A new baby is born

It seemed like just yesterday. A new baby was born. Cuddling itself under the wraps of her mother. Leaving behind the miseries of another woeful stretch and taking forward all the gains of goodness, she was born. Born with a lot of promises, a lot of unfulfilled desires, to seek the sought after, to give the ungiven, to share the unshared, to hope the unhoped, to make herself better, to make her compass better with a hope of joy, to unleash an infectious aura of laughter, to bless the cruel to transform. As providence would have it, her path became not all that breezy. She trampled over every hurdle, bruised and battered in the sea of changes, her eyes bloated and dried, her heart beaten and sunken, mercilessly pulled either ways by the vagaries of the world, death and destruction being her daily cuppa. Short specks of brightness and smile amid all the miseries were but an interim relief. The goodness of the smiles is etched in her, but the sadness of miseries is what soaks her. She has lived through the trauma and died through her life, carrying the little smiles between her lips that nourish her heart. Today, she gets a reincarnation. A new baby is born again. And as she peeps her head out of her mother's womb, her benevolent eyes sees in the distant horizon the solitary panacea to all her past miseries - Hope. And she prays the hope endures with her all through her new life, as she gears herself to jump into the new ordeal. May the Lord, carry her through her challenges and guard her through all the treacherous paths she would traverse. May the world loft her to cheer. May her company solace the languishing tears. May the goodness bestow her with an indomitable grit. May she come out with a fulfilling smile. Bless you my dear.

Aham brahmasmi

Mujme Shiv hai.. mujhe me Brahma.. mujme Vishnu.. mujme Krishna... Phir mein kahe mandir jaaoon Dharthi ambar parbat sagar Jise mein chahoon usey mein paaoon Phir mein kahe mandir jaaoon Aham brahmasmi... Aham brahmasmi... Translation: Within me is Shiv.. within me is Brahma.. within me is Vishnu.. within me is Krishna Then, why do I need to go to temple The Earth, Sky, Hills, Sea I get whatever I want Then, why do I need to go to temple I am Brahman... I am Brahman... -- Lyrics from the song "Aham brahmasmi" Film: Kisna Sung By: Sukhwinder Singh, Alka Yagnik Music By: AR Rahman, Ismail Darbar Lyrics: Javed Akhtar A real masterpiece of music...!!

Smart Alecs

Ram has this uncanny talent of reading the untold unseen meanings submerged underneath the unspoken words (whether spoken or not). Rini, I just came back after a long discussion with God on fixing up a day to embrace you. Both of us are very tired now. We shall resume tomorrow.

Here's an answer

There could be many a proverbial reasoning, for reasoning is but a line of thought. Thought is only a reflection of one's experience. Experience stems from the facts observed as it is, in conjugation with our myths and beliefs (and beliefs in myths). Beliefs, hacked and mouldered through generations, are as distinct as the persons possessing them. The siblings of the same family are distinct from their parents and distinct amongst them too. The truth of one is not the verity of the other. With the human psyche so amazingly distinct, its the best prescripiton for trouble to believe in reasonings of others. We do need to consider every view point, for every view is as respectable as its host, but there is a sea of difference between considering and convincing. If I convince myself of his reasoning without due consideration its never going to be long before I plaster my wounds. If I consider his reasoning and extrapolate my own experience and observe the facts in the lights of my experience, thats when I could do full justice to my existing in this world. Others reasoning are a good reference. But personal experience is the best teacher. If God Herself has to prove their reasoning wrong what could She ever do? If She revealed Herself as God Almighty, Queen of Heaven and Earth, and moved mountains to prove it, there are those who would reason out to say, "It must have been Satan". So, listen to your feelings. Listen to your Highest Thoughts. Listen to your experience. Whenever any one of these differ from what you've been told by your teachers, elders, friends or read in your books, forget the words. Words are the least reliable purveyor of Truth.

It takes Two to Tango

I'm completing 2 years in Infy today. Congrats to Rini too on completing the 2nd year of her career. As I look back at these two years and introspect on where life has taken me, I stumble on a rather surprising answer. Two years is a damn lot of time. So much has changed in and around me. And yet there hardly seems to be any change. Vijay Babu called me up on Diwali night to wish me. So, whats so special in that..?? Despite he being in London, I get the feel of him sitting at Room No. 306 in his brown bermudas in Sangeeth Lodge and knocking at my door at No.303 to wish me Happy Diwali. Distance does not distance a few things.

deepavali celebration in london

hi all, Two weeks b4 i worried a lot reg deepavali celebration... i thought that this yr i m going to miss it.. especially our crackers.. But last week i realised that i m not at all going to miss anything... yes, from last week itself people over here started deepavali celebration... in the evening london is looking like my town... we can see lot of crackers display... tomorrow a local FM channel is arranging deepavali celebration. myself & my friends r planning to participate in it. on deepavali day all the temples over here r arranging some fn in the evening.. most pbly we ll attend one of them... enjoy the deepavali, purchase lots of crackers (then only my town ppl can enjoy deepavali), use it savely.... inia deepavali nalvazhthukkal, vijay

Hi

Hi all Long time...No see. am cool... then sorry for using this public forum for my personal use...haha Kavi...get me ur mail id... MINE IS: mahendran@gmail.com ok. ok then c u lads Mahendran

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

My palms started itching the moment I heard of a book that was supposed to be a munchy delight for the avid quizzer, a caffeine for a sleepy brain and to top it all, stir a lot of controversy. This is the kind of book I was waiting for and got served with the right potion. The book starts with a solemn pledge... All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate. I'm not a historian to judge the accuracy of the pledge in the context of the book, neither could I claim this to be the sanctum sanctorum to all your historical conundrums. But what I would claim is, the story does its job - being a grippingly indulging story. The historical references that give us new insights into a lot of our day-to-day aspects on why is Friday the 13th bad or why is Olympics being held once in 4 years does open more than an eyelid to new thinking. The book moves a little deeper into more non-trivial aspects of life when it goes about trying to explain things like how and why the discrimination of women (which continues to this day..!!) began in ancient times... and why is sex considered a bad thing today even though its a basic element of almost every living organism. The most reverberating parts of the book are its interpretations of Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork and its descriptions of what they mean in relevence to the context that penned the story and also from a historical perspective. Have we ever thought of Monalisa's beauty beyond her smile.. oops.. wait a minute.. Did I say "her".. There's more to just a "her" that makes Monalisa the beauty that Da Vinci's genius brings. I've heard of the mathematical brillance etched within "The Vitruvian Man", but the real essence of it all that the book endows makes me only bow to the genius that is Da Vinci. The even more reverberating parts of the book are so super-sonic that the hairs of researchers, preachers, archaeologists and critics would stand up in an equally unvarying unision. To the preacher it might be rubbish, while it might be an appetiser for the researcher, a bit of both for the archaeologist and a feast for the pens for the critics. Whether all that Dan Brown claims in the book is true or not will be an endless debate in itself (as though all the present religious confusions are not confusing enough). Something to despise for preachers and something to dig into for the researcher. Their debate will never come to an end.. not atleast till Apocalypse. Dan Brown deserves full credits for weaving a fine line between history and a story set at the present day. The series of hidden crypts that lead to the ultimate truth (well, almost) is certainly not another ink mark of Dan, but are richly brain whacking pieces to be weighed up. Atleast the story was good enough to make a slow-reader of books who is even more lazy when it comes to a 450+ page novel, sit up with eyes bulged open and finish the book in a span of days... Too fast by his standards...!!

vijay@london

hi all, this time i hav a happy news to tell u. coming wednesday i m travelling to my client's place in london. duration - 6 months. -vijay

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
- Alfred Tennyson

Living like never before

I can't resist replying to this... it wasn't very long before that I was thinking something in similar lines... looking at myself from a distance I was wondering if I would ever have completed my life with the fullest satisfaction in a way I would like it to be... I haven't got an answer yet... but as I started thinking these were some that came to my mind... I was actually oscillating between being stern and soft and the perpetual thin line between the two... If I am very stern at work, will I carry forward that to my wife and children later in my life... will I become one those short-tempered husbands or that daddy whose very sight frightens the kid... how can I bring about the balance between the musts and oughts and nevers... does telling a stern reply to an elder, when my conscious is convinced of my action, a good thing or bad thing... do elders deserve all the respect in the world irrespective of their words/attitude or is it ok for me to snap-in something simply because my conscious says they deserve to be snapped-in... Its impossible to be considered a Mr. Nice Guy by everyone... but do I voluntarily try to make as much people consider me a Mr.Nice Guy... or am I hypocritic if I do that... If I don't, is it ok to find a few people to talk ill of me... as long as my conscience doesn't... Do I need to try to help everyone I encounter... What if I don't choose to help someone (for some reason I'll never really be able to find) when I actually could have... How much do I worry about myself... Is it wrong to be a little selfish... what does "little selfish" actually mean... What is the extent of selfishness beyond which it becomes too selfish... Whats wrong in desiring for more... After all, how would I grow unless I desire... but if I begin to desire for more won't I start moving towards that "extent of selfishness"... the "extent" being a very relative term... how do I learn to balance between the two extremes of the extent... How right is it to advice someone... How right is it to advice someone when I myself do not do that... But still can I advice just because it would help the other person... Is it bad to "choose" not to be in touch with someone for my own reasons... Why do I need to worry about someone who may not reciprocate as much as I do... Why do I become so much attached with someone (or at times ignore someone) for apparently no big reason... am I being selfish by doing so... Do I need to be principled in life... what if my principle is not compatible with "elders"... Do I throw it away just because an "elder" says so.. or do I hold on to it and not bother about becoming victim of some hard talk around me... Ho.. Hum.. Yaawwnnn... looks more like Kamal Hassan's long dialog about his fears in thenali film... Let me know if u had got any such questions also... and what in your views would be the direction...

