Cauldron bubble

Going Republic

2009-01-26T16:11:00.001+05:30

It was perhaps the best thing that happened to independent India and perhaps the second best that could have happened.

Anyway, as we look into the future, let the sacrifice of great persons like Mr.Tukaram Ombale, today's Ashok Chakra recipient (posthumous), should be the beacon that gives hope and provides the guiding light for Indians to show courage and perform sacrifice for our motherland. It is the need of the hour to save it from internal and external enemies.

Sheer genius

2009-01-19T00:33:00.001+05:30

One of my favorite couplets from Thirukkural.

"Finish your job and enemy completely, for if you leave them unfinished, they will comeback, like an undoused fire, to consume you"
- Thiruvalluvar, 31 BC

Sports in India

2009-01-10T23:23:00.001+05:30

Will you watch a state level sports match ahead of a movie? Even if you start to watch, you will be bored by the quality of play and change the channel in 10 minutes. The media follows the TRP. If it ain’t good, they don’t care.

There are enough State/national level competions going on. We don’t need them more. They don’t seem to be helping us in winning Olympic medals.

In my opinion, what we need are,

world class facilities. By facilities I mean, infrastructure, resources, people (we need coaches, nutritionists, psychologists, masseuses and all kind of support staff). All A-level. World class. I read that Sushil Kumar was massaged by a wrestling federation executive because they didn’t have any support staff at the Olympics. How sad is that? The next Abhinav Bindra should be able to train in India instead of going to Germany.

After that,

exposure to international quality. Arrange for more international meets, tours. Overseas players can come only if you have world class facilities. Our players need to see and be able to work on facilities in other countries, understand other players' work ethic, diet regimen and stuff. It comes only through exposure.

Also,

Identity and groom the special talents.

Once you get the quality up, then more people will watch domestic competitions. Media coverage will follow. Money will pump in. It will all become a self-feeding positive cycle.

After all this happens, we will have top class athletes and there will be some chance of getting a few gold medals regularly starting from 2016. I don’t see them happening anytime soon.

3G...where art thou?

2008-12-09T23:26:00.001+05:30

I am waiting for a real 3G network here. I am actually hoping to see it soon. When other asian countries are implementing 4G, we are drumming with tenders here.

Day by day, the hope, to see a quick implementation, fades. With the spectrum row and all, I honestly think it would take more than a year.

We are used to such laziness and stupidity. Kind of how we are waiting for REAL broadband for years now.

Spoilt or exception?

2008-12-07T00:26:00.001+05:30

I still can't believe I plunked few thousands for a watch. This is more of an impulse buy. I would not do that regularly. I've been wanting a watch for sometime.

I used to spend on impulse while I was in US. Well, at that time I was single and the compensation more than made up for that. Can I afford that kind of lifestyle here, with the degrading economy and all?

The man who saved Pumblesdrop :)

How politicians consider ordinary citizens

2008-12-02T02:40:00.001+05:30

'But for slain major, not even a dog will visit his house'

This was Kerala CM V.S.Achyuthanandan's remarks after he was asked to leave the house by the Late Major Sandeep Unnikrishnanan's father.

Appalling remarks from a statesman, who is supposedly 85 years old. Not in mind. Politics has truly gone to the dogs.

Arms Control in India

2008-11-30T22:20:00.001+05:30

I am rooting for Indian citizens to be able to carry a firearm to protect themselves. Any law abiding citizen should be able to carry a gun for his/her own safety.

This might sound crazy in Indian context but proper arms and anger management training are the need of the hour. Every citizen must be able to protect him/her from these rifle toting maniacs that harmed people of Mumbai.

Here are some quotes from the text I found here.

"Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You'll pull the trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins." -- Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Mafia hit man

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside...Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them..." -- Thomas Paine, Thoughts on Defensive War in 1775

And from the world's gentlest human being:

"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." -- The Dalai Lama, (May 15, 2001, The Seattle Times) speaking at the "Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, Oregon, when asked by a girl how to react when a shooter takes aim at a classmate

Blogging tool - Blogo

2008-11-30T06:45:00.001+05:30

I am posting this from Blogo, which had earlier crashed while using Wordpress but seems to be working fine in Twitter and in Blogger.

Are we waiting?

2008-11-29T00:59:00.000+05:30

What is happening over there in Mumbai is equally shameful as it is a tragedy for our great country. It is tragic for all the lives lost and injuries and panic for unsuspecting innocents.

Shame comes coz some whackos with big bagful of assault machine guns, hand grenades, bomb materials and what not could land in the center of Mumbai and go freely and take down two of the most important hotels in the country.

Agree that terrorist attack could happen anywhere but this is not the first time or even the fifteenth time that this has happened. Fidayeen is one of the oldest forms of attacks modern India has known and handled. They why we don't pro-act and always react?

Probably, we, as a result of a false understanding of our culture, have grown to accept mistakes (rectifiable at that) as a result of fate. This attitude frees us from guilt but can sometimes bring great grievance and we would bring ourselves to be happy about it that everything is for good.

Its not just about terrorism but there are so many atrocities around us. We've been constantly advised by parents, friends, well-wishers to not indulge in any unwanted/sensational takes on politics/religion and look after our own affairs. We continue to accept whatever shit that is being thrown on us.

We don't know how to solve our problems. We have grown weak and soft. We feel that changing the world around us is best left for a messiah or a savior, who probably would come riding in a white horse wielding a sword at the end of the universe. Who is going to save us until then?

Not again

2008-11-27T21:56:00.001+05:30

"...We will ensure this will not be repeated..."

"...We will answer in the strongest possible terms..."

"...No body will be allowed to escape..."

For how long we are going to hear the same lines again and again from the Premier?

Are we dumb? Are we lambs? Does the rulers have any backbone? Shame!!

Photo blogging

2008-11-26T18:46:00.001+05:30

It appears that the software will not upload photo to the blog as I had hoped. It just refers to a online location and if it is available, it will be shown.

I am tempted to think this is a imitation with blogger itself but I had sent picture messages earlier and it had posted successfully. Lets see.

How is photo blogging in Qumana?

2008-11-26T18:42:00.001+05:30

If you see this post properly, then it means it is working fine. Otherwise, one more issue to ponder.

Blog software evaluation continues...

2008-11-26T10:16:00.001+05:30

THe test for a good blogging software is how it handles the WYSIWYG editor. So far, I am not impressed with Qumana in this front. If you see the last post of mine became right aligned even though I had typed it left aligned. Signs of bad software!!

I must say the publishing aspect is somewhat good and easy. As you can see, it also works with Blogger. Today, I also tried blogging through TextMate and it fails on two counts, 1. it does not support blogger yet but that can be forgiven, 2. it does not deal well with Unicode Tamil. The second one is a big letdown since my tamil blog is in Wordpress and I can't use it. So, back to Qumana for a while.

The quest for good looking blog

2008-11-25T23:37:00.001+05:30

I have been looking for a blog application that will let me be at peace with myself while I relish typing my words in beautiful fonts/typefaces more than the content. Ever since I moved over to Mac platform, I am looking for a blog software that will give me a Mac like experience.

Alas! most of the blog world seems to be quite concerned over content than display. Wordpress is good on both counts (form and function), Typepad looks delicious but its costly. Recently, I have compromised myself to look only for a blogging client that will give the Mac like experience. This will provide me the experience I want and in turn can helps me being productive.

This search is seem to be quite tricky. MacJournal is not to my liking. Ecto is good but I believe it costs too much. So is Journaler. So, as of now I am trying out Qumana. It is free and provides some decent interface. At least, I can't complain about the price.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a stealer. I do pay for good software. I've bought loads of apps for my Mac (from big to small) based on need. Its just that I don't seem to find anything good in the blogging software side. Still looking.

Innovation

2008-09-21T22:27:00.001+05:30

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

A comment I found in this site from someone called Jeff adds a nice point. Thank you Jeff.

The Ford quote speaks to all of us who build things for our customers. I heard a better example of what you are trying to say at a training seminar several years ago: A product design guru was working with a design committee at Black and Decker on their new cordless drill. He asked them what their customers wanted and dutifully listed their features on the whiteboard – battery life, ergonomics, torque, variable speed… on and on. When he finished he stepped back and told them they were all wrong. "What do you mean, we have extensive market research…" No, he insisted, their customers buying drills don't want any of those things…. they want to put a hole in something. A nice, probably apocryphal story about thinking outside the box and delivering what the customer really needs. If you don't have your eye on the ball (meeting customers' needs) then you will miss the truly innovative leap – the real leap for Ford was understanding that they didn't want a faster horse, or to get more work done, what they wanted was to get themselves and their stuff from point to point faster and with less work. He solved that need with a mechanical replacement for the horse and wagon.

