Binarian Perspectives

Ads - These days

2011-04-29T05:55:00.000+05:30

The concetpt of ads on websites was a novel idea. And we all know how someone became so rich using ads. As we evolve and evolve with ads and creativity some people take it to the next level. Think the ad makers ran out of creativity and had to resort to mere crass images. Some of the ads are very suggestive and misleading. I was reading an article in cricinfo and this is what I saw there.

Interesting Ad on Cricinfo Website

Just to give a much better view.

Is that one of them?

Really disturbing trend. I have seen many creative ads and some very good ads based on what you just bought on amazon or some other website. But these are just plain suggestive ads just to earn more clicks. The more bigger issue is that the website is a work-safe website, but the ad is not. Thankfully there is adblock-plus.

Yours truly,
Shyam

An incredible 5 years

2011-04-18T10:27:00.000+05:30

It has been an incredible 5 years. I was quite actively blogging about 5 years back when I was a college student preparing for my final semester exams. Now, I am just a Software Quality Assurance guy. It has been an incredible journey.

Completed my exams by June 2006 and had a beautiful couple of months before I moved to Mysore. I was spell-bound when I saw the Infosys campus for the first time. Another first time happened during my way to Mysore - I read a book. It was Chetan Bhagat's '5 Point Someone'. Came out of Mysore after a month and a half as a '5 point nothing' - well, that was my CGPA - as high as you could get.

Mysore was fun time. Never knew I could write code in Java. Learned lots of new stuff. Made plenty of friends - mostly from the northern part of India. Some said - I speak very bad Hindi while others differ. What do I say - the jury is still out on that. Completed the training and passed the compre with flying colors. In the meanwhile - I came first for the first time in my life in something. It was programming fundamentals test. For some reason, I came first. Still no idea how that happened. As they say, you make your own luck.

Chennai was my next destination. Got my first posting there. It was not fun to reach sultry Chennai after being pampered in a wonderful - heaven-like - campus for more than a month. Made good friends with couple of mallu guys - Sreejith and Sreenivas. Perhaps it was them getting transferred to Mangalore DC that prompted me to really go for a transfer to Trivandrum. Perhaps, it was something else. Somehow, after just 4 days in Chennai office, I got transffered to Trivandrum.

Next destination - Trivandrum? No. It was not meant to be. I was transferred into the QA department - that is how I ended up being a QA guy. Had to attend some QA specific training in Bangalore for a month. Bangalore being my second home, I was happy to go there. So, was it a month in Bangalore? No, it was not meant to be. The training started the day before I reached B'lore. By the way, it was called Bangalore back then - before the soul-sucking forces changed it to Bengaluru.

So what happened next? I wanted to come back to Trivandrum. But, my manager in TVM convinced me that it was a good idea to go to Hyderabad for a month's time and then come back to Trivandrum. I obliged. So for a week, I was in a project - recieving Knowledge Transfer to migrate the development from Bangalore to Trivandrum. That, ladies and gentlemen changed my life. From October 16 2006 Monday to October 19 2006 Thursday, I was on a project. Oct 20 being Diwali, it was an off. I travelled to Hyderabad on Saturday.

Reached Hyderabad, on a fine Sunday morning at around about 4 am. Never been to this place. Was not sure what to do. Took a cab to the Infy campus - all the time praying that the driver - who looked crooked - does not 'kidnap' me and keep me for a ransom. Somehow, I was paranoid. I reached campus soon and was more than happy to pay him 400 Rs.

Hyderabad opened an altogether different world for me. The training was pretty casual. Nothing much to do. A lot of my training day friends were on bench in Hyderabad dc. Had quite a blast for the month that I was there. By the time I left Hyd, made quite a good number of friends - and improved my hindi speaking abilities. Left for Trivandrum on Nov 15 with Jayesh - another malayalee friend whom I met in Hyderabad training.

Reached Trivandrum back on Nov 16th. Wonderful experience it was. I was around most of the development centers of Infosys in South India in 80 days. Have been writing this post ever since. Only now it materialised. I wanted to name this post 'Around the South in 80 days' - inspired by you know what. But, the day never came that I write something on my blog. For some reason, today I feel the energy and desire to come back to writing stuff.

Trivandrum was altogether different experience. The work was good. It was slow initially - but got the opportunity to work with some of the nicest team mates. Going to office was fun - just like going to college was. Since it was mostly internal projects - the schedules were not too hectic. Still, we used to push ourselves to finish things on time. Life was good. 'Work hard. Party harder' was our motto.

January 2007 came - and so did my bike. It was wonderful. It was something that I bought for myself with my money. Well, something that I would pay the EMIs for. Honda Shine - that was the bike. I was not a good rider. But the bike was very good. I loved it. =)

The first project began on Nov 17 2006 and lasted till December 2007. Then I moved on to perhaps the most interesting and most passionate projects I have ever been involved in - a data warehouse testing solution. It was a ground up activity. New team, new faces, fresh code to build.

It was wonderful. This experience moulded me into a better Java developer. Project was hectic - not because of managers. We pushed ourselves. Eventually, it all came through wonderfully. Two years down the line we had our first implementation. I had a wonderful team to work with. Loved the work. Work was all that I wanted to do at times. For some reason, I started liking the design of applications - not that I was very good at it. I understood that a good and scalable design goes a long way in implementation. Some of the designs I did, were pretty good. I came to know about these things from much better folks than me about a year after I did them. Serendipity - thats what I would call it.

Anyway, bigger things came calling for me. I had to go to Bangalore to perform the PoC for a project - for a month or so. From start of April 2009 to Mid of May 2009, I was in Bangalore. Had a fun time there. Came back to Trivandrum on the day UPA II came to power. Shashi Tharoor was the MP from Trivandrum. One of my wishes came true!

Few more months of hectic work and then I was off to Pune. This again was for a PoC. Pune was very kind to me. Made more friends. Had a blast. And finally, got an opportunity to visit the US of A for a project there. And guess what - it was the first implementation of the product to which I gave a lot of heart. Came back to Trivandrum for 5 days before I left for the US.

Camarillo, CA - thats the first city in US for me. November 6 2009. Life was great. It was tough initially. Some folks helped me out in getting a house set up and running. Searched for roomies was on. As they say दूंदने पर खुदा भी मिलता है, तोह roomies क्या चीज़ है. Found roomies and plenty. I was searching for just 2 of them. At one point of time, I had 5 roomies.

The experience I gained was intangible. The money though was very tangible. 10 months there and I came out a new man. I never knew how to make a cup of tea or a coffee when I was in Trivandrum. But, when I left Camarillo after the project, I was a good cook. My parents were quite happy to hear that. That was all that mattered - keeping my parents happy. Again, as any other place, met some more great folks. Some of the folks I met here would remain my friends for ever.

Trivandrum beckoned on September 19th 2010. Landed on the airport at 5 am. Three hours at home made me bored. After all, I have been calling home and talking all over all the stuff I do regularly. What more should I talk now? Left for office the day I arrived itself. By lunch time, I got another project for which I needed to come to the US of A. They wanted me to go the next day. But. I didn't heed. Waited till the weekend to leave.

Danbury, CT - that was where I would work on http://volly.com Life was good. Work was and is continuing to be hectic. But enjoying the bits and pieces moments that life is throwing at me. Learned the fact that one could think about the sad stuff and cry or think about the good stuff around you and be happy.

I chose to be happy.

There are many firsts that happened in the five year long journey - first book, first salary, first bike, and many more. I will write about them in detail in future posts. Signing off till then.

Adios,

Shyam

On leave..again...

2011-01-19T08:31:00.001+05:30

I may be back

2010-02-08T04:33:00.002+05:30

Just a notice. I may be back. And this time I want to be back in a serious manner. Think its been 3 years since I blogged.

The Binarian is Back !!!

2006-11-21T22:09:00.000+05:30

Finally, I have come back to Trivandrum. It has been a long journey. From being an Engineering Student, I have transformed to a Software Professional at perhaps the most reputed software firm in India. The journey has been a long and interesting one. It has been an entertaining one.

I was away from my place for about 90 days. And these 90 days have made me go places, quite literally. I have been to all the South Indian states. I have been to 5 different Development Centers (DCs). On my journey, I have had quite a number of experiences. I would like to share those experiences with you.

I met quite a number of people. And I am fascinated by the fact that people are so same, yet so different in all ways. When it comes to certain things in life, they all are same. Yet when it comes to certain other things, their perspectives change. Though my perspective is still binarian, I have had more than one opportunity to look up many perspectives for the same issue.

Throughout the journey, I have read quite a number of books beginning with 'Five Point Someone'. These books are all special. And the interesting fact is that they have had something to do with my life in one way or the other. These books have changed my outlook quite a lot. They have made me think seriously about life in a much cheerful way. They have made me understand certain hard facts and make my life simpler.

As far as blogging is concerned, I have quite a lot to blog about. Some things are concerning the training that I underwent. So I am not sure whether its right or not to blog about it in a public manner. Then there is a lot to be written about my journey through South India in 90 days. Also, not to be forgotten is the review of books that I have read and the things which I believe one should read to make life better. I will blog all about it. But, first of all, let me settle down with my life a little bit. After that I am planning to write about these things. They may take a little bit of a time because I want to make the reading worthwhile. As of now, I am bidding a small good-bye so that I can gather more force to make a comeback.

A Letter To Hutch Kerala

2006-07-24T22:50:00.000+05:30

Dear Hutch,

I have been your customer for the past few months. I took a BPL Mobile connection with the foresight that once Hutch takes over BPL Mobile completely, everything will be great for the Hutch customer. Sorry to say, you failed my expectations. I would rather say that you have failed to meet anybody's expectations.

This is not an all-out assault to ruin your so-called image. I am writing this letter just because I have experienced problems from your service first hand. I have been calling up your customer-care 'service' for long and complaining about all my problems. And all I get from the person at the other end is 'We are sorry for the inconvenience sir. We will look up your problem at the earliest. Thank you for your patience'. Enough is enough. I have had enough. I want to switch over to another service. Before I quit Hutch, let me tell you what all problems I have been facing.

First things first. A mobile phone is used to that one can stay 'mobile'. With Hutch, one can become static. It is very pathetic to find you out of range even when you are well inside the city. Also, the range varies easily. One second you may have full range and the other second you are completely out of range. I don’t know how you people do it. But it is really amazing. While I and Shreejith were traveling to our respective hometowns by train, the range was really binary. Either we have full range, or we are out of range. I don’t know what the problem with Hutch Kerala.

Another great aspect about Hutch Kerala is the infinite number of ‘Network Busy’ errors that one gets. For me to make a call from my mobile, I have to wait for at least two minutes to get through these errors. I don’t know whether it’s the fact that Hutch has a large number of customers to deal with or it’s the fact that they have a poor network which accounts for such errors. A great aspect about the Hutch network is that at times you get errors which might puzzle you. Once I and Anoop were calling Akshay from my phone. You would be laughing your @$$ out if I say that the error I received was ‘Number Does Not Exist’. Now Akshay used to be a Hutch user. How on earth could his number not exist? I don’t know how you people are able come up with these strange things. It is really a great job that you people are doing.

And at last, if ever the call gets connected, I am able to hear Thrissur Pooram through my phone most of the time. No. It is not a special service on Hutch network. It is just that Hutch users can hear big noises that may make you deaf. At times, if one can concentrate, you can hear the noise of vehicles and all. That’s really something great. Nobody can do such ‘multiplexing’. Perhaps, time would come when one can hear what someone else is talking. Only time would tell what all Hutch can ‘innovate’.

