If my life were a movie....

While at school, we had this rage of filling in Slam books at the end of every school year. In one such book,there was a question asking me for a wish about my life.

And, I replied that my life till that point of time be filmed, made into a movie with music by A R Rahman.This was in my 10th Std :)

I don't think there has been any change in this wish even today. I think the movie  of my life made till today will be more interesting, intriguing, entertaining and inspiring, and ultimately will make a good biopic!

Movies and my life: I have never really felt all the emotions in my life as they are portrayed in movies, it has always been less than adequate to real life, be it grief or excitement- Call it an underplayed and suppressed role. But yes, I have been scared and like described by the similie- " turned pale in fear", in a really clumsy and threatening situation. And, also have become obsessive in infatuation towards one person, like in the movies ;)

I also remember once, when a sudden twist in my tale was being professed to me, and the location was in a cemetery. This twist was above than any average life-twists;It was an ideal movie kind of a twist. And, I am standing there in that situation, and thinking-Now the camera is taking swirls in spiralling circles with me as the epicentre,and finally stops to grab the reaction of my face, with some loud rebellious Cello and violin music in the background.

This was the thought precisely running in my head when I heard that 'shocking' news than thinking of its ramifications.Then to react appropriately,I did express mild shock and by the virtue of my personality and character, and also because it was a 'blast from the past', I disregarded it and moved on.

So, as you can see, I, for some reason obscure even to me tend to correlate instances of my life to movies, and this to some extent helps me take things lightly, at least few of the things.

And also,my first full fledged flirt with a girl I really had fallen for(though now well out of it;))would be the best ever flirt shown in a movie, or of at least the vast number of movies I have seen and heard of. May be I can elaborate that episode of beautiful incidents sometime later on my blog.

Until then,working on other important scenes of my "movie called life".

FSMK National Conference:The head start

Free Software Movement-Karnataka will be holding a National Conference by the end of March this year to portray the essence of a society interlinked with Free Software. This would be one of the means to demonstrate the larger goals we are striving towards-"Breaking the Knowledge Divide".

As our Conference will be touching upon the various facets of the society, we thought it best to involve the elite group from all sections of the society to fuel the run to the Conference by seeking their valuable inputs, efforts and resourceful help.

Today, we had the first meeting of all the main members who are supporting the cause of "Free Software, Free Society" by lending their help to our Conference work. To throw some light on how diverse this elite group was I shall mention a few of the Organizations these patrons are affiliated to,like Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Astrophysics,School Teachers Association, Universities and Engineering Colleges,Journalists,Slum Computing Centres,Peer Free Software enthusiasts from other states, eminent literary figures, working professionals from the Government Secretariat, MNC's like CISCO, IBM, Accenture,Entrepreneurs and definitely a good number of enthusiastic students and our activists.

Today's session was mainly to brainstorm and channelize the flow of our efforts to accomplish our mission. Discussing in this regard, I heard a lot of quality ideas and inputs churned out from this group-few of the aspirations were highly pragmatic and efficient. For instance, the taking off of Swatantra Software at the applications layer to reach the layman at every level he uses Software, Inculcating a disciplined culture in making Swatantra Software for accountability, bridging the gaps caused by the digital divide by taking software in the localized form,instigating students to come with projects which would reach out every person touched by software,credible accessibility software and numerous other valuable ideas.

The support extended from all the people present there was encouraging to us at FSMK,and consequently it also increases the  responsibility while executing this Mission(Its more than just holding a conference to us).

We wish to reach out to as many people as possible and make them realize the potential vulnerabilities and inhibitions they would succumb to by promoting and using restricted knowledge, be it Software in specific or plain human knowledge in general.

Sixty years of being a Republic & the increasing responsibilities.

Today is an important day for us Indians, as India turns into a 60 year old Republic, looking back at a legacy of accomplishments and staring right into the challenging eyes of the gargantuan responsibilities of the future.


And honestly speaking, I hadn't understood the core distinction between a Democracy and a Republic until recently. To give you the gist of my understanding of this distinction-
Democracy: Rule by Omnipotent Majority
Republic: Rule by a constitutionally controlled and limited Majority

India, for the past 60 years has made immense progress, but not up to the mark of its potential. Disparity in growth has been, and will continue to be the biggest problem in India. For instance, the IT hub of India-Bangalore,has bases of all the major MNC's of the world, and within the near proximities of these business and technology centres is the inhabitation of thousands of people who can't even satisfy their basic daily needs. Such extremities is a common sighting in Bangalore, like in rest of the country.

