"Classical" Kannada....

For a few years now, I had been listening to this fight that "Kannada" should be granted the classical status. I never really knew the exact implications of this. But, I used to blindly ( but passively) wish that we got this status. I had merely observed, a few famous and respected scholars/writers fighting for this cause.

But this article in todays Deccan herald helped me understand what exactly this means.

Here are the main outcomes..

1. Two major international awards will be instituted annually for scholars of eminence.
2. A center of excellence for studies will be set up and UGC will be asked to establish professional chairs in various Central univerities.
3. The Centre to give grants upto 100 crore for promotion of the language. Every year, State may get a budgetary allocation of upto 5 crore from the center.
4. The grant is mainly to setup a Kannada Language Promotion Board under the chairmanship of an eminent scholar.
5. Kannada study centers in various international universities depending on India's bilateral agreements.
6. Opportunities for scholars to undertake research on the origin and history of the langauge.

Having read all these I feel it is indeed a major achievement. Lets hope that the funds will be used sincerely to promote Kannada. Also, it could not have been more timely for its our Rajyotsava Day, which makes it all the more special.

On this occastion I will list a few of my favorite kannada songs that inspire a sense of belonging to our state.

• ಹಚ್ಚೇವು ಕನ್ನಡದ ದೀಪ ... ಕರುನಾಡ ದೀಪ ಸಿರಿ ನುಡಿಯ ದೀಪ ಒಲವೆತ್ತಿ ತೋರುವ ದೀಪ ....
• ಜೈ ಭಾರತ ಜನನಿಯ ತನುಜಾತೆ ....ಜಯಹೇ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಮಾತೆ .... (ನಾಡ ಗೀತೆ)
  
• ಜೋಗದ ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ..ತುಂಗೆಯ ತೆನೆ ಬಳುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ..ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿಯ ಲೋಹದಲಿನ ...
• ಎಲ್ಲಾದರು ಇರು ಎಂತಾದರು ಇರು ...ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ನೀ ಕನ್ನಡ ವಾಗಿರು.. ಕನ್ನಡ ಗೋವಿನ ಓ ಮುದ್ದಿನ ಕರು...
• ಬಾರಿಸು ಕನ್ನಡ ಡಿಂಡಿಮವ ....ಓ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಹೃದಯ ಶಿವಾ..
  
• ಉದಯವಾಗಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಚೆಲುವ ಕನ್ನಡ ನಾಡು ...
• ನಾವಾಡುವ ನುಡಿಯೇ ಕನ್ನಡ ನುಡಿ .. ನಾವಿರುವಾ ತಾಣವೇ ಗಂಧದ ಗುಡಿ ....
• ಅಪಾರ ಕೀರ್ತಿ ಗಳಿಸಿ ಮೆರೆವ ಭವ್ಯ ನಾಡಿದು ...ಕರ್ಣಾಟ ವಿದುವೆ ನೃತ್ಯ ಶಿಲ್ಪಾ ಕಲೆಯ ಬೀಡಿದು ....
• THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.... :-)
  

At the same time, congratulations to all the telugu speakers for 'Telugu' also gets the same classical status today....

Lost and found....my pencil sketches....

This weekend turned out to be serendipitous...

During school, I belonged to the "drawing hobby" group. And we had developed a craze for sketching portraits of actors and actresses. I had done fair a bit of sketching too...

I had lost these sketches a long time back. But quite unexpectedly found them in the corner of one of those less accessed cupboards.

Although not in the league of the best portraits, if you strain your eyes a little and be a little considerate towards me, probably you can come close to guessing the persons, whom I have assumed to have sketched. :-)

Here they go...

supposed to be Aishwarya Rai..


supposed to be Hritik Roshan....


supposed to be Madhavan...


supposed to be Shar Rukh (from Dil Se)...


supposed to Salman Khan...

supposed to be Kajol...

Thats it...those were the sketches that I had done... Hope to do more and hope to achieve greater resemblance to the subject.... :-)

No Man's Land...

For a few years now, I had a touch of contempt for this movie "No man's Land", for it had snatched the oscars from "Lagaan". But having watched the movie, I must say the contempt is replaced by awe and respect.

The movie revolves around the two soldiers who end up in the no mans's land. Interestingly, they are from rival borders and are left with one more soldier whose is alive but lying on a land mine in a trench. The role of the UN and the press is shown in an interesting manner. From the helplessness of the UN officials on the field to the irritation caused by the reporters is well portrayed. However, the intention of the press is to get the truth and hence any amount of irritation seems justified. The film itself is well made. The ending is cunningly subtle.

One funny conversation that I remember..

UN Official 1: A bomb diffuser makes only one mistake in life...(smiles)
UN Official 2: Well...actually two.
UN Official 1: How is that?
UN Official 2: First, when he chose the profession.

Apart from this the last scene is quite tragic and hence, seems to persist in your mind.

An explaination to the current financial crisis...in (almost) lay man's words...

A friend of mine sent the link to an article in the Hindu daily. If you want to know how and why all this financial crisis is happening, then do read this article. Its a well-written piece of writing.

Article - When the bubble burst...
Link - http://www.hindu.com/mag/2008/10/05/stories/2008100550010100.htm

A few take-aways from this article....

• I got a hang of whats happening and why all this financial crisis.
• I realized I don't even qualify as a "lay man" when it comes to financial jargons ...
• Investment Bankers are super jazz givers and Investment Banking is all about GAS (packaging and selling) ;-) This was in a lighter vein. I do respect them.
  

[PGW Quotes] first installment...

Came across a few of my favorite PGW quotes...

" It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't. "

"The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun"

"The shock to Colonel Wedge of finding that what he had taken for a pile of old clothes was alive and a relation by marriage caused him to speak a little sharply."

"He had a face like a gorilla. More so indeed, than most gorillas do."

