the future and stop the inevitable from happening ? (remember, the church still has issues with abortion ?) One last question before I close this long post: Suppose, we learn how to travel in time in the year 2055. Would someone travel to the year 2007 ? If they did, would they be able to travel back ? In 2007, we do not yet know how to travel in time, remember ? Would the knowledge also travel in time with the person ? If it did, we would learn time travel in 2007 from the first person to travel back from 2055. We could then repeat this exercise over and over again and eventually the Neanderthal man would learn time travel, about the wheel, about computers..everything that we know today and will know in the human future. That would be a mess...a huge mess. This is exactly the kind of conundrum that we do not yet know how to solve. Alpha: Beta, dude. What's the plan for the long weekend ? Beta: The wife and I are traveling to 1492 to witness Columbus discovering America. What about you ? Alpha: I am traveling back to the last weekend and staying there. Beta: Damn ! who will I play golf with on Monday morning !!! ???

Two is better than one !

Hey...what if we had two brains instead of one ? There --- the most shocking question ... right at the top of the post ! I believe we should have two brains. I am aware that each human brain is made up of two halves which perform different functions. However, what I want is a whole new brain right next to my existing one. Well, it doesn't have to be "right next" to my existing one -- for all I care, it could be near my armpit. What is more important, though, is that it should be completely independent of the existing one. Imagine what I could do then : I could watch TV while reading a book. I could read blogs and generally surf the net while working at the report my boss asked me to complete. I could watch a movie and a cricket match, simultaneously ! The most dramatic impact the second brain would have, however, would be on my behavior. Every time I got angry and was about to do something that I would regret later (like abusing my boss in an e-mail to the entire staff !), my other brain would realize this and work on calming my first brain (now, which of the two brains is the "first", really ?). When I start to get too sad, the second brain would gee me up. When I start thinking too well of myself, the additional brain would bring me down to earth. How convenient ! Going by how much I use the one brain that the Lord did give me, some of my friends would suggest that an additional one would not make much of a difference. However, I could write two blogs simultaneously..I could write the post and comment on the post, at the same time...I could.......................sigh !

I am gutted !!

It is 5:30 AM on 24-March-07, a Saturday. I just got up and read the news of India's defeat to Sri Lanka. I am gutted. I just wanted to record my disappointment while it still hurt. I am absolutely gutted guys ! I do not feel frustrated at the end of it all. It is sad, though, to have to bid farewell to cricket stars that I have grown up admiring. The one last hurrah from Sachin, Saurav and Rahul was not to be ! I think it is a great lesson for all of us Indians. It just goes to show that it is no good being strong...you actually have to use your strengths. You actually have to show the heart. And, above all, it is just a game...so, please let us hope, we dont see ugly scenes on the streets tomorrow.

Fuzziness in Life

People tell me that science and developments in medicine will help us prolong our lives and take us closer to immortality. I don't believe that. I believe that death is inevitable; and that death is necessary to keep the human race going. Keeping the same batch of humans alive for centuries together will stagnate thoughts and ideas (not to mention evolution). However, I do think that developments in medicine will allow us to take away the fuzziness in life. Human beings, today, die (and grow) gradually: at least most of us do. We are born small, weak and incapable of doing anything. Then we slowly grow to our full height and strength. We grow to our full mental capabilities. We are at our peak at the age of 22-25. Then the decline starts. Sure, there are exceptions, but the percentage of such exceptions is low. Most people start losing bone density, physical flexibility and strength, mental sharpness as they go through their thirties, forties, fifties etc. By the time most people reach 80 (assuming they live that long) they are too weak and incapable to do anything meaningful (like I said earlier, there certainly are exceptions, but the percentage of such exceptions is too low to make a difference). I feel that this gradual development and de-generation of human beings takes a heavy toll. It is a huge waste of time. If you do not take advantage of your twenties for some reason, your chance is gone. Also, aging takes such a huge toll on the psyche of individuals: most people lose their self-confidence and start considering themselves a poor image of what they were 10, 20, 30 years ago. I think we should focus our medical developments on removing this waste of time. People should be able to take birth in a fully developed state, live for 20, 30 years in that state, and then die suddenly while still at the peak of their abilities. There would be no waste in development or de-generation time. Of course, people will miss their childhoods, but if you had to choose between 10 years of childhood and 30 years at the age-equivalent of 22, would you not rather choose the latter option ? What does the child in you say ?

