Enjoy Enthiran :D

I still cherish the first music album I purchased for myself : That was Shankar's Boys in 2003... And needless to say what a rage that music had become then, and still is one of the best albums by A R Rahman with Shankar.

Now, here comes, the latest project of Shankar : Enthiran-The Robot, with Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai, something unprecedentedly extravagant and massive in Indian Cinema.

And A R Rahman delivers what could be called his best "Commercial Album" in Enthiran. It has amazing quality to it with lots of technical sound, powerful beats and superb tunes, sung by a varied genre of vocalists. With seven tracks in the album, it is nothing less than a feast to an ARR fan.

1. Puthiya Manidha: This is the first track in the album, and sets the premise for the rest of the album and the movie as well. It starts off with synthesized vocals, followed by ARR, then his daughter Khatija's first performance. She has soothing vocals, would be listening more of her soon, and would like to. ARR's portion is like a 'boot sequence' framed into a song :) Then comes the main course of the song with SPB rendering some characteristic magic of his, making this track the ideal introductory track.

2. Kaadhal Anukkal: An eloquent track. Starts with superb acoustic guitar and mouth organ. Then Vijay Prakash joins in with a weird tone, and then mellows down to his normalcy, complemented by awesome beats. The best part of the song starts when Shreya Goshal joins in, and both then carry the song in a superb manner, singing some mushy Vairamuthu lyrics.

3. Irumbile Oru Idhayam: A high techno and gizmo(!) kind of a track. Has a space travel effect to it! ARR has done the vocals along with some enticing vocals of Kash'n'Krissy. Although the beats make you go foot tapping, ARR's portion is my favorite in the track... Reminds me of Maramkothiye from Anbe Aaruyire ;)

4. Chitti Dance Showcase: A medley of different music genres. Not a full fledged track though. A peppy party number...

5.Arima Arima: An epic song! It is of the likes of Kappal eri poyache from Indian. Hariharan, along with the additional male vocalists make it a song which is as if chronicling a legend. Sadhana Sargam does some mellowing to this powerful track.

6. Kilimanjaro: The magical number of the album. This is the track you'll start liking from the very instant you start listening to it, and it would certainly keep ringing in your head. Javed Ali and Chinmayi are excellent with their playful vocal variations in this track. It also has a lot of tribal chorus and beats, making it all the more special.

7. Boom boom robo da: I was expecting Yogi B to sing for ARR soon. And here he comes with a racy track with great beats to it. The female vocalist Shwetha gives it another different mood to it, making it all the more likable :)

Altoghther, here's an album from A R Rahman which will go on to become one of his best and best selling:) This will be on my playlist for months now ;)
Enjoy Enthiran :)

Memory Loss...

I was contemplating some compelling post for today, while I was walking into my room. By the time I could get life running into my laptop, it was, Phufffff and gone!

Not once or twice, and not just about a blog post idea; numerous times, I've had to struggle to retrieve many small things from memory. It might be common with people to forget things. But, those of you who know me closely, would also know my syndrome of forgetfulness, when it comes to names, numbers and most trivial of the details like, my keys, books and, off late helmet ! But, nothing can beat my lack of remembrance of voices ! I've almost never recognized a voice accurately, even when a well known person is calling from a new number.

These amnesic syndromes seem to accentuate, with the increased consciousness I put towards it. And this doesn't seem to help me little.

The worst ramification of this syndrome, personally is, when I'm not able to recollect a word for a situation, or when I'm not able to relate to some content I would have piously professed either in my blog / while in conversation!

Although, it is said that a bad memory and a happy attitude keeps you blissful, I don't seem to enjoy that privilege, for, I never forget certain things. Certain incidents are afresh, even after many years. I can even remember the quality of the ambiance, with the aroma in the air!

It is fun to forget things (sometimes even people:)
Hope I don't get into some irrecoverable trouble because of this selective amnesia ;)

"Error generating folder list" in Evolution

I've been using Evolution mail client in Ubuntu for quite sometime now,without much hassle. But recently, I performed a hard restart on my Laptop and when I tried accessing Evolution, it could not retrieve mails from one of the local folders used to store my official mails from M$ Exchange.

The status bar would show "Error generating mail list", and when I checked the debug reports, it attributed an error stating: "Database image is malformed".


After looking up at launchpad's  bug report , it was hinted there that the problems in the database folder file 'folder.db' would result in this error.
I followed the following steps to correct it:

• Run this command in the terminal to verify the status of the folder.db files 

cd ~/.evolution/mail ; for i in `find . -name folders.db`; do echo "Rebuilding Table $i"; sqlite3 $i "pragma integrity_check;"; done

• As I did not have sqlite3 installed, I installed it from Universe repositories, 

 sudo apt-get install sqlite3

• After installing sqlite3, I ran the first command again. This time, the command rebuilt the missing folder.db files, and also showed erroneous folder.db file. 

Rebuilding Table ./vfolder/folders.db
ok
Rebuilding Table ./pop/raghavendra@xyz.com@mail.abc.com/folders.db
ok
Rebuilding Table ./local/folders.db
*** in database main ***
On page 4 at right child: 2nd reference to page 218
Page 420 is never used
Error: database disk image is malformed

• After you find out the erroneous file, delete it from its location, and close all evolution processes including evolution-dataserver and evolution-alarm notifier. 
• Now execute the first command again, and verify if there are any more errors by running

sqlite3 ~/.evolution/mail/local/folders.db "pragma integrity_check;"

•  After these steps, I started Evolution to find the error resolved.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie....

Ironical depiction of the pompous and hypocritical bourgeoisie lifestyle at its best, in "Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie"; what is called a surreal movie, and is a genius of a mockery at the bourgeois by Luis Buñuel. 

The simple but meticulously manifested instances throughout the movie depcit the artificiality and unnecessary etiquette superficially endorsed by the supposed elite class of the society. The characters portray the caricatures of the products of the system: People who give little value to people, but only to their possessions. 

Lots of instances in the movie remarkably tease the lives of the ones who have endorsed this hypocrisy. Like,

• The inn where they are willing to serve these people the dinner, even while waiting for the undertaker to do away with with their dead manager.
• The priest being recognized only in his attire, without giving heed to his words when dressed different.
• The ever curious gaze of the house maid, who looks 25 but is 52 years old!
• As a trait, their inculcation of adultery. 
• The evasion of the Ambassador from explaining the poor living conditions in his country.
• The priest who kills the one who has just confessed to him! 

Numerous other instances in the movie, gloriously ridicule the futility of the bourgeoisie lifestyle and the bourgeois as a whole. Of the other movies I've watched by Luis Buñuel, this is the one which makes a uncompromising point to the audience.


And not to forget the story-telling pattern in this 1972 flick: Dream within a dream, and dream within another. These dreams are more congruent to the natural dreams people have, conforming to Sigmund Freud's theories, unlike the contradictions of the latest mind-flick Inception...

Savor the Season

Impeccable is the closest word which can rightfully attribute this encore of lovely weather in Bengaluru. After a hiatus of about four years, as far as I remember, the weather in the past month and still going has been the heavenly haven Bengaluru has been famous for.

The reluctant sun seldom peeping through the ever expanding cover of gray clouds,
The cool air along with the feeble songs of birds enhancing the awesomeness in the ambiance,
The remnant greenery scattered in the city looks lush and exquisite,
Thin sheets of rain,spraying regularly, seem to rinse us in reminiscence of younger days,
Chills of the frigid breeze instigate regular armies of goosebumps, making you aware of your own warmth;

If romance is what's on your mind, the place is right here;

With such pleasantness all around, while the senses are indulged in this delightful treat, the mind goes voyaging, gliding over the innumerable notions of its imagination seeking company and solitude...
 Savoring this season in Namma Bengaluru...

Mass Media-aaaah!

The power of print media, with it's far reach and deep impact, in the form of press, books and newspapers needn't be questioned at all.

