vijaydotb

engeyum eppodhum

2011-09-20T23:10:00.017+05:30

Nowadays blood donation scene is common in movies / TV serials after an accident scene. Few days back I was thinking why there is no eye donation scene in any movie or in TV serials after a death scene. At least I have not seen one till then. I thought, only if people can visualize the organ donation, they can do it.

Manimegalai (Anjali) remembers to donate the organs of her lover Kadhiresan (Jai) immediately after losing him in a tragic road accident. Its in "engeyum eppodhum" directed by new flimmaker Saravanan. That was an excellent thinking. The flashback for this couple portraits the boldness of Manimegalai and innocence of Kadhiresan.

Another couple in the movie, Goutham (Shravanand) and Amudha (Ananya) also have a liking flashback. Added to their excellent performance, the characterisation has been done perfectly for all the four.

The movie starts a four hours ago flashback and then dives more backwards to characterize the four people. As they travel in bus, the background traffic sound and the music played in the bus along with the intended dialogues have been captured very well. But for me it was like a continuous noise (may be I have to see more movies in theater).

When the bus reaches arasur, the movie makes us to wish for a long flashback before the bus reaches the final destination. Having lot of characters and being a small movie, it makes us wish for more scenes and thus succeeding. The big production by AR Murugadoss and fox star studios is a major plus for the movie and for the movie's hype.

The climax makes us to feel as if it is a documentary film, but overall the movie is real good entertainer.

[story] சுண்டக்காய் கதை

2011-06-27T22:07:00.022+05:30

சுண்டக்காய் கதை
===================
(As narrated by my wife for kids)

ஒரு ஊர்ல ஒரு சுண்டக்கா இருந்துச்சாம். அத ஒரு அம்மா சமையலுக்காக வெட்ட போனாங்களாம். அந்த சுண்டக்கா, "என்னை வெட்டதீங்க! ப்ளீஸ்" என்றதாம். உடனே அம்மாவும் பாவப் பட்டு அந்த சுண்டக்காய சுண்டி விட்டாங்களாம். சுண்டக்கா உருண்டு உருண்டு போய் ஒரு மூலைல நின்னுச்சாம். அப்படியே ஒக்காந்து கால் மேல கால் போட்டுகிட்டு பாட்டு பாடிச்சாம்.

அடுத்த நாள் காலைல அந்த அம்மா எழுந்திருக்கும் போது வீட்ல கெட்டி இருந்த மாட்டை காணோமாம். அம்மா மாட்டை காணோம்னு அழுதாங்களாம். அத பார்த்த சுண்டக்கா, "அழாதீங்க மா, நான் போய் உங்க மாட்டை கண்டு பிடிக்குரேன்" என்றதாம். மேலும், "எனக்கு ஒரு மூட்டை பொரிகடலை வேண்டும்" என்றதாம். அம்மாவும் சரி என்றார்களாம்.

சுண்டக்கா மாட்டை திருடிய திருடர்களை பிடிக்க புறப்பட்டதாம். ஒரு தீப்பெட்டியில் கயிறு கட்டி அதில் இரண்டு கட்டெறும்பு பூட்டி ரதம் போல் உருவாக்கியாதாம். தீப்பெட்டியில் ஏறிக்கொண்டு கட்டெறும்பு இழுக்க திருடர்களை நோக்கி புறப்பட்டதாம்.

வழியில் ஒரு தேள், சுண்டக்கவை பார்த்ததாம். "சுண்டக்கா! சுண்டக்கா!! எங்க போர? என்று கேட்டதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "நான் திருடன பிடிக்க போறேன்" என்றதாம்.
தேள், "நானும் கூட வரேன்" என்றதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "சரி வா போகலாம்" என்றதாம்.

பிறகு, வழியில் ஒரு பாம்பு, சுண்டக்கவை பார்த்ததாம். "சுண்டக்கா! சுண்டக்கா!! எங்க போர? என்று கேட்டதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "நான் திருடன பிடிக்க போறேன்" என்றதாம்.
பாம்பு, "நானும் கூட வரேன்" என்றதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "சரி வா போகலாம்" என்றதாம்.

பிறகு, வழியில் ஒரு கழுதை, சுண்டக்கவை பார்த்ததாம். "சுண்டக்கா! சுண்டக்கா!! எங்க போர? என்று கேட்டதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "நான் திருடன பிடிக்க போறேன்" என்றதாம்.
கழுதை, "நானும் கூட வரேன்" என்றதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "சரி வா போகலாம்" என்றதாம்.

பிறகு, வழியில் ஒரு யானை, சுண்டக்கவை பார்த்ததாம். "சுண்டக்கா! சுண்டக்கா!! எங்க போர? என்று கேட்டதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "நான் திருடன பிடிக்க போறேன்" என்றதாம்.
யானை, "நானும் கூட வரேன்" என்றதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "சரி வா போகலாம்" என்றதாம்.

பிறகு, வழியில் ஒரு சேவல், சுண்டக்கவை பார்த்ததாம். "சுண்டக்கா! சுண்டக்கா!! எங்க போர? என்று கேட்டதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "நான் திருடன பிடிக்க போறேன்" என்றதாம்.
சேவல், "நானும் கூட வரேன்" என்றதாம்.
சுண்டக்கா, "சரி வா போகலாம்" என்றதாம்.

இவ்வாறாக சுண்டக்கா, தேள், பாம்பு, கழுதை, யானை, சேவல் அனைவரும் திருடன்னின் வீட்டை அடைந்தார்கள். சுண்டக்கா தேளை தீபெட்டியில் போட்டதாம். பாம்பை வீட்டின் அடுப்பில் போட்டதாம். கழுதையை வீட்டின் பின் வாசலில் வைத்ததாம். யானையை வீட்டின் முன் வாசலில் வைத்ததாம். சேவலை வீட்டின் கூரையில் வைத்ததாம். பிறகு சுண்டக்கா ஒளிந்து கொண்டதாம்.

அடுத்த நாள் காலையில் திருடன் ஒருவன் காபி போடுவதற்காக தீப்பெட்டியை திறந்தானாம். தீப்பெட்டியில் இருந்த தேள் அவனை கொட்டியதாம். அய்யோ என்று அலறினானாம். உடனே மற்றொரு திருடன் ஏன்டா கத்துற நான் காபி போடுறேன் பாரு என்று கூறி அடுப்பை திறந்தானாம். அடுப்பில் இருந்த பாம்பு அவனை கொத்தியதாம். இவனும் அய்யோ என்று அலறினானாம். இருவரும் அலறிக் கொண்டு வீட்டின் வெளியே வந்தார்களாம். அங்கிருந்த யானை அவர்களை தும்பிக்கையால் அடித்ததாம். இருவரும் மேலும் அலறிக் கொண்டு வீட்டின் பின் புறம் வெளியே சென்றார்களாம். அங்கிருந்த கழுதை அவர்களை காலால் எட்டி உதைத்ததாம். வேறு வழி இல்லாமல் அவர்கள் வீட்டின் கூரை மேல் ஏறி தப்ப முயன்றார்களாம். அங்கிருந்த சேவல் அவர்களின் கண்களை கொத்தியதாம். உடனே, திருடர்கள் மேல் இருந்து கீழே விழுந்தார்கலாம். சுண்டக்கா ஓடி வந்து திருடர்களை கையிற்றால் கட்டியதாம்.

திருடர்கள் பயந்து போய் மாடு இருக்கும் இடத்தை சுண்டைக்காயிடம் சொன்னார்களாம். சுண்டக்காய் மாட்டை ஓட்டிக் கொண்டு அதன் நண்பர்களுடன் வீடு திரும்பியதாம். அம்மா அவரது மாட்டை பார்த்து மகிழ்ச்சியுடன் இருந்தார்களாம். சுண்டக்காய் அம்மாவிடம் கேட்ட ஒரு மூட்டை பொரிகடலையை சுண்டகாயிடம் கொடுத்தார்களாம். சுண்டக்காய் பொரிகடலையை தனது நண்பர்களுக்கு எல்லாம் கொடுத்ததாம். அனைவரும் சந்தோசமாக வீடு திரும்பினார்களாம்.

அம்மா சுண்டக்காவுக்காக ஒரு சின்ன வீடு செய்து அதில் சோபா போட்டு அதற்க்கு தேவையான சாமான்களை எல்லாம் வைத்தார்களாம். அந்த வீட்டின் சோபாவில் சுண்டக்காவை உட்கார வைத்தார்களாம். சுண்டக்காய் மிகவும் சந்தோசமாக இருந்ததாம்.

[stort] only robots

2011-04-24T17:20:00.003+05:30

TamilNadu Government along with the Chennai Metro Railways Department has decided to allocate all the upper berths of the metro trains running in the city to everyone for their living. Long back, around 2009-2010, the land price was very less in Chennai and people use to construct houses. Now all available movable & immovable properties are being used by everyone for their living. I too applied for a berth.

The city is looking like a concrete jungle with many tall concrete buildings. Everyone is talking about global warming. Not sure when this jungle is going to be cut down for trees.

The new railway berth distribution announcement from the government has got good response as the space available per berth is more than enough for everyone. There is a restriction that one can apply for only one berth and also the allocation is purely based on lottery system.

I do not wear a helmet though I remember to take it while driving because I do not have a helmet and nobody wears a helmet in this city and helmet is not required for driving a car:) Considering the fuel price and the global warming, I purchased one latest model car last week. This car doesn't need any fuel to run. Long back Prasad Sir developed a car that runs with water instead of fuel - water car, but that never came to market! My new model car works on the principle of the olden day's bicycle.

