Anything Goes Here !

www.harikrishnan.org

2008-03-15T00:25:00.000-07:00

I have moved my blog from here to here. I have a new domain name, www.harikrishnan.org, set up a wordpress blog, and will blog there from now.

I have had this blog from 2003, for about 5 years now. though the posts were infrequent bursts of mostly nonsense, i have had a lot of readers, and lot of friends. thanks, guys !

Actually i moved to the new site some time back, and this is a very late post.

welcome to www.harikrishnan.org

see you there.

jaanapada jaathre

2007-03-04T03:42:00.000-08:00

the folklore festival of karnataka tourism

A nice initiative. Jaanapada jaathre is performed at an open air stage at Lalbagh. Different culutal groups from parts of Karnataka present their traditional folk art forms to a mesmerised audience.

I could recognise only Karaga and Dollu kunitha, there where many which i couldnt identify, sadly the compereing was only in kannada.

These traditional art forms are rich in color, rhythm, and abundant with the unpolluted symbols of raw village/forest life. Maybe they are not as sophisticated as yakshagana, but the tribal beats and the pace of the movements are so simple and foot-tapping.

Comparing these art forms with the traditional art forms of kerala would either be foolish or a topic for a doctorate thesis. Here the woman take up the lead, and they are as loud and fierce as males. In most of the dances, females were the main lead artistes while men mostly resorted to the backgound score or to the sidelines.

For the city dwellers of bangalore, who see the world only through their balcony windows, or through the 21 inch rectangle shaped hole in ur drawing room, this is a nice opportunity to admire the heritage of the land.

Jaanapada Jaathre is arranged on saturday and sunday of every second week, I saw it last week, so the next edition will be on march 10-11, 6 pm to 8 pm. Entry is free. Lookout in the newspapers for the listing of the events.

Tip: The stage is near the Kempagowda tower in lalbagh, entry through KH road. Please go early, by 6 it will be really crowded. Secret Tip: If you have a 'big' camera and can sport a serious look- just walk confidently right upto the stage. Chances are no one will stop you.

So what are you doing this weekend ?

My Visual DNA

2007-02-21T06:59:00.000-08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-01-28T00:23:00.000-08:00

the most terrifying movie you will ever see.

Watch the DVD, for more. Please do.

Paranoid

2007-01-26T04:25:00.000-08:00

Foss.in and other things

2006-12-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

The gap between my blog posts are increasing. Maybe I am working too much or I am getting lazy or I dont have anything worthwhile to say. Any of those- dont know which.

Many things happened after my last blogpost. Foss.in happened. leaving a few lasting impressions. I didnt do anything much, I just hanged around, talked a lot, experimented with my camera, consumed lots of biriyani and icecream, and yea, i made a few purple colored things.

Many of them asked me why purple ? of all the colors ?
Simple, everytime you ask me that, it just proves that the purpose behind using a rarely used color like purple worked- catch attention. As they say, there are no good ads or bad ads, only the effective and ineffective ones.

If you want other reasons, here you go: Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic. [source]

Apart from all these, in my present mood, I like that color.

Oh, I just found out, this. Interesting !

After foss.in, a hurried trip to Kochi and back. Piles of work at office. Do others work faster when I am out of office ? :)

I have uploaded a few pictures of foss.in here. A few came out dark, the ones that i took before i fugured out how to change the ISO/ASA.

Here are a few more color resources:
http://www.crystal-cure.com/purple.html
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/purple.htm

Bangalore is Bengalooru

2006-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Bangalore is Bengalooru.
Mysore will be Mysooru.
Mangalore will be Mangalooru.
Hubli will be Hubballi.
Shimoga will be Shivamogga.
Belgaum will be Belagaavi.
Hospet will be Hosapete.

though we still to have the same problems, but hey, atleast we have a new name !

Would any one be interested in renaming the anglicized names inside the bengalooru city as well ?
Okay, lets start with Cox town and Dickenson Road.

karnataka trip

2006-10-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

1300 kms //48 lts of petrol // 7 districts // 5 days // 4 nights// 2 people // 1 bike

Back from the 5 day trip.

This was the route : Bangalore > Neelamangala >Yadiyur > channarayapatna > Hassan > Halebid > Belur > Chikmagalur > Kemmangundi > Kalahatti falls > Bhadra wildlife sanctuary > Sringeri > Agumbe > Kundapur >Marawante > Baindur > Bhatkal > Murudeshwar > Honnavar > Kumta > Gokarna > Om beach > Yana > Sirsi > Siddhapura > Jog falls > Honnemaradu> Sagar > shimoga > kadur > Arsikare > Tumkur > Bangalore

I should say that it was not that easy, but it was an exciting experience.

I always believed that a trip should expose your minds to new sights, smells and sounds. When you hire an AC coach, zip past National Highways watching your favorite movie in DVD, you miss out a lot. When you travel by bike or even better hitch-hike, you see more, you learn more, and you enjoy more.

Imagine riding through non existent roads, trekking for kilometers in the hot sun and reaching a less explored place, taking to locals and listening to stories from them. Now compare it with being transported from point A to Point B in an AC coach in true business style, fresh as a tomato from the refrigerator, and a guide delivering you a presentation on the place that you are seeing.

Well, I prefer the first.

Day One
Let’s go back a few centuries

Leaving Bangalore one hour behind the schedule at 6 AM from Silk board Junction. The route was Neelamangala > Hassan > Halebidu > Belur > Chikmagalore.
The road from Bangalore to Hassan was a drive experience of its own, beautiful landscapes around you and a smooth ride. Or maybe we were just trilled by the less traffic or the lack of signals. Reminded me of that hutch song, "green grass... blue skies", but the dog was missing. We stopped frequently to click pictures. You just cannot afford to miss such beautiful skies.

Through the dusty and hot Hassan town you turn to Halebid. The road is narrower and curvy, but still good. All through the way look out for small yellow boards put up by Karnataka Tourism. They never lie. In Halebid, ignore the pestering hawkers, and there stands majestically the Hoysaleshwara temple, Built in 1121 AD. The walls are covered with stone sculptures depicting the Hindu epics.

Wondering what will happen to the world if I make a sculpture in that same style, with some contemporary theme, like a person using a computer or mobile phone and place it somewhere in between with out anyone noticing. Evil thoughts!

Inside the temple, non-Hindus are allowed, and surprisingly they even don’t bother if you take photographs. You will need halogen lamps though, it’s really dark inside.

Belur is 16 kms from Halebidu, narrow curvy roads, it’s a nice ride. Channakeshava Temple, a little less detailed than that of Halebidu, but worth watching. The interiors are considered to be better than the exterior sculptures, and they have a huge light which they will turn on if you pay 10 bucks. With out that it’s just darkness.
Leaving the old town to sleep in the memories of its once glorious past, we reached Chikmagalore, traveling around 175 kms from Bangalore.

Day Two. Dive 6,317 feet !
After talking to the local folks, we decided to drop Kemmangundi, as they were not much approving of our idea that it is a wonderful place. So we opted for Mullain giri, highest peak in Karnataka (6,317 feet high from Sea Level) around 10 Kms from Chickmagalur. We left at around 7 AM, already two hours behind schedule. There are hardly any direction boards; the ones present are more of abstract patterns than direction boards- good enough to confuse you than to give you any direction. But the locals were eager to help; they waved us to the path even before we asked them. The roads... hmm well you can call that a pathway or a jeeptrack, steep and dangerously curvy. A few kms before Sullaingiri, we parked the bike because in the mist we didn’t have any idea what lied ahead, the road or 6000 feet’s of air. We trekked to the top. That was a most memorable experience. The fresh air, the morning mist, and the plush greenery around you, breath taking views. Never miss an opportunity to visit that place. It’s still a fresh place, mostly unexplored and not at all commercialized. In fact, you will not find any human being there.

11 am, through bad bad bad roads of Aldur, Koteshwar, we left for Sringeri, center of learning, philosophy and sublime spirituality. The Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam, Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, (Dont bother, no one can read that in a single stretch.) has there base there. The temple and a river with fat and lazy fish living on the feedings by the pilgrims.

Next point was Agumbe, it’s a view point from where you can see the sunset some 50 kms far in the sea under ideal conditions. It’s supposed to be a very rainy place, but luckily we didn’t see any rains or the sunset either.

Some 65 kms from Agumbe is the sleepy town of Kundapura, and a few kms from there is Trasi, and that is the place where we stayed that night. They gave us a nice sea facing cottage, and some great food. The humidity in the atmosphere has increased.
The Odometer reads some 175 kms more. End of day two.

Day three Fake sadhus and instant Moksha
After a morning walk in the seashore and break fast from Turtle Bay, we left via Maravanthe, Bhatkal, Honavar, and Kumta to Gokarna. It takes a lot of carelessness from the authorities to leave such roads so badly maintained.
From Madangeri you have to cut left and go some 11 kms to Om beach. Just like the karmic journey, only the people who deserve find it. Never ending and long winding roads, empty stomach, and hot sun though are not the ideal conditions to search for it, but some how we reached the place. It’s a small and neat beach, in the shape of 3 or in the shape of Om, for the people with the religious bend of mind. Well I, for one, could think of many interesting things that resemble the shape of the beach.
It’s also a place where foreigners attain instant moksha by listening to the karma and cosmic gyan from fake fancy dressed sadhus while drinking beer and smoking, in restaurants.
It was hot as hell and the sun was very cruel. We were absolutely soaked in sweat and dripping. Luckily we had some time left so slept till it was time for sunset.
Having grown up in a sea side town, beaches are not new to me. But still you can never get bored of sea. I can sit by the sea any number of hours doing nothing, but just watching and listening to it. Could there be any thing more magnificent than the sea? I guess not.
We stayed at Namaste cafe, for 300 bucks your get a thatched roof cottage with attached bath. Pretty cheap, and a menu that lists almost all the cuisines of the world.
Here nights are longer with parties and days start by noon. The security guard looked at me with surprise when I sleep walked to the restaurant for tea at 8 AM. "The restaurant will open in a couple of hours from now", He said.