"it was as if nature had intended to make a gorilla and had changed her mind at the last moment"

"his IQ is about thirty points lower than what you’d expect from a not-too-agile-minded jellyfish"

"He uttered a sound much like a bull dog swallowing a pork chop whose dimensions it has underestimated."

"It was the look which caused her to be known in native bearer and halfcaste circles as 'Mgobi-'Mgumbi, which may be loosely translated as She On Whom It Is Unsafe To Try Any Oompus-Boompus."

"Sir Roderick Glossop ... is always called a nerve specialist, because it sounds better, but everybody knows that he's really a sort of janitor to the looney-bin."

"His locality at this moment is as difficult to ascertain as that of a black cat hiding in a coal cellar on a moonless night"

"He was built on large lines, and seemed to fill the room to overflowing. In physique he was not unlike what Primo Carnera would have been if Carnera hadn't stunted his growth by smoking cigarettes when a boy."

"Unlike the male codfish which, suddenly finding itself the parent of three million five hundred thousand little codfish, cheerfully resolves to love them all, the British aristocracy is apt to look with a somewhat jaundiced eye on its younger sons."

"Honoria . . . is one of those robust, dynamic girls with the muscles of a welter-weight and a laugh like a squadron of cavalry charging over a tin bridge."

"Fond as he was of Pongo, Lord Ickenham could not see him as a breaker of hearts. Yet it appeared plain that his loss had left a large gap in this girl's life."

"After all, golf is only a game,'' said Millicent. Women say these things without thinking. It does not mean that there is any kink in their character. They simply don't realise what they're saying.

[Favorite songs] ತೇರಾ ಏರಿ ಅಂಬರದಾಗೆ...

After long I found this song on Youtube... also somebody has written the entire lyrics in the comments..so thot i will just copy paste this song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_DMD0LzVGY

ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ: ದೊಡ್ಡ ರಂಗೇಗೌಡ
ಸಂಗೀತ: ರಾಜನ್-ನಾಗೇಂದ್ರ
ಗಾಯನ: ಎಸ್.ಪಿ. ಬಾಲಸುಬ್ರಹ್ಮಣ್ಯಂ

ತೇರಾ ಏರಿ ಅಂಬರದಾಗೆ ನೇಸರು ನಗುತಾನೆ..
ಮರಗಿಡ ತೂಗ್ಯಾವೆ...
ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾಡ್ಯಾವೇ...
ಬೀರ್ಯಾವೇ, ಚೆಲುವಾ ಬೀರ್ಯಾವೇ
ಬಾ, ನೋಡಿ ನಲಿಯೋಣ ತಮ್ಮಾ
ನಾವ್, ಹಾಡಿ ಕುಣಿಯೋಣ ತಮ್ಮಾ

ಬೇಲಿ ಮ್ಯಾಗೆ ಬಣ್ಣ ಬಣ್ಣದ
ಹೂವು ಅರಳ್ಯಾವೆ
ಆ ಹೂವ ಮೇಲೆ ತುಂಬಾ ಸಣ್ಣ ಚಿಟ್ಟೆ ಕುಳಿತ್ಯಾವೆ
ಬಾಗಿ ಬಾಗಿ ಅತ್ತ ಇತ್ತ ಬಾಳೆ ಬಳುಕ್ಯಾವೆ
ಆ ಬಾಳೇ ವನವೇ ನಕ್ಕು ಕಣ್ಣು ತಂದ್ಯಾವೆ
||ಕುಂತರೆ ಸೆಳೆವ, ಸಂತಸ ತರುವ||
ಹೊಂಗೆ ತೊಂಗೆ ತೂಗಿ ತೂಗಿ
ಗಾಳಿ ಬೀಸ್ಯಾವೇ
ತೇರಾ ಏರಿ ಅಂಬರದಾಗೆ ನೇಸರು ನಗುತಾನೆ..
ಮರಗಿಡ ಕೂಗ್ಯಾವೇ...
ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾಡ್ಯಾವೇ...
ಮರಗಿಡ ಕೂಗ್ಯಾವೇ...
ಚಿಲಿಪಿಲಿ ಹಕ್ಕಿ ಹಾಡ್ಯಾವೇ...

ಭೂಮಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಚ್ಚ ಹಚ್ಚಗೆ ಹಾದಿ ತೆಗೆದಾವೆ
ಆ ಹಾದಿ ಅಕ್ಕ ಪಕ್ಕ ಬಳ್ಳಿ ಬೆಳಿದ್ಯಾವೆ
ಸಾಲು ಸಾಲು ಬೆಟ್ಟ ಗುಡ್ಡ ಮೌನ ತಳೆದಾವೆ
ಆ ಮೌನವ ಗಾನ ಎಲ್ಲರ ಮನಸಾ ಸೆಳೆದಾವೆ
||ಭಾವಾ ಬಿರಿದು, ಹತ್ತಿರ ಕರೆದು ||
ಮಾವು ಬೇವು ತಾಳೆ ತೆಂಗು
ಲಾಲಿ ಹಾಡ್ಯಾವೆ
||ತೇರಾ ಏರಿ...||

ಭೇದಭಾವ ಮುಚ್ಚುಮರೆ ಒಂದು ಮಾಡ್ದೇನೆ
ಆ ಸೂರ್ಯ ಒಂದೇ ಬೆಳಕ ನಮಗೆ ನೀಡ್ಯಾನೆ
ಗಾಳಿ ನೀರು ಎಲ್ಲ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ಜಗವ ನಡೆಸ್ಯಾನೆ
ಆ ಸಿರಿಯ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡರೆ ಬಾಳು ಸವಿಜೇನೆ
||ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಬೆಳೆದೆ ಸ್ನೇಹ ಕಳೆದು||
ನಗುತ ನಗುತ ನಾವು ನೀವು ಸವಿಯುವ ಸುಖವನ್ನೇ

Kudos to the directors and actors..for such awesome films and songs...

