The Lost Symbol: My views

The Lost Symbol,is now what could be called "A characteristic Robert Langdon type of a novel".... The cryptic symbols,the thrilling deciphering,entangled with ground breaking scientific ramifications,and a race against time in the dark accompanied by the impeccable Robert Langdon ....

My amazement at the abundant research which has gone into Dan Brown's previous works had prompted me to become his fan.And,I haven't been disappointed with The Lost Symbol....Although,I am sure I would have enjoyed it in a more profound way if I were a U.S national...(People who've read it will agree with me)

And about the thrill and suspense factor,I guess after reading Dan Brown four times I was intuitively able to predict variuos twists,which will be much more thrilling to the newbes... Although,I was hit hard with one of the twists which i hadn't expected...That was sufficient to quench my instincts in this regard...

The read,for its own reasons is actually quicker than the non-Dan Brown ones.But,you do feel let down at places,and immediately there's something much better which again propels you into the hot seat....

The best part for me was the convergence of the entire plot into an idea I have nourished from adolescence,and now that it was crystalizing into a belief,The Lost Symbol has got into a proper shape....Thanks to Mr.Brown...

Highlight of the book obvioulsy for me was Noetic Science,which I was unaware of,and i shall have my senses kept open to absorb more of it....

And,not to forget, Compliments to Mr.Dan Brown for his work... Expecting more of you Mr.Brown...

Who's the best superhero??? A debate Tarantino style ;)

"As you know,I'm quite keen on comic books.Especially the ones about superheroes.I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating.

Take my favourite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology... The mythology is not only great,it's unique. Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego.

Batman is actually Bruce Wayne,Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone.

Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S" -that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us.

Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent?

He's weak......he's unsure of himself......he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race."

(Lines spoken by Bill in Kill Bill Vol 2,written by Quentin Tarantino)

What a wonderful person !!!

Mr.Subramani-the senior Sub editor of Deccan Herlad for the last six years...He has been a journalist for a longer period...He was the special invited speaker for the Software Freedom Day celebration at CMRIT from FSMK.

A gifted orator,with a simple but powerful accent,with a tone perfectly conveying the immaculate words for the occasion,left us astounded... He spoke about the role software developers,particularly of the Swatantra Software communities,in providing Accessibility Tools to the Differently Abled set of users,like a Text-to-Speech convertor,text-to-braille convertor,Optical text scanned data-to-speech...

He instigated the audience to take up these tasks as a challenge,which is more relevant in the Indian scenario,where the opportunities for the Differently Abled are drastically less,atleast when compared to Western countries,pin pointing the Social Insecurity persistent in India!!!

After,the session I happened to know his other facets-a very jovial person with profound thoughts,and words of advice which inspired me all the more.... This interaction with him has made a substantial impact on me,like all the others who were the audience... His accomplishments in life,efficiently mock at the system,and even more on most of us who complain of unfavourable circumstances for pursuing our goals...

These by itself are sufficient to admire a person like him...We would admire him all the more for he's accomplished all of it after he'd lost his power of sight completely since high school...

Thank you Mr.Subramani for being such a precious source of human values :)

First anniversary of an intimate relationship :)

Its been one full year of this lovely endeavour of mine... The sweetest and the most bitter moments of churning thoughts together... It has helped me grow immensely...Looking back now,the journey has been almost unbelievable....

Yes! Today's the day to commemorate One eventful year of my blog Silence Before The Storm, on the webpage- ideasareimmortal.blogspot.com. It was on this day in 2008 i started blogging..It has now adhered to become a part of my personality,which I'm proud of.

The following statistics will technically show you the accomplishemnt I have made this one year on my blog...

Total no.of posts: 165 (excluding today's)
No. of unpublished posts: 5
Posting rate: 1 post for every 53 hours
Average no. of words per post: 167
Longest post:836 words-My farewell speech on behalf of my class,Friday, May 1, 2009
Shortest post:Zero words-Little work and more play makes Jack like us......March 4, 2009
Highest number of comments for a post:7-Forever with us.... ,Thursday,June 18, 2009
No.of clicks on my blog:442 visits from 24 Aug 2009 to 24 Sep 2009 @04:01GMT(can be extrapolated for all the 12 months)
No. of profile visits: Approximately 340
Average time spent per post: 20-30 minutes

The time i spend writing a post is my true prayer time,wherein I'm left to myself with only you and my thoughts... Thanks for all your support :)

Sec 1:Birthday @ STUDSAT Sec 2: "It will be on your blog"!!!