If at all I am able to convey what I have to convey, the call is completed. Most of the time thanks to Hutch, I am not having the job of cutting the call. They do it for me. What more can you ask for in terms of ‘customer-care’. They take the pains to do it for you. Yeah, and if I am lucky enough to convey my message to the person on the other side, call is completed. I will wait for messages. Normally on all mobile networks, the only thing that never fails is the Call charge message. But since this is Hutch, that also fails. You will have to wait for ages to get the report on your call. At times you will get the report at 2am in the morning for a call which you made 2pm the previous day. To be honest, the report comes very rarely. If at all you get one, it’s a procession. A procession of reports of the same call comes. I don’t understand the logic behind it. But I have to accept it. After all, it is Hutch.

Well, once all that hassle is done and dusted come the services. I used to have free SMS. But you charge me for sending SMS. I don’t know what the charges are. As far as I know, it is either 75ps per SMS or 1.50Rs per SMS. But you charged me Rs2 for a local SMS. So to check that up, I tried to call your so-called ‘customer-care’. After infinite errors which I had said earlier and another infinite number-busy problem, I do get connected to a ‘Hutch-Care’ Executive. The so-called executive is most probably a girl who is working for you simple because she had nothing better to do. Most of the time, the girl doesn’t know English. She speaks ‘Manglish’. OK. Accepted. This is Kerala. People do not speak English very well. But, you could ask them to have proper diction at the very least. More often than not I am unable to understand their English. So I begin talking in Malayalam. Does the problem subdue? No. It just continues. I talk to them about various offers and all. And they seem to be ignorant about their offers. So what they do is ask me to wait on the line for some time and ask someone more knowledgeable. Does it solve my problem? No. It just continues. In the end, I feel pity for the girl on the other side and say thanks for her service.

I am not a Hutch-hater. To be honest, I love those Hutch Ads on TV. But your service in Kerala has been way too below par. It is much like Tiger Woods missing the cut at a Major. You are ruining the good image that you had. Every customer of Hutch feels the same agony as I am. Some of my friends quit Hutch and began to use Airtel. I used to experience all these problems with BPL Mobile. But I kept on reminding myself that once Hutch takes over, everything will be great. It never became great. Actually, it has worsened. With a whole lot of new Hutch customers, the network has become busy even in the middle of the night. I cannot believe that Hutch is such a Himalayan failure if I can use that term. Its not that you are in Pink or Orange that you can think about the customer as an @$- ]-[()|_e. All I have to say to you at this point of time is ‘Thank You for your service. And Bye’. As a last word, your dog is much better than your network. Atleast, it follows it master and does what it is supposed to do. And as Vishnu wrote, its very difficult to be a Hutch customer.

Yours Unfaithfully,

Shyam Balasubramoniam.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Can U Win The World Cup ?

2006-06-13T21:05:00.000+05:30

I took a test at OKCupid. Its about winning the world cup. I reached quater-finals.

QUARTER-FINALS
You achieved 79% Cup success!

The bitterness of disappointment. It’s no disgrace to be eliminated at this stage of the knock-out phase. You may have been the surprise package or the underdog that had already given the opposition a good run for their money and surprised many during the tournament. But in the end, you’ve pitted yourself against an opponent that is just too much stronger than you – maybe even the host nation itself? Or perhaps your team was also one of the favourites but was just stopped in its track by an unstoppable side that turned out to be the eventual winners of the tournament.

Both these cases applied to the England side, when they were knocked out by eventual winners Brazil in World Cup 2002 and eliminated by host nation Portugal in Euro 2004.

Anyway, you can bow out of the tournament with your heads held high. Grit, determination and finesse can only get you thus far. Maybe a bit more luck or tactical cunning would have seen you progress further. Take comfort though – many other great sides can’t clear this hurdle either......

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 62% on Cup success

Link: The Can You Win the World Cup? Test written by arcani on OkCupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Das schöne Spiel - Fußball

2006-06-06T22:27:00.000+05:30

Translated into English it reads "The Beautiful Game - Football".

Come 9th June 2006, the FIFA World Cup begins. The biggest televised event on earth. More people watch it than Formula 1. More people watch it than Tour De France. More people watch it than 'Friends'. More people watch it than 'Indian Idol'. This time around the viewership is set to increase definitely. The so called footballing extravaganza or football carnival lasts for a month. In the end of it on July 9th the world will get to see the grand finale of the mega sporting event. The passion has already set in many parts of the world. Even in countries like India, which doesnt participate in the World Cup, the fever is running high. The mega event takes place in Germany. This time around also the samba team is the favorite to win the world cup. Like everytime, this time also FIFA have unveiled a new ball for the world cup. Its the Adidas +Teamgeist which means team spirit. FIFA has said that they will use a special golden ball for the final.

This time around world cup has some changes. It has 32 teams participating in it. Europe is the largest contributor with 14 teams. Africa follows with 5 teams. America, South America and Asia each compete with 4 teams. Australia is the lone team from Oceania. I had posted the fixtures in an older post. You can find it here. Its going to be a great month of footballing.

Enough with stats and other blah blah blah. Now lets get into some important stuff. As I said, Brazil are the favorites this time around also. They have a great team. Its looks that they will be going in with a 4-2-4 formation with Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho and Kaka forming the golden quadret up front. The last time a team used this strange formation was in 1958. The team which used it was Brazil. And you guessed it right. It was the same team which consisted of a young Pele. And they won the tournament. This time around also that could happen. Perhaps the only problem for Brazil is their defence. Their defence is a bit vulnerable. But who needs to defend when one can attack like hell. As the Great Hitler would say "Attack is the best form of defence". Brazil might win the tournament yet another time. But we cant blame them for it. They have a great footballing culture. Although they appear to be firm favorites, they will face some stiff battles all the way through.

England is perhaps the strongest team around. They have a great defence line. This I can say because people like Sol Campbell are on the bench. They have a great midfield. With people like Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard, the strikers are definitely going to get their supply. The stikers are perhaps England's weak link. Their strikepower depends on Manchester United's Wayne Rooney. If Roo is fit then we can expect some goals. If he is not available, I think Owen will be inefficient in combination with the likes of Crouch. England has the team to beat anyone on the planet on their day. But the important thing is that whether these great players can play together as a team. Lets hope that England has teamgeist. Lets pray for Roo to get well before the tournament. If Roo can get well soon, I think we can get to see England and Brazil battling it out in the semifinal. That match will definitely be the best match of the tournament. The winner of that match will definitely go on to win the cup.

Enough talking about the guests. Lets talk about the hosts Germany. Germany has a strong team. Along with that, they have the additional motivation of proving themselves in front of their countrymen. They have the likes of Ballack and Oliver Kahn in their team. The hosts will be more than motivated to do well after losing to Brazil in last world cup's finals. They will have to perform really well to win the world cup. They have the potential to do so. But will they come together and put a team effort. I am pretty sure that they cannot win the world cup with some individual brilliance like the last time around. This time around everyone should play well because the teams they are going to encounter are stronger than last time around.

Another possible winner is Argentina. They have a great team. I dont know much about them, but I know that they are capable of giving teams like Brazil a run for their money. With the likes of Riquelme and Messi in the squad, they are sure to sparkle in the cup. They are another team who needs to do a lot better than last time around. They have a good team to emulate their performance of Korea-Japan 2002. I believe that they will meet Germany in the semis. That match is going to be one to watch out for. Lets hope that all goes well for the Argentines.

I am done with the favorites. Lets try to check out other good teams. Speaking of checking out teams, i feel that the Czecs have a good team. They are ranked No. 2 in the world. They have good quality players like Peter Cech and Pavel Nedved. They have the team to upset some giants I think. But they need not cause any upsets. As far as I can see they will go out in the first knockout phase. Another good team to watch out for is France. With the likes of Zidane, Hnery and Viera playing, the French have a great team. It remains to be seen how much they can gel in as a team. They have a point to prove. Last time around they were the defending champs. But they crashed out of the World cup in the first round itself without scoring a goal. We can watch out for them.

The Italians have a strong team. They dont have a team strong enough to win the cup though. Perhaps they can spring one or two surprises. But they will succumb to greater teams like Brazil and Argentina. Another such team to watch out for is Spain. Portugal also fall in the same category. After some years we can see a good Dutch team. They have perhaps the best team ever since the total-football team of Johann Cruyff. Perhaps they are the dark horses of this world cup. They can give any team a run for their money. Lets hope that they achieve something from this world cup.

In India the matches start by 6.30 in the weekends and by 9.30 in weeknights. Perhaps not a truely convenient time to watch matches. But I am prety sure taht a lot of people will be ready to watch matches. But there is a fear that the matches can be boring. In recent times, teams have become very defensive in matches that count. Even the Champions League Final was a defensive one. So teams once they get to the knock-out stage might start being defensive. Lets hope that they think like the Great Hitler. I quote him again "Attack is the best form of defence". Lets see the flair for brazil. The total football of Holland. The grit and determination of Germany. The defence of Italy. Lets hope that we can get to see some nice action. Eventhough there are many teams, I think the one going to win the world cup is Brazil. The best match is going to be Brazil v England in the semis. Lets hope that the best team wins. In the end who wins doesnt matter. Its the beautiful game that matters.

.....:::Peace:::.....

The New Quarter

2006-06-05T22:14:00.000+05:30

Exams are going on. In the midst of exams some good movies got released. One of them is 'Pudhupettai'. Went with my cousin to see the movie on Friday, 2nd show. The movue is director Selvaraghavan's 4th one. I have seen his Kathal Kondaen and 7G - Rainbow Colony. I liked those two movies very much. They were those rare movies which made tears to come from my eyes. I was expecting this new movie to be on the same line. The cast were the same. Dhanush, Soniya Agarwal. Music by Yuvan Sankar Raja. Cinematography by Arvind Krishna. The team was the same. Only some additions like Sneha were there. As expected, it was indeed a gangster movie. It tells the tale of a gangster named 'kokki' Kumar.

The Crew:

Director: Selvaraghavan
Cast: Dhanush, Sneha, Sonia Agarwal
Music: Yuvan Sankar Raja
Cinematography: Arvind Krishna
More Details and Review: Here.

The film starts with Dhanush as a schoolboy. He lives in a poor locality. One night while he was out, his dad kills his mom. His dad is a gangster in a small level. Kumar feels that his dad might kill him also. So he runs away. Accidentally he got arrested by the Police alongside a ganja gang. Later when the gang members were given bail, Kumar also gets bail and joins them. One by one, he learns the tricks of the trade and one night he accidentally kills a man. Now he was made to join a new gang which is used for killing and all such stuff by a politician. The politician runs a whore-house. Sneha is one of the inmates of this 'house'. Kumar falls in love with Sneha. In an argument, Kumar kills his boss and becomes the head of the gang. Later his area of control increases rapidly. He begins to think of himself as an all conquering hero. Impossible is nothing attitude kicks in. He uses his brute force to gain anything and everything. In the midst of all this, comes the character of Soniya Agarwal. All sorts of confusions and combination chemistry begins here. Lots of people get killed including Sneha. In the end, Dhanush kills the villain and ends up in jail. Another politician gets Kumar out of the jail and makes him a politician.

Sadly, the movie fails to keep up to the expectation which I had. The film turns out to be another movie. Perhaps the gangster touch is the only thing that keeps it apart. Another thing which should to noted in this movie is that it tells how various people get into gangster units and ladies become prostitutes. The narration feels natural. The story is a bit too lengthy though. What the film lacks is some sentiments. Unlike the other Selvaraghavan films, this film doesnt grip you. The actors have performed their roles to perfection. The music of the film is excellent. A sad part is that the best song in the aucio listing(Ore Naalil) is not present in the film. The song sung by Kamal Hassan stands out. Overall, the film is a good movie. It tells us a lot of things. But in the end it turns out to be yet another movie. It lacks the Selvaraghavan aroma. Its not boring by any means. But the story revolves and revolves a bit too much for my liking. The film is a total of 175 Mins. Emotions will not run high at any instant. Only blood will run. In the end you will come out of the theatre watching 3 hours of bloodshed.