Stack Overflow - not a "problem" but a "one-stop solution"...

For hard-core fans of Joel, I am sure this is no news. But for others, here is a website where you can go for any technical snag...

The link to the website is - www.stackoverflow.com

I have been using it ever since it was launched, about a month ago. A very useful site and a highly responsive one. On an average I get answers to my queries in like 10 or 15 mins... So it has quite a strong user network for a site that is just 1 month old. And the best part about the site, is the integrated voting facility. Because of this, wrong answers get voted out. So unlike in a discussion forum where you will have to dig deep for the diamond, here you have the right answers at the top. And mostly these are verified answers. Apart from that, the other good feature that I liked is, as soon as you type the title of the question, the website shows a set of related questions. This not only avoids duplication at the root, but also provides us with a quick way to search if such a quesiton has already been asked.

For detailed information on this , you can get it right from the horse's mouth here.
And for those of you who dont follow Joel's blog I stronly recommend you to start. Its an awesome tech blog.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com

Its interesting how we (or alteast I) usual think that most of what we can innovate is already done in some fields. Yet we find the results of great minds at work manifesting in such products/sites...

London on toes...

I made a week's trip to London, during May 2007. Based on that, here is a list suggestions...

Within London

• Buckingham Palace – Don’t miss the change of guards. Happens as far as I remember twice a day. I think one must be at 11 30 AM and the other in the evening.
  
  

• St Pauls Cathedral – This is just awesome. Make sure you go to the full top. It very very tall..and the view is awesome from above. You can see whole London.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tower Bridge – I am sure u will not miss this. Many think the tower bridge is the London Bridge. But this is the bridge with the two towers. And you can go up also and see the working of the tower bridge. It awesome to see. There is one bridge purely for walking. Go in the middle of the bridge and you get the most awesome view of the tower bridge from there. If it is rainy at that time then thank your stars..because..rain just makes it even more beautiful.
  
  
• Tower of London – This has the famous Kohinoor. At least for that you need to see it.
  
  
• Big Ben – This is the clock tower. Of course you cant go in. But this is very conspicuous and you cant miss it
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The London Eye – Go for the ride.
  
  
• Westminster Abbey – One more awesome church. Huge and artistic
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Westminster – The parliament. I actually attended two sessions. One in the House of Commons and one in the House of Lords. This is free and fun to watch. J Also, don’t miss the way the house of commons has a board called Visitors’ Gallery. While the House of Lords calls the same gallery as Strangers’ Gallery. This is a funny thing I cant forget.
  
  
• Shakespear's Globe Theatre – During mornings there is a tour around the theatre. During afternoon and evening there will be plays. Make sure you will go to one play atleast. I could not make it for a Shakespearen Play – Othello. But book alteast 2 days before and you will get a chance to see it.
  
  
• Tate Modern – This is museum near globe theatre is for art lovers. But I was bored of this
  
  
• 21 Baker Street (Sherlock Homes house) – Never ever miss this. This is the Sherlock Holmes house. They have created everything according to how it is in the novel. Make sure u will read the letters to Sherlock holmes from kids all over. Also sign your name in the register. Also, the steward here is just tailor-made for the background. That is why I requested her to sit and took a snap. Just don’t miss this place.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Wimbledon – Never miss this if you are a tennis fan. It awesome. Moreover they have opened the center court for visitors.
  
  
• Chelsea – If you are a football fan, you will enjoy the tour. But if you are not then ditch it.
  
  
• Keningston Palace – This is also good. But you can become tired here.
  
  
• British Museum – You can spend alteast a month seeing this once. So you can easily be bored. But some parts are good.
  
  
• 10 Downing Street – Just for kicks. This was the Tony Blair residence.
  
  
• Hyde Park – It’s the best place to relax. There a very nice lake at the center.

Country Side

• Bath Spa – From what I remember I think this is around 100 kms from London. I went here in a train (left London at 11 30) and came back by train in the evening. You have quite a few places in this place to see. Specially the Roman Bath, an Abbey, a beautiful river side bank with a super aesthetic view of the country houses. There is also an arch of Rich men’s houses.Instead of train, if you go by bus you will be able to see the Stoneheng which is a world heritage site. I could not go there. I was late and had to take the train.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The other place I wanted to go but could not is Shakespears birth place and house. I heard its awesome and kept intact. But I could not go.
  
  
• Also for other country side options Oxford is one more super option. But I did not have time.

Apart from these…other things that I did :-)

• The tube experience – its just awesome. I took a six day tube pass. The tube pass holds good for train as well as buses.
  
  
• Cruise on Thames – One during the day. One during evening. Both were awesome.
  
  
• Window Shop Entire London - Take the bus just to see London city. This is the best part. You will sit on the top of a double decker bus and just go around the city. Generally, I was free during the evenings. Since anyway I had the pass, I used to climb some bus (making sure its double decker) go take a window seat and do a window shopping of whole of London ;-). The city is beautiful during the evenings.
  
  
• River Side Walk - If time permits, during one late evening take a River Side walk. It is just awesome.
  
  
• Platform 9 ¾ - If you are a Potter fan, go to the Harry Potter spot at the Kings Cross Station.
  
  
• For food there was no problem at all, although I am veg. There are hundreds of Indian restaurants.

All in all, this was by far a unique one among all my travels. The reason being, I did it all alone. Having kept all the big luggages in the airport, the whole trip was made on toes...and on a shoestring... ;-) I have also developed a rare fascination for this place and would want to stay here for a longer period of time going ahead...

Bangalore International Airport....a reason to be proud of..

I was waiting for a chance to see the new airport of which I had heard so much. Finally this weekend, I got a chance to fly to Mangalore and back.

