Profound Lyrics

In the morning I was watching Izzazat, what a masterpiece.

And is it this what you call profound lyrics:

हलके कोहरे के धुएं मे,
शायद आसमान तक आ गयी हूँ ,
तेरी सूनी बाहों के सहारे,
देखो कहाँ तक आ गयी ।


or is it this :

एक अकेली छतरी मे जब आधे आधे भीग रहे थे,
आधे गीले आधे सूखे सूखा तो मैं ले आई थी ।
गीला मन शायद बिस्तर के पास पड़ा हो ,
वो भिजवादो मेरा कुछ सामान लौटा दो ।

Gulzar has woven magic in this movie. What a poetry

Posted by :ubuntu at 3:13:00 AM 2 comments  

Nature's Best Photography 2007

I recently found this link on Digg, showcasing the Nature's Best Photography Collector's Edition 2007.

The images are breathtaking and mesmerising.

Nature's Best

Have a look and enjoy.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:55:00 AM 0 comments  

Little Green Book

Morgan Stanley has just launched a green book , giving you 50 tips how you can contribute towards a greener future. Plz have a look and spread the word.

Green Book

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:27:00 AM 1 comments  

Amazing Pic



I found this pic on digg.


This model is wearing a water dress.

This pic is fabulous and nothing cheesy about it. You'll love it.
Atleast I did.
You can find this pic on internet here

Posted by :ubuntu at 5:04:00 AM 3 comments  

Perfect Positions

In photography, position and timing is everything they can make or break your shots ...

I found some interesting pics on digg illustrating this.

swase.com

Enjoy your day.

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:56:00 PM 1 comments  

Mathexxxtics, any takers !!!

I recently come across a book review, title is interesting and I hope book is too

The book is titled Mathematics and Sex

A really weird name and more weird the subject connection, individually both subjects are fascinating :-), but never given a try to read them simultaneously. Let's see if I can get my hands on this one.

More googling churned following link: Google Books

I read few sample chapters here, and it is pretty interesting. It is about analysis of emotional patterns displayed by humans [ whatever that means].

So what are you waiting for , Dive In in the world of mathesextics.

Posted by :ubuntu at 4:34:00 AM 0 comments  

Technocrati

Technorati Profile

Posted by :ubuntu at 2:28:00 AM 0 comments  

Adieu

My sweet friend has left Bangalore for good and moved ahead in life to tie the knot. She will now relocate to Chandigarh.

Here I say adieu to my dear friend as I rejoice 6 wonderful years spent with her.

The day she left Bangalore brought me bad luck , I lost my Zen music player, i guess she was lucky for me.

And this city has started sucking more than ever.

here i recollect a couplet from one of the ghazals of Jagjit Singh from Bhopal Express


तेरे साथ गयी सब रौनक ,
अब इस शहर में रखा क्या है ।

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:58:00 PM 0 comments  

World's First Photographs

I found this link while surfing on the net.

It has world's first photographs ever taken. It's fascinating, have a look.

http://rising.blackstar.com/10-of-the-worlds-photography-firsts.html

ideally i should have posted it on my other blog , but since it is not very active, i posted it here

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:25:00 AM 2 comments  

People - Like?

I have come up with an original classification of humans not to be found in any
Org-Behav/Psychology/Sociology book.

This one has originally been derived on the basis of my experiences with my life and outside world. So here it is :

Humans can be categorised as follows:

  1. Those who can work hard.
  2. Those who can spend money.
  3. Those who can do neither.
A sub category of 2nd type can be people who are lucky.

I'm sorry to say but in 80% cases I fall in third category.

Never try to be in 3rd category, life will turn harsh on you and things will not just seem to fall in place.

Posted by :ubuntu at 5:06:00 AM 1 comments  

MS Live Labs - Listas

Just got to know about this site from MS. Here you can create your own lists on anything, but don't know what's new about the concept. I have created three quick lists here to share it with others. One of the list I have kept as public R/W, so you are free to add up your entries (but don't do it for sake of doing it). I'll expand them as and when i find stuff and willingness to do so.

You can access my lists here My Listas


:-) Enjoy till then

Posted by :ubuntu at 1:22:00 AM 0 comments  

TDIL CoILNET initiative

My friend VKC posted a blog on Panchatantra and was searching for its stories in Hindi. So I thought of doing some R&D on this. I in my earlier post mentioned about the Betaal Pachisi available on the internet.

And what I come across can be called serendipity.

I personally being a seeker of hindi literature on the internet was unaware of this initiative (sorry to say) .

Ministry of IT has launched TDIL project for in 1991-1992.

This snippet has been taken from TDIL site


The Department of Information Technology initiated the TDIL (Technology
Development for Indian Languages) with the objective of developing Information
Processing Tools and Techniques to facilitate human-machine interaction without
language barrier; creating and accessing multilingual knowledge resources; and
integrating them to develop innovative user products and services.


TDIL under CoIL-NET (Content Development in Indian Language Network) project of IGNCA is developing a digital library for hindi literature. Hindi folklares are being digitised and stored here.

Also IGNCA has another project Kalasampada dedicated to digitisation of Indian Arts.
TDIL has undertaken various other initiatives. Do visit the website.