Slumberjack wakes

Hi, Rini, its just a question of attitude.. the way things were going, there's hardly any motivation for me to keep the blog posted with something or other... though I do have lot many things that I can throw open for a debate... there has been a lackadaisical response over the past many months... the reasons might be many... and most of them valid too... but when there's not much activity, the laziness only sinks deeper... and at present levels of depth only a "This is very bad man" could pull me to write some stuff out...

Quite some time

I guess it has realy been a while since I posted (or as a matter of fact anyone posted). I had been busy with my own site for a while. Kicha is just getting a little free time. Kavitha, how was your trip. settled now. expecting a post on your trip soon. Valli, Hello, are you there? Bye for now....

Cult Brands

The Business Week/Interbrand annual ranking of the world's most valuable brands explains why some brands have achieved a cult status among its consumers.

warning: cyclone

this is a warning for u all.. on coming sunday a cyclone is going to attack tamilnadu.. so safeguard urself..   after long time i m going home. friday night i m starting from mumbai and ll reach my home on sunday a4noon. i m going to be there for 1 week. hope to meet our friends in tamilnadu... -vijay  

some good news for Rajesh

Check this link and take a look at the fifth and the sixth links.

A chance meeting

Heavy rains brought traffic to a standstill last night. I had been enjoying my nap in the bus while my mobile rang. It was someone from Citibank. The executive wanted to know if I wanted a credit card. I noticed I had a new message waiting for me in the inbox. It went like this: "Hi Xavier, r u stil n office? Sorry it took me so long 2 contact u. no excuses! Forgive this poor girl". I was surprised to see the name at the end of the message. It was Sinduja. I called her back. We decided to meet. There was a blackout at Koramangala. It took me some time to find her place. She is enjoying life at Wipro's guest quarters. Three people at her beck and call. Hmmm. I should have utilized the services when I had the chance. I spent a couple of hours chatting with her and catching up on the latest news on everyone. Today, she is attending an interview in some software company. She promised to give us a treat once she moves into a new house(she is shifting this weekend in Koramangala).

on website

I think it is up. Some people say that an index page is visible. But I still get a Server error. Funny, I am unable to view my website. :-)

Budget today

The day of the first budget of the new congress Govt... And there are hopes afloat.. on what Mr.PC would unveil to the billon people of the country... surprisingly, he would also be more worried about pleasing a few tens of people rather than this billion.. the few tens I'm referring to are the noble-hearted, people-minded, kind, generous, compassionate lot called the communists... How far would it be a dream budget in the lines of what Mr.PC presented in 1997.. his only other budget... that won him laurels across the salaried and waged class alike... VDIS was touted to be one of the revolutions he envisaged.. so much as the concept of competition postcards.. This time however, Mr.PC is facing a brand new India... economies are at an unseen height... Forex is plumpy at $119bn.. all he needs to do is to continue the good work that has been happening in the country... Hope Mr.PC springs up another one just like the good ol' fella that he is...

some news

Read about it here.

Some links and news

Soon this person may also be joining us in blogging. Most of us use Microsoft products in our workplaces. But I bet you never knew how Microsoft develops its software. Kicha, some good news for you, I think you might soon get to play around with these tools.

trouble with spam

The QSS blog got spammed yesterday. Some bloody @&*&%# spammer had posted comments yesterday. It took me quite a lot of time in deleting them and closing all the open posts. So I have decided to close all comments after a week. I still don't know if I had deleted all the spam comments. But to a hectic schedule, I missed out watching the Euro 2004 Cup matches in tha last week. But thanks to BBC, I was able to watch the goals scored. You might need to install the latest version of Shockwave if you don't have it. I suggest you download the latest one. It is worth the download.

Who is this kingsley..???

The one who has posted some comment on jax's post below...

Spiderman sighted in India!

We have seen Spiderman swinging from American monuments several times. Now we can get to see him on Indian monuments soon. We wont't be seeing him in a complete body hugging suit. Instead our friendly Indian neighbourhood spiderman will be wearing an Indian traditional kurta with a mask ofcourse. No, I am not talking about a Bollywood version of the Spiderman blockbuster series. I am talking about Spider-Man India, the comics. Marvel COmics is bringing out a Indian version of Spiderman. "Spider-Man India interweaves the local customs, culture and mystery of modern India, with an eye to making Spider-Man’s mythology more relevant to this particular audience." Read more about it here. Nice desktop pictures are also available.

books read...

Just a short list of the books I managed to read this year...

FireFox 0.9 is out...

FireFox 0.9 has been released yesterday. Due to heavy traffic, the Mozilla FireFox site is swamped. I found it very difficult to connect to the website. The latest version is smaller than the previous versions (around 4.8MB). Anyway any one of you wants it, I can mail it to you (i.e if your mail server can handle 5 MB attachments).

Wanna eat free lunch..???

Airtel raised the local sms rates to 30ps for Aitel-Airtel... which was free until then.. and national sms to Rs.2 from 30ps... If the latter was accepted with a squeaky frown by the users (including yours truly), the former was a shocker... How the hell can they charge for something which was free until now.. After all, in Chennai/TN people enjoy free national sms.. We could find a couple of unpleasant things about the mobile services that I hope would change sooner than later.. but when it comes to charging I feel Airtel (and other service providers in Karnataka) has set the right example which ought to be tagged on by others as well... My queston is.. Why do u want something for free..?? Businesses are not here to give something out for nothing... Talking of a capitalistic economy which forms the order of the world, its as simple as 'if u use something, pay for it'.. Freebies make people take things for granted... atleast.. in the case of sms its very true... There are umpteen girls who get some rubbish sms to their mobiles from anonymous numbers... Just because sms is free some unscrupulous idiots resort to such insane mischiefs.. Lets see how much of this comes when sms is charged at Rs.2. Besides this, with such freebies the means outlives the purpose... phone/mobile/sms/mms are primarily a means of communication and not for teen hijacking... there are many articles in papers where parents of teens worry about their child's addiction to sending messages which cost absolutely nothing to the parents in terms of money but costs a lot to their peace of mind... and not to mention unnecessary distraction for the teens for whom the "interesting" anonymous guy at the other end always adds lots of "glamour" to their living... The moment u add a price tag.. its intersting how things change rapidly... teens need to go back to parents if they want to dole out some currency for their mobile.. thereby giving parents an idea of their usage and hence a constant check... the mischievous jacks are sure to find spending 2 rupees for every mischief they do become harder by the day.. after all, if this is their only occupation then they are likely to run out of money soon... and for the other "professional" users this would make their hair sit up and use the means within the boundary of its purpose... In the age when we talk of removing all subsidies and a no free electricity for farmers syndrome et. al., why should the salaried class be spared with freebies..??? A lesson learnt..!!

This is how America rewards you for being onsite...

Friends and supporters of Tejas Parmar, a programmer with SysMind, say he's in urgent need of rehabilitation after sustaining fractures in his neck region and paralysis of the lower body. ....the situation, she said, points to an extreme double standard in America's health care system. "If [other] short-term immigrants come here, is this what they will face if they get injured?" she asked. Read full-story.

Compassionate capitalism

Narayana Murthy on BBC... We believe that if India has to solve its problem of poverty, we have to embrace capitalism, ensure that jobs are created, and make sure that market-driven policies are accepted," he said. "However, to do that, the people who are the evangelists of capitalism, must conduct themselves in a manner that will appeal to the masses. "People must be able to relate to them easily. They must lead a normal life, a simple life, and people must be able to say, 'look, if these jokers can do it, we can do it better'." Read full-story

யாக்ைக திரி means...

Ayuthe Ezhuthu was nice. I have watched it twice in the last week. Anyway, I was wondering what யாக்ைக திரி meant until I found about it here.

Incidentally, I also found about the new features in Nokia's 3220 there. "Wave writing" seems to be an interesting idea. I wonder when it is released in India.

rains and traffic

John Grisham's The Last Juror kept me company during the journey back home last night. Heavy rains and traffic kept me seated for almost three hours. Luckily I had the book to read. otherwise, it would have been a terrible waste of time. But somehow I managed to get home without getting soaked.

Ram and Kicha, how did you fare last night?

Rejection letter...

Imagine you have applied for a job. You are awaiting the results of that interview. One day you get a letter saying that your application has been rejected. What do you you do now? Sit and sulk or take it positively and move on?

Both of the above approaches result in you not getting the job. Try this approach, you will be amazed at the result.

You can use the same approach to any other situation in your life, but I cannot say the result will be successful every time.

Bringing your personality to your desktop

Everyone believes that each individual has a personality. So does Microsoft. That is why they have brought a new series in their range of computer hardware. So now you can choose a mouse that suits your personality. Have a look. I had sopme free time yesterday. So I was scribbling a few lines in the note. You can read them at QSS.