Ecto

2008-05-18T12:45:00.001+05:30

Ecto is a blog publishing client for Mac OSX.

Marriage invitation

2007-11-17T02:39:00.000+05:30

Dear all,

Sorry for the very short notice. I am getting married to Dr.Sreedevi on 21-Nov-2007 (9-10 AM) at Aarthi Mahal, Kovilpatti. Betrothal is on 20-Nov-2007 after 7 PM at the same place.

Please find the invitation card attached. Kindly treat this as your personal invitation and do plan to attend. I would love to see you.

--
regards,
Ramesh
91-94420-54366

World # 1 Anand - while winning the World Championship

2007-09-30T11:32:00.001+05:30

Prince Raam

2006-08-21T09:57:00.000+05:30

raam
Originally uploaded by Kannappan.

Look at this cool picture. This will make a great appeal to young and the like. I sincerely longed for this kinda fresh lease of life into our religion. Wish a new Ramayana book with these sort of great pictures.

Majesty of the era gone by

2006-03-25T18:12:00.000+05:30

Chennai Kapaleeswarar Kovil RajaGopuram
Originally uploaded by S.Karthikeyan.

Beautiful shot from one of my flickr friends.

You can look at his fotos at,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skarthikn/

Shame on you kolkata

2005-12-01T12:16:00.000+05:30

Almost all of India was shocked at the outrage poured on Indian Cricket Team by the angry mobs at Kolkata. Nearly everyone would have been angered at the arrogance of the things done by the unruly elements there. Just because your son of soil does not find a place in the team, that may be due to poor form, you have created disgrace for the entire nation. Booing the home team and cheering for the visitors is the utmost unpatriotic act you could see in peace time. Every Gary Kirsten commented that such attitude is sad. We don't need such advices but you've made us hear such things. I had always admired the patriotism of the Bengalis. The state has produced so many who sacrified everything for our motherland. I had read one story about the Bengali freedom fighters. It goes as follows,

"One day a Bengali and a Punjabi got into an argument that whose state has produced the highest number of freedom fighters. Both agreed to a contest by which the Bengali would pull a hair from his beard when the Punjabi tells the name of a freedom fighter from his state and vice versa. The person who loses his beard first will be the loser. The game went on with names like Subash, Bhagat Singh etc. Soon the Punjabi found his beard to be growing thin fast. On the verge of defeat, he shouted "Jalian Wala Bagh" and pulled all the hair from the Bengali's beard."

Though it gives good laugh, the story tells us that Bengal has produced more number of martyrs than any other state in India. I had always looked at Bengalis as free thinking, intellectual scholars. The happenings on Friday dented that image. A scholar is one who would hold to his country's pride even on a foreign land. What happened at the Eden Gardens was the exact opposite. Ganguly might have been god to that part of India, but such a shameful act is unacceptable. The rest of India is enraged at the despicable, lowly act. You have brought us shame in the eyes of the world.

Kumarik kandam

2005-11-06T11:04:00.000+05:30

Your best service

2005-11-06T05:27:00.000+05:30

There are times in a nation's history, one work, one aim, to which
everything else, however high and noble in itself, has to be
sacrificed. Such a time has now arrived for our Motherland when nothing
is dearer than her service, when everything else is to be directed to
that end. If you will study, study for her sake; train yourselves body
and mind and soul for her sake. You will go abroad to foreign lands
that you may bring back knowledge with which you may do service to her.
Work that she may prosper. Suffer that she may rejoice. All is
contained in that one single advice.

SRI AUROBINDO

Ancient Indian ship

2005-10-11T11:03:00.000+05:30

A Lionheart

2005-10-10T03:57:00.000+05:30

He is an Indian tribal leader by name Alluri Ramachandra Raju (better known as Alluri Seetharamaraju). He was moved by the plight of adivasis at the hands of British and took to routing the aliens. He was a nightmare to the British during early 1900s. A master of guerilla tactics, he and his tribal team defeated British army in the hilly areas of Godhavari district.

As long as Alluri was alive, British could not hope for success. When he was finally trapped by British at the forest of Chintapalli, Alluri did not offered any resistance because he felt that the British officers were harassing the innocent tribals as a bait to catch him.

A true braveheart. Let you be an inspiration to the young Bharatiyas.

Madurai

2005-10-09T10:59:00.000+05:30

Madurai7
Originally uploaded by phoe6.

Sort of 'encompassing-the-world' look.

Kidney donor (o +ve) needed

2005-10-03T00:16:00.000+05:30

My friend's father has a problem with kidneys and need to change it. If you know or have information about a Kidney donor with O +ve BG, kindly let me know. Please consider this as my personal request to you.

Rita - Update

2005-09-25T21:55:00.000+05:30

Rita has sparred Houston it seems. Nothing much except some rains. We are off to Houston on Monday morning. Officially it is fine if we come back by Wednesday. Hope no looting has taken place and the place is secure. If we hear any news by today that Houston is not secure, then we may postpone the travel by a day or two.

Hurricane Rita

2005-09-23T00:04:00.000+05:30

In anticipation of Rita hitting Houston, govt has issued evacuation order for some parts of Houston. Infy has asked us to evacuate the city until further communication. I am with 5 of my colleagues at San Antonio a nearby city.

We chose to fly here. Yesterday when the flight was leaving Houston, we could see a thick glowing bright red light like laser cutting across the city. Our flight captain announced that is Houstons leaving the city in hundreds and thousands. Yep, they were lights of cars. Sad but amazing sight.

People who preferred to drive are in trouble now. Traffic is almost stand still. Cars are standing bumper-to-bumper for 100 miles, clogging the traffic. It is now taking almost 10 hrs to drive 10 miles.

Rita is supposed to hit on Friday. No idea even we would be safe here. Let us see.

The Joy of Tech

2005-09-15T23:42:00.000+05:30

Joy of Tech

Viva Las Vegas

2005-09-13T01:20:00.000+05:30

"Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire
Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There’s a thousand pretty women waitin’ out there
And they’re all livin’ devil may care
And I’m just the devil with love to spare
Viva las vegas, viva las vegas"

We were rockin' off to Vegas on 3rd September 2005 with those words. When a friend proposed the idea 2 months back, I immediately accepted it. Vegas, a great way to spend I thought. I was warned by a few fellas before the travel that it is the crime capital of the world. God's grace, the trip was entirely smooth and fine. Had a very good time. I always feel happy when I see towns that are alive and kicking in the nights. I loved the night life of Vegas. You can't see anywhere people walking all over the city at 1:00 AM.

Apart from Vegas we also went to Grand Canyon, the valley which speaks about time immemorial. When I watched the IMax film about its hidden secrets, the grandness struck me, I was reminded of nature and God and how insignificant we are in comparison to the bhutas (elements).

I must mention the GPS tool which we got in the car, without which we would have been lost. Once the destination is fed to the tool, it will calculate the route and will guide accordingly both by video and audio. Great aid. We travelled hundreds of miles without referring to maps.

"
...
Viva las vegas turnin’ day into nighttime
Turnin’ night into daytime
If you see it once
You’ll never be the same again

I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I’ll always remember that I had a swingin’ time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I’ve got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shout a seven with ev’ry shot
Viva las vegas, viva las vegas,
Viva, viva las vegas"

Power color

2005-09-10T05:29:00.000+05:30

Your Power Color Is Teal

At Your Highest:
You feel accomplished and optimistic about the future.
At Your Lowest:
You feel in a slump and lack creativity.
In Love:
You tend to be many people's ideal partner.
How You're Attractive:
You make people feel confident and accepted.
Your Eternal Question:
"What Impression Am I Giving?"

What's Your Power Color?

Summer Ride

2005-09-10T04:59:00.000+05:30

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro.
You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

2005-09-10T04:47:00.000+05:30

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

25% Yankee

15% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Nature

2005-08-24T23:53:00.000+05:30

One morning I arrived at his ashram to find him in the company of
a man who suffered from epileptic fits so frequent and severe that
someone always had to accompany him. After a short conversation Swami
Sadananda gave this man a powder that looked like ash and told him to
take it as a medicine. Then he instructed him to feed cracked wheat
and other grains to wild birds before eating the first meal of the
day.

When the man and his companion left I said, I understand the value
of taking medicine, but why does he have to feed the birds?" "You
should watch," Swami Sadananda replied. "When he is cured I will
explain."