This is a great initiative from Ministry of Comm & IT (MCIT) and should be endorsed at all levels.

Reminds me of my college prof Sanjay Goel, who had worked in IGNCA under such a initiative and he use to share his experiences with us.

Visit the digital library here http://tdil.mit.gov.in/CoilNet/IGNCA/welcome.html



On a different note , I have just finished reading the book KaoBoys of RA&W.

It's a wonderful book giving you an insight over the functioniong of RA&W.
Everyone should read this book to have an idea of the role and functioning of RA&W and IB and their importance in security of India. This books written by B. Raman has his memories during his 27 years of service in RAW.

It gives you an insider's on various events like Operation Blue Star, assasination of Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi, khalistani movement in Punjab and demolition of Babri Masjid.

One thing which really pinches you is the favourtism shown by USA to Pak and not declaring it a state sponsor of terrorism. Inspite of ample evidences given by RAW to CIA w.r.t to the involvement of ISI on Indian soil, CIA has been refuting the charges and avoiding declaring Pak as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Please read this book as it enlightens you on the hidden areas of national security.

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:15:00 PM 1 comments  

Water, Water Everywhere

I found this pic while surfing Flickr. An amazing freeze by camera lens. What a macro photography.

Water Drops



I cant wait to buy my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi




Posted by :ubuntu at 4:36:00 AM 3 comments  

Five continents,Seven seas

Today my blog has been hit by all five continents of the world (thats what my ClustrMap shows).
Time to rejoice :-)

I haven't posted much since a long time (running short of thoughts and time). Nothing much going this side of the life.

I have recently bought an album by Harivanshrai Bachchan having his selected fourteen poems given voice by Big B.
Some collections are wonderful.....

I'm posting here a couplet i really liked

....


यह माना मैंने खुदा नहीं मिल सकता है लंदन की धन जोवन गर्वीली
गलियों में ,यह माना उसका ख्याल नहीं आ सकता पेरिस की रसमय रातों की रंगीली
रंगरलियों में ,
जो शायर को है शाने खुदा उसमें तुम को शैन्तानी गोरख धंदा
दिखलाई देता,

पर शेख भुलावा
दो उनको जो भोले हैं,

तुम ने कुछ ऐसा गोलमाल कर रखा था, अपने घर में ही नहीं ख़ुदा का राज़ मिला,

मैंने तो काबे का हज कर के भी देख लिया ।

...

-- हरीवंश राए बच्चन

Posted by :ubuntu at 4:04:00 AM 3 comments  

Microsoft Tafiti

To quote a blogger, this is what he pasted:

If you’re looking for a search engine that requires a plug-in, disables your
back button, won’t allow you to right-click URLs to copy them, needs pop-ups
enabled, and doesn’t let you use your mouse wheel to scroll, look no further
than Tafiti.


Tafiti, (you will need SilverLight installed on your m/c for viewing) which means "do research" in Swahili, is the latest development from Microsoft.

It's a new search tool built on top of Live Search and uses Microsoft's SilverLight technology.

And it's a typical MS product, it's the best in what MS is known best to do:User Interface

and not so good in which MS is known to for incompetency:functionality

It has a great GUI, innovative drag and drop save search facility and then a tree view of your search results. You can, through a slider, change the number of leaves in the tree, stripping the results in the order of importance, rotate the tree to see all sides. A nice set of rotating icons, let you oscillate your search b/w web,blogs,books,photos etc.

It's a search tool to play with, but when it comes to finding your search results in .65 seconds flat, no one can beat Google.

As a test I searched 21bakerstreet on Google as well as tafiti, Google took me to my blog, but tafiti could not even search for it :-(

So for me it is a good tool to admire technology and kill yourself from boredom, but when it comes to fast search , let there be Google.

So be it Yahoo! Mindset or Tafiti, long live the Google.

As far as SilverLight is concerned, it's a great technology. You can view a demo site which uses SilverLight: SilverLight Demo

On a different note, i came across a site : YMII (Your Man in India) , it's growing to be a popular site among NRIs. They undertake your works, saving you precious time. You can outsource your data filling jobs, writing emails, meeting someone in India, on your behalf, they will shop for you, will take your friends for sight seeing, whatever you want.

so, that's all to write as of now.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:14:00 AM 1 comments  

Books as of now

I have finished reading

iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business


It is a marvellous book about the life of Steve Jobs, he is a man of substance.
This book is an unofficial biography of the man, and his quest of power, how is thrown form his own company and later makes a comeback.

He in the process founds two more companies NExT and Pixar and how his fortunes takes him on a roller coaster ride. Being a ardous follower of Zen and a strict veggie, he often projected himself as a harsh fellow, disrespecting people's love for non-veg.

This book nrrates many anecdotes of his life and is a must for every bibliophile.

Steve Jobs was the most shrewd manager one can have, employees in Apple stopped using the elevator which he use to use, for the fear of losing their jobs by the time they exit from the elevator.

I simply loved this book and will recommend this to everyone.

Presently I'm eyeing the book
The KaoBoys of R&AW by B Raman


The book is on the author's memory lane while he was in R&AW and i have heard this book reveals quite a few astonishing facts.

