Congress Revamped

In my opinion Congress hasn't updated the emblem in a while. For all their ways and means of governing the country and more importantly for the state the country is, I think the following should suit them better. Let me know your opinion. :)

Nehru's love for linux

Moved out.

Hey guys,
I have moved my blogging to a new location. If in case I dint't let you all know please excuse my tired little brain. :)
http://www.vjragavan.info/ is the new place where you can catch up with me and my tweets.

Adios.

Simple means to combat terrorism.

I too am yet another spectator looking at the audacious manner in which they sailed into the country and unleashed havoc with their intoxicated mind and body, even sans intoxication terrorists are equally deadly.
I am not going to crib and point fingers at the already censured politicians, already praised commandos, army men and MARCOS. But I was just thinking on a way to minimize the lives lost by the armed forces. The idea is simple and can be overwhelmingly powerful if implemented the right way.
No, I am not talking about system reforms and improved training facility for the armed forces but make use of the canine power. Yeah, we all know that dogs have this amazing ability of sensing who a thief is and we would have witnessed demos in the exhibitions organized by police personnel. Train those dogs to identify who a terrorist is and who a hostage is. Lets say we have 500 such trained dogs and lets take the Hotel Taj for example for implementation.
Send in dogs in batches of 100's with a gap of 5-seconds. The max magazine size for AK-47 is 120 but it becomes really bulky so an optimal size of 50-70 rounds may be used. Considering the speed of a dog and the magazine recoiling speed only 20-30 % of the bullets will find the target. So you have ~70% of the dogs chasing the terrorist who might try to run or reload the magazine and in the worst case throw a hand grenade.
My whole point is even if 20 dogs end up tasting the terrorists blood job is done. Why to waste the precious lives of army men when our country's dogs can do the simple task for us.

Advantages :
1. Dogs can sniff the route the terrorist has taken.
2. Agile and quick makes it difficult to aim at.
3. The surface area of a dog is 1/3 of a man and it reduces the chances of getting hit by 1/3.
4. Their maneuverability in dark and smoke laden places is many times better than that of a man.


PS : I am by no means trying to devalue the life of a dog.

Shiva Lingam and Dimethyltryptamine !!!

It is religion and chemistry. For some reason I was trying to understand Hinduism, yeah my knowledge is very brief, with all the anti-secular videos floating around. I hit upon a video which was talking about Shiva Ling(Lingam). What is a Shiva ling? The following could be the answer: it is a physical representation of Lord Shiva. That's right in many ways. But there is little more technical detail which needs to be documented/ understood if you have not known it before hand, like me.
There is a gland in the mid brain called the pineal gland, which produces serotonin, melatonin (i have no idea what they are for) and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Dimethyltryptamine as a chemical/ a inhaled drug causes a near death experience. Wikipedia quotes Near death experience as "A near-death experience (NDE) refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations ranging from detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, extreme fear, total serenity, security, or warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light, which some people interpret as a deity".

Having introduced Shiva Ling and DMT I now need to relate them. When I read the phrases detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, presence of a light I can feel a few bells ringing in my head saying this is what meditation too does to your body. Well I am sure we would have heard this already. It is when we meditate at a spiritual level the pineal gland is activated and it produces the above mentioned chemicals and thus near death experience happens. The lings of Lord Shiva that we all have come across is the posture when he is meditating.

Certain other facts and points to think over, related to the same topic:
1. Moments before a persons death there is large amount of DMT produced. Is there a reason/ relation why Lord Shiva is the destructor and he being associated to the penial gland which secretes DMT?
2. It is also found that penial gland works best in complete darkness. (I don't know how light can enter your brain!!) Also the sanctum where the Ling is placed in a Shiva Temple is in complete darkness. Are they related for some reason?
3. The penial gland is in the shape of an eye. This can be easily seen in the pic above. We know that Lord Shiva has the third eye which is vertical.
Hope you found this piece interesting.

CNN Heroes

They can be helped for their noble thought, hunble dreams and world changing intentions. Just click on any of the names doesn't really matter who, coz it makes them feel that what ever they have done is atleast noticed and there is someone in the world who supports their work. Just a second of your time.
Who cares if your voted to bring in Obama or Mc Cain these people need some appreciation and lets just click on VOTE.

Winter has just begun...

An update: Its 28th Oct and I have seen the sub zero temp for the first time.. Haven't felt it yet.. I am not sure whats in store for the rest of the winter.. bring the blankets on.. oh i cant think of how good it would be to sleep for long hours.. i m lovin it!!!







Its Oct : 20th
The Winter has just began and the worst temperature readings is yet to come... All these years I felt I live in one of the colder places in south India (Hosur/Bangalore) but these are newer limits of coldness. I experienced a single digit climate when I had been to Manali before and that was 4*C or 5*C.
Although we might not experience snow here the cold-winds(terrible winds) make the winter really bad. Will post if there is some thing interesting.
I must accept this is nothing compared to other places like Seattle where Snow is what they see half the year. Time to say Cheers... Welcome Winter!!!

Entering Politics

Hey all,
Finally I have decided to enter politics, but not in India but in the US for the forth coming elections. I would like to have your support and encouragement. Have a look at the campaign video.

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=Wjkbzb&altl=Sbhbwbo

Thanks,
Vijay

Journey with a Father...