As the taxi neared the airport, the control tower started to appear. Then finally the airport. It was a great feeling to see the huge airport. The roads into and outside the airport are well planned. I did not find much of a jam at the place where we got down. Compare this will the perennially jammed old airport. Then, there is a nice and spacious waiting place even outside the airport, with some good eat-outs. After some small snacks we entered the airport building, and a sense of pride swept through me as I saw the open spaced, glossy floored huge building. The freshness of the new building was very much rampant. Then to the first floor for the security check, and then to the gate lounge. All this was again very much comparable to the ones I had seen outside India. Also, I wont be doing justice if I dont mention the clean toilets compared to the ones in the old airport.

On my return, one other thing that gave me the greatest relief was the baggage claim. I always associated this aspect as the worst thing in our old airport, but here it was just state of the art.
Firstly there are around 8 to 10 conveyor belt lanes. Compare this with 2 at the old airport. Second, its well planned and there is no scope for baggage jam like in the previous one. And then when you come out with the baggage, you will again see the different lanes. One is the pick-up and drop lane. The other is for the taxis. And then for the city bus.

Having heard about "Vaayu Vajra" so much, I decided I will try that instead of a taxi. Fortunately there was one just ready to leave, towards my route. With 150 Rupees, I was dropped to the end of road of where I stay (Basaveshwarnagar). I had never expected so much of connectivity through this bus service. Also, its a super comfortable bus, better than any taxi. For those of you who would want to work, there are laptop switches as well. But I sat there for about an hour just listening to music and feeling good about the new airport.

A state of the art airport is what Bangalore badly wanted at this point of time. And we could not have asked for more. And I think we should pardon the inconvinience caused because of it is remote location, as this is the case with most international airports, be it Heathrow or JFK. When the airport had just opened I had only heard about people's complaints. I think the industry leaders who complained so much ought to acknowledge the facilities once everything is in place. Its sad why nobody writes about the positives after a few months and stop at the wrong note. Anyways for me it was something that made me totally proud as a Bangalorean.

[did you know] Self Assurance vs Self Confidence

All this while, I had never consciously thought about this word "self-assurance". To me it was more like you are assured about yourself. I found this really interesting definition of self-assurance while reading a book. According to the author, self-assurance is a stronger word when compared to self-confidence. Self-assurance is self-confidence and more. Self-confidence is belief in one's abilities. Self-assurance is not only self-confidence but also belief in one's judgments. It combines belief in both abilities and judgments.

My debut article...

Today, my first article got published in Sunday Herald (Sunday supplement of Deccan Herald) as "Sahara Safari". It is indeed a very good feeling to see what you have written, printed on a news paper.

Here's the link to the online edition.

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Aug172008/sundayherald.asp
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Aug172008/sundayherald2008081684925.asp

I hope this will inspire me to write more and more...

Randy is no more....[ The Last Lecture ]

July 25th 2008, Randy succumbed to Pancreatic cancer.

I must have know this man for not more than 80 mins (the duration of his 'Last Lecture'), but those precious minutes did influence me quite a lot. One of the two inspiring videos* that I always watch time to time. From fulfilling his childhood dreams to enabling the dreams of others, his story is quite an inspiring one. I should say, he has led quite a fulfilling life.

For those of you who havent watched his "Last Lecture", here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo


A few unforgettable statements/quotes from the lecture..

"Brick walls are there for a reason - they let us prove how badly we want things.."

" When you are screwing up and no one has said anything to you anymore, that means they have given up... "

" Experience is what you get when you did not get what you wanted.. "

" Mothers are people who love you even when you pull their hair.."

Speaking of bosses/management - "Respect authority while questioning it.."

"Luck is where preperation meets opportunity.."



* - My two favorite videos are

1. Steve Job's Stanford Commencement Speech
   
2. Randy Pausch Last Lecture
   

"maaru" (aka marwari) wedding/engagement...

I have always heard that "For marwaris, the two biggest things in life are marriage and building a house." Well of course it does not stop there, for they are known for quite a lot of things - numbers , business acumen etc etc.

Recently I attended a friend's engagement and his sister's wedding - a combo-event. I was there for the first day only, which consisted of the engagement function and "Sangeet Sandhya" for his sister. But this was enough to prove the above statement right. The arrangements were superlative. From the time we set foot on Bellary railway station, to the time we boarded the bus back to Bangalore everything was taken care of. A Scorpio + driver was at our disposal throughout the day. Not just that, we were taken to a huge 7 bedroom house (ofcourse we did not find the use of all the 7 for none of us halted overnight) and given the key to that house. This literally made us feel HOMELY.

And then, three trips to the marriage hall.
Trip 1 :- Breakfast
Well, if only one could actually classify it as a "break-fast". There were atleast 10 to 12 items on the menu. For a south-Indian who is generally accustomed to kaara/kesari-bath or idli-vada or dosa this was quite overwhelming. The marraige hall as such was decorated will all bright colors.

Trip 2 :- Lunch
The lunch had what I presume a total marwari touch. It was FULL OF SWEETS. I am not a fan of sweets, so to be frank I found it a little hard to take in so much of sweets. But I had to give in under pressure for everyone used to combine the sweets with so much LOVE and put it directly into my mouth on the part of the tongue that is nearer to my throat :-P. After the heavy lunch, it was a nice sweet pan that finally helped me come back to life. I finally decided, if in the evening there is going to be an action replay of this, then I better skip the dinner.