Once upon a time, there were few robots in the city. That time Mala use to say that only robot's will be able to survive in the future.

Luckily, I got one upper berth for me and I was very happy to live there. That was the space required for each one of us, even the richest in this world. Because all we need is two units of electricity per day.
Only robots were able to survive the series of natural disasters during the later half of 38th century AD

idhayathil oruvan

2011-04-04T08:12:00.020+05:30

Recently in Kollywood, there have been many movies following the trend of playing some successful old audio songs / music (mostly by Ilayaraja) in the background to attract the audience. This idea was proved to be successful as people are willing to hear classical super hits and cherish their memories.

The movie "idhayathil oruvan" that got released on April 1st 2011 is a unique creation in the recent times of the kollywood industry by Namakkal MGR. Being the hero, director and story - screenplay - dialogue writer, NMGR gets the full credit for the successful creation of the movie. His hard work is reflected in every scene of the movie.

Right from the title song of the movie, NMGR has brought out the sweet memories of MGR and made us feel as if we are watching MGR's movie. Whenever MGR's superhit songs were played in the background, it makes us feel excited. They could have added couple of full songs of MGR remixed instead of all new songs.

A simple story line of clashes between the hero and pannaiyar (villain) living in namakkal adds to the advantage of the movie. As usual the pannaiyar's daughter is the heroine of the movie but she has very less role to play.

A couple of silambattam fights by NMGR were good to watch. Nagesh's comedy role in our old MGR movie is also being enacted as NMGR's brother. But he also dint have much of role to play leaving very less comedy for the audience to laugh.

The movie getting released during the election time in Tamil Nadu, one would think about the direct politics and double meaning dialogues in the movie. But, NMGR has done an excellent job in writing sharp and clear dialogues bringing out clear messages that were intended like our old MGR movie.

Overall, the movie is a unique family entertainer and a must watch for MGR fans.

flying cat

2009-11-20T08:56:00.005+05:30

Once upon a time there lived a cat. He wanted to fly in the air. He tried a lot of ways for him to fly. But he failed in all his attempts. He got suggestions from variety of people from scientist to monks. all in vain.

Atlast he came to me. I gave him an idea to fly based on my experience. It looked great for him, so he tried. It was unbelievable for him that he was able to fly!! He was so excited and it was life turning idea for him. Do you want to know the idea that I gave for the cat? You would have easily guessed what my idea was. Yes, I asked him to fall in love.

[story] 3D maze

2009-04-19T13:35:00.001+05:30

Mala stepped out of her home and started walking down the street. Mala is new to this city and she does not know the address of her home or the phone number. But she wanted to explore the city by herself. She did not know that this city is not like her village. Story, Screenplay, dialogue, direction : Vijay

Mala continued to walk fast with the ipod playing her favorite music in the background. After a while the road diverged into two roads. She stood there and looked at both the roads as far as she could see. The first one went downwards as if it is taking you to the underworld, while the other went upwards as if it is taking you to the sky. Surprised Mala took the one downwards.

While Mala continued to walk through the road, it went more downwards and more steeper. The surroundings looked more modernized as she proceeded. Then, she took three left turns thinking that she can reach her home then. But she was 100 feet straight below her home. Also she was able to see the sky when she looked up!

All the buildings around her looked alike and she was not able to trace her way back home. It was like solving a maze puzzle, but her brain was not sufficient to solve that.

No human's were seen by the roadside. High speed cars rushed through the streets. Nobody stopped for the red signal or for the green signal. It looked like an alien world for her. She badly wanted to go back to her home.

Mala roamed here and there to get any help from somebody. She was not able to find anyone. As she was running through the walkway, a cat (Felis catus) came in front of her. She got frightened seeing it suddenly. The sharp claws, dark blue eyes and the rusty spotted skin combined with its two legged posture made her more frightened. As Mala moved sideways, the cat also moved as it is if blocking her. Mala started screaming in fear. The cat also moved its hand with sharp claws outside and wide opened its mouth. Mala stepped back and became silent.

The power went off and came back in ten minutes. By then, Mala came back home and the movie ended subam. I will tell you the detailed climax of this story when I see the movie again without any power cuts :)

ayan

2009-04-03T19:52:00.008+05:30

Today I watched yet another tamil movie on the day of its release. Saw a lot of advertisements and heard its music many times before the release day, and somehow wanted to see the movie Ayan. Did it today with my friends. Not sure if I can see any first day movie shows after moving to Chennai.

First half of the movie is loaded with hi-fi styles and not so boring masala scenes. Hero has fit right and many times more than right in expressing the hi-fi styles. He has stolen the show in whatever he does in the movie, be it the romance with heroine or the comedy with his friends or the stunts with the villains. The heroine though has not performed great in action, looks good in her not so important role.

There is not a deep story line in the movie. The hero plays an international smuggler role during first half and in the second half he helps the customs department in detecting all villain's smuggling, finally joins the customs department.

The movie seemed to have ended when the intermission was announced. Second half of the movie was little dragging with lot of chasing. Prabu has done well on the strong person's strong role - Hero's boss. The cinematographer turned director KV Anand has taken us through various unique locations around the world. The movie is packed with lot of action and the fight sequence in Africa has come good. With Harris Jayaraj music, the some of the songs are very good and few others are good.

Overall, AYAN movie is worth seeing at least when you have a good company.

[story] Bangalore <-> Chennai

2009-04-02T14:17:00.002+05:30

I wanted to meet Mala. I think you would also want to know about her. With the contacts that I have developed over the past few years, I could easily find that she is working in a small software company in Chennai. I sent my profile to that company as though I wanted to change my work location to Chennai. As I expected I got an interview call from that company.

Early in the morning, I took along with me the tvnet that I was using while I was the robot and started to Chennai. While I was traveling in the bullet train, I saw a Tamil movie in the tvnet. The name of the heroine of that movie was also Mala. So the movie was very interesting. I reached Chennai at 7am.

It was 7pm when I reached back Bangalore. A lot of things happened in Chennai(?) :)

At 10am, I went to that software company. It was pretty small. I could easily spot Mala's smile amidst the people working there. I went straight to her place and showed my interview card to her without speaking anything. She turned at me, smiled and greeted me. Then she said something about bangalore, I couldn't hear that. Then she stood and walked with my interview card in her hands. So, I followed her.

At 8pm, I was discussing with my friends whether to join the company or not.

As I followed Mala, we reached the office pantry. 2009 Cricket match was being screened on a big tvnet over there. There she called her boss and handed the interview card to him. Then, I had two rounds of technical interview and one round of HR interview. To my surprise, they gave me the offer in hand and asked me to join the company at the earliest.

At 9pm, I have almost decided to join the company.

Then, I had a cup of coffee with Mala in the office pantry. While we were chating, She said something about Bangalore, I couldnot understand it again. After saying good bye to Mala and her boss, I started back to bangalore at 5pm in the bullet train. I saw the same movie which I liked during my onward journey. Reached bangalore at 7pm.

A month full of dreams passed by ...

One fine Monday morning, I joined that software company in Chennai. After finishing all the joining formalities, I went to my cubicle by afternoon. That time, all the employees were gathered at Mala's place. I too joined them only to know that that day is Mala's last working day in this office and she is changing her job to my old office at Bangalore :)

The journey

2009-03-30T10:31:00.017+05:30

" That day, My manager woke me up early in the morning around 04.30. That is usual during a weekend since when I joined him. We started at 05.15 and rushed through the Bangalore roads. As we progressed, the road looked very familiar to me, yes its the same Bangalore-Mysore road. I don't know why we are going through the same route every now and then. I can just follow my manager's instruction, but not speak a word.

I could hear some good music of different languages changing often as per my managers wish. Being a kannadiga, I preferred the kannada songs. It was a tiresome ride with lot of high beam headlights approaching ahead. After some small breaks here and there, we reached Mysore at 07.30. We all charged up with the required food here and I could take some rest too.

We continued our journey towards the south. The road was very poor for some distance before we reached Gundulupet. In few minutes, I could sense that we are entering into TamilNadu. We posed for a number of snaps captured in Nokia Coolpix S10 and Cannon digital cameras on our way. The ride was very exciting as the route was very scenic with lot of trees around. While enjoying this ride, I did not realize that there are also some tough ride waiting for me.

We could spot some deers, lot of monkeys and also a couple of elephants by the road side. It was nice to see them under their natural habitat staring at the vehicles. Especially the elephants with big tusks playing with the mud & bushes around is nice to watch. We silently passed by without disturbing them other than few clicks.

As we moved we started climbing uphill - its OOTY hill. It was dangerous to go near some of the speedy vehicles especially the innova's around. Also difficult to climb the steep hill. My managers never bothered about me. As I have told, I can just follow my managers instruction, but not speak a word. There were about 36 hairpin bends that we need to cross. Atlast we reached the hilltop at around 12.30. Now we are at 2500m high from MSL." speaks our dear yellow color maruthi alto.

more photos here

yavarum nalam

2009-03-16T15:17:00.015+05:30

The earth revolves around the SUN by rotating itself. Life goes on with certain believes based on our learnings and the our own experience. What if some anomaly happens around you that contradicts this belief?