For all the sentiment mongers this is not one such post. Although this is written when Vaaranam Aayiram is due to release it has no connection to that too.. You will see it if you read on...
There was this awesome day when I was going to Atlanta for a purchase visit to an Indian store over there by bus. It was organised by a local church. The Chinese too had come along coz they wanted to go to the Chinese store. Awesome.
We are 8 Indians and ~30 chinese and few American on board. Good looking girls too. The seat next to me was empty and I was not hoping for a gorgeous awesome hot babe but atleast a lookable and talkable one. There was the real surprise.... The father of the church which organised the trip sat next to me!!! Oh noooooo.....
When the initial Hi's and intro was over I wanted to really get off that seat or atleast send him packing. He threw the bait in. I would address Father as F. Here
F: Do you believe in God?
M: Yeah if I need him otherwise no.
F: How do you see God?
M: Blah Blah Blah...
Few more questions went on in the same genre which was totally not of my type. I felt this was it.. I asked him would you mind if I ask you a question? He was happy like the Lord Labakku Das in vivek comedy... He was like yes go ahead...
M: Have you read The DaVinci Code?
F: !!@@!! No I havent..
M: Oh have you seen that movie atleast?
F: Yeah but i dint remember what was in it.. long back I saw it....
M: Oh ok.. So this is how it goes.. (told him.. infact poured it out). Is that true??
F:
F: How do you guys worship in India?
M: We have one god for each thing.. Rain, Air, Water, Sun, Moon, Earth, Money... etc etc...
F: Oh thats bad so many Gods to worship??
M: No that is better... We dint want to over load one God.. :-D
.
.
.
.
M: Have you seen Indian movies?
F: No But I would love to. Heard a lot about them.
M: I would like to recommend one movie if you are really interested... its called Anbe Sivam(Love is God!!!).
F: Love is God?? What is it??
M: Told him the atheist explanation given in the movie.. which I really liked... Expected him to have left by then.... But to my surprise he was still there... Can't help it... The journey itslef was over and we did our purchase and while returning back the same thing happened and the seat next to me was empty... But he chose another scape goat for his preachings... He was a real PRO (Public Relations Officer!!!) to Jesus... Amen...

Power Theft!!!

It was a great weekend... Seriously a great one....What is the fine amount a political party pays for stealing power from an electrical line in India for some road side meeting? (பிரச்சாரம் to be precise). How many houses in India have a tampered electrical meter and pay peanuts to the electricity board(with the help of EB Men, of course!!)?? What is the fine amount if such a person is caught by the EB? Well I am not sure. But I know in US what it means by power theft. How?? Read on...
Saturday morning I was just out of my bed at 11A local time and I have a person from the Duke Energy(private player in providing e'city and other facilities similar to EB in India) who comes by the door.
He : who is Mr Babu(Addressed by my Second name).
Me: I said yeah its me.. How you doing?
He: Good and I need to talk to you.
Me: Sure come on in.
He: I am not coming in(with a stern face, so I went out). you people have tampered with the power meter and this the component you have broken and the blah blah is gone(All I could recollect was how I hated XII standard 9th Chapter in Physics...)
Me: No we dint do that.. But anyways whats the problem now?
The next words of his made me think of running to the sea shore, jumping into the sea and swimming back to India.
He: I need to call the cops. This is a case of power theft and I need to report to them. You need to pay $1000 fine or accept for 3 months IMPRISONMENT!!!!!!
ME: aaaaahhhaaaa!!!!
The next few minutes I had to do a multi tasking in my head. Thinking of the following:
1. Make him understand that I seriously dint do that . (The obvious thing to do.)
2. Figure out who is a good lawyer here. (Gandhiji where are you????)
3. Arrange for $1000 to throw it in Indian style.... take it!!!!!
4. Will he accept bribe?? (Indian BTW!!!!)
But finally all the experience of negotiation with all the shop keepers for prices, the experience of asking teachers for marks, the experience of asking friends for treats and getting them, the experience of begging to my computer programs to show some mercy on me and run smoothly without errors and many such experiences finally helped me.
After about almost half an hour of talking, talking, talking.... a deal struck...
He: You sound good and I feel that you would not have done it. So you will have to pay a fine of $160 for the tampered component. I will talk to the folks back at office.
Me: Thanks man... I appreciate it... (I seriously did appreciate!!!)
I had to pay to the office through phone and I realized that every step you take in foreign soil is like walking in a land filled with land-mines!!!!
BTW is it at-least Rs. 1000 in India fine for power theft???

Watch this!!!! என் respect போச்சு your honour!!!!

Absolute Peace..

How can you be a 50% peaceful with the current settings?? Can you in the first place?? If no was my reply, then I would not be bloggin this at all. Yes 'we' can. As simple as keeping your mobile away. I was a reckless user of mobile phones in India and after coming to US, I and my brother share a mobile and he has it all the time. So I am without a mobile yet I have a number for others to communicate. It works like this : every evening I get the info that so and so called up and if need be I will call back and inquire whats the matter... Absolute peace.. No disturbace at all..
But how will this help some one back in India where mobiles are very much affordable and a necessity more than luxury?? Leave the mobile one day at home and try how it goes. You will miss it as if your hand is cut away.. Evening you might find many missed calls and many messages.. Call every one and have a word... Leave it the next day you will feel better and leave it the third day you will have a good work time because half the time you get calls from call centers, friends who want to decide the dinner, dinner time, dinner place, what time you will be at home, I will come late so on... Its when you would have some how fought the hell for the best concentration to fix a bug these call will zip in.. Damn it!!! Getting back to work and finishing the bugs story goes on forever.. Try it for a week you will feel much better at work place..
Sounds philosophical?? But it works believe me.

எங்கே எனது தோசை.....

வெளி நாட்டு மண்ணில் வாழும் தமிழருக்காக...


அன்பிற்குரிய தோசையும் சட்னியும்,
கண்டு பல நாட்கள் ஆகிறது. உங்கள் ருசி என்ன வென்று இந்த subway burger உம் papa john pizza உம் மறக்க செய்து விட்டது. காதலியை நினைவு கூர்ந்து கவிஞர்கல் கவிதைகள் எழுதி மகிழ்விக்கிறார்கள் ஆனால் உன்னை மிகவும் நேசித்த நான் தமிழும் தெரியாமல், கவிதையும் தெரியாமல் Google தமிழ் editor உதவியுடன் உனக்கு ஒரு கடிதம் எழுதுகிறேன்.
கூடிய விரைவில் எதாவது இந்திய உணவகத்தில் தோசை கிட்டும் என்று எண்ணி வாழ்கிறேன். தோசை readymade mix எல்லாம் try செய்தேன், ஆனால் நம்ம ஊரு கல் தோசை, பட்டர் தோசை, முட்டை தோசை, உத்தபம், வெங்காய உத்தபம், roast, சாதா, செட் தோசை, மசாலா தோசை, ரவா தோசை, பன்னீர் தோசை......, போல் கொஞ்சம் கூட இல்லை. MTR mix, செட்டியார் mix, முருகன் இட்லி தோசை mix எல்லாம் தண்டம்.