Talking music....

auuAuuuuee... auaueueue... Dol Dol Dol na mave.. comin whathuk Dol Dol Dol na mave.. salaam namasthe... pommpomm pompomppom pompompom.... Dol Dol Dol na mave.. comin whathuk Dol Dol Dol na mave.. salaam namasthe... diga diga dumm dadadaaam digi didi dam... diga diga dumm dadadaaam digi didi dam... auuAuuuuee... auaueueue... auuAuuuuee... auuAuuuuee... auaueueue... Dol Dol Dol na mave.. comin whathuk Dol Dol Dol na mave.. salaam namasthe... diga diga dumm dadadaaam digi didi dadam dudu dubada de... diga diga dumm dadadaaam digi didi dadam dudu dubada de... diga diga dumm dadadaaam digi didi dam... Dol..Dol...Dol....salaam.. namasthe...salaam.. namasthe...salaam.. namasthe... 1000 por kaasu for guessing what this means...!!

Blogger Profiles

These Blogger profiles are quite interesting. It gives a lot of information that is quite interesting to read. Details like no. of posts posted, no. of words posted give an interesting statistic. When you fill up the profile, you can search for bloggers who have the same interests. For example, I had quoted Alaipayuthey as one of my favorite films. When someone views my profile, they can click on "alaipayuthey" to see who else have listed the film as their favorite films. Similarly you can click on locations, say you want to know how many bloggers are from Tamil Nadu or perhaps Chennai. So why don't everyone update their profiles. It is going to take only a few minutes.

Things here

Things are so fine here Jax... Now am into a new project da (PPMA). then how was things there for u? how was the new work environ? just key a few word in a mail to me... Hope u would have received invi from Muthuisami...His marriage is on 9th June in trichy da... He asked me to convey his spcial regards to u. And as usual our suresh and me were used to discuss all tits and bits of everything other than work ...ha ha... nothing more to key. ::Mahendran

traffic

Last night it took me more than two and a half hours to go home. I got

caught in heavy traffic. The rain gods joined in to enjoy their share of fun.

Uprooted trees and branches reduced to the already slow-moving traffic to a

snail's pace. I wonder how the other Bangaloreans fared.

Manny, can you send me the budget sheet? How are things there?

A small note

I think it would really be useful if you can give a gist of the article whenever you post some links. Maybe a kind of teaser preview. Just keeping in mind the principle of AIDAS. Anyone remembering what that means. Just plain links alone is not useful to anyone. I recieve any new posts through email. And all I can see is just a couple of links. It is not usable. I guess everyone knows enough HTML to add a 'title' attribute to any hyperlink you post. If you can give a small note on the link, it is fine. But if you feel that it might spoil the surprise, atleast give a hyperlink title to the hyperlink so that people can know what they are clicking. That is if it is not too much trouble for you.

My initial thoughts

My first thoughts on reading the article were : "What was Francois Gautier trying to convey?" Is he ranting about the obsession with white skin? Or is he commenting upon the political scenario? I cannot comphrehend. He started off with politics, somewhere in the ensuing paragraphs, he moved on to the image of india in the western world and then later on to bollywood and then accusations and then ends again with politics. I don't know whether what sort of image he wants to project in the minds of the indian readers, an Indophile or an Anglophobe? I doubt if a majority of the educated people in India have ever heard of the aryan invasion theory, nor is it taught in schools as history. It has always been a bone of contention among historians, not the common man. I feel that this article is mainly targeted in arousing confusion in the reader. I wonder how the editor of the newspaper let this nonsensical article get past his desk. BTW, since when did Ouest-France overtake Le Monde as the largest circulated French daily. BTW, why don't we reply in the comments section, instead of posting it individually.

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held, is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." Right! In the outset let us see Who said this? Again a white skinned man called "Bertrand Russell"... Why this quote when there are too many satires quoted by intellectual Indians? why this obsession? Do you need a white man's quote to authenticate your stand point? and this is what Francois Gautier has qutoed in his write up as ... "Obviously, colonisation has frozen the Indian mind in certain patterns and the British made sure, through Macaulay's policies, of leaving behind an enduring inferiority complex among Indians, by constantly harping on the flaws of Indian culture and inflating them. That is why today Indian intellectuals repeat like parrots what their masters had said before them..." In retrospect, this is infact the mind set that has been sowed deep inside the indian minds...And I won't agree that Francois is a racist...had u read the writings of Francois, you might not be in a position to brand him as a racist and as a constant follower of his writings I wont agree upon the facts put forth by kishore that he's a racist. I dont want to further quote some quotes as if quoting some IPC sections here now as it makes this discussion more like a court script...Instead the objective of francois was to discover the unknown inferiority of the majority of the indian minds (if not the whole of indian minds)...right! :: Mahendran

One week...

It has been a week since I joined. I wouldn't say that the past one week has been somewhere in the middle of interesting and boring. Since I have found a way to keep in touch with the blog (via email), you can expect me to be posting more than often As for the recent discussions , I would like to read the original article. (Manny, why don't you post the link to the article. That would lead to any copyright issues, I hope.)

New mobile number

I have got a new mobile number. You can contact me @ 9880340087. Please inform others who still have my old number (9840171578). Currently, I am posting this through mail.

Junk cannot be Junker than this...

Anybody over there to marry a tribal dark skinned lady???!!!!!!!who turns out to be good and serving man kind...????? I am removing that article from our blog so that we may avoid copyright issues which we faced in the past...

Review: Ayitha Ezhuthu

Manirathnam disappoints... no story-line... no punch in characters... no choreography... no nothing... These were some of the comments I read before watching the movie on sunday... Ayitha Ezhuthu is another Manirathnam classic... But for those who expect to see another love, another duet, another dance with a scenic beckground, another fight, another suspense and another happy ending.. this is not the kind of movie to bet ur money on... Manirathnam spends ample time with the flashbacks, which is the only way he can stress on the ingenuity of the characters he wants to portay... The screenplay is awesome.. There is not much choreography.. but given the positioning of the songs in the film it is not logical to spoil the flow by inserting unnecessary choreography... You cannot expect creativity in "yakkai thiri" nor can you expect special effects in "Jana gana mana"... the songs must be seen in the context of the film and a scenic choreography would have made no sense... No wonder that all songs put together comprise not even 30 minutes... The way the characters are handled is very unique only to the Mani style of films.. from the unpredictability of Inba (Madhavan) to the endearing expressiveness of Esha Deol the actors fit their roles very aptly... The most impressive part of the film to me was the screenplay... though a shade in the style of alaipayuthey, Mani weaves his magic once more and does not disappoint... The songs are already a hit so there's no repeating that... Rahman shows he is still in form... Watch the movie if u want to see something beyond the ordinary.. For the rest of the lot this isn't your piece of cake.. so just wait until the next movie with a lot of "masala" stuff comes your way...

Junk cannot be Junker than this...

I'm referring to that article "The white woman and India". Its a pity that people are influenced by the senseless scribblings of a "White French man".. if I may call you that way sir.. his racist mentality is evident from the way the "colour of the skin" becomes the only theme in the article. More than politics or history his words are an offence over the skin of people. I don't understand why the feeling that the image of India is "harmed" by images of our poor. USA has a significant population of "native americans" (or the so called "red indians"), who have been overthrown by the "white skinned" European settlers for their own selfish motives... The native Americans live in valleys and ridges and many unaware that there is another world and that there's something called technology... Are we Indians more selfish than such a ruthless American lot..?? Indians respect Mother Teresa not because she's white-skinned, not because there's no one else "brown-skinned" in India to take care of poor but because we respect every human and honour his/her good deeds irrespective of his/her skin color... White people spend hours on the beach and put on a hundred creams to get tanned. And in winter they even artificially lie under infrared lamps in beauty parlors to get brown! Why this obsession for the Indian woman to have white skin? I ask the same question to Mr.Gautier, why do your people want to become brown like us Indians... Isn't white beautiful enough for you..??? Why this obsession to become brown..??? You are that sect of perennially irrational ideologists for whom grass is always greener on your side... Junk can never be junker than this...!! --------- The fact that an opinion has been widely held, is no evidence that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. - Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals (1929) ch. 5

few minutes with jothika

hi friends, for the first time in mumbai i went to see a tamil movie in theatre. it turned out to be a great occasion. the movie was perazhagan and i got a chance to see three suriya and three jothika. yes, i saw 2 suriya & 2 jothika in that movie and remaining 1 jothika and 1 suriya in person...... they came to see how the movie was going in mumbai. totally around 10 people only knew that they r in the admin room of the theatre. so we went there and meet them, i was just standing nearer to jothika.... wah what a beauty...... machan ganja, nee miss pannittada.. that time only i understood y u r telling her as ur thalaivi.....hmmmmmmmm.... we had only few words with them, a4 that they left from there. in that movie comedy was really good, vivek + suriya turned out to be very good combination. atleast for the comedy and suriya/jothika, film lovers can see this movie once. - vijay

Working under lights...

Sachin Tendulkar took 79 matches to score his first ODI hundred... by the next 79 he had got a dozen of them.. Zaheer Khan had not taken 5 wickets in an innings for a long time.. Srinath quoted once "Let him take his first five wicket haul, and u'll see him take many more soon after that"... Zaheer took his first five wicket haul against New Zealand in 2002... and ended up as 3 successive hauls in that series... I had not spent night-outs at office in all of my 18-month career.. Then it happened at last on May 6th... 5 days later, today.. am here again sitting at office late at night... and probably many more to come...!!

playing around

There might be few changes in the template as and when I get some time to fiddle with it. As before, I would like your help in doing so. Since now, there is an option for comments, I would like everyone to use it as much as possible. Also I would like everyone to update and share thier profiles. I have updated mine. There were some interesting statistics on my blogging. Check out my profile. As a first case, i would like you to leave comments on what items do you want to have in blog like search, frequently visited sites and so on. leave your comments...