For three days the man went hungry because the birds would not eat
the grain he scattered for them. Finally on the fourth day they ate
the grain, and the man too could eat. It became his routine to feed
the birds before starting his day, and within a month his fits came
less frequently; within six months they vanished. When I asked Swami
Sadananda to explain he said, "Birds are part of nature. Their
relationship with humans is not contaminated by selfishness and
expectation. Serving them is serving nature, the repository of all
our karmas."

More explanation on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivilization/message/79078

2005-08-18T22:34:00.000+05:30

What Famous Leader Are You?

Updates

2005-08-06T16:46:00.000+05:30

Last two weeks have been not really busy. I was studying webserver and unix concepts but I have to accept that all the time I was preparing for onsite travel. After three postponements, I might finally be travelling for a 1 month trip to Houston, Texas next weekend. It is a Java project.

Everyone asked me "are you crazy? Why just 1 month?". I replied that I did not considered it much and was concerned about the technology. After a few more questions and 'crazy bugger' looks, I've began to doubt whether I've made a right decision. Man, peer pressure is enough to force you into things you would not have set priorities for.

By the way, I have started a Thamizh blog. It can be reached at,

நான் ரமேஷ்

Yes, I have not updated much into my primary blog recently but still could not help myself from falling for it. Tamil blogging is great.

You can always express you better in your mother tongue. You can feel a lot more control over that language.

HBP

2005-07-22T20:59:00.000+05:30

Done with the latest HP book on Tuesday. I am a bit slow now-a-days. I tend to re-read all the feel-good lines again and again before moving further. The story has reached a critical stage. With a major character tumbling down, the battle is going to be very interesting in the final installment. Hopefully, Rowling writes that up to the expectations.

Warning – the remaining part of this post may contain spoilers. If you seriously follow HP series and not yet read HBP, I don’t want to ruin your experience.

Rowling had already said that the last word of the last book is “scar”. It does not tell us whether Harry lives through finishing Voldemort. There are many unanswered questions.

People are writing feverishly in any space they find having some words like Potter, muggle etc. All ideas and plot twists are attacked upon, left, right and center. Right from Harry being a horcrux to Fawkes coming to the aid of Harry in book 7 etc. It’s no less than thrilling and a bit boring also to know that it will take another two years for the next book.

I do visit ‘Diagon Alley’ more for the good user interface and the legible font than popularity.

Harry Potter

2005-07-16T21:28:00.000+05:30

Harry is ready for another year's adventure at Hogwarts.

Fabmall has cofirmed that my pre-ordered copy had been shipped. I've not yet got it. Hell with Blue Dart.

Its been one long wait from Dec 20 when J.K.R announced that the story had been completed. The publishers want this much time to build hype around it. Hell with them too.

My encounter with responsibility

2005-07-04T01:05:00.000+05:30

I was thinking about having Lasik-laser treatment to get rid of my glasses for about a year now. I was longing get a complete vision after living with the glasses for almost 20 years now. Wait, I am not that old but I took to glasses while at kinter garden. Can I say I was spectacular at that tender age itself?

The time was ripe this week. I came back here to get the pre-treatment check-up done @ Aravind Eye Hospital,Madurai. You could be wondering why someone would opt for a hospital in Madurai when there is 'Sankara Nethralaya' in Chennai itself. Two reasons. A local eye doctor - my relative - has recommended Aravind. I can club this as a visit back home. It turned out to be a good choice.

After the scan it was found that the thickness of the cornea in my left eye is less than what is normally expected of a person having my spectacle power (er.. I mean the refractive error of the cornea). At the counselling, Dr. Venkatesh Prajna, the surgeon advised me not to go for the treatment. I was disappointed.

"Idhi aata kaththa kaadhu sir" he told us, meaning 'Sir, this is not an issue to play with'. He explained us patiently all the terms and the risk involved. Laser treatment is actually removing the thickness of the cornea. My left eye cornea is already less thicker than expected. He assured me that this is not a defect but something unique. He said that it might give problems after 1.5-2 years if I chose to go for the operation. If such a problem comes then it can't be cured by anything, even by spectacles. Later, he said he had explained all these things for my sake as I tend to get disappointed.

However what impressed me was the responsibility shown by the doctor, despite the possibility of earning 35K. The doc, also commented about the money mindedness of the hospitals including a leading eye hospital in Chennai. It has become a big business in Coimbatore, he said.

One interesting thing to note here is, a few of the astrologers predicted that I have some problem in my left eye and I should be wearning spectacles/lens till the end. It is turning out to be that way. I won't lose hope though. I believe in Jyothisha and have good regards for it but I won't make my decisions based on that alone coz I believe more in God than that. After all, astrology is a science discovered by man.

Happenings

2005-06-22T21:19:00.000+05:30

The long nights continued this week too. But fortunately I was able to rest on Sunday. Made it to Anniyan. Relaxed a while in beach with friend. Its cloudy and drizzling here. I expected rains at the start of June. Coming to Anniyan, I would say that is a good film. Although it falls a bit short of the hype created, I feel its worth the money or even more than that. The attention to detail in the screenplay is very good. Shankar had done his homework.

BTW, today happened to be my official birthday. I am trying to stop recognising English birthdays but offices run on Gregorian calendar. There shall be a time.....

Hope

2005-06-17T01:51:00.000+05:30

Its been quite a long week already. Missed opportunities, prolonged night-outs, unfathomable bugs all try to suck the life out of me. Despite the fact that I love working in the nights, it really breaks your back when you sleep only for few wee hours daily.

Hope the week ends well tomorrow. I have booked ticket for the much hyped 'Anniyan' this weekend @ Sathyam. Hope I won't be too bugged down to make it.

"With hope I go to sleep
That tomorrow shan't be bleak
I pray with a sigh
To thee at the heavens so high"

Oh! Yes

2005-06-05T21:54:00.000+05:30

"We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore

We will be united in our common interests

You will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression or persecution, but from annihilation

We are fighting for our right to live -- to exist

We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!

We are going to live on! We are going to survive!"

The American President preparing for the final battle in "Independence Day", a movie released in 1996 gave this speech. The decisive battle in the movie was launched to destroy aliens hell bent on extermination of humans on Earth.

Indeed, I can't think of any thing more inspiring and appropriate for India at this time. After having nearly cleansed itself off almost all non-Muslims in Islamic Pakistan and Islamic Bangladesh and now Kashmir, Islamic terrorism is readying itself for the final assault on India.

It is coming in the form of increased riots, selective targeting and destruction of the Indian economy. No amount of compromise is enough for the enemy, who has shown he will stop nothing thing sort of destroying and then gobbling up entire India, piece-by-piece at a time.

In this is war of survival, the only human rights issue, India should worry about is its survival. Secular India did not ask for this fight; it is being imposed.

Now, India, take the fight to the barbarians!

Remember how the aliens in this inspiring movie were vanquished!

by Moorthy Muthusamy @ http://www.saveindia.com/

Man handling?

2005-06-01T01:37:00.000+05:30

No! You are not watching a man being roughed up. No..no not that too. How dare you think about that?

The person, who is found perpendicular to the 3 pairs of legs, is being butted friendly by colleagues on his birthday that is today..er..yesterday 31-May. Jana is my projectmate. He is living near my cubicle for a good part of the last 2 years. He is a famous movie critic in our team. If he says a movie is good, we won't go in and around 1 kilometre radius of the theatre in which it is being played.

All said, he is a 'pisth' is logical thinking. Nice bloke. He is getting married this November. So we thought of giving 'latcharchanai' on his last stag brithday. Hope the bumps set your butt up for a happy married life Jana!!!

A day at 'Kadalmallai'

2005-05-29T13:52:00.000+05:30

Yesterday we had an account level party at Sterling resorts, Mamallapuram. It was meant to be day of fun and frolic and it really was. The morning session went by playing Waterpolo, TT, Pool etc. After lunch, we settled for some indoor games at the 'Rajasimha' hall which was quite good. After face painting, clay modelling and mummification, our team Yellow Willows came out winners.

The evening was dominated by Cricket, Volleyball et al. Me and one of my project mates went for a stroll at the beach. I was particularly excited to see the erstwhile hidden 8th century temple recently exacavated by the ASI. May be one of the few positive aftermath of the Tsunami. As I walked in the beach I tried to visualize how this beach would have looked thousands of years before, when it was one of the greatest ports of the ancient Tamils, handling most of the asian trade. It would have been no less than the Chennai for the ancients.