Of Smart People

Long years ago, in my first year out of college and in a job, my boss sat me down for my first performance appraisal. Looking deep into outer space, he told me "Young man, you are intelligent and hard-working and sincere and honest. But what you lack, is a street-smartness, a kind of ruthless cunning that you need to succeed in this brutal world". Ever since then, I have asked myself: how do I get this street-smartness ? Can I ever get it ? Am I doomed ? It was then that I realized: street-smartness is not an attribute of your brain power. It is a subtle product of your conditioning. The more you are taught as a kid to be polite and kind to others, the less ruthless you turn up as a grown-up. A so-called "soft" person could be as smart as a quick-witted, smooth-talking conman. The only difference is the sub-conscious approach to human situations. This is not to say that all polite people are kind to their fellow human beings or all glib talkers are cruel -- but there definitely is a pattern. I think it is some kind of sub-conscious choice that people make on how to use their gifts. But then, maybe it is the same with intelligence. Intelligence is not probably some gift. Maybe all human beings have the same capacity for intelligent thinking --- only, deep inside, some are willing to use it, while others choose not to. Maybe, it is the same with animals. It is not that they are not smart per se. Probably, they just pity us human beings and humour us by acting dumb !!! What say ? P.S: This is the 100th post on this blog. 100 posts in two and a half years... not bad, eh !

Far off worlds

I look at the night sky and see a star close by a quarter moon. And I wonder ... When I was a kid, our family would sit in a circle and eat dinner..those were the days devoid of the noisy television shows. Ocassionaly, I would look out the window and look at the stars out in the night sky and wonder. I used to imagine that among those tiny stars, somewhere, was a world very similar to ours. I used to imagine that there was a family similar to ours, eating dinner at this very moment. I used to wonder if the kid in the family was also looking out at the night sky (for some reason, I just assumed that it was night there too..) and thinking the very same thoughts that I was thinking. Was it possible that the kid was also me and not some other kid in another world. Was it possible that this "far off world" was a reflection of our own earth. What were the odds that someone had put up a huge mirror and that we were looking at our own reflections in this mirror ? Was it possible that someone had, with a clever and elaborate mirror arrangement, made the universe look infinite (remember what the interior decorators say: to make a room look larger, put up a big mirror along the wall ?) ? Are we looking at the reflections of our own solar system all around ? Or is it even more elaborate ? Has this "someone" put an even more clever arrangement of a million mirrors around me so that everywhere I look, I see images of myself --- some taller than me, some shorter, some fatter, some thinner and so forth ? Maybe, you do not exist. Maybe you are just a distorted image of mine like those images that we see in the weird mirrors in science museums. Sound plausible ?

The retun of the Individual

I dream of a day when there are no companies. I dream of a day when there is no democracy, no government. I dream of a day when there are no courts, no lawyers. I dream of the day when the individual returns. The individual that existed before civilization. The individual that existed before social hierarchy took over. That individual has been buried deep into the debris that we now call society. I dream of the day when that individual returns. Each of us is unique. Why then, do we have to follow the same rules ? If our values are so different, why are we all expected to have the same mission in life ? Why do our ideals and goals encroach on each other s's space ? Why do the strong force the weak to follow their path ? Why do some get to draw boundaries on this earth when others want to roam free ? Why does a government get to tell its people that killing themselves is a crime even if they are suffering immense pain ? Why does the government get to take away my hard-earned money in the name of tax and give me potholes in return ? Why does a group of people get to decide what to do with my tax money ? Why do a bunch of extremists get to decide who Kashmir belongs to ? Why do a bunch of communists get to decide what to do with the farmer s's land in Singur and Nandigram ? I personally believe that the rule of the individual will be more peaceful. Of course, we all have to be more mature than we are now...but then, how hard can it be ? Imagine a world where there is no government. You do not pay taxes, you have no rules to follow. Whatever good you do, comes right from your heart and not because you have to. You respect the other person's freedom since you value your own. A living being's needs are minimal: food to eat, water to drink and some sleep. Society gives us all kinds of ideas: can I get to lead a bigger pack ? can I own more land ? can I make more money ? can I get more power ? it never stops. The strong succeed in fulfilling these "ambitions": the weak either perish or lose their individuality. Why cant it all be different ?

