"Namma Debian" Thiruvizha :)

"Thiruvizha" was the word which was ringing in my head while witnessing today's run-up event, that of releasing the Kannada version of GNU/Linux operating system which we called "Namma Debian ". Thiruvizha is  a Tamil word which stands for joyous celebration!

This was exactly how the atmosphere had metamorphosed in the Ambedkar Community Computing Centre or AC3, as we call it. AC3 is based in a small community of slum dwellers,adjoined to the establishments of the biggest IT players in the world. Here,computer and related skills are imparted to the local kids by enthusiasts from FSMK.

Today's event was a colorful programme organized by the local members along with FSMK. MC was a local kid, who compered the entire event excellently :)

G Ramakrishna, Editor of Hosatu was the Chief Guest. He spoke passionately about the untapped potential abundantly present within the children in places like the AC3. Lack of opportunities, cribbing at fate and being complacent with their living conditions, according to him were the evils haunting them,and that anyone who wanted to change his life to betterment could do it. He invoked the lives of Elridge Cleaver and Ho Chi Minh , who defied the circumstances and became leaders. His talk was an inspirational one, mixed with passion and anguish about the disparity in society. He released the "Namma Debian" operating system, by handing over the same to the eldest woman in their community.

There was also a brief demonstration of Namma Debian, running through games, image manipulation tools etc...

This was followed by a sensational speech by an about 10 year old kid, who beautifully interleaved quotes from The Quran and The Gita while emphasizing the importance of education in life. He also reminisced Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, who is considered to be the Savior of the downtrodden people in India, for the benefits he ensured them in the Constitution of India.

The colour to the event was the exuberant music and dance by the localites. A music troupe of one Mr. Arul, inhabitant at the AC3 region performed peppy songs, which got all of us groove to the rhythm of the beats.

The issue of Accessibility software was echoed by a beautiful young lady Ms.Vidya with partial visual impairment and an associate of her's, to the audience in a manner which struck chords with them. She demonstrated the proprietary tool which she uses for screen reading, and FSMK raised the voice for refined development of such in Free Software domain.

With all the local people enthusiastically participating in an event conceptually still distant to them, but with a hope that at least it would benefit their kids, a purpose is strengthened:
To continue trying to do the little we can in not letting their hopes down.

Click to play

Sensational talk by 10 year old kid from the local community....

Click to play

Song and music at AC3

"Freedom Walks" by Free Software Movement-Karnataka

(@M.G. Road)

(@ Jayanagar 4th block)

FSMK(Free Software Movement- Karnataka) is organizing the National Conference on Free Software, where issues pertaining to Freedom in Computing and the related Software are going to be discussed and debated in a week's time, on the 20th and 21st March. Campaigning for the Conference took a different shape today when Freedom Walks were organized starting from two nodal points in the city; One starting from Mahatma Gandhi statue on M.G. Road and the other from Jayanagar 4th Block.

Students from NHCE,CMRIT,YDIT took up the initiative to call for these Freedom Walks at M.G. Road and Jayanagar 4th Block, along with numerous other activists from FSMK. We initially held a gathering to gain attention of public, displaying posters, distributing Conference pamphlets,issuing copies of Bharat Operating System Software(BOSS) provided by CDAC, and other GNU/Linux operating system software, then began marching along the streets in small groups talking to people about the Free Software Movement and the Conference.

During campaigning, the one thing which took most of us by surprise was the interest 'general public' showed more than the young minds and the techies we were targeting.There was lot of inquisition about the Conference and the other activities we were engaged in from the general public. This inquisition of the 'common man' towards a cause like the Free Software Movement is to be converted into cognizance about issues pertaining to 'Society and Digital Freedom'.The National Conference is one such effort from FSMK.

The lacuna in the society we are addressing surfaced again while interacting with people, when one person inquired about the conference and expressed his interest in participating in it, but also told us he was an illiterate and that he knows only Kannada. We then welcomed him to the conference, briefing him about the gamut of Kannada related activities we are organizing as a run-up to the conference and in the conference itself. He was glad to accept the invite.

While campaigning continued profusely,an auto driver approached us. He was curious as to what we were doing. After listening to us he introduced himself. He has completed his Electronics Hardware training and conveyed to us his interest in learning some software technologies. He was interested in the National Conference as well, and told that he would be contacting the FSMK office at Madiwala for further details.

