Shankar's thoughts

Trying to get back after a long hiatus…

2011-01-21T11:56:00.001+05:30

Trying to get back to blogging after a long time.. Way too many updates..

Windows 7 RTM

2009-07-23T17:04:00.001+05:30

One of the most awaited release both within Microsoft and outside reaches the RTM (release to manufacturing) stage. Having used the RC and the beta bits, I can say for sure that it’s one of the best Windows OS bits out there. MS rocks period :)

Genocide in Sri Lanka

2009-06-03T11:12:00.001+05:30

Sri Lankan Puppets in the Hands of Emerging Superpowers

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/06/01/sri_lankan_puppets_in_the_hands_of_emerging_superpowers

The Real culprits behind Sri Lankan War (Originally published on 18th May 2009)
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/05/20/the_real_culprits_behind_sri_lankan_war
Independent Minds

When Justice failed in Teardrop Terror Island (Originally published on 18th May 2009)

Telegraph
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/05/23/when_justice_failed_in_teardrop_terror_island

Sri Lanka: A Paradise turned into Kingdom of Vultures (Originally published on 4th May 2009)

Telegraph
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/05/20/sri_lanka_a_paradise_turned_into_kingdom_of_vultures

Lies and Deceptions! Comical Alis of Sri Lanka (Originally published on 20th April 2009)
Telegraph
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/05/20/lies_and_deceptions_comical_alis_of_sri_lanka

Killing fields of Sri Lanka (Published on 22th May 2009)
Telegraph
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/richarddixons/blog/2009/05/22/killing_fields_of_sri_lanka

Microsoft Whacks the Wii: A First Look

2009-06-02T14:37:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Whacks the Wii: A First Look

Genocide in Sri Lanka

2009-06-01T11:00:00.001+05:30

The Times, a British newspaper had published an article saying that close to 20000 Tamil Civilians had been killed in Sri Lanka during the Srilankan army’s attack on LTTE. And what does our Indian Government do ? Support a resolution in UN Human Rights council that blocks any investigation into human rights violation by the Sri Lankan Army.

Where are those speeches and fasts which the Tamil Politicians were indulging in a feverish pitch before the polls ? Apparently Karunanidhi is tired fighting for Cabinet berths for his kith and kin. It’s really sad that no voice was raised against the atrocities when it was being committed and none being raised now when the Tamils are being held like animals behind barbed fences reminding one of those concentration camps and the Gulags.

How can one expect the Indian Government to do something when fellow Tamils in TamilNadu (including me) aren’t ready to even make a token protest against these barbaric crimes. How long can we fool ourselves into thinking that all Tamils in Sri Lanka are LTTE ? What’s going to happen to those poor souls wounded by the cluster bombs flung by the Sri Lankan fighter planes and are lying on simple mats on the ground awaiting medical attention ? When will those caged within the barbed fences be free to get back to their lives and live as equal citizens in Sri Lanka and not as second-class citizens ?

Ashamed to call myself a Tamil.

Movie Update : Wrestler

2009-03-29T11:29:00.004+05:30

Watched the movie Wrestler y'day. The story is simple dealing with a an aging professional wrestler in the last days of his career. A warm but beautiful movie which would move many to tears.
Some interesting trivia: the entry music for the wrestler "Ram" is Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N'Roses. The same song was the used by the actor Mickey Rourke who played "Ram" when he was a professional boxer in the 90's. The same song has been the ring tone on my mobile phone for close to 7 years now :)

My hut :)

2009-03-27T20:53:00.000+05:30

http://cid-308495ee2659d31f.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Hyderabad%20Home

Shame upon Satyam

2008-12-18T02:01:00.001+05:30

By now people would be aware of the shameful step considered by the Satyam management of buying two infrastructure enterprises owned by the founder of Satyam Computer Services' founder Mr. Ramalinga Raju. In the times of such grave economic crisis the folks in Satyam board didn't even bother about the well being of the company on which numerous thousands of folks are dependent upon for their jobs and risked the entire cash reserve in buying two real estate companies just to line the pockets of Mr.Raju's family.

The step has since been withdrawn reportedly based on the investor opposition but in real based upon the pummeling the stock received by going down 55% in one day. This step if it had been undertaken would be one of the biggest scams. The entire cash reserve (1.2 billion USD) was built by taking advantage of the special tax regime given for the IT folks. Now if this amount is being used for an infrastructure company acquisition would Satyam have paid back the tax benefits ?

It's really sad to note that one of the top IT service companies in India would go to such depths. I have heard lots and lots stories of how these companies fleece their employees to improve their profit margin. I had never believed them completely. But this one incident goes to prove that these guys are nothing but glorified Shylocks.

Terror Attacks and Indian response

2008-12-18T01:50:00.001+05:30

After numerous attacks finally the nation has woken up. Once again the politicians seemed to have escaped unscathed. The real issue of complete collapse of the Indian intelligence and security system has been put aside and the blame is being put upon the spineless Pakistani government.

The same UPA government which had removed POTA is bringing it back in a new form. But will these suffice to stop the terrorists in his paths. I doubt it. If one looks at the profiles of most of the terrorists, most of the seem to be driven to this extreme step of bombing or killing innocent civilians either due,

i) Brain washing by fundamentalists

ii) Wrong perception of injustice meted out to a particular community

iii) Possible financial aid for the family.

In all the cases the individual is ready to make the supreme sacrifice of giving up one's life for the cause. Is talking tough with Pakistan going to stop such elements ? Maybe could stop folks from Pakistan creating mayhem in the nation. But what about the numerous bombings made by people from within the nation.

When an individual is ready to take the lives of people without a thought, he/she should be ready to lose his/her near ones as well. If a person is found guilty of a terrorist activity in which someone else is either maimed or killed, then mete out the same treatment to his/her family. If you kill someone else's parents, your parents are also going to pay the same price. It's a very harsh step, but I don't see any alternative. The mere thought that killing oneself for the cause might also get one's loved ones killed will make the person think at least twice before embarking upon such mindless terror activities.

Till then we'll keeping facing numerous such Mumbai type incidents in the days to come.

Movies Update (yet another)

2008-11-21T02:19:00.001+05:30

Happened to watch "Memento" the movie based on which the tamil hit movie "Gajini" was made. I had seen "Gajini" earlier and when I saw "Memento" felt so repulsed by manner in which the story in the Tamil version was diluted and made stupid.

Made me wonder, why do our film makers need to bring in the love angle in each and every movie they make. Be it a war movie, you will find the young soldier and his wife/fiancee running around trees for at least couple of songs. Even a thriller will have a totally absurd love angle in it. Is it so tough to make movies without one or is it that the film makers are unsure of the audience response and want to play safe.

As one get exposed to movies from different countries and different style of film making, the threshold for a good movie keeps increasing and chaff never escape. Of the last 10 Tamil/Hindi movies I tried watching only one went the full length. It's not that Hollywood doesn't churn out crappy movies. But the percentage seems to be bit less when compared.

Couple of interesting movies that I saw recently,

* Game plan (Disney movie - meant for kids. But thoroughly enjoyed it)

* Jeyam Kondan (A good tamil movie after quite sometime)

Old is Gold

2008-11-21T02:09:00.001+05:30

Was listening couple of musical gems and what can one say, but remain spell bound.

Song 1 --> vaan nila nila alla

Song 2 --> Ore Naal Unnai Naan

Never fully understood why we still find the old songs evergreen. I won't be able to listen to an A.R.Rahman hit song five years down the line. But these gems by people like Ilayaraja will remain evergreen.

It's payback time folks.

2008-11-16T01:35:00.001+05:30

Real estate is one of the constant topics that we (my colleagues) discuss during lunch time at office. In spite of working in a company that boasts of being above 95th percentile when it comes to pay in India, most of these projects are out of the reach. Any new venture being started in Hyderabad which is within 10 km either of Hitech city or Gachibowli would cost no less than 3000 rupees per square feet. If the price is less than this then it means that the project has no amenities (a swimming pool (a large bath tub in Hyderabad lingo), some open space, etc).

Buying a 3 bedroom flat would set you back by minimal 50-60 lakhs. With the interest rate for home loans hovering around 11% one needs to shell out easily 50-60K per month as EMI. How many folks can afford this kind of payment ?

* Either both the spouses should be working

* The person should be a US return

* Must be in the industry for quite some time (>10 years)

One of the best examples for insanity is the place where I stay for rent , Bhanu Township in Miyapur. The project was started with an advertised cost of 750 per sft (it could have been less than this too). The advantage of the place is that it's around 7 km from Hitech city and 10 km from Gachibowli.

The price was 850 Rs per sft just 3 years back. A 1100 sft 2 BHK flat would have cost less than 10 lakhs. Today the cost for the same place is around 2600 Rs per sft. There have been economic changes like increase in steel and other raw material costs, increase in salary levels. But nothing justifies an increase from 850 to 2600 without any increase in the quality of the product being delivered.

If so what's the cause,

* Dream of each individual to own a roof over the head

* Exploitation of this dream by builders and speculators.

Initially the non-IT salaried folks were kicked out of the game by the IT folks just out of college and wanting that roof. Soon their brethren abroad (the NRI) felt that it's a good investment to buy a flat for 10 lakhs and rent it out.

This started the second wave and you ended up with nearly 50% owners in many buildings residing abroad and renting out to folks working in IT companies in India. This inflow of money from the NRI and the local business and political people who wanted to park their black money and also get decent returns out of it, started kicking out the lower rung IT folks from owning a flat.

The frenzied pace was set in the previous two years (2006-2007). I never thought I would hear someone saying "Hey, I bought a flat for 56 lakhs in SMR Vinay City in Miyapur". I did hear those statements and even appreciated the buyer for his sound investment ;)

It all sounded like a bubble, but no one was ready to believe that it could burst sometime. Well, anything that goes up has to come down. With the recent financial crisis, people are thinking twice (at last) before buying a property. Hope sanity prevail and genuine buyers benefit.

Still the builders are refusing to budge and decrease the price of the apartments. Hyderabad is not a land scarce place. Go to the top of any building in the outskirts mentioned here and one could find empty land everywhere. It's the real estate cartel that's pushing the prices up.

If you are on the lookout for a place, wait for couple of months. The prices are bound southwards and even the big builders have to realize that there won't be queues before their offices to book apartments, because it's PAYBACK time :)

Thanks Star Movies and HBO !!

2008-11-16T01:05:00.001+05:30

These days Star Movies and HBO are playing movies with subtitles. It's a wonderful move and the chaps who took the call at these channel houses ought to be appreciated.

Watched "Jurassic Park" on Star recently with my mother with out any questions being asked on what the guy is saying :). Personally I find most of the movies tough to follow with subtitles. Agreed that one can get the gist of the movie, but one does miss out on the dialogues. One perfect example was "No country for old men". The movie was so enthralling that I was at the edge of the my seat for most of the movie. But frankly the last 10 minutes didn't make any sense at all, as I simply couldn't get the dialogues. It fills you with a void after the movie ends. The sense of having missed something.

With this move, I am sure lots more people would enjoy the movies on Star and HBO. It would be a welcome break from watching people running around trees and grandpas romancing women of their granddaughter's age.

White Flag

2008-10-20T00:46:00.001+05:30

Once in a while you come across some songs which just blows you off. No matter how many times you listen, there's always this urge to listen once more.

Off late, I have been listening to Dido's "White Flag". :)

Grave of the fire flies

2008-09-04T23:25:00.002+05:30

Happened to watch this animation movie couple of days back. Didn't have the courage to completely view it. Stopped viewing it after 50 minutes. One of the most emotionally draining movie (diplomatic way of saying that I watched most of the movie with tears in my eyes) i have ever seen.

The story is about the survival of a brother and sister in Second world war Japan. The character of the young girl "Setsuko" will forever be remembered by anyone who sees this movie. The best advocate of peace over war i have ever come across.

American History X

2008-08-08T01:23:00.002+05:30

Saw this wonderful movie couple of weeks back. I would say this is a must watch for any radical (be it a neo-Nazi or a jehadi). The central theme of the movie seems to be that one's hatred gets routed into a totally different form of expression which at the end doesn't help either the person nor his loved and dependent ones a bit.

In the movie, the main protagonist feels hatred toward the non-Caucasian population in the US, because his father gets killed by an African-American drug peddler. This hatred slowly pushes him into a skinhead(modern day admirers of Hitler) group. Ultimately the hatred makes him commit murder and serve jail sentence.