Have you ever noticed something abnormal happening around you? What will happen if the makeup mirror at your home shows an inverted face whenever you look at it and behaves normal for others? What will happen if you are getting to know all the mishaps that are going to happen in your dear most's life? What will happen if you are not able to turn off your bedroom light whenever you are alone? Sometimes these happen in our dreams.

The hero of this movie faces such an experience in his life and the director has depicted the scene's with a nice thriller-horror screenplay. The new face heroine Neethu Chandra comes with a very nice smiling face giving a nice company for maddy.

The movie revolves around a joint family getting into a new flat 13B in 13th floor of an apartment. At the same time a new TV serial "yavarum nalam" that is specific to this flat was started. The whole family watches that serial, only the hero identifies that the story of that serial reveals the things that are about to happen in his home.

The hero also faces other anomalies. One such anomaly is that, The lift never works to his 13th floor whenever the hero goes alone. So he uses steps to go up everytime (He could have used the lift till 12th floor and walk only for one floor).

The hero regularly watches the serial to prevent some of the major mishaps, succeeding in quite a many. When the hero see's the climax of that serial, he realizes that something dangerous is going to happen. A TV serial getting over very soon is something rare to see. How the hero tackles the situation and gets a happy life is the climax. The explanation for the TV serial and background for all small incidents have been brought out very well.

As usual R.Madhavan has given a fabulous performance with enough support from others. After a long time, I think, we get to see a movie with such a deep story line. P.C.Sreeram's camera and the movie BGM has played wonders to add up the horror.

Overall, yavarum nalam is a good movie to be watched in a good theatre.

thinking machines

2009-01-31T21:17:00.006+05:30

Do machines think? I was thinking about this when I was riding the bike. When you start a bike, you start it with first gear. Once it starts moving slowly you press the clutch, change to second gear and then release the clutch. You do this sequence of action many many times, that is whenever you start a bike. So the bike engine must be very much used to this.

Whenever you start the bike from rest in first gear and press the clutch, the bike engine would be anticipating that when the clutch is released, it will be in second gear. I tried the an experiment and below is my observation. you can also check this out -

Start the bike in first gear and press the clutch. Now instead of moving to second gear, release the clutch in first gear itself. The engine which was expecting second gear would jerk as it is first gear again. This jerk would not be seen if you continue in first gear itself without pressing the clutch.

So I thought even machines think few thinks, atleast based on their experience.

[story] tenten

2008-12-30T18:59:00.012+05:30

[my tenth story in this blog site.]

Long long ago, so long ago, oneday at 11pm I was chatting in gtalk with my Chinese friend Jing Wu. Till that day the SUN rises at 11 am and sets at 11pm. It was 11-11 day world. While chatting, Jing Wu told me a secret about a great human power which she learnt from her fore fathers. It was interesting to hear but very hard to believe that day. It was about a technique where one can enter into other person's dream and do real time activities. Interesting is it? I will tell you more. "tenten" is the name given by her for this technique.

Though I didnot believe at that point of time, I asked her to teach me the tenten technique. She asked me to sleep. OK, I logged out and slept near the computer itself. In few minutes I woke up hearing the calling bell sound. As I went and opened the door, there was a typical chinese girl standing there. I pointed my fore finger at her and questioned "Jing Wu?". "Yes Vijay, how are you?", she asked.

After talking to her I thought that she is there in my dream. But even after realising that it is a dream, I am not out of the dream!! She explained me that it is not she in my dream, but me in her dream. She can make people do whatever she wants in this dream. Its like she is the director of that dream in real time world. She would be able to direct the entire universe. ie., This dream is like a parallel universe and She is like a GOD for it. Also she told that this dream will end only when she decides to end it:)

Woops!! Head is rotating for me now. What is a dream? Not thinking too much I asked her to explain. In her sweet voice she started. Chinese english was bit difficult to follow yet I keenly observed her. Every word she spoke was true and very basic that helps realization of human power to the fullest extend. I acknowledged everything. I remembered the tenten that she told me during our chat and asked her about it. She explained me how to execute the tenten technique. No crystal ball or no magic stick, but only mind processing. It was amazing. (I will tell you the procedure for this tenten technique in a seperate blog).

Jing Wu then told me bye and went away. I locked the door and came back to sleep. I think Jing Wu has finished her dream by this time. It was 5 am when I woke up again, this time really (but what is real ? is a question). I remembered most of the things told by Jing Wu in her dream. Having known this great technique what do you think I would have done? If I teach you this technique what will you do?

Now, early in the morning, I wanted to try the tenten technique. I started the mind process as explained by Jing Wu. WoW!! I got into the dream. Rather I brought everything in the universe into my dream. The universe acted as per my wish, as per my direction. Now everyone around me are sleeping. I can do anything I want. OK, let me get the sun early so that people get up. I wished the SUN to rise at 6 am instead of the usual 11 am. Yes, the SUN did come up. It was a beautiful sight to see the sun at 6 am. hahaha.. I am the GOD for this dream universe now.

Just as I was thinking about Jing Wu's tenten technique I remembered that I had forgot something important before coming into the dream. It striked to me that I can go out of the dream and bring it the next time I come to the dream. But, What I forgot is the process for going out of the dream, Oops, now I cannot go out of the dream. Oooh.. What will I do now? I am trying to remember the process for getting out of the dream.

Once I complete my dream, we all will go to the actual 11-11 day world.

what next for India?

2008-12-29T21:04:00.000+05:30

Hope everyone would agree that there is a global economic recession this year which is affecting India as well. If we look at the history it can be seen that such recession or sometimes depression happens at some irregular intervals.
And every time we have come out of it in around a year and then there would be a key development area helping largely in this recovery.

Some perception - Early 1990's recession was overcome by dot-com bubble. 2001 recession (which was caused due to dot-com bubble burst) was overcome by real estate, outsourcing.

I guess India has largely benefited by outsourcing (IT & BPO) before the current recession. So, what would be the case after coming out of this recession? Is India going to continue getting benefit of outsourcing? OR going to get anything new? OR anything that was there before but in a different angle??
Is it going to be IT? biotech? anything new?

I discussed this topic with various groups and below is the summary -

Recession/ Depression is like gang wars in 'THE GODFATHER' - "These things have to happen once every ten years or so. It gets rid of the bad blood. The sanitation department will be sweeping a lot of dead bodies this winter."

IT - Most of the IT people feel that IT would be saturated soon, whereas some non-IT people (and me) feel that IT would continue to dominate for more years.

Asia's domestic market - Infrastructure development in our own and neighboring countries would provide a significant market. e-Governance is one of the major area for Asian countries.

USA being the center of excellence and growth for many countries may get changed. Watch out for countries like Russia and China. Note that Russia had a tremendous growth in the past decade. Also Africa is now 'onsite' place for Infrastructure companies. With our new friends, we may get some piece of action in these places.

Other development options for India could be on Fishing, natural renewable energy generation, biotech, modernization of agriculture, genetic engineering ...

If you have other thoughts let us know through comments for this blog.

2008

2008-12-26T13:15:00.000+05:30

The Year 2008 has passed by and I am anticipating the new year 2009. 2008 was a wonderful year with no major changes in my life. While thinking of 2008, I get the following points in my mind -

I started blogging in January 2008. I found this to be an interesting timepass activity. Hope I will continue this in 2009 also.

One other good thing I did in 2008 was my morning exercise. I did it regularly for almost 8-9 months of the year. It was simple yet regular.

I had spent two months in South Korea, three days in Thailand and rest of the 2008 in India. It was a good experience of meeting people from various countries.

In Bangalore, me and my friends shifted our home from BTM to a flat in GMPalaya in September. Still commuting to office using the office bus only.

I continued working as software engineer at my office and enjoyed my work. Worked on two patent ideas during 2008, soon will become a patent holder:)

This year I tried many different restaurants for food with a variety of cuisines, still Thai is my favorite.

I did not see any great Tamil movie during 2008, though many were good. Also I have started seeing some of the other language movies and liked them (Korean - My Sassy Girl, Unstoppable Marriage, Kannada - Matta, Amrutha Varshini, Hindi - A Wednesday).

Terrorist attack in Mumbai hotels shook the entire world.

My view on life and the philosophy that I believe did not change over this year. I am happy about this :)

2008 had a major Economic recession across the globe. I think this is the first major one after I got some understanding on the world economic conditions.

My Share trading also went into losses owing to the market conditions. But I had fun and lot of learnings about share trading over this year. Hopefully 2009 would be one of the best one for share trading.

This year India especially TN got a good amount of rainfall.

Wish you a happy new year 2009.

comment

2008-11-29T23:11:00.000+05:30

Some people do something good or bad.
Some people comment on what some other people have done.
Some people comment on what other people comment.
Some people remain silent without doing anything.

Think off Which one of the above is good. But you don't stop commenting.

[story] 2 in 1

2008-11-15T15:30:00.000+05:30

"There was a paddy field outside the village and very near to a dense forest. While working there, the villagers appointed John for looking out any wild animals and warning the people whenever some man eater comes so that they could join together and fight against it. It was a boring job for John.

One day John decided to play some trick. He suddenly started shouting 'Tiger.. Tiger.. Help..' All the villagers rushed with all the instruments to save John. As it was a fake call, all were disappointed but John was laughing in his mind.
The next day, getting bored he did that trick again. And the villagers were disappointed badly this time.

The third day, really the tiger came!! Oops.. John shouted for help. The villagers thought it as a fake call and continued with their work. John tried his best to fight with the tiger. Luckily with bad injuries he escaped his life. The villagers felt very sorry for him.