Bangalore being the IT hub, didn't disappoint us. We also encountered Software Gurus working in Free and Open Software Technologies, who were delighted and appreciated our efforts for organizing a National Conference on Free Software.

This was an eye-opener to lot many student activists of ours, who would now start to believe that there definitely needs to be a bridge between technology and the common man.

The motive behind organizing the Conference is to try and bring awareness to people about the choice to Free Software and technology (Free as in Freedom) and also to throw some much required light up on the gap between 'technology and common man' in an Indian scenario.

PS: nc2010.fsmk.org/
      www.fsmk.org/

Self made simpleton :P

Each of us definitely goes through a period of mania,when unintentionally we make fools out of ourselves.
It is a fun to become objects of fun and harassment to your peers,without having put intentional efforts towards it.

I am just now recovering from peak of such a passing phase, of making numerous simpletons out of myself.
At work, making the dumbest of the mistakes, which have become items of good fun for my peers :)
With friends, behaving weirdly,in manners least expected of me, which initially annoyed a few and later turned into amusement :)

And, I claim to have accomplished these feats with no conscious efforts at all. It has been a result of my engrossment in numerous other activities,which have caused unequal allocation of me and my resources,
and, I could also attribute it to a bit of hangover as well ;) not caused by alcohol though, but as a result of workohol(not inclusive of my job;)

It does feel good to have surprised people pleasantly because of my incongruity;)

On a small sabbatical...

There are many things to be shared with you all. But, I have been occupied in various things for a few days.This will continue for a few more days.

Don't miss me until then :)

FSMK Road Show on 13th of March:)

We've done Technical workshops, Philosophy sessions, Candle held parades, and even Rock shows! Why?

The only motive behind all these activities has been, to reach out to as many people as possible with the message of Freedom in Software. We are the Free Software Movement- Karnataka: Enthusiasts,propagandists and activists of Swatantra Software.

And now, the students, who are the vibrant dynamics of our movement have come up with yet another off-beat means to spread the word about Free Software and the National Conference on Free Software in particluar.

We are planning to hold road-walks with a flashy parade and perform Swatantra Software street-plays.

The road-walks will have the famous mascots of the movement- The GNU and The Tux, along with catchy banners and hoardings. Train of students and enthusiasts will walk along the roads (without disrupting the already disrupted traffic!) trying to grab attention of as many people as we can.

The street plays will not be performed exactly on streets,but in the nodal points of the city like in the Forum Mall,MG road......... This struggle for digital freedom has been going on for 25 years and does have a long history and epochal events to be remembered. We intend to portray these to the audience in short skits and dance-acts.

With the National Conference in the horizon, we are leaving no stone unturned to attract a huge audience and to put a small but important message of Freedom in Software and Computing into their heads.

God,Men and Godmen ;)

God: An effigy,symbolizing all the aspirations of every individual's ultimate fantasies,like omnipotence,omnipresence and omniscience. 
God has been,and still grows to be an insignia,which we weaklings want to look up to, and feel assured that there's an invisible divine power taking care of us, so that we can happily  shrug away from the responsibilities of our own.


Men: By men, here, i include all humans, including the better half of the world ;) We,the people, are the puppets with consciousness, who till our end do not realize the purpose of life, and spend lives chasing futility wrapped and presented to us in the name of God, religion and hollow spirituality.


Godmen: Shrewed opportunists, who take advantage of an advantageous situation offered to them. They are not to be blamed at all,these are the people who are enlightened. Yes, they are enlightened about the stupidity of people, and, they proceed to do the appropriate.


The interactions between the above three,in today's world is the farthest digression from the natural and instinctual cravings of humans in all ways.
It professes irony, and practices paradoxical perturbations, to push people into delusion and an almost ubiquitous paranoia, which ultimately people fail to recognize.

Conclusion, with a caption:

Is it,
"God save the world of men!"
or,should it be 
"Save the world from God, men and Godmen :P"


(Can be a good T-shirt quote!!!)

Breakthroughs to break through....

Breakthroughs, at personal and professional levels, and at regular intervals are quintessential for us as individuals to fare better in our roles.