Since the times of Gutenberg, print media has been a crucial tool in the making of every epochal event in the History of Mankind. It continues to play an important role till date. But, with the advent of other forms of media the "Mass appeal" of print media has unfortunately, in a substantial manner subsidized and has acquired a new trait to it.

So, whom are we attributing by the term Mass Media in today's paparazzi prone paranoid society?

We'll try to answer the above question in a more elaborate manner, with the routine interrogatives:  What? Why? Who?

What?

Mass media, today, collectively comprises of the innumerable means, fluently used to accomplish 'extensive misappropriation of facts, fabrication of stories, inclusion of cheap gimmicks and not to forget the chatterbox characters',chewing out stereotype hype for every "Breaking News", which in most cases is plain gibberish.

The Television with it's hundreds of News-Entertainment channels, and the Internet have, YES, as the cliché goes: Revolutionized the world!

With such drastic revolution, they put the print media's existence under threat; And the print media faced with this option to survive, wholeheartedly has endorsed this syndrome and now is now a derivative of today's plague-like Mass Media.

So, I converge to a definition where Print media, Television and Internet together form the vicious Mass media in today's world, which the masses are supposed to beware of, instead, the masses have taken them to be the references for their lives.

Now, from a retrospective arrival at today's ingredients of the Mass media, we can analyze the character of this collective entity.

Why?

We are being fed with major proportions of negativity, anxiety and futility in the form of news and entertainment from the previously described sources of Mass Media.

Why are they doing that?

Because, we seem to like it. Or maybe, they have made us start liking it.
Just like an addiction: You instigate and initiate, it will self sustain. The same is true about media,when it comes to the question as to why it feeds us little of the Good, and most of the Bad and the Ugly. Look at all the unnecessary importance given to the Breaking news, reality shows and the paparazzi updates forever on these.

Who?

If I own lots and lots of  money, and I am an influential person in the society, and if it also happens that I own a print or media channel( like it is in the case of many), I would use it as an implement to facilitate my activities: A secure carapace.

This is what 90% of the media channels are being used for today. Either a bureaucrat or a politician, running one media or print channel, uses it efficiently to strengthen or misguide the position of himself, or of some real close 'buddies' of theirs, at the expense of factual truth.

Lack of responsibility and ethics in information dissemination has been the vice in the voice of the today's glossy media.

As an appropriate conclusion to this post, I recollect Dr. Kalam's words about the role of media:

"Unless media emphasizes on the positivity in daily life, rather than accentuating negativity, and unless media becomes the voice of the rural, the poor and the downtrodden, today's media can never be called as "Mass Media"!

ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ಭಾರತದ ಮೊಟ್ಟ ಮೊದಲ ಪೀಕೊ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ - ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್

" ಮೂರ್ತಿ ಚಿಕ್ಕದಾದರೂ, ಕೀರ್ತಿ ದೊಡ್ಡದು", ಎಂಬ ಗಾದೆ ಮಾತು ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಂದುತ್ತದೆ. ಏಕೆಂದರೆ, ಇಸ್ರೋ ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಕಳುಹಿಸಿರುವ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಇದು ಅತಿ ಸಣ್ಣದು. ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಕೇವಲ ೧ ಕೆಜಿ ತೂಕವಿದ್ದು, ಸುಮಾರು ೫೦ ಲಕ್ಷ ವೆಚ್ಚದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾಡಲ್ಪಟ್ಟಿದೆ.

ಇದರ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಬಹು ಮುಖ್ಯವಾದ ಗುಣವೆಂದರೆ, ಇದು ಸ್ನಾತಕಪೂರ್ವದ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ. ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ತಂಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಮಾರು ೪೦ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು, ಭಾರತದ ಹಲವು ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದರೆ. ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಿಂದ ೪, ಹೈದರಾಬಾದಿನಿಂದ ೩, ನಾಗಪುರದಿಂದ ೧, ಹಾಗು ಪೂನೆಯಿಂದ ೧ ಕಾಲೇಜು, ಒಂದುಗೂಡಿ ಈ ಉಪಗ್ರಹವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿ ಇಸ್ರೋಗೆ ಕಳೆದ ತಿಂಗಳು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ರಾಜ್ಯಪಾಲರ ಸಮ್ಮುಖದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ಒಂದು ಸಮಾರಂಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಇಸ್ರೋ ಗಣ್ಯರಿಗೆ  ಒಪ್ಪಿಸಲಾಯಿತು.

ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್-ಅನ್ನು ಕಳೆದ ವಾರ, ಶ್ರೀಹರಿಕೋಟಾದಿಂದ ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಹಾರಿಸಲಾದ ಪಿಎಸ್ಎಲ್ ವಿ ರಾಕೆಟ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೊಯ್ದು, ಭೂಮಿಯಿಂದ ೬೪೦ ಕಿಮ ಎತ್ತರದಲ್ಲಿ, ಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನು ಸುತ್ತು ಹೋಗಲು ಬಿಡಲಾಗಿದೆ.  ಈ ಉಪಗ್ರಹವು ಸಣ್ಣದಾದರೂ, ಇನ್ನಿತರೆ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಯಂತ್ರಾಂಶಗಳನ್ನೂ ಇನ್ನೂ ಸಣ್ಣ ಗಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೊಂದಿದೆ. ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್-ನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಕ್ಯಾಮೆರಾವನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್- ನ ಈ ಕ್ಯಾಮೆರಾ, ಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನು ಸುತ್ತು ಹೋಗುವಾಗ, ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದು, ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ಕಳುಹಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಶ್ರೇಣಿಯ ಉಪಗ್ರಹಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಅತ್ಯುತ್ತಮ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ತೆಗೆಯುವ ಸಾಮರ್ಥ್ಯವಿದೆ.


ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಉಪಗ್ರಹವು ಹಲವು ವಿಭಾಗಗಳನ್ನು ಒಳಗೊಂಡಿದೆ. ಅವುಗಳು ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು ನಿರ್ವಹಿಸುತ್ತವೆ. ಈ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ವಿಭಾಗಗಳನ್ನು ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ ತಂಡವು ಮಾಡಿದೆ.

ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಬಾಹ್ಯಾಕಾಶದಿಂದ ತೆಗೆಯುವ ಭೂಮಿಯ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಪರ್ಶತಂತು ಅಥವ ಅಂಟೆನದ ಮೂಲಕ ರೇಡಿಯೋ ತರಂಗಗಳನ್ನು ಬಳಸಿ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿರುವ ನಿಟ್ಟೆ ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಉಪಗ್ರಹ ಸಂಪರ್ಕ ಕೇಂದ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೆರೆ ಹಿಡಿಯಬಹುದು. ಈ ತರಂಗಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಮಾಹಿತಿಯನ್ನು ಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿ ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ಮರು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಬಹುದು.

ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಸೂರ್ಯನ ಬೆಳಕನ್ನು ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ತಾಗಿ ಪರಿವರ್ತಿಸಿ, ಬ್ಯಾಟರಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಶೇಖರಿಸಿ, ತನ್ನ ಕಾರ್ಯ-ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆಗಳನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್ ಸುಮಾರು ಒಂದು ಲೀಟರ್ನಷ್ಟು ಗಾತ್ರವಿರುವುದರಿಂದ, ಹೆಚ್ಚು ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ ಉತ್ಪನ್ನಗೊಳಿಸಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಾಗುವಿದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇರುವಷ್ಟು ವಿದ್ಯುತ್ತನ್ನು  ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಉಪಗ್ರಹವು ತನ್ನ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿ ಮುಗಿಸಬೇಕು. ಇಂತಹ ವಿನ್ಯಾಸ ಮಾಡುವುದು ಈ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿ ತಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಒಂದು  ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸವಾಲಾಗಿತ್ತು.


ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್-ನ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ನಿಯಂತ್ರಿಸಲು, ಉಪಗ್ರಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ಇಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಾನಿಕ್ ಮೆದುಳನ್ನು  ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಅಳವಡಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ಮೆದುಳು ಉಪಗ್ರಹದ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ನಿಯಂತ್ರಿಸಿ, ಸರಿಯಾದ ನಿರ್ಣಯಗಳನ್ನು ತೆಗೆಯುವ ಹಾಗೆ ಇದನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಲಾಗಿದೆ. ಇದನ್ನು ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಂಪ್ಯೂಟರ್ ಎಂದೇ ಕರೆಯಬಹುದು. 

ಈ ಉಪಗ್ರಹವನ್ನು  ಮಾಡಿದ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು  ಮತ್ತು ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳ ತಂಡದ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಪ್ರಶಂಸೀಯ ಗುಣವೆಂದರೆ, ಇದು ಯಾವುದೇ ಒಂದು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನಿಂದ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಲ್ಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಸುಮಾರು ಹತ್ತು ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು, ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳ ಸಾಮೂಹಿಕ ಆರ್ಥಿಕ ನೆರವಿನಿಂದ ೫೦ ಲಕ್ಷದಷ್ಟು ವೆಚ್ಚವನ್ನು ಶೇಖರಿಸಿ, ಕೂಡಿ ಈ ಉಪಗ್ರಹವನ್ನು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದರು. ಇದು ಯಾವುದೇ ಒಂದು ಕಾಲೇಜಿನ ಕೆಲಸ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಲಾಗದು; ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳೂ ಒಕ್ಕೂಡಿ, ಇಂತಹ ಒಂದು ವಿಸ್ಮಯದ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ೪೦ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳ ಮೂಲಕ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಇಂತಹ ಒಂದು ಚಟುವಟಿಕೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ಯುವ ಜನಾಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಒಂದು ಮಾದರಿಯೇ ಹೌದು. ನಾವು ಒಂದು ಕೂಡಿ, ಏನೇ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ತೆಗೆದೊಕೊಂಡರೂ, ಅದನ್ನು ಯಶಸ್ವಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಮುಗಿಸಬಹುದು ಎಂಬುದರ ಉದಾಹರಣವೆ ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್.

"ನಮ್ಮ ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳು ಆಕಾಶವನ್ನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ,
ಆದರೆ, ಅದನ್ನೂ ದಾಟಿ ನಾಟಿದ್ದೇವೆ ನಮ್ಮ ನಿಟ್ಟನ್ನು", ಎಂದು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಈ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಆಕಾಶವೂ ಸೀಮೆ ಇಲ್ಲ ಎಂಬುದನ್ನು ನಿರೂಪಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಈ ತಂಡದ ಒಂದು ಸದಸ್ಯನಾಗಿ, ಸುಮಾರು ಎರಡೂವರೆ ವರ್ಷಗಳು ಕೆಲಸಮಾಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ ಎಂಬುದು ನನಗೆ ಅತಿ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯ ವಿಷಯ.

(ಒಂದು ಕನ್ನಡ ವಾರಪತ್ರಿಕೆಗೆ ಸ್ಟುಡಸ್ಯಾಟ್-ನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾನು ಬರೆದ ಒಂದು ಲೇಖನ)

Inception

Which is the most resilient and contagious parasite?
An Idea: A fully formed idea....
(From the movie Inception)

This would be my first straightforward post about any movie;leaving apart my music review posts. And,let me tell you this ain't a review of Inception. It is only articulation of the awe I've been put through after watching this amusing and enigmatic cinema.

I am obsessed by the notions of mind, thoughts and ideas. If you have been a reader of my blog for sometime, you would not defer. This being the case, it was natural that the teasers of Inception drove me to watch it. And, what I, like any audience witnessed was one of the most ingenious genius mind at work.

As the movie grew deeper and deeper, I was amazed at the amount of background thought which would have gone into it. This might be true for any creative piece of work, but, when someone is unwinding, something this inexplicably unconventional with vivid imagery in front of you, the levels of awe hit the zenith. It wasn't even the breathtaking visuals, but the concept and the interleaved ideas, that have made me go gaga about Inception.

Christopher Nolan's pure genius at work here... Will watch it again, recommend you catch it ASAP :)

Randomness and coincindence

"I don't subscribe to coincidence. I believe that no matter how random  things might appear there still is a plan"

An interesting line from a recent movie I was watching. Interesting because it almost converges with my perception of random occurrences of events. Although, it talks about a plan, and somewhere unintentionally intending to invoke the famous concept of 'fate', I do not subscribe to the idea of fate, for, it is simply futile.

I believe that even when events are happening in random order, we possess the ability to either put them in a frame of already occurred,correlated events and call it a plan ( Like a Jigsaw puzzle) , or, we can transcend from the current events, leading into further related events by proactive effort ( Like a falling Dominos pack); both the cases are possible, only if we believe that We are above the 'events', and that the events are a consequence of our actions, without giving too much reverence to the events or the consequences themselves.....

By such a perception, it is easier to tackle the repercussions; be it positive or negative, in a more personally responsible manner. For, there is nothing of more import than the possibilities emanating from the self...

Namma Bengaluru Fooooood Strreeet

Firstly, I feel it strongly necessary to admonish myself for being this naive, and it embarrasses me; After being born and brought up in Bengaluru, I haven't visited numerous  places which are worth visiting. And, one such important place is the Food Street in VV Puram.

With the latest tagging of "Foodie" to my profile,I had to visit it and I did stumble there in an unprepared manner ( after dinner!). There was so much, but so little I could eat. I promised myself that I'd avenge this act of cowardice by me, by throwing full assault on this place ASAP.

For those of you who have been as shamelessly ignorant as me, the Food Street is operational from 6 in the evening to just after 11 in the night( given the cops' issue)... Another important point is, you do not get anything non-vegetarian! But, even if you are as a voracious non-vegetarian like me, you're appetite will certainly shoot up and you might end up putting a pound or more in a single visit :) !

Authentic Kannada cuisine ( benne dose, chiroti, ...)  to North Indian( dabeli, pav bhaji, basundi...), each item available is a delicacy and has a legacy of it's own.

Heavy on calories, but light on pockets, Sublime taste with bees like people buzzing around, aroma of mixed cuisines going olfactorily offensive against you, flooding saliva down your oesophagus, and a festival to your taste buds; This is the default experience for anyone who loves food at Namma Fooood Sttrreeeet :)

Team STUDSAT: The Journey so far...

In Kannada, the regional language of Karnataka, we say " Moorthi Chikkadaadaroo, keerthi Doddadu", which is a proverb. It means, although an entity is physically timid, the reputation and fame of it are sky high!

This is the most appropriate attribution to STUDSAT: India's first "Pico Satellite". A satellite, which is miniature in size, but as complex as its bigger counterparts. Now, that you are all also aware that it is an undergraduate student project, it might culminate to the point as to why it is so very special to the Indian Space and Student communities.

After, more than two years since it's conception, it has been brought into reality.

I would not digress too much into how we reached this point, for it is all over our site http://www.teamstudsat.com/. I would like to reveal the assimilation of skills each one of us has had throughout this process.

This being a Space Project and because we were literally dealing with "The Rocket Science", we have learnt innumerable concepts, technologies and sciences. This was a continuous process, wherein, we would pick up skills on demand basis, and execute the task, and then switch over to the next. At the end of the day, as residue we have retained precious layers of technical skills, which, wouldn't have been possible if we weren't members of such a team.

Given that we had to get our technical skills honed, there were other crucial tasks which each of us inculcated. From developing good managers, to good marketing persons, to excellent diplomats, to outstanding orators, to creative geniuses; we've seen all of these emanate from within the technical core of team mates.

We have grown to have a rapport which manifests the ideal interactions between team mates to get a project done.Not to forget the fun trips we've had and relentless night-outs in the clean room, R&D centre and the ground station.