Day four A Date with Yana
After attaining Nirvana from Om Beach, we reached Mirjain and turned left to Yana. No... Not that Yana Gupta girl that you are thinking of, actually quite far from that. Yana is 16 kms from the Sirsi route. From the moment you turn from the main road, the road ends in reality. From there road is a concept, well it’s a graveled pathway, with some stones thrown in for that bumpy ride effect. Don’t worry, the bad roads (for want of a better word) last only for some 6 kms, after that they turn to dangerous roads. Very steep and curvy and no sign boards or a human being to ask for direction. Just your luck and instincts will save you. You reach a plain ground and leave the bike there and trek all the way up to 3-4 kms. There are a few rock formations. If you ask me the whole trouble is not worth taking unless you are a trek freak. It’s not for lazy mouse potatoes like me.
And the bad part is you have to ride the same 16 kms back. It takes at least 1 hour to ride these 16 kms.
Well it’s better to say 16 kms- I hour, than saying 16 kms- half hour- 2 fractures -3 injuries.
From Yana to sirsi, just before sirsi cut left to jog falls, the Asia’s highest waterfall. Roads are okay, but the amount of water is less.
May be we should come when the taps are full open. Jog falls to Sagar, and from sagar to shimoga. Great roads, sad that it was getting dark when we were passing by. Stay in shimoga.

Day five Get me home.
Didn’t do anything much. Just drove from shimoga to Bangalore via, tarikare, kadur, arsikare, tiptur, gubbi and tumkur. Bangalore welcomed us back with its warm and friendly traffic blocks. It’s good to be in a known territory at last. :)

Photographs are here. Not anything great, but okay. Still experimenting with the camera.

my new cam - Nikon D70s

2006-10-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Finally i have got a nikon D70s ! That was a long pending dream of mine, to buy one. There was some distractions from the other models like canon rebel and sony A100, but Nikon D70s is ultimate. By the way this site and this site have some indepth study and reviews about cameras.

I have had a few digital cameras before, mostly, range finder or SLR-like, but none of them held my interest for more than a few months. I wanted the complete flexibility that a manual SLR cam offered. I never liked when the camera took decisions by its own. When I am taking the photo and I decide how it should be.

Long back I had this Pentax K1000 (manual), I still love that camera, but guys in these photo printing shops make me sick. Again they decide how the printouts should be, and casually say "this is all that u can get from this negative !" Grrrr ! Gimme a darkroom and I will show what I can make out of this negative.

Before becoming bankrupt, I managed to buy a Nikon 18-70 lens, and a UV filter and a camera bag, along with the camera. As soon as I make some money I have to get a few more lenses.

so next time you meet me, remember to smile. You will be shot mercilessly ! :)

Last round of the Quiz

2006-09-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Last round of the quiz.
Rapid fire round.. the quiz master is firing questions one after other.
Its up to me now. My score depends on how many I can answer correctly.
No time to think.
Anytime the buzzer will go off.

The questions sound strange... they are mostly statements...
One more question.. One more answer.. One more point..
its not simple to answer.. the quiz master is trying to build up tension with variations of his voice..

how many can I squeeze in the limited time ?

One more...
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. the buzzer goes off.

Times up.

Well, I was happy that i could answer a decent number of questions. With a smile on my face, i moved the blanket from my face and turned off the alarm.

Near the bed, stands Dad, with a puzzled look on his face he asked,

"how many more excuses will you give me for not getting out of bed ?"

"Good morning, Dad." I said sheepishly and murmered to myself, "Good morning, Rat-race world !"

interesting things

2006-08-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

long time since i blogged. busy and lazy are two good enough reasons for it. If you guys are not satisfied with those reasons, let me know. I can come up with many more..

Many things happened around me- A whole set of blogs were banned because of the foolishness of some sarkari babus. The terrorists blasted trains in mumbai. And the railway minister came with a quick solution- ban non passengers to the platform. Now the terrorists will have to spend more than Rs 3, maybe Rs 5 and get a ticket to the next station if they want to plant a bomb in a railway station.

Okay here are a few interesting things.
Do a search for therapy products in Google. The results are a little unexpected.

Next is this pic. taken at Contonment railway station, Bangalore

Gods have some interesting uses in india. :)

the kerala trip

2006-06-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

The only thing I hate about going to kerala is the mode of transport I have to take- the private buses. They never start on time. They stop at some horrible place for dinner, where the bus staff gets anything they order for, free, and the passengers have to choose between bland chicken biriyani or hard chappathi and boiled veg curry for exhorbitant prices. And never reach on time. And all this for heavy price.

But I should agree for people like me who dont plan any thing in advance, - its good, u can run up there and get a ticket, if ur lucky enough u get a volvo.

Kerala was as I expected- freezed in time. Nothing new, everything with that good old feel. I guess soon kerala will be a museum where people from other states can visit to see how it was like before 'development'.

The rains ditched me. It was raining cats and dogs in kerala on the day I left from bangalore. Saturday was hot and humid. So was Sunday. Not even rain clouds in sight. :( and to add to it, it was raining in bangalore when I was in kerala. May be I should go after a few weeks to ctach the rains.

I always loved the rains of kerala, so strong and full. And i always wondered why it should be off season for tourists. Good that now they are doing something about it.

On other news, I joined this company. Interesting job. So far, so good.

only merit matters- no reservation based on caste

2006-05-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

a little me

2006-03-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

Time for a few useless facts about me.
On an average, I spend 10 mins a day searching for misplaced things, often to find them from the strangest places. The long list of often-misplaced-things include mobile, watch, remote control, car/bike keys, vallet, creditcards, house keys, bills and warranty cards.

I read more than one book at any given time. Now there are three books that i am reading. One on my table, one in the drawing room and one in the shelf near my bed. All at diffrent points stages of reading.

First one is blink, a wonderful study on rapid cognition. Its about how we think without thinking, about choices that are made in an instant.

Second one, Basheer-sampoornakrithikal is a malayalam short story collection by vaikkam muhammed basheer.

Third is The interpretation of dreams by Sigmund frued that needs no more explanations I guess.

Q: whats one plus one ?
A: A little bigger one.
Q: How is that ?
A: In the same way the two small streams of water join together to form a little bigger stream.
--Vaikkam Muhammed Basheer.

CNN IBN and Eye on Bangalore

2006-03-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

I like this channel, CNN IBN. They are not so straight jacketed as BBC or NDTV and not soap operas like star or sahara. They are aggressive and full of josh. They are young and fun. As their leitmotif says, whatever it takes ! See their website, its pretty interactive, and surprise surprise, they have blogs too ! I would say thats the right direction that media should take- it should understand that blogging can compliment the mainstream media. But, even now some of the media, often publish reports on blogs not with the right interests.

And this whole week, CNN IBN has thier special program called eye on bangalore. If you are from bangalore, you wouldnt want to miss it, would you ?

Talking about blogging complimenting the media, read riverbend's blog, to know about the daily life of a iraqi woman. Its sad. Its been nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, the world’s richest non-fiction award.

whats in a name ?

2006-03-19T10:47:00.000-08:00

I would say Rs 1 crore.

11-yr-old boy sends notice to naukri.com

for the H for Hitler, A for Arrogant ad.. and the damages are nothing less than Rs 1 crore.
Should I file another suite demanding if naukri pays the damages, it should be equally divided to all 'Hari's ?

Not a bad idea, huh ?

An old story

2006-03-16T01:26:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a man who used to ferry people across a river in his small boat. He always stopped the boat a little far from the shore, fearing the bottom of the boat will hit the mud banks. As a result the people had to step into the water and walk wetting their ankles. They had to remove thier shoes, lift their dresses to avoid getting wet.
The people used to hate him for that.

The man became old, was on his death bed. He was sad that no one liked him. Everyone hated him for making them walk through the water. Before dying he handed over the boat to his son. and said how how he wished that the people said good things about him after his death.

He died peacefully. The son thought how he can make his father's last wish true.
How can he make the people say that his father was good, after his death ?

The next day, the son took his first batch of people across the river. He stopped farther from the shore than his father. The people now had to walk through knee high water.

The same thing is happening in Bangalore. But here, the aging father is the villain of the story and son, the good guy.

February 14

2006-02-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

to all the lovers in this world.

Designed reality

2006-01-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

Interesting script. get it from here

Makaravilakku

2006-01-14T12:14:00.000-08:00

The annual drama happened, as usual, today.

Today when the Sreekovil (sanctum sanctorum)opened after 'deeparadhana', At the distant eastern hilly horizon , the light of 'jyothi' appeared to the immense satisfaction of the thousands of devotees who have thronged to the temple to pay obeisance to the Lord. This marks the grand finale of the two-month period of the Sabarimala pilgrimage.

They went home happily after the Makarajyothi/makaravilakku darshan.

I seriously believe most of them, deep in their minds, know that the whole thing is a show arranged by the Travancore Devaswom Board with a silent nod from the Government.

Days before makarajyothi, The Kerala Police/ Forest Guards cordon the adjacent hill of sabarimala. On the auspicious day, they climb up the hill and make the settings ready for "the annual makarajyothi show". They keep ready a huge pile of camphor, wet blankets etc. When the sreekovil is opened, they light the pile. Earlier, the time of opening the sreekovil and the lighting of the fire was synchronized by the AIR live commentary. Now with mobile phones, it should be much easier. The priest gives a missed call to the police, and they light the pile. Whoa ! The mysterious Makarajyothi appears! For anyone who is looking from sabarimala, it looks like a distant star in the sky. The police cover the fire with wet blankets, intermittently, to give the blinking effect!

Some years back, The Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham(The humanist association of Kerala) proved that the whole thing is a hoax. They climbed the hill and lighted a number of fires. I dont know if the devotees were confused or happy when they saw a number of ‘makarajyothis’ !

But, Thousands still believe Makarajyothi is a star which appears 3 times on that special occasion.

Why is the Travancore Devaswom Board doing this?

Simple. Sabarimala is a duck that lays golden eggs. It brings in the money for running other temples of lesser gods - they dont have the celebrity status of Ayyappan. They live below poverty line, cant earn enough collection to change a light bulb.