My flatmate purchased it and once he finishes it i'll grab it.

I'll surely post about this also once I finish it.


:-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 9:41:00 AM 3 comments  

Co-incidence [Twice]

This has happened with me before, but when it happened second time, i thought I'll post this with a pray in my mind that my good luck (in some things) does not ceases after me telling this to the world.This use to happen in mythological tales that if a person bestowed upon by a benign wish happened to share it with the people , the magic use to cease ...

OK , enough blabbering now to the point ..

On Saturday I planned for the movie Chak De India with my friend. The tickets were not available for the 10 am show in INOX (multiplex in B'lore) and only few were available for 12:30 show, I got this insider info :-)

But still we decided to try for 12:30 show , so it was decided I will do to INOX early and my friend will come there directly.

So I left my home early 9:30 am.

On the way I discovered a new Murphy's Law :

When you are in a desperate hurry to reach a place, your auto rickshaw will stop at every single (yes each and every) traffic light on the way.


So I reached theater at 10:05 am. The tickets were still available for 12:30 show but were showing fast filling ....
Queue was long but I got in ....no other option ..

By the time I reached the counter the tickets were over, so now nothing left to do...

I told my friend about the tragedy and was waiting .... and then magic happened ...

Two boys approached me and asked me whether I want 2 tickets of Chak De India for 12:30 show, they were not black tickters, two boys who had cancelled their plan.
So I got 2 tickets of the movie for the show i was looking for ....
This thing happened to me before when I went to see Cheeni Kum with my friends , the tickets were over by the time we reached theater, then a guy approached me asking me whether I want 5 tickets for Cheeni Kum , so exactly same number of tickets for exactly the same show I was looking for .

So all things went fine. The movie was great, good to see SRK in a non-glamorous role.

That's it, that was how my Saturday flew.

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:43:00 PM 2 comments  

Belated Happy Anniversary

Belated 1st Happy Anniversary to my blog and a belated happy b'day to me

Wanted to post this on 7Th July, but could not do it.

Q. So how it feels to complete one year in the blogger park
A. I'm feeling glad that I was able to keep my blog alive in this jungle for one year. It seems to be a thing of yesterday when I started blogging.
Learnt many things on the way, my posts speak of thou things.
Along the journey, removed all ads from my template, just felt am being too money minded :-)

Added lot of feeds to my reader,stumbled upon many great blogs and so forth.

Let's hope I'll keep writing more, actually, past few weeks I'm short of ideas.

On a different note, finished reading The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini, an amazing book, you can't stop yourself to finish it first.
I'll recommend everyone to read it, it's kind of different.
Now in a process of reading iCon, unofficial biography of Steve Jobs, this too is a great book which teaches you, you need not be fair and honest to be great :-)

Then new book of Khalid Hosseini is on the block ; A Thousand Splendid Suns, eyeing it as my next target as soon as I get my hands on it (by hook or by crook :) )

And recently was gifted The Mahabharata by Badrinath Chaturvedi, the heaviest book in my collection by one of my friends.
Its adaptation of Mahabharata in today's times.

Another book on the anvil is Shashi Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel, again linking Mahabharata to modern India

So lots of reading pending, lets see where it all takes you.

Looking for a splendid new year ahead - Amen

Posted by :ubuntu at 2:22:00 AM 2 comments  

Jikes- A new java compiler

I found this new java compiler on the net, earlier supported by IBM.
This is a cool new compiler and better than javac in someways.

Jikes is claimed to be a much faster compiler than javac. They have listed 5 benefits of using Jikes instead of javac .

Incremental compilation is one of them. Incremental compilation is what IDE's do to your code, its compiling your code everytime file is modified. So u'll catch errors as you type them.

Another advantage is it gets rid of somtimes annoying stacktraces. Instead it points out errors line number wise and points to the position where error occurs and gives a verbal description of it. A cool feature.

So why we need a different compiler when IDE's give much better support for this.

I'll recommend this not for professionals who work on IDE env. It is a good thing for all java beginners who want to try something new and nice.

In my personal opinion you should not jump into IDE mode in the beginning, first dirty your hands with console application development, understand nuances of classpaths and paths and then later go in a IDE mode.

:-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:22:00 AM 4 comments  

Quite Imaginative

Recently came across a blog by a Indian in New York. He has written a series of conversations with God. He calls them Celestial conversation. I must say this guy is quite imaginative.
The series is really hilarious and a wonderful read. I urge everyone to read the series.

Celestial Conversation

There are 27 conversations and follow a connection, so read from the first.

Hats- off to this guy.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:13:00 AM 1 comments  

Life passes by

I have come back to my old template and will make it full of side links as before. WAIT. Give me time.

Life passes by as you sit by the window and stare to the outside world.

Haven't written any thing good here simply because i did not have a topic. Nor do I have now.

Life is simply passing by professional as well as personal. Nothing "happening" happening in life.
This weekend was a boring one except of Sunday evening when I was given a gift voucher of 3days/2 nights stay for six people for Lonavala/Kodaikanal.
Hoping this to be the best trip with my friends before we finally split in maybe 7-8 months more.
Memories are there forever to cherish, people are not.