Tackling such critical problems are quintessential for the growth of India.

I, personally have believed that providing Quality education to every citizen will do a lot in lessening this divide. For, education is the only means to see a successful and vibrant India represented by every Indian. In this regard,each one of us should pledge to facilitate quality education to as many needy children as possible by us, to alter their course of life for good. For, it'll be a long time before until the system can do something substantial.

When I say "WE,INDIANS", it does include every person born and living here-the President,the Politicians,Celebrities,Entrepreneurs,students and most importantly the very essential Proletarians or the working class. Only with a policy which benefits 'everyone' can India accomplish its deserved destiny of being a Successful and truly independent country.

On this day, I wish a lot many of us get proactive and work from a personal level to realize the future of India.
Let us play our part.

Society... Do I make it or does it make a me out of me?

What is the identity of society?Does society have a mind of its own? Who is that we care to care about when we live with the society in mind? How much of influence does it have on us?

These are the questions which often impinge at me with increased impact every time,after regular incidents and observations. To try answering these questions could be a never ending exercise of our entire existence in the society.

'Society' is the biggest fraudulent deception we have come to conceive,and have successfully been using it for fettering our own growth, with unreasonable and paradoxic constraints as its main ammunition. Ironically, most of the constraints imposed by the society are the ones which its own individual entities would want to break loose from.

Society is a formless and obstinate monster repelling every hint of its betterment, opposing every change with its carapace of ignorance, brutality and its inherent colossal momentum. This bottomless well of the society tries to keep every action of ours constrained using the gargantuan power it has, assimilated through numbers, nothing else but huge numbers. We can invoke Time and its intimate companion History to chronicle the atrocities society has committed incessantly.

When i try to arrive at the character of society based on the historical evidence and its current behavior, an interesting revelation occurs to me.

Society, which comprises of us people has a character which is a product of all the negatives within each of us and rarely does it exhibit any significant manifestation of the good within all of us.

Society,if considered as an entity has an identity which, ironically is a metaphor to all the weaknesses within the individuals who constitute it.

Never ending wonders....

I started off writing this post thinking about something else,but it eventually coalesced into this one.

There are very few things in life which can keep us excited and hooked on forever. These are the things which can simultaneously occupy our minds, give food for thought and tickle our senses. Though,it varies from person to person, each of us definitely would have a precious few things to attach to and immerse in them. (The 'materialistic pleasure' if quoted in terms of the spiritual hypocrites)

These are manifested in the forms of intimate hobbies,passions and obsessions. The joy catered to us by such endearing endeavors is what makes our lives worth living for the sake of 'some things', apart from living for someone and ourselves. Indulging in performing gratifying acts to the self gives a sensation better than that of any accomplishment;It enhances us, makes us realize our existence in entirety.

There are a lot many manifestations of such natural instincts in each of us, which transform into passionate indulgences as we grow. This subsequently gets us in vibe with our Natural frequency, enabling the resonance of our passions with that of the world.

If each of us nurtured and nourished these passions, that would be the greatest penance for happiness in our lives.

The art of Propaganda, elaborated by the Greatest Propagandist himself

To whom should propaganda be made to appeal? To the educated intellectual classes? Or to the less intellectual?

Propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. For the intellectual classes, or what are called the intellectual classes today, propaganda is not suited, but only scientific exposition. Propaganda has as little to do with science as an advertisement poster has to do with art, as far as concerns the form in which it presents its message. The art of the advertisement poster consists in the ability of the designer to attract the attention of the crowd through the form and colours he chooses. The advertisement poster announcing an exhibition of art has no other aim than to convince the public of the importance of the exhibition. The better it does that, the better is the art of the poster as such. Being meant accordingly to impress upon the public the meaning of the exposition, the poster can never take the place of the artistic objects displayed in the exposition hall. They are something entirely different. Therefore. those who wish to study the artistic display must study something that is quite different from the poster; indeed for that purpose a mere wandering through the exhibition galleries is of no use. The student of art must carefully and thoroughly study each exhibit in order slowly to form a judicious opinion about it.

The situation is the same in regard to what we understand by the word, propaganda. The purpose of propaganda is not the personal instruction of the individual, but rather to attract public attention to certain things, the importance of which can be brought home to the masses only by this means.