Beaut..!!

The blog layout is very good.. hope jax gets net access in Wipro and the blog comes back to life...!!

A new look

Ram told me that Blogger has been updated. Thought I would have a dekko at it. It was true. Now the interface looks beautiful. Traipsing through the site, I found a lot of changes. A huge set of templates were given. I chose one to test it out. A new set of tags have also been added. Rini might know about the importance of those tags. Well, once you have read this, log into Blogger and check it out for yourself.

Night out at office

Ever thought of spending a good part of the night at office...?? its been long time I posted something... and I finally felt like posting... a simple way to celebrate my presence in office at 2300 hrs... its kind of different to work with that tinge of sleep lingering on the corner of the eyelid... and u keep trying hard to pull up ur eyelashes to keep the eye open for just a little while longer... when u feel like a pillow would be more than a luxury to let u have a good night's sleep... and amid all this u keep doing that little piece of thing called "work"...

on the move..

It has been a month since I came to Chennai. I expected to roam around Chennai during the weekends. I was wrong. I had spent only one weekend in Chennai. Every weekend, I find myself spending the weekend out of town. I had been to Madurai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, and coming weekend, Bangalore again and then to Coimbatore next weekend. I wonder when I can get to visit the sights and sounds of Chennai other than commuting to work. Kicha, expecting a treat from you for getting a new mobile and Rini, expecting your birthday treat. My plans for a mobile are posted here. Leave your suggestions/comments for my mobile there.

Gmail account

Ram linked about it. So i got myself a Gmail account. Somehow Gmail seems to be associated with a lot of controversies recently, mostly privacy issues. Anyway, I am trying it out to see how it works. So kindly cc your mails to xavierroyatGMAILDOTCOM. I am at Coimbatore for the weekend. I'll be starting to Chennai tonight. More on monday.

A short visit

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Namma MTR foodchain. My cousin, his roomate, his roommate’s friend and me decided to go to a movie, Ghillie that afternoon. Since the show was scheduled to start only at 16:30, we had the afternoon to while away. We decided to visit Commercial Street. On an impulse, we chose to visit Namma MTR instead of Café Coffee Day. We were in for a surprise.

This summer, Namma MTR has launched an unlimited icecream buffet scheme. You pay 50 ruppees and you can eat as much icecream as you want. You can choose from various flavours, additional items like sauces, dry fruits. It was a good bargain to beat the summer heat. So those in Chennai and Bangalore, rush to the nearest Namma MTR outlet and enjoy this offer.

Rini, I tried calling your home. But no one picked up. I guess you had gone out to browse as I got your message on my mobile. Kicha, I called your office. You weren't there at your desk. Ram, sorry da, I didn't know your extension number. I tried to call Bala, but I could not reach him. Anyway the next time, I come to bangalore, I'll meet all of you. maybe we ca have a treat at namma MTR.

Billion dollar infynite...

It was a grand celebration of the billion dollar day.. All members of the board along with Don Liles, the first customer of infy, NS Raghavan, the first employee of infy with employee number 0001, Steve Pratt the CEO of Infosys Consulting Inc., and many many more dignitaries... The messages of the President, PM and CM of Karnataka were read out... Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik made the night colorful with their gracious voices... and to top it all there was a grand dinner...

I am back.

It is good to see atleast one get-together taking place. I think the experience was very rich on seeeing the number of dollar signs in Kicha's posts. As for me, this Easter went off well with my relatives, just like Christmas. I guess I've stopped celebrating festivals at home with family. I hope it is not the sign of things to come. I know I haven't been posting much here, unlike there. One reason is that most of my posts were either links to other sites I had come across during my browsing. But since I don't have that opportunity now, I find it difficult to post anyhting. BTW, there seems to be any discussion at all, both in the blog and the group. Any way here is one link I came across while watching television. Nowadays, it keeps me company during evenings. But due to the stupidity of the government (CAS), I cannot get any movie channels. I have to manage with music channels and news channels. Sri, nice to read your post. It kept me and Manny laughing for quite some time. Any way can you call me on my mobile (09840171578) asap.

The weekend...

It wa$ a wonderful weekend... though it could have been better in $ome a$pect$.. it wa$ very enjoyable neverthele$$... Rajesh and Vijay Babu had made it all the way to blore from their place$.. and Murtuza i$ al$o back in the city after having a time of hi$ life in Goa.. We had booked a room the previou$ night and the next morning we $tarted off to a re$ort at the far end of Bannerghatta... $pent the whole day having a lot of fun there... Murtuza had got a car $o moving here and there wa$n't all that difficult... we talked about pa$t, about all the per$on$ of our cla$$ and a lot lot more... an exciting and memorable weekend indeed...!! PS: Infy becomes a billion dollar company today...

Week that was and ahead

There was soemthing interesting that happened in the past week... As I was racing against time to finish some work.. valli came online.. and then jax and then ram came out of his invisibility and we started a conference... though I didn't take part much because of work.. I followed the talk.. and then sindhuja joined in too.. it was nice talking with all at one go... and then I felt a bit naughty... I asked sindhuja for her number and called her up from office... through VoIP... just the inspiration of making so many calls to UK everyday (my current client is in UK) made me that much naughty... I don't know if I'm allowed to reveal.. but still I do (I continue to be naughty)... Sindhuja is likely to land in India on May 3rd.. and go to Madurai etc., for a month before returning back to Bangalore... sindhu, would still like to hear this from ur mouth in this blog... And there is going to be a get-together of sorts this weekend... some of the guys will be in blore this weekend for a day's bash.. while some are not able to make it... we'll plan something bigger soon...

from RAJESH

Dear friends please note that this election is not going to do anything with TN.The results are noway going to influence our Honourable chief minister Dr.AMMA. this is parlimentary election and so dont fall inside the trap of thinking locally . If you are satisfied with the nadional democratic alliance and support all the hard steps taken by AIADMK government in ensuring financial stability and uniform growth among all sector of people ,if you want them to continue in power VOTE FOR BJP/AIADMK alliance(which is a natural alliance). if you are not satisfied with the performance of NDA and still believe that DMK and alliances who where with BJP till yesterday and blamming it as an religious party today,a party with a symbol of rising sun and with a policy of rising son and rising grand son ,a party which always beleive that acting against Hindu beliefs is called as secularism, can give better governance along with Mrs.Antoniyo meno of ITALY ,then kindly vote for thier alliance. always note that inspite of all critisism and blames Tamilnadu has almost reached the first position in all sectors as promised by our CM. also note that Majority can not be right always. ready for further discussion Note: Kicha : - can you please copy this mail and put it in blogger for me?

MicroSun Windows...

The 2 billion dollar conversation... Transcript of Press Conference Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Scott McNealy, Chairman and CEO, Sun Microsystems April 2, 2004 San Francisco, California

FLASH NEWS: Rivals join hands...!!

A tech cold war comes to an end Calling a truce in one of the business world's loudest and longest-running rivalries, Sun Microsystems on Friday settled its legal feud with Microsoft in exchange for nearly $2 billion in payments and a 10-year cooperation agreement with its former nemesis. The two companies will collaborate over the next 10 years to make each other's products -- notably Sun's servers and Microsoft's dominant Windows PC operating system -- work together well. McNealy said the deal with Microsoft would make Sun's products more valuable because they will now be able to work smoothly with products running Microsoft's software. Read full-story.

internalisation without obligations???

Yeah, it was a kind of obligatory post I had to make because I liked this approach. Just in case you didn't know, many people I know read my blog. It keeps them in touch with me. I could've easily posted everything here and asked them to view it here but somehow I felt it wasn't the best solution. So when I have an alternative, why don't I redirect them there? As for my participation in this blog, don't feel that I am abadonning this blog for that. Each one serves its purpose and neither shall one replace the others. Obligation is not to taken as 'something you do because you are indebted to it'. And I also feel that obligation is a first step towards internalisation. So unless and until I start fulfilling my obligations, do they become closer to me and as a result, internalisation occurs. That's all from me for now.

Rumination

Its been a while since I posted something substantial.. not that I don't have time.. but that I don't know what to post.. I do get my so-called "breaking news"... but a series of that would be just posting something for the heck of it... jax, even though u told some days back in reply to my "post-jax era" post etc., that u would always be around.. its kind of going to be hard for u now.. understandable.. but as rini pointed out, it would have been more heartening for all of us if u had kept a fraction of that gusto to this blog too... all we got was something that u yourself acknowledge as an "obligatory" post... that was the saddest part of it all... I was just fearing this... posting in this blog need not be an obligation.. but it must be an internalised exertion.. obligation is the last thing anyone would want... Anyways... rini.. keep pondering about the question.. I too will... some riddles (if I may call my question one) are difficult to be solved... but riddles need not be solved to be enjoyed..!!

obligatory post

This is just an obligatory post to make known that I keep in touch with the blog. More details about my job, read QSS

CARDCAPTOR

CardCaptor and Pokemon are the modern cartoons strips running very successfully world over in both print and visual media.. Both have their source in the unique Japanese style of cartoons... u can watch both these in Cartoon Network (check local guides for timings)... Pokemon has been such a big hit in India that the Pokemon collectibles can be found in some wafer/chips packets...

Astrology...