Trip 3 :- Engagment, Sangeet Sandhya & Dinner
Now comes the best trip. Our hero was all dressed up for the occasion. The stage was set for the engagement. The atmosphere was quite pleasant by Bellary's standards. Here and there we could find the pretty faces of the colorfully dressed marwari gentler community ("chicks" in slang...but ). Finally, Mr Gopal Asawa exchanged the rings with Ms Pooja. And one event was over. Then it was the "Sangeet Sandhya", started with a prayer to Lord Ganesha. From then on, the action began. One by one, people from the Asawa family started to show their talents. By far, I must say this was one of the best talent shows. Starting from the 5-10 year old kids to aunties everyone were at their best. We were all sitting there spellbound, amazed at the skills. Mostly it was dancing to the Hindi numbers. Finally after the show, we all came to the following conclusion - The marwari women have an extra DANCING GENE. Everyone were amazing and appeared quite professional on the floor. A special mention has to be made of the multi-talented compere. I do not know the name but she did a wonderful job. Finally came the time for dinner and I was a little apprehensive about one more sweet dominated dosage. But to my relief, the dinner was a buffet and I could only have what I want. However, ironically, I ended up having everything for I just could not resist. Every item from the salads to the panipuri, from the main course to the desserts were just too good.

Overall, the "friend's engagement" turned out to be - a school reunion, a time to relax and chat, good food and some music and dance. What more could we ask for?? ( than a maaru wedding)

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this post are not meant to be derogatory to any group of people. Kindly do not misinterpret the post. :-)

I turn 4 today....

Today, I complete 4 years of my life as a software professional. Starting my career at Siemens (now Nokia Siemens Networks) in June 2004, moving on to National Instruments (where I currently work) in November 2004, these 4 years have been a smooth sail along Bangalore's software tides...

Looking back, what have I been doing these 4 years? A quarter dozen product releases, a couple of initiatives at work, a couple of visits to our Head Quarters in the US, a couple of awards, half a dozen presentations, a couple of role changes/promotions...these pretty much sum up my work life.

What have I got in these 4 years? Well, almost everything that I had dreamt of in college.
"Financial Independence" is the biggest thing. Gone are the days when we used to shy away from expensive restaurants (we used to call it as the RHS-Right Hand Side rule on the restaurant menus). Also, it just seems like, we have been given a license to access those brands which were best relished when adorned by picture perfect models (be it the dress or shoes or shades). And no more necessity to do car pooling. (Although, I must say the recent oil price hike combined with the environmental concerns are forcing me to consider pooling again.)
"Travel the World" is the next big thing. Thanks to NI, a couple of visits to Austin allowed me to time my other trips and fulfill my travel dreams. So far it has been three days in New York, four days in France, two day trip to Las Vegas/Grand Canyons, a week in London and two weeks in Egypt. Well, add to that a few transit trips like a day in Germany and a day in Bahrain. And how can I forget the five days of North India (too small for the Incredible India! but I plan to go again) What more can I ask for. I just hope to keep this instinct alive and cover more places in the days to come.
In addition to these, the four years of work life has given me a few other things like "identity", "confidence" and a wonderful set of colleagues and friends whom I will cherish for life.

Is that all...what have I learnt/experienced in these 4 years..? Well, this one is definitely more valued than anything else.
"Taste of the real world" is something only those who have gone through it can understand. Life need not be as fast-paced/easy as we might have imagined in the college. I always used to think projects are just about floating a few ideas and taking them to reality. (Like most of our college projects). Only in these 4 years have I realized that a product/project has a lot more to it than just getting things to work. Now, whenever I see the same extreme enthusiasm in the freshers who join, when they talk about new ideas, when they ask - "why dont we do this" , "why dont we support this", "why dont we have a tool to do this", those initial days come back to me. Its defintely not wrong to have the enthusiasm, but its imperative to retain it after you realize the "relatively" slower pace of the real world. ("relatively" because in the real world things can happen slower relative to what me might expect). But as such in absolute terms, the real-world is indeed fast ( from a walkman to an ipod, the real-world has indeed been fast).
"Things dont happen" Barring a few exceptions which you can term as luck or fate or whatever, in most cases we have to work hard to make something happen. Specially, for someone like me, who has for a considerable part of the life (from school to college) followed the herd, it has been an eye opener that once I am thrown into the real world, I have to exercise my choices. Even today I am caught in the dilemma of whats the best choice. It was quite simple until here for I was never really put in a position to choose. But from now on, its only me. I seem to be still at that junction of the cross roads. A few of my friends have taken one road, a few others have taken the second and a few others the third. I still lay at that cross roads for once realizing that I and ONLY I have to make a choice and it better be right.

Looking forward, I hope the take-aways from these 4 years will serve as a very strong foundation and prove to be a launch pad for the rest of my career.

Taste of Sahara....

The Desert Safari was one of the major highlights of our Egypt trip. In fact the desert itself, was totally new. Before Egypt, I had visited tombs (if not the pyramids), rivers/cruises (if not NILE) but never had I been to a desert. Although I had seen a lot of it in television, its something to step on that undisturbed wavy dunes of sand and leave a FOOT PRINT which gives you an impression (although false) that you are the first one to be there.

After a day trip to Alexandria from Cairo, the next morning we set out to the Bahariya oasis. It was a 5 hour journey and we were scheduled to meet our desert guide Waahid at 12 30PM. We took the Upper Egypt Bus service. As we eased ourselves out of CAIRO, the desert started to appear. Its customary to see a huge gigantic mountain or lush green thick forest in front of you and feel amazed, but to see a vast expanse of nothing(not even WATER) and still feel amazed is something that the desert offers you. There was a railway line that was running parallel to us for quite sometime. I was telling Ankita, how I wanted to see a train pass by in the backdrop of the desert and my wish was granted in a few minutes. It was an amazing view. A 5 hour journey into the desert can be quite dehydrating and also we were all starving towards the end.

After reaching the oasis, we met Waahid - the KING OF DESERT (as he fancies himself). Before I go further, a few words on Wahid. He is by far the most energetic person. A guide in the true spirit. In my opinion, I feel its more because, he genuinely loves the desert very much. So he is more of a passionate guide than one who is money minded. A family man at heart and a friend of all. (He had friends and acquaintances almost wherever we went.) And an amazing driver with a tad too much of youthful racing attitude. He was trying to overtake every other vehicle on the way and had his justifications for the ones he could not.