The free flow

I have this dilemma: do you always play to your strengths; or do you develop your weaknesses when your strengths fail you ? Think of an artist: a painter. Painting is his strength --- he dreams up myriad colors; he speaks in hues and shades; his brush sparks thoughts that strike deep into the sub-conscious. Then, suddenly, one day it is all gone. He is standing there, brush in hand, paint at bay, the canvas poised. The dreams, however, are not coming. The inspiration is gone...what does he do now ? This is a common specter. They call it "writer's block". Even the best struggle for inspiration at times. What do they do then ? Do you sit there till inspiration returns ? Do you focus hard ? Do you walk away, admitting that your days in the sun are over; that God has taken back the gifts that he gave you. Do you lose your self-belief in the bargain ? I see this everywhere and it is interesting how different people react to this situation. Artists, writers, musicians...they all tend to prefer taking a long break to get their inspiration back. Sports persons prefer to watch videos of more successful times to get it back. Sometimes it works; sometimes, it looks like it is gone for ever. How would you react ? Given, we are not artists. Most of us have day jobs that do not seem to need any inspiration. But, ask yourself: are there times when getting out of bed in the morning is such a chore ? Have there been times when you hate the prospect of having to sit at your desk all day ? What have you done on those days ? Do you wait for the free flow of things to return or do you toil away manfully ?

License to watch TV

I could not confirm it but this is what I heard on radio yesterday: Broadcasters are demanding that pubs take permission before streaming cricket matches on widescreen TV sets to patrons. This gave me an idea: Will we come to a point where, when a broadcaster or a TV channel shows a cricket match or a movie, they will charge per "seat". By seat, I am referring to the way software licenses are sold: you pay for each installation of the software. So, when I watch a movie telecast by Sony, I will have to pay for two seats : my wife and myself. At my parents' house, they may have to pay more since there is a bigger family. The biggest challenge for the broadcasters would be to verify how many people are actually watching the show. If a bystander on the road halts to catch the score for a moment in a TV shop, will the shop owner have to pay for the extra viewer ? Will there be corporate licenses or deals with such shops or pubs and such like ? What do you think ? Is this a good way to milk innocent people ? Or are there other more devious ways to take away freedom ?

Women in sports

Last night I switched on my television set hoping eagerly to catch some action between Australia and Scotland. What I got instead was Mandira Bedi sitting in a room full of ex-cricketers and one Mr. Charu Sharma ! Now, this is one of the most disconcerting sights on television. I will tell you why, in a moment. What I want to talk about is: the role of women in sports. How important is the role of women in sports ? It is very important. For one, sports teaches us a lot about life. Sports helps build character; sports provides recreation; sports is the best way of staying fit while having fun at the same time. In a world where women work harder than men, it is absolutely essential that women get seriously involved in sports. Now, when I say "involved", I mean as sports persons --- not as eye-candy for viewers. That is why watching Mandira Bedi is so disconcerting. She knows next to nothing about the game --- all she knows is a few names and that there is a toss before the actual game begins (now, dont get me started about the toss !!!). Her comments are most rudimentary, plain and naive. What is even more frustrating is that she has not bothered to learn anything about the game since the last world cup when all this tamasha started. Women have always been there in other sports. EPL on ESPN is an example. NBA Inside Stuff was another. I do not know if it added value to those programs since I do not really care a lot about soccer or basketball (what's with so many people fussing over one lousy ball !). But cricket is different. As it is, it is very difficult to find commentators who make sense on TV. The Harsha Bhogles and Richie Benauds are very rare. Bringing down the standards further is glib-talk from people like Charu Sharma and Sidhu (one of the worst horror shows that I ever watched on TV was one of those pre-game shows featuring Mandira Bedi, Krish Shrikant, Mohinder Amarnath and Sidhu -- dread !) This has been a long time coming. The reason why non-sports channels like Sony and Zee are taking to cricket is the perception that the typical Indian cricket fan does not care about the subtleties of the game. He or she is only hoping that the Indian team wins. You only have to look at attendance for non-India games in the Championship Trophy to get an idea. That kind of following cannot be good for any game. It will eventually strangle the game. People are saying that this is the beginning of the end when it comes to money in cricket in India. Commercialization of cricket has gone to its worst extreme. People have exploited every which way of making money out of the game. Very soon, there will be an overkill of the game. I predict that you will get to a situation very soon where you will have the option of either an India Vs Aus test match, India Vs Aus ODI or India Vs Aus Twenty20 --- all going on simultaneously ! That is the day people will change the channel and watch Hum Aapke Hain Kaun instead ! I do not want to preach doom, but I think we have succesfully killed the gentlemen's game. What do you think ?

Ponting, where is thy arrogance !