Next day also John went with the villagers for the same job. What do you think the villagers will do if John plays the same trick again?
Boring John shouted for help without any wild animals around. The villagers rushed for help. Seeing no animals around they asked John not to shout simply as it could lead to similar problems faced by John when the tiger really came.

Now, if John shouts next day also the villagers would again run for help, because they dont want to loose John for his kiddish behavior. This would repeat indefinitely even if the villagers get bored of running for help :)

As I was seeing all this happening in the village, I realized and told John that 'There are some things in the world which you cannot ignore even though it did not help you in anyways for so many times'." To explain further, I told him a story. Let me tell you that story...

"I was driving the new 'Chevrolet malibu' at 110 mph (this 'mph' gives a clue that I am driving in US). Looked like I was in rush for something, but not.

My friend was also there with me in the car and we were hearing nice Indian songs as we were enjoying the ride. I know you will know her name. This relaxing ride is the usual thing that we do everyday evening.

Each time I need to turn the car to the next lane of the road, I had to move myself little front and check for any vehicles through the rear view mirror. I need to move to avoid any blind spots. I have observed some times that a vehicle next to me does not appear in the rear view mirror unless I move a little. So, every time I was moving to confirm that no vehicle comes in the next lane before turning the car to that lane. I told my friend that this is a very boring job for me and I am going to miss it sometime.

But I know that I cannot afford to hit another vehicle by not watching the rear view mirror properly. She told me that 'There are some things in the world which you cannot ignore even though it did not help you in anyways for so many times'." To explain further, she told me the story of villagers and John which is above.

vaaranam aayiram

2008-11-14T23:03:00.000+05:30

"Long time back, when MGR appears on the screen and sings 'Rajavin paarvai raani en pakkam...' the theatre will shake because of the crowd's sound and lot of colour papers will fly throughout the movie hall. Nowadays there is not that much of craze for movies among the people" - These were the words of my +2 english teacher when he started the class on one fine monday morning. He was actually referring to a Rajinikanth's movie that he saw during weekend. I was also on the same show, but my thought was exactly opposite to my english teacher. I could not hear any dialouges and I was thinking how crazy people could be to shout like that.

Today I saw a new movie in theatre - "vaanaram aayiram" - first day, second show. No sound from the audience except for people talking their own personal things. Actually we were playing solitaire game in the mobile while in theatre. I think the quality of movies as well as the interest in people for movies have come down. But only the price to be given for a show has increased!!

"vaanaram aayiram" is a beautiful movie. The hero of the movie has done a wonderful job with lot of different getups throughout the movie - Playing 2 roles in the movie he has done more than ten getups. Almost three hour for a movie is difficult to be unboring especially with less number of artists. This movie revolves around a father and his son.

The movie opens with the father suffering from throat cancer. With a very less BGM, his excellant performance continues of a while. This makes us to expect that we will have to wait and watch to dive into fast moving tracks soon. Then, the father dies and the sadness is there in the background throughout the movie. Thus failing to fulfill the expectations. Overall the movie doesnt seem to move faster making us to wait for the interval and the end.

The 'story' doesnt play a major role in the movie. With hero's role as a good guitarist, the music director has scored a good piece of music in songs and in BGM. None of the heroine was impressive in the movie. The last fifteen mins of the movie was like watching someone playing counter strike. The father's flashback took us to the movies of 80's. But not very impressive there too. Looks like the director has tried to give some message in the movie.

I dont remember most parts of the movie (for a person who is used of watching a movie for a week, one movie in 3 hr is too much). And this is my first written movie review. So dont know what to say!!

[story] strong beaks

2008-10-23T23:59:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time there lived a bird called CK in the city of madurai. She was so intelligent that she could complete all her day to day activities in less than an hour. So she had a free time of almost 552 hrs per day. I know you would ask how it will be 552. Considering that she can do her 24 hrs job in 1 hr, she will have 552 normal bird hrs free per day. All these calculations are made relative to today's time.

She decided that she should do something and avoid wasting time. She always wished to visit different parts of the world. So, packing the required food she started flying across the world. In almost two normal bird months she visited three countries in two different continent. She got to know about many birds from many places. And then she returned home. From her experience over this two months, she has gained a lot of knowledge.

Same once upon a time there lived another bird called LA. He was so lazy when compared to CK that he had only 422 hrs of free time per day. In last two months he did nothing other than eating, sleeping and being idle. He use to be so jealous of CK as she is very active. But somehow he like his way of life and continued. Though CK doesn't like LA, she always believed at his capabilities to handle though situations.

When CK returned after her trip, both LA and CK went for dinner together. CK was very happy to explain all her experience. Then she started the worst things she learned during the trip. She told that the planet will be destroyed soon. LA came to the edge of his seat and listened. She explained various situations across the planet which could lead to destruction. As the discussion got hot, each of them picked a dinosaur with their beaks.

One such reason for destruction of world is that a mighty tailed star would rush through the entire universe in next six months. It would burn any body whose volume is greater than 10000 cubic kilo meter. This includes the planet itself. However if it is less than 1000 cubic kilo meter in volume, that star would not do anything. Someone has to save the lives of the planet. Who will do?

After a long discussion, LA came up with a spontaneous plan to save the planet. It looked pretty decent and there seemed to be no other option. The plan was carve out equal sized blocks from the planet which is less than 10000 cubic kilo meter and throw them into the universe. The speed and the direction of throwing should be more calculative that these blocks get together after the mighty tailed star finishes its job (after thousands of years).

CK and LA did not have any time for the planning and the design phase. They decided to do it themself, as it will be difficult to explain the situation and the plan to other birds. Also no one would belive, like today. CK and LA decided to start of from madurai itself. LA started off. He opened his beak wide. Having madurai as the center of his beak, he carved out a big block out of the planet. He then threw it into the universe. He turned and smiled at CK with pride. CK moved her beak left and right and turned quickly.

OK. Now CK continued the same job towards south of madurai and LA doing his job north. They carved out all the pieces from the planet and threw them into the space. As CK threw the last block, both of them were free floating on the universe without any gravitational pull. Both of them looked at each other and smiled. They had a big satisfaction of saving all the lives of the planet. They know that one day all the pieces would join together and the life would sustain in the planet.

They were very tired. They dint even have a dinosaur to eat. As they were thinking if they have done the right job, the mighty tailed star came and burnt them :(
5000 years later, the Earth got created.

skandagiri

2008-10-19T10:30:00.000+05:30

Hi.. this post is about my second trip to skandagiri. Blog on my first trip is here

18th Oct, 2008 mid night (aka early morning) 02.30 hrs I got up as per the plan. This plan has been postponing for almost two years in our team. Kiran would be happy to see this happening atlast:) Nine people decided to start off early in the morning. Saji and SMS brought their cars and picked everyone.

We all met near Hebal flyover at 4am. Few ppl had some energy drink then and we rushed through the hydrabad highway. Suddenly SMS car got some coolant problem and we had to go slow for the rest of the journey. We took a left turn at chikballapur to reach the base of skandagiri aka kalavarahalli betta. There was enough parking space and we could see lot of vehicles already there. Most of them do night trekking and be at the top of the hill to see the sunrise and the floating clouds below them. Yes we could see lot of clouds below the top of the hill. We wish we were at the top at that time. Its 6.00am.

We started the walk and all our cameras started clicking. Gokul captured some interesting videos throughout the trip. The climate was excellent quiet different from my first trip:) This made us relax while walking and also induced lot of rest on the way. Narayanan asusual was the talk of the group, but this time he could take some revenge on Gokul. Veena and Senthil could not walk slow and they were ahead of us all the way, sometimes narayanan joining them.

Deepa (sorry sakshi) brought bf (breakfast) for all. Eating the aalu parota and snacks we walked slowly throughout the trek. SMS was searching for his water bottle throughout the trip though we provided him enough water. It was fun all the way with music playing in any one of our cell phones. Sakshi would start dancing whenever she sees the deep valley by the side. Sapna was the one who could pull sakshi and saji whenever they stopped for a music.

We all reached the hilltop by around 11am. Relaxing over there with noone else around was amazing. As the cellphones started some wonderful songs, we started dancing. It was fun & we ate good amount of snacks, feeding some to the doggy over there. Coming down was bit faster but still we maintained the relaxations all the way.

As we started back from chikballapur, we stopped by a highway dhaba to have our lunch. It was almost 3pm now. Though we were very hungry we could not eat much, thanks to the excellent food. After reaching hebbal flyover, it was again the bangalore traffic and heavy noise around. We dispersed in respective cars to reach back home.

photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/vijayakumar.balasubramanian/Skandagiri1

sharing share

2008-09-28T22:32:00.001+05:30

Stock market has become a major buzz especially in the IT industry in the recent past. Every other person in every other day has their own view of the Indian stock market and the TV channel hosts lot of talks by so called experts in stock market. Sometimes (almost all times) on seeing these would make me feel that nothing is worth. More about stock advices is at this blog. After following Indian stock market for almost 12 years, I am trying to put my thoughts here.

First, lets have an brief introduction on stock price -

There is nothing called "price" for a stock in the secondary share market. Its only the "last traded price" of a stock that would reflect the value of the stock. Hence the value of the stock is decided by buyers/ sellers of the stock. Whenever there is a demand for a stock, the buyers would be ready to pay more than its current value and the sellers would resist selling at the current value, thus the trading would happen at a higher rate and thereby increaseing the stock value. Reverse of this statement is also true.

