I had two interesting conversations with two different people (of opposite genders) last week. One centered on the difference between 'Choice and Decision' and the other being between 'Religion and God'. Apparently, both the guys differed from my point of view and stated some strong arguments in their favour. We did not reach any conclusion per se, but did feel that it was a topic for further exploration.
In this essay, I have tried to reflect on some of the views hovering around these topics. I will not try to 'explain' it, but take it to a state from which i would wish the thought processes to continue.
Choice and Decision
Choice is a 'state of mind' , which sees the presence of one(Hobson's) or more course of actions, given a particular predicament.
Decision is a logical conclusion arrived at by considering all the available choices(course of actions).
According to Hinduism, Maya is a state wherein the mind sees something that is either ephemeral,evanescent or is not-present - this is something similar to illusion. The mind conjectures certain conditions which leads it to 'see' certain things that are not present. The last sentence is indeed interesting. Firstly, how can the mind 'imagine' something that it has never seen - how it can 'make' things without having an experience of the same. For eg. a person knows that a desert is hot and arid because he has experienced it. Now for a person who doesn't even know what a desert is , or even further, hasn't even heard the word - then how can he imagine the 'state of a desert'. It follows that if a person who has already been to a desert (say Bob) explains it verbally to a person who hasn't been there(say Alice), then there are some good chances that Alice can come up with a rough version of a picture of the desert. This is because, Bob was able to relate to the conditions in a desert to a conditions that Alice would have felt when at home or at her present state;but the same scenario becomes difficult for Bob, if Alice was blind since birth.
Experiences do matter.
Religion and God
Religion is a set of rules put forth by our predecessors to bring discipline into our lives. Religion for that matter can be equated to the constitution to be followed in one's life - a way of life. It prescribes some notions that when followed lead to an enhanced status of living with superior intellectual pursuits. The presence of different religions around is a depiction of different schools of thought. Each religion (or school) prescribes certain activities that was felt by a 'single' person to be significant and a mass followed him for the wavelength matched with the Master. The creation of a new school of thought was deeply influenced by the social dynamics and interpersonal relationships. Whenever the society(which constitutes of that 'single' person in the begining) feels that a certain rule needs to be broken or created altogether , and which was totally complementary to the one already existing in the present religion, a new discipline/religion was born.
Now, the creators of the religion(or constitution) did realize that it was difficult for the society to follow some rules when there was no one to supervise and hence 'God' was created. [The concept of 'God' is one of the most beautiful things that fascinates me till date , for it amuses/amazes me - but the thirst still persists and am continuing my hunt to satiate it.] According to humans, God is the one who was supposed to have created the 'new' religion and hence he is the Supreme - the omnipresent - the omniscient. Different rules where ascribed to different Gods.
Symbolism
A perspective that has been missing in both the conversations has been the relevance of symbolism. Symbolism cannot be equated to Experience. The concept of Choice and God is sheer symbolism. We cannot describe either of them, unless we feel them; and describing the experiences is beyond the bounds of the lexicon. These words are the feelings that come closest to the experience, but the feelings cannot be sustituted for a constrained set of grammar rules and words.
As Gary Zukov points out in his book[2], let the masters continue to dance... let the music flow and let us dance along with it. We are least bothered about what had transpired and what is supposed to come. We are just concerened about the present and the dance and the mysticism associated with it.
Finishing Notes....... My knowledge on this subject is very much limited and am trying to understand it more. This essay is not an effort to vandalize the existing customs or rituals , but an effort to share some views that i feel were worthy of consideration in this world. This essay also does not reflect all the rationale behind the topic of contention and many other views that are equally important in understanding the subject. The subject is worthy of exploration and more research, and it carries an enormous philosophical and psychological angle to it. I do not deny the existence of God and neither question the relvance of religion - i do visit temples , pray and prostrate - but i want to understand this 'phenomenon' in its entirety , for it encompasses some of the most delicate and controversial dogmas, principles and thoughts around.
Who am I? Why I am here? What am i supposed to do? What have i done? (Origin > Identity > Destiny)
Humans are causal beings - we ascribe 'causes' to whatever we see happening - this notion is reflected in almost in all the religions - its called 'karma'. I atleast know that Hinduism and Buddhism do lay emphasis on 'karma'. Bible certainly conveys the same essence [1]:
# A person reaps what he sows. (Gal. 6:7)
# All things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
Karma does not mean that all events are predetermined; what it means is that the it is us who control what has to happen to us.
I do not believe in another 'term' that keeps floating around -- LUCK. Luck a term directed at something that is beyond the control of human mind ,and which we prescribe to when things do not happen as we anticipate them - and i find this to be weird and unacceptable. It is the human mind that decides its course of action; though it should be taken into account that the human mind does decide its course based on the current state of things and the things that have been learnt from the past. The symbiosis of Eastern Mysticism with Western Science is a very potent relationship and should be studied very carefully, with interest.
References:
[1] Buddhism Karma [http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/karma.html]
[2] Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zukov
[...] experiences that has been gained in my limited stay on this planet :)
March 16, 2008
February 24, 2008
Few good reads
I havent read many books after moving down to Chennai ; the last one was The Black Swan - an excellent page turner with loads of gyaan. Taleb is a genius who understands the subject that he is trudging on and explains it with finesse.
Well, i was spending too much time on the Net and on my laptop and was getting into the geekdom(second part) again. My phone bill(broadband) shot up - guess the 2.5 Gb limit wasnt enough. But the 2Mbps line simply rocks. Nwayz, spent some time in the Spencer's(got a good Woodland Shoe) and then went on to Moore Market yesterday. Moore market is the bazaar near the Madras(Chennai) Railway Station wherein one can find everything on Earth (at very cheap rates) - provided on knows the art of negotiation/bargaining. My intentions were simply to go there and get some good reads to fill my shelf(and make my mom yell at me - she argues that i am occupying half the house with my junk).
Got the following :
# Survival of the Sickest - By Dr.Sharon Moalem
Having recently been affected by throat infection, i was searching for something on human anatomy and was happy to find this book. The Doc is a medical maverick who discovers why we need a disease. He talks about our genetic design and asks and answers some provocative questions. I have started reading this book and its going amazing.
# View from the Summit - By Sir Edmund Hillary
Waiting to read this book. An autobiography by the master himself and I being an ardent traveller/trekker this was an excellent find.
# The Dancing Wu Li Masters - By Gary Sukav
An old book - NY Times says that this is the most exciting intellectual adventure after the 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. Its an absorbing guide to the mind stretching mysteries of the new Physics and points out striking parallels with modern Psychology and Eastern Mysticism.
# The Goal - By Eliyahu M.Goldratt
Have read some good reviews. The story of a person who has to save his plant(business) given lots of extraneous conditions that hamper from its development.
# The Great Game (On a Secret Service in High Asia) - By Peter Hopkirk
Related to adventure and war - yet to get a flavour of it.
# Code Complete - By Steve McConnell
This is a book on software construction - a must for many self-taught programmers :)
Am sure these kill keep me occupied for a month or two :)
Well, i was spending too much time on the Net and on my laptop and was getting into the geekdom(second part) again. My phone bill(broadband) shot up - guess the 2.5 Gb limit wasnt enough. But the 2Mbps line simply rocks. Nwayz, spent some time in the Spencer's(got a good Woodland Shoe) and then went on to Moore Market yesterday. Moore market is the bazaar near the Madras(Chennai) Railway Station wherein one can find everything on Earth (at very cheap rates) - provided on knows the art of negotiation/bargaining. My intentions were simply to go there and get some good reads to fill my shelf(and make my mom yell at me - she argues that i am occupying half the house with my junk).
Got the following :
# Survival of the Sickest - By Dr.Sharon Moalem
Having recently been affected by throat infection, i was searching for something on human anatomy and was happy to find this book. The Doc is a medical maverick who discovers why we need a disease. He talks about our genetic design and asks and answers some provocative questions. I have started reading this book and its going amazing.
# View from the Summit - By Sir Edmund Hillary
Waiting to read this book. An autobiography by the master himself and I being an ardent traveller/trekker this was an excellent find.
# The Dancing Wu Li Masters - By Gary Sukav
An old book - NY Times says that this is the most exciting intellectual adventure after the 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'. Its an absorbing guide to the mind stretching mysteries of the new Physics and points out striking parallels with modern Psychology and Eastern Mysticism.
# The Goal - By Eliyahu M.Goldratt
Have read some good reviews. The story of a person who has to save his plant(business) given lots of extraneous conditions that hamper from its development.
# The Great Game (On a Secret Service in High Asia) - By Peter Hopkirk
Related to adventure and war - yet to get a flavour of it.
# Code Complete - By Steve McConnell
This is a book on software construction - a must for many self-taught programmers :)
Am sure these kill keep me occupied for a month or two :)
February 22, 2008
Streptococcus Viridans
Having survived numerous bacteria and viruses over the past decade and not falling ill even for a single day; inspiteof drinking water from rusty taps, broken bottles, dirty water tanks I was really happy and fortunate. But, 2 weeks back we started getting water in the bubble top containers (mineral water) due to a possible contamination of the well water. And 2 days after that had a heavy fever and then a really bad throat infection. Tried to control from my mind for a week , but that was of no avail - the specie in my throat was more powerful than my mind. Went to the doc finally, his initial dose of medicines weren't of any use , he made the dose even more powerful and I got partial relief. Finally, he advised me of a throat swab and this what the report read :
Holy cow... my charm for sesquipedalion words ended up in a sesquipedalion bacteria in my throat channel :( My state is not as bad as the 'organism' sounds, but the very thought of an-organism-in-my-body and reciting its name sends mild shivers across my spine.
But the naming convention sounds 'kewl' ... i wish i had a body organ named after me : "Ramanilicous Venkatidans"
Organism Isolated : Streptococcus Viridans
Holy cow... my charm for sesquipedalion words ended up in a sesquipedalion bacteria in my throat channel :( My state is not as bad as the 'organism' sounds, but the very thought of an-organism-in-my-body and reciting its name sends mild shivers across my spine.
But the naming convention sounds 'kewl' ... i wish i had a body organ named after me : "Ramanilicous Venkatidans"
February 17, 2008
Insights 2007
2007 was an eventful year for me. Lots of things happened which gave me new courage to face new challenges and grab new opportunities. Met some interesting people and also had a some great conversations. Though each day is a new experience in itself, but 2007 made me think and take some steps that can have some strategic consequences later in my life.
Some of the important and finest moments......
January - The year started off with me buying a new camera on the NY eve - my new kid - Nikon D50. I was overjoyed - i had saved my hard earned money to buy this. I have had some great moments with this camera and am still having it; hope not to part with it - my commitment is sincere :D
February - My first ever Himalayan trek. At sub zeros temperatures and nothing but whiteness around under some really strenuous conditions , it was an excellent experience. Though the trek was called off after the first day but the experience is something to be cherished till my next Himalayan Trek happens.
May - The Bangalore Midnight Marathon - what an experience it was!!!! I ended up running though i had gone their for clicking :) Almost 8-10hours of clicking with some superb experiences.
July - Resigned from Oracle :) It was a tough decision for me. Life at Oracle was extremely good - with a good balance between good work and an adventurous personal life. 2 Years with Oracle was really satisfying in terms of both - Job satisfaction and excellent learning. But, life was getting very comfortable at a very young age and i did not want it to be like that.
In the meantime, gave some interviews at Google, cleared some rounds and then stopped the process - Google is not the place for me now ;)
August - Joined Svapas (Serendio)
I had lots of expectations when i joined Svapas - i wanted to be the flag bearer of setting up a pure product company based out of Chennai(India).
December - Left Svapas (Serendio)
Things always do not happen the way you expect them to ; though one can take the bull by its horns but it's sometimes clever to think strategically and take a suitable decision, by taking all the variables into effect. Again - experience @ Svapas was great.
2008 is keeping me busy...did not have much time for travel - except for the Andhra tour over the new year. Work is getting more interesting and enjoyable ...loads to learn..loads to share... hope to stumble on some interesting people and learn more :)
Life is beautiful.....
Some of the important and finest moments......
January - The year started off with me buying a new camera on the NY eve - my new kid - Nikon D50. I was overjoyed - i had saved my hard earned money to buy this. I have had some great moments with this camera and am still having it; hope not to part with it - my commitment is sincere :D
February - My first ever Himalayan trek. At sub zeros temperatures and nothing but whiteness around under some really strenuous conditions , it was an excellent experience. Though the trek was called off after the first day but the experience is something to be cherished till my next Himalayan Trek happens.
May - The Bangalore Midnight Marathon - what an experience it was!!!! I ended up running though i had gone their for clicking :) Almost 8-10hours of clicking with some superb experiences.
July - Resigned from Oracle :) It was a tough decision for me. Life at Oracle was extremely good - with a good balance between good work and an adventurous personal life. 2 Years with Oracle was really satisfying in terms of both - Job satisfaction and excellent learning. But, life was getting very comfortable at a very young age and i did not want it to be like that.
In the meantime, gave some interviews at Google, cleared some rounds and then stopped the process - Google is not the place for me now ;)
August - Joined Svapas (Serendio)
I had lots of expectations when i joined Svapas - i wanted to be the flag bearer of setting up a pure product company based out of Chennai(India).
December - Left Svapas (Serendio)
Things always do not happen the way you expect them to ; though one can take the bull by its horns but it's sometimes clever to think strategically and take a suitable decision, by taking all the variables into effect. Again - experience @ Svapas was great.