ஏதோ சொந்தமாக தமிழ் கவிதை எழுத தெரியல நா கூட ஒரு dedication....
எங்கே எனது தோசை கனவிலே சுட்டு மடித்த தோசை,
இந்த ஊரில் கிடைபதில்லியா அம்மம்மா கண்ணில் தெரிவதில்லையா
தோசை தேடி தாருங்கள் இல்லை என் ஊரை திருப்பி தாருங்கள்....

இங்கு ஒரு நாள் நல்லா தோசை உம் தேங்காய் சட்னியும், தக்காளி சட்னியும், சம்பரும் கிடைக்கும் என்று ஆசையுடன் உன் தரிசனத்திற்கு காதிற்கும் உன் அன்பு ரசிகன்,
விஜய ராகவன்.



P.S : உன் தம்பி இட்லி, பணியாரம் கூட இங்கு இல்லை. சாம்பார் என்று பருப்பு தண்ணி தான் கிடைக்கிறது.

UPDATE** I had been to Atlanta and guess what had been to an Indian hotel. As you can guess with the topic I had a huuugeeee dosa.... Not a simple one... Ghee Masala Onion dosa.... I guess the letter worked well.... The journey to Atlanta was itself so eventful which I wil be blogging soon... :-)

He he he...

Some times in life you are thrown at new situations which is totally strange to you.. strange by all means... completely strange. It makes your mind and eyes pop out. My school friends and college friends know of the affection i have towards computers and more so when it comes to assignments and internals/term exams. I know how good all my friends were in assignments/exams.

I read this in my univ profs website where they generally post the course requirements and conditions to be his student. Have fun reading it. I could not stop laughing thinking of my past :-)

I. Academic Integrity Policy
A. Any breach of the principles outlined in the Academic Integrity Statement is considered an act of academic dishonesty.

B. Academic dishonesty is further defined as:

1. Giving, receiving, or using unauthorized aid on any academic work;
2. Plagiarism, which includes the copying of language, structure, or ideas of another and attributing the work to one's own efforts;
   
3. Attempts to copy, edit, or delete computer files that belong to another person or use of Computer Center account numbers that belong to another person without the permission of the file owner, account owner, or file number owner;
   

C. All academic work submitted for grading contains an implicit pledge and may contain, at the request of an instructor, an explicit pledge by the student that no unauthorized aid has been received.

Policy on Cheating/Honor Code
All work handed in must reflect your own work. Duplicate homework and programs will not be accepted. Any such instances will result in an F for the assignment, and may result in an F for the course. Some joint work can be submitted with the permission of the instructor, but only if properly identified as joint work.

Not even in my dreams I can imagine how I am going to go through this. My real appreciation to all the first hand assignment doers. You are great. All the copier machines like me would feel like this, I know!!!!.

Car drive.

Having come here just a week ago I made a quick check of my driving skills. Drove back from the Lake Hartwell to the place where I am put up currently.

View Larger Map
The driving sense is all the same but for the rules and "no Honking". The driving is keep right but that does not bother you much as you drive along the lanes as everyone else does. On the whole it was a nice drive. You dont get strained immaterial of how much ever you drive. But there is no thrill without bikers and auto people barging on. Miss you auto and cab fellas!!!

Tamil editors.

I have been fascinated for a long time with the way Tamil (An Indian language) editors have taken shape. But I was not very comfortable with many softwares which I used. I used to make use of the editor in tamil.net (scroll down to the end). But I was finding it very difficult to use as I had to search for spellings if the word is wrongly transliterated. But these days I have found a new place to bring my Tamil to life. It is a very well known place to many of us. It is the orkut.com scrapbook editor which has scrap facility in Tamil, Telegu, Hindi, Malayalam... it is really good editor to have a try in the first place. It gives you different combinations of possible spellings.
என் இனிய பொன் நிலாவே...
பொன் நிலவில் என் கனாவே... Cheers!!!!

Who is he?

How does this sound. "I don't know very English, but I know as much as write to you." People who know English will at least giggle. But this was written by no small man. This was written by the very man who gave this famous speech "I warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of love for your country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen carefully... I know that the regime will try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be stifled – it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny it... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me".
This is part of the letter written by Fidel Castro to ???. He wrote to Franklin D Roosevelt when he was twelve!!!. The purpose?? He wanted a $10 bill which is in green color. !!! Have a look at the letter Mr. Castro wrote to Mr. Roosevelt.
I guess had Mr. Roosevelt sent Mr. Castro the $10 bill the latter would not have gone against the Americans. A $10 would have created a soft corner and a good image of the Americans in the mind of Mr. Castro and he would not have criticized the Stars and Stripes nation in full public view. Had Mr. Roosevelt known even a bit about what Mr. Castro could do to the Americans he would have sent him a box full of $10 bills. :-)

.com oscars!!!

How good will it be to have a oscar kind of award ceremony for the most powerful company? Yeah Forbes has one listing which is totally based on the revenues generated and the profits. but powerful company means a lot more. Can we have a company which is reputed, liked by masses etc etc.
Yes there is an award ceremony for the most powerful company.

The purpose of this website is to give the opportunity to a company to match with the keywords " the Most Powerful Company " for one year. All companies are welcome to bid in order to become the most powerful one for one year.

Each year, a new auction is set up with equal chances for all bidders. Each year, the Most Powerful Company title is at stake.

The winning company will be provided with:
- the top ranking on search engines as "the world's most powerful company" for one year
- one ad of any chosen format
- the possibility to adjust the design of the website to its needs
- a show-off of its marketing creativity

All bidders will be rewarded with a better ranking on websearch engines and a better visibility for world's consumers, which will be reinforced by the polls.

This is an idea by three graduates from a B School and the results are due on July 31. Guess this is the first year and the contest is yet to catch up with the silicon valley biggies. Anyways a good start.