My Review:- Good Watchable Film. But NOT a must watch movie. Fails to keep up to its reputation as a Selvaraghavan Movie.

My Rating:- 7 out of 10.

The Lord of The North

2006-05-22T22:32:00.000+05:30

It has been a long time since I saw a film. Today I saw the film 'Vadakkumnathan'. The film was thought to be in the shelf for a long time. I had thought that the film was shelved for eternity.But in the end it was released. The film is nothing special. Its just another watchable film. Nothing boring.

The Crew..

Director - Shajun Karyal
Producer - Baba Creations
CAST - Mohanlal, Biju Menon, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Kavya Madhavan, Murali, Padmapriya.
Music - Ravindran
Lyrics - Gireesh Puthenchery
More Details - Here

The film portrays the life of a Sanskrit scholar Iringannoor Bharatha Pisharody who is a top lecturere at the Sree Sankara University of Sanskrit, Kalady. He was a very successful professor and research person. He recieved the 'Panditha-Raja' order of merit very early in his life. Altogether, he was a young acheiver. He had a good love relationship with his uncle's daughter. Their marriage was fixed. On the dawn of the day of their marriage, Bharathan leaves home for Prayag to participate in the Kumbha-mela. One year later his family was intimated that he passed away. About 3 years after that, his mother and brother find him near the slopes of the Himalayas. He comes back home where he finds his lost love still unmarried. He has some problem(I will not let it out here). He overcomes those problems and in the end they lived happily ever after.

I personally expected a lot from this film. For a film named 'Vadakkumnathan', I thought that there will be something spiritual. But there wasnt. I thought that the film would be a classic like 'His Highness Abdullah' after hearing some similar music. It wasnt to be. In the end, it turned out to be an average movie. The music, I must say that its simply brilliant. At this moment I am very sad because of the demise of Ravindran (Maaash). He worked his magic. This is what Kerala's film music is all about. Those songs with a classical touch. This is what I always love to hear. Another positive I find in this film is the acting of 'Lalettan'. Mohanlal has done a great job with his performance. Perhaps the music and Lalettan's performance are the major things which will pull the audience. The dialoues are mostly analogous. Almost every scene has a dialogue which compares something to some other thing. But the dialogues are effective. The song sequences could have been picturised in a much better way. Also there were some scenes which seemed incomplete. I think that there was a large amount of editing done.

The film faced some major problems before its release. I heard that the crew had gone to the Himalayas to shoot for the film. All we get is two or three scenes. Perhaps the Himalaya thing was a big hype. This made me look forward to seeing a lot more of the great mountain range along with some spiritual experience. What I got is another Malayalam Film. But this film is much better than the average Malayalam film. The songs are simply superb. Thats the highlight of the film.

Watchable. But certainly not a must watch movie.

My Verdict : 6.5 out of 10.

.....:::Peace:::.....

The Show Must Go On.....

2006-05-12T23:36:00.000+05:30

May 11, 2006 - The Election Results in Kerala Announced...

The Resuls..
Total - 140 Seats
LDF - 98
UDF - 42
BJP - 0

The LDF romped home with a comfortable victory. The incumbent UDF Government suffered a loss. And as far as the BJP is concerned, it was another failed attempt in getting off the mark in assembly elections. Let me look at the various factors which enables victory and loss....

The Way Ahead>>>>>>>

Now that the election results have come out and LDF has won, I do belive that the new government has a lot of jobs to do. The Left in Kerala is looked upon as having a different attitude from the Left in Bengal. The Left in Bengal is more Liberal. I dont know much about the Left in Kerala. There are certain good factors regarding the new Govt. I think its vivid that VS Achuthanandan will be the next CM of Kerala. IMO, he will be a pro-poor CM. Much like the one in Andhra Pradesh. I do think that there are a lot of areas where the new government needs to have a look into. The following are some of my concerns.

Better Running of Government Organisations like KSRTC and KSEB

The Government organisations like the KSRTC and the KSEB are running at a loss. They make crores of loss to the state every month. The organisations must be made profitable. The Govt. must look into it urgently. Even if the Govt. is able to run these organisations at break-even, the state will benefit a lot. These organisations must be modernised. As far as the KSRTC is concerned, a lot of the buses are of poor condition. These buses cost huge operational charges. Much more fuel efficient buses must be made available. The old ones should be done away with. As far as the services are concerned, most of the time the passengers do not get enough buses to enough routes. Another major factor is that at off-peak times, we can see many empty buses plying. Perhaps these are the things which should be taken care of. When only 5 people are on-board why should there be a bus of 50 passenger capacity. A minibus is more that enough at these times. Moreover, the minibus is much more fule efficient than the traditional bigger bus. The KSRTC must reinvent itself to attract more passengers. Given the choice between a KSRTC bus and a Private bus, the commuter will choose the private one only. This is because of the smoother behaviour of the staff as well as the better condition of the bus. More schemes must be there for city buses.

As far as the KSEB is concerned, I believe that a large amount of power is lost due to theft. Effective theft detection measures must be taken. Another major problem is power dissipation during distribution. Effective power distribution measures must be taken. Remeber the golden line - 'Power Saved is Power Produced'. I dont think that the needs of the future Kerala will be met with the current power generation. So more ways to produce power must be explored if not generated. Efficient functioning of the board must be made an objective.

Other boards like the rubber board should be made more efficient. We must exploit the capability of more rubbur products. Making some condoms alone doesnt settle the thing. If the rubber board is able to market its products well, then I think rubber is here to stick. If the rubber price could be hiked, then it will definitely help a lot of rubber farmers.

Development of Agriculture

The Kerala state has seen an agrarian crisis for the past few years. Many farmers have commited suicide. The plight of the farmers is a grave concern. The agricultural field must be given importance during development. This field needs an influx of technology. Better yeids could be produced with better varieties of seed. Moreover, disaster management also is something which should be done. Many farmers committed suicide because of financial disasters only. Financial backing must be there from government. Another important factor is that the youth are not really interested in agriculture. Everyone wants to become a software engineer. One must understand the fact that agriculture is what helps us to eat all those good foods. So more agricultural courses must be stated. I dont want a course which produces 'officers' in the field of agriculture. I want the instirutions to be producing good farmers who are willing to raise crop. Moreover, the value for agricultural products is not there. Eventhough when we buy the product, its highly priced, the farmer gets nothing. The middlemen must be avioded. The farmer must benefit from his hardwork. The farmers needs to be educated. There is no point in teaching farmers about Newton's Laws and Eintein's Theory of Relativity. Appropriate education must be provided. No point in producing farmers with little knowledge as to how to run a farm. So some farm management as well as some basic farming needs to be taught. Detailed study in specialised fields like oil crops, rice, vegetables etc etc should also be there. We need more professionals in the field of agriculture. In simple words, WE NEED A GREENER KERALA.

Rural Development

The rural development plan must be around the traditional "Bijli-Sadak-Pani" slogan. It must be accepted that in Kerala, rural development has actually occured. The state has a good rural base. But, more should be done. It should be ensured that the bijli-sadak-pani thing reaches places where it has not reached yet. It must be ensured that education sector in rural areas should be supported more. Cottage industries in the villages must be given aid. Telephones must be accessible. Moreover, in rural areas where the poor live, some way or the other jobs should be generated. Cottage industries' development is a solution for this. For the ones having primary education, facilities for secondary and higher education must be there. The Govt. needs to address the health issues. The rural areas must be better connected with the urban ones. The rural areas must get modernised. Modernisation does not mean that there should be multiplexes and all. But what it essentially means is better facilities for the ones who loive in rural areas. Better roads, electricity, water, telephones, markets, etc etc. To some extent this has been done. We dont see many places where there is a drastic difference between the city and the village.

Ports Development

The state of Kerala is highly blessed with a long coastal line. Vasco da Gama reached India through Kerala only. We have the Cochin shipyard. This needs expansion. Then the Vallarpadom Container Terminal project is on the cards. I dont know much about this project. But I am very sure that this will be beneficial for the state. The container terminal will bring a lot of investment into the state. This will be highly beneficial for the state. Another project on the cards is the Vizhinjam Port. I was talking to my friend Prem on this issue. He lives very near to this proposed port. He was saying that when the port becomes a reality, the unemployed youth will get employment. Its a well known fact that Vizhinjam lies very near to the International Sea Route. So if there is a port, most of the trade will happen through this port only. This will give the state and the nation some revenue. Moreover, our current trade is through other ports which increases the transportation and handling costs. So if imports and exports occur through this port, we can get products at a lesser rate as well as our exports can fetch more price. Another important aspect of this project is that once this comes into existence, trade for other countries will happen from here only. The proximity of Vizhinjam to the International Sea Route should be exploited. But, I am afraid that this project will bite the dust. This is because once it comes into place, trade through other Indian ports will stop. I dont think that if such a thing happens, other states in India will support this project. Other states on India have a much bigger influence on the central Govt. that the small state of Kerala. So political dramas will enusre that this project does not happen. A huge way this project can gain support is thruough the Left's blackmail politics at the centre. If the Left threatens to withdraw support to the Central Govt. this project will gain supoprt. I do hope that the Vizhinjam port development goes ahead with all the momentum it can gather.

Express Highway

The Express Highway was touted as a project which could change the face of Kerala. But, I dont think that such a project is necessary for the development of the state. I do agree that the traffic on both the highways is high. Instead of building such a high-cost road, expansion of the existing road is enough to deal with the growing traffic. Moreover, the express highway generated a lot of hue and cry among the commons of Kerala. It was said that such a highway will become a barrier lik structure which will divide the state into two. Perhaps thats a point to be noted. Instead of creating the highway on sand banks, if sections of the highway is built like a bridge, such a problem will not occur. To be honest, a project at such cost does not have enough benefits for a state like Kerala. However, if either the Vallarpadom or the Vizhinjam project becomes a reality, then definitely the traffic will increase. In such a situation, a super-highway is necessary. In order to tackle the problem of traffic of heavy vehicles, the express highway must be implemented. It should be implemented in such a way that even though it may be costly, in the long run it must benefit the state. I am all for such a highway if there is a very important need for that. As of now, express highway project is only a vision. The eye must be open as to when the vision must be made into a reality.

Urban Development

Perhaps one aspect about the LDF which the people are concerned about is their lack of interest in urban development. They are have a pro-poor and pro-rural attitude for development. They fail to acknowledge the fact that there are people living in cities. Its a well acknowledged fact that night life in Trivandrum is horrible. More and more urban development programs need to be implemented. Better transport facilities must be provided. Shortage of water is a grave concern. Somehow or the other this problem needs to be solved. Rain-water harvesting should be implemented. Better connectivity with all parts of the city must be done. Projects like ring roads should be given a look at. A very important problem which should be solved is the strikes in front of the Secretariat. I do believe that such strikes should be tackled effectively. Whatever happens, the life of common man should not be affected. Better drainage facliities must be provided. Rather than shopping streets, shopping malls should be created. This provided effective space utilisation. The city must look higher literally. Cities must grow outward. The cities should become more cosmopolitan. Perhaps, the city itself should recognise its needs to develop. The inhabitants should understand that its their city. So proper disposal of wastes is an important thing which the inhabitants should take care of. The Government should assist with good schemes for disposal of wastes. The culture of cities like Trivandrum must change. From being a common man's city, it should grow to become a kool city to live in. More and more market places should be established. Improvement of existing markets should be done. On the whole, the city must grow with the inhabitants and the inhabitants must grow with the city.