He took us to his house. A typical desert house. An amazing vegetarian lunch was waiting for us. The lunch consisted of bread, vegetable sides, salad (sliced cucumber/tomatoes) and the most amazing cheese. The food in Egypt has always been good. Then after resting for sometime we set out on the 4X4 to conquer the desert with Mr Desert (Wahid).

The drive in itself was quite an experience. Occasionally Wahid would just steer off the road into the desert to give us a taste of desert driving. On the way we visited a water spring. The journey into the desert happens in three phases. Initially we get the black desert - called so because its filled with the hills that were formed by volcanoes.
And then we get to the sand desert. This is the typical part which we all expect. And finally the place where we camped was filled with mushroom like limestone formations. This part would definitely intrigue the people who have a taste for modern art. I am sure this will look like a huge mental playground to them and they can add quite a set of creative perceptions. Let me leave the task to them and continue with our experience.

On the way, we met quite a few groups who were there for the same reason as ours. Then, we found a nice place and camped for the day. The camp was simple. The 4X4 would be used as one wall. We put the tent to form another wall. And then Wahid cooked the dinner for us. And we had the tea which was prepared on the camp fire itself.

After the food, we spent some time near the campfire. Wahid entertained us with some deserto-arabic songs which goes like - Yalla...yaala...yalla..., abu tareka..abu tareka... etc. We had a couple of visitors (fellow travelers looking for beer only to be disappointed and foxes). Mahesh's wildlife photography instinct sprang to life. And he ran after the foxes with the camera. Thats all I remember about the night for I slept off. I then woke up at 3:00 AM in the morning to find one of the most amazing views of the skies. The most clear sky showing the maximum number of stars that I have ever seen. Later in the morning we all got up and left the desert to head back to the Oasis. Again it was lunch at Wahid's house and then back to Cairo in a private transport.

One thing about the desert that you wont forget is the vast expanse of nothingness. This is best captured by the fact that the previous evening we watched the sunset by turning west. And in the morning, we had to turn east to find the sunrise. And both from the same spot, our camp. The picture on the left is sunset and the picture on the right is sunrise. I think you need more than a keen eye to spot the difference.

Finally before I close, one note about life in desert. Life in the desert can be quite a challenge. Hence, "HELP" is a key factor. During our journey, we used to occasionally find a vehicle that had had a break down. Its an unwritten constitution, that no matter what, you should go and try help them out (for the same thing can happen to you). And getting into trouble in the middle of the desert is the last thing on anyones' mind. We were observing Wahid make sudden maneuvers and go attend other vehicles. The next morning, on the way back we pulled another vehicle by a rope almost till Bahariya. Its an interesting coincidence that in hindi
Sahara means "HELP".

[Favorite Music] Flute by Pravin Godkhindi

For all those fans of melody out there, the Raagini series (Flute instrumental rendering by Pravin Godkhindi) is a must listen. For a start, the volume 1 is available on http://kannadaaudio.com at the following location - Raagini Volume 1

After having listened to the first volume, I went and bought all the three volumes of Raagini from Landmark in Forum. Each and every song is really good. I personally am an illiterate when it comes to classical music. So I enjoy these raagas in their very raw form and that is melodious sound, without actually being able to grasp the nuances of each one. The only factor that takes me near to these raagas are the wonderful old kannada film songs, in their flute form.

My personal favorite list goes as follows.
1) Mishra Pahaadi - the song is 'terayeri ambaradaaga nesara nagutaane...'
2) Desh - ಯಾವ ಮೋಹನ ಮುರಳಿ ಕರೆಯಿತು ....
3) Pahadi - ದೋಣಿ ಸಾಗಲಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಹೋಗಲಿ ...
4) Jayant Malhar - ಪೂಜಿಸಲೆಂದೆ ಹೂಗಳ ತಂದೆ ....
5) Manj Khamaj - ಮೂಡಲ ಮನೆಯ ....

Ever since, I have laid my hand on these, they form my background while I work, drive etc.

[Favorite Films] The pursuit of happiness...

'This part of my life.....is called remembering my favorite film'........."The pursuit of happiness" is one of the best films I have seen. Its a truly inspiring one and the fact that it based on the real story only makes it more special. The film has plenty of dialogs that stick and also a lot of scenes which only make me think how blessed I am.

Before I go into those specific scenes /dialogs that I want to talk about, a brief summary about the whole film can be found in the wiki page here. Now let me get to the parts of it that I savored most...

Offer of the Job - My all time favorite scene. I am sure anybody who has endured the movie till the end is waiting for this scene. Chris is asked to come inside the room where he was interviewed. The dialogs were to this effect

Chris: I decided to wear a shirt today for it will be my last day. (History: he had not worn a shirt for his job interview.)
Partner: Well, why dont you wear one tomorrow for it will be your first day.

And bam... all the pain, suffering, comes back to Chris in that one moment and just passes out of him through his tears turning his eyes red. And after that comes my favorite part where he runs down to the street. He is not able to control his happiness and seen jumping. I like the way its been pictured with the normal life passing by him with poeple moving on, around him. And he wanting to share his happiness with anyone and everyone, finds no words to communicate. He doesnt have that anyone right near him. He has to run all the way to his child's school to share the news. I always contrast this with the ease in which I called my mother as soon as I was made the offer of my first job. It was as easy as dialing a few numbers on my cell.

Repairing the Bone-density scanner - From the time he recovered the stolen scanner to the time he sold it, it has been one hell of a time. He first unsuccessfully tries to sell it only to realize at the last moment, right in front of his customer that it has stopped working because of a fuse. Then with only a few dollars left, he buys a fuse. On the way back, his son out of a child's curiosity wants to take a look that. He neither wants to disappoint his child nor does he want to see anything happen to that fuse. I liked the way he hands it over and at the same time keeps a watchful eye on that fuse. Finally, inside the dorm when he fixed the machine, I love the scene when he switches the machine on. They show the whole dorm and the to his much relief the machine LIGHTS up. This is kind of symobical in a subtle way, because starting from that point, everything in his life seems to light up.