Just remembered a couplet from Atal Vajpayee Ji's poem :

इन्सान ही ऐसा प्राणी है जो भीड़ में खुद को तन्हा और तन्हाई में खुद को भीड़ से घिरा पाता है

Happens with me lots of times but only the former part. I don't know why I suddenly go into a shell without any reason Sometimes wonder do i like to do so, have I started enjoying silence, I have always loved silence.

But then something strikes my mind, isn't life what you want you want it to be. If I go into my own world, its my choice, if I will make a earnest effort
to be cheerful, life will also be charming. But in spite of all this gyaan why it happens I still tend to retreat in a world of my own.

Still figuring out where life wants to take me.

And am I coming to my old habit of ISLF

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:00:00 AM 3 comments  

The future !!!

Guys , this is the best thing i have seen. Have a look.

MS Surface

its amazing what technology can do for us.

After plug and play, its touch and play

Posted by :ubuntu at 2:27:00 AM 1 comments  

My Blog is worth ???

My Blog is worth:


My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?




So any takers !!!!

And my friend recently pointed out a blunder in my blog .
Sherlock Holmes address is 221b Baker Street and not 21 Baker Street as I assumed in my blog URL, the very identity of my URL is in jeopardy ..... :-(
Some one help.
I'll change the URL but then I'll have to inform everyone, so me thinking to keep it like this only.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:18:00 AM 2 comments  

New Theme

I have put a new theme on my blog. Got this one from a blog while surfing the net.
You can find the link at the footer of my blog page. I haven't removed it to acknowledge the work done by the person. Please who ever puts the theme from that blog, do not edit the footer. Respect IP

Looks really cute to me. So for the mean while i will keep this new theme until i see Shrek the third.
The cons of this, i have lost all my custom widgets i built up, but i guess i can build them again.

Till then praise my new theme. :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 7:18:00 AM 3 comments  

Memories

Last night I tried an experiment along with my friend। I asked him to scroll his phone list and count how many people are there whom he wants to call right now, as in a feeling from inside says "चलो आज उस से बात करते हैं" . Surprisingly we both came up with two names each from some 70-80 odd names.

This is how I called up my cousin. We have not met since past one and a half year and whenever we meet we usually have a lot to talk, nothing pre-decided, just impromptu.
It was great talking to him. He is Delhi and we generally don't contact each other much often, don't know why, both have each other's phone number but still ??.

We talked about each other's lives, pulled each other's legs and commented on how serious each one have grown and could gauge from each one's voice.

  1. How easy it is to let time seep in through your relationships and make them feel afar
  2. How easy it is to avoid this but still we don't, how long it takes to call a friend each month, but still we could/do not
  3. How easy it is to get nostalgic about the past
  4. How easy it is to make you feel that you both have come a long way and things have changed when none of you intended to do so


Still struggling to understand the nuances of life,
Still struggling to digest that only change is constant.

Posted by :ubuntu at 10:43:00 AM 1 comments  

The great Indian Psychology


DISCLAIMER: I am not targetting non-Hindi speaking sections of society. I have written my own views and people may differ with these. I have no intention of imposing my views on anyone.

Couple of days back I received a mail from my friend Asty who had started a Hindi blog। The mail was sent only to three people and he wrote “... not many people may be interested so just forwarding to you three …”

Either he got the fact right or wrong, I think he got it right.
How many people in metro cities are interested in Hindi literature now days? I am considering only middle and upper pseudo modern and neo-modern Indian classes. Lower/modern Indian classes don’t have time for reading.

I have personally experienced negligence towards Hindi literature in my home town. Couple of years back I visited a Hindi book exhibition in my home town, and while I was standing in a stall the shopkeeper (a man in his late 60’s, appearing to be learned) was conversing with a customer and stating his disappointment that not even 50% of his expected crowd has turned up. Later I found a customer complaining that books are expensive and shopkeeper told him, Hindi books are very cheap compared to English books and when you can buy English books readily, why you are complaining in buying these. Then I realized the status of Hindi literature in Indian cities.

I still don’t understand the Great Indian Mentality. As we are modernizing we are leaving our past behind, it’s good to leave your past in order to catch the future, we cannot run fast with heavy baggage on our back. But the important think to understand is when going in a expedition, we cannot go baggage less, we ought to have certain necessary items with us to survive, and what is even more important is to pick the right items and discard unnecessary ones, this is what I think we Indians need to learn. As we are modernizing we are leaving behind our culture and values.

Presently I am reading “यथा संभव ” by शरद जोशी . शरद जोशी is an eminent name in Hindi satire. I simply love his stories. It was at the above mentioned exhibition I first bought his one of the book, since then was searching for his other books but in vain. Finding Hindi literature in Bangalore is out of question. Worst part is that I could not even find them in my hometown. I visited two three good book shops but futile. One of the shopkeepers had not even heard the name of शरद जोशी . On the name of Hindi literature they keep couple of novels by प्रेमचंद as if he is the only source of Hindi literature. Yes I agree he is the best, we should promote other literary works too.
Hindi lovers must read शरद जोशी , you all will love it.