IT Sector Development

The development of IT sector is an important issue ahaed of the new government. With a huge number of educated unemployed present in the state, the Govt. must understand the need for job generation. Perhaps the only industry now growing in Kerala is the IT industry. We need to give it more momentum. Projects like Smart City will be good for the state. However, the LDF is skeptical about such projects. But, I do think that the govt. will yield to the demands of the youth for such projects. Perhaps the Left in Kerala will adopt the Bengal model. More and more companies must look into the propsprect of beginning or expanding their operations in Kerala. The IT sector will grow if the Govt. supports it. Space is a problem. In order to keep international standards, every company is developing offices which are architectural marvels. To cope up with such land demand, Kerala does not have enough land. So apt utilisation of land is also a problem. For a small state like Kerala, looking up is more advantageous than looking to one side or the other. More and more industries will thrive with the help of the IT sector as more and more people are supposed to come into Kerala to work. An investor friendly environment should be developed. Lets hope that the IT industry in Kerala becomes the best in India. We have the resources. We need the climate. Lets hope that the Govt. has a good IT vision.

Tourism

The tourism sector is perhaps Kerala's best industrial sector. The tourism industry has been serving the state well for quite a number of years. More and more ways of tourism must be developed. A tourist friendly environment should be there. Crimes against tourists must be treated severely. More and more waterways could be developed which helps both tourism and transport. Moreover, innovative methods like Ayurveda will increase the number of tourists flocking to this country. Our hospitality should be good. Rude behavious towards tourists will drive them away. We must understand the fact that tourism has been a great source of income for our state. We should not cut the branch on which we are sitting. Tourism should be promoted well. Even people from within India should come to Kerala to spend their holidays. One of the unique things that we have with us is our culture. We must sell to the tourists our culture. An example for this is a french woman learning kathakali from Kalamandalam (I am not quite sure about the Kathakali thing. Its one art or the other from Kalamandalam). We must market our culture abroad. I do believe that the cities and towns need to provide better facilities for the tourists. The tourists will go away from the state if we dont provide them with enough travel, accomodation and food facilities. These are some important things which the new govt. must keep in mind during the 5 years of their rule.

Industrialisation

The industrial sector of Kerala is very weak. Every year indutries are being closed down due to one reason or the other. This is a terrible situation. The new Govt must ensure that the state is an investor friendly state. I am afraid that the left policies are not for investment. But as we saw in Bengal, the left can be very good. But I am skeptical about its stand here. Trade unionism is one problem which the industries face. We Keralites are notorious for our strikes. Perhaps this is the bane of our state. I think that education is the thing which made us to go on strike. The Govt. must ensure that there are no unnecessary strikes in industries. The govt. must provide more opportunities for industrialists and entreprenuers. It must ensure that no investor is driven away from Kerala by trade unions and hartals. It should ensure that more productivity occurs from within the state. The govt should identify the proper industries for the state. It must ensure that no industry which is harmful to the society gets an NOC. Another important aspect is the amount to jobs these industries generate. Industrialists being capitalists will try to milk the labourers. The govt must ensure taht the labourers are treated like humans. And it must ensure that the laboureres do not go on strike with unreasonable demands. So in short, the Govt. must control and co-ordinate the industrial sector.

Education Sector

The Kerala education sector is not a spoiled one. But its not a wonderful one either. As far as the primary education goes, almost all the kids get primary education. But the higher education opportunities are limited. In Kerala everyone wants to become either a doctor or an engineer. To cope with the demand, the govt. has increased the number of seats. As a result we have tons and tons of engineers passing out every year. Is this good? In my opinion this is not quite good. A minority of engineers passing out are not fit enough to be an engineer. As a result, the value of an engineer has reduced. Because of the fact that almost every engineer finds a job in the IT sector, the bulk of useless engineers produced are not realised by the state. Perhaps a time will come when the Govt. will understand that quality is better than quantity. Not just engineers, even doctors also are in abundance. This is not a good signal. IF every year more and more doctors are coming into the field and more and more patients are produced, then there is something seriously wrong with out health sector. Other higher degres like MBA are not available at all. Very limited number of 'good' MBA seats are available. Perhaps the new education minister will increase the number of MBA seats by some. I always have felt that whats there if everyone is either a doctor or an engineer. For the society to run smoothly we need doctors and engineers as well as the potters and carpenters. So education must be provided in all the fields. Carpentry is an art form. Not every person will be skilled at it. Building mega structures requires good knowledge. But it does not require an engineering degree. So the Govt. must ensure that knowledgeable people pass out into all fields. Those entering a field based on practical experience will always be lesser than the ones with theoretical and practical knowledge. I do hope that teh Govt. considers all these varieties of education which could be provided. Lets hope that the state's education sector continues to be numero uno in India.

Law & Order

The law and order situation in the state is not really bad. Stats asy that Kerala has one of the highest number of cases registered in the country. Yes! Its true that the number of cases registered is high. But I do believe that in many of the North Indian states, crime doesnt get reported. So case is not registered. We as Keralites register cass because we are not afraid to do so. Perhaps this shows the faith in Police force and the fearless life lead by Keralites. However, the number of crimes getting reported should be reduced. It has been found that a number of rape cases occur every year. I strongly believe that this is because of our merciful law. Our constitution is supposed to be one of the kindest. Kindness doesnt stop crime. When we are children, our parents do scold us. When we stop getting scared with the scolding, they use their hand. So the rate of punishment increases. But this doesnt work always. If very severe punishment is ensured, then crime rates will definitely decrease. For example if a murder victim is convited. As part of the punishment he is beheaded. If this beheading is shown across the country on all television channels, I strongly believe that another person will think before committing a murder. Now what happens is that the criminals are sent for life imprisonment. This ensures that they live to come back and do another murder. I dont want this to happen. Enough with crimes. Corruption is one major issue the Govt has to tackle. Nobody should be corrupt, atleast in Govt. offices. Corrupt officials must be dismissed at once. But this does not happen because the whole system from top ministers to the bottom poens are corrupt. It is said that VS Achuthanandan is against corruption. Lets hope that he brings an end to corruption in the state.

Phew!!! What a long post. Sorry for the person who read the entire thing. I just wanted to express my concerns about the state. Do post your comments.

PS:- The above post is my personal opinion. This is just my perspective. It could be correct. It could be wrong. Do correct me if I am wrong. I gleefully accept my mistakes. Your suggestions will be encouraged regarding this topic as it will help me to widen my knowledge about the state. Thanks for reading.

.....:::Peace:::.....

The Theatre of Shattered Dreams...

2006-05-05T22:21:00.000+05:30

Old Trafford Football Staduim, Manchester, England is the home of perhaps one of the most followed football clubs in the world, is also known as 'The Theatre of Dreams'. The Theatre of Dreams it is for any Manchester United fan. I for one would love to be at the Theatre everytime UNITED play. Manchester United, a football club followed around the world, is perhaps suffering from identity crisis. UNITED is becoming more and more any other club these days. Perhaps its the lack of tournament success which makes the people to feel so.

Success is not just a word. Its something which gives you inner strength to wake up from sudden problems. It is something which is intangible. Failure, on the other hand, makes you to visualise insurmountable barriers. Be it a club or a person or a group of individuals, success and failure mean the same. Succeed and you will get a lot of support. Fail and you will not be having many friends around. Manchester United were the synonym of club football success in 1999. UNITED gained a lot of support through their success and through efficient marketing strategies. NOW in 2006, UNITED are no longer a hugely successful club. UNITED is a club which is trying to get back to where it belongs.

UNITED, in 2006, won just the Carling Cup. This is not a big accomplishment for a club like UNITED. It got knocked out from the Uefa Champions League in the first round itself. UNITED didnt even qualify for UEFA cup. That was perhaps the most embarrasing thiong for a club like UNITED. In the FA cup, it got knocked out by Liverpool. Its acceptable. UNITED didnt go down to minnows. In the EPL it was Chelsea all the way. Chelsea are the champions for the second year running. The success however has a secret which is too public.

Two or three years back a Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, bought Chelsea Football Club(CFC). Btw, UNITED also was bought by an American billionaire, Malcolm Glazer, recently only. After the Russian took charge at CFC, the club has become successful. Last year only it won the first division title for the first time in 50 years. This year, CFC retained their title. As many footballing experts would say - "the team that wins the league is the best". I do believe that the experts are quite true. CFC do have the best team in EPL.

I, being a CFC hater, dont watch CFC matches regularly. But what I understand is that they play really boring defensive football. Most of the time they play a 4-5-1 formation. The 4-5-1 formation is dubbed as "fill the midfield with players and dont let the opposition get to your penalty area". Perhaps thats where CFC's success lingers. They play te 4-5-1 formation very effectively. To be honest, CFC has the best midfield in EPL for sure. So the 5 midfileders will be standing in the midfield like walls. This ensures that the opposing teams do not get to the CFC goalpost. Perhaps this is where CFC shines. The players execute their role to perfection. CFC has good attacking midfielders. They enable to club to get one or two goals every game. They have a water-tight defense. This ensures that they win almost every game. CFC works like a well-oiled machine.

A football team works like a well-oiled machine. A nice concept. But, hey, football teams consist of individuals who are humans. Whats the difference between humans and robots other than intelligence. Perhaps one thing which separates machines from human beings is emotion. People have emotions. Its emotions which drive some people. CFC takes the emotion out of their game by playing like a machine. This is where i dont like CFC the most. They think that they are unbeatable, which most of the times they are because of their way of footballing. I understand that Mourinho has done a lot with the team. But I still believe that Sir Alex Ferguson is better.

Football is a passion. Its a religion. The fans follow clubs because of such passion. They follow the clubs like people. The fans show their emotions to the club. When the club succeeds, they praise the players. When the club fails, they virtually kill the players. This is natural. Perhaps CFC is not allowing this to take place. This is where I like UNITED a lot. UNITED may defeat the best team in the world one day. The next day UNITED may lose to a lowly placed team. These highs and lows are not there in CFC.

UNITED play very attacking football. Their attacks start from the defense. The defenders play the ball around themselves. Slowly they will give the ball to the midfielders. The full backs will make their runs through their sides. The midfield keeps possession of the ball. The release the forwards with a great throughball or a great cross from one of the overlapping fullbacks. This is how most of the UNITED goals come. The build-up is excellent to watch. The UNITED players will pass the ball amongst themselves outside the opponents' "D". This sort of attacking football has earned UNITED many fans.

Fans of a club are like friends of a person. The real ones can be identified only at a time of crisis. The false ones will not support a failing club. In that sense I am really happy that UNITED are not really successful these days. UNITED was known to have the world's largest fan base. Perhaps the time has come to know how many follow the UNITED culture. UNITED is the club of the fans, for the fans, by the fans. The club will have fans as long as the sun rises in the east.

I do support UNITED for their football. But I dont claim that they are the best team in the world. UNITED do lack a quality defensive midfileder. They need to find a good replacement for the ageing Paul Scholes. The same with Welshman Ryan Giggs in the left flank. The defense is probably settled. But it lacks consistency. Van Der Saar is a good goalkeeper. But, i think that he is too old. We need to replace him in a year or two. Perhaps its time for anothe young brigade to take over the theatre of dreams. I am sure that UNITED will rise like Phoenix bird from the ashes...

Too long..
Let me cut it short..
GLORY MAN UNITED
.....:::Peace:::.....

I am Back.

2006-04-20T20:48:00.000+05:30

Varumallo..varanamallo..illolam thaamayichaalum vannallo....

I have not been blogging these days. I was rather busy. Actually I kept myself busy in one thing or the other. It was intentional. My college days are coming to an end. It has been a revolution inside me. These past four years have been perhaps the best that I had in my life.