Ponting gets defensive here. I wonder if this is a fall from the arrogance that the Aussies were displaying only till a month ago. Sunil Gavaskar apparently feels that the on-field behaviour of the Aussies has not been in the same class as their performances over the past decade. While, I have not read Gavaskar's comments in original, I do not know if Ponting needs to get defensive about it and point to India's performances. I mean, I dont think Gavaskar would have even tried to make the comparison. There is no comparison to be made. The Aussies have been undisputed champs for most of the last decade or more --- the Indians have never even gotten close. Criticism stings most when your self-confidence is low. While it will be a far-stretch to say that the Aussies are suffering from low self-belief at this point, they certainly are a little vulnerable these days. A couple of months ago, faced with the same comments, Ponting might have just shrugged his shoulders and said "yeah well...we are sorry...whatever...". Now, he has to point to India's test record. India are going down under later this year....Mr. Gavaskar will launch into a counter-attack, I am sure, if India so much as take a first Innings lead in a test match there !!! Aussies, beware !

A quick apology

It has been brutally been brought to my notice (during discussion and emails from my readers) that my blogs are taking an approach and trying to drive it home without exploring all the facts. This violates the basic tenets of journalism and open-minded thinking. I had posted this piece a long time back...but it seems I do not always remember my own edicts. I would like to apologize to my readers for taking this approach. I promise that in future, my posts will have a little more research to back them. Again, thanks for putting me on the right track ...

Where I blog and why ...

I have taken to blogging in a big way. I do not have readership but I sure am enjoying the writing experience ! I had initially started with just one blog: Trials And Tribulations. But over the past few years, I have felt the need to start more blogs. The content on this blog has been coming from all subjects: science, computers, philosphy etc. I was not feeling comfortable having everything under one roof. Hence, I decided to spread the content out. The following are the other blogs I publish: Madman's Diary: This was started at about the same as Trials..but somehow, it didnt take off. The idea when I started this blog was: I would write about my experiences and how I chose to intrepret them. I thought that in itself was a reason to have a seperate blog. Computer Education: I started this about a month ago to help me in my effort to learn more about computers and how they work. The content here has been hard to build since I am not knowledgeable in this field. Also, the challenge was to make this an engaging blog and not just a feedreader for other technical websites. I may still have failed in this endeavour, but atleast I am trying. The Free Spirit: This is, by far, the most ambitious blog so far for me...which is why I had requested a friend to co-author it with me. The blog is about Freedom in general. It will try and address the issue of freedom and its true meaning in our day-to-day life. It may have some software undertones and issues discussed in this blog may be more specific to the software industry. We will, however, try to keep the bigger picture of individual freedom in mind. Currently, there are no posts here. Though I have tried to compartmentalize my posts into various blogs, I still find it difficult sometimes to decide which post should go into which blog. I am always looking for feedback from readers (I estimate that I have 3 regular readers !). I am looking for ways to make the blogs more readable, the posts more engaging and the experience more lively. But I am still learning. So, please bear with me.

Where is Microsoft going ?

One of many anti-Microsoft stories on slashdot. To sum up the story, Microsoft had put up a promotion site for students to buy their Office suite at a 93% discount. But when folks go there, Microsoft's own anti-phishing software warns that this may be a phishing site !!! What is going on with Microsoft, I say ? As a college student, I always admired everything that Microsoft created. (It was not actually until I was in college that I used any of their products, but you always heard great things about them even before that !). The Windows operating system looked such a neat piece of software when compared with the rest of the command line horror stories that you heard about as a novice. As college kids, we had a choice between Windows and the comand line Unix. It wasnt really a tough choice with Windows winning hands-down. Innovation after innovation came out of the MS stable every passing day. They were creating a new paradigm for computing. Unix, in its old form, would never have reached the home PC market. Moreover, MS had the entire suite of products: an OS, a browser, an Office suite, a media player and so forth. You did not need anything else to run your PC. In short, they had shut out all competition. But once you overrun competition, it is the beginning of the end for yourself. It looks like complacency and arrogance has stepped in for this great company. Probably, all great companies go through this phase --- it happened to Apple in the mid to late nineties, it happened to IBM, it happened to Bell. You see the same pattern in sports: in cricket, West Indies were a major force in the late 70s and early 80s. But then they went through an unbelievable slump. (maybe it is happening to Australia now !) Maybe, all this is good for MS in the long run. Maybe they will learn from this and tighten up their belts and pull up their socks. But I am waiting (as I am sure are millions of others) to see if this happens with Google. Would love to see how they would handle it then.