With so much pressure now with the launch, and the media, we still feel unchanged except that we've grown a lot better, We've all given parts of ourselves to the First Indian Pico Satellite, and at this proud instant of time we feel humbled and over joyed...

Jai Hind !

300 Ideas are Immortal

While I am composing this 300th post for my blog, I am involuntarily thinking as to what has been my inspiration to have blogged 299 posts. I feel it necessary, to envelope the important sources of inspiration, which have made me disperse out my thoughts, ideas, reminiscence, imagination and manifestations to the readers like you, in a seemingly effortless and non-compulsive manner.

I am startled at this introspective analysis.

I started blogging, mostly for making myself more complex, as in, to add another facet to my personality, and to quench my thirst of sudden impulses of words and random thoughts. As you can see, my initial posts were mostly amateurish written by a pretensive megalomaniac! (That's what I feel about them)

As I started putting some conscious efforts about the content in my posts, it seemed to get a dimension - A character of its own; An Identity. This identity mostly converged to an 'enhanced' version of my perceptions, and ME.

I call them enhanced, because I believe that the strings of words, and play of ideas I have expressed on my blog are instantaneous; By which I mean,they have occurred sequentially, and have been expressed over a long period of time. But when a reader tries to contemplate me to be a collective sum of the individual posts in my blog, they would be definitely misled.

The precise relation of me and my blog would be, to see it as a measure of the change I have undergone, right in front of all of you, with tangible proof exposed all over my blog. It is not to be misinterpreted as a tedious and elaborate chronicling of the different facets of the simple me.

With running time, the sources of inspiration now have grown and the next major influence would be the society - Mainly the negativity in it! I feel compelled to express my views about it,and it is mainly with a motive of involving more of you into the debate.

There are also posts about numerous special people I know, and all those posts were intended to show how special they are to me.

Sometimes I feel, I give exaggerated importance to my blog ( appending to the complaints from many of you), but then, I realize,
If i give my blog that amount of importance, then it must deserve it,for,

Ideas are Immortal!

The Perfect BrainStorm :D

After a really long time, had an excellent brainstorming session, which happened to be with one of the less expected persons. I was pleasantly surprised with rustic, innovative, naive and genuine ideas he confided to me, pertaining to the most essential aspects of an individual's life, career and his social roles.

The gelling of these ideas with the pragmatic approach which was put forth, with that amount of passion from him, and the way I was drawn deep into it was just remarkable. A perfect brainstorm!

The gamut of ideas, which transformed into resolutions by the end of our rendezvous are going to be the numerous hinge points of both our lives...

There will be time, when I will go on to share these ideas, but for now, I am glad that this has been a meeting which has introduced me to a great associate, who has been a close team mate for this long!

Bandh: YES or NO

The NO Argument

A day of lethargy, ultimately, this is what a Bandh day turns out to be, to most of the common people. Added to this is the stagnancy of business, at all strata- Starting from the monopolies, to the lay man working for day wage... Disruption in normal activities, to protest against something which wouldn't even be corrected by this act of 'protest'. Also, if observed well, it is again being manipulated by the politicians as a political gimmick.

How many of us really care about the Bandh and it's significance, if it has any? Don't most of us greet it as a day of respite; a sudden sober holiday;Isn't this the way most of us contemplate a bandh? So, with such a mindset of people around, does calling a nation-wide bandh do anything?

What is the purpose of calling a bandh?
It is supposed to unite all the affected people, and take up their causes to tell their government what is right and, what is wrong... But, unfortunately the ones who really care about this are few,most others use it to their advantage, while the rest stay numb! So, do we need a nation-wide bandh?!

The YES Argument

Government is an embodiment of the collective decisions made by people, to serve the people's interests.  Ideally, the actions of the Government must be under the vigil and control of its entities: People; But, in today's system the Governmemt has grown bigger than the it's entities and has obtained a supreme image, instead of being reachable to its people. When it has grown so big, and is trying to push policies which are anti-people, there is little that the masses can do to express their disconent. They need their appeals to be heard, if not more such atrocities will be pushed down their throats.

If voting once in five years is the only chance of opinion for the people, then what about the duration of the term of Government and its wrongdoings against its people during the term. People can't wait for five years to show their discontent against the government. If the term of the government is not prone to 'performance based sustenance', then people need a channel to show their united opinions on the policies served to them. If such a platform is not provided, a bandh is what people would opt for, although reluctantly,for, it affects their day's life and it is about their day's survival. People risk a day's wage to express their anguish, hoping for some empathetic retraction of the policies.

To be effective, Bandhs or protests must be organized by people, and shouldn't be called by opposition parties, because if given a chance, the opposition would also do the same, unless they are empathetic about the people at a principle level.

If people have to make their voices heard to the government, by stalling their lives, and consequently the country, then SO BE IT! The governemnt should have it's people and their interests as its prime concern for all policies and rules it frames, as that by definition is what they are there for....

Exclusively Seclusive Growth!

Increasing prices...Rocketting inflation... Stagnant wages... Growing disparity...  Seems like a perfect recipe for a fiasco.

This is the condition of India, not in the past, but now, at this moment and if uncurtailed will grow worse in future.

We keep talking about "India Shining" and other political slogans,but, are these propagandists at least looking into the ground reality?

Keeping in mind the most of us, who wouldn't be aware of the exact figures of the calamity, I jotted down some numbers from a wiki page on "Poverty in India".

• According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 42% of India falls below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day (in nominal terms Rs. 21.6 a day in urban areas and Rs 14.3 in rural areas): This implies that almost every alternate person, if we were mixed together wouldn't be able to satisfy his/her most fundamental needs;Even feeding onelself adequately for one time a day in today's inflated market would be impossible...

• 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005(government-specified poverty threshold of 12 rupees per day) : Note the Govt. specified poverty threshold: Rs.12 per day... Imagine about 330 million people in this condition, given that we are the infamous 1.2 Billion people, and still counting....

• Income inequality in India (Gini coefficient: 32.5 in year 1999- 2000), and 36.8 in 2004 : And, I have no doubts that, this disparity index would have further widened with the IT boom in India.

• The worldwide recession in 2009 have plunged 100 million more Indians into poverty than there were in 2004 increasing the effective poverty rate from 27.5% to 37.2%, i.e., the previous number of 330 million has increased to 450 million people. And, we say India was most resilient to the recession... When there are already 330 million people below poverty line, an additon of 150 millions doesn't seem to influence the reputation!

So what have the governments,which have governed us all these years done, and doing about it?
Hmmm....Pretty much nothing...


Okay,let me be not this harsh on them: Yes, they were, and are doing lots...

Lots to safegaurd the interests of the creamy layer who own and run the country. So, why blame the government? They are right in their policy perspective...

Even while it's people are suffering, shelling out unscrupulously, their hard earned money on high prices for the commonest of the commodities, with it's farmers commiting suicides regularly, and an overall deteriorating lifestyle, the main purpose of  the Governments has been taken care of, i.e.,to keep the balance sheets of the rich patriot businessmen in tact. Kudos!!!

If you support the cause of the common man, raise your voice against this atrocity.
To start with, sign this online petition against the unreasonable hike in fuel prices and deregulation of the same.

http://www.petitiononline.com/petrohi/

Bryan Adams: The God of Mush...

On a day like today, when the clock is striking the eleventh chime of Eleven, I want to run to you, and confess, by shouting at the top of my voice, without Waking up the neighbors, as to how I feel about you, and how much I think about you.

The feeling I have for you, cuts like a knife, throwing me into the fire of your desire, turning me inside out. At times I get reckless, fighting against my passion for you. I know, we can't stop this thing we started, but who wants to...

I wish I could be there with you, for, all I want is you. I don't mind being your Room Service, if intimacy with you is what I get for tips.