Viral Marketing

Wiki puts it as "Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses". Click here to learn more.
I don't know if you were a part of the latest "Download Day 2008"? Was there some thing existing before this year as a download day? Why was it done? The answer is it was the FF or the Mozilla Firefox developers who chose such a marketing strategy to get their "huge" chunk of internet browser users. Mozilla was no bad previously. But this time they made sure they shut doors on many browsers even the IE most likely ;-).
The strategy they adopted to get the Download day a grand success is called viral marketing. For those wondering what success did it achieve on that day, the answer is they have entered the Guinness Book of records for the most downloaded software in a day. Eye popping numbers 8 Million Downloads in a day!!!.
This is a typical case study for the B-minded people.
When i say a case study I am reminded of yet another marketing strategy adopted by Cello company. They were new in the market and wanted the Brand Recognition to happen in the first place. So they had announced in the news papers that "reps from our company will call to your house number randomly anytime between xx and yy. If you correctly say cello instead of hello you will get nice gift vouchers etc etc." The whole of the chennai city went on saying cello cello for every call they got. Did they (the company) make a call or not... who cares. their objective was to recognize their brand. They did it. So marketing is very powerful when its cheap and creative but more importantly if it does meet the objective.

Life - a Trade.

Is life a trade? I was just thing about how life really is all about trade offs that we have to make. Right from a simple example over here: You go to your relatives place and they ask you do you prefer Tea or Coffee? You like both but can you say both? They will scan if top to bottom if you say so. You say "he he eeeee any thing will do" if you cant make a choice.
But life somtimes is merciless. It does throw you tough situations and will ask you to make a trade off. consider the example here: A man goes to see a girl along with his family members on the advice of a local astrologer or to be precise a match maker. But having seen the girl the man feels her younger sister is any time better than her so-called match, what can he do? Its like having Jileabi() in your hand not able to taste it.
although everyone in their life would have made and are making a million trade offs every minute we would not have acknowledged it with a name "trade-off". I got this word struck to my tongue from my interviewer also the owner of the company which gave me a job offer letter. He was from Microsoft and he grilled me for a 3 hours session at a stretch. I got through and I was the first employee of that company(I din't joint that company though). I asked him what the pay is he said 15K/M. I said its very low considering the investment I have made to do my graduation. I need some good return of investment and that was when he was telling me about trade offs and how he had to open a company in coimbatore etc etc. But trade off is a nice word which I liked. I traded off his offer finally. :-)

Life essentially is all about tradeoffs and which trade you choose and which one you bid good by to makes up your life altogether.

Twittering!!!

Alternately I can also be caught up @ https://twitter.com/vjragavan
Cool place, but I run out of characters every time. I agree for the amount of junk we have any space looks small. C U around.

Electric - City.

My grandma (a scientist in the kitchen domain) was reheating some old gravy and was trying to make a side dish out of yesterdays vegetables. One question struck me. Is it really worth reheating and eating it? Am I saving any if I preserve old food and eat it the next day by reheating it??? I can as well but fresh veggies and cook again.... I felt I dont save much by reheating.

Cooking is no more mere pleasure considering two things. 1. The cost of a gas Cylinder 2. The availability of cylinders.

One thing which hasn't taken off really well in India is the electric stove. For some reasons pertaining to the the way cooking has been practised in India e-stoves have not been a grand success. Let alone the success of e-stoves....well to be honest it does not even receieve a glance in malls. Such is the state of the electric stoves.

But frankly speaking there is lot of potential in the electric stove market now if not any earlier. The cost seems to work out very well and the best part is it can be automated. To people who have never used electric rice cookers here is a fact, the cooker turns itself off after some time so no more electricity is consumed but this cant be done with a gas stove. A simple but effective benefit. But the problem in India is the raw material itself. Electricity!!! itself.

Assume you have few relatives in your house and you are totally dependent on the electric stoves. You have chosen the best dish to be served and half way through the process busssshhh!!! (Not George W Bush) the power goes off... You have to cut a sorry figure. This is the most important reason why women prefer gas stoves. You can cook as and when you like. But if the availability of electricity is really dependable then electricity can be used for cooking. Only one way to achieve this is that the electricity board has to inform people the schdule of the maintenance work. Simply speaking people need to be informed about the time when power wont be available in their area so that women can plan their kitchen routine accordingly. The electricity boards do enough planning about this but all that they have to do is disclose it to people and make them aware. If electricity is really a dependable source for cooking then the gas demand falls down and it can be used as a back up in homes when power is not available.

All it needs is some co-operation from the EB people and the people itself.



P.S : Assuming that women are the primary cooks I have used women invariably. It is not intended that women are meant to work in kitchens alone :P

Mgmt tips from the Govt.

I am traveling a lot these days. Nearly a hundred kms a day. Not a simple task considering the roads I literally go-halt-go-halt-go through. The Hosur – Electronic City – Bommanahalli – Silk board – Koramangala & back the same way – road is not a joke to commute through. There have been many pot holes and the million obstacles that you literally have to skim through are making the journey even more tiring. But this is just the skeleton not the skin and flesh of my thought.
When a government procrastinates one of its essential duties what does it benefit from? Considering a duty like laying of roads I thought of penning down my ideas. The things that I could assimilate have been mentioned here. If you find more consequences of many other activities you are most welcome to discuss about that.
When a highly used road which is in the residential area is not laid on time the size of the broken patches increases both in depth and width. This increases the amount of suspended particles/pollutants in the air to unexplainable amounts. Thus every resident and the passenger is made to visit doctors for reasons varying from cold, cough, throat infection, fever, eye irritation, eye allergy, skin diseases and many more which are not striking my small brain now. The doctor earns and he prescribes tablets, lotions, drops, syrups, injections and even hospitalization. Also considering the number of accidents in that area which is rare but fetches good amounts to the doctor. So the sales of medicines increase multifold and the doctor earns hefty amounts. Thus the sales tax that needs to be paid for the purchase of medicines which is an amount like a lottery won by the govt.
Also considering the fact that wear and tear of spares in the vehicles running through these roads is very very high. So add the tax that the government earns by the sales of the spares. It’s not a small number.
All this is done because the government saved huge sum by not laying the roads on time. Kudos govt.
Dear Kalaingar thatha, Stalin Uncle, other legends of the ruling party please visit my place as frequently as possible. Its not that people from my place want to see your cheerful, happy and merry making lifestyles and faces, it’s just that roads and the entire municipality is cleaned and laid properly when you all visit. So I welcome you all to come here and stay as long as you all want. If you find time please sit in your cars and go around the entire of T.N so that all places are at least cleaned if not developed.
Danksu.