Breakthroughs occuring to individuals are ephemeral in nature. The positive impact of such occurrences doesn't last long,it is impulsive. We need to experience them regularly to keep ourselves focussed and confined to deliver our best,and also to push ourselves beyond what we see as the horizon at those epochal points of time in our lives. It also becomes a motivator of the purest form, which keeps us driving to do more instigated by the sheer proven ability of us.

On the other hand,lack of breakthroughs can cause a dip in confidence levels. This leads the mind to go sway in search of alternatives to unworthy accomplishments. A complex complex takes form within us, which confuses the self and derails the thought-action train of activities.

Antidote to such drought hit state of breakthroughs is - either to grow numb towards these lacunae, or to aspire for a personality which would converge to that of a highfaluting poltroon!

Again, to reiterate the point of the post, breakthroughs in one's life are like hopping stones, where every subsequent stone is to be laid by us. We can either choose to rest on any of these stones without knowing what awaits us at the end, or to continue hopping over these breakthroughs to rendezvous the purpose of one's life :)

When memories seep through the carapace of oblivion....

Although,to some, I might seem a hermit-like specimen who doesn't show unusual attachment towards people, I treasure my own small section of people, who carry utmost beautiful personalities.

I'm lucky to be a part of this extraordinary system between us, a system with no false pretensions but with genuine affection, care and admiration as the bond. We know each other in certain ways that no one else who claims to know us individually would know about. There is no question of trust amongst us, for, trust seeps in where there is doubt. But, this almost Utopian entourage of ours is doubtless...

Off late,we do not interact as much as we used to,nevertheless,the warmth between us still remains the same.

I deeply miss those times,which, without warning have passed by and, today these memories have softened the carapace of the voluntary oblivion which I had pulled over myself,revealing my yearnings of what I will, at any point of time in my life call ♫ The best days of my life ♫

Non Conformities to Standards and its genealogy

Rules and regulations, law and order, another 'n' number of standards and all the other collectively denominating factors seeking to bring order amidst the natural chaos in society are, by virtue of their existence ineffective and irrelevant. There can be nothing on this earth that can be imposed absolutely on people by people, and further seeking their compliance to it is absurd.

All the uniformities observed amongst us is instilled in our nature by Mother Nature. One such important trait present in our nature is the definite tendency not to conform to any artificially induced attempts of collective and common groundings.

Yet, another irony of the system called civilized society is, it incessantly is engaged in a counter-effective manner trying to bring repelling dissimilarities of individuals together.

Chaos is the only Universal law, and we being a part of this chaos, cannot strive against the 'whole' of which we are a part of. And,if we do try bringing together people of varied levels of skills and talents to conform and comply with a common axiom, it is similar to the net effect of resistances in parallel: The effective quality of such a herd would be lesser than the least;)

We are at full throttle of our potentials when left untamed and uninfluenced by the frivolous etiquette of the society...

Comfortable confusions...

Okay !!!

Don't worry people, you can relax and mellow down, let those frowns on your forehead go.This ain't another deep analysis post, or a post hoping for reformation in society(although those are the ones which naturally emanate out of me;)

This post is about the sudden periods of euphoria around me because of chaotic confusions...

Off late, things are getting worse in a small way, ultimately yielding bigger benefits. There's a lot of confusion in and around me. 

An air of inordinance incessantly keeps me adhered to intimate incoherence 

(Don't ask me what I meant here, but, it some what expresses what i am going through!)

Sometimes,being happy, ignoring the causes behind it, is the best way to savor the surprises in life. Consequently, me and myself are already busily engaged in practicing the principles preached by a pragmatist I know called 'me'. 

Feeling comfortable on a Cloud of Confusions :)

Getting Reliance Netconnect USB modem on Ubuntu

Finally,the first Technical post on my blog, for, there seems to be lot of demand for this particular tweak.

Reliance Netconnect CDMA1x USB modems - ZTE MG880, manufactured by ZTE, "supposedly" come supported only for M$ Windows , but, I have got it working on GNU/Linux OS - Ubuntu with help from various online forums.


Additional Prerequisites in Ubuntu (I'm running 9.04):

• modprobe - program which intelligently adds and removes modules from the Linux Kernel. To get this program,generic kernel modules have to be added to the kernel by running the following command in the terminal.

          sudo apt-get install linux-generic

•  wvdial -It is a PPP dialer with built-in intelligence (Previous distros of Ubuntu used to have this packaged). To get this program do an apt-get

          sudo apt-get install wvdial

The following steps will help you get connected to internet using a ZTE mg880 USB modem. 