Why does the Government of Kerala support this ?

Even when the communists where in power, they supported this. Sabarimala is a place where thousands of people visit. Even from other states. The economy of the Pathanamtitta district depends heavily on Sabarimala. ( It is from the other states the money comes. Mallus believe in Free and Open Gods.)

Why does people believe this hoax ?

1) They don’t know that it’s a hoax.
2) They know it’s a hoax, but still wants to believe it. They are happy living in a world where still miracles happen.

I have been to Sabarimala n number of times. First, when I went, I didn’t have any idea of gods or miracles, I was a kid. Later, even when I knew the whole thing is hoax, I climbed the Sabarimala, not because I believe in gods or to witness the miracle, simply because by then I was the person who had been to the temple most number of times, thereby making me the leader(guruswamy) of the team. All the other guys (my friends, who otherwise kick my ass) had to touch my feet and get my blessings before they did anything. That was fun! You know, people lining up to get your blessings.. For a moment you get to know how god feels when people ask for blessings !

Being an atheist is good, while others wake up in the morning, take bath and go to the temple, you can comfortably sleep under your blanket.

UPDATE: 3/4/07
Since this is becoming one of the most commented blogpost in all my blogs, i am adding a few more links, which proves my point. These links were submitted by the fellow bloggers who commented below.

Here are the links
Fake Fire - article by TN Gopakumar in Kalakaumudi (malayalam)
Not a Miracle - NDTV news article

inevitable aftermath of being single

2006-01-10T12:13:00.000-08:00

well, i stopped visiting some of my relatives becos of this.

But it has followed me. followed me right into my Yahoo inbox. I am running out of places to hide !

new year resolutions

2005-12-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

again its the time of the year to make resolutions

here goes..
work more, sleep less
learn to cook more dishes
learn a new language
draw/paint more (no, not with a mouse!)
make sculptures
study/read more
exercise regularly
be less flippant with life
sleep at night and live in the day time
break all the resolutions and get a life !

happy new year, guys !

emotional values of a design

2005-12-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I made this design, printed it on a T-shirt, and presented it to our boss, at his farewell party- on behalf of our team.

(me, raghav,sridhar, kishore,pavan, satya, mathew, JV, Aby, Arun, KK)

After giving it I asked him if the size of the Tshirt was right for him. He said it didnt matter as he did'nt have any plans to wear it. I was slightly disappointed by that. He is not going to wear the Tshirt that I made especially for him, after a lot of thought and taking all the efforts.
He continued with a shy smile, " I won't be able to show this to my grand children if I wear it. "

Only then i knew how much he valued it. I was really touched. I dont think will be able to forget the lesson that incident taught me.- For me it was just a design, but for him that was a momento that he will preserve till his lastday - as a treasure-with found memories of the days he spend with us and the company.

Note to self: Always take extreme care when you design something- It might be just another design for you, but the moment it leaves your hands, it will have values and heavy emotions attached to it.

shameless Management Institute

2005-12-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

This is bad. Really bad. I wonder how a management institute can do such shameless tactics.

Yea, the same old eye-eye-pee-em thing. (As if you hav'nt guessed it by now, Shameless and management institute in the same breath points you only to one institute ! ). A few days back, if anyone would have done a blog search for "eye-eye-pee-em", they would have got to their site, but along with a 100 blogs bringing out their true story. Now, they have decided to beat us with the same stick.

try doing a search for "link:eye-eye-pee-em.edu/"* now. They have made 100s of stupid blogs in blogger, "eye-eye-pee-em this", "eye-eye-pee-em that", written by "world class faculty", and "gaurav". A'int that funny ?

A simple technique to work their way out of this mess. In a few days, after the spiders crawl over these links, the search engines are going to rank them higher than the blogs we made.

I guess, they started this in the first week of Dec, and the latest was posted 15 hours ago. (when I am blogging this)

But sadly for them, they forgot that blogspot has a nice little feature called "Flag". Blogspot tracks the number of times a blog has been flagged as objectionable and uses this information to determine what action is needed. This feature allows the blogging community as a whole to identify content they deem objectionable.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, I request everyone of you to follow the links and click the Flag button. So when we have enough amount of clicks the Google moves it to "unlisted". Moving to unlisted means that the blog won't be crawled by search engines.

* replace it with the original letters, you know what I am talking about.

Click now, Focus later

2005-12-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

How many times have you thought, "I should have focused here than there! " ?

Ren Ng, a graduate student at Stanford University has developed a hand-held plenoptic camera which takes a shot first and allows you to focus later, using a software. The prototype camera is sixteen megapixel, and produces images of 300x300.It has an array of microlenses mounted in front of the sensor. These microlenses create a unique image on the sensor surface which includes not only the amount of light deposited at that location, but how much light arrives along each ray. The image is then reconstructed in software and a focus point can be chosen.

So, dont wait to focus, just go ahead and click. Focusing can be done later. This should be of great help in macro photography, where the DOF is very less. Also in low light conditions where again the DOF is less.

This is just awesome.

see some videos (wmv format) here. more details here. A simple and detailed explanation at wired.

New Movie Blog

2005-12-19T06:43:00.000-08:00

I was always fascinated by movies. I watch every movie possible, from the titles to the credits roll up. I have never been late for a movie show. And however boring the movie is- I watch it till the end. I also made a 10 minute movie once- for my company film club. That was a huge flop in the
box office( read general public in my office) :)

I am starting a new blog - movie reviews- primarily english/malayalam/tamil movies and rarely hindi movies-I am kind of allergic towards govinda ishtyle hindi movies.

check out
http://malayalammoviereviews.blogspot.com/

whats in a beard ?

2005-12-13T00:36:00.000-08:00

well, i get bored of myself sometimes. I mean bored of my looks. everyday you wake up, wash your face and look in the mirror and see the same face. how boring !

How exciting it would be to wake up to a different face every morning ! you wake up, wash your face and peek into the mirror to see a new face ! with a long beard or blue eyes ! but since that doesnot happen very often, i keep experimenting with my hair, beard, mush and anything that can be modified. So i shave off all the stuff sometimes, grow a beard, trim my hair, grow it long and anything thats possible. The latest thing in my kitty is this french beard. iam getting bored of this too. So i was thinking of innovative ways to change my looks.

In the process i just googled for french beard and the first thing i knew was its not called a french beard outside india, its a goatee or royale.

Wikipedia tell me that, the name french beard in India is from the British, as it was historically worn by French officers.

it also dug up a whole lot of facts about french beard.. the web never ceases to amaze me !

did you know that there is a discussion board that is dedicated to beard ? or there are huge religious issues about just a beard ? or there are so many different styles to choose from ?

heck, they even have a site for goatee, and haikus about it !

I never knew, my humble goatee/royale/frenchbeard has so much in it ! so i decided to keep it for a while, till the next wave of same-old-face thought hits me again.

Does God have a goatee ?

Foss.in Joke of the day

2005-12-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I dropped in at Torvalds Hall for Kishore's talk yesterday. Kishore was explaining about live CDs. By the end of his talk, there was this question from the audience.
Guy: " I 've heard that i can work on Knoppix with just a CD ? "
Kishore : " You will also need a computer, Yaar !"
:)

The happening Foss.in

2005-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Finally back in bangalore after a hurried trip to Kerala.

Foss.in is finally happening. The venue is huge, and my legs are paining, that's what u get when u never sit but run around for almost 2 days. I got to meet karunakar, jayakumar, seemant, andrew, tarique, swati, aasim, and a lot of other guys.

I guess, by tomorrow things should be in full swing. There are a whole lot of things happening and u have to clone yourself if u want to absorb it all. I missed all the talks today, but it was great fun.

foss designing tools

2005-11-16T22:51:00.000-08:00

I started designing/drawing using a comp in 1993 when i was in my school. i had a friend of mine who worked in a design house. They did some book publication stuff and they used Adobe Pagemaker and Coreldraw ver 4 . Bobby, my friend, let me play around with the comp when he is not using it and also offered to teach me stuff. since i was inclined to drawing, i was amused with coreldraw. I remember the excitement when i found out that i can undo my mistakes. :) which can never be done with a canvas and paint !

From then i have been using coreldraw. now its version 12. Its a great, user-friendly, intutive and undoubtedly the best vector drawing tool till date- but sadly closed source.

Of late i am more and more using gimp or inkscape. both are great tools, but i should say not as great as coreldraw. Gimp or inkscape are good for making logos, I made the foss.in logo in inkscape.
But when you are making a poster of A3 size, 300 dpi, with lot of gradients, it just cant handle.
I shall do a detailed comparitive study of coreldraw v/s gimp and post later.

Another problem is getting it printed. There are some digital printing shops, but unfortunately none use linux. and never have heard of anything like gimp.

Yea, ofcourse, I can convert from any foss tool to PDF, but not without compromising on quality when compared to printing a file from the application which was used to create it.

I dream of a day when some foss tool would stand up to other closed source ones !

posters for foss.in

2005-11-14T23:19:00.000-08:00

here are a few posters for foss.in.
http://www.harikrishnan.org/foss/2005/posters/

bangalore

2005-11-10T07:18:00.000-08:00

great news !

2005-10-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Devegowda is the chiefguest for bangaloreit.in
great news ! I cannot contain my happiness !
btw,
the International convention on "Terrorism: a growing threat" will be inaugurated by Osama Bin Laden at Tora bora hills next week.

George Bush will be the chief guest for the Global peace seminar in Iraq, next month.

I wonder why India's Premier FOSS Event, foss.in does not invite Bill Gates for the key-note address !

$%#@ ! %&#$%@$% !

IIPM stinks !

2005-10-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

IIPM MBA is not an MBA. Says UGC Chairman.

Also a few boo boos in their site that i could find out.
1) in the IIPM site, the text is about Business Barons' India's Best B-Schools Survey, January 2005- while in the scanned image of the actual report, you can see that it is the 2004 Business Barons' B-Schools study

2) following the link on "ranked 2nd" in the same page, you reach another page. Here again, the text changes to Business Barons' India's Best B-Schools Survey, June 2003 and If you look at the scanned image on the page, below in the footer,if your eye sight is as good as mine, you can read January 2005 !