We've had lovely times together, with highs and lows. I have no second thoughts when I say, it's been So far, So good....
Now, I'm not scared to ask you, if it is love?
And if, You want it, You got it :)

Don't you already worry if my love towards you would mellow down.
I will be the same, and only will get better until the Summer of '69 (2069). For,it's not just a statement when I say, I'm 18 Till I die. It is true deep down to the core, when it comes to the love I have for you.

Here I am, offering the Best of me, to you, A flower grown wild.

Lastly,please forgive me, for the few bitter moments between us, as you know it, Everything I do, I do it for you.

PS:I initially felt this post did not require any words: Just the collage would imply it's essence. But, then I thought, I could express in this post how big an admirer I am of Bryan Adams, for his sublime music, mushy and ingenious lyrics, sensational vocals and a humble persona.
So, all the phrases in Courier font are Bryan Adams' Studio album titles, released till date, (except Anthology, which is a collection), and all the italicized words are few of his numerous famous song titles :)

Megalomaniacs of Criticism

Critics: That one genre of people, who go on to live in a delusion of being the Omniscients (all knowing!), within their domains of scrutiny (sometimes beyond their own).

The advantage for critics is the acknowledgement they receive from the audience, or i might well concur this alone to be their talent: To make people believe in their highfalutin hypocrisy.

Let us try to analyze the purpose and credibility of Criticism. Yet again, I would project my perception of this betterment tool.

As I mentioned, Criticism is a betterment tool. There is no criticism which can be categorized as positive or negative. I haven't been able to fathom the concept of "Positive Criticism" till date. Let us not digress into this debate, as yet.


Coming to another essential aspect, the source of criticism is the point of most import.

A person who hasn't tread the path has NO right, whatsoever, to speculate of its terrains!

Simple,and this is what I believe in,with respect to criticism.

When a person is criticizing my actions, or my efforts, or my creations, the first and foremost requirement, for me to give heed to those words is: Only if that person has at least tried and failed in the context of scrutiny. If not, that would be treated as ambient noise, and filtered off my mind.

But, at the same time, when someone who has had experience in the matter of discussion, is criticizing me, I would not mind taking even harsh reviews. Nevertheless,the levels of incorporation of these views into myself is a function of my perception of the source.And, this alone must be the standard for tackling Criticism and Critics.

Any softhead, with a hollow mind, a false ego and a bucket full of vocabulary can chew out creative commentaries on - An act of creation - A mind's product - A lifetime's efforts; But, to even give heed to such ridiculousness, brings down the authority of the creator.

Unfortunate though is, in today's media frenzy world, people appreciate a megalomaniac critic,instead of the humble geniuses within the creators.
 

Birth and life cycle of personal blogs....

Why Personal blogs exist?

 A large section of the blogosphere consists of ‘personal’ blogs – biographical narratives  documenting the ephemeral experience of living every day. At the cost of sounding lyrical, I would suggest that blogs are an attempt to achieve immortality – to create documents that shall outlive the user and live in the limbo of the virtual. It is the same drive that perhaps drives an artist to bleed in paint on her canvas or an author to angst in words on his pages.
 

A typical life cycle of a blogger :

A ‘Noobie’ starts with tentative narrative accounts of the world around him/her and initiates a commentary about their daily life. This is what I call the foreplay of blogging. The writer in the narratives is exploring, expanding, nudging and unfolding the physical surroundings around him/her. Through user-pictures, personal profile pages and subscription to communities, the blogger begins to reproduce him/herself in a specific way – trying out different names, forms and identities. As the bloggers start ‘befriending’ people and increase their audience and readership, a strange thing happens. Instead of suddenly becoming more cautious of the self and the things that are being revealed on the blog, the blogger increasingly sheds the layers of pseudonymity and facades that they create in their early narratives. There is a typical increase in talking of the self in these narratives and one can notice a sharp shift from the exploratory narratives to the intimate revelatory biographies that are produced in the blogs. The disembodied protagonist self makes it easier for the blogger to strip his/her virtual garments and exposes more of the self than ever before .

Directly in proportion with the conversations that people start on the blog, the blogger becomes more revealing, more explanatory, more stripped of the layers that technology has imposed on him/her. And then comes a moment when the blogger finally achieves what s/he is looking for – an acceptance of his/her narratives and the realisation that comes from the reciprocal actions by the others who read their blogs. The content of the blog no longer matters. The blog often dwindles into something that is mundane, dull,everyday, regular, uniformly un-anecdotal – private. The blogger realises that it is not so much the content of what s/he is writing as the act of writing that is important. This moment when the blog content comes a full circle and resembles the first posts is the moment of ‘blorgasm.’ The sense that the self has been realised and that the experience
of the moment is captured in that one representation or conversation is the pinnacle of
pleasure for a dedicated blogger 

(Excerpts from an intriguing paper titled Playblog, by Nishant Shah. )

A good analysis of personal blogging, and the turn of events between the blogger, his/her blog and it's audience. 

After reading this article, I have started correlating it to myself, positioning myself in this cycle. Although, not entirely accurate this analysis gives a good idea of the blogger's intentions behind churning out posts for his/her blog.

e-machined and e-networked!

A day without today's gadgets and the cyber 'social' network seems almost impossible to cope up with.

A couple of days ago, I had forgotten to carry my cell phone and the repercussions of that act of amnesia are being felt even today :D

These gadgets have deeply penetrated into our lives, percolating to reach the very core of our being.

There are different levels of dependencies manifested by each of us, at different periods of our lives. Allow me to analyze myself in this context, and you might well feel very related to these description of events.

When I was 10, maybe that's when the craze for the first of the gadgets had started(for our generation): Hand held video games were hitting the market, and like everyone I too owned one, and eventually lost 'myself' in it. Taking it to the next level were the TV video games; I remember two novice: me and my cousin shopping for it with a few hundred rupees, going to distant places ( when you're twelve,going alone for 5 km is really far!).Then, within an year or two, computers were getting ubiquitous, and computer gaming in the Cyber Parlours, paying 40 bucks for one hour of Roadrash and Skyroads caught me up. I could never get enough of it, and spent almost all the pocket money on gaming.  Then, there was also the advent of internet, chat, mail and the natural progression into some obscure cyber fantasies (which seem to make sense now!). 

These days, kids are much more 'gadgety': I've known three year olds who fluently operate computers and use combination of remote controllers to operate their satellite TV!

And, today, when we are living lives,in a manner as if we were driving on the fast lane, these gadgets and cyber space play the roles of both friends and foes to us, simultaneously.

Recently, there was a statistic in the newspaper saying netizens spend about 2 hours per day social-networking,and I wasn't surprised, for, my own average time on the social networks, including blogging and microblogging would easily exceed two hours.

Personally, a day without cellphones,computers, internet,music player,digital camera,and other e-gadgets give a feeling of isolation and detachment from the rest of the world (I guess this is what all philosophies have been craving for:P)

At the same time, this extent of intervention by these distractions has reduced the quality of personal interactions,and has made a drastic impact on the relationships between people,making them hyper sensitive and vulnerable.

These e-things have invaded too much into our lives, well beyond the threshold, up to the extent that now, there are friendly robots being manufactured to share our emotions with, and a few to which you can make love to!

As, portrayed in numerous Hollywood flicks like The Matrix, Bicentennial Man, iRobot, we might have to face such situations if we do not get detached from this extra e-bondage.

For now, we are all stuck together with the e-glue!

Illogical and irrevocable!

Lots of instances, not just one or two, have manifested compelling reasons on my side to retract from this obsession of mine. I feel convinced at that instant, to just repel away and forget the existence of such a possibility within my realms of reality. But, within a matter of time, not before these things have settled down in me, I seem to, as if in a recursive loop, tend back passionately towards this possibility.

It operates subconsciously, bypassing my boundaries of logic and reason. And, when I do reach this state of zero-logic, I am not afraid to say: I'm boundlessly happy!
Yes, boundless...

I've been in this dilemma numerous times, and I can't explain the reasons to myself of this swinging of my being. At one instant, endorsing it wholeheartedly, almost immediately I see myself repellent.