2008 is keeping me busy...did not have much time for travel - except for the Andhra tour over the new year. Work is getting more interesting and enjoyable ...loads to learn..loads to share... hope to stumble on some interesting people and learn more :)
Life is beautiful.....
January 20, 2008
Bland Andhra
[.....this post is under Edit.........WIP]
I did not want to spend the NY at Chennai ...partying and drinking and eating. Hence the traveller in me woke up again from a long slumber(its been 4-5 months since i went anywhere)...
I had 3 choices
a) Kerala
b) The West Coast - from Bekal Fort to Goa
c) Andhra Pradesh (AP)
I did not want to do #a alone , hence chucked it. #b is in my to-do list for almost a year now. And #c was equally interesting as not many people backpack across AP. Culminating at Goa wasnt a good idea, as it was a NY season and it would be crowded (and the skyrocketing prices). Hence, it was #c :) Decided to get the ticket to start off on Friday evening to Vijayawada (VJW). Once in VJW, then i could decide on the future course of action on a daily basis.
Friday evening
Came back from work(it was my last day with my employer) , did some quick packing and started off to the Koyambedu Bus stand - boarded the bus - dreamt - and slept.
Day - 1 ( Saturday , Dec 29th, 2007)
[ KanakaDurga Temple - Undavalli Caves - Mogalarajapuram Caves - Kondapalli Fort ]
Reached Vijayawada in the morning at 5:15am. Brushed my teeth in the bus stand , had a hot tea , dumped my backpack in the cloak room and left for a darshan at KanakaDurga temple.
[.....this post is under Edit.........WIP]
I did not want to spend the NY at Chennai ...partying and drinking and eating. Hence the traveller in me woke up again from a long slumber(its been 4-5 months since i went anywhere)...
I had 3 choices
a) Kerala
b) The West Coast - from Bekal Fort to Goa
c) Andhra Pradesh (AP)
I did not want to do #a alone , hence chucked it. #b is in my to-do list for almost a year now. And #c was equally interesting as not many people backpack across AP. Culminating at Goa wasnt a good idea, as it was a NY season and it would be crowded (and the skyrocketing prices). Hence, it was #c :) Decided to get the ticket to start off on Friday evening to Vijayawada (VJW). Once in VJW, then i could decide on the future course of action on a daily basis.
Friday evening
Came back from work(it was my last day with my employer) , did some quick packing and started off to the Koyambedu Bus stand - boarded the bus - dreamt - and slept.
Day - 1 ( Saturday , Dec 29th, 2007)
[ KanakaDurga Temple - Undavalli Caves - Mogalarajapuram Caves - Kondapalli Fort ]
Reached Vijayawada in the morning at 5:15am. Brushed my teeth in the bus stand , had a hot tea , dumped my backpack in the cloak room and left for a darshan at KanakaDurga temple.
[.....this post is under Edit.........WIP]
January 19, 2008
New Buy : Acer 4520
Got my laptop couple of weeks back. It is an Acer 4520 with nVidia GeForce 7000m and an AMD Athlon X2 processor. After having used the DELL series of laptops(Lattitude and Inspiron) for couple of years, it was a pleasant experience moving towards Acer (with an AMD processor).
Actually, i am practically in love with my laptop and did not even expect such good performance from it. Though the idea of not buying a Mac was lurking in my mind, but after a conscious comparison between my desires and my wants, decided to stick to the present choice.
The features that led me to this choice were :
1) superb keyboard
2) amazing display (14.1-inch)
3) fantastic sound quality
4) Nice form factor
In fact, the sound quality is quite mind blowing and has really good clarity. I had little difficulty in getting and installing the video drivers, but once installed , the display is almost comparable to than of a Mac. Now I have a dual boot on XP and Ubuntu and it works like a charm.
The laptop doesnt produce much heat(i used to use Acer 5050 and it got really hot after a couple of hours) and has a nice form factor. Though, the display doesnt do a complete 180 degree tilt(as in, along the plane of the keyword), but the tapered edges does it give it a nice look and feel.
But couple of things i did not like about the laptop were
- the keypad and the surrounding bay is in white - i would have preferred a blackish/greyish color, as the pad gets dirty after a few weeks for a heavy user like me who spends 15-18hours a day with my computer.
- the trackpad is a little slow (probably i am not using properly) and the buttons doesn't work smoothly.
Other features include:
160GB hard disk
1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
8x DVD Burner(Dual Layer)
Weighs just around 2.5 kgs
all the plugs/ports/sockets intact :D
1-year Internation Traveler’s Warranty
Overall, it has been a good buy for 30k INR.
And did i tell you guys that i got a headphone+mike, 2GB SanDisk zip drive, a LCD/Keyboard vaccum cleaner and a mouse(which looks cheap) as part of the deal.
Actually, i am practically in love with my laptop and did not even expect such good performance from it. Though the idea of not buying a Mac was lurking in my mind, but after a conscious comparison between my desires and my wants, decided to stick to the present choice.
The features that led me to this choice were :
1) superb keyboard
2) amazing display (14.1-inch)
3) fantastic sound quality
4) Nice form factor
In fact, the sound quality is quite mind blowing and has really good clarity. I had little difficulty in getting and installing the video drivers, but once installed , the display is almost comparable to than of a Mac. Now I have a dual boot on XP and Ubuntu and it works like a charm.
The laptop doesnt produce much heat(i used to use Acer 5050 and it got really hot after a couple of hours) and has a nice form factor. Though, the display doesnt do a complete 180 degree tilt(as in, along the plane of the keyword), but the tapered edges does it give it a nice look and feel.
But couple of things i did not like about the laptop were
- the keypad and the surrounding bay is in white - i would have preferred a blackish/greyish color, as the pad gets dirty after a few weeks for a heavy user like me who spends 15-18hours a day with my computer.
- the trackpad is a little slow (probably i am not using properly) and the buttons doesn't work smoothly.
Other features include:
160GB hard disk
1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM
8x DVD Burner(Dual Layer)
Weighs just around 2.5 kgs
all the plugs/ports/sockets intact :D
1-year Internation Traveler’s Warranty
Overall, it has been a good buy for 30k INR.
And did i tell you guys that i got a headphone+mike, 2GB SanDisk zip drive, a LCD/Keyboard vaccum cleaner and a mouse(which looks cheap) as part of the deal.
December 28, 2007
Backpacking across Andhra Land
Just came back from a solo-tour to Andhra Pradesh.
Places covered :
Vijayawada - Vishakapatnam - Araku - Borra - Bhadrachalam - Warangal
Budget - 2K INR.
Travelled around 3k Kms by bus over a span of 5 days and am back home now. Going solo was a kinda good experience...life does teach loads of things.....
Will upload the pictures and the details of the tour asap.
[Am planning on a 2 day tour to Central TamilNadu....probably....Trichy/Tanjore.... ;) over the weekend ]
Places covered :
Vijayawada - Vishakapatnam - Araku - Borra - Bhadrachalam - Warangal
Budget - 2K INR.
Travelled around 3k Kms by bus over a span of 5 days and am back home now. Going solo was a kinda good experience...life does teach loads of things.....
Will upload the pictures and the details of the tour asap.
[Am planning on a 2 day tour to Central TamilNadu....probably....Trichy/Tanjore.... ;) over the weekend ]
December 25, 2007
Cross Country biking - India
I happened to met Shree almost a year back in The Bangalore Trekkers Orkut group, and then we used to scrap each other occasionally , and then we met during Bangalore Barcamp 4 wherein he shared his gyaan on cycles and riding them and some kewl gadgets. I knew that he was a geek and a great appetite for whatever he was into ... he had already done Bangalore-Ahemedabad and Chennai-Kolkata on his cycle.
Now, he is on cross country - Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat. As of this writing , i guess he should be in Assam-W.Bengal border - should have done around 1100 km in the last 12 days.
I wish him all the best and sincerely hope that he finishes it. His blog.
Now, he is on cross country - Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat. As of this writing , i guess he should be in Assam-W.Bengal border - should have done around 1100 km in the last 12 days.
I wish him all the best and sincerely hope that he finishes it. His blog.
December 07, 2007
Dress Code and Programming
Justin talks about the Dress code by some of the whos-who in the programming 'fraternity' - some of the greatest minds who have contributed to Computer Science Programming for what it is today. It is a comprehensive collection of the people who have either designed a new programming language/framework or have contributed immensely to the concepts in CS.
Essentially these are the characteristics:
1) bearded
2) long haired
3) casually dressed visionaries
Analysis w.r.t me :
#1 - my hairlines continue to recede and hence dont fit in here :(
#2 - though my rate of growth of facial hair is more than that on the head, but the temperate climate in chennai does not allow me to keep the beard for more than 2-3 weeks. .... hence dont fit in here either :(
#3 - i am casually dressed - in fact i dont know what it means..i wear what i suppose is comfortable , and keeps me well ventilated and doesnt emanate a bad odour :D .... am i visionary??
[ what is programming! ;) ]
Essentially these are the characteristics:
1) bearded
2) long haired
3) casually dressed visionaries
Analysis w.r.t me :
#1 - my hairlines continue to recede and hence dont fit in here :(
#2 - though my rate of growth of facial hair is more than that on the head, but the temperate climate in chennai does not allow me to keep the beard for more than 2-3 weeks. .... hence dont fit in here either :(
#3 - i am casually dressed - in fact i dont know what it means..i wear what i suppose is comfortable , and keeps me well ventilated and doesnt emanate a bad odour :D .... am i visionary??
[ what is programming! ;) ]
November 20, 2007
Kindling the Android
Amazon launches Kindle. Jeff Bezo's announcement!
The game(or is it a war???) between Kindle vs Publishing industry (print media) is going to be something that is worth watching now. The arena has been thrown open and i cannot but see the gladiator winning.
Android is interesting. My first rendezvous with Android SDK was interesting.
Is someone thinking along both the lines ;)
The game(or is it a war???) between Kindle vs Publishing industry (print media) is going to be something that is worth watching now. The arena has been thrown open and i cannot but see the gladiator winning.
Android is interesting. My first rendezvous with Android SDK was interesting.
Is someone thinking along both the lines ;)
November 12, 2007
yada..yada..Yedda
It is sometimes amusing when you see your business idea being implemented by some other firm (and also making money from that). One such thing happened today.
"AOL Gets Into Q&A Business, Acquires Israel’s Yedda"
When i saw this news in my reader, i jumped to read the entire story. Apparently, Yedda's modus-operandi is something similar to what myself and my friend Shravan had thought of 2.5 years back(Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:40:44 PM to be precise). The idea was baptised as "Gyaan.in" and the idea behind that was :
"Gyaan.in deals with the questions that anyone in the world could have about India, and would employ a group of well read researchers in order to send authentic replies to these questions. Through this, we intend to increase knowledge about this wonderful country, increase opportunities for investment in the country, and hence impact most spheres of the economy in the country."
It was a self-sustaining model with an investment of less than 1Lakh. After careful deliberations and some self-introspection we did not go ahead with the idea and dropped it. I do not repent on the decision made and am sure that there are zillion other opportunities to be tapped.
Gyaan.in inspires me even today as it was my first rendezvous with a good business plan and the passion to start "something-of-my-own". This idea was later converted into a Quiz Blog by me which is totally dormant as of now - this was an attempt to bring in all the quizzing cirles in India under a single banner and promote quizzing as an innovative way of Knowledge Sharing.
"AOL Gets Into Q&A Business, Acquires Israel’s Yedda"
When i saw this news in my reader, i jumped to read the entire story. Apparently, Yedda's modus-operandi is something similar to what myself and my friend Shravan had thought of 2.5 years back(Wednesday, June 22, 2005 7:40:44 PM to be precise). The idea was baptised as "Gyaan.in" and the idea behind that was :
"Gyaan.in deals with the questions that anyone in the world could have about India, and would employ a group of well read researchers in order to send authentic replies to these questions. Through this, we intend to increase knowledge about this wonderful country, increase opportunities for investment in the country, and hence impact most spheres of the economy in the country."
It was a self-sustaining model with an investment of less than 1Lakh. After careful deliberations and some self-introspection we did not go ahead with the idea and dropped it. I do not repent on the decision made and am sure that there are zillion other opportunities to be tapped.
Gyaan.in inspires me even today as it was my first rendezvous with a good business plan and the passion to start "something-of-my-own". This idea was later converted into a Quiz Blog by me which is totally dormant as of now - this was an attempt to bring in all the quizzing cirles in India under a single banner and promote quizzing as an innovative way of Knowledge Sharing.
November 11, 2007
Mechanism of action
I was watching a show in BBC (10-11am IST,Sunday) on climate change and the host was showing some examples of how we can conserve our environments..humanure...and blah..blah...the usual Greenpeace stuff...But he also claimed that Animals account for 10% of the gas emissions - the Nitrous oxides, methane..etc etc.. He was trying to record the burps and the farts of the cattle :) and observed the statistic.
Now that's what is called as some exploration!! GreenPeace activists -- where r u!!! Alloooooo!!! Is the next slogan going to be "Kill the Cattle-Save the World" ???
For more read this : Flatulence.
Acc this link : "ALASKA - Public flatulence carries a $100 fine. " lol
Now that's what is called as some exploration!! GreenPeace activists -- where r u!!! Alloooooo!!! Is the next slogan going to be "Kill the Cattle-Save the World" ???
For more read this : Flatulence.
Acc this link : "ALASKA - Public flatulence carries a $100 fine. " lol
The Art of Downplaying (Part -1)
It is interesting to see when you let a person win over you, though you know that you can easily win her/him.