Meanwhile his younger brother tries emulating him by even writing a thesis on "Mein Kampf". When the elder brother is released from the jail, he comes out as a totally different person and questions the younger brother's activities. There was one dialogue at the end which i totally loved. The elder brother asks his brother , "After doing all these, has your state improved or have you improved the wellbeing of your loved ones. If the answer is no, then what you are doing is wrong".

The movie did change a lot of beliefs that i have had and is a powerful means in conveying the message the "Hatred is never the solution to any problem".

1500 kms and going strong

2008-08-08T01:16:00.002+05:30

Well.. when i had first bought my car, I had doubted if i would be making a post on the lines as this one (x kms done.etc).. But thanks to the kindness bestowed upon me by the modern day cossacks a.ka. Hyderabad car drivers and motorcycle riders and not the least the great autowallahs i am still in good shape to post this. Except for a scratch on the first day of parking (touchwood), no major calamity has yet befallen on my poor car.

I will have to redefine bliss as "Driving a car on the hyderabad central university road with Ilayaraja's music being played on the audio player in the car".

It's a Swift at the end :)

2008-05-26T12:12:00.001+05:30

Got the delivery of my new car on Sunday :)

What Car... ?

2008-05-13T20:57:00.001+05:30

Having almost decided to buy a new car,I have been researching quite a bit these days on what to buy. With a total car driving experience of less than 100 kms (on Alto), i did't dare to approach the dealers for a test drive. Didn't want a very big car or a sedan as i don't see a need for it in the near future. Based on reading reviews and checking out the various cars in the MS parking lot, have zeroed on two.

Hyundai i10:

Test drove this car (a colleague's) inside MS campus today.

Pros:

i) Silky smooth drive. (Except for one occasion the car never switched off in gear)

ii) Awesome interiors.

iii) Smooth gear change.

Cons:

i) The space is bit less when compared to a swift

ii) Bit pricey.

iii) Not sure how the resale would be.

Maruti Swift

Yet to drive this car. But the pros are

i) Proven vehicle.

ii) Spacious and more powerful (1.3 litre petrol)

Cons

i) Been hearing a lot of issues around rattling in the car

ii) Interiors are a big let down for the price.

Most probably would be going for an i10.

Books Update : The Third Reich in Power

2008-05-12T20:05:00.001+05:30

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143034693/ref=cm_rdp_product

Been reading this book for the past few days. There's so much data in the book that I am literally crawling.

Since this is the second in the sequel, I should have read the first one. Still the book fell short of my expectation. Would still rate Rise and Fall of Third Reich as the best reference point for anything related to Germany between the two world wars.

Happened to read another book the last weekend. "The Sign of Cross". Nothing great. Usual Da Vinci Code genre.

Adieu... my bull..

2008-04-24T19:14:00.001+05:30

The day I had feared had at last arrived. Finally the hyderabad traffic police woke up and I was stopped once for driving a TN registered bike in AP. With my RC expired a few months ago and left with no other option of renewing it without hauling it back to Kanyakumari, I have stopped driving my bullet on weekdays.

It's being used only on weekends that too on roads not inhabited by the traffic police. Most probably would be sending it back home once I get another vehicle. Torn between the pragmatic pull of buying a car and the emotional pull of buying another Bullet.

National Geographic

2008-04-18T18:04:00.002+05:30

Access the contents of this awesome magazine online.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/archives

Movie Update

2007-12-04T00:25:00.001+05:30

i) Napolean (1970)

Bit dramatic movie. The movie storyline captures the final days of Napolean's life starting from his first exile to alba and his return and subsequent defeat at the hands of Wellington at Waterloo. Had some amazing battle scenes (should say some of the best i have seen), including a shot (from above) of the french lances(cavalry) attack into English infantry drawn up in their famous square formations.

ii) Mehai Vituzeal

A rumanian movie about a patriot hero bearing the same name as the movie title, who unites few territories what comprise Rumania today and gave a tough fight to the Ottaman empire and the Austro-hungarian empire. It's said that the Rumanian army (from its general to a foot soldier) took part in the famous battle scene (in the swamp) against the Ottaman turks.

iii) Aaja Nach le

One liner *********** Puke Fest ************* Madhuri please pack your bags and get back to the US.

Shawshank Redemption

2007-10-25T22:12:00.000+05:30

Saw this wonderful just a few hours back and it feels so good to watch something so "inspirational" (as Suhas would term it :) ).. Wonderful masterpiece.

IMDB and the comments and reviews out there would do more justice to this movie than my review.

..............

2007-09-11T07:17:00.000+05:30

I used to blog quite religiously earlier.. but these days the number of posts has come down drastically. Never a great write, this blog helped me to pen down some of my thoughts which would have never found an outlet otherwise. The number of posts was high when my friends circle was less. But the last one year has been simply amazing. The best year i have spent after my schooldays.

Beauty and Beast

2007-07-08T13:42:00.000+05:30

So this happened a few days back. We were in a restaurant for a farewell party for a colleague and there was this semi-final match between Henin Hardenne and Bartoli. The food was taking sometime to arrive and we were talking about tennis in general about the good old serve and volley years of Stefan Edberg, Becker.

When the discussion turned to WTA, it invariably turned to Williams sisters and hearing the comments that were being passed, it does make one (a dark skinned person like me ) think what sort of comments will people be passing about me behind my back. Not that i am worried much, but the revulsion for dark skinned people is very very high in India. And we say that British are racist and Shilpa Shetty is a victim and hold talk shows to talk on hours about how racist others are when your own home is stinking like a public latrine.

Back....

2007-07-08T13:27:00.000+05:30

Well, atlast something made me come out of my laziness to blog. I wanted to do pen down my experience of watching my first Rajini movie on big screen. I amn't a serious fan of Rajinikanth. But neverthless i used to enjoy all his pre-90's movies. Infact "Murattu Kalai" , "Thillu Mullu" and "Puthu Kavithai" are some of his movies which i don't mind watching any number of times.

For once, i wanted to watch his movie on big screen. The only other big screen experience of Rajini movie was in my college screening. To cut the story short, with help of a collegaue managed to get tickets and both of us went to the screening at 9 am (during a go-dark period :) ). First half to be frank was kind of a drag with unnecessary parts like making a famine-struck Nayanthara dance. Saving grace was Vivek's comedy. The second half of the movie, simply rocked (especially the Motta Boss). Lots of whistles and shouts, the place didn't seem like a Prasad's screening. For that one hour i felt i was in TN.

Now coming to the serious part. Given the hyper being created by these "Hindi" media houses (CNN-IBN, NDTV) on a subject(Rajini fans) they have least idea about, every stray dog these days seems to have an opinion on the stupid fans.

For one, check out this BITCH's "personal opinion" on shivaji on a company blog.
http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/anuradhasengupta/164/2061/sivaji-the-boss-of-crap.html
The only blog entry she has written between September 2006 and July 2007 has been about Rajini's movie. Seems everyone wants a pie of the free publicity cake.

There was another interesting comment i had heard recently. "South Indians watch a movie multiple times because they don't understand it in one shot". Hmmm let me be a stupid South indian. I don't mind watching Shivaji again. The only problem is ticket avalability.
Last heard, the parking lot collections for the Shivaji put together is more than the entire collection for the latest Amitabh starrer "Jhoom Bhara... whatever".

It does feel great.. :)

2007-05-16T22:21:00.001+05:30

It does feel great when a crash in the code that's been haunting you for days together gets resolved finally .. :)

Movie Update

2007-03-27T18:30:00.001+05:30

Watched 'Letters from Iwo Jima" yesterday. Beautiful movie and wonderfully made. Offlate, i have been watching quite a lot of movies. Watched couple more few days back,

"Something in April" --> a Movie made with the Rwandan genocide as the backdrop.

"9th Company" or "9th rota"

--> A russian movie about a red army company fighting against the mujahideen in afghanistan.

Bowling for Columbine

2007-03-21T21:46:00.001+05:30

Happened to watch this movie or rather a documentary over the weekend. Nice made and talks about the huge number of deaths caused in the US due to guns. The way the director (Michael Moore) puts forth his ideas is very good. The comparisons with Canada to indicate that it's not the number of guns but the dual factor of fear plus guns that's causing the deaths was wonderful. A must watch movie.

Satya Sai Baba (Satya ?)

2007-03-18T16:43:00.001+05:30

Pretty interesting video about the Godman conning the fools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq7HowDJplQ

300

2007-03-18T15:28:00.001+05:30

After 3-4 months of countless replays of the trailers and the video journals finally watched this movie at Prasadz in Hyd. Watched it from the 2nd row and so will have to see it again to fully appreciate the movie. The story, the movie is based on is quite famous battle where 300 (in real history close to 7000) Spartans fought against a million Persians (in real history close to 200000).

The movie is made in a very stylish manner and the fans of the graphic novel on which it's based upon should be able to relate to it better. Heavy metal playing during the battles scenes, slow motion and all matrix-kind of trciks are employed throughout the movie. It's not a war movie even by the remotest of chance. It's more of a stylish cult movie.

Personally i felt the movie was good, but few things did stick out as painful thorns.

Portrayal of the Persians : I can never understand why Hollywood makes this mistake again and again. Anything non-Caucasian is evil and that's what is generally the feeling you get on seeing most (not all) of the Hollywood historicals.

Coloring: The movie had only earth colors throughout, except for the Red robes of the Spartans. More brighter color would have made the movie even more pleasant and better.

You could find all kinds of weird things during the battle scenes, a rhino, a ogre, disfigured Persian soldiers. Agreed that the movie is an adoption of the graphic novel, but i didn't expect so much of unreal scenes in the movie.

I couldn't help myself comparing this movie with "Kingdom of Heaven" in which Salahuddin, the great Arab general was portrayed in a fair manner. IMHO, "Kingdom of Heaven" had the best battle scenes i have seen in a movie till date. But it was too complex (needed quite a bit of familiarity with Crusades) to the understanding of a normal fan. And that coupled with a very wrong choice of Orlando Bloom as the lead actor, ensured that the movie was a dud at the box office.

Verdict : It's a cult movie on lines of Matrix or LOTR and not a historical movie nor a war movie.

Das Boot

2007-03-18T00:35:00.000+05:30

Watched the director's cut version of supposedly the best submarine movie ever made. Beautiful and realistic to the core and should be a must watch on every war buff's list. It deals with the story of a U boat crew during the World war II. It shows that the U boat crew men are too humans doing their duty for their nation and not some blood thirsty animals as the Hollywood movies make them out to be.

The Movie deals with so many different emotions that the crew faces during the patrol.

The frustration on not meeting any enemy convoys
The jubilation on sinking the tankers
Agony on finding that the sinking tanker had crewmen left
Helpless in offering any assistance to the sailors forced to jump onto the sea from the flaming tanker.
Fear on hearing the destroyers close in and drop the depth charges
Resilience in repairing the ship at a depth of 280 metres (safety limit for a U boat is 160 meters)
Sadness and despair on losing the fellow crewmates to an allied air bombing on their home U boat pens after surviving the depth charges of the British, and the depths of the Mediterranean

The best thing i loved about the movie was it never showed any enemy (allied) personnel and doesn't degrade to the levels the Hollywood ones do. To surmise, watch this movie. :)

Seig Heil !

M$ ....?

2007-03-15T09:56:00.001+05:30

There was an article about M$ Hyderabad in rediff and as usual people jumped in and started the familiar M$ bashing. However there were some good replies from people supporting M$.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/14inter.htm

One of the replies supporting M$.