We returned for DJ rock-n-roll and refreshments. I was tempted to shake legs but stood my ground. When I reached house it was half past nine. There is a chinese proverb which says 'You have to work so hard that you should be asleep before your head touches the pillow'. Perhaps we had partied harder to have me doze off even before I laid my bed.

1 year

2005-05-27T08:42:00.000+05:30

It just occured to me last night that its been a year since I began blogging.

It was desparate attempt to get a gmail account that made me start this site. As soon as I got one, I lost interest in blogging. After sometime, I started again but this time with the intention of sharing ideas and perhaps propagating it.

Well, I have not really blogged in a true sense. A good chunk of my posts were referrals and copy-paste so far.

Will try writing up in my own way, if I find something like that, in future.

Match your wits with IBM inmates

2005-05-25T13:27:00.000+05:30

Seems worthwhile.

http://www.research.ibm.com/ponder/

Stupendous superstar

2005-05-16T21:14:00.000+05:30

A communist point of view

2005-05-11T14:27:00.000+05:30

“At the Same time, I concluded that God as a creator of this world could be conceived only in three ways either as a rogue who sanctioned and shared in the roguery prevalent in his world, or as an imbecile who could no more control what he had created, or as a samyasin (recluse) who no more cared for what was happening to his creatures. if God was a rogue, we had to rise in revolt against his rule. If he was an imbecile, we could forget him and take charge of the world ourselves. And if he was a samyasin, he could mind his business while we minded our own. The scriptures, however, held out a different version of God and his role. That version was supported neither by experience nor by reason. The scriptures should, therefore, be burnt in a bonfire, preferably during winter when it could provide some warmth.”

His earlier views by Sita Ram Goel on ‘How I became a Hindu”. Captivating read. I am just going on.

YOPER - Your Own Operating System

2005-05-09T21:28:00.000+05:30

Claims to be the fastest out-of-the-box linux system. Had won the DesktopLinux poll for the best distro of the year. Although the intention is suspected.

A Tamil syntax parser

2005-05-04T21:31:00.000+05:30

The time traveller convention

2005-05-02T19:10:00.000+05:30

The Time Traveler Convention
May 7, 2005, 10:00pm EDT (08 May 2005 02:00:00 UTC)
East Campus Courtyard, MIT
42:21:36.025°N, 71:05:16.332°W
(42.360007,-071.087870 in decimal degrees)

Source: The Convention

Nice thinking.

The reason for google's name

2005-04-29T21:33:00.000+05:30

The Name

10^100 (a gigantic number) is a googol, but we liked the spelling "Google" better. We picked the name "Google" because our goal is to make huge quantities of information available to everyone. And it sounds cool and has only six letters.

This was as declared by Google itself.

A new look

2005-04-27T09:52:00.000+05:30

Be it blog or anything, repetiion makes things monotonous. So I decided to bring in a little change. Now, you look into a new interface for the blog.

'PaZhyana kaZhidhalum
pudhiyana pugudhalum
vaZhuvala kaala vagayinaane'

- 'Kadalull maaindha' Ilamperuvazhudhi

Tug of War 2005

2005-04-21T09:28:00.000+05:30

Recently there was Tug of War competition (inter-dept) in our office. 10 per side. All of our teammates registered for fun but soon we found ourselves very passionate. We used the ancient tamil war cry of 'Vetri vael! Veera vael!' to great effect. It also was a sure turn on for us. We ended as runners. These kind of competitions bring a sense of togetherness within the team. Great experience.

BTW, can you spot me here?

Opening my heart in Tamil New Year

2005-04-15T11:49:00.000+05:30

Belated wishes to one and all in this new Tamil Year. May you find the light in you to radiate all around.

If you've already found the light, keep radiating, ofcourse :)

I am back home. Nice little breaks these are. Helps one to refocus on things that are really of priority. It reminds me of how privilleged I am to be in a job. I often find me passionate about doing something for my culture and heritage. I find this to be a hindrance to my professional growth. I have to sacrifice any one to excel in another. All my ranting, I am not courageous enough till now to give up my career. God permitting I would be doing a nose dive into my passions, in which I believe I can contribute something, years later may be after I evaluate my passions. Till the time comes, ye my mind, don't lose focus. But I can do some things without compromising my career. I would try my best to do such things.

One such in my mind is a native compiler/programming language. I am evaluating the prospects of it. I've read that Sankrit is the best equipped natural language to process. Since I don't know Sanskrit, which I am very willing to learn, I would be trying it later.

The only language at my disposal is good old Tamizh ('Thaen vandhu paayudhu kaadhinilae'). I could not find a solid refernce to any Tamil compilers. Even Tamil fonts and keyboards have not been standardized. There is a lot of work to be done. I'm thinking of reading Aho and Ullman. May be this time I can understand it better, than my college days, sinceI have a cause to live upon.

BTW, I wrote one introductory article in Tamil about operating systems 2 years back (used the word 'Iyangu thalam' for OS). It came on nicely before I halted at some point. I could not find any suitable word for explaining the concept 'Portable'. I hate to refer to external sources when I write articles. So, I didn't referred any online communities, websites. I've shelved the article since then. Perhaps this is my curse, I don't do what it takes. I can rectify it this time.

Coming to the compilers, I better do a ground work, a feasibility study, before leaping into this. Atleast I can translate 'C' commands into Tamil. This way a tamil program could be constructed by using Tamil 'C' commands. Then this program can be translated to the original 'C' program by a translator. Then use the 'C' compiler to generate object program.

A point of view

2005-04-11T15:58:00.000+05:30

I personally believe that the efforts of Indian groups in US regarding the visa denial as an insult to our country. We have a judicial system which is capable of punishing the guilty. This is point I found in one of the groups about Indian civilization. Seems valid.

"..Notably the Indian academic elite living in the US who went on a
battle to prevent Modi from speaking are the same people who will
defend the right of David Duke to carry on with his hateful
speeches. These people never once lobbied the US Government in the
matters related to the security or economic well being of India. On
issues like Kashmir, Indo-Pakistani relationship and the role of
India at the United Nations they never lifted a finger to promote
the Indian cause even when it was the right cause. Suddenly they
were all coming out of the woodwork like pests to lobby against
Modi`s visa.
...
Our secularist intellectual elite had
to approach the US Government to declare the Gujarat Chief Minister
Modi to be a "persona non grata" How unfortunate! We are a
democratic country and we can exercise our opinions in our elections
and have our own intellectual discourse. Instead our secularists
approached US Government to settle our quarrels.
...
Old man Mcaulay is chuckling in his grave as he is beyond his belief
that the Indians could be so fooled."

http://www.indiacause.com/columns/OL_050401.htm

Very welcome Mr.Branson

2005-04-04T14:30:00.000+05:30

Founder of Virgin Atlantic, Richard Branson says that his company does not give up and keeps pushing until they see success in the end and in India, they will succeed in the end.

Q: How are you dealing with the Indian government?

A: Past Indian governments seen incredible frustration and you know you almost, so sometimes people will say well, you know, if you get that person a present or this person a present, you might get what you want, but we don't do that at Virgin. So we just had to do wait year after year to put our case across and finally there is a government that believes that open skies make sense and is willing to allow many more airlines to start to fly and I think soon the traveling the public will see the benefits of that.

Q: Do you have a vision for Virgin in India?

A: Virgin around the world, I one day would love people to say as the most respected brand in the world and in order for it be the most respected brand in the world we got to make it the most respected brand in India.

So once we got daily flights to Mumbai and to Delhi and hopefully to number of other cities in India, we then start building other businesses and things like the mobile phone business, maybe I will be able to invest in domestic airline and there is financial service industry, I think, you know, could do the little bit of shakeup in India and fun things like music and health that we can look at.

More at, Virgin Landing

So said Mark Twain

2005-04-01T22:48:00.000+05:30

Mark Twain had visited and explored India during his world tour of 'Following the Equator'. Here are some of his observations.

source: The Mark Twain experience

"India had the start of the whole world in the beginning of things. She had the first civilization; she had the first accumulation of material wealth; she was populous with deep thinkers and subtle intellects; she had mines, and woods, and a fruitful soul."

In Banares he evinced an inner pleasure at the many men and women kneeling prayerfully for hours "while we in America are robbing and murdering."

The poverty nearly suffocated him. He blamed the white man who, in the name of civilization and "the white man's burden," impoverished many peoples in the world. Mark Twain angrily said, 'We are obliged to believe that a nation that could look on, unmoved, and see starving or freezing women hanged for stealing twenty-six cents' worth of food or rags, and boys snatched from their mothers and men from their families and sent to the other side of the world for long terms of years for similar trifling offenses, was a nation to whom the term "civilized" could not in any large way be applied.' The result of 'civilization' was the extermination of the savages: 'There are many humorous things in the world—among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the savages.'"