It was an interesting piece that rini has shared with us... one thing is that the measurements used to arrive at the supposedly precise date of Lord Ram's birth is based on planetary positions... And this has been the very root of any astrological theory... horoscopes are mainly based on 12 (if I'm not mistaken) objects that constitute the planetory standings... Now my question is how does it really get to affect our lives... if at all it does... How does a saturn moving from a left to a right have an impact on whether I would succeed in an exam or not...

"Mother of all matches today"

That was the headline in today's Deccan Herald. I switched on the TV this morning... MTV was showing the song "Hum ko hai pura yakin..." - a song made for the World Cup '03 to motivate the team.... [V] was showing the latest hit "Jeet Lo Dil.." the official song of the Samsung Cup... NDTV shows y'day's press conference... If u thought that's passion for the game.. then here's more.. Infy is broadcasting today's match Live in the big-screen...!! So much for being passionate... Its amazing to notice how a sporting event raises so much nerves bringing the entire country on its toes.. Lets get to the other side of the whirlwind... there have also been scattered deliberations of the "unnecessary" adulation given to cricket when there are innumerable people just down the street who wouldn't care for who plays or who wins as long as they find enough to satiate their hunger... or sparing a thought for the jawans on the border who are eating bullets for breakfast and dinner... There have been occasions in the past when the fans themselves have gone overboard.. a case being the burning effigies of Indian players when they lost to Australia in a preliminary World Cup match... Where was this "anger" when coach S6 was burning in Godra... where was this "anger" when Fr.Staines was burnt alive... this list would never end... There is a very thin line between just being passionate about a game as an individual and seizing things to the deepest of emotional depths... Being passionate is not wrong... as long as we believe that its just 11 guys playing a sport and trying to give their best... But monitization and politicization by the media and politicians does go a distance in fuelling phony emotions that is far from the margins of "love for the game"... Its the "love" for the game that is important and healthy.. and not an irrational, emtionally inflicted passion...

1000 por kaasu...

I want all the lyrics of ayitha ezhuthu... the one who sends it first will win 1000 por kaasu... and all u people.. make sure u listen to the songs.. haven't heard Yuva yet.. but the tamil version is very good... a really different Rahman... in particular he has outdone himself in Jana gana mana.. I'm eager to see this film...

But what makes u feel urself..

Very interesting question by Rini... "But what makes u feel urself.." let me try to make an exhaustive list.. When I do what "I" like to do.. when I have the freedom to do everything "I" want to do... when I have my dear one(s) near me... when I see that smile on the face of the special someone... when I can express myself with a wide genuine smile... when someone cries for me.. when someone smiles for me… when I know I have one, to do these two for me… when that person is near me.. when someone tells me "I miss u"… I may not be exhaustive.. this is all that I could manage at my level of spontaneity… but this does make me a point... a lot depends on the companion you are with – parent or friend or spouse... depending on what stage of your life you are in... its that companion and that companionship that imbibes a sense of belonging.. to instill an "all is not lost" feeling when all seems lost to you.. to re-instate what you are composed of.. and to make u feel yourself..

missing.../part two...

Hi all, Seeing the last couple of posts by Rini and Kicha people might think that I have given up blogging. They seem to speak in the trend of pre- and post- eras. Hmmm.... I think Kicah has been doing too much reading and Rini too much thinking. As Kicha has pointed out, I may not be able to blog as much as I usually did in the past, you can blame the lack of net access at Manny's company for that. But if you had noticed, I had posted a few posts at QSS in the recent past.

Beginning of Part-2: The post-jax era

Good to see a flurry of activity... I guess jax might not have access to net... so activity is likely to decrease on his part... so its up to the others to make up for that.. I had been to madurai this past weekend... I too have to take up the exam Kavi is referring to.. though at a later date... But considering a few other things coming my way and considering my limits and priorities.. I'm not one bit confident of taking up this exam in the next 2 months or so... still counting my options... But this is mandatory for everyone in our dept... and I become answerable to my heads in this aspect.. lets see...

maybe...

you should try searching for him here.

The saga of blogging...

End of Part-1.

When the eyes start to listen...

the ears begin to see... I reached Bangalore at 9AM today morning... 2 hrs behind schedule.. and reached office just in time for lunch... the bus travel y'day was the best one could ever hope for... I felt I was travelling in a rocket... in fact, even better... even a rocket wouldn't have trembled that much... nor would it have been so noisy.. that bus provided a feel of both... Even though it was an AC Sleeper bus, in theory, it was a typical Govt bus in reality... Sometimes, I wonder if handing over the entire roadways to private players would make more passenger-sense...

From Hyd...

Having a nice time... sleeping in the training... not enough time to roam around the city... just went to see charminar y'day night though couldn't spend much time around that place... will be starting tonite and be in Bangalore tomorrow morning...

Hyderabad...

Am going to Hyderabad tonite on an official visit for a training.. Its a short 2 day trip... and I'll be back on friday...

how u forgot...

Rini, I'll tell u how u forgot... First, u woke in the morning... hoping to get back the feel of the good old days of going office... "old" because ur holidays almost seemed an eternity... then, u started on all ur daily chores thinking to continue as u do normally in any other week day... Then, u came to office... and as u glared at ur anti-glare monitor, thoughts of sharing ur experiences started treading the noble path to ur mind... and u started off with a quoty post and followed that with a posty post.. all the while wondering if the comprehensive mechanism for detecting if any Vital Information Resource Under Siege cases could occur on "Hi"ing at the blog subject... and a gush of the nobly treaded path of ur thoughtwave began to overflow as ur fingers started typing out the frills across those paths... and as u typed them u didn't notice what was present in the otherside of the fence in the middle of the road... As u didn't notice it u didn't put it in ur posty post.. quoty post was not supposed to have it... and posty post missed it.. And this is how u forgot... If I'm wrong.. then I'm wrong.. otherwise I'm not...

A few thoughts

Ranjini, it is good to have you back again after a week long hiatus. Ram, the site you suggested was nice. Did you suggest them for its design or the information in it? It is good to see everyone moving into newer areas in terms of opportunities. For the past one month, I seem to notice a drop in the number of posts and an increase in the number of mails. Is it a sign of the blog outliving its usefulness as a communication tool? People usually have the idea that only women ought to take care of thier skin. But the skin is really an important organ for men also. I came across an article today. Though the products specified may not be available in India, the articles anyhow gives several tips.

Hi all...

And Congrats da sagalai...this is my formal greet to you in front of our group... What else...? Vijay, Sorry da...I was not able to pick ur call...anyhow thanks for calling. And for me its all fun days in my new tasks...really enjoying the environment...But the sad news is that there is nonet access in HTC. and nothing more. Just came to check my mails and thought of saying a Hi to u all... Ok then....Will get back whenever possible...But why is that there are no posts from a majority of the bloggers except a few.... right...take care. Mahendran Jayavel

Music Review: Meenaxi - A tale of 3 cities

Just when one begins to think that the lustre is lost... he comes up with a beaut. Meenaxi - A tale of 3 cities is nothing short of an AR Rahman magnum opus.. MF Husain's (the painter) directorial second with Tabu playing the lead role, Meenaxi is a masterpiece creation of 8 exquisite works of art.. certainly Rahman's best in Hindi.. after Taal and Lagaan. 1. Yeh Rishta (Singer: Reena Bharadwaj) Turning out as another of Rahman's revelation, Reena's debut song would have pleased many a heart. Her opening line, and the opening of her career, is as soothing as running water and just bewilders you.. Her rendition of the entire track is superb, and in particular the feeling with which she sings the title line "Yeh Rishta Kya kehe laata hai" (What does this relation signify?) could not have been more perfect... 2. Chinnamma Chilakkamma (Singer: Sukhwinder Singh) My favorite. Rahman and Sukhwinder team-up again to bring out another foot tapping number... This song is based in Hyderabad and is a blend of Telugu folk with a Punjabi twist... The song opens with a flute rendering coupled with a mild "women folk" chorus of the title line and moves into a rhythmic percussion... 3. Do Kadam aur sahi (Singer: Sonu Nigam ) A melodious melancholy... its beauty lies in it's vocal-musical melding. Rahman doesn’t add a single hard beat, yet he creates an evenly symmetrical rhythm that flows smooth... 4. Dhuan Dhuan (Singer: Asha Bhosle) There is more of Asha than Rahman.. the vocal genius of Asha coupled with the synthesized music gives us another ever-green creation... 5. Cyclist's Rhythm (Instrumental percussion: Shivamani) How do u feel when u hear the sound of 10 distinct bicycle bells going off at the same time... noisy nuisance...?? For Rahman and Shivamani even that rings musical tunes... this is the height of musical creativity... 6. Rang Hai (Singer: Alka Yagnik, Dallinda) A Rajasthani folklore... the most unusual part of the track is the very beginning, opening with a mysterious voice of the Lebanese singer Dallinda.. It is said, Tabu danced with 4 stitches in her leg to this song and on asking how she managed.. she repied "It is the music of the film. It just did something to me. It's almost divine." 7. Potter's Village (Instrumental percussion: Hossam Ramzy) This one carries an Arabic feel to it, most probably because of the extensive use of the guitar throughout the piece. 8. Noor-Un-Ala (Singer: Murtaza Khan, Quadir Khan) A Qawwali composed by MF Husain himself... Rahman continuously provides us with the quick-paced beat of the tabla and the flowing melody of the harmonium, characteristic of most qawwalis.. another catchy composition...

where we should be going?