Here the art of propaganda consists in putting a matter so clearly and forcibly before the minds of the people as to create a general conviction regarding the reality of a certain fact, the necessity of certain things and the just character of something that is essential. But as this art is not an end in itself and because its purpose must be exactly that of the advertisement poster, to attract the attention of the masses and not by any means to dispense individual instructions to those who already have an educated opinion on things or who wish to form such an opinion on grounds of objective study - because that is not the purpose of propaganda, it must appeal to the feelings of the public rather than to their reasoning powers.

(Excerpts from Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf  when talking about War Propaganda- A realistic appraisal of the use of propaganda to the masses )

My critique at the World

One of my close friends, who regularly reads my blog posts mentioned to me that most of the content in the blog was either criticizing or discussing the negativity prevalent in the society. That was a revelation to me!

I, then spent some time introspecting and analyzing, and it was true, although I have being doing it involuntarily.

The reason for me to be critical is because,I do not believe that we need to look only at the positive side of everything, ignoring the negatives,and I argue this is not pessimism either. I believe our life is a journey fueled by constant and continued efforts towards making ourselves better,by working on our negatives and flaws, at the same time sustaining the positives within us.

With this belief as the principle behind my actions, I naturally tend to be critical when observing people and events around me. By criticizing I am not intending at snubbing or disregarding the matters/people under discussion,but, I am seeing them in my perspective, wanting them to get better.

Although, I myself have declared that people never change, there has been a trait of mine which has not yet given up on this.

Change of people and circumstances for good, can sometimes be accomplished by criticizing and hinting at what I believe is to be right. And, in a few of my posts I only make a modest attempt at this.

My bad Geography and malfunctioning biological GPS!

For those of you who didn't know- I am very bad at remembering places, routes or understanding and visualizing maps ;) School Geography was highly obscure to me, for I could interpret very little about directions, hemispheres, latitudes and longitudes. Maps have been the toughest in the academic syllabi for me.

The hilarious aspect of this syndrome is that, I don't seem to have bettered in it. Spotting local places within Bangalore has become a Herculean task for me. Don't take this as exaggeration, people who've been with me out hunting for places would know it best :)

Hitherto, I had been commuting by buses mainly and used to give no heed to landmarks or roads or maps. Off late, I am having to visit lots of places on my vehicle and it has become tedious for me to get to any point, even after doing my homework to reach the place i.e., using Google maps!

I feel lost in most occasions, and it takes me repeated commutes to get the routes registered in my mind. My friends at FSMK know this, and successfully pull pranks on me out of this syndrome, which I deserve very well :)

I have promised myself to be more attentive while travelling in order to reduce the embarrassment and more importantly not to get lost!

The Demon haunted World!

The Demon Haunted World -That's Carl Sagan's book about the importance of scientific temperament and dissolution of pseudo science and superstitions.

When I was reading the book, I could very well understand the discomfort and agony the author was going through. The agony of seeing his fellow beings immersed in superstitions, blind beliefs, myths and loads of other gullibilities.

Take for example, today's spectacular Annular Solar eclipse. In southern India it was very prominent, Bangalore witnessed an 85% eclipse, which was scintillating enough a natural marvel. Instead of savoring this Once-in-a-millennium experience, hoards of people shut themselves into their houses, without taking in any food or water, performing poojas to their deities, talking trash about the event-Ultimately, missing a spectacular spectacle of the sun, moon and the earth!

It was ridiculous to hear people give their silly reasons for doing the above mentioned personal pranks.

How can people come to have Blind Beliefs? Beliefs aren't meant to be blind;You need to criticize everything before you can start to believe in anything. With so much ignorance about simple and essential things prevalent in the society, it's going to be a long time before we see a majority of sensible people inhabiting the earth!

Converging to the post title,Ignorance is the Demon haunting the world, and the world won't be soon seen free from its shackles.

Politics: The filthy game of high stakes

I tried a lot not to get this post on my blog. But, the current affairs of the state have forced me to.

I have always tried not to bother too much about the Government and its ridiculous flaws. Because, it is very depressing. I have come to believe-India is undoubtedly the largest democracy, but also the one demonstrating all the inherent flaws of this system more prominently than its positives.

Corruption, dishonesty,recklessness,disinterest towards people and their needs, exploitation of people for political gains, rowdism, embezzlement of Government funds, and all the offenses you can think of when a greedy animal aspires of power and gets there!

For instance, the disgraceful feud between the former Prime Minister of India and the present Chief Minister of Karnataka. They are both equally involved in huge scams which the entire people know, without having to prove any of them. On the top of this,they are using abusive language on each other in public and in front of media! Such a shame and disgrace.

It is highly unfortunate to put up with a system like this. If one complains about this, the challenge imposed on you is to enter the system and better it!