Of India itself he eloquently summed up his three months of exploration: "Nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the Sun visits on his round. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."

Toward the end of his journey, tired and full, he wrote a friend, "I have been sick a good deal; the rest not so much. We have had a good time in India—we couldn't ask for better. There are lovely people here. They made us feel at home."

A good read

2005-04-01T16:22:00.000+05:30

Info on Hinduism

It gives a good idea about Hinduism. To get the brief outline what is Hinduism. The explanation is quite good. The structure of Hinduism is explained concisely without confusing everything with the famed Hindu trinity or other manifestations like other average websites.

Panguni Uthiram wishes

2005-03-25T11:25:00.000+05:30

Panguni Uthiram is the day for the glorification of Grahasta Dharma (married life).

During Panguni, Moon comes to ‘Uthira nakshathram’ on or close to Pournami always. The marriage of Shiva - Parvati, Murugan - Devasena, Aandal – Rangamannar and Ram - Sita took place on Panguni Pournami Uthiram.

Wishes to one and all on this auspicious day.

Day of the martyrs

2005-03-23T22:10:00.000+05:30

Today was the day when Bhagat, Sukhdev and Raj Guru were hanged to death.. 23rd of March 1931

I salute the brave heroes. Your legacy lives on.

One great example of the British rule

2005-03-21T21:25:00.000+05:30

According to official figures, 28,825,000 Indians starved to death between 1854 and 1901. The authority's carelessness and lack of foresight accentuated the misery caused by famines.

The scene of Kattabomman arguing with Jackson comes to my mind when I read the following. It had never stuck me when I watched that movie.

Before British rule, there was no private property in land. The self-governing village community handed over each year to the ruler or his nominee a share of the years produce. East India Company put a stop to this and introduced a new revenue system superseding the right of the village community over land and creating two new forms of property on land - landlordism and individual peasant proprietorship. It was assumed that the State was the supreme landlord. Fixed tax payments were introduced based on land whereby payment had to be made to the government whether or not crop had been successful. As one British put it we have introduced new methods of assessing and cultivating land revenue which have converted a once flourishing population into a huge horde of paupers. Indeed the first effect was the reduction in agricultural incomes by 50% thereby undermining the agrarian economy and self-governing village.

It was never hard for me to believe that British are the reason for India’s poverty nor do I change my opinion. They caused a demise of our industries and thus our people. I am reminded of a tamil saying ‘Kurangu kaila kidacha poomalai madhiri’.

Reading Digital Fortress

2005-03-15T13:29:00.000+05:30

Its about cryptography and Dan Brown has proposed a confusing concept call rotating cleartext. Yet to get the full measure of it.

There is a great machine at one of the intelligence agencies of US. It applies brute force cracking of all encryption algorithms till a programmer writes a algorithm that perpetually mutates the text based on a time variant. He names it Digital Fortress. Now, terrorists can safely pass the information using this algo. Whoz gonna save the world?

It still has the punch of Dan Brown but I think Da Vinci code was more natural to him.

In my hometown

2005-03-05T17:24:00.000+05:30

I am back home. Reached today morning. Good to be back here after Deepavali. Our school friends are starting an initiative to help our juniors. Drafted our plans today. Hope it goes well.

Wanted to install Linux in my computer. Its a 5 years old, P2-400Mhz, 100Mhz FSB thing. Searched my collection and found PCQ Linux 8.0 (2003). Chose GUI installation and when I was using Druid, the system hanged. I rebooted and tried again but in vain.

Gave up, restarted and keyed in this post.

The DaVinci code

2005-02-27T17:47:00.000+05:30

Just completed that Novel. Started on friday night. One great read. Amazing novel. The greatest benefit for me from the novel is the link between the dharma and the religions of the west. I can now paint a picture of how the truth got spread and spilled over the entire world. How the truth got transformed into Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

SPOILER WARNING -- if you have not read the novel, you might not want me to spoil that for yourself. So stay away for few lines.

I knew that the novel is about the grail and 'what is it?' even before I started, so it took some sheen off when the truth surfaced in the middle of the novel. Nevertheless, a captivating read. I must admit, I never thought the central piece of theme would be on so-called 'pagan' beliefs. I am now a little clear of the connection between sacred feminine theory

If Dan Brown had little more oriental knowledge then he would not have missed the origin of mother supreme theory. Well, if he refers to the phallus and the chalice, what good to explain without the most ancient reference, the 'lingam' and the 'yoni'.

END OF SPOILER WARNING

But, the novel also made me wonder for a little time whether religion came into India or out of India. With the knowledge base about the truth being so large and so authoritative in India, right fromt he vedas, upanishads, brahma samhita, I can only assume that the truth spread out from India.

Only enough unbiased research can shed more light on this.

The speed of light

2005-02-25T05:56:00.000+05:30

Sayana comments on a verse in Rigveda that Sun traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha. Yojana is an ancient Indian unit of length and nimesa is the unit of time. Upon conversion in modern units, this yields the value of 186,000 miles per second. Now it is well known that this is the velocity of light. Why would Sayana call this the velocity of Sun? It turns out that Sayana was following the ancient Indian tradition of codifying the knowledge. In this code Sun represents light.

Source: http://www.indiastar.com/Rajaroy.html

Nerd score

2005-02-24T10:15:00.000+05:30

Sun revokes Java license for FreeBSD

2005-02-24T04:07:00.000+05:30

Though I read this late, I am a bit concerned with the news.

The open source FreeBSD project has had its licence to view the Java source code revoked by Sun, according to the FreeBSD Foundation's latest newsletter.

The newsletter, published two weeks ago, said Sun had terminated the FreeBSD's Sun Community Source License (SCSL), the licence which controls access to the Java source code. FreeBSD is worried that this may mean it can no longer release binary distributions of the Java runtime environment with the FreeBSD platform.

"The latest blow to our efforts [to port Java to FreeBSD] was the recent notification of Sun's desire to revoke and renegotiate the FreeBSD Foundation's SCSL licence," said the newsletter.

"Even after receiving notice of the termination of our licence, attempts to contact Sun to renegotiate the licence have gone unanswered. For now, it is safe to assume that the Foundation will engage in another lengthy, and potentially costly, licensing negotiation before our binary distributions can continue."

Sun and FreeBSD were unable to immediately respond to requests for comment, but according to sources close to the issue the situation was a misunderstanding and is likely to be resolved soon.

Source: http://freebsdaddicts.org/

This comes at a time, when I am thinking about a FreeBSD machine. I would be happy if it gets resolved soon. I would be going (soon) for either a cheaper machine or my machine back home.

Find the best path

2005-02-18T20:42:00.000+05:30

What type are you?

Do you have a vision for an egalitarian society? Do you want to find the best thought system based on your needs and expectations? Please take the small test to find the ideal path for you.

Mobile blogging

2005-02-17T22:01:00.000+05:30

This is a real good idea. You might wanna try out. Mine is http://ramesh.busythumbs.com/

Some pride

2005-02-14T02:54:00.000+05:30

Did some search. Typed Ramesh L and was amazed to find my blogger profile in the second place.

Moving ahead

Voila!!!!! That was in google.com not even the co.in

I was flattened when I found that Kan's blog is numero uno when I searched for Gulmohar. Practical power!!!!!

Senthil was not that lucky. My other blog friends were not impressive too. Think you gotta go a long way guyz ;) .. lol

Hey, as I said Google.com, is google redirecting requests to local servers, to give more localized results? In college and off it we've discussed a lot regarding Google, but could not remember this.

The ongoing war

2005-02-13T14:25:00.000+05:30

After reading the following story, I could not help thinking that who is gonna win this battle for the IT market.

Attack on MS anti-spyware

Its a war between capitalism embodied by MS and socialism championed by FSF and Linux communities worldwide.

Are the MS haters right about creating a new world order? Personally I feel its certainly not good to have only one company commanding everything. But, so is the uncertainty without anyone in command. Its the pressure of MS that made Linux a much user friendly system today. Otherwise, the system would have always remained geeky. Because of the MS push, that the people are now taking that battle to its own courts. With Apple joining the foray with its impressive Mac Mini, I would say there is an interesting battle in the cards.