Kicha, you were spot on when you spoke of certain aspects related to the economic factors. It is true that a political rethink is necessary. The feel good factor has generated such a lot of discussion even before the elections are underway. The growth of a country is to be applauded but the politicisation of the growth is an area that has to be avoided. One party says it is instrumental for the country to achieve great heights. But did the party do it on its own. No, it just ramped up the prevailing growth. For that cause it is to be congratulated. The other party says that the government is a failure and that they would have brought greater laurels to the country. I feel that the development of a nation should not be handed over to a bunch of political parties who change idealogies and partners faster than a formula 1 driver changes gears. Instead, the plans foir the nation's growth have to be decided upon and the government must be able to execute that plan, regardless of thier party manifesto. Such a growth is a true growth of a nation. So what do you think? Should the plans for the growth of the nation (say our five year plans) be constant with each government working towards achieving it or should each government bring out thier own five year plans? P.S. This was to be posted yesterday morning. Due to some problems with Blogger. It is being posted aday late. Manny, congrats. I'll call you tonight without fail.

We stand here...!!

It is not very surprising that we don't have many to speak of in that Forbes list... its just that with the kind of economy that India is, its really hard to produce more such people compared to the likes of European countries and some others... The EU believes in growing up together.. trade barriers are very flexible... travel regulations are tourist-friendly... once u get to some European country, travelling to other European countries is very easy.. remember, sindhuja has already visited Scotland and Wales.. so tourism improves and adds to the economic kitty and now-a-days the EU (except Britain) trades with the same currency too... But in the case of India, the dependency on the developed economies is so large that we seldom get to call the shots... further, the ASEAN exists just for the sake of existing... there is immense unrest between the neighboring ASEAN countries... and most delegate meets are spent languishing over the political instability... While EU has very relaxed and cooperative trade norms... the Asian "giants" China and India are considered to be competitors... in this age, growth is only possible with a cooperative and liberal sharing of selective core competency.. that is the whole raison d'etre of the concept called ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) which is still taking roots.. George Fernandes asked in the '70s, "Why do we need a Unilever to make such measly things as a toothpaste".. Unilever did enter India.. and the rest is history... Georgian socialsm has no place in this era.. the "feel-good factor" in the economy is just a fog veiled over the election atmosphere... India has a long way to go before it could become a force to reckon with... and it would require a revolutionary political re-think..

wondering what is wrong?

Hi, I had an sudden impulse to redesign QSS. Tell me how the new design looks. Also I find some funny behaviour by the site. Once the page is loaded, you might find that the right side bar has a lot of padding. Just move you mouse over any link on the page. The extra padding disappears. When I checked, this particular behaviour appears only in Internet Explorer. In Firefox, the website appears normal. Anyone else having such problem, send me a screenshot and the browser version you are using. If possible, send the screen resolution also. Bye, P.S. Bala, you left out Russia. There are more millionaires in Russia than Hong Kong, when compared to to ecomoic scenario prevailing in the country. (Compare thier GDPs)

Whats cookin doc

-- In the mid of the hottest discussion.... Hottest..??? Ain't I missing anything...?? Whats hot in the discussion.. was there a discussion in the first place...?? just strings of yarn that feather the sweat amid some work and etching between the words an "I'm still alive" kind of an awful trub... and u call this "the hottest discussion"...?? Uh..!!

On RSS

All of us might have been visiting the blog on a regular basis, maybe once or twice a day to see if there are any new posts. Probably you might be opening up your favorite web browser and typing the url to visit the blog. Similarly there might be quite lot of things you might be accessing regularly everyday like news headlines, site updates, blogs etc. Let me explain with my own experiences.

I visit almost thirty-odd websites every day. The list contain websites, magazines, news headlines, and web logs. It is difficult to remember each site. So I bookmark these sites and visit them. Most of the time, I find that not all sites are updated regularly. A couple of sites are updated more than once in a day and some sites once in two days. There is no way of knowing which sites are updated and which are not. Imagine opening up nearly forty websites and finding that only four or five of them have been updated. Consider the costs involved in terms of time and bandwidth. It is huge.

News Aggregators:

This is where aggregators step in. My news aggregator helps me keep up with all my favorite sites by checking if they are updated and displaying the new items from each of them. Now I find that my news aggregator can find and classify them so that I get to read the latest items. I thereby get to save my time and bandwidth.

There are several type of aggregators available. Web based aggregators like my Yahoo! and myFeedster collect information and display them in a webpage. Aggregators are also available as standalone applications. They are also integrated into e-mail clients and web browsers.

A search on Google reveals numerous aggregators. You can choose one that suits you. I use "RSS Reader Panel" with Mozilla FireFox 0.8. Since the aggregator integrates into the web browser, I find it very easy to find sites that have been updated using it.

How do aggregators know which and when sites have been updated?

The answer is through an XML-based format known as RSS.

What is RSS?

RSS is an XML-based format that is used for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites like BBC, news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and personal weblogs.

But it is not limited to news alone. Mark Pilgrim says that "anything that can be broken down into discrete items can be syndicated via RSS". He cites examples like the "recent changes" page of a wiki, a changelog of CVS checkins, even the revision history of a book. Once information about each item is in RSS format, an RSS-aware program (read aggregator) can check the feed for changes and react to the changes in an appropriate way.

RSS feeds:

An RSS feed is an XML file that is available on the webserver just like a HTML page. Once a feed is available for a website, and aggregator can visit the file and perform the required action. A feed contains a list of items, each of which is identified by a link. Each item can have any amount of metadata associated with it. Metadata usually consists of a title and a description about it. It can also have infomation like the publisher of the feed, the date it was updated and other metadata items.

Versions of RSS:

There are several formats of RSS currently available. Lots of heated discussions have been going on about which format is the better format. Even the expansion of RSS is a bone of contention among various people.

Atom, the new kid on the block:

Recently, several people have been pushing forward for a better and enhanced RSS format called Atom. This project has gained acceptance among major CMS and blogging clients, including Blogger and Movable Type. Several RSS aggregators have begun supporting Atom and the list is expanding regularly.

In case you have more doubts, this tutorial will help you to understand the basics of RSS. Several real-life examples of RSS are given in this website.

In case you want me to choose a RSS aggregator for you, I can help you out. Your comments and feedback are welcome.

feeds and RSS

Rini, can you enable the Atom feed in all the blogs you post? Just like I did for 'All in a day's work!' You can find it in the blog setting under feeds. Since you don't mention that you have posted in them, I have to visit each one in sequence. If you enable the feeds, I'll know whenever you update them. And I can visit them. What do you say? Ram, I'll reply to your query on RSS soon. I am collecting info on them.

Ever wondered...

Though chefs in most hotels are men, household men seldom take to cooking.. Why is it so...?? I got an answer... may be, its because of E.G.O. after all, how can the man - the head of the family, the god of small and big things of his family - take up something as measly as cooking... ----------------- sometimes I wonder, why I wonder… the more I wonder why I wonder, the more I wonder… I again wonder but this time I wonder not why I wonder… But how much I wonder why I wonder…

B R E A K I N G N E W S

Chennai to have Infy's largest development centre The campus, being pegged as the world’s largest development centre by official sources, will be built on a sprawling 129 acres of land within Mahindra City. A press release from Mahindra City said that Infosys will invest Rs 1,250 crore in phases and ultimately build the facility which will occupy 25,000 employees. Read full-story.

Corporate view of IIM fee-cut

Fee-cut will weaken IIMs: Narayana Murthy, Banga Murthy was speaking to the press along with Hindustan Lever Chairman M S 'Vindi' Banga. The two corporate stalwarts, along with marketing consultant Rama Bijapurkar, said that IIMs are not elitist. Banga said: "Nearly 18 per cent of the IIM students are from the families whose annual income is below Rs 150,000. Another 60 per cent have a household income of below Rs 500,000. Only 22 per cent of the students come from families whose annual income is above Rs 500,000. So to say that IIM is catering to only the elite is wrong." "The government should not spend more on students who would be earning much more," Murthy said, adding that the average salary of an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate was about Rs 825,000 and the loan for fees could be repaid by the student easily in a couple of years. Describing the Union HRD ministry's decision as unilateral, Banga said there were a number of stakeholders who should be involved in the process. He noted that IIM-A was promoted by the central government, Gujarat government and corporates. "There are 45 million children in India who don't go to school. There are 350 million illiterate people and in every rural school of our country there is just one teacher for two classes. So instead of reducing IIM fees, we should pay more attention to those things in our country. I mean we should not rob the poor and pay the rich," Murthy added. Read full-story.

see-saw'ing past...

How often have u thought of times in your past when u had a habit.. a trait... that drew a lot of attention from ur peers... things that used to be so natural for u but very unseen for most others and that had even become a mark of identification for u... sometimes you were known more by those acts rather than yourself... Years hence, it would look as funny for ourselves as it was for the others in those days... How often have u tried re-enacting some acts... that blows an inexplicable air of nostalgia taking us back to our "good old days" for a few moments... and at times becomes a revelation to us about ourselves as to how we have changed over the years... and may be teach us a lesson or two... Sometimes.. it pays to ponder the past...

Capability models...

Good to see Rini involving in a lot of non-technical aspects of work.. these "paper-work" are so much important in the paperless offices of these days... there's really so much to gain in defining a proper methodology and standards and sticking to it during the various phases of a project execution... It sometimes feels a nuisance to do a lot of homework for a seemingly trivial task.. but in the long run when XYZ needs to work on something that was done a few years back.. such standardization is going to be a boon to that guy... Such models do not just provide an organized way of working but also a sustainably efficient process that aid in optimized usage of time and reduction in cost...