Next let us see about the stock market -

The stock market doesnot restrict to the buyer, seller, exchange and the stock. Its a very big system with lot of elements in it. Anything that could impact either lightly OR heavily the value of the stock either immediately OR in the near future OR in the far future can be considered as an element of the system. The impact could be either positive OR negative. Also, Elements could affect the value directly OR combination of certain elements could do so. The permutations and combination of all but not restricted to the above mentioned OR factors would increase the complexity of the system. Thus the system in which the stock trading happens is very big and highly dynamic. We can consider each and every activity happening in the world as an element of this system, even a butterfly flapping its wing could be one. (Then, Imagine how big the system could be!).

Now lets move to the main topic -

The tricky question to win stock market is "What is the demand for a particular stock and what could be its demand in future". If every element remains constant in the system, the demand doesnot change. But as the system is highly dynamic, the demand keeps changing. The demand changes only due to the effect of elements in the market and not anything else. So, to determine the future demand of the stock we need to carve out the most important elements of the system and follow its dynamics. Remember that rumor could also be an element of the stock market, and so is the news channel's junk talks :)

From the above, I hope you can believe that the value of a stock is deterministic, meaning that their future dynamics are fully defined by their initial conditions with no random elements involved. Eventhough it is deterministic it is hardly predictable because of the size of the system and its dynamism. One more element of the system is the effect of our effort to evaluate the system which would become recursive and thus becomes unpredictable.

Thus my only suggestion is to dynamically take few important elements of the system related to few stocks and believe in them to invest on them.

Note: The concepts that we have discussed above can be applied for our life aswell. Everything that happens in our life is deterministic (fate), but can hardly be predicted. Some people like true astrologers try to predict it by considering many elements that can greatly affect the system.

[story] Its long time

2008-09-28T10:31:00.001+05:30

Its long time since I wrote a story here. As the time increases, I feel pressurised to write a good story to meet the expectations of the encouragers. So keeping apart my grand stories behind in the queue, here I present a simple short story -

Its long time since I did swiming, I used to swim daily when I was in US. I remember reading that you will never forget swimming after learning even though you donot practice it. So, I am resonably confident that I can swim for my life if needed. I am thinking all these as I was riding a raft all alone in the wide spread Indian Ocean. I couldn't see even a square feet of land in all the directions. Getting tired of driving, I stopped in the middle of the ocean and started dreaming.

I thought about many old sindbad stories as the boat moved along with the wind. A big ship appeared and I was happy to see that as I already decided that I have lost my way. As I waved my hand, the ship came near me. I climbed on to the ship and suddenly my boat vanished. oops! I couldnt believe it. Is it because of the black hole? Though I couldnot assure, I was not into the black hole atleast.

As I moved into the ship, one more big surprise awaited - there was no one in the ship other than me. This reminded me one episode of 'alif laila' (will tell you this episode in a seperate blog). Ok. Now I decided to take the driver seat. Just used my experience of Titanic ride and turned the ship 90 degrees and increased the speed. It was getting dark and also I could observe light flashing from behind. On turning behind I was surprised to see a tall light house flashing the light, I could also witness a big land with lot of tall buildings. Hey, that was the place where I lost my boat and got this ship. now its a big land! Not knowing what to do, I tossed a bhat coin within my heads. I should have got heads, thats why I turned the ship by 180 degrees quickly.

I slowed down the ship as I approached the land. The ship hit the shore and luckily not much of damage. The place looked like a beautiful city. I was walking over the shore and I turned back to see the status of the ship. As I expected the ship was not there :) This land was definitely better than the boat or the ship. Though all the buildings were lighted, I could hardly find anyone like me (humans). Actually there were no moving objects. I went inside a building and had a nice dinner which was ready on the dining table. Then slept over the soft water bed.

Next morning, I got up and opened the bedroom window. It was a nice warm day and I could see the clear beach. Excited with the view, I ran out for a bath into the sea. Suddenly the intensity of the waves increased for a few moment and I am not able to touch the ground. Cool, I am doing a good swimming!

Now my mind told me that there will not be any city behind me. I turned around to find that I was partially correct. I could not witness the beautiful city but a very beautiful city with lot of people around. As I waved my hands, a fisherman came to my rescue. After landing I found that it was the chennai marina beach. After relaxing the day in chennai, I took the train to bangalore.
When I explained this to my friend, he told, "Its definetly the blackhole. You are (un)lucky to comeback!"

my sassy girl

2008-08-24T16:06:00.001+05:30

http://amusmoviereviews.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-sassy-girl-lovely-girl.html

[story] Foolish Fools

2008-08-05T18:39:00.001+05:30

p.s: I wrote this story (including this note) while traveling from office to home in bus today. Now I am just copy pasting from my mind to the blog.

By God's grace, now I am in a so called good position in the society. I have a flat and I own a car too. Mala and RamMohan are my close friends in the office and we stay closeby. We decided to do car pooling for traveling to and from the office. We did this just by considering the traffic in Bengaluru. Although being close friends its difficult to share anything without getting into any small issues.

That day it was Mala's turn. She picked up me and Ram in her car early in the morning. I should say that she is pretty good at driving. As Mala was riding smooth in the outer ring road, suddenly she had to reduce the speed from 40kmph to zero, as the auto infront stopped. She quickly turned to the right (This is how drastic accident happens). Luckily noone was there and she could manage to stop the vehicle. Ram got hurt on his knees. He shouted at Mala for riding so bad. When Mala told the reason for not noticing the auto, it was an acceptable one. I always consider that nobody could escape from this reason.

After reaching office, me and Mala were discussing something. Ram interrupted and asked for the car from Mala. He told that he need to goto the complex nearby to finish some work. It is just 200m away from our office. Mala asked him to walk. Ram said that there would be lot of pollution outside and he wanted to go in car. Mala scolded him badly and told that he should be fool to ride car for 200m distance. Ram went away, but we were still friends. I too felt that Ram should walk instead of taking the car and thought that Ram is a fool to ask for a car to goto that small distance, but I didnot tell anything.

A week later when we went in my car, Mala approached me and asked for the car. She told that she wanted to goto the same complex and its very polluted outside to walk. I just told her that "you should not call someone fool just because you donot understand them", and gave my car key to her. She understood that I was referring to the previous week incident. I then felt that Mala should be a fool to take the car for this small distance.

One more week later when we went in Ram's car, I had to goto the same complex. Hesitant to ask for the car, I decided to walk. It was very horrible to walk and I felt very bad for not asking for the car from Ram. Also after thinking about the three week incidents, now I feel that Ram was wiser to have asked for car in the first time itself. I said to myself that "you should not consider others as fool just because you donot understand them".

Inglish

2008-07-31T23:04:00.000+05:30

Recently I feel that my English is getting poor day by day - Both while talking and writing. I am not sure if I am using the right tense many times. I am sure I was not good at English or any language for that matter at any point of time. But I was reasonably confident of my English few months back. I would not attribute Koreans for this change. Another problem is 'Apostrophe' - I always make mistake in putting the Apostrophe mark at the right place. what could be the problem? Should I start meditating again?

From Seoul to Bangalore

2008-07-23T21:19:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: All the points mentioned in this article are based on my perception. There may be as many points as I have written here that are wrong according to other people.

It was a great return trip for me from Seoul as I had a three day break in Thailand. I could witness the culture of three Asian countries in less than a week. I was very happy to start back from Seoul after a eight week long wonder full and experience full life at Seoul. Packing everything that I need including lot of memories, I started from Seoul at 06:30 on July 15, 2008 and reached Bangalore at 23:40 on July 18, 2008. Sharing some of my observation here...

In Seoul, I could feel that the people have high trust on other people. They are very kind and helpful to everybody and they are very friendly with everyone. As I move towards Thai and then to India, the people trust decreases. I could hardly see a foreigner in Korea. But in Thai one could meet people from almost every country.

In Seoul even if I have bundles of currency notes in my pocket and walk in the crowded or lonely road at any time of the day or night, I need not worry about the money. Apart from me misplacing them, there is no threat of someone stealing them. But as i move to thai and then to blore, the situation changes and I need to pay more attention to my belongings to safeguard them.

I feel that communication is one of the important things in life. The Korean people use their local Korean language for their all means of communication. That allows them to express better, but only to fellow Korean people. Though most of them can read and write English, they hardly speak or understand the English speech. One has to talk slowly and include body languages to communicate with them. Thailand being a tourism place, everyone is able to talk and understand at least the minimum basics in English. Indians speak many languages :)

Work culture – I feel Koreans are one of the most hard working people around the globe. The software engineers whom I have interacted with works for almost 14 hrs a day, 5 days a week. But they really don’t have any passion towards the work. They hate to work, still manage to work (or act like working) long hours. Hence they might not be productive. Most of the Thailand people’s job depends on the tourism. They do an excellent job in that. Indians are diversified in work culture too.

The electricity supply in all these 3 countries is 220v, but there is a little difference in the typical plug point pin used. In Korea, it is 2 point round pin with no pin for Earth. In thai, it is 2 or 3 point flat pin. And in India, it is 2 or 3 point round pin. Luckily I got the pin converters for my laptop charger in the hotel itself.