GNOME Culture

2005-02-08T17:22:00.000+05:30

Read a good article about GNOME culture by Seth Nickell. Here is a small piece of his article. More at, www.gnomejournal.org

In 2002, Derek Glidden wrote a humorous comparison between his visions of how GNOME and KDE development occur. Just to give you a taste:

”[KDE is developed in] a big room somewhere in Europe with lots of chrome and glass and a great big whiteboard in the front with lots of tiny, neat writing on it. There are about 50 desks, each with headphones and pristine workstations, also with a lot of chrome and glass. The faint sound of classical music permeates the room, accompanying the clicky-click of 50 programmers typing or quietly talking in one of the appropriately assigned meeting areas.”

”[GNOME] Development strategies are generally determined by whatever light show happens to be going on at the moment, when one of the developers will leap up and scream *‘I WANT IT TO LOOK JUST LIKE THAT’* and then straight-arm his laptop against the wall in an hallucinogenic frenzy before vomiting copiously, passing out and falling face-down in the middle of the dance floor. There’s no whiteboard, so developers diagram things out in the puddles of spilt beer, urine and vomit on the floor”

Gandhi in Italian AD

2005-02-03T16:14:00.000+05:30

If he had communicated like this

The Annie Beasant account

2005-01-28T18:44:00.000+05:30

Atrocities commited in the name of religion as given by Annie Beasant. Why did my men suffered because some kooky asshole lost his throne in a distant land?

Witness account

The old riddle - both a boon and a bane

2005-01-28T18:33:00.000+05:30

I think there is always an 'other side' to everything. Like, if the Kauravas had won the war, the story of Mahabharatha would've been different.

An enigma called Gandhi

Words of Wisdom

2005-01-24T21:30:00.000+05:30

Osho

His beautiful analysis of Bhagad Gita impresses me. He claims Lord Krishna as the father of Psychology with astounding reason. His adeptness at quoting both Western and Eastern scholars makes it more interesting. I refer to the ‘Bhagavad Gita: a Darshan vol 1 and 2’ by Osho.

“If you accept a great concept like God just by reading books then you are the worst self-traitor.”

These words have shaken me. I have begun to question my fundamentals. I fear I just look upon God only on time of need and to say thank you after receiving a favour. I, for one, knew viz heard/read that attaining ‘Brahma Gnana’, that to lose oneself in ‘Nivikalpa Samadhi’, is the ultimate aim for a Hindu but it never sank in like this.

regards,

Ramesh

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar

Well done young lady!!! Way to go

2005-01-21T16:38:00.000+05:30

Deeper reality

2005-01-18T21:07:00.000+05:30

A hologram teaches us that some things in the universe may not lend themselves to this approach. If we try to take apart something constructed holographically, we will not get the pieces of which it is made, we will only get smaller wholes.

This insight suggested to Bohm another way of understanding Aspect's discovery. Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extensions of the same fundamental something.

To enable people to better visualize what he means, Bohm offers the following illustration.

Imagine an aquarium containing a fish. Imagine also that you are unable to see the aquarium directly and your knowledge about it and what it contains comes from two television cameras, one directed at the aquarium's front and the other directed at its side.

As you stare at the two television monitors, you might assume that the fish on each of the screens are separate entities. After all, because the cameras are set at different angles, each of the images will be slightly different. But as you continue to watch the two fish, you will eventually become aware that there is a certain relationship between them.

When one turns, the other also makes a slightly different but corresponding turn; when one faces the front, the other always faces toward the side. If you remain unaware of the full scope of the situation, you might even conclude that the fish must be instantaneously communicating with one another, but this is clearly not the case.

This, says Bohm, is precisely what is going on between the subatomic particles in Aspect's experiment.

According to Bohm, the apparent faster-than-light connection between subatomic particles is really telling us that there is a deeper level of reality we are not privy to, a more complex dimension beyond our own that is analogous to the aquarium. And, he adds, we view objects such as subatomic particles as separate from one another because we are seeing only a portion of their reality.

Such particles are not separate "parts", but facets of a deeper and more underlying unity that is ultimately as holographic and indivisible as the previously mentioned rose. And since everything in physical reality is comprised of these "eidolons", the universe is itself a projection, a hologram.

source: The Holographic Universe

I recently read an Osho book in which he said something like "Whenever we say we saw the sea we saw only a part of the sea. The sea is so big that no one has seen the Sea."

This kind of deeper reality (suggested above by Bohm) has been given in our scriptures. Infact, the theory of everything is based on one substratum is the root of all the Hindu philosophy. That substratum is called God or Brahmam.

Hologram

2005-01-15T08:34:00.000+05:30

To make a hologram, the object to be photographed is first bathed in the light of a laser beam. Then a second laser beam is bounced off the reflected light of the first and the resulting interference pattern (the area where the two laser beams commingle) is captured on film.

When the film is developed, it looks like a meaningless swirl of light and dark lines. But as soon as the developed film is illuminated by another laser beam, a three-dimensional image of the original object appears. The three-dimensionality of such images is not the only remarkable characteristic of holograms. If a hologram of a rose is cut in half and then illuminated by a laser, each half will still be found to contain the entire image of the rose.

Indeed, even if the halves are divided again, each snippet of film will always be found to contain a smaller but intact version of the original image. Unlike normal photographs, every part of a hologram contains all the information possessed by the whole. The "whole in every part" nature of a hologram provides us with an entirely new way of understanding organization and order.

Wanting to be an Ayonija

2005-01-08T19:04:00.000+05:30

A word can mean different things to different people. It was paining for me to read what the word meant to a little girl. How her beautiful world got changed. Please read. Let us help stop the flesh trade.

The cruel story of a Yonija

Human birth by other means

2005-01-08T17:58:00.000+05:30

While reading Vishnu Puranam I came across a word.

Ayonija

I can crudely translate that into, a girl not born through the female genital organ (Yoni).

It was startling to read, coz it means several possibilities.

Narration of the birth of a special girl by Soma (the moon god) reads as follows,

"...she sweated a lot and she wiped her sweat drops using the leafs of a plant. The "Garba" (the sperm-ova in her womb) came out through her sweat. She left to Indralokha. The "Garba" stayed in the leaves. The trees protected her. Then aided by Vayu, the trees and by me ( I used my rays to nourish her), she grew up to be a beautiful girl"

Does it refer to pollination, since according to our knowledge that is the nearest thing we can associate with it. Vayu (the wind) transporting pollen grains from one plant to another and the grains growing up to be plants.

Our Indian scriptures recognize even plants have life. This might have meant for them too. I mean the subject of this narration could be plants. But the word Ayonija is quite startling.

The Garba - we can call the combo of sperm and ova - seems to have been swept away by wind, incubated by trees and nourished by the moon light. Is it some kind of technology to produce human beings?

Has the modern science created an 'Ayonija' or an 'Ayonijan'?

Native American Poem

2005-01-08T15:49:00.000+05:30

Click to find a beautiful poem.

Mountain dream

Ancient Indian Manuscript A Remarkable Earthquake Predictor

2005-01-05T17:43:00.000+05:30

A very good article. Souce: http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/aindiman.htm

Even as seismologists, geologists and scientists research about earthquakes, their causes and their effects on human and animal life, an entire research on earthquakes is published in the Brahat Samhita, a manuscript written by an eminent astrologer Varahmihir dating back to 500 AD. The manuscript contains a special chapter on earthquakes and describes four types of earthquakes, ways to judge its advent and the reasons for their occurrence.

Lecturer in Vedic Astrology at the M.S. University Sanskrit Mahavidyaylaya, Rajendra Vyas, told The Times of India News Service: ``There is a separate chapter in the manuscript which in addition to describing four different types of earthquakes also speaks about Bhukamp Lakshan, meaning indicators of earthquakes before it happens and after it happens. The four types of earthquakes that are described in chapter 32 of the Brahat Samhita are: Vayumandal, Agnimandal, Indramandal (that occurred on January 26) and Varunmandal. The chapter itself is divided into four sections accordingly. The Indramandal type of earthquake is triggered due to certain planetary conditions and occurs when the earth enters one of the Nakshatras that fall between Abhijeet and Anuradha. On January 26, it was Dhanishta Nakshatra between these two coupled with a peculiar planetary condition that caused the earthquake, says Vyas. An interesting fact that Varamihir has written is a shloka describing the Indramandal bhukamp. It says this earthquake occurs in ``Arabu Surashtra, Malav, Karmishti Vrushti karam Manav avanchit, (Abu, Saurashtra and Malav - ancient name of Kutch). It brings with its beneficial rains and leads to springing up of water benefiting the society. ``This time, therefore, astrology predicts that now rains would bless Kutch and we can expect that this area would get enough water, adds Vyas.