One knows that the other person is cheating him , but he still allows the person to cheat him. The cheater is fascinated by his abilities and the bovineness of the victim; the former is elated at his win. But what lurks in the minds of the 'downplayer'!!! No one knows! He loses to win again - return back with a greater impact and totally vanquishing the opponent. Like the phoenix that burns itself to reincarnate.
The Art of Downplaying is a fascinating field of human psychology that amuses me a lot. The complex calculations of a downplayer is very crucial, as his stakes are very high in this strategy. A single mis-calculation can lead to disastrous consequences with zero tolerance of returning back in the game. It is a very fragile and contentious issue and has to be trudged with utmost care.
I also forsee this as an excellent marketing and design strategy - again, with CARE. One announces market for a product , and the same person creates a dumb product (though, he has an excellent one waiting to ambush the market) and leaves it open in the arena. Many new competitors enter the arena. They fight among themselves building more dumb products and creating a huge market in the process; but our strategist lurks in the dark - he is outcasted by others for entering the market with a dumb product and is equally ridiculed. Suddenly, he turns around and announces the advent of the next big thing and creates a market upheaval. (Timing of the launch, type of launch, period of dormancy, timing and type of the re-entrance are the most important parameters here)
Its a check-mate :)
One knows that the other person is cheating him , but he still allows the person to cheat him. The cheater is fascinated by his abilities and the bovineness of the victim; the former is elated at his win. But what lurks in the minds of the 'downplayer'!!! No one knows! He loses to win again - return back with a greater impact and totally vanquishing the opponent. Like the phoenix that burns itself to reincarnate.
The Art of Downplaying is a fascinating field of human psychology that amuses me a lot. The complex calculations of a downplayer is very crucial, as his stakes are very high in this strategy. A single mis-calculation can lead to disastrous consequences with zero tolerance of returning back in the game. It is a very fragile and contentious issue and has to be trudged with utmost care.
I also forsee this as an excellent marketing and design strategy - again, with CARE. One announces market for a product , and the same person creates a dumb product (though, he has an excellent one waiting to ambush the market) and leaves it open in the arena. Many new competitors enter the arena. They fight among themselves building more dumb products and creating a huge market in the process; but our strategist lurks in the dark - he is outcasted by others for entering the market with a dumb product and is equally ridiculed. Suddenly, he turns around and announces the advent of the next big thing and creates a market upheaval. (Timing of the launch, type of launch, period of dormancy, timing and type of the re-entrance are the most important parameters here)
Its a check-mate :)
November 07, 2007
Birth of 'EYB'
(05:05:51 IST) Roshan: no way
(05:05:52 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:05:56 IST) Venkat: this game is good
(05:06:00 IST) Venkat: u say something and say bye
(05:06:06 IST) Venkat: we should p[atent it
(05:06:12 IST) Roshan: yes. :P
(05:06:14 IST) Roshan: but now
(05:06:14 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:15 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:06:19 IST) Venkat: surebye
(05:06:20 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:23 IST) Venkat: bye bye
(05:06:33 IST) Venkat: and 2 consec byes means end of conv.
(05:06:39 IST) Roshan: oh, if you add another bye to that you can be the backstreet boys
(05:06:46 IST) Roshan: prepubescent girls will go nuts
(05:06:50 IST) Venkat: ahhhh!!!
(05:07:07 IST) Venkat: i prefer both pre and post!
(05:07:16 IST) Venkat: so wat should i do!! [eternal damnation]
(05:07:21 IST) Venkat: >>
(05:07:29 IST) Roshan: well think away
(05:07:30 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:07:34 IST) Venkat: we think.. and thinking leads me to say
(05:07:38 IST) Venkat: "eyb"..
(05:07:48 IST) Venkat: we just reverese it.. but its great.. no one will understand it
(05:07:55 IST) Venkat: it will be like ajax...
(05:08:05 IST) Venkat: u say "eyb" and generate user's interest...
(05:08:21 IST) Venkat: ppl will ask u for the explanation and u can give a real prolix interpretation of the same
(05:08:26 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:08:30 IST) Roshan: wow
(05:08:38 IST) Roshan: the millions in consultancy fees!!
(05:08:40 IST) Roshan: eyb
(05:08:47 IST) Venkat: u got it !
(05:09:01 IST) Venkat: i will give u a 20% stake in it... u may even opt out of it...
(05:09:17 IST) Venkat: lemme check if the domain exists
(05:09:31 IST) Venkat: ahhh!!!
(05:09:45 IST) Venkat: Etobicoke Youth Band ... :(
(05:10:02 IST) Venkat: but still we patent it and sue them
(05:10:39 IST) Roshan: :P
(05:10:43 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:11:05 IST) Roshan: haha .... :)
(05:05:52 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:05:56 IST) Venkat: this game is good
(05:06:00 IST) Venkat: u say something and say bye
(05:06:06 IST) Venkat: we should p[atent it
(05:06:12 IST) Roshan: yes. :P
(05:06:14 IST) Roshan: but now
(05:06:14 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:15 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:06:19 IST) Venkat: surebye
(05:06:20 IST) Venkat: bye
(05:06:23 IST) Venkat: bye bye
(05:06:33 IST) Venkat: and 2 consec byes means end of conv.
(05:06:39 IST) Roshan: oh, if you add another bye to that you can be the backstreet boys
(05:06:46 IST) Roshan: prepubescent girls will go nuts
(05:06:50 IST) Venkat: ahhhh!!!
(05:07:07 IST) Venkat: i prefer both pre and post!
(05:07:16 IST) Venkat: so wat should i do!! [eternal damnation]
(05:07:21 IST) Venkat: >>
(05:07:29 IST) Roshan: well think away
(05:07:30 IST) Roshan: bye
(05:07:34 IST) Venkat: we think.. and thinking leads me to say
(05:07:38 IST) Venkat: "eyb"..
(05:07:48 IST) Venkat: we just reverese it.. but its great.. no one will understand it
(05:07:55 IST) Venkat: it will be like ajax...
(05:08:05 IST) Venkat: u say "eyb" and generate user's interest...
(05:08:21 IST) Venkat: ppl will ask u for the explanation and u can give a real prolix interpretation of the same
(05:08:26 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:08:30 IST) Roshan: wow
(05:08:38 IST) Roshan: the millions in consultancy fees!!
(05:08:40 IST) Roshan: eyb
(05:08:47 IST) Venkat: u got it !
(05:09:01 IST) Venkat: i will give u a 20% stake in it... u may even opt out of it...
(05:09:17 IST) Venkat: lemme check if the domain exists
(05:09:31 IST) Venkat: ahhh!!!
(05:09:45 IST) Venkat: Etobicoke Youth Band ... :(
(05:10:02 IST) Venkat: but still we patent it and sue them
(05:10:39 IST) Roshan: :P
(05:10:43 IST) Venkat: eyb eyb
(05:11:05 IST) Roshan: haha .... :)
October 27, 2007
To do when bored!
Save an alien.
Get some investment advice.
Make some neat paper skulls.
Make a robotic-snap-o-lantern.
Job searches.
more and more... but first finish these :)
Get some investment advice.
Make some neat paper skulls.
Make a robotic-snap-o-lantern.
Job searches.
more and more... but first finish these :)
October 23, 2007
Sit back and Cry!
Right from the day since i saw the Photosynth demo in one of the TED talks, i wanted to get a feel of this wonderful application. It reminded me of my grad days when i was trying hard to get a 3-d reconstruction of a face from pictures taken at multiple perspectives. I was unable to come up with an algorithm due to the technology bottleneck and the associated memory requirements (Finally, i went on to propose a new algorithm for Face Recognition, but i wasn't satisfied with the results as i had made some assumptions which were not practical in the real life ...anywayz... life went on). My machine was just a 64MB, 733 Intel P3 machine. I knew that this was a very interesting area and anyone how could come up with a kicka$$ algorithm would rake in millions(and billions).
I went to M$ Live labs to check the progress made on this software and get a hands-on.
I was more than happy when i saw the 'Try It' link. The browser refreshed and i got this error :
"Windows XP SP2 and Vista Only
The Photosynth technology preview runs only on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista.
If you feel you've reached this message in error, you can try anyway."
Am i pushed to the darkest corners of the Earth ... can someone hear me .... alllo.... why is this piece of software OS dependent!!!!
I went to M$ Live labs to check the progress made on this software and get a hands-on.
I was more than happy when i saw the 'Try It' link. The browser refreshed and i got this error :
"Windows XP SP2 and Vista Only
The Photosynth technology preview runs only on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista.
If you feel you've reached this message in error, you can try anyway."
Am i pushed to the darkest corners of the Earth ... can someone hear me .... alllo.... why is this piece of software OS dependent!!!!
October 11, 2007
October 08, 2007
Choosin a Startup to Work for
With the successful marketing of Ajax and the associated Web 2.0 confusion, the profusion of startups is quite understandable. Under these circumstances, it is very much natural that a growing number of enthusiasts wish to work in a startup and make some good quick money (stock options, et al) along with a good learning curve. Choosing a startup to work for is equally important as desciding whether to start a new company or not. Though the experience of working in a startup is quite exhilarating , it should be well understood that it has equally greater impact on the career that one chooses.
I wish to enumerate certain DO's and DONT's while choosing to work in a startup and how to evaluate them and take suitable course of action :
- Decide on your priorities in life ; i.e., whether you are ready to sacrifice (trade-offs) certain 'privileges' for the sake of other benefits. This should be brainstormed well and all the possible outcomes (+ve and -ve) should be well examined. There are lots of options that you may need to consider - few for eg., working long late hours, money, relationships(bf, gf ;) ), travel etc.
- Do a personal SWOT analysis - find out your forte` and weaknesses. W.r.t, the IT Industry , find out the domain that interests you the most and how much experience you have in that domain. Are you well versed with the techinical intricacies and troubleshooting. What is your skill level in the field of interest and what is your skill level in the domain that you are currently working in(it is so often possible that your area-of-interest does not coincide with the area-in-which-you-are-currently-working).
- Identify the Startups that are working in the intended area of interest. Usually word-of-mouth or good social networks helps one in identifying startups and their fundamentals. Also, being a member of the social forums(Yahoo/ Google groups) helps in identifying the startups operating in and around the intended-area-of-work. Blogs often provided a greater insight into these.
- Once you have identified a set of startups that match your critieria(this is done by a simple visit to their website and getting an idea of what the company is into), try to get a contact who is working in that firm. Have a chat with him/her over a cuppa-caffine and understand how they operate and the working conditions.
- If things look fine and you have identified your prospective employer, fix up an interview/meeting with the person who runs the show or the manager in charge. During the course of the interview(either before-during-after) do express your interest to work in the firm for 1-2 days [probably over the weekend, since most of the startups work all days ;) ] so that you get a feeling of the nature of work and also you can exhibit your skills. Mostly this step will be well appreciated and the firm will accept it.
- The 1-2 days that you are going to work in the startup is very-very important and crucial for it decides on the future course of action that you might need to take.
Try to find out the intentions of the show-runners (i.e, whether they want to make some quick bucks by creating a product and selling it or want to sustain in the market - i prefer the latter to the former, as i believe that once the focus shifts to selling the company, innovation takes a backseat and one just works towards getting a larger client base and leaving the product innovation behind).
Try to find the attitude of the 'prospective' co-workers. What is the skill level of these people and whether they really know what they are doing and whether they are competent to do what they are asked to do. How will they match you or you with them. It often helps to work with highly talented people(NOTE : I HAVE NOT MENTIONED THE NUM YEARS OF EXPERIENCE THAT A PERSON POSSESSES) , as they can be a great source of knowledge and learning.
(I personally will not look into the infrastructure facilities and other add-ons as i believe that once the cash inflow is steady , things automatically start looking rosy).
- If all the above satisfy you then its time to talk about money. Discuss the remuneration structure(yada yada , now some of you may tell me that satisfaction is what counts more than money - that's very true , but one also needs to keep himself and his family happy .. hence money is 'more'-equally important :) ). Also consider the fact that market is on the boom and growth rate of the IT industry is pretty exciting.
- Ball is in your court now and play it accordingly.
I have tried to enlist some of the very simple steps that one needs to consider and am sure that many will have more inputs to share. Let me know if this was of any help to you.
I wish to enumerate certain DO's and DONT's while choosing to work in a startup and how to evaluate them and take suitable course of action :
- Decide on your priorities in life ; i.e., whether you are ready to sacrifice (trade-offs) certain 'privileges' for the sake of other benefits. This should be brainstormed well and all the possible outcomes (+ve and -ve) should be well examined. There are lots of options that you may need to consider - few for eg., working long late hours, money, relationships(bf, gf ;) ), travel etc.
- Do a personal SWOT analysis - find out your forte` and weaknesses. W.r.t, the IT Industry , find out the domain that interests you the most and how much experience you have in that domain. Are you well versed with the techinical intricacies and troubleshooting. What is your skill level in the field of interest and what is your skill level in the domain that you are currently working in(it is so often possible that your area-of-interest does not coincide with the area-in-which-you-are-currently-working).
- Identify the Startups that are working in the intended area of interest. Usually word-of-mouth or good social networks helps one in identifying startups and their fundamentals. Also, being a member of the social forums(Yahoo/ Google groups) helps in identifying the startups operating in and around the intended-area-of-work. Blogs often provided a greater insight into these.
- Once you have identified a set of startups that match your critieria(this is done by a simple visit to their website and getting an idea of what the company is into), try to get a contact who is working in that firm. Have a chat with him/her over a cuppa-caffine and understand how they operate and the working conditions.