My taste for Hindi literature developed at home when I was in 12th. My father had got couple of novels by प्रेमचंद and I just gave it a try as there was nothing else for me to read those days, and guess what the first Hindi novel I picked was the masterpiece “गोदान ” by प्रेमचंद . From that point onwards I became a true fan of प्रेमचंद . Then it was “निर्मला ”, “गबन ” etc. Still have to read his entire collection.

While I was in college, got a chance to read “गुनाहों का देवता ” by धर्मवीर भारती [courtesy- Asty], a yet another masterpiece. By then I had developed a true taste for Hindi literature. Then came शरद जोशी and my faith rose further. Presently I am reading a collection of essays by प्रेमचंद and loving it।


I have formed an opinion that if you have a favorite author, you must read his essays if available, then you get the real feel of his mindset.

Now the situation is I feel more connected to Hindi literature than with English literature, given a choice between a Hindi novel and an English novel, I’ll definitely pick up former.
One reason is I understand Hindi language better than English; I can connect better with author’s thoughts in Hindi, probably that’s why.

I know people who cannot read Hindi properly, even I am ashamed that I feel hesitant to write Hindi and don’t know remember all Hindi alphabets, but experience is the best teacher, now at least I know what mistakes need not be repeated.

It’s always been this why Indians have always realized it late what they have, why it is that outside world tells them and then they realize what they have.



  • Buddhism originated in India and outside world adopted it

  • Vedas still have not found a place they deserve.

  • आयुर्वेद is struggling for its existence.

  • We have forgotten भागवत गीता

  • मधुबनी paintings are being sold by foreigners in lakhs [as told by VKC]

  • Turmeric and basmati rice are getting patented by foreign companies



List is too long and I’m getting angrier and angrier.
When will we realize that our heritage is one of the best in the world?

Other day I was with my cousin and he remarked Indians are hypocrites, sex is still a taboo subject in our country and yet we have largest population in the world. I have read कामसूत्र by वात्स्याना and am not ashamed; the book is not even 30% about sex। It deals with a varied subjects ranging from behavioral expectations from husbands, wives, kings, queens, widows. It deals with infidelity, punishments for it;

We Indians are in a too much hurry to form opinions.

Don’t say I have a dirty mind, I read whatever I get. I have गीता too in my collection; I have seen गीता episodes many times.
It is not what you read that is important; it is what you become after reading it what matters.

OK now I am ending this or someone will sue me for the content.

This may sound as a criticism, and yes it is. I am an Indian and am proud of it.
I believe India is the greatest country in the world. Its culture, heritage is the best. Every Indian should be proud of it. But keeping up with the legacy is the challenge for today’s generation.

Good news for some people – See Do Visit section of my blog. It has a link to मुंशी प्रेमचंद ; this blog has short stories from this author and a novel too.


We need some efforts like this. My well wishes to person who undertook this effort
Also explore other links to Hindi literature from the same section.

Posted by :ubuntu at 6:47:00 AM 11 comments  

Life As I see It


एक रोज़ ज़िन्दगी के रूबरु आ बैठे ,
ज़िन्दगी ने पूछा दर्द क्या है, क्यों होता है? कहाँ होता है ये भी तो पता नहीं चलता
तन्हाई क्या है आखिर, इतने लोग तो हैं फ़िर तन्हा कयों हो?
मेरा चेहरा देख कर ज़िन्दगी ने कहा मैं तुम्हारी जुड़वाँ हूँ, मुझसे नाराज़ ना हुआ करो
- Gulzar

Mood: Philosophical

These are the most apt lines I found to describe my current feelings towards life.

Staying at home was pleasant as always is. Met my sister and brother-in-law, relatives etc. One good thing I did at home was to scan all my old family pics, got a scanner on rent and scanned almost all the pics at home, it was an idea of my brother-in-law and I'm thankful to him. It was great to see the old pics again including my parents wedding album and some of their pre-marriage pics.

But since coming from home, i have gone into a contemplating mode, my mind has become a churning machine spatting all kind of junks, i have turned a semi philosopher ... My two best and beautiful friends are moving and i have already started feeling the void they'll leave behind in my life.

Somethings are hard to believe, when u have spent six years with some one and shared a special bond then it is obvious you'll miss them. Only change is constant [i usually forget it, but this is the ultimate truth of life], how easy things will be if man remembers this. I always have had confusion over few things, never understood whats right or wrong.

One thing I have learnt is life is grey and not black and white. Its unfair on YOUR part to expect people to behave same with you over the years and that leads to the thought "never expect in relationships and u will be happy" .. and you will really be happy if you follow this, this is the reason western people are so forward, no expectations, divorce is a common thing there, no issues, no grudges, children leave their parents at an early age and maybe that's why teenage crimes are high there, social fabric of West has a different color and texture than that of East. In India as i see it, society does play an important role "No man is an isle", I read it in my 10th class poem, I understand it now. Whats important to consider is what do we have achieved by expecting from relationships, its the values which matter to me at the end of the day. And I personally believe a relationship cannot grow without expectations. Its a trade off, either be happy and live a hollow life or enrich your relationships and taste the real flavour of life.
I just don't understand why we Indians are losing our values? What are we chasing?