All Ya Morans!!
I started working for Vista at MS HYD right after graduating from college, having spent my entire student life ONLY on Linux( since Kernel 1.2) I had used Linux more than most of you people writing here would have used computer till date!!
You Cant Compare Windows with MAc/Linux Coz:
1. Untill recently (still not much more)you can\'t get an assembled, Sub RS 20K PC to run Mac OS on!!
2. Don\'t expect you mom or your silly lil bro/sis to use your Liniux Box when you were away (Even Linus Torwald accepted it src: Documentry \"The Code: Linux\")
3. All but Windows ALL kind of compatibility issues. I still run my god ol\' Dos 6.22 age GWBASIC program I wrote in class 9/10th on Vista as well as Dos based Games. Try to run any precompiled \'Binary\' of yester years on either Linux or MAC (dont know if MAC wd allow due to commercial reason, even if its technically possible). Most of the time, you need to re-compile thesrc to get an app working in Linux (ohh the GlibC Dep!! Ask you dad to do it over the phone if the old Y! Messenger is not working anymore)
4.Though Windows provide backward compatibility to the hilt, but how far can it help to trillians of hardware manufacturers, who make zillions of hardware, to be running on Vista.
Remember, if a Device has problem on Vista, its not MS responsibility to get it working. Its a new OS. The Hardware Vendor has to release the proper driver.
Yaaaahh Dont even talk about MAC - You can\'t just get the LATESHT Grpahics card from Nehru Place and put in you Sashyying iMac box and even expect your Mac to even BOOT!! About Linux, I had always waited 5-6 months every time I upgraded my machine to latest Motherbaord/Sound/Graphics as the Linux drivers had their own problem. Dont think I was naive, my Kernel Compile feats (mod/in-kernel drivers) barely used to help.
5. Now the applications!! Can you count the no of apps available for MAC?? Apart from the best sellers from Adobe and MS itself ( Photoshop/MS Office/IE) ??? You can\'t even get pirated ones, you RASCALS!!! And Yeaaahh Linux!! I have seen many many so called \"Open source\" software die thier death as nobody is there to maintain it!! YOu can\'t even rely on the current popular ones as you nver know Biggies like IBM/SUN/Red Hat might be already put it on slow death (Yes!! you Linux favourandos!! Save Linux if you can, as these biggies are doing harm to Linux exactly the ways Stallman himself told me in person, when I hosted him at my college)
Tell me which company gives you a complete computer software eco-systme for FREE? (Dont talk abt Linux distros.. they just \'Package\') ?????
Apple Does?
Sun does?
IBM does?
Google does?
...
...
TCS does ?
Wipro does ?
Infy does?
Then why you bad mouth about MS ??
If MS\'s policies are evil, then everyone from CEO to Workers, of ALL the PHARMA companies should be HANGED!!! Man .. they pay the docs foregin trips just to make them prescribe YOU the costliest medichine thye market!!
Ever I heard Hang Lupin! Shut down Ranbaxxy, Burn down Pfitzer!!!! Did I ?? Just because you think that you can\'t live without their pills??
And to most of you, just blick your eyes and see..Isn\'t that the Pirated Version of XP/98 you reading this post on?
Give me my Moneyyy, you moroans!!!

Cricket World Cup 2007

2007-03-07T17:43:00.001+05:30

The cricket world cup has already started. One month of minnow bashing and then the top 8 teams would fight it out among themselves. As the Australian Captain had pointed out "World Cup is not the place for the minnows and you can have special tourneys". In my opinion, no one would bother about the warm up matches. The 8 test playing teams would easily make to the next round.

Not sure what the ICC chiefs were thinking. Increased coverage (India gets to play greater number of matches) and hence better revenue..?

finally.....

2007-03-07T16:28:00.001+05:30

finally my sister manages to find this blog of mine (courtesy .. orkut.. :) ).. being a non-IT person, it took her a while.. now she's busy checking my scraps in orkut and my blog entries for any hidden secrets.. :)

Indian Railways and Lalu

2007-03-05T16:10:00.001+05:30

The financial health of Indian Railways is one of the hotly discussed topics in the Indian media these days. One of the largest employers in the world, managing this PSU is a herculean task. Few years back, Indian Railways was staring at a very bleak future. Losses from freight traffic, danger of losing customers to low cost aircraft carriers and the volvos plying between major cities.

Today, Indian Railways has scripted a tremendous comeback and is boasting of 20,000 crores surplus. And all this due to a man Lalu Prasad Yadav ..?You must be kidding. Sure the man is very shrewd (can you make 900 crores from fodder ;) ) and is also humorous. But to credit the moron who ruled over a state and sent it virtually to the Stone age is ridiculous. Media screams everyday "Lalu stages a railways comeback in 3 years". But people have to see the state of Bihar which he has ruled for 20 odd years. If he improves his home state, i would agree that he's indeed bright.

What the media often forgets is the work of the babus. We don't spare a minute in blasting the government officials. There's a pothole on the road, it's the babus mistake. You buy a plot of land in some remote extreme of the city and if no road gets laid within 2 months it's the mistake of the babus. Babus are corrupt. Agreed.. But have we ever credited them for the good work they do. No.

Even educated people believe that Lalu's the reason behind railways comeback. If you still conform to that school of thought, please take some time and read this article,

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/feb/26bud.htm

Mumbai Trip

2007-03-05T11:56:00.001+05:30

Had taken a very short trip with my teammates to Mumbai the last weekend. Had wonderful south Indian food after long time.

i) Visited Water Kingdom, (self proclaimed by the management as the biggest water theme park in Asia. I seriously doubt it. Veega lands and Black Thunder would beat this place hands down).

ii) Had vada at Krishna vada place. Icecream at gellato..

iii) Visited Gateway of India. Had Paav bhaaji at Sardars (ppl say it's quite famous). The food was quite good. Had paani-puri too at couple of places. I have become a big fan of this snack. (The paani in it though tastes to me like Raasam :) )

iv) Visited baandra.. Happened to find a large crowd at one place and on enquiring with the autowallah, it turned out to be the residence of Salman Khan ..

Reached Hyderabad on Sunday night arnd 11.00 pm. The trip was a bit hectic for a very laidback person like me :)

Great things about mumbai...

i) Lots of places to eat and hangout.. and great variety..

ii) Amazing roads.. very wide and well laid..

iii) Far better traffic sense than the Hyderabad villagers..

iv) Never had a feeling that we were being fleeced (be it a autowallah, or the prices at some eateries..) In Hyderabad i get the feeling that i am being fleeced everywhere right from the grocery shop..

v) Punctuality.. People here respect time.. You had Trains with arrival times as 6:48 pm and they did arrive sharp..

Things i disliked...

i) Mumbai is dirty.. period.. and stinks like hell..

ii) Too crowded and sometimes that coupled with the heat and humidity gets onto the nerves..

iii) Overcrowded trains..

Windows Live Writer

2007-03-04T12:12:00.001+05:30

Posted using Windows Live Writer

I can't believe this..

2007-02-21T17:46:00.000+05:30

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/SUNDAY_SPECIALS/Review/A_myth_called_the_Indian_programmer/articleshow/msid-1633868,curpg-1.cms

I can't believe that i read the above news in an Indian newspaper's online portal. When everyone from the news channel to the vernacular papers print a very rosy picture about IT industry, this news article brings out in open the bitter truth.

Some interesting paras...

IIT graduates have consciously shunned India's best known companies like Infosys and TCS, though they offered very attractive salaries. Last year, from IIT Powai, the top three Indian IT companies got just 10 students out of the 574 who passed out.

""There is nothing new to learn from the job I am doing in Pune. I could have done it with some training even after passing high school," says a 25-year-old who joined Infosys after finishing his engineering course in Nagpur."

The best computer science students prefer to join companies like Google and Trilogy. Krishna Prasad from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, who did not bite Infosys' offer, says, "The entrance test to join TCS is a joke compared to the one in Trilogy. That speaks of what the Indian firms are looking for."

Hyderabad.. How did it happen :( !

2007-02-05T22:07:00.000+05:30

This was the hyderabad that was 3.5 years back....

i) I could take a stroll on Madhapur roads with no worry about some moron on a motorcyle or in a car honking away to glory to indicate me to make way even when i am on the road's edge..
ii) I could cross the Madhapur roads with as much ease i cross the road back home..
iii) I could have a peaceful onion dosa with refills after refills of sambar at Jayam mess at Madhapur..
iv) I never felt the lack of a proper south indian meals.. Used to get pretty good meals at Jayam mess .. Oh yes.. it was still a small shed with absolutely nil visits from the females and the obnoxious bihari IT bhaiyas who smell as though they haven't taken a bath for ages.
v) I paid 4500 rs + 400 rs as rent for a brand new 2 BHK with woodwork.
vi) I was astonished when my manager said he was sending his kid to a school called Chirec or DPS paying 6K per month as fees...
vii) I scorned at people who bought flats at L & T Infocity paying 1500 Rs. per sft.

And today,
i) If i dare to walk on Madhapur roads, i inform my mother beforehand to call me back after 10 minutes to check if i am still alive.. :)
ii) Takes me easily 5 minutes.. pleading with the speeding motorists to stop to allow a poor soul to cross the road..
iii) Jayam mess has undergone a transformation from a small shed to a decent eating place... and the sambhar they serve these days sucks.. even the worst sambhar i have ever cooked is better than the one they serve ..
iv) And i am in search of a place where i can get good south Indian meals.. without hearing complaints from the obnoxious ogres that the sambhar is too spicy or the rasam is too spicy...
v) I read some moron saying 20000 rs + 800 rs maintanence is a kill for a 3 bhk in my home navadeep apartments.. and i still remain rooted at my desk instead of taking a sledge hammer and break open that f****g moron's cranial cavity..
vi) I hear that 1 lakh per annum is the cheapest fees at which you can educate your kid near the Madhapur/Jubillee hills/Banjara hills area.. i am tempted to remain a sanyasi.. :)
vii) People post ads selling flats for 3500 rs per sft in a slum like whitefields, with no drinking water and no draingae facility.. and yes people are still buying it to have the unique experience of wading through a swimming pool filled sewage, and which also goes by another name called "Road"..

And who said Hyderabad is cheap to live.. I would say Bangalore with its potholes is far better.. :)

Some random stuff

2007-02-04T22:06:00.000+05:30

Location :

Gachibowli signal, waiting for the Volvo bus to Chennai. Three persons (2 girls and a guy) reach the boarding point. Perfectly dressed, (as if attending some party ..).. but but something was amiss.. yep.. dog collars.. all the three had their company (Infosys) identity tags hanging from the neck.. dog collars.. never quite understood the reason for wearing that dog collar outside the company campus...

This incident happened some 3-4 months back.. still i remember it.. what was the intention of those 3 ppl..? I came up with all sorts of reasons..

i) It could be that the poor souls came from the company to the boarding point directly.. no.. that's not possible, as the auto in which they had arrived, had come from the opposite direction..

ii) Indicating to others that "I am working with one of the best companies in India that hepled Airbus design A 380 ..(did the infy guys run the Oracle db which supported the payroll applications .. ;)

Point i) was strongly ruled out, as the dog collars remained in place till the bus reached Koyambedu bus stand in chennai.

Back...

2007-02-04T21:56:00.000+05:30

Hoping to make my blogging a bit more regular.. atleast once in a week. I don't think anyone reads my blog. Still it;s very funny when i go through my previous blog posts.

Updates :

i) Did another ride on my bullet to Srisailam. Around 450 kms in all. Decided that i won't go on for any long ride that exceeds 100 kms oneway and even if i do so, would do it at my own pace of 60-70 kph.

ii) Haven't cribbed for quite sometime about work.. :) Enjoying the work as of now.

iii) Piling on kilos. Need to restart my gym schedule.

Have lots to write.. yet ..?

2007-01-09T01:47:00.000+05:30

Past 2 month or so has been a real change in my schedule. Eating out a lot, (spending money :( ),cooking at home almost nil, late nights, mshtml mshtml , visiting places.. hmm.. hoping to find the zeal to blog more in the coming days.

Books Books... I love them

2006-12-05T18:47:00.001+05:30

I read a lot of books and that's something i am proud of. It all started with the Amar chitra katha series in my school, followed by the Tarzan series and many more. We had such an wonderful library at our school. Though not a huge one, it was quite captivating and i have spent so many evenings reading there. Some of the best books i read during my schooldays,

i) Rise and Fall of third reich (during my ninth standard vacation)
ii) Nathuram Godse's testimony at court (forgot the book name .. during my tenth)
iii) Godan (translation from the Hindi version by Mulk Raj Anand)
iv) Chemmeen (again a translation from Malayalam)
v) All those Amar chitra katha series (Loved the one on Rana Pratap Singh and Rana Sanga)
vi) Battle of Bulge (amazing war book.. read it nearly 5 times .. to understand it to some appreciable extent)
vii) Naploean's Biography

Reading during College days was kind of OK. The library had a great collection, but never utilized it. After college started buying books to read them. Abids second hand book stores being my favorite haunt.

The best book i have read after college "Spanish Galleon" was bought for ten rupees :). Recently read "Shogun" by James Clawell. Simply superb.

Forgotten Empire

2006-11-19T22:16:00.000+05:30

Ever since my visit to Hampi ( the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire), i had been wishing to read the only well written book about the Vijayanagar empire and aptly named "The Forgotten Empire". Hampi today stands in ruins that spread over a huge area. It's a city that didn't reach the present stage due to the vagaries of time, but was a city that was pulled down to the gound by barbaric hordes of the Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Berar and Golconda sultans. The destruction of the place continued for about one year during which except for a single temple all the rest temples, palaces where totally destructed. Sadly except for the mention of Krishna Deva Raya, very litte is taught to the children about this empire in the history books.