Sometimes, it is not even the boundaries of logic and reason which put me through this, it is something more than the act of the efforts of my thoughts.

It is a delusion of a kind, and I seem to kept drawn deeper and deeper into this, irrevocably...

Team Studsat Farewell

The formal curtain call has been made for the first generation team members of Team Studsat, by the second generation propellers.

Yesterday, there was a sweet and intimate send off to all the veterans of the team, i.e, the members who had passed out B.E last year, but still associated with the project. With loads of fun and reminiscence, it was  a really special event for all of us yesterday.

The various Tag names which popped out for team mates was hilarious: names like TL/shop (Angadi), Damager (Dixit), Mom (Mamatha), JJM(Shwetha), Toodle-doodle(vichu) and Doodle-Toodle(vikku), lungi/chairman(sharath), bucket (karthik), model (arpan), and I was called Blog Swamiji !( i forgot a few others)
It was hilarious to the core.

Then, the games and pranks, anecdotes from experiences of project, dramatization of certain fulcrum points in the journey, which in retrospection seem funny, made the event even more enjoyable. All thanks to the juniors, who demonstrated the same levels of dedication even in organizing such a lovely event like the work they have contributed towards the project:)

With less than a month for launch, this event was well timed to remind us of all the ups and downs we've faced for this tenure of India's First Student Pico Satellite - Studsat :) http://www.teamstudsat.com/

The common man's simple joys :)

Recently,after work, I was to meet a friend. As, I was early, had to wait near a street corner. It was half past seven in the evening, and the weather in Bengaluru has been impeccable for a past few days- cloudy,with cool breeze and sprays of drizzle :) Such excellent weather invokes the natural trait of any Indian:To look out for hot-spicy snacks.

I was glad to find a roadside Bajji corner, on a push cart, where a man and his wife were baking hot bajjis and serving hot tea. There wasn't any reason for me to pretend and wear a mask of someone irrelevant to them: So, I straight away headed towards them.

There were varieties of bajjis; Given my non-vegetarianism,I naturally asked for the 'motte'(egg) bajjis (closest to my needs:)

The thing which was running in my mind immediately after the first bite was: I would have easily shelled out twenty times the cost for the same thing in any other superficial 'food court', but still, never could have tasted anything like it :)

The two of the hosts were very welcoming and courteous. Not just to me,but,to each and every customer who had come. Each one of us got something much more than what we paid for : A blissful smile, an intimate chat,cheering us up at the end of the day!

The hosts at the shop were people who weren't in the stablest of the economic conditions, but still the satisfaction they seemed to enjoy with the little they had is remarkable. I'd say a lesson to the rest of us.

This, as I have been observing is true with many 'common people' around us, who lead a simple life filled with struggles,but still, who never fail to enjoy the little simple joys in day to day life, on a regular basis. This definitely increases the quality of our lives, reducing the overhead of trying out futile,extravagant attempts at keeping ourselves happy by unnatural means.

PS: This post is not talking about the common people being complacent about their requirements, without craving for what they deserve (i.e.,their ignorance), but, about the extent of satisfaction exhibited by them with whatever they possess, at that instant. This sets an example to most of us, who are never happy with what we have, incessantly craving for something more, missing out on the present!

Misfits of the System

Almost every coffee time conversation at work, pertaining to the impact and consequences, we, one creed of creatures have made on the Environment and Ecosystem, naturally directs our discussion to the unscrupulous nature of our lives. The rapid consumption of all natural resources, just to meet our highly inappropriate and exaggerated needs, while, having drastically disturbed the rest of the Ecosystem speaks volumes of our so called 'Concern' towards the environment.

The immense diversity Mother Nature has developed in millions of years have been consumed in gargantuan amounts, leading to extinction and exhaustion within a couple of centuries, in the name of Industrialization by the biggest misfits of this system i.e, We, the homo sapiens !

There has been a sudden increase in the awareness about the Environment. But, this ain't something to be happy about. It is more of an alarm for saving ourselves from the deep ditch we've dug open. I would like to quote Paulo Coelho in this context:

Save the planet? The Planet must be saying, "Save yourself idiots, I will be fine"


So, the non-idiots who have realized the threat to our own existence, without bothering about any other living organisms, are the ones who are mostly doing the Political propaganda of "Going Green".

Talking about "Going Green", what an irony!
Let me take the case of Namma Bengaluru, for instance. As far as I remember, Bengaluru was always green, but only before 4-5 years. I, like most Bengalureans have been the agonized spectator of the transformation of Bengaluru from the Garden City to the biggest Real Estate Project ( The entire city now has nothing but towering apartments and gigantic tinted office buildings)!

So, you talk about planting one sapling or two, after evading into hectares of greenery.Is this going green?

The actual instigator for this post was the Gulf oil spill, and the ghastly impact it has made on the marine life and the dependent ecosystem there. Unfortunate thing though is, and as expected out of us, we are busy suing each other for monetary compensation, for our misbehavior, not on each other, but we against the environment. We haven't bothered to give any heed to all the creatures who would not even survive this intrusion. Many species, in an accelerated manner, because of this incident would see the face of extinction.

But, sometimes, I am made to think that all these atrocities are heading in the right direction -
Maybe we are acting as catalysts to enable Mother Earth undergo a metamorphosis, to help her consume the world as seen today, and to evolve into something better, without her biggest mistakes:
Us!

Aware of the Mesozoic Era?i.e, The Dinosaurs?
Encore of something similar is what we are witnessing now.

What justice!

Is there a relevance to the concept of legal justice in today's world?

The concept of justice is one of the most compelling inhibitions imposed on the individuals, by the propagandist society, to curb their natural aggression, and then to transform this as a commodity into a market, wherein only the elite economic class can afford to buy - As they wish,with full customization.

It is an open secret as to how feeble and manipulative the systems of law and justice is, in our society. Like good food, quality education, necessary health & medical facilities, and all the other essentials which add to a decent livelihood, legal justice is another costly commodity, which keeps drifting away from the common man.

Justice in today's world, actually, hurts more than the crime itself.

26 years, and now a few scapegoats, not the actual culprits are being sentenced to two years in prison and a meager amount as fine, for taking lives of about 15 thousand innocent people, and destroying an entire community, which still is afresh with the repercussions of the Bhopal Tragedy!

Same has been the case with the Godhra riots, Uphaar Cinema fire, terror attacks, and innumerable other major tragedies, which have prolonged for ages, only to end with agonizingly feeble verdicts.

Imagine the lives of the people who have spent waiting for long painful years, at last, just to witness this silly, so called 'justice'. Don't they get a chance to vengeance, if at the least, that would make them feel better.

Talking about vengeance, it is not something evil or inhuman as portrayed by the hypocrite system. If a person has committed a crime, he mercilessly deserves the reciprocation of his/her own actions, with no room for sympathy. But, today's ironical system does nothing which even hints at healing the victims.

I fail to understand, what is the necessity of such a complex, but still inefficient system of law and justice, if it cannot yield a hint of relief to the victims! Instead, it only succeeds in infuriating them, burdening their lives with more of longing and painful trauma.

If it is said that justice can be made possible only in such excruciatingly long and ineffective methods, then, isn't it right to scrap this system and adopt a more 'responsibly responsive' system?

It would never happen though. For, most of the architects of this system are the ones who are taking shelter, under the umbrella of the loopholes in the system; A system which they have fabricated to fence themselves, while abandoning the rest of the common people!

In today's world,
He who bids higher has justice in his basket!

Crunched!

Crunching my routine, and, all the other extra activities into my day have been getting a little too tough these days. It ain't that I'm not able to, but the ease with which it used happen has reduced, and I am somehow left with a hollow and incomplete feeling at the end of the day.

This could mainly be attributed to a certain phase of recklessness I am going through, mainly because of my randomized allocation of time and other resources to the broad gamut of activities I am involved in.