Sec 1:

 A sudden plan to celebrate friend cum team mate's birthday today...And after hastily wrapping up a Talk at one of the colleges about STUDSAT,we were present in full attendance for the Birthday of JJM(We insiders have a cool expansion to it)....

A delicious Black Forest was harvested by the Birthday Girl with crude help from us,and a gratifying dinner at one of my favorite places-Nesara...

Happy birthday again Ms.JJM ;)

Sec 2:
My friends today tried pulling my leg over my incessant relation of my blog with my activities-It will be on your blog!!!,is what they kept on saying,which was quite hilarious...

Most of the things worth mentioning which happen to me,are all on my blog-that was my motive behind blogging...Now, it has become a part of my means of expressing myself to people...So,can't blame it ;)

Software Freedom Day(SFD)and FSMK @NIT-K,accompanied by an impeccable Mother Nature....

The five of us from FSMK,little did we anticipate that this journey to NIT-K to propagate Swatantra Software would turn out to be one of the most memorable ones,both in context of purpose and pleasure perspectives....

Karthikeyan,Naveen,Prabodh,Vishal and myself were the team from FSMK visting NIT-K,Surathkal.... An aesthetically soothing journey,and a much better experience there at their campus in celebrating Software Freedom....

The sessions scheduled at 9.30 am on the 19th of September could be started only by 11.00am....Thanks to the delay of the train..Although the session was delayed,we luckily got exposed to an exquisite and sublime vista of the breathtaking Western Coast bathed in post monsoon showers(Hingaaru Male !!!),making it a divine experience to all of us.....

The session was in one of the seminar halls of NIT-K  . To our pleasant surprise and awe,the NIT-K students released a customised GNU/Linux Distro compiled,keeping a technical student in mind. It was named ENGINUX,and was basically UBUNTU 9.04 with lots of technical tools adequate for a technical student...


From our side,Naveen started the Swatantra Software Philosophy,briefing the audience about the "Free Software",the disambiguation between "free as in freedom" and "free as in freebie"...He also touched upon other essential basics for a Open Source fan to become a Free Software activist....His part of the session lasted for about 40 minutes...

Karthikeyan,he spoke about the role of FSMK in the Free Software context of Karnataka....Emphasizing on the formation of GLUGS in institutions,and empowering the communities by activating smaller sections of the same into adopting Swatantra Software....

I happened to share my views about FSMK as a platform to do our part to the society,quoting Kerala Govt. school program and the Govt. Teachers Workshop which we were a part of...

An ad hoc interaction with the students for an SFD give-away T shirt was conducted,wherein we asked the students to think of pragmatic means of making Swatantra Software reach the society at all tiers... And, after initial hesitation we received around 10 valuable suggestions,ranging from incorporating Free Software into schooling,to installing Free Software with newly purchased hardware,and also that the Govt.should step in and endorse Free Software setting an example for the society to follow...As, only one T shirt was to be given,we decided to acknowledge a suggestion made by a student to reach the community by imbibing the movement with the community by personal interactions,ultimately leading to a sustained system of Free Software Communities....
After this session,Karthik demonstrated gnokii- a tool used to send sms from the terminal through a GSM network. Prabodh shared his experience of being involved in a project at CMRIT with his students using gnokii.

We have instigated 4 of the active students(the prospective core team), to revive their free software activities by forming a GLUG. The overall response from them has been more than satisfactory and very encouraging.We are hopeful of an active GLUG at NIT-K very soon...

From, there on it was yet another exhilarating experience at the Surathkal beach,with some time spent on top of the light house...Finally, a race to reach the train and we got it at the nick of time....

This trip has been an amazing experience to all volunteers invlolved,we've learnt like in every session something more,to better our activities.... Thanks for the support at FSMK :)

Rendezvous with a dreamer,on his way to acheivement

(The pic is only a depiction of the post,and is not related to it...)


Son of a farmer from a corner of Karnataka,he arrived in Bangalore with huge dreams of composing music,writing songs and singing in the glossy arena of Cinema,but now, he runs a Photocpying centre here in Bangalore....He had been let down by the people he went seeking support from.

But,he hasn't let his passion die down. He is now making his first full fledged,Kannada music album-which is at the verge of completion. He's an ardent and pious Kannada fanatic....But,unlike the other fanatics of the same genre,he's not chauvinistic.While interacting with him,I could feel the pride which made his face glow,and also which serves his life a purpose.

Most recent regional songs in India have been lacking sensibility in the lyrics,this has been a personal complaint. But,this 'believer', played me one of the songs of his album-the studio version,and showed me lyrics of the other songs. They were far too better than the songs I've heard recently in the regional domain.