- If things look fine and you have identified your prospective employer, fix up an interview/meeting with the person who runs the show or the manager in charge. During the course of the interview(either before-during-after) do express your interest to work in the firm for 1-2 days [probably over the weekend, since most of the startups work all days ;) ] so that you get a feeling of the nature of work and also you can exhibit your skills. Mostly this step will be well appreciated and the firm will accept it.
- The 1-2 days that you are going to work in the startup is very-very important and crucial for it decides on the future course of action that you might need to take.
Try to find out the intentions of the show-runners (i.e, whether they want to make some quick bucks by creating a product and selling it or want to sustain in the market - i prefer the latter to the former, as i believe that once the focus shifts to selling the company, innovation takes a backseat and one just works towards getting a larger client base and leaving the product innovation behind).
Try to find the attitude of the 'prospective' co-workers. What is the skill level of these people and whether they really know what they are doing and whether they are competent to do what they are asked to do. How will they match you or you with them. It often helps to work with highly talented people(NOTE : I HAVE NOT MENTIONED THE NUM YEARS OF EXPERIENCE THAT A PERSON POSSESSES) , as they can be a great source of knowledge and learning.
(I personally will not look into the infrastructure facilities and other add-ons as i believe that once the cash inflow is steady , things automatically start looking rosy).
- If all the above satisfy you then its time to talk about money. Discuss the remuneration structure(yada yada , now some of you may tell me that satisfaction is what counts more than money - that's very true , but one also needs to keep himself and his family happy .. hence money is 'more'-equally important :) ). Also consider the fact that market is on the boom and growth rate of the IT industry is pretty exciting.
- Ball is in your court now and play it accordingly.
I have tried to enlist some of the very simple steps that one needs to consider and am sure that many will have more inputs to share. Let me know if this was of any help to you.
October 05, 2007
Should History be repeated?
When Dhoni and his lads arrrived in India after winning the T20 WorldCup :
- Mumbai traffic on the roads came to a halt for around 3-4 hours
- Lots of money and awards were given to the team
- the players got more endorsements
- a selected few in the team got 'more' money than others
- few members of the Indian Hockey team went on a fast in front of the Karnataka CM's office/house
- more ladies went ga-ga on Yuvi
- all the TV channels had this as the main news for 2-3 days (and some of them even continuing now :) )
- people said that this is like the 1983 WorldCup team returning back
well... the last observation was quite interesting..... and led me think about the actual aftermath of the 1983 WorldCup.
The mighty WestIndians visited India and 'destroyed' :'crushed' : 'mutilated' the Indian team :)
Now, Australians are visiting India ..... Does History repeat itself!! Interested in predicting ????
Check out the Summary of Results (From CricInfo.com):
alt
- Mumbai traffic on the roads came to a halt for around 3-4 hours
- Lots of money and awards were given to the team
- the players got more endorsements
- a selected few in the team got 'more' money than others
- few members of the Indian Hockey team went on a fast in front of the Karnataka CM's office/house
- more ladies went ga-ga on Yuvi
- all the TV channels had this as the main news for 2-3 days (and some of them even continuing now :) )
- people said that this is like the 1983 WorldCup team returning back
well... the last observation was quite interesting..... and led me think about the actual aftermath of the 1983 WorldCup.
The mighty WestIndians visited India and 'destroyed' :'crushed' : 'mutilated' the Indian team :)
Now, Australians are visiting India ..... Does History repeat itself!! Interested in predicting ????
Check out the Summary of Results (From CricInfo.com):
alt
August 20, 2007
Aha! Java
Jon Bentley talks about the Aha! Insight in his book Programming Pearls.
I got 2 such 'Aha!s' today :
1) Java does support Short Circuit Operators(or short circuit evaluation)
2) Loop unrolling leads to instruction level parallelism. But am not sure whether this will have any effect on the way Java is architectured. I presume that stack based architectures(Java/JVM) do not have any effect on ILP.
Any thoughts or Ahas!!!!!
I got 2 such 'Aha!s' today :
1) Java does support Short Circuit Operators(or short circuit evaluation)
public class myTest2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
myTest2 sct = new myTest2();
if (sct.isTrue("left") || sct.isTrue("right")) {
//you may swap the 'left' and the 'right' and observe the behaviour
System.out.println("Expression is true.");
} else {
System.out.println("Expression is false.");
}
System.out.println("All done.");
}
public boolean isTrue(String msg) {
System.out.println("in isTrue (arg = '" + msg + "')");
if (msg.equals("right")) return true;
else return false;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
myTest2 sct = new myTest2();
if (sct.isTrue("left") || sct.isTrue("right")) {
//you may swap the 'left' and the 'right' and observe the behaviour
System.out.println("Expression is true.");
} else {
System.out.println("Expression is false.");
}
System.out.println("All done.");
}
public boolean isTrue(String msg) {
System.out.println("in isTrue (arg = '" + msg + "')");
if (msg.equals("right")) return true;
else return false;
}
}
2) Loop unrolling leads to instruction level parallelism. But am not sure whether this will have any effect on the way Java is architectured. I presume that stack based architectures(Java/JVM) do not have any effect on ILP.
Any thoughts or Ahas!!!!!
August 07, 2007
August 04, 2007
Toxicity
Seth speaks about Toxic bosses in one of his latest posts...
".....toxic bosses are far worse than toxic employees. Because bosses are often able to define reality, at least for those in their sphere of influence, they can cause whole sections of an organization to go off the rails....."
I would like to add couple of more observations here :
I find that toxic bosses do not only cause the derailing of the system but they infuse a sense of low-morale and inferiority complex in the team (this is among the non-toxic employees.....the dumb ones remain dumb); not to mention the complete lack of direction and doing-things-for-the-heck-of-it syndrome. Now let me change my gears slightly here and direct you to what Scott Adams mentions about smarter people having lesser intercourse than dumb people ; he rationales that
"....dimwitted get so much action is that they tend to be more attractive than smart people.Hot/dumb people are more likely to mate with other hot/dumb people and produce hot/dumb kids...."
Are Toxic bosses byproducts of this observation!!!
Along similar lines... Toxic bosses recruit more Toxic employees(who are essentially dumb) and the virality spread across the entire organization.The generality of the dumbness increases ( and i dont want to think about what happens to the future state of the organization).
Check out Seth's post on Toxic Employees too ;)
".....toxic bosses are far worse than toxic employees. Because bosses are often able to define reality, at least for those in their sphere of influence, they can cause whole sections of an organization to go off the rails....."
I would like to add couple of more observations here :
I find that toxic bosses do not only cause the derailing of the system but they infuse a sense of low-morale and inferiority complex in the team (this is among the non-toxic employees.....the dumb ones remain dumb); not to mention the complete lack of direction and doing-things-for-the-heck-of-it syndrome. Now let me change my gears slightly here and direct you to what Scott Adams mentions about smarter people having lesser intercourse than dumb people ; he rationales that
"....dimwitted get so much action is that they tend to be more attractive than smart people.Hot/dumb people are more likely to mate with other hot/dumb people and produce hot/dumb kids...."
Are Toxic bosses byproducts of this observation!!!
Along similar lines... Toxic bosses recruit more Toxic employees(who are essentially dumb) and the virality spread across the entire organization.The generality of the dumbness increases ( and i dont want to think about what happens to the future state of the organization).
Check out Seth's post on Toxic Employees too ;)
July 30, 2007
Reckoning BCB4
Barcamp Bangalore (version 4.0) concluded yesterday @ IIM Bangalore campus.There was a similarity between both Barcamp Bangalore 4 and Proto.in - both of them were organized very well, but both of them lacked CONTENT.
Especially in BCB4, most of the collectives were just 'Global Gyaan'; and only a very few talks were worth the praise. Some of the speakers were doing a product demo, which I was least interested in.(Guess what, a speaker was demo'ing her .com site and mentioning that clikcing on a link takes one to a diff page...blah...blah...blah). I had to simply walkout from many sessions, especially on day-2. I had expectations from the Usability and Ajax collectives - but both of them disappointed me with again...the 'global gyaan'. I heard the 'web2.0' and 'ajax' atleast a zillion times :(
The ruby collective had some interesting talks , especially the one on deploying the rail apps - it was an in depth coverage of the various aspects of deploying and hosting(came to know that the Apace server has a higher memory footprint than Nginx and also does a thread level processing of requests).
The Biking collective (on Day 1)was simply amazing with some cool bikes in the display(and also to ride).Shree had got his freind's (KP's) bike Petalon which was a clear winner among all the 4 bikes present there. Rohan (& his freind) had got thier Treks which was also good.The session gave lots of gyaan on the cycles, the sitting and driving postures, the kits and some nice accesories. Shree had a GPS receiver and couple of rear lights.
I had more expecations from BCB4 and am sure that the in next Baracamp(BCB5), the collective co-ordinators will take extra "precaution" in terms of content.
Some pics taken during the event (More can be seen here):
Especially in BCB4, most of the collectives were just 'Global Gyaan'; and only a very few talks were worth the praise. Some of the speakers were doing a product demo, which I was least interested in.(Guess what, a speaker was demo'ing her .com site and mentioning that clikcing on a link takes one to a diff page...blah...blah...blah). I had to simply walkout from many sessions, especially on day-2. I had expectations from the Usability and Ajax collectives - but both of them disappointed me with again...the 'global gyaan'. I heard the 'web2.0' and 'ajax' atleast a zillion times :(
The ruby collective had some interesting talks , especially the one on deploying the rail apps - it was an in depth coverage of the various aspects of deploying and hosting(came to know that the Apace server has a higher memory footprint than Nginx and also does a thread level processing of requests).
The Biking collective (on Day 1)was simply amazing with some cool bikes in the display(and also to ride).Shree had got his freind's (KP's) bike Petalon which was a clear winner among all the 4 bikes present there. Rohan (& his freind) had got thier Treks which was also good.The session gave lots of gyaan on the cycles, the sitting and driving postures, the kits and some nice accesories. Shree had a GPS receiver and couple of rear lights.
I had more expecations from BCB4 and am sure that the in next Baracamp(BCB5), the collective co-ordinators will take extra "precaution" in terms of content.
Some pics taken during the event (More can be seen here):
July 27, 2007
Barcamp Bangalore - 4
Venue: IIM Bangalore
Dates : 28/29 July, 2007
Barcamp Bangalore is finally here this weekend :) The coordinators have done a great job of maintaining an absolutely neat wiki (without any spam and arbit info).
Lots of collectives happening at the same time ...with loads of information and interesting sessions...
So if you are in Bangalore , then drop in(after registering, or i am not sure how much the mods will insist on registrations)...anywayz , it should be fun with loads of gyaan.
I will be live blogging during the event, if my lappie works :)
Dates : 28/29 July, 2007
Barcamp Bangalore is finally here this weekend :) The coordinators have done a great job of maintaining an absolutely neat wiki (without any spam and arbit info).
Lots of collectives happening at the same time ...with loads of information and interesting sessions...
So if you are in Bangalore , then drop in(after registering, or i am not sure how much the mods will insist on registrations)...anywayz , it should be fun with loads of gyaan.
I will be live blogging during the event, if my lappie works :)
July 24, 2007
First Date with Flex
Installed the Flex Builder(Public Beta 3) from the CD provided by the Adobe folks during Proto.in. The CD contained the Demo versions of the Flex Builder, Flex Builder plugin for Eclipse and AIR(and some documentations).
Read the accompanying docs for an hour and was all set to play ;)
Quick features and comments :
- The IDE(Flex Builder) was very light on the memory(given the fact that my lappie is a 2gig machine ;))
- The framework is exteremely easy to learn and i was creating small apps within hours, and was impressed with the results.
- When compared to ADF/JSF, i think this framework is beautiful and extremely developer friendly - but do NOTE here that i had used the IDE for messing around; since , the IDE is a demo and costs 399USD for a license, developers who do not have the dough(folks like me)need to check the command line options - i hope to work with the command prompt today and check out the easeness of development.
- I have yet not started playing around with building DB cohesive applications using FLEX, but i do not think there should much problems.
I am looking forward to the full version of Flex by the end of this year and a FREE IDE :D. I need to learn RoR and compare it with Flex and AIR.
Read the accompanying docs for an hour and was all set to play ;)
Quick features and comments :
- The IDE(Flex Builder) was very light on the memory(given the fact that my lappie is a 2gig machine ;))
- The framework is exteremely easy to learn and i was creating small apps within hours, and was impressed with the results.
- When compared to ADF/JSF, i think this framework is beautiful and extremely developer friendly - but do NOTE here that i had used the IDE for messing around; since , the IDE is a demo and costs 399USD for a license, developers who do not have the dough(folks like me)need to check the command line options - i hope to work with the command prompt today and check out the easeness of development.
- I have yet not started playing around with building DB cohesive applications using FLEX, but i do not think there should much problems.
I am looking forward to the full version of Flex by the end of this year and a FREE IDE :D. I need to learn RoR and compare it with Flex and AIR.
July 23, 2007
Proto.in - my itinerary
Event : Proto.in
Venue : IC & Sr Auditorium , IIT Madras
Dates : July 21/22, 2007
[This post mentions "what-i-did" during the event and some of my comments. It does not explain the events and the participants in its entirety. I hope to post more on the individual presenters(participating companies) and some interesting startups that i stumbled upon]
I had wondered on how this event would benefit startups and for audiences like me, who are just going to be meek spectators and see the companies present and the VCs talk. The event was supposed to span 2 days :
Day 1 -- the first day being the day of speakers (sessions) - Tracks on Business and Technology
Day 2 -- the main event - the companies (startups) presenting their product.