Varamihir writes that certain physiological and psychological effects are seen around 14 days before the Indramandal earthquake. It speaks of animals behaving strangely and about the deterioration of health of human beings. Infections or irritation of the mouth, throat and loose motions are common. According to Vyas, these symptoms were seen among people during Uttarayan, when many people had complained to doctors about such symptoms. ``I undertook a study to find out if what Varahmihir wrote about earthquakes matches with scientific research and facts seen now, says Vyas. ``This research proves that our ancient astrologers were scientific in their analysis and that we as Indians have failed to take our ancient manuscripts seriously. We need to turn back to these rich sources of scientific information so that we can forecast earthquakes. It is amazing to see how precise Varahmihir was. ``Varamihir writes that earthquakes occur due to the peculiar tilt of prithvi (earth) towards the northern side. Today, modern astronomers have proved that the earth is tilted on its axis. Varamihir further writes that due to this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere of the earth is more likely to be earthquake prone. Historically, research has shown that 80 per cent of the total earthquakes take place in the northern half of the earth. Varamihir has written that human beings are animals and just like animals, human beings too show signs of an impending earthquake. ``But due to ahamkar (pride) about their intellect, human beings fail to recognise signs that animals who are much more developed feel.: Today, many scientists have found that in earthquake-ravaged areas, changes in animal and human health are due to certain positively and negative charged ions that are released into the air.

Describing other earthquakes, Varamihir has said that the Vayumandal earthquake is preceded by peculiar smoke emissions in the sky, strong winds that uproot trees, and destroy jungles. It is also characterised by blunted rays of the sun. The Agnimandal earthquake can be predicted if indicators like ``ulka varsha:, i.e. falling stars, are visible in the sky. If the temperature soars and clouds are reduced, watertables deplete and intensity of the sun increases. One week before the Varunmandal earthquake, strange lights are seen similar to lightning during rains. There is a sudden flow of insects, especially bees, writes Varamihir. Modern scientists in many parts of the world have observed these varying precursors of the four types of earthquakes. But in India, Varamihir wrote it all as far back as 500 AD, just that modern Indians have forgotten their past and failed to recognise it as science, says Vyas.

Macaulay - The source of our identity crisis

2005-01-04T11:22:00.000+05:30

Here you might find interesting to read the reasons Macaulay gave for choosing English as the medium of instruction for Indians. Do read to know about his justifications.

Macaulay's minute

I personally think what he knew was much less than he is supposed to know. The following statements are enough to show us his knowledge and his great estimation capability.

“I have no knowledge of either Sanscrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could to form a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanscrit works. I have conversed, both here and at home, with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. I am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the valuation of the orientalists themselves. I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia..”

He was at this evil best when he said the following.

“ It is, I believe, no exaggeration to say that all the historical information which has been collected from all the books written in the Sanscrit language is less valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgments used at preparatory schools in England.”.

We are now happy to learn in the system designed by such a ‘scholar’.

regards,

Ramesh

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar

National Manuscript Mission

2005-01-03T20:09:00.000+05:30

National Mission for Manuscripts is an initiative started by the government of India, to preserve the ancient knowledge of India. Please help, if you can. Here are the steps to be done to preserve the wealth of India. Please read through and familiarize yourself. As Swami Vivekananda said, whoever tries to bring the glorious past to the door of every Hindu is a great contributor to this nation, you could be one of them.

Why a Mission for Manuscripts?

· India has a largest collection of manuscripts in the world.

· Composed in different Indian languages and scripts, they covers religion, philosophy, science, arts and literature .

· Preserved in materials such as birch bark, palm leaf, cloth, wood, stone and paper, they are spread all over the country and abroad.

· Some of this wealth has disappeared , while a large portion is in a state of damage and decay.

· India’s manuscripts wealth has to be preserved and redeemed.

What needs to be done

· Take great care in handling manuscripts.

· Clean manuscript folios carefully with a brush or cloth.

· Attach wooden supports of a slightly little bigger size on either side of the palm leaf manuscript, wrap in cloth (preferably red in colour and tie evenly with cotton string).

· During rainy season control fungal growth with the help of silica gel.

· During summer use khas khas mats, outside windows and sprinkle water on them frequently.

· For preventing insect attack, keep insect repellents like Napthaline, Para Dichloro Benzene in small cloth sachets. Use natural products like neem leaves, cinchona in the cupboard.

· Take out the manuscripts at least once in a few months, air them for some time, brush if necessary and replace them in the cupboard.

· If the palm-leaf or paper manuscript is in a damage or deteriorated condition, get in touch with Manuscripts Conservation Centre near your area for restoration treatment

What should not be done

1. Exposure to direct sunlight.

2. Stacking manuscripts one over the other.

3. Using cellotapes or lamination for repair.

English New Year

2005-01-02T16:53:00.000+05:30

I first decided to ignore it, then I even thought of celebrating this as Fools day or Spineless slugs day. It hurts, when the westerners celebrate our new year (occuring in April) as Fools day. I refuse to accept the Gregorian calendar system. It would take some time for me to adapt to this stand since I have to use this for my work. Anyway I am trying to use the Indan calendar system in my thoughts and references as well.

After all this, I am acknowledging it just for you.

Well, wish you a very happy and prosperous english new year.

TSunami and my thoughts

2005-01-02T14:03:00.000+05:30

The Tsunami waves that plunged into the seashore of Tamilnadu have left an indelible fear in the mind of people. Like a professional killer who operates stealthily, the king of sea took away many lives. The shores of Tamilnadu have faced many cyclones and the intrusions of Sea but this time they were caught unawares.

In the history of Tamils, there were several occasions when the Sea ate their cities; the most prominent were the loss of ‘KumarikKandam’, Kapadapuram alias Alaivaay Nagaram and the destruction of the magnificent, Kaveripoompattinam alias Puhar. I wonder whether the Tamil word ‘Kadarkkoll’ refers to the Tsunami, because from the information we get from the Sangam and related literature, the ‘Kadarkkoll’ occurred a few times in the space of centuries. That truly marks a Tsunami hit.

When a thing occurs frequently at a place, the locals will get knowledge about that and will pass the information to the future generations. That way the people of that particular place will grow resistant to the particular thing or develop ways to overcome that thing. This is essence of evolution. Thus the knowledge pertaining to the area alone develops and become part of the Traditional knowledge systems of that area. Now, it seems this cannot be applied to the Tsunamis occurring at Indian shores. Because, every time the Tsunamis struck, they were spaced between many decades that are enough to prevent the information from being passed on. The Tamils, who are known sea-farers from time immemorial, are yet to develop any warning systems that can foretell the Tsunamis. That clearly explains, not the inability of the Tamils, but the frequency of the Tsunamis at this place.

Every time, I suppose, they were taken as the wrath of the gods, like the loss of Puhar which was due to the wrath of Indra, and forgotten as a sad chapter. Remember I am not saying these are foolish. The fury of Indra over the destruction of Puhar was attributed to the stoppage of ‘Indra Vizha’ (Festival for Indra) used to be celebrated at the sea shores on ‘Chitra Pournami’, the full moon day on Chithirai or Chaitra (Apr-May) month. We never know what relations these contain. Modern science has not yet understood the mind, the being and the nature and therefore we are ill-positioned to dismiss anything as false beliefs, customs.

God knows better.

regards,

Ramesh

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar

Tsunami

2004-12-31T03:50:00.000+05:30

26 – Dec – 2004 …..that Sunday introduced a black word to the Indian dictionary, Tsunami. God!!! Thou took away lives ignorant of thy master’s plan. May the souls washed away reach the shores of your feet.

Harry and Me

2004-12-19T18:33:00.000+05:30

Now-a-days, I immerse myself with Harry Potter. I am on a proper re-course on Harry.

I first came to know about Harry only when the first movie, the Philosopher’s stone, released. At that time, when in college I remember asking Kannapan ( http://gulmohar.blogspot.com ), who went to watch the movie, about the story. Again it was Kannappan who made me read the book, after I joined Infy, but this time it was book 5 (Order of the Phoenix). I started there. Though, I could not understand everything pretty well, I thought Jo gave enough info for newbies like me to read without feeling much stupid. This infact makes the latter versions of HP books a little boring though.

I bought all the books. I read the first book, and then watched the Chamber of Secrets (CoS) movie. Then I read the PoA (3) and GoF (4). Then I found that the CoS movie missed a lot of info in the book and read that.