A night in a sub-way restroom - This again is an interesting scene for he wants to somehow spend the night at the sub-way. And at the same time he does not want to make it explicit to his son. He comes up with this whole time machine/caves etc etc story. This kind of reminded me of the famous "Life is beautiful" where the father made the whole stay at the concentration camp appear like a story to his son. However, the difference being, in this film the son is not so innocent to not realize whats happening. Specially, when somebody starts knocking at the door of the restroom, the desperation/insecurity is nicely portrayed by Will Smith.

The spirit of Chris Gardner - Another thing that amazed me about the story was the spirit of Chris. Under no circumstance would he give up. The confidence in himself is well portrayed in the interview. I do admit that desperation sometimes adds to your confidence. But the interview in itself, though a little unrealistic tries to convey the message. I still remember a few dialogs from that interview where he says - "Sir, I am the kind of a person, who, if I do not know the answer will tell 'I do not know the answer', but I bet you what, I know how to find one and I will find it no matter what" and towards the end when partner asks "What would you say to a person who hired someone who had not wore a shirt for the interview." this is one of my all time favorite reply that "I would say that he must have been wearing some damn good pants..." .
The same spirit is also seen when he is seen literally carrying his whole house along with him. Once in the lift when somebody asks him about so much of baggage, without a wink he replies saying he is going out of station on work. He never gives up and also we should notice that there is not an inkling of inferiority complex either.

Finally, after having gone through the entire film, my train of thoughts...("arjun express") comes to a halt, but is still able to hear the echo.."This part of my life......this small part..is called happiness"

Woodstock Villa...where the truth lies

It was hard for me to recall the name of this film even to fill the Title of this post. That should sum up in a nut-shell my opinion about this film I just saw. Before I start with what it was actually, let me begin with what was supposed to be.

I googled for the review and got this as one of the top search results - REVIEW FROM NOW RUNNING.COM . According to this,

"In the tradition of film noir, that is guaranteed to shock, thrill and surprise. A compelling film from director Hansal Mehta about swiftly changing moralities in today's world.
After a successful businessman's stunning wife disappears, hostile and taunting ransom demands follow. As the true nature of stakes for the captor and his captives unfold, Woodstock Villa lithely transforms from a precision neo noir into a chilling and shocking thriller, and ultimately into a vivid, invigorating, icy masterpiece of murder, mystery and suspense.
Neither pleading eyes nor bound wrists nor a shallow grave are what they seem, as a moment of relief is suddenly transformed into a web of deceit, and a moment of truth is followed by a sudden web of lies. Unsettling, thrilling, hallucinatory, suspenseful and erotic, Woodstock Villa is contemporary entertainment that breaks new ground with every twist".

I am surprised with amount of positive perspective , the reviewer has seen this film (if he has seen it at all). In any case people are entitled to their individual opinions and tastes. So I shall let the matter rest there.

For me however, this film is a disaster in all aspects. To name a few obvious ones - lack of a proper story, the sequence of events (which seems to kill the suspense/thrill that you would expect in a thriller) and the untimely songs. I personally did not like the photography also, for I felt the photographer was trying to focus from all possible weird angles. However, this is very subjective and a little benefit of doubt could be given to the photographer. Amidst all this, to test our patience, there are some totally mushy dialogs which would have been best placed in the 1970s. And before I forget, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the person who came up with the TITLE for this film (sarcastic ofcourse). The person has successfully captured the essence of the film in these two words which comprehensively covers the whole plot. Well on a serious note, the house figures only a couple of times in this film and I would say is one of the most insignificant things out there. As insignificant as the role of Mr Gulshan Grover and his buddies. A title which stands for deception/cheat would have been more apt, for everybody seems to be cheating everybody here.

Overall, it was 2 hours well-wasted (actually 12 man hours of productivity) and not just that it was a whopping 960 bucks from 6 of us. All in all a forgettable time. I am pretty sure, none of us were shocked, thrilled or even slightly surprised about any twist in this film (if there was any).

Hoping to make up for the loss by soon catching up with a nice movie...

[Favorite Songs] ಹಕ್ಕಿಯ ಹಾಡಿಗೆ ...

My all time favorite poem/song.... This is also a song of the movie "Mysore Mallige" (by K S Narasimhaswamy)

ಹಕ್ಕಿಯ ಹಾಡಿಗೆ ತಲೆದೂಗುವ ಹೂವು ನಾನಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ
ಹಸುವಿನ ಕೊರಳಿನ ಗೆಜ್ಜೆಯ ದನಿಯು ನಾನಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ

ಹತ್ತಿದ ಕಾಮನ ಬಿಲ್ಲಿನ ಮೇಲಿನ ಮುಗಿಲಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ
ಚಿನ್ನದ ಬಣ್ಣದ ಜಿಂಕೆಯ ಕಣ್ಣಿನ ಮಿಂಚಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ

ತೋಟದ ಕಂಪಿನ ಉಸಿರಲಿ ತೇಲುವ ಜೇನಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ
ಕಡಲಿನ ನೀಲಿಯ ನೀರಲಿ ಬಳುಕುವ ಮೀನಾಗುವ ಆಸೆ

ಸಿಡಿಲನು ಕಾರುವ ಬಿರುಮಳೆಗಂಜದೆ ಮುನ್ನಡೆಯುವ ಆಸೆ
ನಾಳೆಯ ಬದುಕಿನ ಇರುಳಿನ ತಿರುವಿಗೆ ದೀಪವನಿಡುವಾಸೆ

ಮಣ್ಣಿನ ಕೊಡುಗೆಗೆ ನೋವಿಗೆ ನಲಿವಿಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿ ಹಿಡಿವಾಸೆ
ಮಾನವ ಹೃದಯದ ಕರುಣೆಗೆ ಒಲವಿಗೆ ದನಿಗೂಡಿಸುವಾಸೆ

Owing to my lack of poetic skills, I am unable give you a translation of the poem and do justice to the spirit of the poem/poet. And hence, for those of you who do not know kannada, I am really sorry.