Day-1 (Saturday July 21, 2007)
Managed to reach the venue on time despite the traffic jam near Gandhi Mandapam.
Quickly registered and headed off to the conference room wherein the Business track was scheduled. There was one more conference room with the Technology Track. After the initial introduction and the India Poised video(ToI) ,the talk by Shankar Vembu (Vembu technologies Pvt Ltd) commenced. It was a beautiful talk, and the speaker stressed on 8 points that Startups should abide by when they want to bootstrap without a venture capital ; the first being - "Dont attend these kind of events if you are serious about your startup" - which i found perfectly right , both at the beginning of the event and also on the closing day :)
After this talk , i moved to the Tech track where Rajiv Mangla and Prayank Swaroop (Adobe) were about to speak on "RIA using Flex,AIR and Ajax". I was curious to attend this session and look at some demos and the framework. The talk wasn't much impressive (but am sure that the framework is kewl), some of the demos were nice. I am sure that the Flex consulting marketing is going to very lucrative in India. Sample AIR cds were given at the end - thanks for that - i was planning to get my hands dirty this week before BCB4 - am yet to explore the CD.
Then i again shifted to the Business Track wherein Rohit Agarwal(TechTribe) was supposed to talk on PR - again a _no-nullshit _ talk which i liked. After this, time for some networking [ time for tea:) ] and meeting some aspiring enthusiasts and interesting startups.
Later moved on to the talk by Alok Mittal(Canaan Partners) , and later moved to the Tech track where Sanjay Swami(myChek) had to elucidate on 'Opportunities in the Mobile Space". I being a noodlehead in the mobile industry, this was a nice talk to listen to. Sanjay spoke 0n some alluring spaces in the Mobile segment which had the potential to grow and some more gyaan.
The best of the talks was that by Atul Chitnis(VP - Geodesic and a FOSS evangelist). Atul spoke on how startups should take up free and Open-source as their platform for their businesses to succeed. His claims were supported by very valid arguments and it was an excellent talk. I did not feel the 30mins whisk away. I wish if this talk could last for a few 15mins more so that startups could have benefited more.
Then, Ganesh Rengaswamy(Greylock Partners and CoFounder of TravelGuru) spoke on the challenges and the opportunities in the Internet space. It was a very informal talk with very formal and good content. I liked the way Ganesh carried himself all throughout the talk - it was again a _no-bullshit_ talk :) . He did not use a powerpoint presentation and managed to engage the audience with good content.
Day-2 (Sunday July 22, 2007)
It was supposed to be the MAIN EVENT. The startups were supposed to present their company and the product (demo , if possible) in a short duration of 6 minutes. Almost all the presenters felt that 6 minutes was too short a time for presenting a product; but i totally second the organizers for choosing the 6-minte deadline, as i feel that i a product can easily be dissected in less than 6 minutes - with all its merits and demerits identified. One of the presenters commented that "it takes atleast 7 minutes for an orgasm and 6 minutes is too less".
A comprehensive analysis of the companies will be done in the forthcoming posts.
Venue : IC & Sr Auditorium , IIT Madras
Dates : July 21/22, 2007
[This post mentions "what-i-did" during the event and some of my comments. It does not explain the events and the participants in its entirety. I hope to post more on the individual presenters(participating companies) and some interesting startups that i stumbled upon]
I had wondered on how this event would benefit startups and for audiences like me, who are just going to be meek spectators and see the companies present and the VCs talk. The event was supposed to span 2 days :
Day 1 -- the first day being the day of speakers (sessions) - Tracks on Business and Technology
Day 2 -- the main event - the companies (startups) presenting their product.
Day-1 (Saturday July 21, 2007)
Managed to reach the venue on time despite the traffic jam near Gandhi Mandapam.
Quickly registered and headed off to the conference room wherein the Business track was scheduled. There was one more conference room with the Technology Track. After the initial introduction and the India Poised video(ToI) ,the talk by Shankar Vembu (Vembu technologies Pvt Ltd) commenced. It was a beautiful talk, and the speaker stressed on 8 points that Startups should abide by when they want to bootstrap without a venture capital ; the first being - "Dont attend these kind of events if you are serious about your startup" - which i found perfectly right , both at the beginning of the event and also on the closing day :)
After this talk , i moved to the Tech track where Rajiv Mangla and Prayank Swaroop (Adobe) were about to speak on "RIA using Flex,AIR and Ajax". I was curious to attend this session and look at some demos and the framework. The talk wasn't much impressive (but am sure that the framework is kewl), some of the demos were nice. I am sure that the Flex consulting marketing is going to very lucrative in India. Sample AIR cds were given at the end - thanks for that - i was planning to get my hands dirty this week before BCB4 - am yet to explore the CD.
Then i again shifted to the Business Track wherein Rohit Agarwal(TechTribe) was supposed to talk on PR - again a _no-nullshit _ talk which i liked. After this, time for some networking [ time for tea:) ] and meeting some aspiring enthusiasts and interesting startups.
Later moved on to the talk by Alok Mittal(Canaan Partners) , and later moved to the Tech track where Sanjay Swami(myChek) had to elucidate on 'Opportunities in the Mobile Space". I being a noodlehead in the mobile industry, this was a nice talk to listen to. Sanjay spoke 0n some alluring spaces in the Mobile segment which had the potential to grow and some more gyaan.
The best of the talks was that by Atul Chitnis(VP - Geodesic and a FOSS evangelist). Atul spoke on how startups should take up free and Open-source as their platform for their businesses to succeed. His claims were supported by very valid arguments and it was an excellent talk. I did not feel the 30mins whisk away. I wish if this talk could last for a few 15mins more so that startups could have benefited more.
Then, Ganesh Rengaswamy(Greylock Partners and CoFounder of TravelGuru) spoke on the challenges and the opportunities in the Internet space. It was a very informal talk with very formal and good content. I liked the way Ganesh carried himself all throughout the talk - it was again a _no-bullshit_ talk :) . He did not use a powerpoint presentation and managed to engage the audience with good content.
Day-2 (Sunday July 22, 2007)
It was supposed to be the MAIN EVENT. The startups were supposed to present their company and the product (demo , if possible) in a short duration of 6 minutes. Almost all the presenters felt that 6 minutes was too short a time for presenting a product; but i totally second the organizers for choosing the 6-minte deadline, as i feel that i a product can easily be dissected in less than 6 minutes - with all its merits and demerits identified. One of the presenters commented that "it takes atleast 7 minutes for an orgasm and 6 minutes is too less".
A comprehensive analysis of the companies will be done in the forthcoming posts.
July 13, 2007
iPhone - The omnipresent
All the blogs contain a post on iPhone, and hence its incumbent on me to post a blog on the same too :D me is not gonna review it - not gonna fave it - not gonna criticize it ..
instead... Check out some destructive videos :
The last one is not an actual iPhone ;)
instead... Check out some destructive videos :
The last one is not an actual iPhone ;)
July 12, 2007
Videos
I watch videos [ read 'Youtube'(v) ] for approx 8-10+ hours a week. But today i wanted to check the features available in the video sharing sites. I am a great fan of Youtube and 99% of my video-watching-exercise happens over the same :D .
nwayz.. I was planning to observe the Top rated videos in Youtube and Google and understand the basic mood of the people and also the way they rate videos. But before I could proceed with my 'complex interpretations' of the videos and its interpretations, i was startled to see the list of the Top Videos in Google.
The Top videos in Google are ONLY porn(bold/undelined). Check out the screenshots of the Top videos from Google and Youtube.
nwayz.. I was planning to observe the Top rated videos in Youtube and Google and understand the basic mood of the people and also the way they rate videos. But before I could proceed with my 'complex interpretations' of the videos and its interpretations, i was startled to see the list of the Top Videos in Google.
The Top videos in Google are ONLY porn(bold/undelined). Check out the screenshots of the Top videos from Google and Youtube.
July 06, 2007
July 05, 2007
King for a minute
Click here to see the full size picture [ Created using stripcreator.com - nice one - thanks Kiruba ]
July 01, 2007
TWTW - The Week That Was
Lots of things happened - met some interesting people - lots of gyaan - saw some amazing movies - Youtube'd a lot - read a lot.
One such interesting video was this.
Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg at the D5 interviews Eric Schmidt. [The best thing that has happened to me in the last 2 years is that i hardly see TV these days, instead i Youtube for the gyaan and the entertainment .. nwayz...] I had read an interview of Eric in HBR (Harvard Business Review) when he was with Novell. The interview was rather boring and it was all CEO/manager talk with no insights into what Novell had to offer to the ongoing technological advancements.But this interview (with Walt) was different. Eric has grown (Google factor???) !
In the interview, Walt brings up a very pertinent Q in the world of advertising -- The way the Ads are presented has not changed over the past couple of years. Google continues to display the ads in the same style that it used to do it say 3-4 years ago. There has been no significant innovation in Ad-Presentation.Though Eric does not give a satisfactory answer to this, but am sure Larry and Sergei (& hopefully other Google developers ) are seriously thinking about this. Am sure M$ would like to take this as an opportunity to launch their innovation in this field of targeted ads and try to step ahead(a leap also) in terms of its ads-presentation to the end users.
Eric clearly demarcates many times in the interview that Google is an enabler of the content but not a content generator.Eric also hints at some interesting apps that we can expect in the near future (Palm/Symbian/M$ - move aside ...Google is on its way in the mobile space).
The D5 series in Youtube simply rocks (also check out the Steve Jobs / Bill gates interview @ D5)
One such interesting video was this.
Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg at the D5 interviews Eric Schmidt. [The best thing that has happened to me in the last 2 years is that i hardly see TV these days, instead i Youtube for the gyaan and the entertainment .. nwayz...] I had read an interview of Eric in HBR (Harvard Business Review) when he was with Novell. The interview was rather boring and it was all CEO/manager talk with no insights into what Novell had to offer to the ongoing technological advancements.But this interview (with Walt) was different. Eric has grown (Google factor???) !
In the interview, Walt brings up a very pertinent Q in the world of advertising -- The way the Ads are presented has not changed over the past couple of years. Google continues to display the ads in the same style that it used to do it say 3-4 years ago. There has been no significant innovation in Ad-Presentation.Though Eric does not give a satisfactory answer to this, but am sure Larry and Sergei (& hopefully other Google developers ) are seriously thinking about this. Am sure M$ would like to take this as an opportunity to launch their innovation in this field of targeted ads and try to step ahead(a leap also) in terms of its ads-presentation to the end users.
Eric clearly demarcates many times in the interview that Google is an enabler of the content but not a content generator.Eric also hints at some interesting apps that we can expect in the near future (Palm/Symbian/M$ - move aside ...Google is on its way in the mobile space).
The D5 series in Youtube simply rocks (also check out the Steve Jobs / Bill gates interview @ D5)
Early Rising
Some days are just too good - beyond any levels of description - no verbiage - no photos - A bright new day - soaring adrenaline - no evil - the feeling to win the world - fresh cologne - a beautiful drive along the valleys - my Aston Martin DB9 - the shimmering sun - the roaring river along the road , striking the rocks - the cardamom tea - The Indian Flag flying high - spotting the mynah - beautiful and innocent smiles of the village girls - the gompas - mild prayers - a Beautiful Mind - Life is Beautiful.
June 26, 2007
Sivaji - a Pure Entertainer
Yea...yea.... i finally saw the movie after a delay of 7 Days :) and i did not buy the tickets in black. And i saw the movie in Chennai ...yada...yada... In Chennai!!! @ Six Degrees (Sathyam Cine Complex). Again - no black! My cousin was surfing on the Net and he was trying his luck @ thecinema and he got 7 tickets for our entire family. I guess it was 2 days of special shows @ the theatre. It was my first movie @ Six Degrees, though i have seen numerous others in Sathyam.
The Movie
What shall i say !!! Its Shankar(with Thota Tharini)-Rajni-Vivek-Suman -- an amazing sundae(also 'Sunday' ) :)
Shankar - a director with his unique style ( he doesnt mind spending crores in movies produced by others and turning them into hits, though spends the least in his productions but still the movie is a hit )
Thota Tharini - the art director with grand style.
Rajini - no words can explain this 'phenomenon' (thalaivar style beatmudiyadu kanna - means, no one can beat Rajini's style )
Vivek - in the movie , he equals Rajni with amazing one liners and punch dialogues
Suman - whoa!!! He beats hands down even Rajni in certain scenes.
A full 3 hour masala entertainer.
Must see for every soul.
Pathetic songs(except for the 'ballelaika' song).
Amazing sets and backgrounds.
Rajni's Style and panache :)
Probably Asin could have replaced Shreya.
Also, it was Vijay's birthday and the theatre near my residence was screening 'Pokkiri' - wanted to see this, but preferred to sleep and eat Amma's food instead :)
The Movie
What shall i say !!! Its Shankar(with Thota Tharini)-Rajni-Vivek-Suman -- an amazing sundae(also 'Sunday' ) :)
Shankar - a director with his unique style ( he doesnt mind spending crores in movies produced by others and turning them into hits, though spends the least in his productions but still the movie is a hit )
Thota Tharini - the art director with grand style.
Rajini - no words can explain this 'phenomenon' (thalaivar style beatmudiyadu kanna - means, no one can beat Rajini's style )
Vivek - in the movie , he equals Rajni with amazing one liners and punch dialogues
Suman - whoa!!! He beats hands down even Rajni in certain scenes.
A full 3 hour masala entertainer.
Must see for every soul.
Pathetic songs(except for the 'ballelaika' song).