3) see the text
" Extenuating its spirited campaign 'Dare To Think Beyond the IIMs'.. "
according to dictionary.com, it means "to lessen the seriousness of" its spirited campaign!
I am getting lost here, but what do they mean to say ?

the dirty politics

2005-10-22T02:39:00.001-07:00

Narayanamurthy, expectedly, has resigned from his position at BIAL. What more would the unscrupulous politicians ask for ?
Who is losing ?
Not the politicians-they have nothing to lose
not Narayanamurthy. He has an international reputation. Infy's softwares will not produce any new bugs becos of this.
we lose- We, the people of Bangalore.

When people with limited vision, which does not extend beyond their farmlands have decided to hunt down the committed people, You dont expect much.
Narayanamurthy is no politician, naturally, he will be hurt by a simple comment. And that was the only intention of these people. They aimed for that, and they got it !
I wonder who will have the last laugh.. But for now i know that its the bangalore's people who are crying..
Narayanamurthy is still going the corporate ways, explaining with facts and figures - Which they will never understand.
I suggest Narayanamurthy enter politics. If a sage decides to become a scoundrel, he will be the best scoundrel ever !

Bloggers of bangalore

2005-10-22T02:13:00.000-07:00

The members of the "Bloggers of Bangalore" community would like to bring to the attention of the media and society at large, certain unfair and intimidatory actions undertaken by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) against members of the Indian blogging community... more here.
or see desipundit
to show your support, you can sign an online petition here

Banned from the internet

2005-10-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking for long now.
What to do with these guys who send you this stupid chain letters like "yahoo is closing down" "a little girl of 4 is dieing" "lord of thirumala has send you this mail with luck as attached" etc etc.

There are hundreds of them. I tried
preaching. did not help much.
i found this today.
They say
Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters
are forbidden on the Internet. Your network privileges
will be revoked. Notify your local system administrator
if your ever receive one.
[from http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1855.html ]

Ha ! this is enough to scare them off ! I can send them the link and say that u will be banned from internet if u ever send me a stupid chain letter again !

O p e n

2005-10-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

Did some posters for the foss.in. The theme used for the posters is open. It deliberately does not say anything about software or computers. Just Open. in any case.

open a can
Open a jacket
Open a door

As in the case of these links, only when its opened you get the full benefit out of it. If it is unopen, it cannot be used to its full extent. The PDF size is a little huge, please excuse.

Terrorist attack on my body !

2005-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

Finally back.
A few days back a group of terrorist ultramicroscopic infectious agents attacked my system. The militants, supposed to be trained by the terrorist camps across the border, replicated themself within my cells and attacked in all possible ways causing maximum damage to the respiratory system, and the food intake corridoor. The parallel air passage ducts were blocked. The temperature control mechanism of the body was also affected causing the internal temparatues to rise above the normal limits.

An emergency meeting of the command forces were called and a Special force was formed with in my body to fight the infiltrators. I issued war orders and emergency in the state of my body. The Special Force, launched Operation Kiran, and attacked the visitors. After a bloody war invloving some biological weapons, which lasted for almost a week, the visitors were eventually forced out of my body.

Phew ! Let the victory celebrations begin !

back from coorg

2005-10-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Back from a rather boring trip to coorg. we stayed here. here are a few photos. we ended up travelling for the most of the time. which is not my idea of a holiday. we just passed through nisargadhama, dubare and abbey falls.

free marketing

2005-09-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

How many times you have experienced the annoyance from the price tags ? they are lesser menace, when compared to other devilish things. With some difficulty, you can cut them off. what about stickers ? Anything and everything you buy from almost any of the stores has a price label stuck to it in the prominant place. That too in a heavy duty gum, you cant neatly pull that out. If you try to pull it out, it tears into layers and leaves a gum mark.

What is the purpose of a price label ? the salesmen and the buyers need to refer it for the price. thats all ! so the stickers should be in place for say 2 months, by that time it will be sold out. then why do they have to put such strong adhesives to it ? Do they expect that it will serve any marketing purpose ?

Sometime back, i needed a small mirror. The local store had a few mirrors, But they had this stickers exactly where you are supposed to see your face ! Defeating the whole purpose of the mirror. i could see my right eye but not the left eye. the sticker covered it. why dont they, for heaven's sake, put that behind the mirror ? or atleast use a gum which leaves no marks ?

I know what those guys would be thinking.

If i put that in on that plane, every day the customer will see it and remember what a nice guy I am to make such a nice mirror for him. he paid for it, true, but that does not reduce my niceness. And when ever he hears someone talking about mirrors he will suddenly remember my brand name and refer my product to them. word of mouth publicity ! so if 1 person will tell that to 3 people, they will in turn say to 9 people.... hmmm.. we will need to make more mirrors to meet the demand !

agreed, they can put there brand name on their product.but where ? what size ? Have you seen Ashok Leyland buses, they have it written in big bold font in the front. Why dont they put their name in small font some where at the back ? Are the customers bound to give them free publicity ?
If you take your car to a service station, they will, even with out asking for permission, put their sticker on to it. Even If i leave special instructions, "no stickers on my car", it will have a big sticker in the prime center, when it comes back. I promptly clear it with a blade.

Like wise in computers, some people think we turn on the computer just because we love to use their products. for eg M$. have you seen that dirty messy toolbar which comes on the top of ur desktop ? with links to office apps ? Which will take all troubles to stay in place even if you are playing a game in full screen mode ?

if you try to close it, they will conveniently provide you with a small confirmation message. If you answered that correcly at the first trial, may be you should take a test for Super Brilliance !

Even yahoo messenger. If you sign out, they suddenly will prompt you with a sign in dialog box !
Do they think the user accidentally signed out ? you signed out ? and you Dont want to sign in again ? you should be kidding ! how long can a person survive without logging into our messenger ?

its high time the applications gave some respect to the users. and the manufacturers to their customers.

photography

2005-09-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was handling a photography workshop in my office for the photography enthusiasts. Only when people started asking me doubts i knew that i really *knew* something about it.

i somehow had this impression that everyone knew about photography. I thought it was kind of a knowledge that u get from your surroundings, like the things that you learn as a kid- somthing like you should respect your elders, you should wash ur hands before and after you eat ( i have found an alternative to this when i grew older, Now, I wash my hands two times after food so as to avoid the before- eat wash:-) )
From my 5th std, i have been playing around with cameras, film rolls, development, darkroom, bromide papers, enlargers, photo finishing etc. Its customary in our family for any kid to spend their summer vacations in my grand fathers studio.
When we ( me, my cousins and gang) attended a wedding function sometime back, there was this photographer who was showing off too much. He was trying to take a group photograph of ours in an open place. You can imagine his shock when my 11 year old cousin suggested that he should try a different angle or use a flash since the back light is too bright!

I discovered that when I am caught in a traffic Jam I can park the bike in the road, cross the road and buy a pack of cigerettes and come back before the lights change, with out creating a block to other guys. it requires some time sense to do that, but there is enough and more time.

This traffic is getting too much on my head i guess. I have started making PeeeeeeeeeeeeeeePPPeeeeeee or KiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiKKKKiiiiiiiiiiii noises if the person ahead of me in the lunch queue at office does not move. Man, you should have seen that lady's face when I did that !

A rather not very exciting trip to Kerala

2005-09-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

Basic info

There are hundreds of private luxury buses plying between Bangalore and many cities in Kerala. The buses start between 5 pm and 11 pm and reach the destination in around 8-12 hrs depending on the city you are traveling to.

They have different types of buses, Volvo, semi- sleeper, sleeper, a/c, etc

They are a good choice for last minute travel decisions as tickets are not that hard to get. Though in the weekends you will need to run around a bit.

The whole story

Your troubles start right from the point of boarding. Normally it will be the travel’s office, on Hosur road in madivala, or in kalasipalya which is a filthy market place.

Your ticket says reporting time as 8.15 pm and departure time as 8.30 pm in a barely readable handwriting. You reach the place on dot. (which I never do, you will know why soon..)

The office is a place where you find 50-60 people waiting with tired and bored faces. They are all around, inside the single room office. Outside on the pavement, with luggage. You make way through the crowd and see a bunch of people behind the counter each of them with multiple phones in their hands. You wait patiently till they finish the conversation on the phone, which never happens. They just switch between the phones. Time is running out.. its 8.17. you haven’t reported yet. The counter people are not at all in a hurry. Finally after some frantic attempts, you get one’ s attention. He looks at the ticket and tells you to wait.
“The bus will come.”

You, being a good citizen, wait. You become one among the bored tired faces in the crowd. At around 8.30, Suddenly there is a rush to the door and people are moving outside with their luggage including kids. By natural instincts you know the bus has come. You too join the rush. After boarding the bus, luckier of the lot even before, know that this is not the bus which you are supposed to board. The door assistant will tell you that “This is the 7.30 bus, your bus will come.”

My bus will come, you hope when u continue your wait. Finally after multiple trials you successfully board “the bus”. You find your seat, settle down. The time is 8.50. “20 minutes delay is not big deal, after all I live in India !” you think to yourself.

…to be continued.

conquer your mind

2005-08-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

bandhur ātmātmanas tasya
yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ
anātmanas tu śatrutve
vartetātmaiva śatru -vat

foss.in

2005-08-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

The foss.in, event formerly known as linux bangalore is happening on 29 nov to 2 dec 2005. A major event in the opensource community of india, this time bigger and better.

I somehow just didnt like their previous logo. The feeling i got after attending the conference and the feeling i got seeing their logo were so different. they didnt go together. so i thought i will do what ever i can.

I made a few logos for the event this year. See them here.

The discussions are on the mailing list about finalizing a logo.

PERSONAL PERCEPTION

2005-08-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison.
Here is a small fable.
A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home,

a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey?"

Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented,

"The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?"
Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey.