One thing I do have realized is the necessity to press PAUSE for a small duration of time, to serve as a breather for me, and to get some headroom for better improvisation. It is not to be considered as complaining, but a pit stop to better my efficiency.

Although, I cannot deny the fact that I seem to have been witnessing ripples of disturbances from various distinct, but correlated arenas. It might take a little while before I can get 'uncrunched' and start flowing as usual.

In Transition....

This is Change: A change that is politely, but convincingly demanding my compliance to it.

I'd argue, it is more than just a 'paradigm shift'; I am undergoing a metamorphosis: A complete metamorphosis of my relation with the rest of everything, consciously.

It has put me through a phase of confusion, retaliation and reconciliation.

When change presents itself in the most convincing manner, leaving no reasons to complain about, and, daring to numbly ignore it, in retrospection would seem like a huge,self committed vicissitude. 

With my fully operational critical skills in scrutiny in this direction, I have been meticulously elucidating to all my other facets of understanding and reasoning the ramifications of this new Ideals' Infrastructure,on which the rest of my ideas and decisions would emanate from.

It is very important to base your opinions from a conforming platform of philosophy, unless you are able to create one of your own. And, when you encounter this 'whole' of which you have been a part of, it substantiates the stand you would take on all the issues of criticality in the interaction between you and the rest of everything.

But still, transition of this intricacy naturally would take quite a lot of time, for it to get inculcated into my being.
Until that happens:In Transition.

Yet another Team STUDSAT Birthday Bash :)

After more than two years of being associated with the Team Studsat, and knowing my mates for that long and having been in various situations together, today again was one fun event: Birthday Bash with buffet lunch. Thanks to the 'calm and composed' Chetan Angadi, one of the most important persons in the Team, who happens to be the Team Leader as well. He was treating us for his birthday,
Happy birthday again Chetan :)

The lunch was at Canopy, Brigade Road ( my second time there in 30 days :). We all kind of liked the ambiance for it being 'open', as it is on the terrace, with good food overall :)

Talking about the Team, the warmth amongst the interactions between us is still the same, and feels nice to have seen each other groom in different ways. The kind of constructive team interaction we've grown between us can never be emulated in other places, as I have tried to compare it with my own work, or at any other workplace that I know of.

Anyways, we still have lot more special events between us in the Team,including the Launch itself, and more treats soon from the mates who are travelling abroad for higher studies. And, yeah I owe the team one, I too am on the list, and my chance will be coming soon ;)

The Desperate Weekend Syndrome

By Friday evening, the most recurring status messages I find on all the social networking sites is about the 'respite from a week of work', welcoming the weekend in a - euphemistically put expectant, or bluntly desperate manner.

This is a syndrome emanating from the work and work culture endorsed by the individuals as enforced by the system.

Let us analyze what is happening in today's "Corporate" world:
*(All these comments are generic,and there could be exceptions. I am addressing only the majority)

Firstly, in ideal scenarios desperate respite from work is actually unnecessary. We are supposed to be exercising our skills at work,and that actually isn't supposed to be anywhere close to be burdening 'work'. On the contrary, it should be enjoyable.
So, what is the problem?
People aren't actually exercising their natural, and/or acquired talents and skills at work.People are molded rigidly into stereotype laborers as required for a Company, in the Company's interest. In most cases against the individual's,of course. There is nothing much to be done about this 'clash of interests' in the current Capitalistic system ,for, it is designed to be so.

Secondly, why do people volunteer to get molded into this 'rigid human products', to be used as a resource for any company?
To win the rat race,i.e., to compete and cope with the pressure mounted on them by the system of today's (missing adjective!) society.

To analyze this, we need to go deeper, and look at the causes and consequences.
Catching the consequence is easy: A devotional reverence given to IT and related jobs, starting from the homes of the 'just-okay-fairing' families, and also the impeccably mediocre education system, coupled with naturally accumulated peer pressure.

The cause- One unanimous motive: Study and earn money.
Kids are provided with education with slowly, but strongly infused idea of 'grow up and earn money', giving no heed, whatsoever, to grooming the skills and talents seen in them.

So, who's helping them to get to this?
The education system,(keeping in mind the huge number of 'Engineering' institutions across the country) it preaches them that getting a job in a haven called the IT sector, irrespective of what stream of engineering you are in is the prime objective of educating yourself.
Huff ! Thats more than enough to doubly brain-wash the bubbling minds to such an extent that, most of us see working for someone else, in something you won't enjoy as the best thing in the world!

Thirdly, try appreciating the paradox of work:
Most of us are - Thinking expectantly of the forthcoming weekend from the mid of the week, whilst having just recovered the first two days of the week at work from the hangover of the weekend.
So, where is the massive productivity the industry is boasting of?
Oh, yeah. It's there. But, just look at the quality. Even if there is some little quality attributable to it, look at what price?
By draining out the quality of the lives of all the employees, eventually an entire society!

I know it is already late to blame what has happened. But, how and when did it all get so clumsily complicated?
It happened when all of us were blind, as we are today, towards a peril growing like a monster right in front of us. And, it is like The Earth (not fair to compare to the Earth, but the simile works):

Like we cannot feel ourselves rotating on the Earth, while it rotates,given it's massiveness and our minuscule nature;
We haven't been able to observe the rapid pace at which the system around has drained out the very essence of 'living',
from the proud diaspora of the IT and related industry, while we were busy living fast, impulsive and unbalanced lives.

There is no climax-like epilogue, or a hint of solution for this post, as I touch upon in most posts of my posts, for,
I leave it to you and your mind to churn something proactive this time out.

Questions that haunt!

Is this right?!
Is this what I am supposed to be doing?
Am i headed in the right direction?
Is this the person, or ?
Have i gotten complacent?
What if I had done that, and not this, or not both, but something else?

These, and more such questions are the ones which keep hitting us at regular intervals of time. This happens most of the time as repercussions emanating from the uncertainties of decisions which each of us would have made in the past, and try to blame those for the present, while speculating about the future.

These are normal occurrences with each of us. But, to dwell on these uncertainties, without overcoming them is the worst thing to do with oneself. The solution to this would be either to set the things right in the present - right now, or to make another decision now, which will put the course of activities in future in the right direction.

Both of these actions, firstly, require each of us to clearly interpret ourselves in a correlative manner to the circumstances we are in.Without this, there cannot be a solution out of dilemma of this kind. Just cribbing about it, or talking about the change or betterment will do no good, but will further add to the cause of deterioration.

And again, the occurrence of these question isn't negative by itself. On the contrary,these introspective phases act as checks to the mistakes we might have made. We can either reduce the damage caused by them, or go on to accumulate more of the burden.

Being honest with ourselves, without giving too much reverence to the circumstances conditioning us, would do a lot good in tackling these checkpoint-like introspective questions.

Boulevard of Indian Dreams

Heavy crowd, a lot of noise, shopping malls with no adequate parking space, an eternal traffic jam - These are the constant sights one would see there on a daily basis. I look around, to find an enormous shopping complex with all amenities in it. Just beside it, there is a multi-storeyed apartment, housing the "Brand Bangalore" ambassadors -the ITans.

This is the ambiance from which I start my walk of about ten minutes from my home to a friend's place. Then the song on my lips was "Boulevard of broken dreams", an all time favourite.

As I passed this mayhem, I reached a single crooked street which would end at my destination of that evening. The ambiance there was the most complete definition of something which would be called "utterly messy". The road there had just the slightest hint of surfacing. I observed a medical stores there, calling themselves, "Chemmists". As i smiled to myself and looked away, I confront this guy who is now almost a rogue. He used to play cricket in our team during school days. He looks at me and throws an artificial smile but I could sense his bitter feelings when I looked into his eyes. He always wanted to pursue his education after schooling, but he couldn't, due to few family issues. I think he gets reminiscent about all this when he sees me. After a formal talk with him, without disturbing him much I continued my walk.