When asked why he was doing it,he says it has been his dream and passion for years,and now with tremendous effort,crossing innumerable hurdles he has come up with this album.The album is slated to release for Kannada Rajyotsava.Although he is still working out the plan,and figuring out how to sell it to an appropriate Music company.

People like-Kumar Durga Prasad,the one we've been talking about are a source of inspiration.We need to look up to people like him,for he,given his circumstances still followed his dream and almost has pursued it.For him to accomplish and be successful in it,we need to be with him showing our support...

Wishing him success for his album "Jai Karnataka Maathe",and those of you who feel that you can make this story have a Happy Ending reach me.

I will keep you updated about him....

Beauty beholds in the eyes of the admirer..But why???

The caption is a dear and well known cliché... But,I was wondering why is it so? As I have seen personally,the range of admiration for 'beauty' in various forms spreads on a wide scale.

An entity,be it a person, or an artifact, or anything else,appeals to our senses only when we are able to recognise a part of ourselves in them,or only if we see something in it we have been craving for.

I, wholeheartedly admire the three natural gifts bestowed on this earth-the flora,the fauna and the femina. This,I feel is pretty normal,or should I say natural. I partially recognise myself with them,and also find in them the things I as an aesthetic soul craves for....Consequently,I look for,and find beauty in them....

One other instance is literature... The most beautiful things I have read until now have been the ones which I would have wanted to write myself,or something which I can relate to myself....

It is actually an irony:The most beautiful things to us are the ones we are a part of,and/or the things we crave for.... But,recognising and enjoying beauty in any form gives us an unparalleled sensation...Thanks to all the intimate complications of our mind coupled with the power of nature which immerses us into this sweet sensation....

9-11 and the paragigm shift

The inhuman atrocity of the 9-11 attacks have caused the biggest paradigm shift of this age,in positive as well as negative ways...

The 'war on terror' snowballed after this,once the US and UK  were compelled to get their feet really wet. This has probably reduced the number and extent of such future attacks. But, I see this war going towards an inconclusive end.

The negative aspect is the cynicism, which has increased beyond any permissible limit.The way Asians,especially the Muslims are perceived throughout the world has become hostile. This hostility is increasing the bitterness in the wounded hearts of the people of these communities.

9-11,is a black day which will keep us reminding of the brutality of the human race.Let it also not mark this as -the day when the world turned its back to a deeply hurt and humiliated section of itself.....

Terrorism cannot be defeated by hurting ourselves....We need to have a broader perspective and endorse this paradigm....

A negative nuance of our culture !!!

I was in a debate with a friend about the ratifications of our culture and a distinct society like ours,in moulding us into individuals...

We live in a society where personal bondings and relationships are of prime importance and huge committed responsibilities. And I acknowledge that this has kept our society cordial and bonded unlike few other societies of the world.But, there is definitely a slight negative aspect to it.

Now, is the time when most of my peers and  myself are trying to make up our minds regarding our future. And, these decisions most of us are taking now is a result of considering the various pros and cons of it to our families. I don't deny that this isn't the way its got to be. But,in retrospect we would  all realise that we have underplayed ourselves.In most cases,we would have decided to tread on a path which is just slightly more than mediocre.

To excel individually,we need to take risks, which should not be restricted by our societal and personal bindings.And also,by the time we are set free from the conservative cocoons of our families into the society,the most valuable time is gone, and as a consequence we are ready to compromise.

Something contrary to this,I feel has been the secret behind the success of the western world where independence of an individual isn't just restricted to the constitution,but also reaches the individual at every stratum. And thinking freely is what will help us excel,and compromises will compromise our accomplishments.

I know most of you would not be convinced, but this is one of the major contributors in making our society a mediocre one starving and craving for independent minds....

A game which turned into a romantic love story :)

Imagination kept on hampering Sam's work but he enjoyed it...

But,on an eventful day his imagination created a beautiful girl-Maia in his mind and he could no more work nor enjoy it... Everytime he was imagining about her,he was singing, "I'm only a human,with a heart by name Maia"....It was again the work of his imagination which made him believe that Maia was in his heart,which actually was a falsity... She had fully occupied his mind... She had become his soul...

Sam wholeheartedly believed that he was living with her...People thought he was going insane..But,he didn't belong to them.The people and their comments seemed ridiculous and silly to him. By now his imagination had even created Maia's physical sensation within him. He was in unison with her.

Once,in the King's palace while he was deeply engrossed about her as always and working,Sam hurt himself...Instead of feeling the pain for himself,he visualised Maia crying for him,which hurt him more,he started saying"Oh my Maia,don't you cry.It makes my heart go dry!!!".