I came to the SCT College in October of 2002 to join F-Batch. F-Batch gave me a lot of good friends. A lot of them have graduated to become great friends on whom I can depend upon. Then I came to Computer Science classes. At the very first instant I felt that there was a gap or a small split. I am in S8 now and I still dont know what is the reason for the split. Anyway, I had this strange vision for a class which is united. I called that class COMPUTER UNITED. I dont know to what extent the dream materialised. But I am sure about one thing. For a common cause we will stand together. Perhaps thats what its all about - being there for each other when a situation arises. I think that in such an aspect my vision has come true. An incident which took place while we had out IV tour would indicate the unity. We were in Hogenakkal. Some others guys from some other colleges were not doing well to their reputation. Our girls were scared. We as a class united for the cause and we overcame a small yet serious problem.

In computer science, I found a number of friends. To be honest I always had a lot of great friends outside the class than inside the class. During our IV tour, about 15 of us came together and formed a team called HUSH Teams. I think that itself was a great turning point. We have more unity inside the class. I thought that a lot of people in my class gained voice because of that. I am proud to be part of such a team without any problems or leaders. All are equal. Perhaps thats what is keeping our team together.

I am a little bit happy. But I am not totally happy. We could have done a lot more together. We had Dishaa '06 to work as a team. But only 10 to 15 people in my class were willing to work for Dishaa. I strongly feel that Dishaa '06 was a success. I dont think that an event of this magnitude could be made possible by any other team of 10 to 15 people who had just 14 days to work for it. But I must thank our juniors especially Riyas and Karthik who did a great job helping us out. I will not forget the services rendered by Sooraj, Vinod and Harigopal. I would like Dishaa '07 to take place in a better and bigger way.

In the meantime, I got recruited into Infosys thanks to GOD. I would never have had got into any other company had I not got into Infosys. I do understand my limits. I do understand my responsibilities. And I do understand that I am just an ordinary person. I have nothing new to teach the world. Think its too philosophical ? Well, I am stopping the philosophy here.

The B.Tech classes have come to an end. In the past four years, I earned quite a lot of friends. I dont think that I earned a number of enemies. Perhaps there are. I dont know. The college made a huge impact on me. I was transformed. My character has become better I think. In the first year I could find an immature boy in myself. Even now I am immature to some extent. I am a bit emotional now. I will have to leave college in a month's time. I will miss those special friends whom I earned. I earned a number of friends who care for me. I cant miss them. I am not telling their names in the open because they know that that they are among my best friends. Perhaps life has told me to put an end to all the enjoyment. I understand the fact that in life joy and sorrow occur. Perhaps thats the only ray of hope that I have now. Now I am sad. But there may be happiness around the corner for me.

All I know is that all that has happened has happened in the best possible way to create a melodrama out of my life. So I expect it to continue....
By the way, I expect to continue blogging as well...

.....:::Peace:::.....

All's Well That Ends Well

2006-03-19T14:24:00.000+05:30

Let me keep it simple. Had a pilgrimage to Sabari Mala on saturday. It was a great trip. Perhaps the best and worst that I had.

All the preparations for the trip was on friday. Till about 3 pm I was in college doing some stuff. I wasnt even in the right frame of mind to take on the trip. I had quite a lot of things left to be done. I had some personal assignments to be met. But I had to abandon all of it. I wasnt even thinking about undertaking the trip even just before I started the journey. By about 6 pm I wore the "mala". The 'kettu nira' ceremony took place by about 7pm. Everything was so quick. I wasnt even feeling religious or anything like that at that moment. I had left plenty of things yet to be done. Then by about 9pm we started the journey. Actually there were 12 others alongside me. Two of my cousins were there. My aged aunt and uncle were there. The others were distant relatives.

We reached Pamba by about 2am on Saturday. My cousins had a quick bath at Pamba. Perhaps for the first time in my life, it wasnt freezing at Pamba. The water was quite cool, but bearable. We started ascending the hills by about 2.30am. There were 4 ladies in our batch. So it wasnt very quick walking. Gradually we began to develop gaps in our pack. One or two of the ladies were finding it difficult even before reaching the Ganapathy Temple. From there, it was decided that the men will carry the 'Irumudi' of the ladies. I was handed another 'irumudi' by one of the ladies. I began to walk with that with a cousin of mine. We started out on a good pace. We didnt go anything like what we used to go. We were slow and steady. We started ascending the 'Neeli mala'. The 'Appaachi medu' proved a quite difficult task for most of the ladies. That left me and my cousin (Ganesh) on our own. After climbing 'Appaachi medu' I asked my cousin to wait for others. We waited for a few minutes. Didnt get a sight of the others. So we started ascending the 'Kari mala'.

We were sweating profusely. But, if we were to stop for others, we will lose our momentum. So we began ascending 'Kari mala'. As the 'saranam' goes 'Kari mala kayattam kadinam thannayyappa'. It was quite true that we felt a little bit drained while climbing 'Kari mala'. We reached the end of kari mala and waited for about half an hour for others to reach there. When they reached it was only 4 or 5 people who reached there. The others were lagging more. Without waiting for others to come, we continued our journey till we reached the 'sannidhanam' shelters. We waited there for about 20 minutes for others to reach. Then we left for the 'Pathinettu padi'. We climbed the steps comfortably as nothing much of a rush was there. We didnt wait to get a 'Darshan' of Lord Ayyappa. We went to the lodge and had bath. Then only we went to see the Lord.

The 'Darshan' was perhaps one of the easiest. Even while waiting in the queue, we recieved Darshan in a couple of minutes. It was really pleasing to see Lord Ayyappa after a long while. The last time I visited the Sabari Mala temple was on 19th October 2002. Since then I have come a long way. Almost the entire of my Engineering studies life has been a span for the two visits. It has been about three and a half years for me to go there. Perhaps the Lord wanted me to concentrate on my studies and didnt give me an invitation. I wanted to stay in front of the Lord for ever. I had talked about myself not being in a frame of mind to visit the temple. But once I saw the Lord's face, I forgot everything personal which I had in my mind. I just wanted to be there for ever. I was so happy that even if I was to die then and there, I would accept it gleefully. I prayed for my sins to be condemned. I prayed for strenth to overcome every hurdle. I prayed for general health. Actually all my personal desires vanished in front of Him. Only the deepest desires were present.

I just wanted to be in front of him. So I kept going back to see him again and again and again. I recieved about 6 or 7 Darshans. Each of them were quite long. AWt one Darshan I was able to see almost all the 'Abhishekhams'. First it was ghee. Then it was 'Panchamrutham'. Then it was 'Kalabham'. Then 'Bhasmam'. Then honey. Then milk. All of these in one Darshan. It was quite a long one. I was extremely happy. Perhaps it was the best Darshan I ever recieved. But I wanted more. I dont know what kept me motivated enough to see the Lord one more time every time. Perhaps thats the magic the creator of the universe knows.

Later we went to Malikappuram. Saw the Godess. Was pleased to hear the 'Pulluvan pattu' and one more thing, the name of which I forgot. Later had our breakfast. Then we began descending by about 12noon. If it was heaven when at the sannidhanam, it was hell while descending. The scorching heat had made the concrete paving hotter then hell. It was highly impossible to walk more than 100meters at one stretch. Every step I took, I felt as if my feet were going to burn. It took about 2 hours to reach Pamba. Every step I took to get down, I called the Lord's name within me. It was really a big mountain to 'climb'. Usually it takes us just about 30 to 40 mins to descend. This time it took us 2 hours. Perhaps that tells the story. We had to stop for every 50 meters or so. But we reached Pamba safely although not in a sound condition. All of us were really tired. But it was worth the problems that we encountered. My cousins have been visiting the temple for more than 20 years. Even they felt that they have not recieved such a Darshan. We boarded the bus and reached home by 8.30pm.

Even now I feel a little bit tired. My legs are aching. I am supposed to attend a web-designing contest at Focuz IT. I am not in a condition to attend any contest. I would like to go to college and be a part of Focuz IT. My body is aching all over. I want to sleep for ever. But, I have commitments to be met. I feel that the Lord will give me enough courage and strength to achieve all that I set out to achive.

Sathyamaaya Ponnu Pathinettaam Padimel Vaazhum Harihara Sudhan Aananda Chitthan Ayyan Ayyappa Swaamiyae Saranam Ayyappa.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Dishaa '05 - A Look Back....

2006-02-09T20:37:00.000+05:30

Dishaa 2005 was conducted on February 19^th and 20^th at the Kanakakunnu Palace and its premises. The technical events were conducted inside the Palace hall. The cultural events took place at the Nishagandhi open air Auditorium. Dishaa 2005 was a huge success. The crowd which was present comprised of people of all ages. The programs were catered to their liking.
In the cultural events, we had shows for both the old and young at mind. The cultural events were inaugurated by veteran film actress K.P.A.C Lalitha and ace music director M.G Radhakrishnan. After the inaugural ceremony there was a curtain-raiser. It was basically a dance performed by students of S.C.T College of Engineering. The idea of curtain-raiser was conceived by Anand. His team of talented youngsters danced to the cadence of the song “Kandisa” by ‘Indian Ocean’. The spectators were scintillated by 15,000 Watts of sound spurting out from the speakers.

Then the cultural events competition items started with a choreo-video competition. The various teams which participated enthralled the crowd with some extraordinary dance performances. The songs chosen were also superior. The crowd danced with the performers. Then on the same night there was a fashion show. The fashion show was a platform for young designers to showcase their designing aptitude. Then there was the opportunity for the young want-to-be models. Some young talent was there to be spotted. The fashion extravaganza showcased the right mix of contemporary and certain odd-looking clothing. The professionalism was also to be noted. Fashion show concluded the night of first day of Dishaa ’05.

On the second day morning there was a general quiz conducted in co-ordination with T.I.M.E Institute. This was one of the major ‘technical’ events of the second day of Dishaa ’05. The quiz contest generated equal interest among the audience as well as the contestants. It was a tightly fought contest with all the contesting teams performing equally well. The quiz master was Mr. Reghu of T.I.M.E institute. The quiz contest had the audience involved as well with few questions being passed onto the spectators and the lucky ones who knew the answer went away with prizes without taking part in the quiz. This was one major flavor of Dishaa ’05; you don’t necessarily have to participate to win prizes. And this trend will continue to Dishaa ’06 as well.

Then there was a gaming contest conducted in association with Reliance Web World. Ardent gamers around the city came to Dishaa ’05 to battle with their peers in their scuffle for supremacy. There were some avid gamers to be spotted.

As the evening of February 20^th dawned on Trivandrum city, crowd began to pour into the Nishagandhi auditorium for they had every reason to be there. On that night there was a Rock-show and a concert. The die-hard rock fans enjoyed the pure rock music that was being played there. Then there was the concert by violin maestro Balabhaskar. This was an event thoroughly enjoyed by all quarters of the crowd. For the old people there were some melodious songs enchanted by Balabhaskar on his violin. Then for the youth assembled at the auditorium, there were some good fusion numbers. As Balabhaskar played the violin, the crowd was singing the songs with him. Balabhaskar played to the wish of the audience and the audience purely enjoyed it.

Dishaa '05 Rocked. Dishaa '06 is coming soon.

Dishaa '06. Bits Bytes and Beyond

.....:::Peace:::.....

I am Back...Festivals Galore

2006-02-07T19:08:00.000+05:30

Well for those who thought that I was dead, I am sorry. I am not dead. Of late I have been busy about certain things. And because of those things and my laziness this is my first post since new year. I look forward to continue this blogging habit.

Its February and its festival time. Lots and lots of festivals happening. In the midst of all that our college arts fest is also there. The college arts fest happens on February 17,18. This is the last College Arts Fest for me. I am deeply pained by the fact that I will have to leave college after about 6 months. The arts fest will showcase some of the finest talent within our college. Its once again time for those fierce branch rivalries. But for those who want to enjoy its a good time. The first time I saw such a fest in college was in my first year. Actuall I wasnt there for the whole day. I had some job to be done for Dishaa '03 which took place the very next day. I came to college very late and the first thing I saw was the Ottam Thullal by ABBA. I can even now remember the "narayana jaya..." song. It was a very great day. The next arts fest was also good for me. I enjoyed it among few of my great friends in the college. Now as I look upon this arts fest, I can think about only one thing - "May The Best Win".