I would like to appreciate the govt. for predicting the rains even before the meteorological dept. Now that rains have stopped you can lay the roads. It’s seriously bloody irritating to go by the same old tattered roads getting to pay the doctor, pharmacist, spares dealers huge chunks of money and still I will have to pay my income tax and you will post ads on the TV saying pay your taxes on time. On time for what??? Bad words are flowing out of my mouth. But I swear I will pay my taxes on time.

Mappilai Team!!!

It was really nice to see the next door Kumarans, Satishs,              Saravanans and many more simple chaps being crowned the winners. 
The superstars win the ICL. A team that I really liked and cheered for. Reasons a ton. The first time the 80% tamilians team ran through batting and bowling of every opponent. The guys were really like "you have seen them some where" types.

Let me introduce the Superstars to you if you have not seen much about them.

The typical heafty guys who can be seen in and around the beaches of chennai.... Nice bowlers. Tamed much of the opponents easily.

 The "Karunas in Nandha" type of thiruttu Muzhi pasanga. V Saravanan had good opportunities to rip thru the opponents bowling. G Vignesh did much of his bowling talk. He is a bowler who has the typical "curd rice" bowling action.
The coach whom i respected and admired a lot as a player. He is M Beaven the OZ player who had a high standard of batting , bowling and fielding. He was one of the few batsmen who had a above 50 average in one dayers.

Nice way to have started the first ICL tournament. I personally feel that this tourney was a huge success for the amount of media attention it received. Every inch of the program was neatly planned and executed. Huge casts, singers lined up, bands performing made the interval time easy to pass. On the whole I like the matches and wish our mappilai team a huge success.

P.S :
1. This mappilai team won 3 crores + nearly 2.5 lakhs for each match won (totally won nearly 8 matches).
2. We too have a "Saroja Samanikalooo" song just like the "Chak De" song for the rest of the nation.

What Car???

Somwhere in 2010 a conversation strikes between a few kids. One asks the other "What car does your dad own?". Flash comes the reply "Muslim" car. The other yells out "Hindu" car. Yeah You read it right and more importantly i have typd it right.
The world's first Muslim car is to be unveiled soon. The news is out. This car is the result of the market analysis done in Malaysia. Analysts have found that the muslim segment has not been proplerly harnessed of their potentials.
I was wondering if this is a positive way to harness the markets?? A funny thought came running in my mind. All these muslim cars would be green and the other religion cars will be like safron for hindus, white etc etc... Although I appreciate the analysts work, I strongly disagree with this idea.
Read through here for details.

P.S : Please let all cars go when signal turns green. Dont make "Riligious signals" too.

cars!!!

Well how do we go about buying a car?? How do we know if it is needed for us? How do we know the monthly bills when we get a car? Here are a few calculations….
                                   
1. Choose the car you wish for. Be it anything.
2. Get to know its mileage from websites or auto magazines.
3. Get to know its Cost from websites or auto magazines.
4. What is the amount you are going to pay as the down payment? (The amount that you would pay to drive home a car)
5. Are you going in for a loan? If yes then how much EMI you can manage? (EMI is easy monthly installments)
6. How many kilometers would you drive per month? (1000-2000 kms is the max a individual in a city can drive. If you find it to be more than 3000 then you are a taxi cab driver. Am I right??)
7. What is the budget you are planning to allocate for the car?

When you have found the data for the above questions then follow on. Let’s assume car in my mind costs 6L and the mileage is 18 kms and the type of vehicle is Diesel.

Say I make a down payment of 2L for the car and the rest is a ICICI car loan for 4L.
So now I have completed the steps 1,2,3 and 4.

To calculate the EMI, we have the loan amount i.e. 4L. The current ICICI rate per lakh is some where near Rs. 1710. So for the 4L loan amount it is 4 x 1710 = 6840. This is the EMI. With this we add an insurance amount of Rs. 1000 and a maintenance coat of Rs. 1000. So the fixed cost actually is Rs. 8840. This is the fixed coat / month. By fixed I mean even if you keep the car locked in the garage for the entire month you are entitled to pay this amount.


Now, had you compared a petrol variant and a diesel variant you might be confused which one to go for? The following calculation will answer that question with ease.

Fuel cost per month = (Cost per liter / Mileage) * Number of kilometers you plan to drive. Optimistically 1500 kms per month.

So the diesel variant comes to : (35 / 18) * 1750 = 3402

GRAND TOTAL = 10242

(taxi drivers read on...
Now say you are planning to use this as an exhaustive tour vehicle, then your number of kms is bound to be 3000-4000 kms / month. So the cost / month is = (35 / 18) * 4000 = 7777.
This amount is the final sum which is = 6840 + 7777 = Rs. 14617.

GRAND TOTAL = 14617           ......................)

If this amount (10242) is ok (per month) then I will proceed with this car. Else choose a smaller budget car.

We found that only when the car is used for more than 3000 kms per month diesel variant is profitable compared to that of petrol.

Here is a small calculation for few cars in the market today. If anything fits your pocket plus you have the NEED to buy it go ahead.

P.S : For more reviews on cars use carwaale.com and mouthshut.com. They are too good. Plus go with the regular auto car magazines which drill the cars inside out.

"One step manual" to deport immigrants.

Poor chap. No other word comes out when I think of Dr. Mohammed Haneef. He has been the talk of the news channels for the past two days. But why all this? Juse because this has happened in the international arena and he came out bring the Aussie govt. to harsh criticism. How good are the police there or are they not good in fabricating and manupulating the facts as in India? Had it been India either the facts would have been destroyed totally that the chargesheet will be dismissed saying lack of evidence or the victim would have been under bars for trial by manipulated facts. Thats the speciality of Indian police. They make victims out of nothing and present facts from nowhere. Fun apart.
There were two things I found amusing in this case. First, if US, UK, Aussie or any other country for that matter wants to reduce the immigrants or keep them at bay then all they need is to do a simple thing. Take the photo graphs or some belonging of all the "to-be-victims" and put it in a crime scene and have them deported to their own country cancelling their Visas as happened in this very case. So a black mark on his passport means he cant get back to the same place and needless to say that the new immigrants are admonished.
Second thing was why should Haneef return to the same country which has put him in such a trauma? Not to prove his innocence though. He has made himself to be worthy citizen of any country and can win a job like a lottery in no amount of time.
A lesson for all of us : Having the mind open is not enough. Have your eyes, ears and your senses active and open.