This came to the notice of the King. He presumed Sam had a beautiful angel, who was invisible to others as his LOVE. So,he was tortured to confess and comply to their facts about his angel....

As Sam's torture was the torture to his Maia,Sam agreed to draw a picture of her in front of the entire kingdom. He imposed a condition that once he had finished ,Sam would be proclaimed the husband of Maia by the king himself.The king did agree to it.

And when he started drawing her,he had kept his eyes closed.The image that was transcending on to the paper was the most beautiful thing anyone but the king had ever seen. People around were astonished seeing this beautiful woman.And the king couldn't believe his eyes. The king wanted his daughter-the princess to see it... Until then, no one ever had including Sam had seen the princess....So, they were all waiting for the princess to witness the act of Sam...

To everyone's bewilderment the princess was exactly the same as the beautiful woman drawn by Sam....Everyone including the king were dumbfounded,but Sam had known he would meet his Maia.... When the princess looked into Sam's eyes,she felt, she had known him from ages.All the people seemed to melt away,and all the flowers started blooming to celebrate their love. The love between them was felt everywhere(with the music of Rahman in the background)....

And then, as a mark of their Love,they came closer to kiss. Her eyes were as if saying"I can't taste my lips,can you do it for me",he then comes closer complying to her affectionate demand. There was a breeze carrying love blowing silently with the fragrance of all the beautiful flowers elating their mood. They were close enough to kiss,when....

Someone shouted,"Sam,its getting late to class dude,get up you dreamer !!!"...He then reluctantly gets up,then realises his girl,his love would already be in college and rushes to her.... He looks at her...His eyes says it all....She knows it all,but she still pretends.... But,deep within their hearts and minds they crave for each other.....
THE END

Wow....This was what came out of a game which a friend and me were engaged in... Alternately we had to imagine a scene and - This,a silly but sweet story came up... Almost every alternate sentence is in response to the others words... And I think she's done all the better part of it....

My teachers and Me :)

The importance of having good teachers has been emphasised in our Indian Culture from times immemorial.... I,personally have grown tremendously by absorbing various traits from my teachers... I have believed that the best role models are teachers and have been lucky enough to have had atleast one amazing teacher as a role model at every point of time...

The first teacher who had impact in moulding me was my High School Headmaster- Mr.Irudayaraj(Seen in the first pic)... Seeing him I started believing that perfection in tasks does exist,and discipline in actions is the best way of executing them....

During my Pre University,I met the most dynamic person I have known till date.... He was the teacher who broke the myth about Trigonometry(we had inherited from our seniors that it was obscure and impractical)... Mr. Madhukar was young,energetic, charismatic and very amicable.... He taught me Trigonometry and it still remains one of my favourite subjects....

Another teacher during that period was Mr.Basavaraj,my Kannada teacher... He was an erudite person,with immense Kannada literature behind his friendly persona... He increased my interest in literature in general,and Kannada in particular....

After reaching B.E,I have been very lucky to have studied under Ramachandran Sir, NDN, Jojy Ma'm....But, the highest impact has been undoubtedly by Bandopadhay Sir(Seen in the second pic with us on college ethnic day).... He will forever be a part of me....

Even at home, my mom being a teacher,and my sister an aspiring teacher have had incessant impact...

I am extremely grateful to these circumstances which have made me know all these beautiful people,and moulded me into a person you all know me to be....

Thanks to all the teachers who have moulded me,I shall forever be indebt to you...

Happy Teachers Day !!!

Good or bad !!!Gone's gone :(

Today,after a dramatic rescue and search operation the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh was found charred to death in a helicopter crash...

The sea of condolences to this prominent leader is flowing in from all directions...But,already the debates of him being a good or a bad leader are rising...

Being Good or bad-is a relative term,depends on the perspective you endorse...But now:Immediately after the demise of the person, criticising him although is right on an individual's part, isn't fair enough....

A leader of huge masses is no more,and he should be spared atleast until his last respects are shown by concentrating on the good he's done...

May he rest in peace....

Remember Remember the 2nd of September :)

Birthday is definitely a special day...Apart from the quintessential fun and celebration, I have this critical introspection happening on this day....

When I was 17,I used to think Britney had shot to world fame releasing her first album,and at almost my age now Hamilton is the reigning F1 World champion... And, immediately I see what is it that I have accomplished in life this far...It is definitely embarrassing,and makes me push myself a bit more harder...

This time around,Will again try to put more efforts towards bettering myself..."Remember Remember the 2nd of September" !!!
And thanks for all your wishes :)