The End before the beginning

"I should have never left the group" Pottu could hear himself mumbling. There was not a soul in sight. There was a sudden silence in the jungle. It was a clear day and he had expected all kinds of sounds : the birds chirping, the toads crackling, and all kinds of insects humming. But, the silence was everywhere. "What is this ?" , the mumbling resumed. It was more of an exclamation than a question. Pottu could hear his heart beat faster and louder. Strange how his breath sounded. Pottu had never heard himself breathing. He never thought that breathing created any kind of noise. It was suppposed to be a quite activity. But in this silence, he could hear it. And it was growing louder every moment. He turned around to see if someone was following him. No one. He looked up in the tall deodhar trees. No one. A moment passed. Then one more uneventful moment. A sound. Finally ! Pottu almost let out a sigh of relief. But the silence was back with a vengeance. And this time, it grew even more intrusive. His heart had somehow started beating a lot more quietly. His breathing was almost noiseless now. The mumbling was down to a very faint whisper. What was happening ? Where was the noise ? "And why is it getting darker already ?" he whispered to himself. The light was fading. The sky remained clear. No clouds. But the sun was distancing itself from Pottu. A moment passed. One more. One more.... It was a lot quieter and darker now. Pottu couldn't whisper to himself.It was almost as if his thoughts dissolved before forming. The fear was melting away noiselesly. Moments passed...but slowly. Thud ! Pottu felt a blow on his body. Which direction it came from, he had no idea. He could see the trees falling quietly. Almost in slow motion. There was darkness now. And peace and quiet. It had ended !!!

The shoe also fits the other foot !

"With great power comes great responsibility" Story from Cricinfo. This story has been beaten to death. But the point remains. As a major power in world cricket today, the Indian sub-continent has great power. But it has not realized its responsibility yet. The story quoted above humbles us (as part of the sub-continent) --- it stares at our hollow pride and sniggers at us. Does being a financial heavy-weight in the game make the sub-continent teams immune to the laws and the spirit of the game ? Do we not always whine about how the developed nations act unjustly ? Are we not copying them now that we have the power to make a difference ? This justifies my belief that all human beings are alike; all communities are alike. Its just a matter of which foot the shoe is on. It is not done to say that such and such a race is violent by nature or such and such a nation is benevolent and peace-loving. It is all a matter of circumstance. Given the oppportunity, we can all be devils. I am worried...deeply worried.

Now: Open Source People

Linking to this story from Slashdot. The story talks about how surveillance cameras are being developed to be smarter so they can alert security personnel to suspicious persons real time and not after the incident. The last line of the story is what bothers me. If I go to a country like the US and do something suspicious (most of the things that first time visitors to America do seems suspicious to security people there !) I may be tagged : by a surveillance camera no less ! Also, cameras can be developed to look inside my jacket to see if I am hiding a bomb. "Inside my jacket" !!! Now, what is the need of spending money on all those expensive clothes next time you go to the US of A, I say !

Now, why didnt I think of this before !!!

Just got this brilliant idea...wait listen me out guys ! I think human beings live multiple lives at the same time. Not as in they have multiple personalities. But as in they are living as seperate individuals. Different human beings with seperate bodies, seperate brains but one unique soul. The soul is the operating system which shares memory for different lives. The soul is supporting multiple lives like the kernel of the operating system. We are all only able to access the application-interface of the operating system without knowing what is running underneath. When one application is terminated or crashes (one life ends), it is replaced by other new apps (lives) or time is freed for the other applications to use. This time-sharing is done so efficiently by the operating system (soul) that we hardly ever notice. When we do notice, we get a sense of deja vu that we are all so familiar with ... Maar dala...maar dala...too maaaaaaaaaaaaaach !!!

Question for all patent lovers

What would you do if someone patented the login page on the internet ? If you think that is a stupid question from an idealist moron, read this

Ads galore !

On my way back home from work on Friday night I saw a BEST bus. The exterior of the bus was painted KLUB green --- which is normal these days. BEST has been renting out its bus exteriors as ad spaces to boost its revenues. What I did notice for the first time, though, was inside the bus, the handles which allow standing passengers to hang on to the bar were decorated with the ad of a famous FM station. Now, this opens up possibilities. I suggest that we take a step further. Passengers should be asked to hold out placards depicting various ads in exchange for a discount on their bus fare. Maybe, if some of the passengers could recommend a product or two to their co-passengers on the bus, they could get a bigger discount. Once you board the bus, you could be asked to chose from a bunch of products that you would like to endorse for an incentive. For example, women could be ask to pick up a piece of jewellery and sport it while they ride on the bus and hold a sign informing others of the item they are endorsing. BEST could decide to slot the products they would be endorsing. Non-AC buses could be used to endorse mundane products like soap, toothpaste etc. AC buses could be used to endorse more sophisticated products like cell-phones, cameras etc. Now, if only I could patent this brilliant idea of mine.......