Made (only) in India!!!

With this title I, by no means, am projecting the technology that is made in India. I had a aberrant thought and wanted to have a look at great peoples profiles in orkut and obviously it started with Mr. Orkut Buyukkokten. When I looked at his album photos I was wondering at how cool brains enjoy life and my second look reminded me straight of our lady commentator.. Yes!!! Ms. Mandira Bedi. Have a look at the photos and you would know the reason for her to be remembered.

Well if you have not got it yet look at her photo too. He has worn a socks which has the Brazilian flag on it!!!##!!!! Well all I could say was he was not born in India. If he was an Indian and the founder of orkut and done the same thing to the Indian flag he would have been in gutters and orkut would have been banned marcillesly all over India. But Mr. Orkut was sensible enough to put the flag on his socks which goes in to the shoes and finally unnoticed. But he has not been sensible with this photo being put in Orkut. Brazillians awake?? Guess they take pride in this act also coz they have got accustomed of seeing their flag as the dress for beach volleyball matches... :-)

donors - are acceptors of good health.

Why did we think "we need to donate blood"? What reason did everyone tell us and what reason did we keep giving ourself to donate blood. "Why did we think we have to donate blood"? We thought we are donors and many lives of so called acceptors is saved because of the blood we donate. Well thats by and large right. But thats not all. By donating blood we are saving our own life. !!!!. Yes, read it again. I am right.

Making blood donations a habit is a good habit. It helps reduce the risk of heart/cardio problems. Studies have confirmed it. I dint know about this thing till recently when I donated blood along with a few friends of mine. Have a look at this for a clear explanation.

I learnt two things this time. One is the above said thing. You live healthy by donating blood and the second thing is when you have been asked to donate blood ask if it is a direct donation or a replacement. We know what a donation is. When someone needs O+ve only O+ve donors are called for. But in a replacement the blood from the blood bank is used by the doctors for a patient and the same quantity (in units) needs to be replaced. The quantity of blood, not the group of blood, is the only criteria for replacement. They accept any group for replacement. So dont miss out an opportunity to donate blood. Keep your self fit.

Hungry Kya???

Who said necessity is the mother of all inventions?? I guess he was absolutely right.. Looking at a step deeper the cause for necessity is Hunger. A man goes to work to earn money. Money for three square meals a day, for him and his family. A man joins a political party for the dire needs of food. A baby cries for food. A child is sent to school so he can be a better individual and a smart kid and a wealthy child who can feed his family. Apart from food other needs like shelter, love, care, family, materialistic needs etc etc are secondary and tertiary which many families can easily do without. But Food??? No way... Without food in a city for a few days, hunger spreads like an epidemic. You can survive a few days but then when all the fat is dissolved there is nothing but your life fading away.
Food has been the primal reason for disputes many a times in this earth. A simple example is a politician says hold my flag in this rally and you will be fed, stomach-full. Another example is the cauvery issue. Two states want water for harvesting food and other needs which only water can satisfy. The rally might be a violent and life taking one. Look at all the issues on this earth they are primarily rooted to food.

Had food been available at each mans disposal when ever he wants and how ever he wants the earth would have been a little less of the troubles and all the materialistic problems.

So I pray GOD to give ""cheat codes"" to every dish on this earth and give a printed out sheet to every individual so he can wish for any dish he needs and have it merrily. You ask for Chinese pot fried noodles and KFC roasted fried chicken.. zoom you have it on the table. Think of a life like that and who will bother to go fight and earn for his living. The problems are half solved, ain't it?

Hunger is the major enemy every nation is fighting against now and will be fighting against for all times.

What a Change...

The blogs I wrote all these days were the output of my brain. But this ones from my heart. Not a love story though.
I had been to Chennai recently a couple of times and this is where I realized how much I have changed in the past few years. I had taken my cousin along who has just completed school. I had taken him to Chennai city center (a mall like Forum in Bangalore, but very posh and lively!!!). The few questions he was asking as we were walking around (not buying though) made me realize the differences. He asked me
1. Who will come to such huge malls when the items are so costly.
2. If people do the shopping (like clothes, trinkets, salons etc) in smaller shops they can save time and money also.
3. I took him to coffee day kind of eatery the cold coffee was Rs.55 and I ordered one but he said he will drink it somewhere in the roadside tea shops. Cold coffee for 55 was absolutely fine for me. He was not fine with it...
4. I got a box of Australian cookies and he sked me whats so special in it that u r paying Rs.130 for that. I said its Australian and he replied "they won't be any better than our marie biscuits, see!!!" Well he was partially right which i realized only after having it.
5. There was INOX in that mall and I asked him of his interest to watch any movie. He straight away asked me "How much is the ticket". I, in a way not to scare him, said Rs. 150 which was actually not that cheap for the POC 3 and Shrek 3 running there. He innocently asked me "Who will pay so much and watch. We can buy CDs and watch a hundred times". I was counting the number of movies I watched in PVR and INOX. Many.
For all the questions of his I had a smile as a reply and nothing else. A smile because I went into the flashback mode thinking this is how I was a few years ago, before I stepped in to college and then in Bangalore. This is where I learnt that coffee days and hotels with unknown menus and unspellable dishes and sometimes costly ones together are the way of life. Even if you search a hundred roads you cant find affordable-cheap food, movie theaters every day. I was also reminded about how I used to ridicule my friends, who studied in Bangalore, for their way of spending in coffee days and day long strolls at huge malls and their aimless money spending attitudes. But today I along with a million other people are a part of that "Yes I am lazy-what the hell-I have money I spend it" group.
Malls have become my daily life lines and cold coffees and sandwiches that cost thrice the acceptable price have become affordable to me now. I ask whats wrong in it and have them merrily!!! What a drastic change!!!
Well 99% of the city dwellers have this change i guess. What a change, i was wondering!!!!

