Almost went unnoticed by Indian Apple fanboys

It seems no one noticed that Apple reduced their prices on the Apple India Store. Here is the latest screenshot from the store,



compare the same with the screenshot taken from Apple Store India in April this year.

Quote of the Season

"There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
- Richard Feynman"

The lives of my parents - Part 1

So, if you ever wondered what kind of parents does a mean, sarcastic, and misanthropic person like me have, then this is the post that will answer that question for you. Yes, this post is dedicated to those two amazing human beings who took the pain (at least one of them did, even though it was a C-Section) to procreate me, and then in spite of my numerous quirks and eccentricities took further pains to raise me. Or, in other words, my parents.

So, what are these two people like? Well, of the many peculiarities of my life, their birth seems to be very interestingly peculiar. My Dad and Mom were born within 3-4 months of each other in 1941 and their birth places were only 5 kilometers apart, and in spite of this close proximity, they didn't see/meet each other for the next 28 years. They were both born in a very small town called Tarn Taran, which is some 30 odd Kilometers from Amritsar, and its claim to fame is that this is where the first Golden Temple was built. Yes, the first Golden Temple, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was built later, and this one has a Sarovar that is the largest in India. The entire town, if you can call it that, is built around the four walls of the Gurudwara. So in a place this small, it was very surprising that the two of them or their families didn't bump into each other, or at least knew of each others existence.

My Dad was born on March 7, 1941 and my Mom was born on ... well this needs to be elaborated. As per my Maasi (My mother's sister, or my Aunt), she was born on the 23^rd day of the month of Saawan. Now as per my Maasi, this makes her date of birth as June 23, though everyone else agrees that it is July 23, in 1941. Just to clarify things, we celebrate her birthday on July 23 each year. Within an year or two of their births, both my parents moved to the Pakistani side of the country (Pakistan didn't exist then). My Dad's family moved to Quetta in Sindh, and my Mom's Family moved to Lahore in Punjab. After the partition, Mom and her family walked from Lahore to Tarn Taran, while my Dad's Family boarded a train to New Delhi.

I sometimes try and imagine the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty of those days, and wonder how did these people live through such troubled times. The migration that happened during the 1947 Partition of India was the worst man-made Human Tragedy that was surpassed only by the brutal Khmer Rouge Regime of Cambodia. Anyways, Mom studied in various places in Punjab and Dad studied in New Delhi. Dad went on to do his Graduation and Post Graduation in Mathematics from Delhi University. He was a topper in the University. Mom did her B.Sc. from Osmania University in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, and her B.Ed. from Panjab University in Chandigarh.

I think I will leave the story about their lives after college, for the next post.