This empire stood as a bulkwark against the invaders and prevented their penetration down south for close to 250 years from 1330 to 1565, when the empire lost the Battle of Tallikota. Read more about this great empire here,

http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/history/vijayanagar/

Mandira Bedi and Indian Cricket

2006-11-09T02:26:00.000+05:30

A nobel prize has to be given to the individual who came up with the idea to pick up a dumb bimbo acting in some stupid serial on TV and make her the anchor for a cricket telecast and that too World Cup. When did this happen 1999..? or 2003 ..? I have forgotten the year. But to this day i have never really found a reason why that female should be sitting on the same level as some of the great players like Kapil, Imran and try answering questions or shoot some dumb questions. People now actually want to see what she's wearing for a particular match and listen to what she's gotto tell. Strange indeed are the desires of men.. :)

In fact Sony and Zee are the only cheap channels that do such kind of gimmicks to attract viewership. Some astrologer predicting the match results, making a scantily clad woman move around in the stadium asking for opinion (who really cares..? ) from the crowd. ESPN-Star sports combo are a much decent lot. Though their shaz and waz show was a bit uncalled for. Yes there's always a counter argument that u need spice in the telecast. But how much..? I don't want to see a female with a sphagetti strap for 2 hours before a match commences. I am better off seeing some porno flick than what Sony/Zee dishes out.

Now you might wonder why Mandira Bedi all of a sudden. B'cos she figures as one of some eith/ten guests/speakers for one of my company events. God save India.. :)

Books Update

2006-11-09T02:13:00.000+05:30

Ponniyin Selvan
A classic by Kalki in Tamil. Story is based in the time of Raja Raja Chola (9th century AD). Interesting read. Lots of historical stuff thrown in. Got really hooked onto it. Planning to read the other books by kalki as well.

Geisha's Memoirs
Didn't enjoy it much. The explanation was in much detail to my liking.

This was a book by Salman Rushdie. It starts with some three sisters giving birth and then bringing up a single biy and the story then captures the lives of two persons (in real life General Zia and Zulfikar Bhutto). Crappy book. I personally detested this one. I didn't like the book Midnight's Children by the same author. I didn;t find anything that special. I felt the same way when i had read God's Own Country by Arundhati roy as well

The books in English authored by Indians that i really enjoyed reading were tow translations of regional works,

i) Godan (written by Mulk Raj Anand)
ii) Chemmeen (a amalayalam novel).

To List and cc List

2006-11-08T14:02:00.000+05:30

Please note my new number. I generally receive mails with this subject when some friends change their mobile phone numbers. One methodology generally employed is through orkut (the punching bag for many bloggers these days). People who are loyal to Outlook, send it to people in a particlular list of the Outlook address book. In Both these cases, either all the email ids are in the To List or in the Bcc list. I got a mail today from a friend with the same subject but having both a To list and Cc list.

Having known this person and the person's friend circle for quite sometime, i just browsed the contents in the To list and Cc list. The emails of people who were very close friends were in the To list and 'just' friends were in the cc list. To cut the story short my email id was in the cc list. A small but striking mistake lets you understand where you stand in a person's perception :)

Total war Rome..

2006-10-06T07:46:00.000+05:30

Amazing game. Have been playing this game for the past week or so. It's a beautiful turn based game, with the time period set in the Roman times. One has to choose a clan among the different Roman clans (Juli, S.P.C.R etc etc..) and then go about capturing new territories and carry out the Senate's orders. It's a turn based game for these actions like moving your army, constructing new buildings etc. For example it could take 3 turns to build a barracks. Once you have made your moves, like putting a buliding construction in queue, army movement you end the turn by hitting the end trun button. There's a 3d map wherein each territory is represented by a single building and an army by a single individual. Clicking on them opens up a screen and shows more details like uildings present, the construction queue and in case of army the different units.

Till now it sounds more like a board game (yes it is :) ). Now comes the interesting part, the battles. You can resolve the battle by clicking the resolve button or battle it out yourselves. In case of former, the computer evalutes the army strength of the warring factions and the strongest one wins/ends in a draw. A player can decide to fight the battle also in which case the battlefield unfolds and the game now becomes a RTS one like Age of empires.Deploy the army units and click the start button to begin the battle. The battle engine and the army units are just awesome. It's a 3D engine and you get tons of features and believe me no RTS till date can match this. Will list my favourites,

i) The zoom effect. Select a unit (just click on the flag bearer for the unit..) and then the delete key. The camera attaches itself to the unit and keeps moving along with it. I love doing this when i order my heavy roman cavalry to attack infantry. You gotto see how they wipe them out like flies to feel the effect. Just awesome.

ii) No more dumb units. The commander of an army gains bonus points (or trait points) after each victory and his ability to motivate the army increases. And the units have states like (eager,fresh), (eager,tired),(eager,warmed up), (broken,exhausted). There's no point in makin a broken an exhausted unit to charge, they would rout and you end up losing that unit (basically they desert your army).

iii) No naval battles . I hated them anyways :)

iv) And you cannt move your army from one end of the map to another as in AOE ;)

v) In case you don;t like city building, one play battles alone too :)

So if you are an RTS fan plus a history buff who wants to rewrite Roman history got get this game :)

Yet another...

2006-09-25T06:33:00.000+05:30

Saw two hyped up Indian/(s) lose miserably last week. One the great Men in Blues a.k.a. the Indian Cricket Team and the other the Sania Mirza. Indians always had the reputation of being the the greatest chokers of the game, but West Indies are providing some serious competition to the Indians in that area too. It was a pthetic sight to see the famed Indian Top Order crumble yet again. I am disgusted with this Indian cricket team and more so with that "Know all" f**ker from Australia named Greg chappell. How much more can a person experiment with the team..?

Some of the yesteryear stars who have become duds now,
i) Sehwag : It's 587 days (more or less equal), since this chap scored a century in ODIs.. Pretty bad record for an opener.
ii) Pathan : Getting bullied left and right these days. It's a sacrilege to the fast bowlers to term this chap as a fast bowler. I can bowl faster than him and that';s no joke. 120-125 kph is no pace at all. He's occupied the slot left open by Venkatesh Prasad, the slowest fast bowler. Used to wonder why he had to run so much to deliver balls at that pace.

Sheesh.. Pretty bad state and back home all Indians day dream of winning the world cup. To put in a since sentence the Indian team is comprised of individuals who are flat track bullies. A slow pitch or a bouncy one, we are doomed.

Coming to Sania Mirza, what was that score oh yeah 6-1 6-0. Hmmm. the lady has to do more work concentrating on her game rather than trying to become a real estate tycoon on the steps of her father. Her demand to the CM couple of weeks back made me roll on the floor laughing. She wanted land to set up a Tennis Academy. The area was not mentioned, but i guessed it had to be Koka pet ;) (15 crores per acre.. hahahha...). 19 years and not a single WTA crown apart from the Hyderabad open and she wants to set up a Tennis Academy. Sheer greed even after this lady being given 500 sq yard land in Jubillee hills (market rate is 1 sq yard = 30 to 40K ) and 1 crore. No other deserving players in other discipline has been helped this way.

Though her coffers maybe overflowing with ad sponsors, her game is going nowwhere and i won;t be suprised if she falls out of the top 100. Pathetic serve, poor court movement and generous attitude in helping opponents in dishing out unforced errors. Most important she lacks thinking. A regular tennis watcher could easily see how Hingis had set her up in the match. Making her move and waiting for Sania to make that error yet again. Not a good sign at all. And Indian media please for god sake stop saying she's just a teenager. Go get a list of the top 50 players and i am sure there ought to be atleast 10-15 teenagers in that list. In my opinion we are seeing the rapid formation of an Indian version of Anna Kourknikova. The days are not far when we might see her either in a Bollywood masala flick running around the trees of a New york park with Shah rukh or doing a jig with Teugu Mega star Chiranjeevi. :)

Three Months - A brief introspection

2006-09-20T23:47:00.000+05:30

It's really tough to believe that it's been three months already here at my new workplace. It's very very early to decide on the merits or demerits so soon. But would delve on some positive things. First and foremost, i really feel that i am in the company of really smart people after college. It would definitely serve as a big reason for me to pull up my socks and perform well. It's nice to be in the group of so many like minded people. After college, apart from my batchmates from REC who joined with me, i was hardly able to relate myself with others in my former company. My thoughts and interests were so different from the rest of the people.

RG and me used to have very long discussions on this wavelength mismatch factor. Luckily that issue is temporarily resolved and i hope it remains resolved permanently. And the foremost thing, it's really a great feeling to be among my REC Trichy classmates once again. My current mind state can be related to someone who chances upon an oasis after months of aimless roaming in a desert. I sincerely pray to God these days that please don;t let me go through the hell that i was undergoing during the period from sep 2005 till may 2006. Lonely, with no one to talk, just work, eat and sleep. That period of 8 months has taught me a lot. It's been a blessing in disguise.The negative aspect has been my laziness. I am still not working at my full potential. I hope it would get soon better. Heil Fuhrer !

Wow.. what a day.. :)

2006-09-15T07:36:00.000+05:30

Saw Lage Raho Munna Bhai.. If not for munna-circuit comedy, one can watch this movie atleast couple of times just for Vidya Balan. She looks so so beautiful on screen.

And finally got hold of two of my favorite Iron Maiden tracks "Nomad " and "Dream of Mirrors". 18 minutes of pure nirvana.

India has No National Language

2006-08-30T23:57:00.000+05:30

Ashamed...

A very thought provoking incident happened to me during my trip to Warangal. When i tried enquiring about directions, found that 100% of the people i tried striking a conversation with didn;t understand Tamil, Hindi and English. Telugu was the only language they could speak and unfortunately, i didn;t know it, even after 3 years being in Andhra Pradesh. Felt really ashamed.

I am very passionate about Tamil and don't want Chennai or rather any part of TN to become like Hyderabad, where someone born and brought up in Hyderabad shamelessly says that "I don;t know Telugu". I have had numerous arguments with many on why Hindi is not popular in the South especially in TN.

i) The literary richness and the history of Tamil (which is more than 2000 years old) cannot be matched by Hindi.
ii) The idea of imposing Hindi in the schools in TN resulted in a big struggle right from 1938 to 1965 that took the lives of many tamilians. And absolutely nothing about this struggle is known to the Hindi-speaking population who blindly expect people to talk in Hindi with them the moment they get out of the trains in the Chennai central station.

And it's really tough for people to learn a language that differs so much in script. It's much easier for a punjabi or a gujarati person to learn Hindi than a Tamilian as in the former case, there's lot of similarity between the person;s mother tongue and Hindi. It's no point in forcing a language on a person when it;s difficult to master.

iii) People who migrate to other places ideally learn the language and customs of that locality. But as mentioned earlier, a Hindi speaking person expects everyone to know Hindi in India (courtesy "Hindi" is our national language bullshit in the textbooks). A tamilian or a malayali in Delhi tries to learn Hindi, but a Hindi speaking person in Chennai would never make even a small effort to learn Tamil.

There's nothing called a National language in India.

part XVII of the constitution:
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17.html

Article 345: This gives the State govt., power to decide its own "OFFICIAL LANGUAGE"
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17345.html

Article 343: This defines hindi and english to be the "OFFICIAL LANGUAGES" of union
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~sk4zw/india-const/p17343.html

Difference:

NATIONAL LANGUAGE: defines the people of the nation, culture, history.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: used for official communication

While a National language by default can become the Official langauge, an Official language has to be APPROVED legally to become the National language.

India has NO NATIONAL LANGUAGES

My resolution : Start learning Telugu. :) Planning to visit Koti this weekend to get some books to start on,

Orkut and scraps..

2006-08-26T10:28:00.000+05:30

Used to be quite active adding people to my orkut list about 2 years back.. I guess that was the time it started becoming popular in india. Somehow, couldn't get used to the idea of scrapping people. Even now, i am more comfortable in IM that scrapping. Of late a wonderful thing happened, that made a bit more active in orkut. Managed to get in touch with my schoolmate who studied with me from LKG to 5ht std through orkut.

Now it's kind of second innings with orkut. My friends count stands at 208 and the scraps at 280. So that shows how active/popular i am. Happenend to get some scraps from a school junior of mine, and was looking at the number of scraps he has. It;s more than 1000 and believe me many in his cricle too have that many scraps. Hmm.. things have come a long long way. Some scraps are really interesting. Especially the ones i found in one my REC classmate's scrapbook. Gives u an idea that how desperate the Indian youth are, that they don;t mind scrapping "hey honey u look awesome.." etc etc on some arbid female's scrapbook.