Food - Excellant need for people, without which life would be very boring. Korean's eat spicy food contradictory to what I had thought before going there. Also they take well cooked food, except for few dishes at few occasions. As both men and women go to work, there needs to be many restaurants and there are lot. Thai food is good, usually with lot of coconut. I didnot eat a Thai dish in Thailand, but I have tasted home made Thai dish while I was in America. The Indian dishes especially the veggie stuffs are famous all over the world. One of the Korean told me that he has become vegetarian after tasting delicious Indian veggie dishes.

From this article you can understand (or just take my words) that I miss lot of stuffs from Korea, but I really love to be in India.

wake up, son!!

2008-06-20T08:15:00.000+05:30

One Early morning a mother went to her sleeping son and woke him up.

MOM : "Wake up, son. It's time to go to school."
SON : "But why, Mama? I don't want to go to school."
MOM : "Give me two reasons why you don't want to go to school."
SON : "One, all the chilldren hate me. Two, all the teachers hate me."
MOM : "Oh! that's not a reason. Come on, you have to go to school."
SON : "Give me two good reasons WHY I *should* go to school?"
MOM : One, you are FIFTY-TWO years old and should understand your responsibilities.
Two, you are the PRINCIPAL of the school.

airports

2008-06-17T12:04:00.000+05:30

Following are the Airports that I have used for boarding/ landing in the last 14 months:

Madras International Airport, Chennai, TamilNadu, India (MAA)
Hindustan International Airport, Bangalore, Karnataka, India (BLR)
Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX, USA (IAH)

N Kentucky International Airport, Cincinnati, OH, USA (CVG)
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, cleveland, OH, USA (CLE)
Canton Regional Airport, Akron, OH, USA (CAK)
Hartsfield International Airport, Atlanta, GA, USA (ATL)
Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand (BKK)
Incheon International Airport, Seoul, SouthKorea (ICN)
Hong kong International Airport, Hong kong, China (HKG)
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei, Taiwan (TPE)
Bengaluru International Airport, Bengaluru, Karnataka (BLR)
Phuket International Airport, Phuket, Thailand (HKT)

15 airports in 7 countries in 14 months. Hope I am an eligible international traveller.

yes or no

2008-06-14T19:20:00.000+05:30

What do you answer for a 'yes or no' question? you can either answer 'yes' or 'no' or 'don't know'. But how do you decide on the answer? You may say that it depends on the question and your knowledge on it. No matter how much you know about the question or how much you investigate to answer the question, there is 50-50 chance of getting it correct or wrong when you reply 'yes' or 'no'. Hence just answer 'yes' or 'no' whichever you like and sometimes 'don't know'. Definite questions like "Are you in Seoul?" are some exceptions.

Moreover, even if you get into the 50 % chance of getting the correct answer, then there is only 50-50 chance of getting marks (or getting recognized) for your answer. Because, many times wrong answers are appreciated. Hence why at all do you have to think? Just answer 'yes' or 'no' whichever you like and sometimes 'don't know' :)

Furthermore, if you are going to get another chance for your wrong answer, you can try 'yes' first and then 'no' or vice versa. Example, whenever my laptop windows gives a big message with yes and no buttons, I will just click either of them without reading. If at all I had chosen wrong option, I may choose the other one when windows asks me again.

One other thing about yes or no - Usually people shake their head 'up down' for yes and 'right left' for no. But most of the Indians shake their head 'right left' for both yes and no :) There will be some difference in the way so that other Indian could identify if it is yes or no. But other people could not differentiate this causing lot of confusion. Moreover most of the Indians shake their head as they talk.

[story] Robot in the city

2008-05-28T18:16:00.000+05:30

It is almost 6 years since Robot's have been banned in India. After the liquid state semiconductor and the nanobiological revolution period, every other scientists were able to make their own robot's at their home. This led to huge economic wave across the countries. People were restless and jobless too. After a big chaos for two years, the World Peace Organization along with the World Scientific Community created a set of rules and regulations on using the technology. One major point in that is that no individual can have a robot with more than or equal to 6 Susi power.This would restrict anyone having robot with human power. And India supports and imposes these rules.

Beyond these rules, some Indians like the criminals/ terrorists of the past have robots with human power at their home. The major duty of the Indian Police Force is to detect these people and produce them at the court of the King. They have a vital eight hour interrogation technique to identify the robots and their owner. As you know the criminals are almost wiser than Police, initially at least. I am one such person :) There is a Robot in my house created using the tips given in Reader's Digest and the tvnet.

Her name is Mala. She use to help me out in all my household activities. She helps me in my business. All of the above I like her smile. Somehow we both have a permanent account number and we are in the IHL(Indian Human List). When everything was going fine, I heard that there is going to be a random check in the city. I was afraid as the Indian Police Force have a good record for identifying almost all powerful Robots. I told on various things that Mala needs to do and importantly not to do in next few days. Still I did not have much of hope.

When we were browsing through the tvnet, the police came and rang at our house. I asked Mala to keep watching the tvnet and I opened the door. As the police came inside, Mala was seriously reading something. Though I asked her to be careless and free, she was serious. Police asked some normal survey questions to me, which I answered. Then they called Mala. She turned 90 degrees within a fraction of second, which I have asked her not to do. While we were talking casually (which was supposed to be the interrogation), the police asked some wage mathematical question - what is 8 to the power 16? Mala as she remembers all our previous discussions, answered 281474976710656 immediately. Oops! Again I told her not to answer anything tough. Then they took Mala inside a room.

After complete interrogation for about 8 hrs during which my heart beat increased, they came out. I was silently asking if there is any problem. The Police replied, "Sorry for the trouble Vijay. We are done with our work and found no issues. Thanks for the cooperation." I told thats not a problem. As they went out,
I locked the door, went straight to the reading room. I Eat 6 pieces of horse shoe magnet, and put the right hand fingers into the electricity plug point.
hehehe. I am the Robot created by Mala.

Korean Temple Stay

2008-05-28T13:07:00.000+05:30

Korean Buddhist temple offer "temple stay" wherein people can stay in the temple for certain period of time and do whatever the monks and the nuns do in the temple. I participated for a 24 hr temple stay when I was in Seoul. Thought of sharing my experience here(for me). Read through if you are interested...

More than the activities in the temple, the people whom I got to interact were more interesting. I got to meet people from different countries staying in temple for months together. Most of them keep traveling around the world-

Almost Everybody said that Indian's have very smart brain. Not only because they know me :) This is a general statement infront of all nation people.
A Korean guy was saying that Indians make many delicious vegetarian food, and he became veggie only after eating in India.
When I joined the team, the Head monk gave few instructions and asked me to follow other people. Later when an American joined, the head monk explained him for almost 15 mins about the temple stay. Later told me that for Indians even if they donot give any instruction, they will do things right, but for other people even if they give somuch of instruction, they will have doubts :)
A lady from Canada was very much excited that she will visit India this year. She told many good things about India like people, religion, intelligence, diversity etc.
A Korean lady was very much worried about the caste system in india.
There was a very old Korean man who doesn't speak english. Whenever he met me he use to say this - "Ajantaa Elloraa superr".
The head monk who was pretty senior for meditation told that the way of meditation started from India and was very thankful for India.

The temple, though very much inside the city, was in the basement of a mountain filled with lot of trees. It was very calm over there. While in the temple, most of the time we were practicing meditation. We woke up at 3am, did chanting, bowing in front of Lord Buddha, cleaned the temple campus, 1 hr walk through the mountain forest. Also we were provided with korean style food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and some snacks, tea. Was in the temple from 2pm Friday to 2pm Saturday. Apart from these, there were lot of other spiritual learning's which I cannot put in words :(

basics in seoul

2008-05-26T06:39:00.000+05:30

il, i, sam... start...

Food - I tried eating outside few times before I started cooking in Seoul. The Korean food was very different from what I was expecting before coming here. The food is spicy and the meat is well cooked. Though few people here like raw meat as well, it is not common. Usually they have salads with their food. Noodles and rice are their common food. They manage to eat everything other than liquid with a pair of chop stick. Even I am able to eat noodles with chop sticks now. I also went to a Delhi hotel, which served Indian dishes in modified to Korean form. There is also a chain of Indian hotel called "Ganga".
Shelter - Most of the buildings in Seoul are very big and the roads are very wide. The average speed of the taxi that I take would be around 100 kmph. One of the taxi driver asked me don't we study Korean in school:) The traffic is mixed Indian and American style.
Clothing - Most of the people in Seoul wear formals. My team mates come with coat, suit, tie everyday. Even the securities of big buildings are in coat suit. We saw few people with their traditional dress at the Buddha temple. The traditional dress is very big that it needs two hands to carry while walking.

il, i, sam....

2008-05-22T08:20:00.001+05:30

il, i, sam.... don't bother. am just saying 1, 2, 3.... in korean language. Now Start.

I visited couple of places in Seoul this weekend. It is very good to see places here and it is also a wonderful mental experience for me to see the Korean lifestyle.
Seoul is supposedly a zero crime city. Even when I came back to hotel at 1am in the night, I could see many girls walking alone in the daunted streets. Here people doesn't bother about other people around, they just focus on what they do. Most of the koreans I see in public are couples. They keep on chatting with each other or hugging each other. Noone is going to stare at them. Even people who are alone are not alone. They are always busy with something. Either they read books or talk over phone or listen to music in their mp3 player or play video games or write something.