A raw dry prosaic summary goes here.
"ಆಸೆ" means desire/wish. This poem is about what the poet wishes to be. He wishes to be the flowers which nod approvingly to the songs of the bird. He wishes to be sound of the bell around a cow's neck. He wishes to be the sky which spreads over the rainbow. He wishes to be the sparkle in the eyes of a deer. He wants to be a bee that floats in the fragrance of a garden. He wants to be a fish in the blue waters. Having said all this, the poet then moves into a different mode saying he wants to MOVE AHEAD undaunted by the thunders that cause heavy rains. He wants to LIGHT UP his tomorrow. To the earth's bounty, to pain and pleasure, he yearns to hold a mirror. Finally he wants to RESONATE/ECHO with the love and compassion of the human heart.
Well, as some of you experts might have already noted, I am miserable at translation. And I might have not done full justice. Kindly correct me wherever I have gone wrong.

The love for this poem is not only because of its meaning. I like the tune of the song also. And not to mention, the actress on whom it is pictured in the film. The initial days of Sudha Rani who plays the role of this innocent village girl.

....Indiana.....Junior....... Dr Henry Jones...

"Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull" is here after a long wait. 15 years back, when I was in 5th grade, my mother took us (5 cousins) to the Plaza theatre on the MG Road, which was showing "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusades". That was my first Indiana Jones movie. Ever since, I have been a great fan of this series. Although I had my own reservations about "The temple of doom". Finally, this weekend I took my parents to this new sequel. Thanks to "Mr Traffic" and "Mr Rain", we missed the first 20 minutes, although we left for the theatre a good 1.5 hours before the show. I hope to catch those first 20 minutes as soon as possible.

Just as we left the house, I was telling my brother how I was looking forward for the predictable scene, where after the first adventure, Professor Jones is shown to write something on the white board in his classroom, addressing his students. Unfortunately we missed the start and I do not know if that scene was there at all this time.

However, the film did not fail in evoking the nostalgia. The captivating Indiana Jones background music, the same energetic, inquisitive and relentless archaeologist is still very much alive in Henry. The film has its own way of evoking subtle sentiments, like when they show the photo of Dr Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery), or when Mr Jones finds out that his son is totally not what like he expects him to be. (This is similar to how Jones Sr percieved Jones Jr at times). Also, the setting is very much like 1950s or 1960s. This takes the film even closer to its predecessors. One good thing is Harisson Ford is aged even in the story and no attempt has been made whatsoever to hide his white hair or aged/wrinkled face. But after all its Harrison Ford and its no big deal for him to carry off these traits. The sense of humor / timely jokes are in plenty.

Overall, we enjoyed the film very much. Steven Spielberg has blended his extra-terrestrial passion very well into the storyline of Indiana Jones. I think more than comparing it to the previous films, the spirit of Dr Henry Jones is what we need to look for. And that has not been compromised at all.

Egypt...beyond the pyramids

It was for a very long time that I wanted to visit Egypt. I used to be stuck to the television, whenever they broadcasted the shows of Dr Zahi Hawass' on Discovery/National Geographic. The whole of Egypt's history, their civilization would manifest in this person's energy and enthusiasm. Finally this summer the dream came true and we made a 12 day trip to Egypt. As I always like to put it in my software engineer's language, for me it was - "wonderOfTheWorldCount++"

Let me first present our itinerary....
Day 1: Landed in Cairo by evening. Went on a dinner cruise.
Day 2: Visited the pyramids - Sakkara, Dashur and Giza
Day 3: Day trip to Alexandria
Day 4,5 : Two days and One night at the desert (Bahariya Oasis)
Day 6: In and around Aswan
Day 7,8 : Two days and Two nights on a Felucca (authentic egyptian way of enjoying the NILE)
Day 9: Kom Ombo, Edfu and Luxor (Karnak & Luxor Temples)
Day 10: Luxor - Valley of Kings, Colossi of Memnon
Day 11: Back in CAIRO - Egyptian museum, Khan-el-khalili (the cairo market place)
Day 12: Flight back to India, with one day stopover at Bahrain(bonus visit ;-) courtesy - flight delay)

Having told the itinerary, I must say that each place/experience had a lot more to it than we expected. For that matter, I thought Pyramids would be the biggest highlight of the trip but it turned out that Pyramids became just one of the many highlights. The Desert trip, 2 days on the Felucca, the taste of Egyptian Vegetarian food, the striking similarity between Egypt and India in so many aspects - all these are hard to forget. I was reading an article in one of their magazines and the author rightly terms Egypt as "The India of the Middle-East".

I will be blogging about each experience whenever I find time. But before I conclude this one, I would like to mention the people who made this all happen. :-)

• Ankita and Mahesh - my colleagues and fellow travellers. The people who planned this whole vacation.
• Eric - Our safe window to egypt ;-). The person who arranged parts of our trip (like the train tickets, felluca ride, desert trip etc). He handed us a cell phone as soon as we landed in CAIRO. And he put us in touch with the local guides.
• Waheed - Our Mr Desert, who gave us the desert experience on his 4X4 and also the wonderful home made Egyptian food at his house in Bahariya.
• Khalid - Our guide in Aswan and on the fellucca. Always filled with energy and stories. :-).

Debut Post....

The last time I remember writing anything substantial was on topics like "Effects of Television on children", "Importance of sports" etc during high-school essay competitions.

After that, this is my first ever attempt towards writing... to overcome the 'writer's block'..
I hope to blog regularly on topics I read, places I visit, opinions i develop..... and hence make this my digital footprint.