I became so addicted that, I longed to have a proper read, starting from 1 to 5. After a fortnight, I am successfully into book 4 now. I must say the books are amusing even for a second time. Infact, I must’ve read the book 2 (CoS) atleast 4 times. Though, I am able to find a few glitches when I read through again, I really enjoy reading them. I read after returning from Work. Thus most of the time, it extends to 2-3 AM on weekdays and even till 5 AM in weekends.

I really don’t appreciate the idea of broomstick flying. I always felt and even now feel that is really stupid. But, Harry changed my opinion. Well, great work Jo. I have been regularly going through Jo’s website ( www.jkrowling.ciom ). It has changed a lot and became quite interesting for a few months now. Finding trap doors, secret things spread throughout the website make it lively.

Thinkings over the weekend

2004-12-05T16:00:00.000+05:30

Buying vegetables and groceries, though a little irritating, make me feel confident. It lets me, who spends most of the week in front of my PC, get a little idea of the real world. Living in a rented house in the suburb of Chennai, you need to do such things to get a decent food. Well boy, you did something today.

I am looking forward to the Discovery channel’s feature this week, Rameses -> the wrath of god or man. I am recently fascinated with the similarities between the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Indians. Many of the customs they followed seems to be the same. I am eager to know which one is the fountainhead of all these customs. I suppose its either India or Egypt. I found in the preview of the program, Rameses the great that in one of the temples of Egypt, the sun rays enters the sanctum sanctorum at particular days (Feb and Oct 21) to light up the deities. This is a feature that is more common or prevalent in South Indian temples. With the recent uncovering of the ancient silk route between India and Egypt, there is a sure possibility that cultural exchanges had taken place between Egypt and Southern India. I am not sure which one learned from which. Perhaps, Egypt might have been a part of the great ‘Sindhu-Saraswathi’ civilization.

Let me apply some plain logic to it. When we construct something, say a wonder, we build smaller model first and then develop the bigger thing. Most of the temples in India, which are wonderful engineering marvels, are small compared to those built by the Pharaohs. I hope these bigger temple complexes were built after learning the art from the smaller temples of India. This is just my opinion.

regards,

Ramesh

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar

Recent happenings

2004-11-26T20:27:00.000+05:30

It might look as though I don't care about my blog now-a-days. Its both yes and no. However, I never forget this blog and I try to keep updating as frequently as possible. Till now I had posted info only on my primary passion and it has become a collection of some of articles than a blog in a real sense. I don't think I am sorry about that. However, I have decided to personalise it little to give it a real blog look and content.

Life is going on. With annual apparaisals aorund the corner, I am doing my bit of learning and stuff. Lots of plans. So little time. Will write about that latter.

A heroic act

2004-11-07T15:22:00.000+05:30

Following is one of the real heroic acts that we could see in day to day life. I really appreciate the person who did this act. I sincerely believe this author has paid one of the 5 debts of a man, that of ‘Nr Rin’ (the debt of a man to build a progressive and healthy society). Its time we pay our debts back.

Kudos to Karthik.

Rising up to evil

regards,

Ramesh

"There is no use in learning, if we do not worship the good feet of the one who is in the form of pure knowledge."

- Thiruvalluvar

My Great Nation -The quest for Saraswati

2004-10-17T18:17:00.000+05:30

It’s a very good read about the discovery of the great ancient river of Bharatvarsha, on the banks of which the Indian civilization developed. It has been mentioned in our scriptures that it is in the banks of Saraswathi that the humans learned the art of speech, writing and other skills. It clearly tells us that we are the continuation of the ancient ones of this world. At least, it makes us proud that we are very indigenous in our own and not a result of any cultural invasions. Let god be with us to save the dharma of this holy land.

http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/riversearch1.htm

Floating stones in Rameshwaram

2004-09-25T15:12:00.000+05:30

Not got much details about it. Seems to be the ones used by the Lord and his aides.

http://www.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=39237&cat=India

Ramayana - Fact or Fiction

2004-09-25T15:10:00.000+05:30

Following is my opinion I made in one of the discussion forums.

I would like to bring to your attention the following details. My native town is in the southernmost part of India. I would like to mention some of the places near my native town.

1) Ramanoothu (the spring of Rama): It is said that when Rama led his army to Lanka, he brought a spring to life here by piercing the earth with his arrow for his tired army.

2) Vanaramutti: When 'Kumbakarna' attacked, the Vanara or monkey army got freightened and made a fleeting escapt. It's been said that only in this place, Jambhavan, Hanuman and others were able to convince the monkey army to regain courage and fight.

We cannot say there are not convincing evidences to prove that these events happened etc.

3) Muthumalaiamman temple:
Once a washerman was doing his duty in the river, when he saw a pearl necklace dropped from the sky from a flying object. To get hold of the necklace without the knowledge of the others, he placed a big metal bucket over the necklace and went home. When he returned to collect the necklace, he could not lift the bucket off. It is said that monkey fetched the necklace. The legend is that the necklace is of Sita devi, who dropped her ornaments along the way to Lanka for Rama to identify.

These kind of incidents/evidences are mixed with People and their lives throughout India. If you cannot count them as evidences then what else can. How could these stories exactly match with what we read from the epics? It would be foolish to say that the people constructed such stories after reading the epics. Such kind of efforts would not be this long lasting. Noreover, it needs a wide collboration of people all over India to 'create' evidences that are so widespread, so common and so accurate.

It is to be noted here that most of the ancient knowledege were passed to us orally because those happened aeons before where writing was not developed. You cannot look for written proof for everything and ruins for every building when we talk about such ancient past. Got it.

My Great Nation

2004-08-22T17:29:00.000+05:30

Atomic war in Mahabharatha

The following quote from Mahabharatha does seems so.

“..(the weapon was) a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as the thousand suns rose in all its splendor... An iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death, which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.... the corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause, and the birds turned white.... after a few hours all foodstuffs were infected.... to escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment...”

regards,

Ramesh

Indian civilization and culture

2004-08-18T04:01:00.000+05:30

The following is also a very good read. I feel this is an essential read for every Indian.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/16rajeev.htm

and its second part is available at,

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/aug/17rajeev.htm

The following is also a thought provoking article.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/22kak.htm

regards,

Ramesh

My Great Nation

2004-08-14T14:50:00.000+05:30

The myth of Aryan invasion

This is to inform you friends about the most common myth about the history of our great nation.

This theory was founded by some racist English junk heads who thought that whites are superior to other races. They refused to believe that a society as sophisticated as the indus valley could have evolved from a non-white group. The result of course is the invasion of Aryans and the resultant foundation of the highly civilized society along the banks of the great rivers Saraswathi, Ganga and Yamuna.

We should look like morons to buy their theory in half of our wits. The absurdity that is so apparent in the theory is appalling. One is left to wonder how such a theory could be postulated, without much sense had been got into that. Since, this was one of that master propaganda by the English, it is obvious that, it did not cared about the truth.

The theory:

There was a civilization along the banks of Sindhu (River Indus) which flourished from 3000 BC to 1500 BC and was halted by the invasion of a tribe from Europe-Central Asia, called Aryans. They fought and drove the people of Indus valley civilization to down south of India. The Vedas and all the majority of thoughts of Hinduism were result of this Aryan Invasion.

You might be clear by now that how on earth this was accepted with some critical flaws.

Well, lets face it now. Please ponder over the following questions.

1) Aryans were said to have invaded India around 1500 BC and brought with them all the Vedas and the scriptures. The data of Mahabharata is now thought to either of 1900 BC or 3200 BC. The latter fits the evidence more based on the fact that, Mahabharata specifies that ‘Kali Yuga’ started during the reign of Yudhistra after the war was fought and the Kali calendar shows that it is around 5000 years old. This clearly means the war has happened around 3200 BC. There were many references to Vedas and other scriptures in Mahabharata. It is said that Veda Vyas wrote the epic much later. Do you expect the invading tribes to honor and write one of the great epics of the world for the people who are defeated by them?

2) If the Aryans invaded India from other land and found a society here then why no reference to their homeland could be found anywhere in the Vedas and other scriptures?

3) For heaven’s sake, why a group of nomadic people invading a new country should compare the rivers and the banks of the newfound land to gods and goddesses of their own. Why should the invaders praise the rivers and the land of their new settlement alone without a reference or a comparison being made to their homeland or the lands on their way to India? Isn’t always obvious that humans tend to compare everything they see to what they already saw and align.

4) How could a group of nomadic people produce such stunning marvels that describe about air planes running on eight different fuels, creation of universe and various ‘Yagnas’ or rituals, some of which last for months and years. If they are essentially grazers then could you expect them to settle in one land and perform pujas and rituals?

More to follow.