Amazing sets and backgrounds.
Rajni's Style and panache :)
Probably Asin could have replaced Shreya.
Also, it was Vijay's birthday and the theatre near my residence was screening 'Pokkiri' - wanted to see this, but preferred to sleep and eat Amma's food instead :)
June 19, 2007
Image Searches
Being an ardent fan of Google(its philosophy-technology-products) sometimes does stimulate you search for some other product that tries to beat it. I did not expect M$ to even come close to Google ; for its the sheer simplicity of the latter coupled with amazing performance and features that has pushed itself to greater heights and better customer experience.
I was playing around with the Image searches being offered by Google and M$(Live) and i was surprised by the results and the performance/features of the Image Search Engines.To my limited knowledge , neither of the Image Search Engines support "Content Based" Searches and its mostly "Context Based" based searches (sic! wherez the intelligence!!).
I found that M$ Image Search experience to be highly satisfying when compared to that of Google's. The images are displayed in a neater format (without any verbiage) and when the mouse hovers on the images, the properties associated with the image is displayed. There is a sleek slider on the right-hand top that controls the number images and their size that is displayed in the page region.
Features in other Image Search engines :
AltaVista : Has an LoV(Drop down) at the top of the page wherein you can specify whether one wants B/W images or Color - this is really interesting!
Pixsy : really slow!! But has some dimensional refinements - on Content Type , Categories,Sources. But instead of showing all along the left hand side, i would allow the user to save the options in his/her preferences and hence allowing more space for the images to be displayed.
For a complete list of other Image Search engines - visit this
I was playing around with the Image searches being offered by Google and M$(Live) and i was surprised by the results and the performance/features of the Image Search Engines.To my limited knowledge , neither of the Image Search Engines support "Content Based" Searches and its mostly "Context Based" based searches (sic! wherez the intelligence!!).
I found that M$ Image Search experience to be highly satisfying when compared to that of Google's. The images are displayed in a neater format (without any verbiage) and when the mouse hovers on the images, the properties associated with the image is displayed. There is a sleek slider on the right-hand top that controls the number images and their size that is displayed in the page region.
Features in other Image Search engines :AltaVista : Has an LoV(Drop down) at the top of the page wherein you can specify whether one wants B/W images or Color - this is really interesting!
Pixsy : really slow!! But has some dimensional refinements - on Content Type , Categories,Sources. But instead of showing all along the left hand side, i would allow the user to save the options in his/her preferences and hence allowing more space for the images to be displayed.
For a complete list of other Image Search engines - visit this
June 16, 2007
Buried
No one's dead... no cremations.. no rites... no tears...no sad faces...
One of the best works in contemporary photography i have ever seen till date with a superb technique - kudos to Stephen Gill for his work titled Buried. Alec Soth talks about this work in detail and also explores some other techniques and works.
It feels amazing to see some 'nice pictures' at the end of the day :)
[
Movies seen over the past 36hrs :
1) Scent of a Woman (third time) - i simply cannot avoid this movie ;)
2) Papillon
3) Miller's Crossing
]
One of the best works in contemporary photography i have ever seen till date with a superb technique - kudos to Stephen Gill for his work titled Buried. Alec Soth talks about this work in detail and also explores some other techniques and works.
It feels amazing to see some 'nice pictures' at the end of the day :)
[
Movies seen over the past 36hrs :
1) Scent of a Woman (third time) - i simply cannot avoid this movie ;)
2) Papillon
3) Miller's Crossing
]
June 12, 2007
Hotel Rwanda
Thats not Hotel California... neither it is Hotel Leela Palace... nor Hotel Saravana Bhawan :)
"Hotel Rwanda" - a movie released in 2004 depicting the state of a person called Paul Rusesabagina(A Hotel Manager) and how his association with his family, his Hotel ( Hotel Milles Collines) , his neighbours and his country is affected due to the civil war.
I got a chance to see and appreciate this beautiful movie yesterday and was overwhelmed by direction and the screenplay. Don Cheadle, playing the role of Paul is at his best.I was disheartened to see that this movie hasn't won any Oscars :( As of now this movie tops my favourites and i would highly recommend this movie to any person who is interested in quality direction and an equally good performance by the actors and the actresses.
The scene in which Paul gets down from his car and find himself in the middle of the dead bodies and his reactions while wearing the tie in the subsequent scenes is truly amazing.
Other movies watched over the weekend include (sorted by 'interestingness'):
1) The Eagle has landed
2) The Bridge at Remagen
3) The Dirty Dozen
4) Pork Chop Hill
"Hotel Rwanda" - a movie released in 2004 depicting the state of a person called Paul Rusesabagina(A Hotel Manager) and how his association with his family, his Hotel ( Hotel Milles Collines) , his neighbours and his country is affected due to the civil war.
I got a chance to see and appreciate this beautiful movie yesterday and was overwhelmed by direction and the screenplay. Don Cheadle, playing the role of Paul is at his best.I was disheartened to see that this movie hasn't won any Oscars :( As of now this movie tops my favourites and i would highly recommend this movie to any person who is interested in quality direction and an equally good performance by the actors and the actresses.
The scene in which Paul gets down from his car and find himself in the middle of the dead bodies and his reactions while wearing the tie in the subsequent scenes is truly amazing.
Other movies watched over the weekend include (sorted by 'interestingness'):
1) The Eagle has landed
2) The Bridge at Remagen
3) The Dirty Dozen
4) Pork Chop Hill
June 08, 2007
Google StreetView
Being a street-photographer is very challenging and interesting. Clicking the different moods of people and mundane things though may sound very boring but is one of the toughest things to click without disturbing the subjects.
Last week Google launched a new product called 'StreetView' - a mindblowing product/service. It basically gives you the street view of all the things happening around(though not a live service)- and wait its not just 2Dimentionsal ... it gives a 360 degree view of what all is present in the street.
Apparently the technology behind this is patented by Immersive Media. The pictures that one sees are not Live , but we can expect the cameras to be installed as various prominent positions in various street intersections and give us some really interesting views [no need of hidden cameras??? ;) ]
Youtubing some of the videos is simply amazing - i no longer want to use the word 'perspective' as the user can see 'EVERYTHING' in here ;)
Last week Google launched a new product called 'StreetView' - a mindblowing product/service. It basically gives you the street view of all the things happening around(though not a live service)- and wait its not just 2Dimentionsal ... it gives a 360 degree view of what all is present in the street.
Apparently the technology behind this is patented by Immersive Media. The pictures that one sees are not Live , but we can expect the cameras to be installed as various prominent positions in various street intersections and give us some really interesting views [no need of hidden cameras??? ;) ]
Youtubing some of the videos is simply amazing - i no longer want to use the word 'perspective' as the user can see 'EVERYTHING' in here ;)
May 24, 2007
Manipulating Potraits
I wanted to touchup some potraits that I had taken - removes the pores, wrinkes and cleanup the skin. Was searching for some plugins for GIMP 2.0 and stumbled on this software. This costs arn 50+ USDs but i guess its worth it for people who are not comfortable with Photoshop/PSP or GIMP. It has a very simple and easy to understand user interface. I was impressed with the results.
Lookout for the face reshaping feature in this tool - quite controversial but an amazing one to remove double chins, blunt noses and other 'unwanted' facial features .
[reminds me of my graduate year thesis on Face Recognition ;) ]
Lookout for the face reshaping feature in this tool - quite controversial but an amazing one to remove double chins, blunt noses and other 'unwanted' facial features .
[reminds me of my graduate year thesis on Face Recognition ;) ]
Rammstein all the way
Its been almost 12 hours of music... pure Rammstein... heavy death metal...dance metal rather... started at around 11am in the morning and it still continues .... Absolut Nirvana!
May 23, 2007
Camera Shake
Sometimes a few incidents in your life prompts you to something dramatic. One such recent incident has again prompted me to do something that has been lying dormant for the past 3 years.
I clicked this photo during the Bangalore Midnight Marathon. The photo is that of a greepeace activist wearing the facade of a penguin. This photo is really intersting; i had to take out my camera in a jiffy and click it. Later when i was going through my contact sheet, i realized that it has been badly shaken. Googling for "camera shake" was not of much use, as there are not many softwares that help in this regard. This paper by Rob Fergus on removing camera blur using blind image convolution is interesting, but has been patented.
Now what!!!
Well, when there are no resources, then its time for resources to be created.
Its been 3 years since my last published paper. The last one was “Significance of Steganography in Data Security” , IEEE International Conference on Information Technology :Coding & Computing, Las Vegas, April 2004. I target 1 year to work on my algorithm for removing camera shakes in images. I hope i will not digress into some other area of interest in the meantime.
If any of you is interested, then kindly let me know - we can try. [Prerequisites - Knowledge of Image processing, Signal Processing and the ability to withstand me :) ]
May 21, 2007
Bangalore Midnight Marathon ' 07
I was told that Bangalore is in the process of creating a history by hosting the first ever midnight marathon. To me, it sounded rather mundane; for the fact that i have never attended or participated in a marathon. I was under the impression that athletes do run in the stadium and running on roads is just another ball game, and that too in the night is all the more easier, as its cooler and one may avoid the sun.
Myself & Mahesh had decided to capture the event - from a "different perspective".I had searched Google for numerous marathon images to get an idea about the entire event and how its (coventionally) framed.I had no idea of what was supposed to happen and what i am going to do. Clicking in the night was supposed to be challenging, especially under low light conditions.
We reached the venue at around 6pm , parked the bike, got the media pass and quickly went to the ground wherein the crowd had assembled. Lots of people there, with difference t-shirts , multi-colored, multi-ethnic, 'multi-enthusiastic'...multi...multi...and yea - the 'universal and eternal' greenpeace activists and their penguins :) [ am sure they are gonna turn up for my marriage too and preach on bulbs and the associated environmental impacts] ... phew!
Then there was the IT run, the Full marathon and the half marathon. Things started at around 6:15pm and came to an end around 4am the next morning. It was great to lots of people turning up for the event and the energy seemed to permeate through the ether; smiling faces, tired faces, exhausted bodies, drenched shirts, but the spirit of participating and running was there everywhere.
Loved the evening, cherished the night and will not forget the morning :)
Myself & Mahesh had decided to capture the event - from a "different perspective".I had searched Google for numerous marathon images to get an idea about the entire event and how its (coventionally) framed.I had no idea of what was supposed to happen and what i am going to do. Clicking in the night was supposed to be challenging, especially under low light conditions.
We reached the venue at around 6pm , parked the bike, got the media pass and quickly went to the ground wherein the crowd had assembled. Lots of people there, with difference t-shirts , multi-colored, multi-ethnic, 'multi-enthusiastic'...multi...multi...and yea - the 'universal and eternal' greenpeace activists and their penguins :) [ am sure they are gonna turn up for my marriage too and preach on bulbs and the associated environmental impacts] ... phew!
Then there was the IT run, the Full marathon and the half marathon. Things started at around 6:15pm and came to an end around 4am the next morning. It was great to lots of people turning up for the event and the energy seemed to permeate through the ether; smiling faces, tired faces, exhausted bodies, drenched shirts, but the spirit of participating and running was there everywhere.
Loved the evening, cherished the night and will not forget the morning :)
May 18, 2007
Style and uniqueness
Its amazing to see how the human mind frames the same subject differently and how it also gets interpreted subsequently.I had been on shoot last weekend with one of my mentors and a great pal - Mahesh Shantaram.Mahesh is a full time documentary photographer and his captures have always inspired me. His photos are not like the mundane lanscapes, the Great Indian Sadhu, the butterfly on a flower or the usual guy with rustic looks; they have a story in itself and can be interepreted in various ways.It was a pleasure shooting with Mahesh.
After the shoot when i was analyzing the captures made by him and by me , i was fascinated to see the following result :
(A) is by me and (B) is by Mahesh. Ths subject here is a simple door. I wanted to capture the window, the door lying down and also the lift door; i do no want to explain on what i intended to convey by that shot, but i was little happy on how it turned out to be (except for the fact that the composition needs to be worked on). Mahesh's capture of the same subject is even more powerful - though IMO it conveys a different aspect of the same frame, but the composition simply rocks, his style is different.
Mahesh shared a story when we were walking along MG Road, and this inspired me a lot :
Jack was really good at photography, his photographs were like Henry Cartier Bresson, and at certain occasions in fact bettered him.Jack's style and skills were exactly like Mr.Bresson, but he was finding it really difficult to get into the mainstream photography. He shared his grief with a good pal of his - Georgui Pinkhassov.Georgui told him that Jack was indeed good and there were no qualms about his techniques or skills, but since he style was like Mr.Bresson, people would rather prefer the latter than the former.If Jack had to succeed, then he had to mark his own distinctive style. (Mahesh points me to this smacker Georugui quote : "Cartier-Bresson resembles no one, but you resemble him!")
This story is very true in today's photography arena. I Flickr 1hour daily and find that 98% of the photos are alike in terms of its subject and its style. To be a successful photographer its very much required that a person carves his own niche initially, and then works on it to mark his own style and then the style becomes synonymous with his name.
After the shoot when i was analyzing the captures made by him and by me , i was fascinated to see the following result :
(A) is by me and (B) is by Mahesh. Ths subject here is a simple door. I wanted to capture the window, the door lying down and also the lift door; i do no want to explain on what i intended to convey by that shot, but i was little happy on how it turned out to be (except for the fact that the composition needs to be worked on). Mahesh's capture of the same subject is even more powerful - though IMO it conveys a different aspect of the same frame, but the composition simply rocks, his style is different.