1. Plug in the USB modem, and manually mount it

$mount -t usbfs usbmodem /proc/bus/usb

2. Run a dmesg (dmesg is used to examine the kernel ring buffer,here, we check if the modem has been detected by the kernel)

$dmesg (don't bother about the elaborate o/p after executing this command)
3.Now, execute the next command and look for ZTE and the corresponding device id and vendor id.
$cat /proc/bus/usb/devices
I found these for my modem(it's the same for most ZTE mg880) -vendor id:0x19d2; product id: 0xfffd
4. Next, perform a modprobe to make the kernel aware of the modem
$sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x19d2 product=0xfffd
5. After modprobe, run a dmesg again,and if  the modem has been detected there will be a message saying that the USB core driver has been registered
6.Next, comes configuring the wvdial. To do this, run the following command
$sudo wvdialconf
To detect the modem wvdial will scan through all the serial ports, check the baud rates and give a message with the optimum baud rate and the port on which modem has been detected.
7. Now comes editing the wvdial config. 
$sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf
Edit the contents to:


[Dialer zte]
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = #777
Username =
Password =
#username and password is your modem's phone number
ISDN = 0
SetVolume = 0
FlowControl = Hardware (CRTSCTS)
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Dial Command = ATDT
Baud = 9600
#Baud rate might vary
Stupid Mode = 1 

8. Finally, run the following command to set up the ppp connection. You are connected if the prompt acquires Local IP, remote IP, primary and secondary DNS. 

$sudo wvdial zte

Firefox will be in Offline mode, uncheck the option in the File menu,and happy browsing :)

wvdial.conf configuration is lost after reboot. A simple shell script can automate the process, which I leave it to you to work on ;)

PS: I tried the same on Fedora 11, but could not connect to the internet even after acquiring IP and DNS. I read in a forum that the ppp daemon was bugged. So, I tried compiling older ppp daemons from FC6 through to FC10,but with no use. 

Anyways, I'm more of a debian guy than an 'rpm-er' ;)

So, happy that it's up and running on Ubuntu. 

Happy Hacking ;)

Keep it Obscure Stupid>>>>

If I were to tell you, when things are told in a simple manner they actually lose out the aura they deserve, and are perceived to be something mediocre. And if the same presented in a manner which people would remotely understand, the content is considered to be of high intellectual caliber.Wouldn't you agree with me?

The natural tendency of our minds is to believe that complicated is clever and simple is stupid!
'Complicated is Clever' might be true only when done intentionally, and not to mention that it takes immense effort to keep things plain simple, and it is the anything but being stupid.

Complications,when voluntarily invoked to make things seem obscure by the presenter to manipulate the naive receptors is 'simply' effective. This is the best possible manner to convey a thing,but at the same time not conveying it ;)
Having experimented this successfully many times in several sensitive situations, I seem to be getting cleverer (at least in this regard;)

Obscurity is a skill; As in,not about being lost in the obscurity of ignorance,but to draw the required into your realm in a convincing but obscure manner to make things go favorable to you....It does take skill....

Obsessions:A Human privilege

Like intellect and thought, another privilege bestowed on us by Nature is the ability to get obsessed with few special things. Obsession is the deepest human trait, and is one of the most intriguing attributes of us.

I believe that, being able to get inspired by any special thing, and to pursue it with immense passion is a privilege. Obsession is one of the things which has driven people to create history and make a mark on all our lives.

At personal levels, each one of us would definitely have few precious things to be obsessed about, and which would channelize our thoughts, efforts and actions converge to the perpetuation of these obsessions. And, this is is one of the most basic traits we as humans should exhibit.

But, while conversing with people, regularly and quite often, I get to hear almost a remorseful confession-

I don't remember anything that I have been deeply passionate about in my life...


This is a ubiquitous scenario in today's world of haste and hate, where people seldom find time or the patience to pursue something they really love. This is unnatural and by the virtue of this anomaly it deteriorates the quality of life we live....

So,
Find time, inculcate patience and grow passion to do what you really want to do.