Further on the way home, they met an old Lady.

She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman."

The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man.

He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you."

Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders.

It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river.

You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you.
Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future.

Good one, right ?

ambigram !

2005-07-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

was reading this book angels and demons by dan brown. pretty good one. keeps the pace always. found this thing called ambigram very interesting. this guy is a master in ambigrams.
and here is the first ambigram i created !!

time to go ahead

2005-07-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

it is all dull and grey
not a star in the sky

vultures found their prey
and i dont even pray

licking the wounds of
last night's fray,

how long do i stay ?

Osho

2005-06-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

osho
never born
never died
only visited this
planet earth between
dec 11 1931 - jan 19 1990

after soooooooooooooo many days

2005-06-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

after soooooooooooooo many days i returned home without turning on the headlights. that was a wonderful experience !!

Have any art skills?

2005-06-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Art

Have any art skills? Then you can help us create icons, logos, banners, labels, and more! These will be seen every day and used throughout the project and its products.

If you are interested, consider joining our new Art Project.

Plus...

OpenOffice.org is working closely with the Freedesktop.org, Inkscape, and TheOpenCD projects to create a free clip art collection for all of the open source projects. By contributing to this gallery you are contributing to OpenOffice.org too.

Head over to the Openclipart Project's home page to learn how you can help.

from http://www.openoffice.org/contributing/clipart.html

Boo ! after a long time !!

2005-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

After a long gap, I am blogging again. Where were You ? No, i didnt go anywhere, I was here right here in Bangalore. but busy with a lot of things. Racing against time. So manythings happened.
We moved. New place. Good.
My company suddenly decided to revive and constitute a few interest groups- Photography, Painting, Poetry, Film Theater etc.
There is no such stuff in the world, that I am not interested in. :) I wanted to subscribe to all, but due to time restrictions, ended up working with 4. Film, Photography, Painting and Theatre.

In the Film group, Iam making a film. About the company products. There are other two more teams who are doing documentaries, We chose a theme and its kind of a long ad. maybe will run up to 5 mins. I shall put up the script here in sometime. Its going to be screened at our Annual day on jun 11th.

In the Theatre Group, We had a 30 hr training work shop with the theatre capital.
It was a really enriching experience. The trainer taught us with some fierce sincereity. Sibu
has so much passion to theatre. We really had a ball there. It was fun doing the acts. And finally we evolved into a group who can perform a stunning spontaneous play any minute we want. It requires a lot of artistic judgement and courage. I was playing the music. just experimenting with them because i had never used them before. The audience suffered !!

Photography group, iam a resource person, I plan to conduct a photography workshop soon, on "How to take better pictures ?"
marketing tagline will be
"What on earth does it mean ?" to "Great Photo !" in 10 hours !!

When I had nothing better to do and roamed around in the studio, I never knew I would oneday give a talk on this. The knowledge and experience i gained from there is immense. And I plan to buy a better camera soon.

Painting Group, Iam planning to participate in the coming workshops. The first one I missed. :(

So life is pretty hectic and demanding. will be back with more soon.

Bhoomi Jathre is here once again!

2005-04-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Bhoomi Jathre is here once again!

Two weeks after Ugadi on Saturday April 23^rd. The theme for this jathre is THE TREE GOD – MARA DEVARU.

Thus we bring you a non-sponsored, dusk to dawn, music festival in celebration of trees. Where the artists, and in fact, the whole event is supported by the gate collection. We are also particularly thrilled to say that the entrance remains Rs 200 for the third year running. No mean feat considering the price of a cappuccino, a pint or the last row at Sting.

More than ever the jathre has become a movement of artists rather than just a platform for performance. Great new talent, respected senior artists, a protest singer from the rain forests of Ecuador… They are all coming together to play beneath a banyan tree. On April 23^rd many of us will gather at Fireflies, a beautiful eco-ashram on Kanakpura Road, to star-gaze and listen to them.

Renowned violinists Mysore Nagaraj & Dr.Mysore Manjunath have joined the jathre with much joyousness. As have a Yakshagana troupe from Udipi and Shiri Dance Company from Bangalore. From Myndsnare, a popular heavy metal band to G. Ravi Kiran, a formidable Carnatic vocalist…these are just a sample of the range.

The line-up for this year is as follows:

Appagere Thimmaraju – Jaanapada about trees

David Chungandro Teran (Ecuador) – Protest songs from Latin America

Yakshagana (Udipi)

Prakash Sontakke – Hindustani slide guitar

Shiri Dance Company – performing SAAKSHI, a Tale of a Tree

Mysore Nagaraj & Dr. Mysore Manjunath – Violin Duet

G. Ravi Kiran – Carnatic Vocals

Konarak Reddy - Guitars

Roberto Narain - Drums

Myndsnare – Metal Band

Yell-O – Rock Band

The concert runs between sunset and sunrise, but you are welcome to come in any time after 5.30pm. We will be doing sound checks, but the craft stalls will be open. And as in earlier years, there will be stalls with home-made food cooked by a variety of people from around Bangalore and Kaggalipura Village.

Chilli bajjis, momos, apple shakes, akki roti

Coffee cake, chocolate fudge, date bars

Organic salads, sandwiches and biriyani

Baskets, t-shirts, mats, chappals

Music.Food.Dance.Music.Film.Music.Craft.Music

We will be repeating the Free Books Stall and the Flea Market from last year. Please do bring books for the Free Books Stall and practically anything that is legal, eco-friendly and convivial for the Flea Market. The idea is to trade, barter and re-cycle, not to make a killing. From past experience, let it be said that CDs, cheap T-shirts and guava cheese work better at the Flea Market than furniture and other pricey stuff. Eg It’s a great place for bands and musicians to sell their CDs.

To donate books to the Free Books Stall contact Aparna at 9886002171

To participate in the Flea Market contact Gracey at 944842572

For info and directions to Fireflies contact John at 9448192010

For info about Bhoomi Jathre contact Kirtana at (080) 25585395

Bhoomi Jathre tickets, priced at Rs 200 only for a whole night of music will soon be available. CHILDREN BELOW 12 ARE FREE AND VERY WELCOME. Home grown Bhoomi Jathre posters will appear in public spaces, but like every year, we depend on the Bangalore grapevine and other guerilla techniques to get the word out. This is a people-supported, community event. So please, in the immortal words of Lipps Inc,

..”talk about it
talk about it
talk about it
talk about i-it.”

Come, join us…

With much warmth,

Kirtana, Konarak, John, Deepu and all at Fireflies

Music, food and fun and a great concept like this !! awesome !!
I am planning to check out, this weekend !!

2005-03-25T03:16:00.000-08:00

early morning at mudumalai
shot with my poor old digital camera.

2005-03-25T03:10:00.000-08:00

in wilderness
shot with my poor old digital camera.

2005-03-25T03:07:00.000-08:00

sunlight through foilage
shot with my poor old digital camera.

2005-03-25T03:03:00.000-08:00

My Land
shot with my poor old digital camera.

What are you?

2005-03-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

I am doing many things all along, I enjoy doing it.

I always felt that painting had some connection with programming. But i didnt know how were they related. Always while programming or painting, my thought process was almost the same. Both has its own +++++ and --------, but are equally thrilling.

Bumped on this article from the site of Paul Graham.

They seemed to think that hacking and painting were very different kinds of work-- that hacking was cold, precise, and methodical, and that painting was the frenzied expression of some primal urge.

Both of these images are wrong. Hacking and painting have a lot in common. In fact, of all the different types of people I've known, hackers and painters are among the most alike.

What hackers and painters have in common is that they're both makers. Along with composers, architects, and writers, what hackers and painters are trying to do is make good things. They're not doing research per se, though if in the course of trying to make good things they discover some new technique, so much the better.
And then at the other extreme you have the hackers, who are trying to write interesting software, and for whom computers are just a medium of expression, as concrete is for architects or paint for painters. It's as if mathematicians, physicists, and architects all had to be in the same department.

Hackers need to understand the theory of computation about as much as painters need to understand paint chemistry. You need to know how to calculate time and space complexity and about Turing completeness. You might also want to remember at least the concept of a state machine, in case you have to write a parser or a regular expression library. Painters in fact have to remember a good deal more about paint chemistry than that.

For example, I was taught in college that one ought to figure out a program completely on paper before even going near a computer. I found that I did not program this way. I found that I liked to program sitting in front of a computer, not a piece of paper. Worse still, instead of patiently writing out a complete program and assuring myself it was correct, I tended to just spew out code that was hopelessly broken, and gradually beat it into shape. Debugging, I was taught, was a kind of final pass where you caught typos and oversights. The way I worked, it seemed like programming consisted of debugging.

For a long time I felt bad about this, just as I once felt bad that I didn't hold my pencil the way they taught me to in elementary school. If I had only looked over at the other makers, the painters or the architects, I would have realized that there was a name for what I was doing: sketching. As far as I can tell, the way they taught me to program in college was all wrong. You should figure out programs as you're writing them, just as writers and painters and architects do.

One thing we can learn, or at least confirm, from the example of painting is how to learn to hack. You learn to paint mostly by doing it. Ditto for hacking. Most hackers don't learn to hack by taking college courses in programming. They learn to hack by writing programs of their own at age thirteen. Even in college classes, you learn to hack mostly by hacking. [3]

For a painter, a museum is a reference library of techniques. For hundreds of years it has been part of the traditional education of painters to copy the works of the great masters, because copying forces you to look closely at the way a painting is made.

Hackers, likewise, can learn to program by looking at good programs-- not just at what they do, but the source code too. One of the less publicized benefits of the open-source movement is that it has made it easier to learn to program. When I learned to program, we had to rely mostly on examples in books. The one big chunk of code available then was Unix, but even this was not open source. Most of the people who read the source read it in illicit photocopies of John Lions' book, which though written in 1977 was not allowed to be published until 1996.

Another example we can take from painting is the way that paintings are created by gradual refinement. Paintings usually begin with a sketch. Gradually the details get filled in. But it is not merely a process of filling in. Sometimes the original plans turn out to be mistaken. Countless paintings, when you look at them in xrays, turn out to have limbs that have been moved or facial features that have been readjusted.