Mahesh shared a story when we were walking along MG Road, and this inspired me a lot :
Jack was really good at photography, his photographs were like Henry Cartier Bresson, and at certain occasions in fact bettered him.Jack's style and skills were exactly like Mr.Bresson, but he was finding it really difficult to get into the mainstream photography. He shared his grief with a good pal of his - Georgui Pinkhassov.Georgui told him that Jack was indeed good and there were no qualms about his techniques or skills, but since he style was like Mr.Bresson, people would rather prefer the latter than the former.If Jack had to succeed, then he had to mark his own distinctive style. (Mahesh points me to this smacker Georugui quote : "Cartier-Bresson resembles no one, but you resemble him!")
This story is very true in today's photography arena. I Flickr 1hour daily and find that 98% of the photos are alike in terms of its subject and its style. To be a successful photographer its very much required that a person carves his own niche initially, and then works on it to mark his own style and then the style becomes synonymous with his name.
May 16, 2007
M$ and Spirituality
M$ has been ridiculed and teased at almost all instants of time since its inception.Hardly people know that it is one of the most religious organizations on Earth.They are in fact both spiritual and religious :) I would like to substantiate it with an example.
People have questioned(read 'ridiculed') on M$'s philosophy or intent on having the shut-down button in the Start Menu. Well perfectly valid Q - why would anyone want to shut down by clicking on the start button.David Pogue also mentioned this in his TED Talk... but there is nothing to laugh out here.
According to Hinduism, the AATMAN(self) belongs to THEE(ascends from HIM) and after death agains joins the THEE.So the both the start and the end is associated with the THEE. Its very much normal then that the system START and the END should again be associated with START :)
People have questioned(read 'ridiculed') on M$'s philosophy or intent on having the shut-down button in the Start Menu. Well perfectly valid Q - why would anyone want to shut down by clicking on the start button.David Pogue also mentioned this in his TED Talk... but there is nothing to laugh out here.
According to Hinduism, the AATMAN(self) belongs to THEE(ascends from HIM) and after death agains joins the THEE.So the both the start and the end is associated with the THEE. Its very much normal then that the system START and the END should again be associated with START :)
May 14, 2007
May 13, 2007
The Best Talk
Steve jobs was the best orator i had ever heard , and then i stumbled on James Nachtwey's talk in TED.
I have been following James's work for quite sometime now , and have always been an admirer of his captures.
I have been following James's work for quite sometime now , and have always been an admirer of his captures.
May 11, 2007
Hang overs?
I woke up to see myself sleeping again,
I could see the moon - vanishing in the brightness,
Tranquility of the morning sun,
Lackadaisical as I was,
but something was troubling me,
I could feel the uneasiness in the air .. .. ..
I could see the moon - vanishing in the brightness,
Tranquility of the morning sun,
Lackadaisical as I was,
but something was troubling me,
I could feel the uneasiness in the air .. .. ..
May 07, 2007
A Mirage?
And there she was .. right in front of me - the most beautiiful woman i had ever seen in my life.A pink shirt and neat blue denim with a chinese haircut and a beautiful smile on her face ..
configuration information had been registered..
trace path calculated ..
i could see her.. admire her.. was it she or was it something in my brain? hallucinations of the subordinate tissues? a prototype?
A 3D model of a recycled-redesigned-reconstructed XX Chromosome?
.....
I took my mexican burger with the spicy sauce and sipped in some Mango shake ..
configuration information had been registered..
trace path calculated ..
i could see her.. admire her.. was it she or was it something in my brain? hallucinations of the subordinate tissues? a prototype?
A 3D model of a recycled-redesigned-reconstructed XX Chromosome?
.....
I took my mexican burger with the spicy sauce and sipped in some Mango shake ..
May 06, 2007
Revolution or Evolution?
What we need is not another Milk or Green revolution; what we need is a complete social reorganization, an intellectual revolution, an idealogical revolution - a mutation or a metamorphosis?
A metamorphosis?? a long and tedious process by which your own surival is under threat by some extraneous factors? or your transformation is guided by environmental factors more than what you exactly want?
A mutation?? where a sudden cataclysimic event triggers a total restructuring of your degin patterns and causes you to either vanquish or change in some abnormal way??
It has to be a total elimination of the current thought processes and a completely new genomic structure in its place - a transcendental equation involving only 2 variables - first, being the humans and second, being the intellectual quotient.
A metamorphosis?? a long and tedious process by which your own surival is under threat by some extraneous factors? or your transformation is guided by environmental factors more than what you exactly want?
A mutation?? where a sudden cataclysimic event triggers a total restructuring of your degin patterns and causes you to either vanquish or change in some abnormal way??
It has to be a total elimination of the current thought processes and a completely new genomic structure in its place - a transcendental equation involving only 2 variables - first, being the humans and second, being the intellectual quotient.
May 04, 2007
Experiment with Gaussian Blur Overlays
it was quick - i liked the science behind it - i started loving GIMP more :)
Original Picture
After the overlay and the blend
This can be enhanced more - i was a bit quick on the mask and hence did not concentrate much on the edges, but this can be rectified and the quality can be improved.
Original Picture
After the overlay and the blend
This can be enhanced more - i was a bit quick on the mask and hence did not concentrate much on the edges, but this can be rectified and the quality can be improved.
Its raining movies
Guess the Bangalore summer has taken its toll and these days i mostly spend either sitting in my cubicle (with nice a/c) and surf the net or keep watching movies in my condo :)
Seen in the last 3-4 days:
Amelie (French)
Lolla Renntt (German)
Bachelor Party
The Fight Club
Good, Bad , Ugly
Big trouble
Serendipity
Office Space
In the Hangar (to see over this weekend):
7 Samurai (half seen)
Full Metal Jacket
All quite on the Western Front
Tigerland
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
...and lotsa more
Seen in the last 3-4 days:
Amelie (French)
Lolla Renntt (German)
Bachelor Party
The Fight Club
Good, Bad , Ugly
Big trouble
Serendipity
Office Space
In the Hangar (to see over this weekend):
7 Samurai (half seen)
Full Metal Jacket
All quite on the Western Front
Tigerland
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
...and lotsa more
May 01, 2007
a shot through the head
there he was.... right in front of me..
i knew this day would come...
i wasnt ready but.... i knew i can do it..
will I sacrifice myself to the altar ..
i cannot wait..
he needs to be eliminated..
vanquished .. trounced .. exterminated ..
i did it... i did it...
like a shot through the head.
i could hear the distant sirens...
the trumpets .. the drums.. the silence ...
i knew this day would come...
i wasnt ready but.... i knew i can do it..
will I sacrifice myself to the altar ..
i cannot wait..
he needs to be eliminated..
vanquished .. trounced .. exterminated ..
i did it... i did it...
like a shot through the head.
i could hear the distant sirens...
the trumpets .. the drums.. the silence ...
April 30, 2007
let him beat you.. let the crap out of you...
you bleed .. you have pain.. ur limbs are broken..
blood is oozing out from your body .. your left-arm is fractured..
but never scream.. not a word from your mouth....
you see him winning.. but he hasnt won yet...
you still have the last straw left in you ....
raise...rise.. give him what he deserves.. not what he desires..
and there he lies.. in his own graveyard..
You win!
you bleed .. you have pain.. ur limbs are broken..
blood is oozing out from your body .. your left-arm is fractured..
but never scream.. not a word from your mouth....
you see him winning.. but he hasnt won yet...
you still have the last straw left in you ....
raise...rise.. give him what he deserves.. not what he desires..
and there he lies.. in his own graveyard..
You win!
April 29, 2007
The things you own end up owning you
Well, in addition to the title of the post being a dialogue from the movie 'The Fight Club' , is something thats been expatiated in various contexts - be it the Vedas, the Kuran, or God-damn any religion in this world.
Tyler Durden wasn't speaking shit when he said this.
Freeing up your mind helps to realize that when you dont own anything, then you own everything. You are free to do anything - but i am not suggesting anarchism here. I am against any form of anarchy , as i believe strongly in discipline. And this is where religion comes into picture.
I respect any religion that preaches freeing up the mind for the eternal salvation of the species .The damnation of the entire race happens when the doctrines are not adhered to.
Now the question that arises are :
Who are the people who set the rules - the doctrines?
How did a religion come into existence?
Can a religion answer all the sets of Qs that a human mind can think of?Do all the problems have a solution?
and lots and lots of Qs...
When the majority of the population (i am referring to 100% and not 2/3 majority) feels that the current set of rules are not letting them to evolve - then this causes a revolution - but this has to be co-ordinated with a structured streamlining of thought processes that lets in the ultimate 'EVOLUTION' - a new specie - a new life - a new thought process.
Tyler Durden wasn't speaking shit when he said this.
Freeing up your mind helps to realize that when you dont own anything, then you own everything. You are free to do anything - but i am not suggesting anarchism here. I am against any form of anarchy , as i believe strongly in discipline. And this is where religion comes into picture.
I respect any religion that preaches freeing up the mind for the eternal salvation of the species .The damnation of the entire race happens when the doctrines are not adhered to.
Now the question that arises are :
Who are the people who set the rules - the doctrines?
How did a religion come into existence?
Can a religion answer all the sets of Qs that a human mind can think of?Do all the problems have a solution?
and lots and lots of Qs...
When the majority of the population (i am referring to 100% and not 2/3 majority) feels that the current set of rules are not letting them to evolve - then this causes a revolution - but this has to be co-ordinated with a structured streamlining of thought processes that lets in the ultimate 'EVOLUTION' - a new specie - a new life - a new thought process.
April 28, 2007
Selective coloring - Using GIMP (Quick Tutor)
Colors have continued to amaze me ; and when i stumbled upon doing some selective coloring on my own was simply spellbound by the end result(though it still looks a little amateurish).
nwayz..
This post quickly expatiates on selective coloring using GIMP .
Original image clicked using Nikon D50 @ 24mm, f/5, 1/100s.
Shutter prioity [as always;) ]
After Applying selective coloring :
1) Open the original image in GIMP
2) Image > Mode > Grayscale
3) Ctrl+a
4) ctrl+c
5) ctrl+z
6) ctrl +v (this creates a layer - a foreground grayscale layer)
7) Either Tools > Paint Tools > Eraser or Shift+E
8) start 'Erasing' the foreground - you will see the background color layer.
Hope that helps :)
nwayz..
This post quickly expatiates on selective coloring using GIMP .
Original image clicked using Nikon D50 @ 24mm, f/5, 1/100s.
Shutter prioity [as always;) ]
After Applying selective coloring :
1) Open the original image in GIMP
2) Image > Mode > Grayscale
3) Ctrl+a
4) ctrl+c
5) ctrl+z
6) ctrl +v (this creates a layer - a foreground grayscale layer)
7) Either Tools > Paint Tools > Eraser or Shift+E
8) start 'Erasing' the foreground - you will see the background color layer.
Hope that helps :)
April 26, 2007
A Visit to the City Market
Took a few hours off from work and visited City Market (Bangalore) . Wanted to visit the Tipu-sultan's fort and do some clicking around in the market. Was sad to see that the fort was closed and there was no one with whom i could check about the status/permissions for entry.
With a dejected soul, roamed about the market and clicked some shots (will upload it tommorrow). It was nice to be in the rush of the market, with all the stink (and sometimes nice smell/flavour) around. This market has almost everything - i saw one stretch of the platform filled with vendors selling shoes.. nice to see it .. almost all the brands ranging from Caterpillar to Bata were available.One guy was appling black liquid polish on a brown foam show :)
With a dejected soul, roamed about the market and clicked some shots (will upload it tommorrow). It was nice to be in the rush of the market, with all the stink (and sometimes nice smell/flavour) around. This market has almost everything - i saw one stretch of the platform filled with vendors selling shoes.. nice to see it .. almost all the brands ranging from Caterpillar to Bata were available.One guy was appling black liquid polish on a brown foam show :)
is that smartness?
I dont really understand why some people try to show off their 'smartness'(read 'crappiness') sometimes in email threads by quoting totally unrelated stuff and sarcastically abusing others. This is more prone in the cyber world - and it can go on..on and on...
If at all i have abused anyone, then i pass a direct scathing remark on the 'vicitm' , right on his face -- it makes life easier for both of us.
If at all i have abused anyone, then i pass a direct scathing remark on the 'vicitm' , right on his face -- it makes life easier for both of us.
April 23, 2007
Death
I dont know why , but i get cockeyed when someone talks about death and the associated miseries. Its not that i have no respects for the departed soul, but the way they portray it is disillusioning.
The Disillusioned Soul : What is death ?
The Old Monk under the Mango Tree : Its a f***ed up thing.
The Disillusioned Soul : What is death ?
The Old Monk under the Mango Tree : Its a f***ed up thing.
Another beautiful trek
It was an amazing weekend with one more beautiful trek. Had been to Bandaje falls and BelrayanDurga over the weekend. Came back today morning at 01:00 hrs.
an amazing trek over different kinds of terrains and different climatic conditions... an experience that will be remembered till the next best trek :)
experienced scorching heat, lashing rains, chilled breeze/wind, beautiful mist , dark clouds, clear night-sky with twinkling stars , ice-cold water (and also no-water) , pencil snakes, mongooses, bisons, ruined fort walls, scary view from the top of the falls, people with guns(who were mistaken for naxalites), pet dogs etc etc....
an amazing trek over different kinds of terrains and different climatic conditions... an experience that will be remembered till the next best trek :)
experienced scorching heat, lashing rains, chilled breeze/wind, beautiful mist , dark clouds, clear night-sky with twinkling stars , ice-cold water (and also no-water) , pencil snakes, mongooses, bisons, ruined fort walls, scary view from the top of the falls, people with guns(who were mistaken for naxalites), pet dogs etc etc....