And, this is the only thing you are obliged to do for being born as a human :)

PS: The image above- The Old Guitarist is one of my favorite paintings by Pablo Picasso. A legend, obsessed by his creativity pursued the same. Look at the mark he's left behind on all of us :)

"The Surpise Politics": A book review

Politics by Adam Thirlwell is the latest book I have completed reading. It has been a surprise read for me, all the way starting from why I bought it, to how it culminated into one intriguing but entertaining novel.

I was at the Book Festival for the second consecutive day in Bangalore, and was looking for some political literature. Then I spotted this book – “Politics”. I was in a hurry then, so I quickly read the cover page reviews and the gist, which had mentions of Stalin, Lenin, Mao and Hitler. Then I thought, it must be a political comedy. So, I bought it.

When I started reading the novel, I was taken aback by the first chapter with its meticulous details of the complex sexual act two of the protagonists were engaged in. But, what surprised me more was the minds of the persons involved in the act, which the author effortlessly and convincingly projects to the readers.

The novel is like watching a Woodey Allen type Ménage à trios, with certain extra details ;) It is an interesting read, for, the author also brings out the most subtle and most deeply hidden emotions onto paper by his witty articulation. I liked the book for its freshness and innovative writing, apart from feeling that all the three characters are bits and pieces of us, which each of us can relate to.

 The title if interpreted after reading the book would be "Politics of Love and the intricate dependencies"

Competition, Recognition and Pressure of Sustenance

We are always trying to stand out as someone special amongst the rest of the world.  This, I consider to be one of the prime objective which drives most of us in trying to do something beyond our routine. Although, this shouldn't be the instigator, it does help in churning out specialties from us.

Ideally, it should be our own personal ideas, convictions and principles  which should drive us at doing what we do, and not the recognition to be gained in a herd-like competition.Even if recognition is what we seek, it will certainly follow when we pursue our ideas with convictions.

A competition for the sake of recognition, and not for accomplishment is by itself a counter-force acting on us. When we are consciously pursuing recognition instead of ideas,the journey becomes futile.

Another, negative aspect of such a recognition is its non-permanency and the extra worry followed by it. A well deserved recognition will always be a force which encourages us, otherwise it will become a haunting threat making us feel insecure. This pressure to sustain a recognition which is not well deserved will further deteriorate our abilities.

Competition, recognition and sustenance are the aspects which you needn't bother about if you are following your ideas with conviction, as these three will be inherently taken care of .

de l'amour à faire l'amour

The post title is in French,presuming that I'm picking up the words quick it would translate to "From Love to Making love". This post is only about all the amorous love in the world.

I've always felt the words "I love you" being highly inappropriate, or at least misleading. I really haven't been able to interpret this phrase, both the context and premise of its use. It is more of a euphemism to all the natural/basic instincts within us and the dependencies we seek to satisfy from others.


The term love in today's world is a fusion of "need and commitment".  When i say that I love a person or someone else says it to me- it implies that each would be committed to the needs of the other. Replace all the uses of "I love you" by 
"I need you, so I need a commitment from you". It would fit in exactly, except that the flavor of hypocrisy would be lost. 


If there are a lot many of you who do not agree with me, it is because you do not want to. Just introspect and analyze, it all comes down to a dependency of need and commitment. When i say 'needs', making love would be one major aspect, but there are other essential needs as well, which I leave it to you people to ponder over. 


Going one step further the institution of marriage is an agreement or a Memorandum of Understanding for this dependency to be secure. 


Anyways, on this Valentine's Day lets hope there'll be love, lots of love which helps people fulfill their needs with voluntary commitment. 

Disclaimer: These views of mine are personal, and I am not trying it impose it on you, except that I wanted to give some food for your thought ;)
Further, let me make it clear that I am not affiliated to any sene or sena. Ironically, even if I were affiliated to them they could have never instigated me to write a post which is well above their soft-headed abilities....

Are we really a knowledge society?

This is one of the questions we at FSMK are trying to ask ourselves and throw the same at others. This question is of prime importance in today's scenario of socio-economic disparity. Genuine answers with pragmatic solutions have to be discussed and implemented to bring equality in the society.

When we talk about breaking the Digital divide prevalent in the society, it forms a subset of a bigger problem, i.e.,of Knowledge divide. In today's world the process of gaining knowledge by education is undergoing a perilous metamorphosis to become a precious commodity accessible only to a minor section of circumstantially favored people.