Me and my colleague went to Seoul's largest buddha temple. This temple has a triad statue of Buddha. And there is a Brahma bell pavilion - this has 4 instruments which are sounded everyday to call beings to hear the words of Buddha. Then we went to North Seoul tower. It is Korea's first integrated communication tower, transmitting TV and radio signals, constructed in 1969. Since 1980 it is opened for public as a recreational/ cultural complex. We were allowed to go till midway of the tower and we could get a good view of the city from there. We used the subway trains and local bus for visiting these places.
We had also been to a market where there are lot of handicraft items sold in streets as well as the shops. It is more like the Indian market.

And Koreans are supposedly the most hardworking of all the countries in the world. I will try to give my thoughts on this after few more weeks.

first time in seoul

2008-05-11T22:21:00.000+05:30

안녕하세요 이분을 여의도 메리어트 호텔로 데려다 주세요.

위치는 여의도 전경련 회관 뒤에 위치해 있습니다.

오시기 전에 2090 – 8013으로 전화해 주시면 안내해 드리겠습니다.

감사드립니다.

I still don't know what the above means. But this is what I gave to a taxi driver to reach Marriott hotel from airport in Seoul. I have come to Seoul on a business trip for my company. Its going to be a two months stay here. But the first day I reached here I wanted to go back home. Not many people here speak English. There were couple of my fellow colleagues in the hotel, who helped me a lot. But one of them is already back to India. I wish I also get back soon.

Some men in world, Cursed or Blessed, have all the time in world. They have no one to talk and they do all the stupid or divine things in world. I am one of them. I am not sure what I am doing here. Hoping to write all good experience at Seoul in my next coming blogs.

simple practical puzzle

2008-05-09T16:04:00.000+05:30

Six of us stay in our house and we use to manage the home expenditures in the following way -
We have an expenditure sheet where there is one column per person. whenever someone spends something that is common for all, he needs to enter the amount under his name in the expenditure sheet. At the end of the month, sum of amount spent by all the people added together would be the total expenditure. This total amount divided by six should be each person's contribution. Now whoever did not completely contribute his part would give money to person who has spent more.

Last week four of us went to a movie and one person spent rs600 that day. This 600 needs to be shared only by four people who went for the movie. The question is how much amount should be written under each person's column, so that the month end calculation remains the same.

day 26th april, 2008

2008-04-26T22:48:00.000+05:30

26th april, 2008, Early morning 4.30, I got a mobile call from Praba in next room- wake up call. We had plans for going to Skandagiri. We managed to start from home at 6am. Skandagiri is a small trekking spot near bangalore, which we were planning to trek for the last 2-3 months. Six of us drove through hydrabad highways in three motor bike to reach chikballabur, with some breaks for relaxing and fueling motor bikes & ourselves. Around 5 km from chikballabur, we parked our vechicles and started the trekking at around 9 am.

Initially it was a flat walk through the basement of skandagiri hill - nice moon light walk, though the intensity of sunlight was bit more. Then we climbed through small passage between rocks and plants. Though it was hot, there were lot of kotages on the way for taking rest. There are also some wells on the way where one can ring bell :) But there is no water. We carried only 1 bottle of water which was very less.

After walking for about 1.75 hr, we reached the hilltop (10.45am). The sun's heat was overridden by the cool breeze. We took some nice photo's and started back at 11am. Actually, sharp 12 noon one could see moon, sun and a star with tail from the hilltop. But since praba had to travel in the evening, we could not wait for that valuable view. Coming down was not so difficult, but we were starving for water. Without water we din't even want to eat biscuits which we carried.
It was once again a good drive through hydrabad road during the return journey. As we entered bangalore we stopped at Eden park for Lunch, and with heavy stomach we reached home at about 3pm.
photos at http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vijayakumar.balasubramanian/Skandagiri

deserve

2008-04-23T22:03:00.000+05:30

no power in the universe can withhold from anyone anything he really deserves - swami vivekananda

I will let u think on this thought.

100% hike

2008-04-07T15:11:00.000+05:30

one day, I heard about smokeless soodam - It will not give out smoke when burnt. It seems it is little costlier than the normal soodam. The cost of this smokeless soodam is 1 Re whereas the same quantity of normal soodam is 0.5 Re. Hence only 0.5 Re costlier. But if you see this with business eye, smokeless soodam is 100% more costlier than the normal soodam!! It is really more costly.

on running after one's hat

2008-03-31T22:48:00.000+05:30

"On running after one's hat - when I first read this topic, I thought it as an idiom and it could not mean what it means literally. Because English has lot of idioms that would mean entirely different like kick the bucket means to die. But as I went through the lesson, I found it had literal meaning" - my eleventh standard english master Dr. Rajasekaran started his class on a fine monday morning.

The author of the lesson was sad on hearing that London was flooded in his absence. Many people would think otherwise. Though there are lot of worries accompanying the flood, there is lot more to be enjoyed is what the author wants to bring out in his article. For example, we have often heard old people complining about trains coming late. but the same situation excites children who wonders at the lights, sign boards and the other trains at the station.

Similar to these scenarios, people often dont like to chase their flying hat at the beach. Not because it makes them run, but they say it is humiliating them. The same person runs more eagarly behind a small leather ball during games or to catch a bus/ train. If we think there are more interesting happenings while running behind a hat - like it helps his body fit and at the same time gives lot of pleasure to people watching at him.

The same principle can be applied to all small worries in our life. One of the author's friend has problem pulling his drawer as it gets jammed often. This could be solved by thinking of pulling at the tug of war competition. So everything depends on how we think about it. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered, says the author G K Chesterton.

I liked this lesson as narrated by our english master and in every exam I loved to write the summary of this lesson, now too.

[story] gas balloon

2008-03-30T20:53:00.000+05:30

One fine Sunday, when I was in Madurai, I went out to buy some groceries. At the shop there were lot of balloons hanging. I realized that it was Christmas time. I added some balloons to my shopping list. With the shopping bag in front of me, it was little difficult for me to ride the bike back home.

After reaching home, I put the bag minus one balloon in the kitchen. With one balloon and the sunnambu dabba I ran to the top floor of our home. I remember that drying balloons with sunnambu inside will make it a gas balloon. I decided to try that out. After applying the necessary chemical stuffs inside the balloon, I dried it with the sun light. Then, blew the balloon. It did not fly as per my expectation. I waited. Slowly the balloon started raising. I held the thread tightly. The balloon moved up with force. Not wanting to leave the balloon, I tied a big rope to the balloon and my body. The balloon started pulling me up. wow! I was flying with the balloon :)

In sometime, the houses looked like match box and people ants. In moretime, I was moving through the clouds. I was hungry - checked my pockets, and found a choc. Remembering that chocs will give instant energy, I took it and ate it. As usual, I put the choc wrapper into my pocket. As time went by I was worried that my mom would be looking for me. Even if the balloon moves down fortunately, I would not land in the same place where I started. The earth rotates and the wind is blowing.

I saw a flight as big as it would be when we see it closer - it should be an international flight, as I am already high enough. still the balloon is moving upward. Now I could feel some kind of difference in pressure. Not sure if it is high or low pressure. My mind thought of physics - With high pressure difference within and outside a balloon, it may burst. As I was thinking the same,
damaar... damaar... the balloon busted. why is there two bursts??

Suddenly an auto driver shouted at me - "did you tell your home before leaving?".
Still I am driving the bike with the shopping bag in front of me.

[story] call from GOD

2008-03-13T08:57:00.000+05:30

I was in Houston USA that time, working for HP. One day my teammate from India mailed me that a new girl Mala has joined our office and she is beautiful. This reminded me about Prasad's daughter. I had a good time in USA. When I returned India, I went straight from airport to office. When I met Mala in office, I was surprised, she is the same Mala whom I met first in hotel Germanus.

Few months went by.. People planned for a trekking in our team. I had some other important task for that weekend and hence did not join the trek initially. Then, I heard that Mala is joining the trek as she knew almost all of our team members. Inspired by Mala, I too joined the trek canceling all my work for the weekend :). Our plan was to hit kodachadri peak in kolur. Eight of us traveled in ksrtc the whole friday night and started with the trekking on saturday 9am. During our initial trek, I was telling the story of kodachadri peak to the team (will tell you in a separate story). We had early lunch and started the real trek.

As we moved on we could feel the goodness of nature. We were deep inside the forest with lot of other forms of life. One such thing is the leech. There were lot of leeches getting over our legs and sucking our blood. If we stop by to clear some leech, many more would climb and do their job. One good thing is that it will not pain when leeches suck our blood. Silently they climb over our leg, swell by drinking our blood and then fell down. Hence we had to walk continuously without rest. As it was pouring too we dint have any choice of taking rest also.

Me and Mala were really slow that we could not see others atall. It started getting dark early and the rain didnot stop. We ran for sometime, yet we could not catch others. Probably we have lost our way :( We checked our mobiles if it can help us.. Ooh God, no signal. As we were already tired, I was very much worried about the night. There is no place to camp expect the hill top and we had roughly half hour to reach that spot. If otherwise we are gone. While thinking of the leeches and other wild life I was totally scared. Running out of idea's I could not walk further.

Suddenly her mobile rang. She gave it to me saying the GOD is calling!! I asked her who is God? She told its real GOD. we were surprised. I turned ON the speaker. A divine voice started - "Good afternoon my kids. I am the Goddess Moohambigai. What do you want?". I was nervous as I asked "What is this GOD? We are left alone. We are afraid. We just want to escape from this forest". GOD began... "My dear kids, if you think you are alone, you will be alone for ever. If you think you are afraid, you will be afraid for ever. If you want to escape from this forest, first leave out your fear. Just try with your full energy - full mental energy in addition to your physical energy. If you have full faith in yourself, nobody can stop you...."