April 11, 2007
Madikeri / Coorg
Starring : Me, Jatin, Nagendran, Meeliya
Start Time : 10:30pm,Friday , 6th April, 2007
End Time : 5:30am,Monday , 9th April, 2007
Approx expense per head : 900 INR
Itinerary
Bangalore - Kushal Nagar - Bylakuppe - Nisargadhama - Madikeri - Bhagamandala - TalaCauvery - Madikeri - Bangalore
@ Madikeri - Abby Falls, Royal Tomb, Fort, Raja's seat, Omkareshwara temple
Pics at PICASA
Expenses (Per head):
Bangalore to Kushal Nagar(Bus) = 131 INR
Kushal Nagar to Bylakuppe(Bus) = 5 INR
Bylakuppe to Nisargadhama (Auto) = 12 INR
Nisargadhama to Madikeri (Bus) = 17 INR
Lodge @ Madikeri = 150INR
Madikeri Sight seeing = 100 INR
Madikeri to Bhagamandala (Bus) = 22 INR
Bhagamandala to TalaCauvery (Bus) = 8 INR
TalaCauvery to Madikeri (Bus) =27 INR
Madikeri to Bangalore (Bus)= 246 INR
Food = 150 INR
Start Time : 10:30pm,Friday , 6th April, 2007
End Time : 5:30am,Monday , 9th April, 2007
Approx expense per head : 900 INR
Itinerary
Bangalore - Kushal Nagar - Bylakuppe - Nisargadhama - Madikeri - Bhagamandala - TalaCauvery - Madikeri - Bangalore
@ Madikeri - Abby Falls, Royal Tomb, Fort, Raja's seat, Omkareshwara temple
Pics at PICASA
Expenses (Per head):
Bangalore to Kushal Nagar(Bus) = 131 INR
Kushal Nagar to Bylakuppe(Bus) = 5 INR
Bylakuppe to Nisargadhama (Auto) = 12 INR
Nisargadhama to Madikeri (Bus) = 17 INR
Lodge @ Madikeri = 150INR
Madikeri Sight seeing = 100 INR
Madikeri to Bhagamandala (Bus) = 22 INR
Bhagamandala to TalaCauvery (Bus) = 8 INR
TalaCauvery to Madikeri (Bus) =27 INR
Madikeri to Bangalore (Bus)= 246 INR
Food = 150 INR
April 06, 2007
Riyaz hails ... I cant :(
(10:50:31) Venkatraman S: helllo
(10:50:37) Riyaz: hi da
(10:50:42) Riyaz: in office?
(10:50:43) Venkatraman S: dei..busy?
(10:50:51) Venkatraman S: yea.. toaday v r working
(10:50:59) Riyaz: oh..
(10:51:00) Venkatraman S: need a help...m can u respond a lil faster?
(10:51:01) Riyaz: its off for us
(10:51:09) Riyaz: what is it da/
(10:51:18) Venkatraman S: i wanna transfer my TB local folders to another m/c ...
(10:51:26) Venkatraman S: just a copy+paste wud suffice?
(10:51:36) Riyaz: TB?
(10:51:42) Venkatraman S: thunderbird
(10:52:10) Riyaz: ok .. i guess uwant to copy folders from ur pc to another on the network
(10:52:14) Riyaz: yes copy paste would do
(10:52:19) Riyaz: u bougt a TB?
(10:52:32) Riyaz: but the other guy shd have given write permissions
(10:52:40) Riyaz: for that folder where u wnat to paste it
(10:53:19) Venkatraman S: y shud i buy a TB??
(10:53:29) Venkatraman S: wat happ to u da!
(10:53:46) Riyaz: but u said "my TB"
(10:53:56) Riyaz: i wanna transfer my TB local folders to another m/c ...
(10:54:24) Venkatraman S: yea
(10:54:35) Venkatraman S: thunderbird
(10:54:40) Riyaz: i thought u bought a new TB and u want to share those photos with some other guy
(10:54:53) Venkatraman S: ahaa... free aa vidu
(10:54:57) Venkatraman S: go and sapdu
(10:55:16) Riyaz: dei .. so that TB is not royal enfield thunderbird?
(10:55:24) Venkatraman S: f
(10:55:29) Venkatraman S: Mozilla thunderbird
(10:55:34) Riyaz: lol :)
(10:55:38) Venkatraman S: someone kill me plz
(10:55:47) Venkatraman S: lemme save this conversation
(10:56:11) Riyaz: haha.. sure dude.. but am not to blame.. blame those idiots who name two products the saem
(10:56:23) Venkatraman S: enuf...enuf....
(10:56:26) Venkatraman S: i cant...
(10:50:37) Riyaz: hi da
(10:50:42) Riyaz: in office?
(10:50:43) Venkatraman S: dei..busy?
(10:50:51) Venkatraman S: yea.. toaday v r working
(10:50:59) Riyaz: oh..
(10:51:00) Venkatraman S: need a help...m can u respond a lil faster?
(10:51:01) Riyaz: its off for us
(10:51:09) Riyaz: what is it da/
(10:51:18) Venkatraman S: i wanna transfer my TB local folders to another m/c ...
(10:51:26) Venkatraman S: just a copy+paste wud suffice?
(10:51:36) Riyaz: TB?
(10:51:42) Venkatraman S: thunderbird
(10:52:10) Riyaz: ok .. i guess uwant to copy folders from ur pc to another on the network
(10:52:14) Riyaz: yes copy paste would do
(10:52:19) Riyaz: u bougt a TB?
(10:52:32) Riyaz: but the other guy shd have given write permissions
(10:52:40) Riyaz: for that folder where u wnat to paste it
(10:53:19) Venkatraman S: y shud i buy a TB??
(10:53:29) Venkatraman S: wat happ to u da!
(10:53:46) Riyaz: but u said "my TB"
(10:53:56) Riyaz: i wanna transfer my TB local folders to another m/c ...
(10:54:24) Venkatraman S: yea
(10:54:35) Venkatraman S: thunderbird
(10:54:40) Riyaz: i thought u bought a new TB and u want to share those photos with some other guy
(10:54:53) Venkatraman S: ahaa... free aa vidu
(10:54:57) Venkatraman S: go and sapdu
(10:55:16) Riyaz: dei .. so that TB is not royal enfield thunderbird?
(10:55:24) Venkatraman S: f
(10:55:29) Venkatraman S: Mozilla thunderbird
(10:55:34) Riyaz: lol :)
(10:55:38) Venkatraman S: someone kill me plz
(10:55:47) Venkatraman S: lemme save this conversation
(10:56:11) Riyaz: haha.. sure dude.. but am not to blame.. blame those idiots who name two products the saem
(10:56:23) Venkatraman S: enuf...enuf....
(10:56:26) Venkatraman S: i cant...
March 19, 2007
North Karnataka Tour
Just back from my North Karnataka tour.
Pics @ http://picasaweb.google.com/venkat83/NorthKarnataka
Itinerary (Summary):
Bijapur - Almatti - KoodluSangama - Aihole - Pattadakal - Badami - Gadag - Lakkudi
Detailed Itinerary :
Day -1 (Saturday - 17th March, 2007 )
Bijapur
KoodluSangama
Day -2 (Sunday - 18th March, 2007 )
Aihole
Caves 1 to 4
Gadag
Manikeshwara temple and the Muskinabhavi
Expenses
Bangalore to Bijapur = 301
17th March
Guide @ Ibrahim Roza = 50
Bijapur to Almatti (Bus) = 35
Almatti to KoodluSangama (Bus) = 17
KoodluSangama to Amingadh (auto) = 10
Amingadh to Aihole (Bus) = 8
Entrance fee @ Ibrahim Roza, Gol Gumbaz = 10
Misc - Lunch, Dinner + water Bottles = 100
Double Room Charges @ Aihole = 200
18th March
Entry fee @ Aihole, Pattadakal , Badami= 20
Aihole to Pattadakal(Auto) = 16
Guide @ Pattadakal = 50
Misc - Lunch, Dinner + water Bottles + Grapes = 100
Pattadakal to Badami ( Van ) = 20
Badami to Gadag (Bus) = 41
Gadag to Lakkundi (Bus) = 4
Gadag to Banglaore = 220
Total Expenses = 1200 INR
Pics @ http://picasaweb.google.com/venkat83/NorthKarnataka
Itinerary (Summary):
Bijapur - Almatti - KoodluSangama - Aihole - Pattadakal - Badami - Gadag - Lakkudi
Detailed Itinerary :
Day -1 (Saturday - 17th March, 2007 )
Bijapur
- Gagan Mahal
- Jod Gumbaz
- Taj bawari
- Uppali Burz
- Mailk-e-Maiden
- Ibrahim Roza
- Gol Gumbaz
- Bara Kamaan
KoodluSangama
Day -2 (Sunday - 18th March, 2007 )
Aihole
- Durga Temple
- Lad Khan temple
- Hucchimalli Gudi
- Konthi Temple Complex (Kwanthi Gudi)
- Two-story Buddhist temple
- Meguti Jain Temple
- Kadasiddeshvara Temple
- Jambulinga Temple
- Galaganatha Temple
- Mallikarjuna Temple
- Sangameshvara Temple
- Virupaksha Temple
Caves 1 to 4
Gadag
- Trikuteshwara temple
- Saraswati temple
- Someshwara temple
Manikeshwara temple and the Muskinabhavi
Expenses
Bangalore to Bijapur = 301
17th March
Guide @ Ibrahim Roza = 50
Bijapur to Almatti (Bus) = 35
Almatti to KoodluSangama (Bus) = 17
KoodluSangama to Amingadh (auto) = 10
Amingadh to Aihole (Bus) = 8
Entrance fee @ Ibrahim Roza, Gol Gumbaz = 10
Misc - Lunch, Dinner + water Bottles = 100
Double Room Charges @ Aihole = 200
18th March
Entry fee @ Aihole, Pattadakal , Badami= 20
Aihole to Pattadakal(Auto) = 16
Guide @ Pattadakal = 50
Misc - Lunch, Dinner + water Bottles + Grapes = 100
Pattadakal to Badami ( Van ) = 20
Badami to Gadag (Bus) = 41
Gadag to Lakkundi (Bus) = 4
Gadag to Banglaore = 220
Total Expenses = 1200 INR
March 07, 2007
This is World66 had to say about me :)
Stumbled across this travel site : http://www.world66.com/ .. really liked it :) nice info abt many places and kewl add-ons
This is my Travel Profile .. lol ;)
get your own travel profile
Places I would like to visit :
create your own visited country map
Central America and the Caribbean
-----------------------------------------------
Barbados
Bahamas
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Honduras
Jamaica
Panama
Turks and Caicos Islands
Trinidad and Tobago
Virgin Islands
South America
-----------------------------------------------
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Paraguay
Peru
Africa
-----------------------------------------------
Botswana
Burundi
Cameroon
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ivory Coast
Kenya
Madagascar
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Rwanda
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Swaziland
Tanzania
Uganda
Zimbabwe
Europe
-----------------------------------------------
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Croatia
Finland
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Macedonia
Monaco
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Vatican City
the Middle East
-----------------------------------------------
Cyprus
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Syria
Turkey
Yemen
Asia
-----------------------------------------------
Bhutan
Brunei
India
Japan
Maldives
Mongolia
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Taiwan
Thailand
Australia and Pacific
-----------------------------------------------
Australia
Fiji
French Polynesia
Guam
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Tonga
Vanuatu
This is my Travel Profile .. lol ;)
 | |||
Your  When the going gets tough, the rough guy gets going! Sleep outside, hike up mountains, eat raw lizards for breakfast, that's his perfect holiday. Ten days of hiking through unspoilt jungle between Colombia and Panama, that kind of thing. |  | ||
top destinations:Ciudad PerdidaNgorongoro Amsterdam | stay away from:VeniceParis Tokyo | ||
Places I would like to visit :
create your own visited country map
Central America and the Caribbean
-----------------------------------------------
Barbados
Bahamas
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Honduras
Jamaica
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Vanuatu
March 02, 2007
Am Back!
I am back from the trek/tour and am doing good ;)
What was intended to be a 7 day trek was cut short to a 2 day trek and 5 day sight-seeing/ travelling.
We could only manage to trek for around 8km(till Lamaydura) after which we had to abandon the trek owing to poor visibility and dropping temperatures. Though we were trekking at sub-zero temperatures , the further decline in temps led us to call it off and bow in front of Mother Nature.But it was beautiful one - the region had experienced the first snowfall after 1999.
After calling off the trek we went ahead to Darjeeling and Gangtok.
I havent yet blogged it (hope to do it by Monday).
Select few pics from my recent trek+tour :
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Sandakphu
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Sikkim
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Darjeeling
What was intended to be a 7 day trek was cut short to a 2 day trek and 5 day sight-seeing/ travelling.
We could only manage to trek for around 8km(till Lamaydura) after which we had to abandon the trek owing to poor visibility and dropping temperatures. Though we were trekking at sub-zero temperatures , the further decline in temps led us to call it off and bow in front of Mother Nature.But it was beautiful one - the region had experienced the first snowfall after 1999.
After calling off the trek we went ahead to Darjeeling and Gangtok.
I havent yet blogged it (hope to do it by Monday).
Select few pics from my recent trek+tour :
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Sandakphu
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Sikkim
http://picasaweb. google.com/venkat83/Darjeeling
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