After the college arts fest, its Au Fait. It falls on February 18,19. Actually it clashes with the college arts fest. I feel that it would be a loss to miss either of these. I have never been to Au Fait . So I really dont know how it is. Last time around I had Dishaa '05 and hence I was rather preoccupied. This time around if time permits, I will get a chance to get a feel of Au Fait.

Then comes Swaratharang organised by Akhil Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad. It falls on February 25,26. I have been to all Swaratharangs since I joined the college. Last time around also I was there. Everything has been rocking there. The first time around when I went there I have very great memory. There was fierce rivalry between SCT and CET. Barton hill was also there. The competion for being the best cheerleaders as well as show stoppers reached a very great height. Sooraj of S8T sung the song Pramadavanam Veendum so well that even the CET guys had to applaud. But the fun part came when a good old friend of mine came to the stage to sing a song(Ennname Onnu Kaanaan - from film Nammal). His song wasnt that bad. Infact, he sung quite well. But the fact that he came next to Sooraj was his problem. Some of the seniors mistook him to be from CET and showed him their sandals. But overall, it was a very great experience. The next two Swaratharangs didnt throw up such great experiences. But I always enjoyed being present at Swaratharang. This time around also iHOPE to be there.

In the second week of march comes Quest organised by Electronics students. Quest '05 was a very good experience. I really enjoyed it. The date for this year's Quest is March 11,12. I expect this year's quest to be better than last year's Quest. I believe that my expectations to be made true because I have some friends over there at Electronics who are working their socks off to make Quest a very great show. I still can vividly remember the VJ hunt competition conducted by Kiran TV at Quest '05. Anand of my class became a VJ in Kiran TV (I must say though that I havent seen him on TV). Thus Quest '05 was truly a great show. I expect Quest '06 to be the same as well. The Electronics students have setup a blog . Its worth reading.

The very next week there is the probability of an event happening at our college. Its conducted by the IT students. Its FOCUZ IT. I do appreciate the effort put in by the students of IT with just 120 students there to work for. I do think that this will be a great occasion for all that tech-savvy people of our college. I really dont know much about this fest. But one thing I know is that it will be a very good event as a lot of dedicated people are working hard to make the show a success.

And atlast, there is Dishaa '06. It will be described in another post i think.

.....:::Peace:::.....

KlueLESS

2006-01-01T17:41:00.000+05:30

I recieved this link via a mail. This is a cool game. I finished it (with a LOT of help :D). Check it out. Its supposed to have 30 levels.

http://iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/

...:::Peace:::...

2005 - The "Year" That Went By(e)

2005-12-30T20:33:00.000+05:30

~~2005~~...The "Year" That Went By(e)..

Another year has passed by. It feels as if 2005 just began. The time passed by very quickly. I embark upon a journey to remember the things that happened which made an impact on me.

The year began just as normal. It wasnt supposed to be any special year. It began with the classes for the 6th sem. The 6th sem was perhaps the toughest semester in B.Tech Computer Science with most of the "core" subject coming in that sem. I started out with an intention to be systematic blah blah blah. As it always happened the systematic approach didnt last long. The system just faded away. Nothing much happened in S6. I was rather preoccupied with tuitions and other stuff about which I will come to later. The sem was basically just studies studies and studies. Then along came the results of 5th semester. A disappointment. Was almost on the verge of breaking up. But gathered courage and tried to fight back with the S6 exams. I didnt fare well there either. I wasnt quite sure about my passing all the exams. As a relief the Lab exams were quite easier. Got full output for both.

In the middle of S6 was Dishaa '05. IMHO a spectacular event. I was really overwhelmed by the support it recieved among the audience( atleast my close friends really enjoyed it). Balabhaskar became the main attraction. His show was spectacular. The only complaint that I heard aout the show was that it was scheduled after the Rock show. Everything had its own purpose. Thats the only thing I can say about that sort of scheduling. Dishaa '05 started off with the curtain raiser (the cultural events) by Anand and team. It was an excellent composition by Anand. The song selected was Kandisa by Indian Ocean which later became one of my favorites. Dishaa '05 was aired by ACV. Dishaa '05 cultural events were a grand success. About the technical events I really dont know. I wasnt even there :D . I was there, but wasnt there for the entire time. I wasnt really interested in technical events. What I felt as the real highlight for the tech events is the quiz conducted by T.I.M.E. Then, there was gaming. That attracted a huge crowd. Overall, I would say that Dishaa '05 was a runaway success. I am looking forward to Dishaa '06.

Venturing into my favorite field - Sports. Overall it wasnt a great year for me in sports. Not many of my favorites excelled. In Formula-1, it was a horrible year. King Micheal was dethroned. He was a mere shadow of his former self. Ferrari struggled with a sub-standard car. Coming onto Football, two of my favorite teams suffered. Both Man United and Real Madrid struggled. Both of them didnt win anything. The state of Real is more pathetic. They started from bad and they ended up worse. I hope that 2006 is a better year for both of them. Coming onto Golf, some relief atlast. Both Tiger n Annika excelled. They both had a fine year. In Tennis, I started to like Federer. He looks more like Sampras, who was my favorite. IMO, Sania Mirza is the Indian of the Year. Then onto cycling. Lance rode the bike, the others tried to chase and were left panting. Lance Armstrong rode to a record 7th Le Tour De France title. Miguel Indurain with 5 is the nearest. The sad part is that Lance retired. He will remain to be one of the best cyclists ever. In Moto GP, it was 'The Doctor' all the way. Valentino Rossi excelled.

In Cricket, India had a mixed year. It didnt start of well. It was just an ordinary year until Dravid-Chappel partnership came along. It finished on a high. Australia continued it domination of both forms of the game eventhough they had Ashes slip-up. Cricket rose up from its slump with the new rules and regulations. Super-sub proved quite lucky for India. But I strongly feel that Super-sub rule needs to be scrapped altogether or some changes should be incorporated into it. Cricket has become more exciting.

Coming onto Cinema. I didnt see that many films. Among the ones I saw "Udayananu Taram" impressed me the most. Also "Sarkar" impressed me. In malayalam, Mammookka was the star. Suresh Gopi made a comeback. I didnt get to see that many good films in 2005 partly because of the reason that my concept about films changed altogether. I started to dislike Masala (a.k.a Formula) films. I wanted to see films with more of a social message rather than just some entertainment.

Then came S7. It started. Got placed in Infosys on 21st June 2005 (Thank GOD). Then classes started. Strikes came along for all sorts of reasons. S7 finished. Just like that. Studied very poorly in S7 compared to what I did in previous sems. The University exams came along. Then I started this habit of blogging. The exams finished. They were quite ok. Nothing much to write about them. There was this so-called vacation. I didnt enjoy it. Never got the chance to see a film. Was totallly busy. Overall, the year has been a mixed bag of things. Some good things and some bad things. Overall perhaps a year to remember just because of its specialities.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Germany 2006....Fixtures

2005-12-22T15:59:00.000+05:30

Here is some detail about the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The official emblem.

The official Poster.

The Groups

Group A
Germany - Costa Rica - Poland - Ecuador.

Group B
England - Paraguay - Trinidad and Tobago - Sweden.

Group - C
Argentina - Ivory Coast - Serbia and Montenegro - Netherlands.

Group D
Mexico - Iran - Angola - Portugal.

Group E
Italy - Ghana - USA - Czech Republic.

Group F
Brazil - Croatia - Australia - Japan.

Group G
France - Switzerland - Korea Republic - Togo.

Group H
Spain - Ukraine - Tunisia - Saudi Arabia.

The Matches

Arena-based

First Round

Second Round thru Finale

Date-based

First Round

Second Round thru Finale

The knockout phase

My Predictions:

================================================
Group | Winner | Runner-up
------------------------------------------------
A | Germany | Ecuador
------------------------------------------------
B | England | Sweden
------------------------------------------------
C | Argentina | Netherlands
------------------------------------------------
D | Portugal | Mexico
------------------------------------------------
E | Italy | USA
------------------------------------------------
F | Brazil | Japan
------------------------------------------------
G | France | Korea
------------------------------------------------
H | Spain | Ukraine
================================================

The knockout phase would be more like

By the way, the above prediction is on my assumption that Germany is not that good a team. But, if they are stronger than what I belive them to be then they might beat Argentina, Italy and maybe even Brazil. I am saying this because of the fact that they are the hosts. Germany can make a good run if they have enough strength. But, I give them only an outside chance to win the tounament. My favorites remain Brazil. The reason is simple: they are the strongest.

There are quite a lot of interesting matches taking place in the first phase. I think that the following matches should be interesting to watch.

Poland vs Ecudor - The fight for second place - 9-June.
USA vs Czech Republic - The same reason as above - 12-June.
Spain vs Ukraine - Schevshenko + Spain not that strong an outfit - 14-June.
Sweden vs England - Old rivalry - 20-June.
Netherlands vs. Argentina - Two good teams - 21-June (one year since Infy)
Portugal vs Mexico - Two good teams + quest for supremacy - 21-June.

I think the above ones will be good to look out for as the quality will be better than some other equally contested matches. Then in the knock-out phase you have almost every match to look into especially from the quarter-final time.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Xams just ended...Xmas just began

2005-12-19T19:24:00.000+05:30

Phew! #:-s Xams are over. It finished today. Today I had Object Oriented Systems, an elective. Went pretty ok. The questions were on expected lines and to be fair to the university they did a prettyfair job with the question paper. The only feeling I have now is that I should have studied.

Well, the exam season wasnt as bad as I expected it to be. But it should be said that it wasnt by any means easy. I wasted lots and lots of sweat with no gain. Much of what I expected to be asked for the exam didnt come. But thats the way it has been always. Still, I do belive that had I prepared well I could have done a lot better. Among the exams, Computer Communication was the easier one. And without any doubt DBMS was the toughest. Still I think that it was quite a good exam season when compared to s5 and s6. They were the toughest ones.

One thing that I found difficult to manage this season is TIME. Except perhaps for the CC exam, I was unable to complete the answering within the stipulated time. I think I better stop pausing while answering. And also, my analysis of the question paper during the examination should also be avoided. I now realise that thats where I lose out. But I am proud that I am a quick writer. While writing I can race ahead of most people. The way I waste time thruogh these stuff is what hampers me from completing my answering. Anyway, I am glad that the exam season has terminated.

Let the fun begin! Well, not quite. I have to do some stuff related to my project. This is really important. Then I have some other stuff left to do before the college reopens (possibly on 2nd Jan). Then when the college starts, I am going to be in my final semester. :(( I cant really accept the fact that I am going to graduate in 6 months' time. I cant afford to miss all those great friends that I made. I made up for my poor academics during my +2. Actually I did my best possible. I dont know how, but I developed this love for our college. I know that my college doesnt provide me with good facilities. But somehow I love this college. As they say, certain things cant be explained.

I am looking forward to a good vacation after some studying for about 2 months. I have to watch the third test. And the best thing is Manchester United are going into Christmas break 2nd in the EPL. The last 3 times it happened, in May they were crowned the champoins. But I feel that it will be 4th time unlucky. I must acknowledge the fact that Chelsea are too strong. Chelsea doesnt have any great players. But then again it doesnt have bad players as well. Almost all of the Chelski players deserve to play in the EPL. Not many teams can boast of such a squad. The difference lies in the fact that the reserve players coming into the team in chelski are almost equally talented as the first 11. This is not the case with other teams.