In hacking, like painting, work comes in cycles. Sometimes you get excited about some new project and you want to work sixteen hours a day on it. Other times nothing seems interesting.

from the the site of Paul Graham, http://www.paulgraham.com/hp.html

happy today

2005-03-18T12:18:00.000-08:00

I am very happy today- after long this is a weekend Iam free from work.

I am Rich !

2005-03-04T03:32:00.000-08:00

Guys,
This is to inform you that iam not any more an ordinary guy- I am going to be become rich !
Rich by 6.6 million US dollars ! so guys, if you are good to me, i wouldnt mind sharing a few dollars with you.

Dont believe me?
read the below *private and confidential* email i just recd.

FROM THE DESK OF DR, ADAMA BOUREIMA.
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER,
BANK OF AFRICAN (B.O.A)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Friend,

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department in bank of african(B.O A) I got your email address while searching for trustworthy countries and individuals.
In my department i discovered an abandoned sum of $22,000,000 US dollars (Twenty-two million US dollars) . In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family in november 1999 in a plane crash.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and i don’t want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclamed after five and half years, the money will be transfered into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund.
The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.

I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreign partner, in
respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10 % will be set aside for expenses incured during the business and 60 % would be for me and There after I and my wife with my children will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated.

Therefore to enable the immediate trnansfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relations or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will be remitted .

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer .

You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.
Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Your’s faithfully,
DR, ADAMA BOUREIMA
Bill and exchange manager,
(BANK OF AFRICAN)

The latest traffic updates

2005-03-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

Did you know the latest one about the Bangalore Traffic ? They decided to make the timers at signals four digit ..!

Another Mess: Online Contact Databases

2005-02-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

online names databases
I never liked this idea, because of many reasons.

Below you find a ready made email which i send to the sender when i receive a request from him to fill in my name and details in some online database. People might think Iam arrogant, but I believe what I do is right.

Online contact databases are a derived and more intelligent version of websites offering you
free gifts like DVD players if you could refer 5 of your friends to their network. I know a few guys who subscribed and they still are awaiting their gifts !
-------------

Hi,
You are receiving this automated reply because I received multiple invites from an unidentified email id ()quoting your name , inviting me to fill my details in an online contacts database.

I am sorry that I cannot fulfill your request.
i do not want to fill my name and other contact details in an online form because

1) There are so many portals offering this service and if 15 of my friends choose different ones,
I will end up filling 15 forms.

2) Storing my details on an online contacts database is not completely safe

3) Some of the companies, collect my details like address, phone number , email address
and in some case even credit card numbers and other personal details and sell them to 3rd parties for a price. As per the current market rate an indian email id can fetch you Rs 3/-.

4) These sites spam my mail box with request after request when dont fill their forms ( I have even received 6th and 7th requests !)

5) They phish the senders email address, They send me mails as if they are coming from an email id thats known to me.

6) You dont bother to store your friends address by yourself, and want me to do that for you !

so, please bear with me.
If you think I have valid point, please dont subscribe to such frauds, store an addressbook on your system and backup frequently if you use a windows box !.

thanks and regards
Mailer deamon

rethink@30 !

2005-02-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

My program "rethink@30" is doing well. It has started reaping the rich dividends.
All through these days, there were heavy mood swings, some times iam sad, sometimes iam funny, sometimes iam depressed, sometimes iam angry, sometimes iam pissed off, etc etc.

It all depends on your thoughts; what will you do when you find some basic things you did all through your life was wrong ?

i have made a long list of discoveries of myself and my nature.

some are

1) I found that there are spots in my body which i didnt care enough for the last 25 years.
2) I found that in casual talks i dont complete my sentences.
3) I found that i nodded my head too much
thats just a start, i can go on..

so iam changing. The idea is to correct anything that i found myself doing the old style immideatly. If i decide that i shouldnt be doing it this way any more, iam stopping it from right then.

I dunno how much time i will take to complete this whole process, i keep discovering new things day after day.

So after this rethink@30 program, i will be able to equip myself better in this rat race.

Miracle Man

2005-02-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

Not many newspapers have commented on what happened recently in Bangalore when an American Christian 'faith-healer' put up a big show of 'faith-healing' to the utter disgust of many rationalists. Deccan Herald (January 19) noted that the alleged faith-healer, one Benny Hinn, had in the past been criticised even by the orthodox Christian church for his alleged heretical theology, prophecies and claims. A Christian research institute reportedly found that Hinn's claims were not true and a charge, besides, was made by rationalists that Hinn resorted to mass hypnosis and worked on auto-suggestion, leading his patients to believe that they had been cured when they had not. Wrote Deccan Herald: "India has its own share of quacks and godmen who constantly dupe the gullible with stories of miracle cures, playing on their faith.... Accepted that in a secular democracy, everyone is welcome to expound his views and beliefs, but the state should not be seen to be associating with a pastor with dubious claims of miracle cures". But that is exactly what Karnataka's former Chief Minister Deve Gowda and current Chief Minister Dharam Singh had done. They were present at Hinn's open charade. Commenting on that Hindustan Times (January 28) wrote: "By performing 'miracles' - and selectively at that - American evangelist Benny Hinn was, at best, giving faith a bad name and, at worst, taking advantage of people who are willing to believe in anything.... To find nothing awry in Hinn's performance of 'miracles' is a dangerous way of encouraging faith being sold in a Tupperware fashion. To condone Hinn's healing marathon is bad enough. But to find Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh sharing the stage with him really takes the cake. Mr. Singh had no business to lead his support to Mr. Hinn - or, for that matter, anyone in the business of religion.... Last heard, we were still a secular nation. And we can definitely do without mass-party tricks".

Dharam Singh's excuse was that Indian sadhus and gurus go abroad to preach, so why shouldn't an American evangelist do the same thing in India? One answer is that, to the best of one's knowledge, no Hindu guru has addressed mass meetings in the United States promising to cure people of their illnesses. He would have been laughed out of town. Secondly, to equate India's illiterate and poor masses with the more sophisticated and certainly literate American citizens is plain silly. But even otherwise, for any Chief Minister to attend an evangelist function to prove his secularism is downright stupid.

why am I like me ?

2005-02-01T02:34:00.000-08:00

There are some particular ways one behaves in any given situation.
It is decided by his long term experience, knowledge, impulse, thoughts, mood etc

I have decided to rethink- analyse all my responses and behaviours.
why am I like me ?
Iam starting with the most obvious ones and going into the deeper levels of simplicity
analysing even the most minutest of my behaviours.

some questions i ask myself are :
why do i like to sit in the side seat in a bus ?
why do i like soft music ?
what is my response when a stranger smiles at me? why is it so?
Why do I want to rethink ?
whats the benefit out of it ?

like that, 1000s of questions. i ask them myself and try to find an answer.
then i reconsider if it is right to do so. if its wrong, how can i correct it ?

so, this is not a small job. its going to take me some time to finish this exercise.
and at the end of this, i will be changed.

Metamorphosis. completely.
my looks.
my thoughts.
my styles.
my mannerisms.
and what not?

change.
thats one thing that iam least afraid of.

The X = X + 1 Syndrome

2005-01-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty old article that i came accross. Very true.

When an Indian professional becomes a 'Non-Resident Indian' in the United States, he soon starts suffering from a strange disease. The symptoms are a fixture of restlessness, anxiety, hope and nostalgia. The virus is a deep inner need to get back home. Like Shakespeare said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The medical world has not coined a word for this malady. Strange as it is, it could go by a stranger name, the "X + 1" syndrome.

To understand this disease better, consider the background. Typically middle-class, the would be migrant's sole ambition through school is to secure admission into one of those heavily government subsidized institutions - the IITs. With the full backing of a doting family and a good deal of effort, he achieves his goal. Looking for fresh worlds to conquer, his sights rest on the new world. Like lemmings to the sea, hordes of IIT graduates descend on the four US consulates to seek the holiest of holy grails - the F-1 (student) stamp on the passport.

After crossing the visa hurdle and tearful farewell, our hero departs for the Mecca of higher learning, promising himself and his family that he will return some day - soon!

The family proudly informs their relatives of each milestone - his G.P.A., his first car (twenty years old), his trip to Niagara Falls (photographs), his first winter (parkas, gloves). The two years roll by and he graduates at the top of his class.

Now begins the 'great hunt' for a company that will not only give him a job but also sponsor him for that 3" X 3" grey plastic, otherwise known as the Green Card. A US company sensing a good bargain offers him a job.

Naturally, with all the excitement of seeing his first pay check in four digit dollars, thoughts of returning to India are far away. His immediate objective of getting the Green Card is reached within a year.

Meanwhile, his family back home worry about the strange American influences (and more particularly, AIDS). Through contacts they line up a list of eligible girls from eligible families and wait for the great one's first trip home.

Return he does, at the first available opportunity, with gifts for the family and mouth-watering tales of prosperity beyond imagination. After interviewing the girls, he picks the most likely (lucky) one to be Americanized. Since the major reason for the alliance is his long-term stay abroad, the question of his immediate return does not arise. Any doubts are set aside by the 'backwardness' of working life, long train travel, lack of phones, inadequate opportunities for someone with hi-tech qualifications, and so on.

The newly-weds return to America with the groom having to explain the system of arranged marriages to the Americans. Most of them regard it as barbaric and on the same lines as communism. The tongue-tied bride is cajoled into explaining the bindi and saree. Looking for something homely, the couple plunges into the frenetic expatriate week-end social scene compromising dinners, videos of Hindi/regional films, shopping at Indian stores, and bhajans.

Initially, the wife misses the warmth of her family, but the presence of washing machines, vacuum cleaners, daytime soap operas and the absence of a domineering mother-in-law helps. Bits of news filtering through from India, mostly from returning Indians, is eagerly lapped up.

In discussions with friends, the topic of returning to India arises frequently but is brushed aside by the lord and master who is now rising in the corporate world and has fast moved into a two garage home - thus fulfilling the great American Dream.

