My Memoir

This is the number of parties contesting the forthcoming elections in India !!!
I was shocked to see these many parties contesting !!! Does the growing number of parties indicate anything positive about the functioning of democracy in India ? No.I don’t think so.We are in for more surprises , If somebody takes a survey of the amount of money spent vs the number of votes , or if someone takes a list of the number of freebies announced by every party !! Is this a healthy democracy to have so many parties contesting an important election?I don’t know.
May be this is how democracies have worked in the past and shaped themselves.India has a long way to go. I truly believe in the power of democracy and our nation!!!

Yesterday was a day of lessons!! I had been to the railway station , to send my aunt off.I reached majestic after a really long journey (just as usual).. cursing Bangalore traffic.I was almost blaming everybody in Bangalore Development Authority for letting it expand like madness.

Then after reaching the station ,my next list to be blamed started There was crowd , just as expected.The station was quite horrible , with the railway tracks being public dustbins , wash areas and what not!!And adding to the list, there was no place to sit.And waiting rooms as usual were full !!The train came a bit (not very late though)late. There were no charts pasted with names.The train doors were not closed(letting the rats go in ).It didn’t look like it was cleaned(I was expecting it to be cleaned up because this is the source station).Nor could I analyze much as there was no light through out the train !!!

Some how I managed to find her seat using the mobile torch and sent her off.
Only when I walked back , I saw the ticket inspector and realized I hadn’t obtained the platform ticket Then my mistake struck hard on me !! I went on to pay the fine , I was shocked to know it was 250 INR , for a Rs.3 platform ticket !! I went on to check that up with the station manager and he confirmed that the amount levied was correct!! I paid and came back , nobody to be blamed anymore for my own mistake
I came back home and again a mistake struck hard I had kept the bathroom tap open when there was no water and when the water was supplied it was flowing off The tank could have been almost emptied !!
Ok , here goes my lesson , lets learn to turn the mirror inward and see our own mistakes , including making the railway station dirty , and using our own vehicles when there is enough public transport available!!Man makes the society , and he has to make it what he wants it to be !!
I would quote Jk again ” I am the world and the world is me !! “

Two months passed since I came here and well , I am getting used to Bangalore This is one of the very few cities of really high cost of living in India.Luxury invites everybody here and thats how the living cost has shooted up.The climate is awesome in the months of june and july.(I am yet to see the summer here ) , just as everybody else here would comment.It is also a city of varied food starting from south indian , north indian and upto chinese food.(except for the fact the hotels are pretty costly). I have made a visit to all nearby hotels and markets. I am basically not used to throwing money away for anything just because it gets sold in a bigger airconditioned shop , or it has a good brand name.

The sad part is I hardly meet people who spend money reasonably.nobody even bothers to analyse the worth , before paying for anything.May be its an illusion at all places that costlier things are better Well, a similar thought shared in a blog made me write this.Life for people in most of the cities is spending what they earn and the more they earn the lesser they care for resources and the more they take money for granted, as simple as that…

And I have learnt a bit of Kannada also I am learning to read and write now. And about the stay here I am happy to be here , meet new people and learn a  new language

Hello all,

Its  a long break Well I joined Hewlett Packard India this month !! I work for the NonStop Kernel team!! Thats all for now !!

I had a really good time yesterday as i had an opportunity to watch and relish one of the rarest dance shows i have ever seen!!Smt Rani Karna , a great Kathak dancer and teacher performed a lecture demonstration on Kathak in our college.This was a program organised by  SPIC MACAY (Society for Promoting Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) along with cultural club of TCE.

Miss Somini Devanath , the chief disciple of Smt  Rani Karna accompanied her.Thery started out with an introduction to Kathak, its history , how it originated and became popular. They demonstrated taals in Kathak, and how they make subtle expressions and dance movements based on the raga (and lehar).Being an average Indian ignorant of the cultural maserpieces like this dance form,  I was able to figure out the art form behind this dance and I would say it gave me a clear picture about Kathak.They talked on  the significance of the dress , their spins so on so forth.

They demonstrated al these by dancing simultaneously describing the taals.They presented dance for Shiv vandhana – Prising lord Shiva, as it was Shivrathri night.