I am happy in one aspect. Arsenal are most probably out of the contention for this year's title as they are 20 points behind chelski. Now its down to Man UNITED and Liverpool to bring chelski down. Liverpool has the squad strength. MAN UNITED has a very good first 11. Their reserves are not quite good enough to play for a club of such stature. With Manchester United knocked out of Champions League, I dont think that they will get many great players to come to the Theatre of Dreams during the Jan transfer window. Maybe some ordinary players will come. But thats not enough. Anyway let me hope that Man UNITED stand united.

By the way, its christmas time. Let santa claus bring in all the good everyone hoped for and wished for. Wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

.....:::Peace:::.....

The Ugly Face Comes Up Again - "Shared Power"

2005-12-15T16:47:00.000+05:30

The Date : 14 - December - 2005.
Place : Delhi.
News :

India win the second test against Sri Lanka by 188 runs.
Wassim Jaffer included in the Test squad for third test at Ahmedabad.
Sourav Ganguly dropped from the squad.

The Reason : Its is not proper to keep Ganguly on the bench.

Let me come to the point. Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Indian Team for the 3rd test against Sri Lanka. The chairman of selectors Kiran More said that it was not appropriate to keep Ganguly on the bench(wow! what a respect. mindblowing!).

Why was he dropped? I really cant answer that question.
Did he play badly? Scoring 40 and 39 is not a bad performance for anybody.
Did the team lose the match? Nah!
Did he do anything wrong? I cant personally find any fault.

The selectors made a really bad decision by dropping Sourav Ganguly and picking Wassim Jaffer. If they were to drop Dada after the test, then why did they pick him in the first case. Really confusing. They could have avoided picking him for the test series. There they erred by picking him eventhough he had a pair in the match between East Zone and West Zone for some trophy. Zaheer Khan performed really well in that match. Zaheer didnt find a place in the team. But Dada was able to.

To be very fair to Dada, I feel that he did make the most of the opportunity presented to him. A total of 79(40 + 39) runs in 2 innings is not a bad display. Rahul scored just 77 (24 + 53). Its pretty clear that Dada wasnt performing poorly. Then why did they drop him? It could be argued that there was no place in the team for him. This is because of the fact that Sehwag is sure to get a place in the team when he comes back after his illness. So one among the batsman must go. The 3 possible candidates are Dada, Yuvi and Gautam Gambhir.

Yuvraj scored some 77 odd runs in the second innings. Gautam Gambhir played some rash shots. He got out in the same fashion in both innings. Maybe something wrong with the technique. The right leg stepping out too far across is his problem. Perhaps it should have been that Gautam was rested and Sehwag slotted in his place. While resting, Gambhir can have enough time to make corrections to his technique and come back into the team. I am not suggesting a dropping for Gambhir. As the selectors pointed out he is a young talent. A good opener for India after a long time. We should not be too harsh on him. We should give him enough time. But I strongly feel that he wont be able to make changes to his technique in the 4 days that he is going to get in between the tests.

And the team should have looked like Sehwag, Dhoni, VVS, Sachin, Rahul, Dada, Yuvi and the bowlers. Now Wassim Jaffer figures in the scheme of things. The selectors said that they were giving oppotunities to young talent. Oh yeah! What a great decision. I do feel that youngsters should be slotted into the team. But not like this anyway. Give me a break! And by the way, Wassim Jaffer is about 27 years old. He has about 7 years of cricket left in him. Dada has about 2 years of cricket left in him. These estimations are of course on the basis that they perform. But, if the selectors keep chopping and changing, then there is no point in giving opportunities to youngsters. Its totally a waste of place. Not one player is going to get established.

Another problem that I find with the decision is that Wassim Jaffer might have been playing the Ranji Trophy for about 5 years atleast. At this rate he might have lost most of his talent. I do feel that the domestic system in India is very bad. Our domestic cricket is far below the standard of domestic cricket in other countries like Australia, South Africa and England. Leave alone the first two. Take a look at England. They have pretty good players coming up. Why? This is because of the fact that they have a pretty good domestic cricket culture.

Wow wow wow wow wow! Dont ever think that I am saying that we lack talent. We have talent aplenty. Most of our junior teams are really great teams. We have great Under-19 teams. Not many counties can boast of such junior teams. Then where do we lose out ? We have these U-19 players. Most them are inducted into the Indian senior team (barring certain exceptions) by about the age of 23 to 25. During those 4 - 6 years they lose their game. How do they lose it ? They play in our domestic circuit. We have lots of ordinary players in the domestic cricket. For the U-19 players they are not really a match. So these U-19 players play them very easily. They dont find playing them a challenge. These players become great in domestic circuit in due course of time.

Then what happens ? They get indcucted into the Senior team. Its here that they fail. Why do they fail ? The plain reason is that they cant compete well at the International standard. The International standard is way above the domestic standard. These junior players woudnt have suffered if they had experience playing international standard players in domestic circuit. This is what happened in England. The leagues over there have international players. The ordinarily talented players play against these international players and develop themselves. Thus when they are asked to represent their country they are able to be on the occasion. They dont have a need to raise their game to a great extent because they have been playing at a level quite near to the international standard. This is where Indian young talent fails. And this is one reason I belive that Wassim Jaffer should not play. If he proves well in the opportunity given to him, then I would be more than happy. I dont care me being disproved if something good happens to cricket.

What I would like to happen is that we need a restructuring of the domestic system. Market the domestic games. Bring in players from other countries. Ask our senior players to play in domestic matches. Now the case is that Sachin can ring up the captain of Mumbai cricket team and is able to playon the morning of a match. This is not correct. It should be made a must for the international cricketers to play games in domestic season(they do find enough time to play for counties). They will be able to raise the standard of play. This requires money. I dont think that the BCCI is short of money. Moreover, aggressive marketing could be used to generate money. (iHOPE that ESPNStar start a domestic tournament like the Proffesional Hockey League :D). They have enough money. We have great revenue. Maybe we can distribute the revenue in the domestic arena. Instead of the BCCI getting richer, we need the cricket in our country to get richer.

Now coming back to the dropping of Dada. I feel that the selectors should be ashamed of their actions. They should not listen to politicians. What has happened in Ganguly getting dropped is that "Shared Power" (i know its 'A' over there) has played his pack of cards very neatly. He dropped Ganguly and selected Wassim Jaffer (both are maharashtrians). I dont think that any other reason was there in dropping Ganguly. We had Kaif in the squad. What was the need to include another batsman. Just plain politics.

Hey, please dont think that I am a Ganguly fan. I am a Dravid fan. But, I cant really justify the way the boot was given to Ganguly. He should have been given a fair exit. Actually I was really angry when he was selected for the test seris. And to be fair, he didnt play badly. IMO, he should not have been dropped. Simply by doing such a hideous act, they have helped Ganguly garner support. I do feel that Ganguly should be inducted back into the Indian team. But its really unfortunate that Dada doesnt have his men in the selection committee. Perhaps the time has come for the Prince of Calcutta to step down from his throne.

Ganguly is the most successful Indian captain till date. I strongly feel that he should have been given a better sentoff. We should not forget the past. He has been a great sevant for Indian Cricket. Its really disheartening to find that in a country where cricket is like religion, an idol was given such a poor exit. I hope that the turn is for good. Perhaps its the only thing most people in India are able to do.

And if You are reading this. Thanks for the tremendous effort that you put in.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Citius - Altius - Fortius for Open Source

2005-12-14T06:09:00.000+05:30

Its no secret that the Olympics are a huge technological undertaking. In an attempt to save licencing fees, the IOC (International Olympics Committee) technology partner Atos Origin has proposed a switch to an open source platform for the Beijing games in 2008. The bid, made under the guidance of subcontractors IBM and HP, hinges on approval from the traditionally conservative IOC. One hitch may be lack of support. Companies that are able to support open source technologies do not abound in China like they do in Europe and the U.S

For more click here

- AUSTRALIAN IT

.....:::Peace:::.....

A Tribute to the Master Blaster

2005-12-11T04:53:00.000+05:30

I recieved this forward from Midhun.
check it out.. click here
It is from A+ Forwards.com

A Generation Might Awaken

2005-12-10T08:26:00.000+05:30

Rang De Basanti - A Generation Awakens

Heard just 4 songs from the film. Great songs. An ARR stamp is there. The title song sung by Daler Mehndi is just gr8. He has rendered the song with gr8 class. That bhangra style singing has helped the song a lot. The background score is also really cool. About the lyrics, nothing much is there because most of the time what we will be hearing is "mohe tu rang de basanti". Perhaps one of those sing-alongs.

The next song is Paathsala. Its another cool song. Another ARR class. This is a fast number with good background score. The lyrics is worth noticing. Then another song is Tu Bin Bataye. This one is a slow number. Romantic one it seems. I dont know whether it is a sad song or just a cool one. Another song is actually some Punjabi prayer. Its titled Ek Onkar. Nothing much to write about this song.

I heard just these four songs and I belive that the rest of the songs will also be good. Perhaps this is what we have been waiting for from ARR. Will update when I get to hear those songs also.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Down And Out

2005-12-08T03:14:00.000+05:30

Benfica 2 - 1 Manchester Separated.

That sums up the story. MAN UTD missed Becks on the right, Keano in the center, and Heinze at the back. Becks should have been playing at RM instead of Ronaldo who played neither at the right nor at the center. Smith is still in development stage as a midfielder. MAN UTD could have done with Keano there. O'Shae at the back was not good. Hienze would have done a lot better. They let two goals in after going into the lead at 6th minute. Those two goals came along simply because MAN U shut shop after the 6th minute.

Manchester United are bottom of the group. They dont even qualify for the UEFA cup. :-( . Perhaps Sir Alex should have understood that leaving anything till the very end is not particularly good (A lesson for me also while studying). Saha wasnt aware of what he was doing at the middle of the park. RVN, he was back to where he belongs. He was waiting there near the box for service which never arrived. He should have tried to create chances.

The consequence of this loss may be that Sir Alex may get sacked by the Glazer family. What a great news to have - two of your favorite clubs on the hunt for a manager. Another consequence may be that some players may be on their way out of Theatre of Dreams. Some new and useful players might get slotted in. I hope that both Manchester United and Real Madrid can recover from this slump.

Glory Man United.....Hala Madrid

.....:::Peace:::.....

An Engineering Marvel !!!!

2005-12-06T23:35:00.000+05:30

Sapporo a commercial city in northern Japan has a stadium. It has a seating capacity of 42,122. What is amazing about this stadium is that, its an indoor stadium with the playing field outside, and when required the filed will move into the stadium. Not only that, the field once inside the stadium will rotate within its axis to ensure the spectators will get an all round view of the game being played.

http://img492.imageshack.us/my.php?image=overview5kn.gif

http://img511.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pitch8tc.jpg

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REAL Mystery

2005-12-06T23:06:00.000+05:30

The Galacticos, as they have been referred as, Real Madrid perhaps the most prestigious football club in the world is struggling now. It has been like that for the past two seasons. Perhaps the last major trophy that they lifted was the La Liga in 2002/03 season. Since then all silverware has eluded them somehow. When compared on talent perhaps the best team in the world, is struggling to win against even their La Liga minnows.

As a result of a poor show Vanderley Luxemburgo has been sacked. Now Real are in search of a coach. But not many world-class coaches will be willing to leave their current club and join Real during January. There are many world class coaches who may be willing. But that is simply because of the poor showing of their current team. And I am pretty sure that Real wont be vying any coach in a poor run of form. They would like to have some Galactico coach.

There are not many Galactico coaches available. The most talked about name as Lux's replacement has been Real's former coach, Vincente Del Bosque. But there will be wounds in the mind of Vincente Del Bosque because he was sacked for the simple reason that Real didnt win Champions League in the season 2002/03. Real won its last La Liga title under his management in 2002/03 season only. But he might have several wounds and might not want to get involved with FLorentino Perez' club again. So that leaves VDB out of the question.