Tough it was not an inspirational talk by GOD, it triggered my mind. I multiplied my thoughts and in seconds, I cut the phone, grabbed mala's hand, started running. In next five minutes I was at the hill top where my friends were waiting :) Cooool.

[story ends]
For those who don't believe that GOD spoke to us, assume that those were spoken by Mala. Anyways she is an inspirational girl for me.

aasai

2008-03-11T18:28:00.000+05:30

When I started to know about the Indian share market, around 9 years before, I use to follow the price of some company shares. Out of the companies that I follow, there was one company share which was far ahead of other company shares in price and also continuously increasing. I use to think that this company should be very big and the employees of that company are really great. Six years later, I got to know that its infact true when I got job in wipro. Its the same company wipro whose share price I use to amaze at.
Now when I see some company stocks whose price keeps raising, I think about when my company will get listed in NSE and grow like this!!

[story] water car

2008-03-07T20:12:00.000+05:30

Thursday morning "The times of India" had some news about Dr. Prasad, my physics professor. I read it with interest to see that he is being awarded by chief minister that sunday. The paper had his address which excited me to meet him. I dint forget to take the paper when I went home friday night. Asusual I slept in the upper berth while travelling to madurai in train number 6732.

Saturday morning, I took our newly bought old omni and drove towards Prasad's home. I was happy to see some new bridges being constructed on the way. That has created some traffice in madurai too. I was not worried about it as I am used with bangalore traffic!! somehow I was feeling very sleepy:) As I reached Prasad's home, I pressed the calling bell and waited. The door opened shortly. I was surprised that Mala opened the door. The same Mala whom I saw in hotel Germanus the other day!

Mala was so beautiful in saree. She just asked me to come in as if she knew me. As I sat in the shofa, Dr. Prasad came - he has become pretty old. After greeting him, I looked at Mala. Prasad introduce me to her, and told me that it is Mala her daughter. Prasad asked me if I want coffee or juice. He turned to Mala and asked coffee for himself. Mala looked at me and raised her eye brow as if to ask what I want. I told, "ditto". She smiled a mile and went into the kitchen. Her face didnot vanish from my eyes.

Prasad told me that he is getting old and not happy with travelling from home to office - hence had setup a lab in home itself. I acknowledged him by saying that the roads are becoming busy and its difficult to travel. He did not expect any answer from me and he complined that he is getting so much of anger these days. I told that I am still in a sleepy mood and hearing some train sound at the background :) He wanted to show me his lab. I wanted to goto lab after having coffee, as I was still thinking of Mala. He pulled me saying that he will show me a car which runs in water. I asked him if it will be like a ship. He replied that it will use water as its fuel. Amazing! I went with him to his garrage (lab).

In his lab, I saw a car hanging at a height of 6 feet from ground. When I went inside, Prasad warned me not to touch anything as the parts of the car are fitted tight. ok. I went below the car and rotated one of its wheel. It came with my hand. ha.. I left it down and ran outside. As I just came out, the car fell and got crashed:( Prasad got angry - frustrated - took the long heavy screw driver and came towards me as if he is going to kill me. I got frightened and shouted "Mala...". nobody came :( Prasad came near me and inserted the screw driver into my stomach.. aaaaaa... The train sound increased and the person in the lower berth woke me up saying that madurai is nearing.

[story] small RamMohan

2008-03-05T14:11:00.000+05:30

"ditto", I told.. and the coffee arrived.
Taking the first sip I told, "Dr. Prasad committed a big mistake!". The girl in front of me asked me what has happened. I have never met her till yesterday, but decided to tell my story to her as she was looking good :) I started...
"Dr. Prasad is my physics professor in college. He is a research oriented person who never cares about the external world. Once he has given me 108 marks out of 100 in the lab exams. That day my AC motor was smoking and it never ran after that. He is such an encouraging person for experiments. He has so much of confidence in my brain.. J"

That girl in front of me interrupted and asked me to come to the point. I continued...

"I never met him after completing my degree until last month. Last month he met me near my school and told me this thing - He was doing some experiment in his lab to find a medicine which will keep people young for ever."

"You mean young for ever?" she came to the edge of her seat.

"Yes. The bad thing is he used his experimental medicine with my friend RamMohan. RamMohan became a baby after taking the medicine. And the worst thing is that he is not able to bring him back. We were discussing about that medicine for almost an hour. Then, Prasad had set up a meeting with me to discuss more about his experiment. As I told you, he always believes my brain :) We fixed the meeting at hotel Germanus at 8pm."

As always I reached the hotel well in advance 7.30pm. I took my seat in a table which faces the gate so that I can catch hod of Prasad easily. When I was waiting for him, a young girl came alone through the gate. I could not move my eyes out of her - she was so beautiful. She came straight to my table - I was surprised. After getting my permission, she sat with me - wow. As we introduced ourself - she is mala, the waiter came and asked for the order. Mala told "a coffee please". The waiter raised his eye brow and looked at me asking for my order.

[continuation of the story is at the start of this blog]

[Story] hundred rupees note

2008-01-24T15:01:00.000+05:30

Last Friday, I was in full happy mood to go home. I stay in bangalore for work and my parents are in home at madurai. No wonder why I was happy. I packed everything and rushed to Madiwala among the heavy slow moving bangalore traffic. With a huge risk i got into the 8.30 parveen travels bus at 9pm. ha.. the bus also has to come through some traffic!

My seat number was f1, a window seat. Next to me in f2 there was a mid aged man sitting and talking to himself and sometimes to me. Though I dint care for it, I could understand it was his frustration for bangalore traffic. The bus started and I slept, In my dreams....

"A parveen travel bus stops on the way for tea/ snacks. People in the bus are sleepy and no one is getting out of their seat. A small boy from the tea shop comes into the bus, I am looking at him. He tells everyone individually that he can bring them tea to their seat. He is so eager to get some order. When he comes to e1, the seat in front of mine, he gets an order for tea, probably from a software engineer. I will tell you why it must be a software engineer - that person gave 10 rupees and asked the boy to have the change as tips. ok.. then the boy comes near my seat and asks, "what can I do to get hundred rupees note as tips". The already frustrated person at f2 scolds him and asks him to get down. I stop the boy and ask him, "what will you do if you get a hundred rupee note". The boy did not reply how he will spend it, but told that "I will sleep this week" :( I take a new 500 rupee note from my purse and give it to him. I could see the happiness on his face :) He turns around, runs and jumps out of the bus, probably for a good sleep. I was happy."
and my neighbor woke me up saying madurai has come.

Just as I woke up, I checked my purse to find that the new 500 rupee note that I took from SBI ATM was missing.

wise servants - II

2008-01-22T21:58:00.000+05:30

continuation of wise servants
We started discussing about the morning theft in mails. It was like a detective story. Here is the gist of the discussion:

* Was there a possiblity of any one being hidden inside house the previous night itself?
* The cook brings one more assistant to our house. We were not sure whether both left the house.
* The kitchen has a 'paran' in which we have dumped old clothes - nice place to hide.
* when the cook left, his partner might not have left and stayed in the 'paran' till midnight. In midnight, he came down, looted everything and silently went out.
* My purse was on the shelf, which could not be seen easily unless otherwise noted previously. The cook could be the informer.
* The cook has been asking for hike for the past 3-4 months.
* When Sathyan told about the theft to the cook he just told ok.
* When we spoke to the cook next evening, we saw some artificial smile in his face. (May be our perception).
* We have been hearing lot of thefts in the last two weeks in our area.

One other option is a long thin handed person should have opened both the latches of the door while hanging on the windows. This as far as we could see is impossible.
So, we concluded the cook as the culprit.

Moral:
"We should not have the same servant or stay in the same rented house or use the same credit cards for more than one year - You may be noted"

wise servants

2008-01-22T21:18:00.000+05:30

I never believed whenever someone blames their servant for the things missing in their home. But recent interactions with my cook proved it wrong. Let me tell one true detective story.

One early morning 6.30, I heard one of my roommate(Prabakar) panicing that the door is open. As I woke up, my other room mate (Sathyan) told that his mobile is missing and asked us to give a call. Yes, his number was not reachable. Then, three of us were talking some things in choas, and one other roommate(Sakthi) told that his purse is gone. I looked for my purse - it was also not there :( We were worried about the credit/ debit cards that were there in the purses. Luckily our lappy's and other items were in place.

Both of us took the bank customer care numbers from net and started blocking the cards. In between, Praba told that my purse is lying outside the door. Yes, except for around 100 rs cash everything including cards were in place. habba... we started searching the other purse. After some 2-3 mins search, got that too in the same condition. Again thanks to Praba. Now all started asking Praba for the mobile :)

We were almost happy. Asusual, the cook came and started his job. We were 101% sure that the door was locked with two latches before we slept the previous night, and there is no other way into the house. There was no damage on the door or anywhere else. The door latches were quite far to reach with hands through the window, and they are quite strong to open with any hook. We were wondering how the thief could have done this...

How we traced the culprit will be available in my next blog.

my first blog

2008-01-22T20:52:00.001+05:30

This would be the first blog title for most blog writers..... No exception here. The next couple of blogs are for what I have started writing blogs.