The favourite subject in Kathak is Krishna.Looks like no Kathak item will be complete without a Krishna-Gopika item.So there was an invocation to krishna, describing his charisma as a heart throb and as a warrior holding the chakra. Then there was a dance performance on  Holi being celebrated in Brindavan by Krishna and Gopis.All these were master pieces , I enjoyed them utmost though i have not watched Kathak much before this!! Their demonstration helped us to grasp the concept that was performed and to understand the nuances.It was totally a visual treat and food for thought !!! SPIC MACAY is doing a commendable job in creating an awareness about the Indian Cultural master pieces amongst youth.Hats off and thanks for such wonderful programs !!!

I happened to watch Jodha Akbar a movie directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and it is also being produced by him.His  movie lagaan (which nearly reached the oscar doors) tells his name!Wel I had lots of expectations for this movie I also had a picture of Akbar’s personality and i had framed how he would have been , from the pages of history i read.The choice of lead actors ,(Hrithik and Aishwarya) didnt impress me much though (star value?).Well nobody has a clue how Akbar would have looked like if they havent read Akbar i  Nama or Ai Ni Akbari

The characterization and screenplay were  perfect !! Director has really taken lots of  pains to note each and every minute detail of the movie and make it reflect the history.Actors were good , expecially one who played Adham Khan, Maha Manga were really good!! I felt seeing them really , after all i have read about them.Every actor played his character well , King Hemu , Jodhaamal, Thodarmaal and  others …Anyways did Akbar really  forgive Sheriffuddin? Nobody ever knows if Jodhaa Bai really existed,she is being called by different names by different historians though!! The director had wanted to portray a love story , and the courage to choose such a historic love story which is not much remembered by history is laudable!!! Hats off!!

For people like me , who relish reading the pages of history and for every Indian who feels Jalal-Ud-din Mohammed Akbar was the crown of Mughal dynasty in India, a great King who worked on propagating releigious tolerance and created a secular , prosper , and really vast Mughal Empire in India , Jodha Akbar is worth a watch !!!

It was truly  a rare honour to propose vote of thanks for the Declare Open Ceremony of the CAREC (Centre for Advanced research in evolutionary computing ) of our college of which Bharat Ratna Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam was the chief guest.

I was so delighted to see the great man and felt so previliged abt it.He was talking on the use of science and technology to carry out societal transformation.He talked on various fields in which students have to bring out transformation . He gave lot of ideas on research projects and briefed areas in which there is a lot of scope for quality research has to be carried out.

Dr.Kalam also pointed out the importance that professors of Indian Universities have to give to research.He quoted an incident that once  when Sir C.V.Raman was invited by the president of India for the Bharat Ratna Award function to get the honour , Raman denied gently explaining a genuine reason that he had to sign his student’s Ph.D that day!!

This year the first day january 1 2008 turned out to be different. We had been to visit an old age home in pykara , Madurai.There are around 45 old people and  3 children there.It is ashram founded by Narayana Guru(a saint who visited and stayed at that place). I dont remember the details of the founder exactly.We had bought some sweets for them that day.There is only one person who takes care of these old men and women.Six of them cook for all the others.

We were able to help them a bit  financially.Planning to do in future also.

Well I dont watch much movies and even if i do i hardly blog about them. I thougth after watchin this movie , I should and its really worth it (though blogging about it after so long )

I thought this movie would make atleast a very few number of Indians who watched to look at Hockey a bit , but what we do as usual is not to actually get the essence of things as such but rather employ them in our context:) using them in our ever favorite cricket matches

PPlab !  this is what i would mention at the first place if i am asked about college life !! TCENet is an intranet portal of our college developed and maintained by students containing facilities for online attendence , issue tracking system , feedback  etc. The platform used is Python and Cheetah and postgresql backend. This was in Java platform + oracle and then was moved to python + cheetah.

TCENet is more that what i have been telling you .. its also abt managing the intranet of our college as well , a central authentication system (Kerberos+ LDAP + Samba for interoperation between windows and linux) developed by our seniors (  Praveen , Senthil Kumaran, Subramani, Sriram).

TCE also has a mail service.

PP lab also the place where goatee is taking shape now… You can find more about all these here …