The impending arrival of the first born fulfills the great Indian Dream. The mother-in-law arrives in time: after all, no right thinking parent would want their off-spring to be born in India if offered the American alternative.

With all material comforts that money can bring, begins the first signs of un- easiness - a feeling that somehow things are not what they should be. The craze for exotic electronic goods, cars and vacations have been satiated. The week-end gatherings are becoming routine.

Faced with a mid-life crisis, the upwardly mobile Indian's career graph plateu's out. Younger and more aggressive Americans are promoted. With one of the periodic mini recessions in the economy and the threat of a hostile take-over, the job itself seems far from secure. Unable or unwilling to socialize with the Americans, the Indian retreats into a cocoon.

At the home front, the children have grown up and along with American accents have imbibed American habits (cartoons, hamburgers) and values(dating). They respond to their parents' exhortation of leading a clean Indian way of life by asking endless questions. The generation gap combines with the cultural chasm. Not surprisingly, the first serious thoughts of returning to India occur at this stage.

Taking advantage of his vacation time, the Indian returns home to 'explore' possibilities. Ignoring the underpaid and bureaucratic government sector, he is bewildered by the 'primitive' state of the private sector. Clearly overqualified even to be a managing director/chairman he stumbles upon the idea of being an entrepreneur. In the seventies, his search for an arena to display his business skills normally ended in poultry farming.

In the eighties, electronics is the name of the game. Undaunted by horror stories about government red tape and corruption he is determined to overcome the odds - with one catch. He has a few things to settle in the United States. After all, you can't just throw away a lifetime's work. And there are things like taxation and customs regulations to be taken note of.

Pressed for a firm date, he says confidently 'next year' and therein lies our story. The next years come and go but there is no sign of our McCarthian friend.

About 40 years later our, by now, a old friend dies of a scheduled heart-attack and it so happens that his last wish was that he be laid to rest in the city he was born in India. So our friend at last returns to India for good.

But by now the people who were so looking forward to see him return to his homeland are no more.

In other words if 'X' is the current year, then the objective is to return in the 'X + 1' year. Since 'X' is a changing variable, the objective is never reached.

Unable to truly melt in the 'Great Melting Pot', chained to his cultural moorings and haunted by an abject fear of giving up an accustomed standard of living, the Non-Resident Indian vacillates and oscillates between two worlds in a twilight zone. Strangely, this malady appears to affect only the Indians - all of our Asian brethren from Japan, Korea and even Pakistan - seem immune to it !

welcome to Bangalore

2004-12-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

some simple maths
A guy leaves from his home at 8.20 am in the morning for office. He rides his bike for 15 kms and reaches his office at 10.30 am. What was the speed of the
guy ? Or many kms did he travel in an hour ?

i will give you the answers too.
8.66 kms/hour.

No prizes for guessing that the guy was me. I left from home to office at 8.20 am in the morning. Almost every intersection had a few vehicles waiting their
turn to move. I didnt have a clear idea of what is going to happen till i saw police men at every 50 feets on the ring road.

3 stops at a single signal. nothing unusual for a bangalorean.

Hosur road was flodded with vehicles. cars buses, autos, bikes, cycles etc. nothing new.

Till i came to silk board fly over, it was okay, little more heavy traffic than the normal.

But the cop at the flyover entrance waved me to take left.
You cant enter the flyover. a few more police men were waving off other vehicles to take left.

I stopped by the first cop and asked him "why? "

He gave me a strange look and ignored me. Obviously, he hasnt asked that question to his superior.

Okay, good guys obey orders. I took left.
The 6 lane to Sarjapur was literally overflowing.
No vehicles moving.
Long horns.
smoke.
dust.
Not a police man to be seen.
40 mins to cross 1 km.

i will have to skip breakfast today too. what was that thing about digestive juices forming in your stomach doctor told me lastday ? forget it !

you are not supposed to take the first U turn. they have blocked it with some autorickshaws !
i dint dare to go back to hosur road again. turned right to HSR layout.
No asphalted roads.
gravel.
loose stones.
dust.
again not a poice man in sight.
its all vehicles.
frustrated people inside it.

Stop. What can i do about this ?

the obvious option is wait till the next election. and make sure that my vote is not in favour of them.

Another idea. What happens if i lock by bike in the center of the road, i was here for more than 15 mins, and walk away ?people will curse me. some of them will come, lift my bike and dump it aside.

But what If its a car ? pull your hand brakes. lock your car. make sure that the touch sensitive alarm is turned on. and walk away.The police will come with the crane and move you vehicle to the police station. you can pay the fine say 500 bucks and retreive the car.

But what if 5 people do this ? or 15 ? or 50 ?Imagine what will happen to the road. It will grind to a halt. Blocking the roads in not only meant for political parties or filmstars. We, as the general public, can also do it.

Just put a bumper sticker on your car.

=========================================
*If this car is found locked in the middle of a road,Its as a protest against the lackadaisical approach of the govt on the state of the roads of bangalore.
Join me. stop your car right now.*
=========================================

Finally, there is some movement at the end of the block, i made way through the grass on the side of the road. By then a new path was formed at the side of the road just wide enough for a bike to go.
it was rough. Large stones,slabs etc.

After a while i reached back hosur road again.
the traffic was okay in hosur road.
police men at every 50 feet.
reached office 30 mins late.

welcome to Bangalore, Prime Minister of Malaysia.

fav quotes

2004-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

some fo my fav quotes :

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for.
---John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!"
---Omar Khayyám,The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
---Robert Frost,Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

go. forward.
--- me

apache ticked tomcat

2004-11-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

I made a few posters for linux bangalore/2004
you can find them here http://www.geocities.com/oldporttown/lb04/posters.html
and some banners http://www.geocities.com/oldporttown/lb04/lb.html

my project has reached i dunno where. apache kicked tomcat. tomcat still purrs. cant get both of them work together. yea the same old JK2 problem. anyone who has successfully configured apache, tomcat, php and mysql on a linux box is god to me now !

my today's mood

2004-11-19T21:07:00.000-08:00

frustrated, angry, down, depressed, sad, sick, mad,sleepy, tired, escapism, non-completion or project, missed deadlines, ignorance, kicking ass, fighting mood, apache kicks tomcat, lack of commitment, perseverance and knowledge, no-nothing-fool, idot, fear of failure, dread, terror, horror, panic, alarm, dismay, melancholic, sorrowful, doleful, alone, foiled attempts,furious, indignant, irate, ireful, wrath, blue, dejected, dispirited, downcast

What time do you wake up ?

2004-11-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Tell me, what time do you wake up ?
I wake up, 30 mins before i need to go out. If i have to leave home at 7.30 am for the office, i wake up at 7am.
I wake up, when i can’t sleep anymore. On a Sunday, i wake up at 12.30 pm. Why should i wake up if the only plan of my day is to go to a second show of a movie at 9.30 pm?

You know, what is the worst that can happen to a man? It’s living according to a clock.
Many people live by the ticking of the clock.

There was this grand old man, who once gave me some free advice on how to live like a clock.
"Like me, you should wake up by 5 am in the morn."
(Why?)
"Because, it’s the time when your mind and body are very alert and fresh. Your mind would be more receptive, It’s a good time to study."

(NO WAY! I always studied at night. In my whole life i haven’t studied a word by getting up in the morning! I don’t really get up; I just shift my sleep from the bed to the study table.

As I understand, people will be more active at different times of day naturally. Its more evident in the case of infants. They sleep for most of the day time and will be active only for a few hours. Like that all of us have some most-active hours. Rest of the time, we are forcing ourselves to be active because of the necessities.
If you are active in the morning, or cant get a good sleep, suffer yourself, and wake up early. Leave others alone.)

Our Old man continues, "At 9.35 I have my breakfast -And a tea without milk, you know milk is not that good for health."

(hmmmmmm!)

"Then I walk 20 mins to my office. You know, you should at least walk 40 mins a day."

(Oh so its for exercise, not for saving on an auto or petrol!)

"I reach office at 9.55. I never have any junk food from out side. At 11.00, I will drink a glass of plain water."

(See not a word about his office work. The main work was to find some reason to say no to the file before him. He will say no at the first chance. And drinking plain water means he saved the money for tea/coffee)

"After noon at 12.30 the lunch comes from home. Less salt - less chilly. Half boiled vegetables. I never had non-vegetarian food till now. You know they are not good for your health."

(Boiled vegetables? for lunch? yuck !! His wife's job is much reduced!)

"In my entire life, i haven’t smoked, had drinks or any other bad habits !"

(So?)

"So what? See Iam healthy and going great at 73!"

Why? Bloody hell, why should you live like this till 73? Who want to live like this till 73 ? What's the use?

I have never seen this guy smiling at anyone. He chases off any one who comes asking for help. But He projects himself as a role model. Advices others to follow his path. Just because he does things in time. Because he eats raw veg for lunch. Because he doesn’t drink. Because he has a glass of plain water at 11. For all the wrong reasons !

I don’t have a clock in my room, and no calendars. I hate the ticking sound of the clock. The sound I hate most is the alarm sound of a timepiece. Krrrrrrrr….krrrrrrrrrrrrr. If I hear that for more than 1 min, I will go mad !

I started wearing a watch sometime back since my job demanded more punctuality. Its not that I don’t use a calendar or clock . I use them when its necessary. I don’t display them prominently on walls, so that when ever you take your eyes off the computer screen to relax, you see the clock ticking and your thoughts go some what like this- the time is passing by- you have got lots of work to do-get back to work.
Only when I want to know the time I take out my watch and check the time. Instead there are people who have big clocks and time pieces around them. The clocks- they constantly try to tell you “Fast ! Fast! The time is up ! “ So if you want to relax, remove that big clock from the wall. How relaxed you will be when you see a clock ticking every second ? Same with calendars. Whenever you watch a calendar, you tend to think of deadlines, project deliveries, your long pending holiday, etc. The clocks are trying to wind you up with their long hands inside the black bordered squares of a calendar.