As I transcend into that ill-shaped street, I notice the drainage system there was poorer than any of the primitive systems, with an open type system running along the street. That by itself could be a great source of epidemic. The houses standing there haphazardly were either ill planned or non- planned.

People walking on the streets, carried a complacent face, seemingly satisfied with the "almost nothing" they had. They were the people who were not aware of what they should actually crave for - Freedom from Ignorance. These people living a life of ignorance is like a proud blind man who can only traverse within his house and thinks that it is good enough.

I could see men who did nothing, but were just resting under the shade of trees. They were not resting just then, but it has been their routine for a few years now. A few people here categorize themselves into various groups, based on a number of criteria and are ever ready for a communal clash. But, there is harmony amongst the rest of them.

In my opinion, this place is a perfect miniaturization of India in all aspects.

Before the song on my lips could get over, I had reached the end of the street. A sharp turn, then my friend's place was there.

As I walked further, away from this alien, yet so Indian place, I see a totally contradicting scene. Tall apartments,with luxury flats, well surfaced roads, at least one car in front of every house, people who seemed to be in their own complex world, seemingly naive about the pathetic life going on in the neighboring street. I speculate that the average income of these people per day would equal or even exceed the entire month's income of their adjacent neighbors.

I ponder as to how a single street could just divide this group of Indians into people at the two extremes on the economic gauge of India. If this is the case with a small group of people, spread over about a square km area, then the situation on a wider scale with our nation in perspective would not be very different. And this requires serious attention from our side.

This type of diverging growth of India in two opposite directions will never make the 60 year old dream of India becoming a sovereign and developed country. This should be the concern of highest priority in the mind of every Indian citizen. We should work proactively in helping the country's economy to converge in a healthy manner.

All Indians should get the same opportunities to pursue their dreams. All Indians have equal rights to the resources of our lovely nation. Politics, ignorance, poverty, shouldn't be the setbacks for our fellow Indians to live respectfully, with total access to the same services, comforts and luxuries as the other class of Indians.

Let us not blame our forefathers for the present day. Let us work together proactivley and give a better future to our future generations.  

PS: Verbatim copy of what I could call my first article written in September, 2007. This article was published in my College's Annual Souvenir, and I was also awarded that year's Best Article Prize for the same. 

Talking about the disparity, I can tell you it has only worsened in the above mentioned place, as it has in the entire country! 

Escapsim!

Michael Jackson, in last of his appearances in "This is It" says that people crave for entertainment as an 'escapism' from their routines, and that exactly is what entertainers are supposed to be doing - Help people in their pursuance of Escapism.

The idea of Escapism has since then occupied my mind. I happened to relate Escapism as the source and sink of creativity - Many use creativity as a means to Escapism, while the rest seek Escapism in the creations of creative people.

Then the question arises: Why do we need to escape from ourselves?

I'd say, it's not escaping from ourselves - It is escaping to a truer self from the socially fabricated one. Escapism isn't something negative, serendipitously, it helps increase the positivity within oneself.

In simpler terms, we could analyze the concept of true relaxation: It plainly is breaking free from the forces of social commitments, drifting towards the rendezvous with a Utopian self, who has only one ideal - To be blissfully happy.

And, whenever we are able to reach this state either by consuming others' creativity or creating something on our own, we have succeeded in the escapist hunt of the self :)

ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ : ಒಂದು ಚಿಂತನೆ

"ನಾವು ನಿಂತ ನೆಲಕ್ಕೆ, ಅದರ ಚರಿತ್ರೆಗೆ, ಪುರಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಪರಂಪರೆಗೆ ನಾವು ಸ್ಪಂದಿಸಲಾರದವರಾಗಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ನಮಗೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಚರಿತ್ರೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಪುರಾಣ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಕಲೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಹೀಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದು ಒಂದು ನಷ್ಟವೆಂದೂ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ!"

ಜಿ.ಎಸ್. ಶಿವರುದ್ರಪ್ಪನವರ "ಯಾವುದೂ ಸಣ್ಣದಲ್ಲ" ಗದ್ಯ ಸಂಕಲನದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ "ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ : ಒಂದು ಚಿಂತನೆ " ಲೇಖನದಿಂದ ಈ ಮೇಲಿನ ವೇದನೆಯ ಮಾತುಗಳನ್ನು ಸ್ಮರಿಸಿದ್ದೇನೆ.

ಇದನ್ನು ಓದಿದಾಗ ನಿಮಗೇನು ತೋಚುತ್ತದೆ ?

ಚರಿತ್ರೆ, ಪುರಾಣ, ಪರಂಪರೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ - ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಈ ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತೊಂದನೆಯ ಶತಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾಚೀನ ವಿಷಯಗಳಾಗಿ ಹೋಗಿವೆ ಎಂದು ಅನಿಸಬಹುದು. ಇವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಈ ಗಣಕಗಳ ಯುಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ಮಹತ್ವವಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿ ನಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಜನ ಕೃತಕ ಜೀವನವನ್ನು ನಡೆಸುತಿದ್ದೇವೆ.

ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಬೇರುಗಳಾದ ಕಲೆ, ಪರಂಪರೆ, ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮರೆತು, ಪಾಶ್ಚಿಮಾತ್ಯ ಅಥವೆ ಇತರೆ ಕಲಾಚಾರಗಳನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಎಂದು ಭಾವಿಸಿ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯಿಂದ ಅನುಸರಿಸಿ ನಡೆದು, ಈ ದಿನ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯ ಮೆರುಗು ಕುಂದಿಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಜೊತೆಯಲಿ, ನಮ್ಮ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವಕ್ಕೆ ಗಣನೀಯ ತತ್ವವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಅದು ಹರಿಯುವ ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಚ್ಚಿಹೋಗುವ ಕಸದಂತೆ ಎಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲೂ ಹರಿಯುತ್ತಲಿದೆ.

ಆಂಗ್ಲದಲ್ಲಿ "identity crisis" ಅಥವ "ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವ ಬಿಕ್ಕಟ್ಟು" ಎಂಬ ಕಳವಳವು ನಮ್ಮೆಲರನ್ನೂ ಒಂದಲ್ಲಾ ಒಂದು ರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಇತರೆ ಕಲಾಚರಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ತಪಿಲ್ಲ, ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಸ್ವಂತ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಮರೆತು ಅವುಗಳನ್ನು ಅಳವಡಿಸಲು ಯತ್ನಿಸುವುದೇ ದೊಡ್ಡ ತಪ್ಪು.

ಹೀಗೂ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ, ಇಂದಿನ ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಬ್ಬ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿತ್ವವು ಗಾಢವಾದ ಗೊಂದಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಲುಕಿ, ಅಸಮಾಧಾನ ಹಾಗು ಕೃತಕತೆಯ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೋತು; ಸೋತರೂ ಗೆದ್ದದಂತೆ ನಟಿಸಿ, ತನ್ನನ್ನು ತಾನೇ ವಂಚಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಾಳುತ್ತಿರುವ ಜನರು ಹಲವಾರು.

"ಎಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಇರು, ಎಂತಾದರು ಇರು, ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ನೀ ಕನ್ನಡವಾಗಿರು" ಎಂಬ ಕುವೆಂಪುರವರ ಮಾತುಗಳು ನಮ್ಮ ಮೆದುಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸದಾ ಪ್ರತಿಧ್ವನಿಸಿ, ನಾವು ನಮ್ಮ ಬೇರುಗಳನ್ನು ಮರೆಯದೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕಲಾಚಾರವನ್ನು ಬಿಡದೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗುವಂತೆ ಬಾಳಬೇಕು. ಇದು ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯ ಹೌದು, ಅದಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಮುಖ್ಯವಾಗಿ ನಾವು ಒಂದು ಗುಣಮಟ್ಟದ ಜೀವನ ನಡೆಸಲು ಬಹು ಅಗತ್ಯವಾದ ಮೂಲ ತತ್ವ.