Social fabric in India is very strong and dominating , its like imaginary ether permeating every sphere of your life, and if you feel suffocating, your problem. I remember telling my mom when I was in college that I don't at all care about society, what I care about is only those people I love, to hell with everyone else, I'm still standing by this but now there's 1% doubt in my believe, let me see how much dilute it gets over time.

Here in s/w industry, we organise knowledge transfers for less privileged ones, but who will give me a KT of what my parent's know and I don't. My father knows his relatives up to 4th degree, and I don't know even half of my 2nd degree relatives. He knows how an X person living in Y area of the town is related to W person from Z area, simple two people in their respective generations married each other at some point of time, whats difficult to figure out is hows our generation related to above two generations.

There is one more thing I could never decide on , William Wordsworth said "Good walls make good neighbours", i never could decide how true it is .. some one help me. Its perfectly OK to give people their space but whats the limit, I'm confused. Then there is something called trust, my friend penned her thoughts on , read here.

Ending this post abruptly coz don't know what to write more. Sometimes it happens I just don't feel like doing anything, I sometimes enjoy being alone with mother nature.

Life is beautiful yet complex or is it the other way :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 3:55:00 AM 8 comments  

Little Miss Sunshine

Saw this movie two weeks back, and my rating 5 on 5. Well i went to purchase tickets for the movie "Just Married" for me and my friends and had 3 hours to spare, so went to see this movie and I'm glad i saw it. I'll tell you a funny incident inside the hall. When I took my seat, I saw pair of nice waxed legs in the front diagonal jutting out of shorts. I immediately leaned forward to have a better view, was thinking what a bold girl she is and wanted to see her face, then after 15-20 minutes when the person leaned forward, he was an adolescent boy, [darn, i forgot adolescents too have waxed legs], it could be due to insufficient light i was not able to distinguish properly [it could also be I haven't seen Nishabd, so is not very experienced]. So moral of the story: assumption is mother of all **** ups.

OK back to the movie, this is not a movie review, as i don't know a single actor's name or director's name. I could not find any bad points in the movie, so I'm listing only the good ones.

This is about a family whose members have their own problems[ serious ones] and still all of them stay together. This is one of those rare movies where there is no exceptional acting from the stars but the script is so good and firm it holds the entire film and sails you through it.
The family has a Grandpa, father,mother,mother's brother, daughter[Olive][she is really cute] and a son.

The traits are:
Grandpa : takes heroin and talks dirty
Father : designed a new 9 step "failing to refuse" course and is obsessed with the feeling of winning.
Mother : Just tries hard to keep everyone together
Son : wants to get into Air Force academy and has taken a vow of silence until he gets into it.
Mother's Brother : just arrived from hospital after he attempted a suicide and instructed not to be left alone.
Daughter [Olive] : She is a darling in the movie, very cute and going for "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant.

The family goes to California for Olive to participate in the beauty pageant.

The story is about what all happens during their journey ( i wont reveal the plot), each member during the journey goes through a disaster and still manages to reach for the competition.
The plot is so good you never feel bored, humour is great and movie gets poignant at times.

Some scenes are really touching specially when little Olive cries in front of her Grandpa because she is worried of losing and knows how much her father hates losers. This shows the stress somethings can put on little children if not taken care of. Some sequences are hilarious like the way their van starts, the fuss over ice cream and my favourite is when Olive finally performs in the competition.

The crux is its more important to be a part of a family rather than being alone.

Go ahead and watch this movie, 2 thumbs up to it.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:41:00 AM 2 comments  

Microsoft Re-Designs the Ipod Packaging

This video I saw a year back,
and had posted a link to it in my first post, now i thought its better to post the video directly
Enjoy

Posted by :ubuntu at 2:43:00 AM 2 comments  

Funny One Liners


Just got these from a community on orkut [ya i'm active on orkut these days], so thought lets spread them a few more miles ..here goes

  • People treat you exactly how you train them to.
  • Smile. Keep everyone confused.
  • My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it is gone.
And here's my fav :

I married Miss Right. I just didn't know her first name was Always.

LOL

Posted by :ubuntu at 10:22:00 PM 3 comments  

Taking a much wanted break

So finally i'm taking a break from this sucking life schedule.
But the only concern is mother nature.
Yesterday my roommate boarded the flight for Delhi from Bangalore and today morning he is back in Bangalore. The flight took off from Bangalore( no need to mention, it was delayed), but could not land in Delhi due to fog. Instead the flight landed in Hyderabad, and from there he came back to Bangalore.

So naturally I'm scared and worried, to add to this I have luggage of two bags.
Let us all pray for the best.

Good news is its sort of winter in the valley, so i'll enjoy my days.
I just hope it lands in Delhi and in worse case in Chandigarh (instead of Hyderabad).

So what will I do at home (did I mention earlier I'm going home). My sole agenda will be to visit places in and around Doon with my family, yes my sister has also come from US.
And of course the charm of driving the car will always be there (traffic in Doon hasn't reached that point where driving a four wheeler is a curse, unlike in Bangalore).