Coming back to our old man, anything and everything he does is according to the clock. At 6.15 pm he will drink a glass of water. At 7.25 he will sneeze.

Whom are you committed to? Your clock or yourself?

When you live your life, live according to your wishes. You want to sleep till 11? No probes- schedule things accordingly and sleep till 11. You feel like getting wet in rain? Common. Go out and do it!

You know why people fear to go to jail? Its because of this timeliness and schedules.
"All of you should wake up at 6 am."
Why? so that you have a lot of time to think how you ended up behind bars. You will be given 2 rotis at 8 am. just two roties- not one more not one less- work till 12.30- lunch 250 gms of rice, dal . After lunch rest for 10 mins, then return to work - like that everything in your life is scheduled. There are officers appointed to ensure that everything happens at the precise time.

How boring !!
It’s the uncertainties of life that are exciting. if everything is scheduled, how can you claim yourself to be human? you are no better than a robot.

It’s up to you to decide what time you work what time you sleep. I discovered that i loved nights more than days. From then i sleep late wakeup late, If you force yourselves the other way, it will spoil your mood, less productivity, more frustration, etc.-Thats why some companies have flexible timings.

Also, these kinds of people will come programmed from heaven. They might have planned everything in advance. Like when he sees you, this program is loaded into his memory

acquaintance .exe

step 1 : smile
step 2 : walk to him/her faster
step 3: shake hands
step 4: Ask " how are you ?"
step 5: If he asks "how are you?" back to you say "I am fine, thanks"
step 6: ask about his parents/ wife/ kids
step 7: enquire about his work
step 8: Hint that you are a little busy
step 9: say "bye"
step 10: smile and leave

If you see this guy, the next day, The same program gets executed in his head. Every time you see him, the same questions, the same answers. Don’t you get bored? Apparently they don’t. They lack the spontaneity of life. They are soo predictable. they are soooo boring !
To avoid this, and to put these people in fix, the best way is to say something which his program does not expect. Which his algorithm has not planned for.

When they ask you "how are you?", say "better than you!" Bhoom ! The whole program crashes in his memory. He will stammer, he will take some time to load the necessary program to memory. Its fun watching them, when their programs fail!

meet my browser, firefox

2004-11-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

I am using Firefox to browse. Its far better than IE and has many intuitive features. Above all, its open source and Free !
Download Firefox
What is Firefox?Firefox is a free, open-source web browser for Windows, Linux and Mac. It is small and fast and offers many new features likepopup blocking and tabbed browsing. Firefox is based on the Mozilla code, and is one of the moststandards-compliant browsers available. Firefox is available for Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.FeaturesIts Open source and free.Firefox has automatic Popup Blocking. This if fine for stoppingannoying popup ads, but not so good for sites using popup windows in agood way.Tabbed Browsing is a modern and time saving feature. It makes itpossible to view many web pages in one browser window.Google Search with auto complete is built into Firefox's tool bar.Firefox has Improved Security. It is not integrated with the operatingsystem and does not support ActiveX controls, and VBScripts (featuresknown to have security holes).An inbuilt modern Download Manager downloads files in the background tothe desktop.Firefox has Customizable Toolbars, allowing users to add and removeitems as well as create new toolbars.With a Theme Manager users can change the look and feel of Firefox.Firefox keeps itself up-to-date. Smart Update search for updates in thebackground and informs the user about available updates.Go to Firefox Product Page
Download Firefox

travels, drinks and me (old blog)

2004-10-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

These are some old blogs that i had posted else were. I moved them over here.

18.10.2003

hello world,
life goes on smooth. not much probes. and i normally dont cribb about what's happening around me. iam a happy person at most of the times. its long time that i posted my journal. its becouse the net connection at my office went down. then there was some problems with the network. then i was busy with work. as you would have made out by now, i am just giving excuses... i was just lazy to type.. someone please invent something that will type what iam thinking !! please !!!

i was a little busy with work.but then our marketing person went on leave for her marriage. so now new works came in.. so i ended up stting in my office and listening to music and reading books, drawing painting, and playing games etc. the best part is iam now much better in NFS. i broke my earlier best lap records !

For my one of my friends marriage i went to HYderabad. i loved travelling always. its fun. new people, new place. new language. HYD its big city, and the climate was not that bad. it can be hotter upto 40-43 degrees. OOOOh! thats too hot. i like to be in cold weather.

then i was in chennai for a few days. almost all thios month i was travelling. bangalore got to see only less me !
this weekend too iam going to chennai again. its deepavali. on 24th of this month.

i had stopped drinking for 1 month. on 12th i started drinking again. its nice to drink listening to pankaj udhas ghazals !
kiska kiska gum kareegi door bechari sharab .....

okay that all for now see you guys later...

Back again

2004-10-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Was busy with some work at my site. its almost up now. They dont give me an FTP. If i need an FTP then i have to pay ! Forget it, i'll manually load each and every file.

Life is fine. Pretty hectic. less sleep. more research. more work. I have a pain on mt right wrist.
So i have started using my mouse with my left hand. Its simple, just move you mouse to the left of your keyboard, then swap the keys. I found out that I can work reasonably fast this way too.

one typical week in my life (old)

2004-10-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

1.8.2003 //
Posted at 1:24 PM

little busy
i was a little busy in the past few days. the company iam working for is a new and its not so big. but they do have some corporate gaints as clients. i work there as a designer, but some times i will have to handle the photosessions also. i love photography. and iam a not-so-bad photographer. i'll post some of the photographs i have taken in the site soon.

so last few days i had a photo shoot. product photography - of some furniture.

Some of my friends from kerala were here just for a pleasure trip. evenings i was busy with them. all day shoot evenings drinks and party. head will be breaking apart nextday morn when i rush to the office. after bottles of water, by afternoon i will become ok. then same process repeats nextday !

party time, folks !
saturday we went first to a bar here. they play some really nice music-rock/hindi/pop and kind of a mixed stuff. and this bar is very popular. had a few (3 to be precise) shots of rum.it was fun.

i dont have enough time to sleepn now a days. earlier i used to sleep the whole night and day ! without complaning ! i dont get enough time to watch movies or even tv.
thats it for now. keep reading !

Why i hate typewriting classes

2004-10-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

i was considering blogging for a while now. Started elsewhere and eventually it had a natural death. then i thought i shall host the blog on my site....mmm i might use my site for other purposes also, like i can ask my potential employer to go check my website to know more about me, you know. So if i blog there, it will be restricted, controlled, censored and very formal. which is not my idea of bloggin.

so, here.
i hope it will not end up half way like almost anything i start, ends naturally.

You know, i joined typewriting classes 3 times. never completed though ! There is nothing as button-hole-boring as type writing classes. that too in the morning hours.

well, i'll tell you why i hate typewriting classes

1) Newbies, are supposed to use only ancient machines
The one i used was the first one in that institute, which the teacher's father brought from bombaay ! The teacher was around 40 yrs old. his father is above 70. so you can guess the age of the typewriter.
2)tell me, which is your least flexible finger ? if u are a right handed person, obviously it will be the smallest finger on your left hand. and thats the finger you should use to type 'a' ! one of the most used alphabets ! what kind of logic is this ? yeah, i know, the qwerty keyboard that we are using now was invented by some one and this layout reduces the possibility of those metal punches getting stuck. but still, 'a' on the little finger ? defies all the logic !
3) you have to type the same boring asdfgf; lkjhj a hundred thousand times ! why dont they have some interesting passages ?
4) I was too lazy to wakeup in the morn.

you know, all the above except the last one are made up to suppliment the 4th.

so i hope this will not be like that. i need something that will keep track of myself, my take on the happenings around etc etc. How nice it would be if someone could read your mind and update the blogs ?

a few more thoughts on the keyboard layout. why do we still have the 'qwerty' layout ? wouldnt it be nice to have an 'abcdefg' keyboard ? How easy it will be ! Some years before when i was learning to type, i always had this problem of finding sone particular key in the keyboard. like 'd' for eg, where is 'd' ? i had to search all over for the 'd' key. In an 'abcdefg' keyboard, its really easy.
"i cant find my 'd' !"
" 'd' ? its right after 'c' and before 'e' ! "
"oh yeah ! thanks, buddy !"

Guys, keep sendin in your comments.

2003-10-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

i dont know what to write. i always have this problem. i had my mind full of ideas and toughts a few minutes before. but when i see a blank notepad, foosh ! my mind goes blank.

same is the case when i feel like drawing also. i have images and concepts in my mind, but it will take some time for me to put that on paper. i can sit looking at the blank white paper for hours !

okay.. i'll give you some gyan about my self.
iam 29 years old, single male from bangalore in india. Iam from the state of kerala(i'll write about kerala soon)

i am a commerce graduate. but, i still dont know which side the debit comes !

After my college days i was working in my uncles photo studio. i learned photography from there. i love photography. then in the evenings i was working as a consultant for a design house. designing brochures, press ads etc.

later on i joined a computer course. the course was of 2 yrs duration.
At the computer course something happened that drastically changed my life. for the first class test i was the class topper ! can you belive that? me ! class topper ! phew !
i never was a class topper before. i always was an average student. there were guys in my school who always were toppers. for the first time i knew how it felt to a class topper !
from them i studied harder- i needed to retain my prestige as a class topper ! the topics included c, c++, vc++, java, oracle, foxpro etc. and i passed out of the institute with the highest mark someone ever scored from that institute. and that record still stands !
from the institute i got placed as a graphic designer in an export firm. the salary was low but still i had a job in an IS0 9002 firm. and i had a big a/c office and great environment there.
so after the course i thought like i could do more...how about an MCA etc...
so i quit my job to join MCA course.

I joined MCA course in bangalore. i did pretty well in MCA cleared all papers with 71% marks.

then the dotcom bubble had burst. bangalore it firms was not hiring people like before. that too for a fresher getting a job was pretty difficult. so i turned back to the work i knew -photography and graphic design. luckily with out much effort i could find myself a job in a design house. today iam working as a graphic design in a design house in bangalore.

that was a small auto biography. i will add more soon. i'll detail my past life first and then addon about my current happenings.