Schindler's list

2006-08-21T21:39:00.000+05:30

Finally saw Schindler's list last weekend. I guess it should be more than 10 years when the movie was released. Happened to lay my hands on a DVD of it finally. To be frank, the movie was ok and far below my expectations. Looked more like a BBC commentary(propaganda stuff). But then it's always the victors who write the history not the losers. If one has to read the real history about World war II, Hitler and Nazi Germany get a copy of this book "The rise and fall of Third reich". The truth behind concentration camps and the exaggerated figures would then be known. I had read this book during my 9th std annual holidays. It lays open the bare facts on the reason behind the rise of an ordinary coporal to that of a dictator of whole of Germany. One would then realise the pain inflicted due to Versailies Treaty. For the unknown, German Army had to surrender in the first world war when the whole of German Army was stationed outside German borders. The war machine of Germany was crippled by labor strikes. It's a long long story.

More examples of why Victors write history,
i) How much is documented of the systematic ethnic cleansing of the American Indians and other native tribes of the American continent by the erstwhile colonial powers..?
ii) How abt slave trade that took place for centuries..?
iii) The millions that died in the gulag of Soviet Union under Stalin..?
iv) what happened to the close to 2 million germans captured by Soviets and believed to be killed by force marching them through Siberian plains..?

Lots and lots of such questions will remain unanswered as these crimes were done by the Victors. More pathetic is the way SS is portrayed in all the war movies. Yes, a part of SS was involved in guarding the concentration camps. But there were other units that performed exceptionally well on the warfront. All the SS Panzer corps were far far superior to their enemy counterparts. The thing that did Germany in was the War of attrition and there was no way it could match the production ability of US.

Another best example of victors writing history and will continue to do so, is the labeling of indian freedom fighters who took arms as "terrorists" in the NCERT books. Even i rember reading about "extremists" like Lokmanya Tilak in my history books.

The only way these gandhi-nehru synchophants can make me believe that India got freedom b'cos of Nehru is by portraying him as an awesome stud who impressed Edwina Mountbattaen so much in bed that Lord Mountbattaen got scared of losing his wife to an ahem "coolie" and fled India. That would be a nice joke :)

My first long ride.

2006-08-16T10:40:00.000+05:30

Did my first long ride on 15th August 2006. Me and funda(my classmate and colleague) decided to visit Warangal (anrd 135 kms from Uppal and arnd 170 kms from madhapur..). We started at 7.30 am from funda's place, me on my Enfield and finda on his pulsar. Filled petrol at Jubillee Hills checkpost and started towards Secunderabad. Then disaster struck. Between Tarkana and Uppal, i had to stop at a signal, while funda had just crossed the signal. It so happened that he was waiting for me some distance ahead. Once the signal became green, i started my bull and started moving. Neither did funda notice me nor did i notice him waiting. I thought funda was moving slowly ahead and started riding fast to catch up with him. To things make worse i had left my mobile at funda's place and i didn't know his number too. Kept riding and crossed Uppal and hit the NH-202 that goes to Warangal. Still no signs of funda. Then asked a bunch of schoolkids who were passing by to see if they had seen a a guy on black color pulsar with a jerkin and a shoulder bag on. Those kids assured me that they had seen a similar guy some five minutes back. And this resulted in the biggest drag i have ever done my bullet. Cruised at 90-100 kph for close to 5 minutes and still no sign.

To make things more scarier for me, all the road signs were mentioning abt a place called some hanumagonda and no mention of warangal anywhere. It then struck me that maybe i was on a wrong road. But assured myself that a sign showing the distance to warangal migh show up somewhere. Meanwhile Funda who having not seen me, went till Uppal and then returned home. He had given close to 9 calls to my mobile and i am sure was seething with anger for not answering his calls.Later he told me that he was fearing that i was caught in some accident. Once he reached home, he saw my mobile lying there. It was a big mistake from my side. Should have been more systematic in planning the trip.

Meanwhile i was doing 60-70kph on the warangal highway alone. The roads were really good and was enjoying the ride to some extent. Was getting worried why i was not able to catch up with funda. Even tried calling up our company's recpetion and getting the mobile info Shouldn;t have given so much importance to a kid's info. Still cruised along and yet no signs of any sign board stating the distance to Warangal. I hadn't taken my breakfast and it was now close to 11.20 am. Didn;t want to waste time and still had the eternal hope of catching up with funda who by then was at home in Madhapur. Finally met a guy on the road who understood English and he told me that Warangal is only some 5 kms from hanumagonda. Later on got a directions in Tamil !!!! from another person and managed to reach the fort. Not a big fort, but quite an old one. Didn;t spend much time there and started back for hyderabad arnd 12.30 pm. This time my speedo had stopped working and didn;t know what speed i was doing. I don;t think i crossed 65 kph. It was a more lesuirely ride. Took frequent breaks as my a** was really hurting. Had luch at j---goan (not sure of the full name) arnd 1.40 pm and resumed the ride arnd 1.55 pm.

Didn;t have any other longer breaks and finally reached Uppal arnd 4.15 pm and reached Funda's place at 5.30 pm. it was really foolish of me to have all the way when a more logical approach would have been to either wait or turn back. But the kid's info clouded my mind. But 340 odd kms on a single day. Not bad.. :) . But should do better planning the next time.

2006-08-10T22:56:00.000+05:30

Just a random thought. Why do women tennis players wear such mini-skirts when male players play far better tennis but wear shorts that reach upto the knees..? ;) Certainly not a comfort factor :)

Omar Mukhtar, Lion of the Desert

2006-07-23T22:03:00.000+05:30

Saw this superb movie this weekend. This is a must watch for all serious movie lovers. A beautiful portrayal of a true hero. The brief story is that Italy invades Libya to make it its first colony (occupied then by the Ottaman Turks) in the year 1911 and to prove to the world that they too belong in the same league as other colonial powers like britain, france and spain. Turks abandon Libya and flee away and Libya comes under Italian rule.

However things don't go smooth and the bedouin tribes inhabiting the mountains rise in revolt against the Italians under the leadership of a person called Omar Mukhtar, a former Koran Teacher. The film portrays the fight between the mechanised Italian troops against the Bedouin cavalry beautifully. Italy under Mussolini (the traitor responsible for Fuhrer's defeat..) sends a ruthless general in 1929 to Libya. He starts concentration camps to ghetto the bedouin troops thereby preventing any new recruits for the rebels and also deprive them of food and other support. Close to a hundred thousand or more Libyans die in these camps and the rebels are slowly deprived of support and at the end in 1931 Omar Mukhtar is captured.

When he was captured , Omar Mukhtar is 73 years old and the cowardly Italian Bastards chain the old man and hang him in public. The movie portrays the whole history in a very realistic manner and the acting of Anthony Quinn who plays Omar stands out. Such a beautiful movie, sure to bring tears to one's eyes. I had plenty of them when the movie ended. I just can't believe that a so called higly civilzed descendants of the Romans could behave in such a pathetic manner. No wonder Materazzi shamelessy abused Zidane.

For further information see here

Resilient ..?

2006-07-14T13:59:00.000+05:30

It's sad that yet another bomb blast rocks India. Poor citizens paying a price for the government's follies. And we are gonna forget in a week's time. I don't the guys at the top are going to realize the pain of the poor people. After all what's the value of a life in India..? The subject for an "exclusive" on CNN-IBN or NDTV. I feel like taking a sledgehammer and break open the skulls of the anchors atleast on TV when they keep screaming "exclusive" "exclusive". I would end up losing 10k (the cost of my TV). I can't understand that these people are so naive to keep repeating this nearly 20% of the time during a news story. Personally i don;t give a damn if you are 10 minutes late than your competitor as long as you beat him in the content.

Maybe it's time for rajdeeps and roys of the news media to shove their ideas up their a***s.And to add further injury the next day after the bomb blasts, these guys started another ingeneous story "Mumbai stands proud". My foot. The trains ran as usual the next day as people (most of them daily wage earners) had to earn to feed their dependents.I guess it's high time i stop watching these channels or else i am going to end up with a high blood pressure.

Some change atlast

2006-07-14T13:42:00.000+05:30

Changed jobs for the first time. 16th June was the last day at my first job. 3 years in a single company after college. Didn't know how time flew past. But definitely saw each and every close friend of mine leave hyderabad and move out.I didn't want to leave Hyderabad and go to the stnking hell on earth called chennai or pot-holed Bangalore. Maybe if i had my first job in either of these places i would have adjusted, but i guess it's too late.

Had two companies on my mind when i started and when i finally got the offer from my first choice, gladly accepted it. Let's see how this stint turns out to be.One big positive point is that i don;t have to take my lunch alone anymore. I was doing that for the past 8 months or so when most in my lunch circle either left the city or shifted to another office building.

Will be back soon.. :)

2006-07-10T10:13:00.000+05:30

Lots to post.

Samba dogs are out..

2006-07-02T02:29:00.000+05:30

It's 2.25 am here. Some good news at last. The samba dogs have been thrown out. Time for party,. Hurrah..!!!!!

Yet again...!

2006-07-01T23:29:00.001+05:30

England has never won a world cup match on penalty shootout and that's record is gonna remain for 4 more years. It's very painful to lose a match on penalty shoot outs. Poor Argentinians lost there yesterday match y'day on penalties. I had supported the germans y'day and today had supported the english. I still can't digest the fact that portugal are in the semi-finals. What else can one say..? Fate.

Felt real bad for two players i admire most. Lampard and Gerrard. Let's see what the future matches have in store. Please .. Please oh God make the Germans or the French or the Italians win the World cup. I don't want that obsese Ronaldo or his play-acting Portugese namesake defile the trophy.

Here come the Panzers :)

2006-06-24T22:32:00.000+05:30

What a display of organized football. 45 minutes of pure lethal precision work. The first half of the germany-sweden clash inspired me to write those two lines. Maybe i got a bit carried away, but this would rank as one of the best display of football skills i have ever seen. The ball possession reading 61% - 39% in favor of germans tells the whole story in this clash between two teams who generally score mostly using counter-attacking moves. I would really pity the swedes today. It was literally a blitzreig enacted on the football ground. Wave after wave of german attack. The score would have read 4-0 or 5-0 if not for some brilliant saves by the swedish goalkeeper.

Lahm was brilliant and so were Klose and Podolski. There were couple of very powerful drives from Ballack as well. I just want Klose to overtake that obese sonnabitch Ronaldo as the leading goal scorer in the World Cup. Here come the elite Panzers. Everyone beware !!!!! If Argentina get thru mexico, there's going to be tough match ahead. And a very tough one for me as it would involve my Fuhrer's team against the argentinians. Let's see what's in store.. :)

2006-06-14T16:42:00.000+05:30

The greatest sports festival, the Football World Cup has started. No major upsets so far. Few observations i noted from the games that i watched.

i) Germans scoring 4 goals and conceding 2 in a single match. This was a big big surprise coming from a team that normally has 60-70% ball possession and close to 80% of that time is spent in passing the ball among themselves in the midfield area.

ii) 1-0 scoreline in favor of England and the Brazilian magicians in their respective matches. Are these two teams over-hyped..? I don't want this to be true. Expecting some real samba magic in the forthcoming matches.

iii) 2-1 for Argentina. The second goal by Saviola was a beautiful set piece. My favourite team. In each world cup right from the 1990 one, i have been supporting this team to win. The reason Maradona..? Nah Cannigia ..? Nah Batistuta ..? Nah... It's Gabriela Sabatini ;) and their jersey. The sky blue stripes alternating with white is undoubtedly the most soothing to the eyes.

Movie Updates

2006-06-07T19:06:00.000+05:30

Have developed a habit of watching movies in the weekends by taking VCDs on rent and using my comp/DVD player to watch the movies. The list of ones watched in the past 4 weekends,

i) Chronicles of Narnia.

Ok. Had great expectations from this one(had techinicians from Lord of the Rings team). but didn;t quite live upto it. The youngest kid was very cute.

ii) Alexander

Who the fuck thought of casting Colin farrell as Alexander..? A blunder i must say.It's akin to casting shahid kapur as a mumbai underworld don. Sucks... And the role of Angelina Jolie was bit over portrayed. The battle scenes though rocked. Especially the Greek Phalanx.

iii) Pattiyal (Tamil)

Yet another underworld movie with a typical ending. Somehow managed to watch the complete movie.

iv) Thambi (Tamil)

Another case of an anti-social element being portrayed as a hereo. Sucks bigtime. Didn;t bother to watch the part after interval.

v) Kovai brothers (Tamil)

As usual Sathyaraj rocks. But please somebody tell his son Sibi to stop acting.

vi) Rang de basanti

Good. Reminded me of Ramana though. Gaptan somebody has stolen your formula.

vii) Swades

The best of all the movies. Had been planning to watch it for a long time.

viii) Hanuman

Loved it. Especially the first part.