U R Watching..... Kalaignar TV

This was the day I was expecting for although I am not an AIADMK supporter. The divide between the SUN network and DMK party has forced the DMK party to start a new channel called "Kalaingar TV"!!! A channel for every politician??!!! Viako TV, Thol Thiruma TV, Mama TV, Mami TV... list is endless... and its quite possible only in TN... Back to the point. The DMK and the SUN network have fought battles and even masterminded several attacks together. DMK plans... SUN implements. D. Maran was the representative for DMK in the central synonymous to M. Maran. But he is kicked out. The only educated think tank is now out. Kalaingar TV is for sure not going to get even a tithe of the TRP SUN has. What in the earth politicians are thinking?? Audiences watch TV to see the hazzles and leg pullings in politics. No they need entertainment, fun, comedy and most of all the soapy serials. Will Kalaingar write scrips and Stalin, Alagiri, Raja etc etc play cameo??? Will be fun to watch (just like the latest TR's release!!!)
What if the SUN network for some reason forms ally with AIADMK??? A 400 crore media industry can't be fought single handedly by this Kalaignar TV alone. Why dont these politicians think sense?? The entire south-Indian media is with SUN.
SUN HAS:
TV - sun, k tv, sun news, gemini, teja, surya, e-nadu, sun music etc.
PAPER - Kungumam, Dhinakaran.
FM - S fm, Surian fm (as far as I know).
DMK HAS:
Ting ting tiding.... Kalaingar TV....
DMK is ruining itself... AIADMK wear your brains out and plug the deal on your side. Its once in politics offer. DMK see you around the next elections.

Ragging Banned.

Ragging has been finally banned and the Supreme Court has given out the necessary orders. Yes, this is a news thats making the headlines for many years now. But whats it, that has made me take a special notice of this news? The Supreme Court has ordered "a criminal charge" on those who indulge in ragging activities. OMG!!! A criminal!!! Yes. God only knows the degree to which this would be enforced. A guy and a girl seen talking normally in a strict college can be expelled on charges of ragging and the culprit is the guy with a criminal charge on them. So is this the POTA kind of act against the college students?? When I read the news I could heard a bell ring in my head. Hereafter the college discipline committee would say "Students if you don't obey the rules you will be charged with ragging offense and you will be a criminal thereafter. So better do what we tell you". Well all this is fine. But whats the future of a student who is a criminal for ragging offense? Colleges don't admit students with criminal charges. Neither Indian not abroad universities accept such grads. You cant apply for a passport nor get your visa stamped. You cant get a job neither in a private concern nor in a government office. Life, in short, is hell for these guys. But there is life as a politician because many criminals are politicians today. Jokes apart, if you are accusing somone for ragging offense please make sure they did it and is a punishable offense otherwise don't add one criminal more by just fooling around. Please distinguish between fun and offense. Don't gift him/her the "criminal" tag for the sake of a revenge or just to show your displeasure.

என்ன கொடுமை sir இது

Indian cricket team was basking in the warm days with money and have heard coins jingling and currency flying all round the year as if BCCI was a perennial source of revenue. But the hard days are on for the game in India now. The toughest thing for man now is to be the part of BCCI. If he is the selector read this as he is dead already. Have a look at the situation of the BCCI now. எப்படி இருன்த டீம் இப்படி ஆயிடிச்செய். Days for them have to be even meaner for the game to improve. Heights of achievement are reached only when man knows what abject poverty is.

Posters - a mess with information.

What are advertisements for? A fundamental question, i know. But the answer is very complex. The most simplest answers we can think of are to inform people of the features in the product, to increase sales volume, to get a place in the mind and heart of the customer so that he buys this brand when he thinks of this product. Competition has gone way too high and creativity is foraying unknown and unexpected levels with the advent of good softwares and good brains. But advertisements have created a negative impact also. People who have money publish ads in TVs during matches, movies and even during teary-soapy tele serials for the TRP ratings. But people who dont have money or who think their ads need to reach the common man go for the cheaper means of ads. POSTERS!!!. They are really messy and need a round of thinking sessions.

Posters are every where. A newly constructed flyover, the compound wall of a house, a tree, a electrical pole, a bus back and even a fencing... Huh is that enough of creativity in finding the places to stick the posters?? Well we need to regulate the places where posters can be put up. All those whose companies posters are struck in "Do not stick posters here" places should be heavily fined. So do we have to do-away-with the posters concept? No need not. We need to construct pretty huge walls in prominent places like the railway station, bus stand, few signals etc where the wall is divided into some 20 or 30 rectangles and each rectangle should be rented for a company or agency who would maintain the walls. Every poster including the movie posters would go there. No other place in the entire city the posters can be stuck. To put up your poster in these places you need to pay. Thus money is generated to the govt., and few people can be employed in the agencies also.

If the cost is high then the posters need to be converted into a phamplet and can be distributed along with news papers. I feel this is far better as the blank side of the phamplet can be used for some rough work by the children or in the grocery stores. As a final step, if not this they can be distributed in the streets as it is already done.

All these makes the city look better. All the welcome sign-posts, written for a politician, on the walls need to be removed. Instead of doing this they can send a postcard to every house saying their party men are coming to the city. Which makes more sense than the graffiti on the walls. They (graffiti) are the shabby face of the society today. Lets keep a city clean as cleanliness sponsors good health.

First Flight...

Just like many of you reading this I too had never experienced a flight journey before. But on May 9th I did break that status. Thanks to Air Deccan for making this possible by triggering a whole new era in the Indian aviation history by venturing into low cost carriers. I travelled from BLR-TVM (Bangalooru to Tiruvananthapuram).
I reached the airport quiet earlier than the check-in time. (Check in time is usually an hour ahead of the flight departure time). I went in and spoke to the Air Deccan counter person who told me to wait as the check-in time was no where near. So I just sat there looking at the airport and answering the Whys and Whats that were running in my head. When the check-in time was announced I jumped on my foot to make my debut journey.
When I showed my online-ticket (e-Ticket), that I got from Yatra, I was given the jerking reply which I had heard of in the recent times. "Your name is not in the passengers list!!!!!". No this should not be happening on my debut. I was pissed off to the core and was wondering what next??? No idea. I had to write a exam the next day at 9 am. I wanted to keep the calm on my face even though there was a heavy undercurrent of anger and questions going on my mind. The lady said please proceed to the counter no 3. I was skeptical about the proceedings. I went there. She said "Please proceed. You are given a ticket". I was relieved. I had to thank CNN-IBN for their operation cobra post which got me this ticket.
The take off was the best of all. You would be pushed back to your seats by inertia and it was very similar to the columbus upward movement. I hate columbus rides. But i liked this b'coz I paid for this. When we encountered clouds the plane would shake heavily. As few Air Deccan flights are external-blades-propelled they are not stable and the clouds are massive structures and are merciless . The plane moves up and down in a jolting fashion and in the high altitude you tend to get ear blockage and even a feeling to puke. My neighbour neatly dressed, with a french, right from the moment the plane took off he had his head spinning and took a few tablets and then was in total anguish with how the plane went.
The purpose for which I went in the plane was not even a bit satisfactorily completed. But I relished every bit of the plane journey. Even for the return I did not have my name in the passengers list. I knew this would happen so I was behind the Yatra people and screwed them how much I could and they sent me another ticket through sms when I was in the flight for the return journey.
Bangalore from the 13000 ft (the air hostess told me the altitude was 13000 ft) is really good. The long well-lit highways and the colorful buildings are really nice to look at. Enjoy every bit of your journey.