Wish me luck.
Flying kisses to all who will pray for my smooth journey :-)

Btw visit the site imagini.net. What I liked most is theway they have symbolized lifestyles with pics. Have a look at my Visual DNA(thats what they call it)

Posted by :ubuntu at 1:12:00 AM 4 comments  

Open Source Cola

This one is interesting.

What can u think of when it comes to open source : s/w which is free and comes with its source code.

Ok , think beyond.. anyother guesses?

Change your paradigm !!

Just came across a blog mentioning about open source cola, its called Open Cola.
Check out this :
Open Source Cola

Well so the open source revolution is here to affest your daily lives too :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 1:46:00 AM 2 comments  

I'm getting nostalgic


"tere saath gayi sab raunak, ab is sheher main rakha kya hai"

I'm missing home; I’m missing ‘The Valley’.

Dehradun is a valley with Himalayas on the east and Shiwaliks on the west. Mussouri is a popular hill station complementing Dehradun.

Shimla has witnessed highest snowfall in 100 years. As a result Mussouri and Dhanaulti (nearby place to Mussouri) have also witnessed snowfall this winter; it is not often that Dhanaulti receives snowfalls.
Now Dehradun will face gusts of cold winds blowing from Mussouri until snow melts in the hills.

This is the ideal time to fly kites, there will be constant flow of winds from the hills and anyone can learn to fly kite in this season. I remember I learnt it in this season, the winds blow at pretty good speed, so you have to put minimum effort to fly a kite.

Dehradun is witnessing rains since last week; here in Bangalore I have forgotten how the earth smells in rains. It’s occasional here to rain, neither monsoons nor retreating monsoons.
Winter rains in Dehradun are a nuisance. It showers the whole day, it’s not a stormy heavy rain, just a drizzle but will continue for hours. The clouds get stuck between the hills and give showers to the valley, this is the reason for long showers in the valley. The longest duration I have witnessed the rains is 72 hours non stop.
My uncle says he has witnessed it for five days non stop in his times.

Winters in the valley are much different from that of NCR region. Unlike winters of NCR region, Sun does shines in the valley, in fact it is impossible to sit in the Sun outside at noon, sky is too clear and sparkling blue and Sun burns in its full glory. It’s hot during day and cold during the nights and mornings. Temperature in the nights goes as low as one degree Celsius.
But at least your clothes dry in winters unlike NCR where you don’t see the Sun for days. Effectively winter in the valley reduces to 15 hours/day.

I remember the period of my pre board vacations from school. My parents use to go to school and I and my sister use to stay at home and study, what a study it was. I use to go up on the terrace and study until I use to go to sleep [time span was anywhere between 15 min to 30 min]; climate was perfect to induce sleep, not my fault.
Then use to wake up after two hours only to find my parents have arrived.

I use to shuttle inside and outside in winters, rooms were very cold and I was very lazy to pull a blanket or a quilt while watching TV during the day, could not remain inside for more than 30 minutes, then use to rush to terrace for warmth, couldn’t stay in Sun for more than 30 minutes, again use to rush down to cool myself, I use to feel like a cold blooded animal in those times.

It was one such winter morning when I was responsible for a mass killing of six lives and frankly my conscience did not prick me too much for it. My father had bought two rum bottles having six fishes in them, from an outsider seller claiming these are exotic species. He brought them home; I was amazed to see how these fishes swim in such a small area. The plan was to get a bigger fish bowl and transfer the fishes in it. The next morning my mother told me to put the bottles in sunlight so that fishes can feel good [but mind you, not in direct sunlight]. So I happily put the bottles on my terrace in direct sunlight and went to sleep (as usual), when I woke up, the fishes had died due to the heating up of water, yes all six of them.
I kept wandering what to do next, I immediately put the bottles in the shade, hoping this might revoke the effect on fishes, but they were dead. After that day I vowed not to buy fishes/aquarium for myself.

These are my memories of winters in the valley.
Yes I’m missing my morning tea mom use to give me while I use to sit inside my cozy quilt.
I’m going home in March, but winters by then will be gone, just an impression will be left.

And have I told you about the summers in the valley.
Next time … :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 6:15:00 AM 2 comments  

Thank You God

SO finally I thank GOD.

Ten month old trauma has finally ended. My refund amout has arrived from Air Sahara.

I must have called their CC at an avg rate of once per two weeks :
No. of calls = 1*[10(months)*4(weeks)/2] = 20 calls
no i think i called them many more times, mistake in maths :-)

Please dont cancel your tickets on Air Sahara, they'll do everything on earth to give u sleepless nights.
Oh GOD thanks for the refund :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 5:30:00 AM 2 comments  

Baghdad Burning !!!

i recently read a blog : Baghdad Burning.
This blog was given some award, I guess Best Middle East Blog (not sure), so must be quite popular by now.

It is really well written, by this I don't mean language or presentation, I mean it's a blog by common girl giving us a peek into day to day life in Iraq, no beurocratic discussions, no gory stuff, no racism, just plain daily life narration. You can actually empathise with Iraqis after reading this.

One particular touching excerpt from a post goes like this:

"... Here we come to the end of 2006 and I am sad. Not simply sad for the state of the country, but for the state of our humanity, as Iraqis. We've all lost some of the compassion and civility that I felt made us special four years ago. I take myself as an example. Nearly four years ago, I cringed every time I heard about the death of an American soldier. They were occupiers, but they were humans also and the knowledge that they were being killed in my country gave me sleepless nights. Never mind they crossed oceans to attack the country, I actually felt for them.

Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now. Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue.

Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so.
..."


Do visit it. Listed also under Do Visit section of my blog [left side]

Posted by :ubuntu at 1:15:00 AM 1 comments  

My experiments with ???

Hello everyone, well this post is about my new blog at Wordpress.
I wanted to explore wordpress blogging service too (heard, it's better than blogger).
So I created a new bog and dedicated it to my love for photography.
Can't start a new blog on my ramblings, so i thought why not d something interesting.
This blog will have all my photography related posts in future, my experiences, tips, links to interesting pics etc. I have migrated few posts from here too.

But this blog will take time to grow and i will only post good pics on this blog (which i don't doubt will turn into better ones with time).

The header will feature photographs by me and will keep changing.

So without taking a break let me redirect you to my new blog: veni,vedi,vici

I request you to please add this link too on your blogrolls.

Let me see if I can maintain two blogs at a time without risking the hits on each one :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 5:44:00 AM 1 comments  

Start Healthy,Wake Up

Yesterday, got to know about a documentary film about ill effects of junk food from my friend Ankur. This was nominated for Academy Awards Best Documentary Film.

See the wikipedia link below: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me

It's really shocking to see how people can twist things for their own profits.

I have stopped drinking Pepsi and Coca Cola, long time back and urge pple too to stop getting fooled and live a healthy lifestyle.

As my new year resolution, i'm going to gym everyday (as long as I have the opportunity). So I wake up early morning at 5:30 to catch 6:15 a.m. bus to office. Could have done this in the evening but can't let go of my snooker sessions. Its really a pain sometimes to get out from under your cozy blanket and leave the bed, specially when you sometimes sleep at 12:30 at night.
But got to live up to my resolutions, i have heard it improves ur self image :-)

So long live the resolutions

Posted by :ubuntu at 5:26:00 AM 2 comments  

Mind Blowing

I would die to shoot such pics, how do these guys capture such pics.
Thats why I love photography.

View each and every photo here :-)

http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0107/je0107-1.html

Posted by :ubuntu at 6:28:00 AM 1 comments  

Photologue








These are some of the pics from Pondicherry, a gr8 experience for all of us

from top in order:

1. Me at sea shore in Pondicherry
2. My frnd, hungry at 6 a.m in the morning
3. Shore Temple in Mahabalipuram en route to Pondicherry
4. Shore Temple and us
5. Pandav Rath in Mahabalipuram (its a monolithic architecture)
6. :-)
7. Elephant at Ganesha Temple in Pondicherry




Posted by :ubuntu at 12:00:00 AM 1 comments  

Probably Jaya feels the same

I found this on ibn blogs written by Somen Mishra.
First I thought to post the poem here, but then its no better than plagiarism, even if I acknowledge the author. So the link instead.

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/somenmishra/31/30199/aur-phir-.html#

My friend Jaya is shifting to B'lore and I thought this might capture her current mood. :-)

Posted by :ubuntu at 11:41:00 PM 2 comments  

My new year eve

How about this - no work on the first day of office this year.

I’m back to Bangalore (it sucks) after spending the New Year in Pondicherry (Pudducherry).
It is a lovely place, nothing extra ordinary but a serene place.

The punch line is apt - Pondicherry : Give time a break.

One thing you start appreciating while living in Bangalore is the scarcity of crowd. You start loving the places which are less crowded (be it anywhere). We stayed there in Ashram’s guest house; you won’t believe it at only twenty rupees per head per day. Thanks to ‘Gullu Uncle’. He is an ashramite and a jolly person. He accompanied us on our sight seeing tour in Pondi.
It was awesome to bath at the beach, and we didn’t go to a popular commercial beach, couldn’t get tickets for the boat which was supposed to carry us to the island. Instead we chose an ordinary beach next to a fisherman colony. There were just us on the beach so gave us the feeling of privacy. First time I tasted the sea water (too salty).
The main beach of Pondi has been converted to a rocky beach post tsunami. So we had a privilege to visit both type of beaches.
But I couldn’t see the sunrise (sunset of course not, as the ocean is on the east). On the last day I got up at five to shoot the moment, only to find it’s too early for the sun rise, and then went to the beach at around six with my friend, only to find clouds on the horizon. I had taken my camera to shoot the moment, but could take snaps only after sun had risen from the sea bed, but it was not bad at all. We sat there for one hour enjoying the waves splashing on the rocks. It was wonderful to acknowledge the vastness of the ocean and seeing the waves forming and splashing. It was beautiful.
Overall our stay in Pondi was awesome, for we saw something new and thanks to our gracious and wonderful hosts (thanks to Piyu and family) we enjoyed the stay to the fullest.
While leaving when I thanked ‘Gullu Uncle’, he said ‘gaali de rahe ho’.

Will post the snaps sometime later.

So my resolutions for the New Year.
Not made any, will decide in the due course of time.
Happy New Year.

Posted by :ubuntu at 12:46:00 AM 3 comments