I guess this is a record, having watched so many movies in so short time and that too by paying money. Prior to college the total number of movies that i had seen in the theater was 2 or 3. Mother considered going to theaters as a bad habit and even at college used to get permission to go to theater during our fresher party treats.

As a result landed in big trouble during ragging. There was this senior of me from Nagercoil in final year who asked me to narrate the stories of any 2 recent movies. The latest i could come up with (courtesy Sun and DD) had been released atleast 2 years before the day on which the incident took place. So the next time i went home took some 2 CDs on rent and watched and came back and narrated the story. Phew..! strange are the ways in which female seniors rag. But she was the first crush at college. Tall and with long hair. :)

2006-06-02T16:18:00.000+05:30

You expect IITians and IIM grads to do things for the state?! :-o OK. Going by your policy, tell me what the backward caste entrants to IIT/IIM have done for their states (except act as consumers for the poor farmers in their states - 'cuz they're sitting at home on their asses having lost out on jobs - 'cuz they're just.. too.. dumb) but anyway if you're one of those pro-reservation pseudo-selflesses, you might like this blog of our college junior(http://tushizap.blogspot.com/). To each his own.

Kutty,

Quick answers for ur questions..

i) No i amn't pro-reservation in the present form(i.e caste based). I am for reservation based on economic status (if that's possible in a nation where annual income certificates can be forged easily).

ii) What i had intended by the post was the so-called elite junta who have studied in heavily subsidised gov premier institutes haven't even made a small effort to give back something to the nation (and that includes me as well). Forget contributing to the nation, we even shy away from making use of our voting rights. It's always easy to tell that India is corrupt, I don't have any career here and fly out of India.

iii) This lack of social responsibility among the educated elite has emboldened the politicians to get away with anything. Playing cheap caste politics they sway gullible voters easily with gimmicks like caste based reservation.

Tell me something why don't we display such kind of ferocity on all issues. Why a sudden spurt of protests hunger strikes..? It's tough to be selfless and neither do I proclaim to be one. Everyone has a chalta hai attitude on grave national issues when it doesn't concern them directly. When an issue affects a section of the people, only that section raises a big hue and cry. And this time the issue has been given additional color courtesy Indian media..

Reservation

2006-05-31T13:25:00.000+05:30

We never bothered when the militants gunned down innocent people by hundreds every month and still our government went licking the feet of the unscrupulous bastards across the border. We never bothered when the government started removing the import barriers allowing cheap agricultural products from heavily subsidised nations to flood the market and literally snatch poor farmers' lives. We never bothered why the farmers were forced to commit suicide in droves. We were more bothered about the sensex points rather than the number of people falling prey to starvation deaths in Orissa. We never bothered when our government literally sold our Nuclear program to the US.

But now all of a sudden we are so worried about a "national calamity" called reservation to an extent that doctors are going on hunger strikes, IT professionals hold candle marches. Why..?

None of the above mentioned incidents would have affected many of the now so-called Patriotic doctors and their fellow patriots in other professions nor their immediate and close family circles. It wouldn't have affected the money that pours into their coffers every month without fail.

Now all of a sudden, the doctors find "reservation" can prevent them from getting a prestigious post-grad seat and thereby act as a direct barrage on the money flow into their bank accounts. The others (IT professionals, students) suddenly find that the IIM/IIT seat and the "Investment banking" job will become a more steeper climb and dollar salary dream is turning into a mirage. Until the Indian middle class(that includes me) sheds its selfish approach and takes a more socially responsible role the politicians will take Indians for a ride.

What more can explain the selfish nature of the Indian middle class..? Take the example of IIT/IIMs. You would find a sizeable chunk of the students from UP/Bihar/MP. But you would find that the two of the above mentioned states are the perfect example of goonda raj and criminal politics. What have those graduates from these states who studied at these premier institutions done for their states..?

My first computer

2006-05-30T15:04:00.000+05:30

Yes, i finally purchased my first personal computer. It set me back by around 47K. It exceeded my budget of 45K mainly due to the SLI board as i couldn;t get the one (Asus A8N-E) i had gone for.

The configuration and the prices.

AMD athlon 3000+ (939 socket) - 5200
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard - 8400
XFX 6600 GT 128 MB PCI-E Graphics card - 7900
1 GB (512*2 DDR 400) RAM - 4300
80 GB 7200 rpm Seagate Harddisk - 2700 (not very sure..)
Sony DVD writer - 2400
Viewsonic E70f (17" flat CRT) - 6100
Microsoft Mouse + keyboard - 800
Antec SLK160B Cabinet (350 W power) - 3800
APC 500ES UPS - 1900
Altec Lansing ATP3 Speakers - 2700

Plus 4% VAT and the total figure comes to arnd 47K.

Another funny thing happenend. I purchased everything except for the graphics card and the chasis from Computer Bazar, in Secunderabad. The cashier forgot to swipe my card and handed me the bill. I cam back home on saturday evening and the same day at 10 in the night i get a call and the person on the other end informed me that they hadn't billed the amount on the card and asked me to come down on Monday to bill the amount. As one of the RAM sticks wasn;t working took the RAM sticks and went to the shop. The person in-charge was extremely helpful and immediately changed the RAM sticks and ofcourse got my card to bill the amount. However when i was leaving he gifted me a Parker pen. I couldn't belive it. But felt very happy. Maybe he thought that i wouln;t turn up and he would end up loosing arnd 35K.

The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be

2006-05-29T12:16:00.000+05:30

Bret "Hitman" Hart.. This post was long overdue. People familiar with wrestling would remember the famous "Montreal" incident that resulted in Hitman moving out of WWE. Recently he was inducted into the Hall of Fame 206 batch. I could manage to see a small portion of the video on the WWE website. I was hoping that he would be coming for the main WrestleMania event. But as many had expected, he didn;t turn up.

Wiki has an excellent page on him. So all Hitman fans checkitout,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Hart

Hyderabad Summer

2006-05-26T13:54:00.000+05:30

If one has to rank the bad things about Hyderabad, then the hot summer would definitely occupy the first place. The 4 weeks from mid of April till the end of May really sap the enerpy out if one dares to venture out in the hot sun. The best part about it is that you don;t sweat, but very hot air hits your face. It's similar the feeling one faces when standing before a furnace. Even at night, you don;t have to worry about hot water. You can get extremely hot water, hot enough to burn the skin at 9 in the night. Once a person is able to survive this 4 weeks, the rest 48 weeks in the year would just breeze past you.

The summer this year has finally come to an end. Been getting pre-monsoon showers for the past 3 days. Was caught in the rain y'day night while riding back home. Didn;t have my jacket and so got drenched :) . But it was a very nice experience to get the rain drops prick your face like tiny pins after nearly 4 weeks of hot air hitting your face on opening the helmet visor. Slowed down my bike to arnd 50 kmph and had a pleasant ride.

..

2006-05-24T09:43:00.000+05:30

It's a forward i received and a pretty interesting one as well... ;)
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Friend: Happy birthday!
She : Haan...tha......nk yo....u...was just getting up from the bed.

Friend : Oh! That means I am the first to wish you!
She : Naa! He has already wished me at 12 in the night.

Friend : Who???
She : Come on, who else, Nitin.

Friend : Oh, ok. So, what's the plan for today?
She : Nitin told me that he has a surprise gift for me for my Birthday. And also we are going to Flower Show today. I am excited! I have never seen the flower show that happens in Lal Baug. Actually that itself is the most wonderful gift for me.

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Friend : "Did you go to Palace grounds all the way from Basavanagudi, to see Bryan Adam's show!!! Who accompanied you?"
She : Nitin

Friend : By the way, who referred your CV in SoCrates? I mean you don't know anyone there, right?
She : No, he forwarded my CV to one of his friends there.

Friend : I heard that the HR round interview went on till 8pm in the night. I think you faced difficulty in returning to your room.
She : No, he had come to pick me up. He came from his office, dropped me to my room and he returned to his room at around 11pm. He didn't have dinner also. I asked him to have at my room. Poor Nitin.

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Friend : If you are supposed to go home tomorrow itself then what about reservation?
She : I have told him, he will go to Majestic and would get it done, and he told he has some work in Majestic. That's why I am relaxed a bit.

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Friend : How was your written test in Philips?
She : I failed yaar. The day before the test I had prepared perfectly. Nitin had come to our room. He taught me the basics of embedded programming concepts. I was very confident only because of him. But something else was in store for me.

Friend : Then, what did you do on Sunday?
She : We had gone to see "Lakshya". He doesn't see Hindi movies. But as I was upset after failing in the Philips written test, he took me for movie. I was very happy and surprised that he himself decided for a Hindi movie, and he was very happy that I enjoyed the movie. And you know; we had dinner in Pizza hut. It was his belated B'day treat!

Friend : And, what was your belated gift ;-)
She : Gift!! I had given the gift on his B'day itself. I was the first to call him at 12 in the night, he was busy throughout the day, and somehow we could meet in the evening and I gifted him with a cute time piece with a nice quote on it. He doesn't have time sense, so my time piece must always remind him of this. That day he didn't give me any treat as he had to go back to office. Yesterday I had a fight over this, you know! Poor kid.

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Friend : Hello...what about our sari shopping program in Malleshwaram?
She : Listen, I will call you later.

Friend : You didn't call me back in the morning, so I called now.
She : Yeah, when you called I was in Koramangala, with Nitin. He was very upset in the morning. He had a fight with his elder brother. So, it wouldn't have been fair on my part to leave him alone. If I am with him in such situation very soon he comes back to normalcy. So I postponed the Malleshwaram program.

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Friend : Hey! What happened? You seem to be very happy today.
She : Why not? You know today is one of the most happiest days for me. Nitin got an onsite assignment in UK , for 6 months! That's why I am very happy. All of his hard work paid today. He had been waiting for this opportunity since long. He'll be leaving next month.

Friend : You will miss him.
She : Badly. I am so much dependent on him. I must thank Sanju, through him only I got to know Nitin. Without Nitin it would have been very difficult for me to stay in this alien city with no friends, relatives and on top of all, no job. He has been so caring friend all through my tough times in this city, he is so mature, so understanding, so trustworthy...a true friend.

Friend : He loves you yaar.
She : I know.

Friend : And you? Don't you love him?
She : I don't want to.

Friend : Don't tell me. You also feel for him.
She : I know yaar. He has everything that I expect in my dream-life-partner. I know I can never get a true life partner like him. But I don't want to commit.

Friend : What is stopping you? I really don't understand. When Miya-beevi are razi kya karega kazi ?
She : Please...don't say like that. I never told him that I love him or something like that.

Friend : Is he a fool not to understand your feelings which are so clear from outside only? Poor fellow, don't leave him alone.
She : I have told him everything about my family. He knows how orthodox my parents are. They can never expect me marrying a guy from a different caste. They trust me. Come what may, I will not hurt my parent's feelings. I cannot imagine also. Now they are happily searching a guy for me in my native place.

Friend : Hmm, I don't understand at all.

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She : This Saturday I have to go home, a guy is coming to see me.
Friend : Oh! Is it? Good news yaar. Your first interview! Wish you all the best.

Friend : Any guesses, who is he?
She : Please yaar. I am least bothered and least interested. For the sake of my parents' happiness I have agreed for this.

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Friend : What about the interview, I was expecting your call actually?
She : Nothing so special. I didn't like the guy's attitude. I told my parents clearly. My parents are very understanding and so they too told me that they won't go ahead with this matter.

Friend : But still you should have analyzed properly.
She : I shared my views with Nitin. He had called me the next day. He didn't suggest me anything. He didn't tell me to say "yes" or "no", he didn't preach what is right or what is wrong. But after talking to him I was satisfied that whatever decision I took was right.

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Friend : Yesterday your mobile was engaged for more than half an hour. I kept trying, but I slept after 11pm.
She : Yeah, I was talking to Nitin. He is very much worried about my marriage. He is concerned whether I would get a guy of my choice or not, whether I would be happy with him or not. I was very sad to know this. But I am helpless. I pacified him and convinced that whatever my parents do, that will be the best for me, so no need to worry.

Friend : How Nitin will feel after you get married? Will he not be upset all the time?
She : Time will change everything. He will start living again. Was he not leading a normal life before I came into his life? It's all matter of time. Even I can't do anything other than pacifying him and myself with these philosophical statements.

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Finally " She " got engaged with a guy of her parent's choice (with her "yes" of course). She is in touch with both Nitin and the new " him " regularly through chatting in Yahoo Messenger.