Other possible replacements are Arsene Wenger, the current manager of Arsenal, and Fabio Capello, the current coach of Juventus. Fabio Capello is more favoured by Real fans as he was once the coach of the Galacticos. But it is highly unlikely that Fabio might leave Juventus for Real Madrid as Juve have been doing rather well in the Serie A. Also not many managers leave their team in the midst of a season. But Fabio is that kind of a person who will do the unthinkable. Earlier Fabio Capello was with Real Madrid. Then he migrated to Serie A and Milan. He won the Serie A with Milan and moved to Roma. There also the success was duplicated. Then he moved onto Juventus. He won the Serie A with Juventus last season and looks like he might repeat the effort this year also.

Arsene Wenger coming to Real Madrid is a possibility. He might leave the Gunners for Galacticos. This is mainly because of the fact that his main player (the best striker in the world) might be going out of Arsenal. If Henry makes a move it has been on rumours that he might move to either Real or Barca. If Henry is coming, then Arsene might follow suit. If that is the case then it will be good for Real. If Arsene Wenger comes to Real we might get a chance to see the Galacticos play the flambouyant football that they used to do. It should be remembered that Arsenal under Arsene have played some fantastic attacking football. This attacking, flowing football has been the trademark of Real teams over the decades.

Another point to be emphasised upon is that there is no need for Henry at Real. They already have 3 great strikers in Ronaldo, Raul and now Robinho. Moreover, this summer they bought Julio Baptista who is a goal scorer. Even then Real might buy Henry because otherwise he may move to Baca. That will be a disaster for Real. SO Henry will move to Real if he is assured of regular starts. What Real Madrid want now is actually a manager who doesnt care a s**t about stars. Someone like Sir Alex Fergusson would do. But Sir Alex may not move. Fabio Cappello would be useful.

Will a good manager solve all the problems ? Well, the answer is a big NO. This is because since Hierro left they have been struggling in defence. They didnt have any world class center back. Their half backs are brilliant. But it is at the center of the defence that there is a huge hole. They are leaking too many goals. A team like Real Madrid should not set such poor standards. One of the main reasons why they are leaking goals at the back even after valiant efforts by 'keeper Casillas, is that they dont have a brilliant defensive midfielder. Somebody like Makelele or Roy Keane.

Roy Keane is available now. Although he is not a 'Galactico' , he might fit well into the scheme of things because he is a person who earns the respect of his fellow team mates. Roy Keane could be slotted in so that their problems are solved temporarily. Real need to find a holding midfielder or even a box to box player who is more like Roy Keane. Another important thing that should be done is that the stars like Ronaldo need as kick at the posterior end. Their poor show demands such an action.

Another key issue that I would like to dwell upon is Michael Ballack. It looks as if he is on his way to the Bernabeu during the January transfer window. Ballack has been roped in as a potential replacement for the ageing Zizou. Zizou most probably will leave Real Madrid next season. So Ballack will nicely fit into his slot. It is the defence that Real need to strengthen. But Florentino Perez has been avoiding such things. He believes in making more money through merchandise than through football. This is perhaps the only reason I like Roman Abramovich of Chelsea. Roman loves football. Florentino Perez loves celebrities. That is perhaps the basic reason why Chelsea are successful after huge spending and Real Madrid are not.

I hope that things start to turn in the right direction for Real. If it doesnt, then we might be seeing the beginning of the fall of a great empire. I hope that it doesnt happen and Real get back to the winning ways playing the flambouyant football that they are so famous for.

HALA MADRID

.....:::Peace:::.....

This is what I call "Buying Trouble With Your Money"

2005-12-06T16:26:00.000+05:30

Buying Trouble With Your Money.

This is perhaps the best title one can give to our B.Tech. What are we doing for our B.Tech? We get admitted to some college. Then we pay the fees. Then we pay the University some money called Examination Fee. They print question paper with our money. Then the exam comes. We spend our money to go to the college and write the examination. What happens in the examination? The University makes a mockery of the examination.

We are supposed to be asked the stuff that is there in the syllabus. Even if its not in the syllabus it could be something very common or popular. Instead the university is acting as if it is on revenge with the students for postponing the examination.

OK. I accept we must study well. But there is a limit for everything isnt it? Atleast I feel so. Today I had an exam. The subject was DataBase Managenment Systems. The exam didnt go that well for most people at Computer United (thats what I call my class. I agree. It was inspired from Manchester United). The exam was so tough that I was barely able to answer the essay of the second module. Out of the 6 essay questions (each of which had 3 parts), I wasnt capable of answering even one of them completely (3 out of 3 i.e,).

The question paper was so out of the pattern that even after a lot of research with the question paper of previous years I wasnt even able to predict what was asked for the examination. I havent even heard of a lot of things that were asked. I wonder what "Statistical Database" is. Another thing which I didnt have any idea about is "fragment and queries using fragments". I wonder how many of my classmates knew about it.

Another question goes like this - "Write an algorithm to determine if two sets of functional dependencies are equivalent". I would like some help regarding that stuff. I didnt see anything of that sort in the portions that I studied (I did :D). Another confusing aspect (just for the argument) was the "PARTS blah blah blah" in a question which asked us to insert values into a B+ Tree. They could have specified insertion into a B+ Tree instead of going about it in a roundabout manner.

I am puzzled as to when the University will get back into its senses. The University has been asking us questions which we may not know for sure. The subject was such that you cannot insert O2, N2, CO2, etc etc into it. We must know the stuff to write. It is high time the University found a better examination scheme. There is no point in asking students to answer some stuff that they may never use in their lifetime (proffessional life that is) and also about things that the students may never hear about.

A possible solution is for multiple choice questions. But that has its own drawbacks. The University could ask questions which could be answered in one or two lines. But what is happening here is that we are asked certain questions which has no particular importance in learning. I am not asking for a mass restructuring of the examination scheme. The restructuring could be implemented in phases. Nowadays even mugging up is not helping.

One point that I would like to stress upon is the fact that the University wants to know the depth of our knowledge in some portions of the subject rather than a moderate knowledge of the subject as a whole. If questions were asked on expected lines there would never have been a tough exam or even an easy exam(i havent seen many of this kind :D).

Anyway let me finish this off. This has been quite a long post. I have the next exam on next tuesday. Till then I have enough time to study (waste rather). The next exam is Computer Peripherals and Interfacing. I have better things to do in the mean time especially watch the Man United vs. Benfica match. I hope that the Red Devils qualify. George" THE" Best had given us a win in the same match long back. I hope the new Best (a.k.a Rooney according to Sir Alex) gives us a win.

.....:::Peace:::.....

New-look Yahoo! Mail - Beta

2005-12-04T22:16:00.000+05:30

Yahoo! has just launched its new-look mail. Yahoo! mail just got a lot better. I noticed some cool features which could be used with GMail and Google Desktop together. The interesting feature that I noticed was that it got a LOT quicker. The new look is quite cool. We are now able to view the mail in a pane. The above said stuff is what I noticed at the first sight. And I belive this change was inevitable as more and more people were moving onto GMail (the people I know that is). This Mailbox war will help us a LOT. I hope GMail comes up with more features :D .

Fore more details click here

.....:::Peace:::.....

Some Thoughts

2005-12-04T22:03:00.000+05:30

These are some stuff I recieved by mail.

Dont be afraid to talk to yourself. It is the only way you can be sure somebody is listening.
Every life has a measure of sorrrow, and sometimes this is what awakens us.
Experience is what you get when you dont get what you want.
For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness.
If everybody thought before they spoke, the silence would be deafening.
Strong reasons make strong actions.
Tears are summer showers to the soul.
When choosing between two evils, I always try the one I have never tried before.

De Bee Yem Yes - 2 Study or Not 2 Study

2005-12-03T08:36:00.000+05:30

I was studying DataBase Management Systems today. I found out that it is not easy to study DBMS. With the exam on Tuesday, its almost impossible to study what is specified in the syllabus and what is going to be asked(not specified in syllabus).

It is quite remarkable to note that the syllabus doesnt have any detail. There are topics namely "Transaction Processing - Concurrency Control - Recovery Buffer Management". When I referred the text book, I found out that each of those is a chapter in itself. Then I referred the question paper. Most of them were repetitions. So there is no point in studying the entire chapter. But the problem is that every topic is related to the previous topic in one way or the other.

Then on a second look at the question paper I found out that in certain portions of the syllabus were never asked for the examination. In the first module most of the time various types of indexing & hashing, ER model, and B+ Trees would be enough for you to get some mark. If you are lucky, then you may be confused as to which choice to take. There is a good chance that you will know both. In the second module, most of the tume the Relational model, functional dependency and Normal Forms will be more than enough. In the third module, a general trend can never be predicted. The various formations have taken place. Even then, repetition comes. Even the 3 parts for a question are not changed. They remain the same. Most of the time Hierarchical model, concurrency and consistency, recovery etc have been the questions.

Keeping in mind these observations it would be better to study what is there in the question paper than study what is there in the syllabus. There arises another problem. We dont have enough resources to study. The text is either too descriptive or too brief. Certain topics asked as essay are very small topics in the text. Then there are topics which are very vast which are also asked as essays. Another problem that I found out is that sometimes an essay would be a single question for 20 marks. A typical example would be "Explain the theory of funtional dependencies." Such questions are very difficult to answer. We need to have an in-depth knowledge of that topic. It is of grave concern as to what the people who value our exam sheets look for. Some might look for Points while others might look out for Size. Its actually a problem that we have been facing since S1S2. And its likely to be there till the Sun rises in the West.

I hope that the questions are easy for the exam. I am just going to study things that have good probability of being asked for exams. ALL THE BEST to my friends who are having an exam. I must now start studying.

.....:::Peace:::.....

Gazza - The New Leader

2005-12-02T22:05:00.000+05:30

Atlast some good news. Gary Neville has been chosen as the new captain of Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson chose Gazza as the new captain after Keano's departure. As far as I know Gazza has been the best influential person in the team after Keane. His presence commands respect. Earlier RVN was doing the job in the absence of Gazza due to an injury. Now as he is back, Sir Alex has given the armband to him rightfully. I hope that this is a move which instills confidence in the team.

...:::Peace:::....

Chennai Test - A Wet Decision

2005-12-02T18:23:00.000+05:30

I am a little bit upset with the way the venues for the Test Series against Sri Lanka were fixed. During the One-Day series vs. South Africa, the Chennai one was washed out. The authorities must have noticed this and found out an alternate venue keeping in mind a possibility for a 5-day washout. It seems now that its going to happen and we may have a virtual 2-test series. We shud have had a 3 test series. Simply because of the fact that the authorities were a bit hesitant to change the venue we might be robbed from having a good test down here in the south.

Instead of finding an alternative, the BCCI was busy with its elections. And what happened in the election is not good either. BCCI had an advocate doing business. Now it has a politician doing the business. I feel the need for a proffessional to be at the helm of the richest cricketing body in the world. By the way, the BCCI is no longer the richest cricketing body in the world. Cricket Australia has that honour I heard.

Well, the first day of the chennai test has been rained out. And more rain is expected to be there for another 4 days atleast. I want the rain GODs to stay away from the MAC stadium(thats highly unlikely). Even if the 4 day "test" does happen, it is most likely to end in a draw. Murali will spin his magic web around the Indian batting lineup. One positive that might have come out of this washout is for Dada. He gets one more chance to be in the team. Had he failed in Chennai, there is every chance that he might get dropped and Yuvi given his place.

Lets Pray that the first test brings some positives out of it.
.....:::Peace:::....

New Venture

2005-12-02T17:44:00.000+05:30

The Date : 2 - December - 2005.
I started two new things. First I started my own website (free one though) . I will reveal the web address later. Then, I started this blog. A new beginning I guess. I was actually getting bored after lots n lots of playing FIFA 2005. I wanted to try something new. So just entered the blogging community. I hope this continues.