Nothing much to post...

It has been some time since I had posted anything here. I had been caught up in work, both at office and at home. Somehow I managed to get some time to try and structure QSS. One thing I have done is to remove the movie and book information from the main page. So now visitors will not see posts that are about the movies I had watched and the books I have read. They will instead be listed under 'Recent Reads' and 'Recently Watched'. But even this might change soon. It is really a pain in the neck trying to fit all information in a single page. Maybe this might help. Rini, Your post was a refresher course in CMM. So when do you plan for CMM? Till the next post,

Yesterday...

Yesterday was one of those days you wished would never end at all. Vijay, thanks da for awaking me at 12:05 am. Read more about how I spent the day here. I wanted to post this earlier. But I had some network problems and an urgent work to do.

i say to god...

Who says to who... - I dont know.... but after saw this, i thought abt it... what i say to god.... it is something like, I know he's good... He knows everything I know... and he knows everything still I need to know... He's up.. he's my god... I need his blessings... I do my duty... for that is my only happiness... I removed the nots, downs...from the original content. i personally feel that, if i really believe in god, then first i shld believe in myself and shld not use those words... ---------- sriprasath - machan unakku ennada achu... yeen da ippadi yellam post panra... ennamo podaaa... --------- Belated birthday wishes to our blog...

Who says to who...

I know I'm not good.. I know he's good... He knows everything I know... and he knows everything I don't know... He's up.. I'm down... he's my god... I need his blessings... I need his orders... I shall not fail in my duty to obey him... for that is my only happiness...

In search of peace...

Meditation is just a process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss... And just that and nothing more than that...!! It has got no direct correlation with God or divinity, but only that the meditater could use his new-found bliss for any good things that he may ascertain to take up... and in his views "good things" may encompass spirituality... The reason why meditation finds links to Godliness is more because the "teachers" of meditation find no other better way to attract people to this amazing art... after all, in the name of God, people are even ready to do things non-sensical to the common sense... this stems from the homegrown "fear" of God... and the attitude of bargain - get me passed in the exam and I would break 108 coconuts (as though God asked for it)... Often, meditation also finds links with religiousness rather than spirituality... and these days the former takes root at the expense of the latter... A reason for the Srirangam tragedy (where 40 people, mostly women and children, were burnt in a marriage hall) was given that "the temple failed to perform a vital ritual and such a tragedy was always on the cards"... Rubbish..!! Would the "holy" person dare utter this line if he was a victim's kin...!! He would rather be better off trying to help the victims if he can or else keep his mouth shut...!!!! Another classic example of spirituality lost in splendour is the ISKCON temple in Bangalore... that seems to be growing into a market place rather than a spiritual avenue... The contemporary "teachers" of meditation are no different... they use this "fear" of God to inculcate this practice... except a few organizations, quite a few are more interested in the business of teaching meditation rather than the service of helping people find peace...

What was it like?

A year of blogging. One year! I cannot believe it. Exactly 12 months ago, I came across this new phenomenon that was spreading across the web. The phenomenon was called blogging. Actually, I was searching for something else. The concept of blogging seemed wonderful. Posting one's thoughts to the web immediately. It was a kind of a diary/journal. Online, accessible from anywhere by anyone. Then I took some time to understand what it was all about. I came across several wonderful blogs. The concept had been taken to great heights by several of those I had come across. Then came an idea of having a team blog. But before that I needed to have a sandbox to play around. 'All in a day's work!' became that sandbox. For a couple of weeks, I made myself comfortable with the concepts of blogging. Soon by the end of last February, 'All in a day's work!' was let loose with the help of three more members. Soon others joined, the ranks swelled. Overall, it has been a tremendous year with lots of things learnt and discussed. What was your experience? Tell me what was it like?

Mailer Demon...

jax, mails are not being delivered to ur postmark ID.. pls have a check on that...

Excellent move Mr.Joshi...

Now that the fee cut for the elitist IIMs has been announced... after careful thought and consideration the following steps need to be urgently announced.. 1. Do away with the CAT, GD and Personal interviews... After all higher education cannot be the choice of just the intellectual few... Every Tom, Dick and Harry has an equal say to it... And since CAT, GD, and the Personal interviews were separating the elitist from the non-elitist, they have to be discarded... 2. Introduce a new quota for the kith and kin of Government employees... they are the most underprivileged of the lot... 3. Decide the curriculum... Mr.Joshi being a Ph.D. himself... who better a person to decide the curriculum than the erudite Dr.Joshi… 4. Day-1 companies during campus interviews should be the PSUs... and there need to be a rule that the top 50 brains in the IIMs should necessarily stay in PSUs... after all, isn't the country losing the best brains to the MNCs..

the laws

Ok Ram, I guess that shows how the laws work. Ha ha ha... Since you had asked for it, here are the five basic laws of stupidity.

1. Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Confused, read a more detailed explanation here. When I had siad, i'm looking out for designs, I meant something like this list.

India Shining, is it?

What do you think of the latest "India Shining" ads by the Government or now the caretaker government? Is this an election ploy or is it the truth? Interestingly, there has been a lot of criticism over the ads from various sources. This week's Hindu had an thought provoking article. What do you think about it?

Could this also happen?????????!!!!!!!!

Hi all, A blog from kavi and that too saying that she is free from work... Wonder but true... Could this also happen...immm...

stupidity and movies

I read an interesting article on human stupidity. It is a pretty much long article, but it is kind of interesting. Read "The Basic Laws of Stupidity". It is been a couple of weeks since I posted some laws. So consider this as a continuation from where I left off. So Friday the Thirteenth. And Tomorrow is Saturday the Fourteenth. Valentine's day. Wonderful. I am looking out for new designs for this blog and QSS. Anyone having any good color schemes, send them to me. BTW, does anyone else use a RSS reader?

Today is...

Friday the 13th...!! Any takers..??

Lord of the rings:

Return of the King... !!!!

archives

Sorry Ram, I thought about and also looked. Blogger does not have an option. It can be worked around. But that means I would have to dirty my hands with Javascript, which I don't want to. There are already too many scripts running in the blog. One for the blogroll (which I have plans of replacing), a couple for the "recent posts" section, another couple for the website visitors and referrers. I think everyone should visit the logs. Click on the image. You'll get to know find amazing information from it. If you want, I can sort and put the archives listing in the descending order, I'll add it to my to-do list. No posts on your "Thoughts", Have you forgotten it? BTW, if anyone is still linking to my Quod scripsi scripsi blog hosted on blogspot (http://jaxsays.blogspot.com), please update it to the new one (http://jaxsays.weblogs.us) and I have deleted the blog hosted on blogspot.

(k)not if u know...

Valli - Cyprus Semiconductors Sinduja K - Wipro Ramya R - don't know Vinitha - healthcare company Ranjini - Wipro Ramya P - Deutsche s/w No prizes for guessing what they are... But if this is any indication, there seems to be a minor inclination on part of the parents to getting their daughters married to someone who has had a similar education as her... Irrespective of the girl working after marriage or not, there seems to be a mindset that there might be a better understanding if the two have learnt similar things in their "student" life.. or is it..?? I'm saying "similar learning in student life" because in quite a few cases the girl may not work post-marriage or after some period after marriage... So, the case of having relatively "similar job nature" and "similar work pressure" and "similar timings" cannot be made generic... So, what could be the big idea... does learning similar things as students got to do anything with better understanding in marital life... If so, which kinda parents would get their daughters married to the umpteen marketing professionals, does a financial consulant necessarily need a wife who did something sort of MBA Finance, so that they understand better in their life... or is it all only confined to the big fella called "Information Technology"... ??? PS: Only arranged marriages are in the purview...!!

Gotcha..!!

Right jax.. thats the one...

maybe

it is this song? BTW, Download the new FireFox browser. Highly recommended.

Jax.. HELP...

I've been humming these lines since morning.. but I forgot which song it comes in... I dont remember the further lines.. Must have been love.. but its over now... I have this song in my terminal here in office.. But I forgot which song it is.. and can't find out among the 100 odd english songs... Try to find it for me...

Soft Drinks & Hard Truths...Contd

Hi all, Continuing my previous post on "Soft Drinks & Hard Truths"... Hope you all would have heard about the JPC's report and the aftermath... Now its time to act... take from nature than from coke and pepsi.

Is India IT superpower..??

After two decades of being in the information technology business, India is still a 'toddler' with only 2 per cent of global market share, according to N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies Ltd. Read full-story

a few links...

Do you think you are smart? If yes, give your boss this article. Here are the top ten brands of 2003. Outsourcing - the word makes a few US citizens' blood boil. Here is a different take on the issue of outsourcing,"The New Face of the Silicon Age".

Hope it Reached...

...Jax...I sent that FrameMaket Tutorial to u da. Bye then.

Wonder Ponder

Here's another silly wonder that we could ponder on.. just like the 'hotel' thing that bala sent... "Why do (generally) women grow long hair.. while men prefer to keep it short." I put that 'generally' in bracket because these days women also tend to keep their hair short.. at times as short as men, if not shorter... and while there are men too who like to keep their's as long as women, if not longer... But having said that, its been a norm down the generations that as we utter the word "girl", "woman" and any of its sibling synonyms we visualize a homo sapien with a longer hair... When would this ever have begun..?? Stone-Age humans would never have thought of cutting their hair... in fact, they started dressing with leaves and twigs only after quite a while as their 6th sense of civilization began gradually to take root... But this case happened for both men and women of stone-age.. but how did the "cutting the hair short" thing held on only with the male species... I do have my explanation for this.. but would like to hear from u too...