Finally " She " got happily married to " him ", very soon converting Nitin into memories, but deleting the memories was slow and almost impossible for Nitin.

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Why do girls do like this?

She needs him when she is new to the city.
She needs his help in finding out a PG or hostel for her
She makes him prepare a good-format-CV for her
She needs him to drop her to the venue of a walk-in interview
She expects him to collect all the consultants' mail ids
She needs him while preparing for the interviews
She needs his help in identifying HER skill sets, strengths and weakness!
She wants him to conduct a mock-interview for her!
She gives her yahoo mail id password so that he can forward her CV to consultants through internet in his office (in office hours!)
She needs him for boosting her confidence when she fails in the 1 st written test in her life
She wants him to take her to M.G Road , Brigade Road, Forum and Big bazaar
She needs his company while visiting all the temples in Malleshwaram on Vijayadashami, though he is not a believer of God.
She asks his opinions on importance of marriage
She wants him to be a shoulder to cry when her parents force her for marriage
She needs his help in preparing her mind for the first interview with a guy
She needs his help in deciding about the marriage proposal
She loves to share her happiness with him when she gets engaged
She expects him to attend her marriage (Come on guys, he is a true friend of her!)

The guy does all this honestly, without saying a single "No".

He loves her.
He cares for her.
Whatever he is today; it is only because of her entry in to his life.
He treats her as his life.
She changed him.
It is only because of her, he is smiling.
It is only because of her, he has forgotten the past bitter experiences.
She is the first person in his life to influence him so much.
He was the " bhatka hua musafir " and she came as his " manzil ".
He threw the cigarette in the dust-bin because of her.
He has cultivated a positive attitude towards marriage and family because of her.
She is the perfect Indian woman he has ever seen.
He keeps a photo of Lord Krishna in his purse now; only because of her (also it is her favorite deity!).
Weekends come and go without his notice; it is only because of her.
He stopped going to office on Weekends; it is only because of her.
Onsite project was his dream; he puts all his efforts now, not to get an onsite assignment but to get a job for her in Bangalore .

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The girl depends on the guy as if she never lived and can never live without him. Guy behaves as if he has taken birth on this earth only to care for that lady. She treats him as a shoulder to cry and he treats her as a puppy in a rain storm. She loves to depend and he loves to take care, finally they fall in so called "love", ultimately adding an unnecessary trauma to life. Girls want a perfect life partner but they don't want to hurt their parents' feelings, guys know that they can't get her but still they want to care for her(because they want her to be happy wherever she is and with whoever she is).Great! Or shall I say crap !

Or I think no need to be so serious about it.

She gets engaged, life goes on...
Long lasting phone calls become short and sweet, life goes on...
A heart which was used to "Good morning" SMSs learns to be happy with just the "Happy weekend" SMSs, life goes on...
No more "Unread messages" in the yahoo mail, life goes on...
No one to share coffee at "Barista" at the end of a tiring working day, life goes on...
No more consultants' calls to be diverted and life goes on...
He starts smoking again, life goes on...
He is still living in flashback, and no looking back for her, but life goes on...
He gets promoted, he is a manager, she is mother of two kids, and life goes on...
He is in his late twenties, happily married to a beautiful, understanding, mature, caring, broad minded wife! Anyway life goes on...

T.here is " She " in every wife and there is Nitin in every husband (most of the times!). There are dumb spectators like " Friend " who are puzzled to see the whole episode between " She " and Nitin and just ask themselves " WHAT IT IS ???" ..

And the countdown ends..

2006-05-19T16:58:00.000+05:30

:) The countdown ends with a happy end.. More on it in 2-3 weeks time :)

Today's a very special day.. Justed wanted to note it :)

Democratic duty..

2006-05-10T21:17:00.000+05:30

Utilised my voting rights for the first time on 8th May 2006.

Another trip to home

2006-05-03T09:21:00.000+05:30

It's going to be a short trip and would be staying at home for 3 days and will be back via Bangalore. The reason, we are having the first official alumni meet at our school (vivekananda kendra vidyalaya, kanyakumari). It's going to be pure fun meeting up with old batchmates ,seniors and juniors. It's always tough to find replacement when you have studied and grew up for 14 years in the same place with same group of people. Though i have made friends after my school life, i am more comfortable when i mingle among my school friends and i think it's going to remain that way.

Election Fever

2006-05-03T09:12:00.000+05:30

TamilNadu is going for state assembly elections on 8th May 2006. TamilNadu people always have given a clear majority for one party most of the times. this time it looks like the race is very close between DMK and ADMK. Frankly i would prefer Amma coming back to power rather than that senile b*****d.

I could be wrong in my thoughts, but i belive that Indians always need a strong/autocratic ruler. Much has been mentioned about the strike taken out by government employees esp. teachers and the subsequent action against them by Amma. But one would be rather surprised to know that government teachers are paid at the same scale as gazetted officers(doctors, engineers) in TN. Have you ever seen a protest taken out by government doctors/engineers in TN..? No. Inspite of being paid so much and working hardly (one can ascertain this fact by visiting government schools across TN) these government teachers still want more salary.

Hope common sense prevails among the TN electorate and vote back either Amma/Captain to power :) .But one can never rule out the wavering mood of the TN electorate. If they could make Kamaraj bite dust in assembly polls, they are even capable of making Captain the next CM.

Laptop or Desktop

2006-04-28T19:17:00.000+05:30

Having a big dilemma on whether to go for a laptop or a desktop. My initial decision for not going for a laptop was that a gaming laptop would be out of my budget (around 40K-45K). But having seen this notebook, (Dell Inspiron E1705) i am just blown away. dealstobuy has a very tempting discount on this awesome machine. 750$ off on a configuration above 1999$.

You can easily configure this monster to arnd 2000$ with GeForce 7800 graphics card and get a cool rebate of 750$. Building a PC with a similar graphics card would cost more than 60K. A 6600 GT (128MB) costs arnd 8.5K in India. Let's see. Gotto save now to get this monster provided i find someone to get it for me.

My computer

2006-04-26T21:15:00.000+05:30

My quest to get a computer is still going on and on. I hope i would be able to get one by May mid. The problem is that once i decide on a configuration, some article or other makes me change my decision. But finally have come to a conclusion and no more changes.

Processor : AMD 3000+ (939 Socket) Venice core =============> 5600
MotherBoard : Asus A8N-E (nVidia4 Ultra chipset) =============> 5600
Graphics Card : BIG GeForce 6600 GT 128MB PCI-E =============> 8500
RAM : Transcend 2 x 512 MB DDR-400 RAM =============> 4500
HardDisk : 160 GB 7200 RPM Seagate Barracuda Hard Disk =============> 3600
Monitor : ViewSonic E72f (17 inch Flat CRT) =============> 6200
Casing + PowerSupply : Antec Cabinet 400W SMPS =============> 5000
DVD/CD : Benq 1640 DVD Writer =============> 1600
Keyboard : Microsoft KeyBoard + Mouse =============> 800
Speakers : Altec Lansing ATP 3 Speakers =============> 3200

Comes close to 41K

Stock Market and analysts

2006-04-26T10:56:00.000+05:30

I amn't a hardcore investor in equities. But i do buy few stocks which i feel are good. Again this selection process is purely by intution. And luckily till date (from june 2005 when i started) i haven't had to book losses anytime coutesy the massive bull run in which each and every stock is climbing new heights. Occasionaly i do tune on to the CNBC TV18 for updates/news. But my gut feeling is that most of the analysts who come in those shows are massive manipulators. Especially the two Udayan and the bimboo who comes along with him Mithali.

For sample, check out this statement made around 11700 levels
"Managing Director, Actis India, Donald Peck feels that this is a good time to exit but also not a bad time to enter the overheated Indian stock market. ...."
Now if the market moves up, this guy can always quote that he had mentioned that "it wasn't a bad time to enter" and if it goes down again he could quote that he had mentioned that "it is good time to exit". And the gullible Indian retail investor will digest this bullshit yet again :)

ragasiyamanadhu kadhal

2006-04-17T20:36:00.000+05:30

I have listened to many statements from friends like "Hey i listened this song the whole day long" or something like "I have watched this movie 10 times". I could atleast relate to the last one, having watched "Maine Pyar Kiya" 10 to 12 times. But listening to a song continuoulsy has never happenend before. But these days listening to two versions of one particular song "ragasiyamanadu kadal" in my free time repeatedly.

Check out the songs here Link

The fourth and the fifth songs. Enjoy :)

2006-04-12T16:39:00.000+05:30

Market fall
Shiva

2006-04-12T14:00:00.000+05:30

Trying to sell an insurance scheme or a credit card using a telephone is quite common these days. And most of the time you get calls when the person calling you doesn;t even know your name. Yes, it does irritate us a lot. But does that mean we blast the person who's making the call. 99.99% of the time they are under pressure from their superiors to achieve some set targets. I felt very angry when one of the guys in a close by cubicle started blasting a person making such a call. He started saying stuff like "why do u make such calls..? Do u know my name..? Don;t you think it's illegal..? etc etc,?

Once the call ended i told him on the face "if you got balls go screw the company and not the poor employee who's making the call". It's so easy to bully someone without a defence. Gosh i felt like pulling this guy up by neck and bash him up badly.Atleast we must have some basic manners while attending calls. How big is the effort to say "Sorry, I amn;t interested in your product or I already have sufficient insurance cover..". Atleast i amsure the person at the other end of the call won't get hurt.

Sad but true

2006-04-11T15:26:00.000+05:30

http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2006/apr/11sehwag.htm

Felt real bad for Ganguly on reading this. I amn't a great Ganguly supporter. But hearing this from a guy who was supported to the hilt by Ganguly was very bad. Today kaif, Yuvraj and the other youngsters in the Indian team owe their place to Ganguly to some extent. He kept faith in them and ensured that they were selected inspite of some initial failures. Once they started reaching their peaks, they inturn cost Ganguly his place in the Indian team. I wonder how the scenario would have been if ganguly hadn't supported their cause to this extent.

We would be still seeing dada captaining Indian team. Only those youngsters who managed to hit big scores in their given chances would have been in the Indian team. Any failure for these newcomers wouldn't have been tolerated and we would have seen a procession of new players for the 2-3 open slots in batting.

Second Anniversary.. :)

2006-03-31T20:05:00.000+05:30

Just noticed under the archives section, the listing starting from March 2004.. Gosh it's already two years and still going pretty good.. Hoping to fill it with some more of my absurd posts.. he he he... :)

Yet Another Bullet Post :)

2006-03-31T20:03:00.000+05:30

The first thing a bullet rider looks for when he relocates to a new place is to find a good mechanic for his bull. The new steeds for royal enfield like Thunderbird and Machismo are much more relaible and the riders of these bikes generally take them to the showroom mechanics. But the lovers of the thump music who ride a standard 350 cc and 500cc generally prefer a local mechanic.

When i had brought my bullet from kanyakumari to hyderabad the first thought was to post a message in our company's distribution list enquiring about good mechanics. Luckily had a fellow bullet owner in my company and he recommended me to a mechanic sreenu anna. Location was at the end of a small street or galli near the junction between tank bund MG road and necklace road under a banyan tree). Sounded to me like a buddha under the bodhi tree :)

So one week after getting the information, i set out on a saturday morning to his place. That was the first day i wore a helmet and promptly met with an accident with a Maruti 800. Later picked up my bike and reached the mechanic's place. Was surprised to see only Bullets and Bullets nothing else. Back home the mechanic father used to visit used to look into all bikes. Here this guy was a bullet specialist and is more passionate about bullets than anyone i have ever met. The garage is being run by a father and son and has been at the same place was more than 40 years (i just couldnt believe it , but it's true).

Was happy that my Bull would be with safe hands henceforth. Managed to get the bike back to shape. After two weeks gave my bull to him for a complete rehaul which burnt a big hole (arnd 8K) in my pocket. The memories of those three weeks spent in rebuilding my bullet are still fresh in my mind. Used to make a visit to the mechanic's place on atleast 3 out of the 5 weekdays from 5 pm to 9 pm and the saturdays were fully spent at the garage. But the expense and time spent was worth it. I was handed a stunning iron steed both in looks and onroad performance after the 3 weeks

After that, even for a small problem, i used to travel all the way from Madhapur to MG Road. Used to love the ride (esp. the necklace road stretch.). Bullet is something which even a person with minimal mechanical knowledge can fiddle around with. Few things i have learnt are setting the idle timing, opening up my rear tyre in case of punture and rectifying small electrical problems. Havent yet started on the bigger stuffs. However whenever i take my bullet for service i generally make it a point to stay the entire 3-4 hours stretch at the garage seeing the things being done. Several Rounds of Hot chai and mirchi bajji or samosa from a nearby irani cafe fill in for the refreshments. It's a totally different environment, typical laid back Hyderabadi style faraway from the rat race of the IT environment.