Most of the talks about reforms in education are being done in a manner irrelevant to the ground reality,ignoring the majority of the people who need it the most. The problem here is more ghastly and widespread.

When there is a major chunk of the population starving without adequate food and struggling to survive, there is no question of providing them with education in such circumstances.
Education does provide empowerment to individuals. But, the process of gaining that education is again an affair which can be pursued only if the daily basic needs of people are met. Unless these - the basic necessities of people are not met, there is no hope of seeing an equal society with the concept of Knowledge Commons.

These points were yet again debated and discussed in the FSMK meeting today. Propagating Swatantra software forms a small but important means to accomplishing a bigger task.

The ultimate goal is to make knowledge accessible to everyone for self empowerment.

Changing perceptions about changing people....

I sometimes wonder how that a person who made me happy once antagonizes me now, or,how that I am in real good terms with people I've had adamant friction initially...

Changing perceptions occurring as ramifications to changing people form an intriguing correlation. A correlation which I'd like to call,from an individual's perspective as "Acquired taste/distaste", for, our opinions in this regard ain't,and shouldn't be spontaneous. 

Now, talking about persons who have had polarizing relations with me, I can attribute this kind of polarization to their changing sensibility. Either they've assimilated a good amount of it or have shown drastic deficit of the same over the period of interaction with me. And, I am me, so I have my own terms for the perpetuation of any relation with me,and have rewarded them accordingly... It is unfortunate though that many of them have been disappointments! 

We need to realize that it is quintessential to change our perceptions based on the changes observed in people, else we as individuals will be miraged with obsolete opinions and will be lost in a hoax. 

A small delay and the Escape from memory....

The post title hints at a famous syndrome which many of us go through. The tendency to forget some bubbling brain activity because you are not in a position to record it out from memory.

This happens mostly while engaged in churning out something creative from the mind. This manifests the typical obscurity of brain's functioning,as to how it refuses to recollect the exact thoughts after a delayed attempt of recollection.

And once you lose them, the anxiety which follows immediately is distinctive and very personal,as no one else will be able to comprehend or empathize it.

I have had many such instances, wherein I haven't been able to reproduce an idea,an article, a pattern, and lot other things which I miss even now. So, you shouldn't be surprised if you find lot of scribblings of notes in my wallet or in my bag. I have salvaged a lot many personally precious thoughts by resorting to quick reclamation processes.

The gist of this post before I lose it can be articulated as:

Flowing thoughts if fettered are the last of things which can be retrieved back!

The obsolete malice...

Wondering what I'm talking about?

The very ubiquitous nuisance of linguistic chauvinism and regionalism morphed into a single sectarian group in the west of India, and the closest word I found to affiliate them is malicious.

The silliness of the claims and protests by this group definitely does not fit in today's world where the general perception of people has elevated from being sharply acute to at least slightly broad, so i call them obsolete.

If there are people in today's world,who feel passionately inclined towards such a group or it's principles, they are living in a fictitious world.I can't resist to think when such soft-heads would realize the futility of protests and agitations of such trivial causes like language and regionalism, or that they are being used as pawns in a lucrative game of Quest to Power and Monopoly. Not to mention the group by itself is a pinnacle of conservatism and an effigy of regression. 

These native terrorists must be curbed, else the hindrance they would cause to our growth by the virtue of their insensible reasons would bring disgrace to the entire nation!

The word is "Indulgence"

Off late, English has become the most convenient language to express my emotions, thoughts and ideas-both in literature and articulation. This being the case, I have few words which are special to me, Words which I love the most.

Talking about the goodness in English apart from the ease of conveyance,and as the post title suggests, my favorite word in English happens to be "Indulgence", for  all it stands for.

I just love the quality the word Indulgence represents -A profound word representing the gratification of personal desires and tastes. It talks of something very intimately private,and that which pleases oneself, consequently preaching the Road to Salvation.

Moving on, the next few favorite words would be bliss, solitude, obsession, vanity, proactive,ideas,music.....for the traits they attribute.


Impromptu use yielded this,


Solitude is bliss.
Vanity in my obsession of ideas.
Be proactive.
Music is sublime.


Indulgence in everything that makes me me.

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.