B R E A K I N G N E W S . . .

Ctrl+Alt+Del Inventor Retires Today The engineer who invented the Ctrl+Alt+Del keystroke combination is retiring today from IBM, leaving behind his legacy as an inexorable part of the PC experience. David Bradley developed the key combination while working on prototypes of IBM's first PC. He needed a way to quickly reboot the buggy machine because a hard reset--which involved flicking off the power switch and waiting a few moments before retoggling it--took too much time. "The intention was to be cryptic," he said. "It was a key combination that was the moral equivalent of turning the power off and back on again, so it was not an action to be taken lightly. It wasn't something you wanted to happen accidentally." Today, many people use the keystroke combination on a regular basis and not always because the machine has become unresponsive. Microsoft adopted the keystroke combination for use in Windows; today's Windows versions use the combination to let people log on to the system and to bring up a diagnostic screen. "I might have invented Ctrl+Alt+Del but, as I like to say, Bill Gates made it famous," Bradley joked.

the past week

Nice links on various types of personalities. It was interesting too. I have added more book reviews and a movie review at QSS. BTW, I have not enabled comments on many of my recent posts. What is your opinion, should they be enabled or disabled? I would like to enable them, provided they are used. No use in enabling comments and no comments are present. Rajesh had come home last evening. Vijay had called. Watched a lot of movies, (reviews soon) and books (reviews here). Other than that the last week has been spent deleting hundreds of virii infected mails. Still deleting them... That's why I could not mail/reply to anyone. On the work front, a coupe of days absence has precipitated a lot of pending tasks. I am striving hard to complete them asap. Rini, the colors were nice, but the best thing I liked was the use of asterisks in the title. It was fabulous. Hope to see a lot more posts in the future on flowers. BTW, any snaps of your garden available. Manny, the link you gave didn't work. Send it to my postmark id. Any luck with FrameMaker tutorials???

Interpersonal Distancing...

Its human psychology that we prefer to maintain a distance from a stranger... Here's the actual theory behind it from a psychology source... People surround themselves with a "bubble" of personal space that they claim as their own, and they tend to become stressed when other people invade their "bubble." Ashton and colleagues found that when they asked pairs of friends and strangers to stand at various distances from each other, both men and women felt more comfortable when an opposite-sex friend stood close (about 1.5 feet) than when a stranger of either sex stood at that distance.

from Vijay Babu

bye i m leaving da. if possible just inform in the blog that i m going to sivakasi for 1 week. Its possible..!!

Rini too warming up...

So.. we have one more.. rini continues to warm herself up bathing in bucketloads of music.. what about others...

Bangalore is warming up...

The coconut oil which was frozen when I left for Madurai last week is liquified now... Bangalore is warming up... and so are some of our people... to face the higher challenges in life and career... Jax, is commencing his MCJ course, Bala is looking forward to Brand Management... Bala, I had a look at the ICFAI site about the course.. seems impressive as far as the course structure goes... so its just the decision of spending that u need to consider... if u feel u can eke out the required fee and also confident of doing full justice to studying the course amid ur work right at this moment, then u can go ahead applying for the forthcoming academic year itself... Myself and Kavi will be starting our MCAD preparation soon... But I don't have an option of thinking if I can do it now or later.. its been made mandatory for me... and I have registered for my first (of three) papers for April... so I have 2 months in between to prepare whatever I can, and then need to finish the next 2 papers within 3 months after clearing the 1st paper... otherwise we won't get the fee reimbursed... Kavi too will be beginning soon... So.. anyone else looking to warm yourself up this summer...

book reviews

As I had said, earlier, all my book reviews will be available at QSS. I have posted a review of a book, "Blue Horizon" by Wilbur Smith there. I sat up till 3:30 am to finish the book. Update: I have posted the review of "Last Reveille" by David Morrell. I finished it yesterday afternoon.

technical writing...

Hi all, Thanks for your inputs regarding the resume. Also there seems to be a lot of TW opportunities available for the taking. Rini, I visited the link you specified. they don't seem to have a requirement in their opportunity list. As for today's Hindu, could someone send the details to me. The versions and opportunity listings differ from city to city. Could someone also check this company. Looks good, still better to be safe. Rini, I don't remember the name of the school. But I think it was not the school you had mentioned. I'll try to recollect if possible. Bala, the format of the resume is to mimic the XML format. It is not XML, da. It is pure XHTML. Putting it in XML sounds good. Let me see if that is possible.

resume

It is not for HRs to check and entreat me to join thier comapny. For them, I'll be adding a proper word and pdf resume for download. This is just a format I saw somewhere and liked. This is just for fun. you might see it vary over the days to come.

Ram, your help is required

Ram, Kindly check this link and tell me if this job is listed out in Infy's intranet, for employee referral.

kind of urgent

Dear all, I will not be able to access my postmark account today. So send your mails to xavierroyATtechnicalwriting.com. Ram, could you send me a mail there. There is something Kicha wanted you to do for me. BTW, I have added two new pages to QSS. One is an about page and the other is a resume. Check it out. Both pages are still works-in-progress. Tell me how it looks in your machines.

Soft drinks, hard truths

Kerala village plans unique protest against Coke Soft drinks, hard truths Hi all, This is not a cry from the conservatives. Just think mates. Instead of spending 10 rupees on a coke or pepsi we could opt for a tender coconut or some fresh juices that is not only good for our health but also adds value to our urge to make up an eco friendly living... Just think a moment I have made up a resolution and have said a no to soft drinks and in particular coke and pepsi. Bye for now. "A change starts from within"

student once more...

Today, got my id card for my MCJ Course. It sure feels kinda funny, playing the role of a student again.

maybe...

The number of IITs have increased. Good to hear that. The number of colleges and universities (including deemed univs) have increased. Nice. The UGC has mae it compulsory for faculties to pass either SLET/NET. Wonderful. But where are those bright graduates, the future architects of India? I can agree with the later part of the article - IITs being the only advanced educational model. There may be other models, like CEDs for example. But I feel that the refinement of the education model has to be from the grassroot level. There is no use trying to improve only the creme de la creme. We have been following a mish-mash of education patterns, some practices handed down by tradition and some copied from other influences. The education system should be more life-oriented, i.e. more education that would be useful practically need to be taught. I am not advocating total westernisation of education, but instead a ecletic adoption of best educational practices . I believe there is one such school somewhere in Chennai. I don't know its name. But the education system followed sounded good. Students studying there might not go on to be engineers or doctors, but they can handle the challenges of life more comfortably than thier peers in professional streams. BTW, western institutions have become great institutions over the years because the sense of 'alma mater' was high among the students. The students did thier best to build up the institution that had taught them, through whatever means they could, from monetary funds to physical labour. Somehow, I find that sense of giving back is mostly missing in our country. That could be a reason why the IITs (no, the entire education sector) looks hoary.The final words, "educators and lay people would consider India's future educational needs", is the point that one should ponder upon from the article. All said and done, it is interesting why this issue has come up with the elections just round the corner? Maybe this speech by Joshi is slated to appear in the election agenda? Maybe someone really cares... Maybe... Kicha, Thanks for sending the article by mail.

Explaining the laws of explanation (thought that needed no explanation)

The Laws of Explanation are simple. I guess everyone can guage thier meaning. The person who gave the Laws is Tim Bray, the founder of XML. He had postulated the two laws when he faced a particular problem understanding how a software worked. Here is the explanation he gave for the first Law.

When you’re explaining something to somebody and they don’t get it, that’s not their problem, it’s your problem.

The practical take-away from this law is that for anything that’s deep enough to matter, you’re going to have to do a lot of explaining, and you absolutely totally can’t afford to get impatient or irritated when it isn’t going fast enough, you just have to explain better.

This is difficult, but not all that difficult. People who can’t get their message across usually don’t get too far in this world, so anyone who’s making an impact almost by necessity combines the articulateness and patience to (eventually) get the job done.

The Second Law is

When someone’s explaining something to you and you’re not getting it, it’s not your problem, it’s their problem.

The practical take-away is that you have to be totally courageous and truthful in saying “I don’t understand; please explain again.” Otherwise you won’t get the message and you’ll be the loser.

As far as I know, I felt that these two laws were somehow related to everything we do. Additionally, I thought that it perfectly matched what we had been discussing arguing discussing earlier. As for the Delta Law, I had given a small description about the Law below the law itself. So I don't think I should repeat myself. Hope you remember what "po" means. The Delta law was just another form of that po. I find this law very useful when I come up against a wall in my mind. This is more related to problem solving and creativity. The above two postings did not have any significance with the recent events. But Bharucha's Law was a quote I posted. I can't explain why. But maybe later. Manny, they are not about, 'unseen words'. It is about understanding the context in which the message is conveyed. A somewhat complex repostulation of the Theory of Communication (Claude Shannon/ Networks). Here is one more law I guess that might need no explanation.

Anything that can be misunderstood will be. - David G. Myers

BTW, could someone mail (postmark id) me a copy of the rediff article, not the link but the entire article? I cannot access Rediff at office. That was a good point on CED. I don't know about the quality of the course right now. But it definitely could not have got much better than ours. BTW, here is the link to Brahmos website. I had a couple of book reviews written down. But I decided to post it to QSS as it offers a category-wise listing. Here onwards, please find my book reviews here.