I don't agree that it is possible. The system now has this malice in its genes, it will be the same until and unless the system itself is renovated.And for the system to be renovated, it requires a strong antidote.

I'd strongly recommend at least a decade of Reign by a passionate Idealist(yes, i am suggesting a benevolent dictatorship)to bring the system on the right track. I see all of this changing only when a radical change like what i mentioned will occur.

With lack of patriotism and greed all over them, most of the politicians are consuming the lives and livelihoods of people like fuel to run their malicious bureaucracy in this primarily flawed democracy.

VTV-The Audio: Newest sound in Indian Cinema :)

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya- A first time venture of  A R Rahman with director Gautam Menon, and the result is something extraordinary. This is the newest kind of sound I've heard for any Indian origin music! Specifically, the mixing is brilliant for all tracks.

Gautam is always inclined towards strings, and his previous movies used to prominently have electric guitar, whereas in VTV, AR has used lot of cool sound from acoustic guitar and a beautiful orchestra of Violins and Cellos i suppose. The tunes are again-work of a genius.

Track-wise comments:

1. Omana Penne- A sweet, catchy song with some real nice,mushy lyrics.
2. Anbil Avan- Starts off like a naadhaswaram-gospel fusion, then the singers take it high and low on a beautiful tune with a sublime naadhaswaram solo...
3. Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya- Karthik at his best singing a tune which keeps ringing in your head, complemented by some simple but exquisite strings
4. Hosana- This is the song which is going to be played on all music shows. Relatively slow,but a catchy number...
5. Kannukkul kannai- A teaser, with a cheeky violin piece throughout the song sung by Naresh Iyer.
6. Mannipaaya- This is my personal favorite with amazing lyrics, and a superb tune which goes the entire vocal range. Shreya Goshal sounds authentically Tamil, and AR does a great job with his part of the song. 
7. Aaoromale- The surprise track of the album. Lot of heavy strings, rustic male vocals by Alphonse and lyric in Malayalam. The most pleasantly weird song by AR!

Overall, this album will stand the test of time. The movie itself and the picturisation will propel these deeper into the audience.

Why read books?

(An episode of comments on my Facebook profile)
Me:
"A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return" Salman Rushdie

My Friend:
Stop reading books i say you can never learn more than what is written in the book.....experiment innovate and learn.....why learn up what all the mortals have summed up for ages.....you can that way be no smarter than they were...books kill authentic creation...innovate with nature...live in the real world

Me:
Misconception 1: I,or any good reader for that matter does not read to just learn what's in the book. That's always the foundation to your thoughts and ideas so that you don't reinvent the wheel or repeat the mistakes flashing in the history.

Misconception 2: Learning and innovation in today's world go hand in hand-because you can't invent everything starting from scratch.

Misconception 3:'why learn up what all the mortals have summed up for ages' -Because you are also a mortal and you most probably won't be able to do everything all your ancestors did within your own lifetime!

Misconception 4: Books do not kill authenticity! They give you a perspective, and that will remain attached to you if you've already had that in you,it most of the times betters your creativity.

Misconception 5:To innovate you need to be equipped, and books are one of the most effective means my friend.

Ultimately,I find your comment prejudiced for some reason inexplicable to me! But, do read books-there's no point disregarding all the knowledge percolated through ages in the form of books. You need to groom yourself,mature and then hone in your instinctive skills. For that, reading is the best method, else you will live in a delusion.And that is 'not the real world' my friend!

PS: I am not implying that books are better off of authentic creativity, but I am saying that all the authentic creation of our predecessors should be a source of inspiration to us, and to get positively inspired-Reading their works is the best means!

Back on my Byke :)

After almost 3 years, I finally got my byke (Its called BSA-Pulsar!!!) redone today. This is my seven year old byke,and today I rode for about 25 km since noon....

A reminiscing experience of the good(I won't say old!) school and college days.Now,after a sabbatical from byking,it feels a lot different-I seem to be riding all along the streets in a taller posture and with a better view!

And to where did I go?
After loafing all of my vicinity and the immediate proximities, I rode to IISc-Best place for Byking in Bangalore, to meet a Computer Science Professor for our FSMK activities... A full stretch ride amidst the serenity of IISc made this comeback byking more enjoyable.

The general consciousness of Going Green is driving a good number of Bengalureans go Byking, and it is a good symptom. And,I shall try to fit in as a Byker whenever and wherever possible...

I call this my small big-comeback!

♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ Mozart of Madras ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫

Firstly, Happy Birthday AR:)

" இசை புயலுக்கு " இனிய பிறந்த நாள் வாழுத்துக்கள் 

I started 'listen'ing to music when i was in my 10th standard, to recede the stress I was suffering from! Initially, it so happened that I used to feel inclined towards only a particular kind of music. I did not know any artistes or genres then. Later, I realized that I've always been inclined towards A R Rahman's music.

AR has since then become an integral part of me. Every special incident in my life has a bit of AR and his sublime music attached to it. The most memorable one would be my India Quiz, which I presented as a Tribute from me to his Accomplishments, it was immediately after his Oscars win:) Those of you who were present there might remember the occasion of that celebration.

It is not only his music, but his persona which gets me hooked onto his music. The most genuinely humble celebrity I have come across would be AR alone. His shyness,occasional timidness, constant spirituality, an extraordinary life and an undying passion towards music have very aptly put him in a place where he is today. Not about him being on the top of the world, but deep in the bottom of the hearts of his millions of admirers, like myself. That is his greatest achievement, which cannot be surpassed by any number of awards.

Wish you a long life AR, throughout which you would create music for our lives. Life gets better with music, and with your music it gets closer to heart as well...

All iz(not) well :)

The current slogan of Hindi Cinema-All iz Well has caught on like Einstein's Mass-energy equivalence. Everyone's been praising the movie 3 Idiots exhaustively. And,it deserves it. The movie has done more than just entertaining the crowd.

A much needed national attention has been drawn towards the pathetic Training(not education) system our country boasts of.

Being in Karnataka, it is much more awkward. With around 200 Engineering colleges each offering at least five different streams of engineering,operating like a false mechanism uncourteously manufacturing IT stereotypes. It has given rise to a ridiculous scenario, where,people of varied interests are blindly entering the IT domain for the lucrative pays and lifestyles promised by the prospects of jobs in IT. Eventually,these herds of people are either converted into one of their products or, ultimately into broken unhappy individuals repenting upon their decision.

And talking about the dangerous grading system in education-It has been very rightly called a discrimination like casteism in the movie. Although this unfortunate system to a good extent has favored me, I understand and realize its inherent flaws which increase the rat-race tendency, bring down the confidence of students, reduce the spirit of learning and make education a painful formality.

With a system still reluctant to look beyond books, where people take up exams only to test their memorization skills, and where no ingenuity is encouraged, the very small percentage of the population having the luxury to afford schools and colleges is also being deprived of EDUCATION.

Things seem to be changing,but at a snail pace. The system should evolve,and swiftly,to encourage growth of vibrant young minds,instead of charring them down to an ash-tray!

Strive for excellence,and not for success. If you excel, success shall follow you- Baba Rancho :)


Hope All gets Well......

Not resolutions,but convictions....

Three days into 2010, and this is my first post. In this post,I take a sneak peek into numerous important personal traits of mine, which have evolved since some time now.

As the title says, these are not resolutions ( I have rarely made a resolution, even if i have,never been able to abide by them). These are my personal convictions which have percolated deep into me,specifically in the last couple of years.

*God,Faith and Religion: After a long period of argument with myself and the beliefs which were imposed on me,I am convinced of the non-existence of any supreme being or any supreme power, namely God, and that religion is the best deceptive tool devised by man for exploiting the world. As a consequence, the question of me being a religious person can be discarded. I believe only in the power within thy self. And my life will be a continuous effort of bettering myself.

*Sense of true independence:  I have now pragmatically realized that being dependent on anyone or anything puts us in a vulnerable position. And being independent is a substantially tough feat too in today's world. Nevertheless, I have slowly tried and freed myself from the clutches of many superficial dependencies. This has made a huge positive impact on me,as the number of factors limiting my potential opportunities have reduced drastically. Consequently, this freedom increases my functionality in various domains of my life.

*People never change,don't waste efforts on it: This might sound antagonizing, but, this conclusion is a direct consequence of few strong and convincing personal experiences. Change must be voluntary and cannot be imposed, and,only in a very few cases it can be instigated.

*Ayn Rand works: I have been a great admirer of Ayn Rand and her works. I have been experimenting with her philosophy on my own life, and the results have been  stupendous. Although, my sensibility allows me to follow her in a mildly reserve mode, I am confident of the positive impact it has and will continue to have on me.

All these aspects are now an integral part of me, and I shall elaborate them further when need be. For now, I have clear ideas which will help me steer through the crowd making my mark.