Do's:
1. Check if your seat is available and you are in the passengers list.
2. Sit in a window seat otherwise you would miss a lot of excitement.

Dont's:
1. Do not read when the plane is in the air. You will already feel nauseated and doing this might aggravate that feeling.

P.S: Enjoy the feeling of flying and only in mid air you will realise the power of imagination. The imagination of Wright Brothers. All thanks to them.

Assasins - Truly Inspired...

I was wondering where do these guys get the guts and the idea to a homicide. It cant be in their bloods as they are not brought up that way. Its the society that imbibes these things into the killers who are otherwise perfectly normal to the naked eyes. The society is, to a greater extent , influenced by the media and the movies that set trends in all walks of the society. The recent Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung Hui is claimed to be inspired by the Korean made movie Old Boy. A scene from the movie.

This movie is claimed to be the best of its sort in the recent times. But do have any count of the number of dons who would have rose to fame after watching 'Nayakan'? No.
Were the Nithari case's accused also inspired by a movie? May be yes. There have been movies that have dealt with cannibalism. Like this

But what can be done when people derive inspiration from the imaginary and that too for the wrong reasons? Well it might not be inspiration also but an accidental co-incidence. For all those ill fated I pray for your souls to RIP.

India Divided by Religion = ???

Today morning as I was doing the usual round of news reading this one amused me. Although I could not think deeper into it or say my view on it I thought of recording it in my blog. This was the news.
All I could think of at that moment was "ஆயிரம் பெரியார் வந்தாலும் உங்கள திருத்த முடியாது டா" (Even if thousand Periyar comes, you people can never be corrected...)

Whom to cull?

We have been receiving and reading news in the past and the present about stray dogs mauling kids for unknown reasons. It is a deep sense of pain and agony when your kith or kin is mauled helplessly, brutally by the fit-for-nothing, eat-litter-sleep-breed stray dogs. Its really touching when we read news like that and see the photos of the parents weeping. The govt has issued a red alert and has ordered all such dogs culled. I was thinking if this is the right thing to do.
There is something called as the Food-chain. Human beings eat some animals and some animals eat human beings in turn. For the earth to exist this cycle has to go on. Had a lion killed a man it would not have been such a big hype, just because it was a dog its humiliating for the ill fated's family.
I have a question. **Just because maximum number of terrorists hunted down are muslims can we hunt down all the muslims or looking from another angle just because all the terrorists and the harm causing elements are human beings can we kill the entire race of humans around? Sounds wierd right?
How many politicians, national leaders, business men, big shots have cheated us, killed many and had zero feelings, just like these stray dogs, when a million of their country men were dying. How many have a gamut of cases, trials under them. What to do of them? Kill them? Cull them? Fire them? Chop a hand, leg and let them free? Who is going to monitor them?
Every single kid the stray dogs kill is reported a hundred times in all the papers but there have been hundreds of silent assassinations that have never been noticed.
These dogs need a life. Pity them. They need love and care. If you tell me they are not cared for and they have no space to live and they spoil the entire place they occupy then do one thing kill all the beggars and the abandoned children on the streets. We need to think again. Animals too have a life and we need to respect it. When we tread in to their world they fight back for their own space. Its obvious.
Cull the politicians, the beggars, the abandoned children and then point your fingers at the stray dogs.

P.S :

• ** Not to offend muslims had i mentioned a point earlier in this blog.

Worldcup...

I am not happy with the way the world cup has progressed. Its not for the fact that India is not in the Super 8. I felt India don't deserve a berth for their dismal performance against the roaring Lions and searing Tigers. My interest is elsewhere. Are the following said a disgrace to WC 2007?
First, Ricky Ponting's comments that minnows should never be a part of the world cup. Well I have a implication question for Ponting. If New Zealand defeated Aussies and Bangladesh defeated New Zealand does that mean Bangladesh has defeated Aussies??? Well maths says its right. But in a game of cricket any thing is quite possible. Would Aussies have ever dreamt that S.Africa will chase 434? Remember Ricky its cricket.
Next, Woolmer killed. For what? A bleak performance by the Pak? Huh, we need some sense and a brain transplant if necessary. Can Woolmer Bat, Bowl and Field for those eleven worthless baubles?
Last, the worst of all. I seriously cant digest the comment that Ireland won the Pak because of betting and it was a fixed match. I felt it was a marvelous achievement by the "so-called" minnows to be where they are now.
I know by the end of the world cup there would be many more such spiteful incidents. Who knows if this WC would be abandoned too.. Lets wait...

Mr, X, VIII std fail, Member of Parliament, India.

Who are our leaders today? are they qualified enough to take India to the next level, so called "Developed Nation"? Today, I was really irritated when all the illiterate ministers' names were popping up in my mind, for some unknown reasons. So i made a random check of the qulifications of our Hon'ble ministers and their work Ex and found the most impressive bio-data was of our Finance minister's, Prime Minister's and then was the IT Minister.
How good are the others? Are they educated enough to accept the jargons foreign officials throw at them? Are they masterminds to defeat the foreign officials in their grounds?
I just googled "Indian Ministry" to search for an answer.
To be honest I was impressed with the overall qualifications. Many were Law grads and few science. I don't know how true it is. But on the whole I feel even more perplexed now. How did railways perform so better? I had to tell an answer and console myself. "He understood the ground reality and the business as well"

Just take this poll and let me know what you feel.EducatedPolitics