When someone asks me how do you feel riding a bullet, the simplest explanation i can come up with is "Imagine reclining on a sofa and moving on the road. That's what i feel when i ride my Bull". But things are different when u try riding it in some really congested traffic situations ;)

Definition of Bliss. :)

2006-03-31T17:21:00.000+05:30

Ride a Royal Enfield Bullet every other day for close to 2 years and then all of a sudden drop it at a mechanic's place for an engine rehaul for 1 week. In that particular week, take an auto or walk to the places you visit daily.

Kick start your bull after 1 week and what you feel for the first 1 km of the ride is pure bliss. And i felt it last monday when i got my bullet back after a gap of 2 weeks.

Countdown starts .. 60

2006-03-31T16:57:00.000+05:30

Hyprocrisy Defined

2006-03-23T19:08:00.000+05:30

Employees Fired for faking CVs

So what shall we do to the Indian Services companies when they fake the years of experience of their employees whom they sent onsite,.?

Mr. Azim Premji or Mr.Narayan Murthy..? Any comments..?

What moral right do these s/w companies have to complain about the lack of infrastructure..? Did they plan their operations properly..? Take the example of Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. TISCO people knew that their operation is going to be labor intensive and built a very big township for their employees over a period of time. Now compare the TISCO top heads with those of Wipro and Infosys. What have they done ? Why is that we are running into a infrastructure problem in bangalore all of a sudden.? What was the population of Banaglore and the two-wheeler/four-wheeler count some 2-3 years back and now..?

In my opinion bangalore city has just exploded in terms of two wheelers and four wheelers and any city in the world would have run into this problem. I dont think the planners would have thought about such a gigantic explosion in vehicle count in such a short time frame. Did these companies think of these factors while deciding on their campuses..? Why did they think of just glass buildings for themselves and nothing for the employees. If they had come up with an idea of township (on lines of Jamshedpur) far away from any exisitng city, would this have happened..? It would have cost them money and hence they didnt do this.. All of them are in for a quick buck and in that case these things are bound to happen.

And last but not the least, Mr.Narayan Murthy and Mr.Premji should also realise that India is not just IT. Today these ppl are after the "cheap" Indian talent(i wouldnt say talented). Some 5 years down the line, the same thing is going to happen in China(Infosys has already opened a development center in China). God alone knows what's gonna happen in India then.

Nagercoil rocks

2006-03-22T13:52:00.000+05:30

Wiki information on Nagercoil rocks. The best one i liked was abt the doctors. . Back home,Good quality doctors were never found lacking. Name any complication one can get real good practitioners . In comparison to Nagercoil health facilities in Hyderabad sucks. You have only two so-called good hospitals Apollo and LV Prasads. And hygiene is real bad even in Apollo. Even a ward in a normal hospital back home is well maintained. When i was down with chicken pox in June 2003, i (ok, my company) paid 22K for a 7 week stay in the hospital. And believe me i found a cockroach in my food one day. After that i survived on liquid food for the remaining days.

Nagercoil rocks !

Domestic helps in India

2006-03-22T12:33:00.000+05:30

Domestic helps in India

Came across this post.. A very touching series..

Do Bikes throw tanturms..?

2006-03-07T11:51:00.000+05:30

They do and i came to realize it in a rather painful manner. It's almost 3 months since i took my Bull for its regular service. This time even the oil change is due having run 3200 km on the odo since the previous oil change. Had been planning since february start to get it done by the last weekend of feb. But other things cropped up and postponed the plans last saturday.

Looks like this didnt go down well with my Bull. My Bull which used to start in a single kick even in heavy rains, refused to start even after 10 mins of frantic kicking. Checked the usual cuprit, battery but found nothing wrong with it. Forced to take the auto to office after a long long time. Walked the distance between cyber towers and cyber gateway. Didnt bother to use the company shuttle servivce, as i didnt want to spoil my day by swearing at someone who's bound to jump the queue and board the shuttle.Even if Indian standard of living increases to that of a developed nation somethings will never change.

2006-03-01T17:25:00.000+05:30

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/mar/01bush.htm

I just can't find terms to describe how ridiculous this sounds. Does Manmohan singh dine with Julia Roberts or Sharon Stone when he visits the US. I wonder what's the content of the cranial cavity of these External Affairs officials.. F****g Pimps.

Shiv Shankar Baba

2006-02-24T11:31:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, someone from UCSD reached my blog through yahoo's search engine using the keywords, "shiv+shankar+baba". Though my name was shiva shankar, the popularity of a lunatic holy man by the name "shiv shankar baba", resulted in my name undergoing a change to become "shiv shankar baba" in my first semester and then to just "baba" for the remainder seven semesters. I still dont remember the last time a collegemate of me addressing me as "shiva shankar". My real name got so obsoleted to the extent that i contemplated an ad in newspapers to indicate the name change. I had even told my parents to call for "shiva shankar baba" when calling to the hostel phones, after they told me that someone had diconnected telling that there was no "shiva shankar" in that hostel.

These days feel quite nostalgic when someone calls me "baba".

2006-02-23T10:00:00.000+05:30

Back after a 10 ten days trip to Kanyakumari. The dev work for this release is almost done and the testing by the QA team is yet to gather steam . So planned for a quick trip. As usual had a great time at home, eating fish, roaming in my parents car and watching lots of movies. Had some additional work this time, that is taking our dog, Caesar for a morning walk as father had to be away for a few days.

Reverse Brain Drain

2006-02-01T10:28:00.000+05:30

Another myth which is being blown out of proportions by the media. 20,000-30,000 US Professionals have returned back to India says the NASSCOM cheif proudly. I just wanted to fire a query to him,

i) How many of them are non-Java or non-J2EE or non-.Net experts..?
ii) How many of them are professors or researchers who have come back to India..?
iii) How many of them have taken the option of having a job in India(with the India Operations of the parent company) compared to being jobless in US..?

In my opinion i) and iii) would together contribute to 100% while ii) which actually signals a true brain gain or a reverse brain drain is 0%. 99% of US professionals who have returned to India from US are junk people who would have been thrown out of their jobs by their employers at the first oppurtunity. Infact many are given a option these days. Choose either a Pink Slip or a comparable post in the Indian center with a reduced pay.

Some good news :)

2006-02-01T09:30:00.000+05:30

I am getting my freedom from the clutches of the Madhapur flat owner mafia this weekend. I am shifting to a newly contructed 2 BHK in Miyapur this weekend. Rent + Maintenance comes to 5K. I hope it remains the same for 1 year and by the time i hope my home would be ready and i would shift to it.

Miyapur is also close to the place where my new home is coming up. Would surely funny when i shift to my new home. A single person staying in an independent duplex home. Booking that home was the most sensible decision i have made after coming to Hyderabad. The price apprreciation in the last 4 months (after i had booked the place) has been close to 70%. Additional Bonus is that the project also comprises a tennis court (should be a cement surface. Something is better than nothing).

My cribbing

2006-01-30T15:32:00.000+05:30

"If I have been able to see farther, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants" . Came across this line in SN Kutty's blog. And this line has made me think seriously about my career. 2.5 years in the same company. If i have to surmise what i have done in 2.5 years in one sentence it's quite simple "I have screwed my technical career beyond repair". Each passing day i feel as though i am sinking into a gutter. The feeling has become more pronounced in the past 1 month or so as the workload got a bit reduced and i got more time to do a more honest self-appraisal.

One good thing though is i have been lucky to work with a very intelligent and a humble Manager. We have worked on many projects and i was very lucky to be given a free hand in most of the activities i have done so far. In fact i learnt my first professional lesson from him. Look at things from the user perspective and not the code perspective. Design everything first then start coding. This was a rude shock for me. I hated detailing the interaction between code modules in a word document and wanted to plunge straightaway into coding (Still remember my final year project that started with a simple main() function but later spanned nearly 10 files). But soon learnt the usefulness behind this approach (design first -> then code). Still inspite of the work i have done so far i always feel that i can still achieve more.

For the past one month or so, my frame of mind is synchronous with that of the people who appear in the Tata Safari Ad ("I always wanted to quit on Monday mornings"). I want to quit and do something more worthful, but the fear in me pulls me back each time. I know i have made a mistake in life infact a big mistake when i sat for the campus interview on July 8th 2002 (as it happens with most grads it was more driven by the CTC rather than the work being done in the company). That one mistake has made me crib more times in this 2.5 years than i have ever done previous to July 8th 2002 in my life. I dont want to make a job change just for a few lakhs more in my CTC and then start cribbing in my new job within months of joining it.

The other factor driving me mad these days is the lack of a techincal career in my company. The next level obviously is "Project Leader" which i can acheive easily within a year or so. Given the current attrition rate and the level of talent the company is able to attract these days it's gonna be the work of a shepherd training the sheep, reviewing the code changes made my some dumb non-thinking morons. Gosh i always wanted to be in a pack of Lions and not a Shepherd leading a bunch of dumb sheeps. I am sure that i will be able to make some sensible decision soon that can deliver me from the mess that i am in. When the going gets tough, the tough get going and i am gonna do it too.

Heil Fuhrer !

How much more Mr.Bachan ?

2006-01-27T11:06:00.000+05:30

There's one constant entity in Indian television/movies/commercials these days and that's none other than the Hindi Superstar Mr.Amitabh Bachan. His momopoly on commercials/movies has increased to such an extent that there's no point in changing channels when u get a commerical break. You will end up seeing the same face only. If you think that movies and commericals are the ones being affected, then you are wrong. Any awards ceremony or a politician's son's or daughter's marriage, you will find an old man with white beard dancing like a beggar for the few crores that he seems to get. And there are syncophants cashing on his image.I was in much awe of this so-called superstar during the old DD days. I have watched all the major Amitabh movies and enjoyed them to the core. I would be lying if i say that i hated his movies.

For godsake Mr.Bachan you are a "Superstar". Behave like one. Please dont act like a buffoon dancing wherever they throw you a few crores. I once prided myself in saying that i am a fan of Mr.Amitabh not b'cos he was the "Superstar", but because of the humility with which he carried himself with till his comeback movie (was it 'Mrityudand' ?). I am no longer a fan of this man, but still my love for his old movies lingers on. The last nail in the coffin was the sight of Mr.Bachan in Dairy Milk ad. "Muthu pass ahitan" (muthu has passed in his exams). Just as politicians abuse the power for 5 years, Mr.Bachan is encashing his Superstar status.

Mr.Bachan learn from rajinikanth/Mohan lal. For ur information, rajini's salary per movie is more than 2-3 times yours inspite of u being the superstar of all hindi-speaking states. I am no hardcore fan of Mr.Rajinikanth. But i cant stop myself from comparing him with a fellow "Superstar". If Rajini wants to act in ads, he can easily command more than what's being paid for Mr.Bachan. But thank god he's stopped with fooling his fans and the public in the movies alone and hasnt carried on the trend to ads as well.So Mr.Bachan continue your party. Sell anything under the sky, a toothpaste, toilet tissue papers, diapers anything for which u for which u can get money.

- Creed -

2006-01-27T09:02:00.000+05:30

Felt quite nostalgic listening "Higher" and "With Arms Wide Open" from Creed's 'Human Clay' album recently. Very rarely i listen to music at work. But on this occasion was forced to listen, as couple of colleagues were too loud discussing abt their boy friends and i didnt want to listen to some stupid gossip. It's sad that this band 'Creed' no longer exists(there was a split sometime back). But their debut album "Human Clay" was a very big hit and was the first rock album i had listened to. My exposure is to rock music is very limited. Most of the songs i enjoy listening to would have been recommended to me by either vittal or kolli.

But this is a brief list of my favs,

Nomad - Iron Maiden
Dream of Mirrors - Iron Maiden
Brave New World - Iron Maiden
Hallowed be thy name - Iron Maiden
Memory remains - Metallica
Turn the page - Metallica
Unforgiven - Metallica
Unforgiven II - Metallica
Nothing else matters - Metallica
how you remind me - Nickelback
Someday - Nickelback
Youth of the Nation - POD
Outside - Staind
Never die - Creed
Higher - Creed
With arms wide open - Creed
Last Resort - Papa roach
Love buzz - Nirvana
You know u r right - Nirvana

And couple of favs in soft rock/whatever category,

Send me an angel - Scorpions
Take my breath away - berlin
When you say nothing at all - Ronan Keating
Words - Ronan Keating