wow!

Google desktop search rocks.

Ambition

“Enakku thevayelaam ettu mani neram thookam, poo pola naalu idli, pudhina chutney, manssukku niraivaana vellai, appa ammavoda oru kai rummy, pooncholai gramathilai oru azhaghana rakshasi .. sunday evening titanic .. saravana bhavan tiffin”

It is a line mouthed by the middle class hero in the Shanker superhit, Mudhalvan. A line which underlines Sujatha's astute understanding of the Indian middle class.

There is one quote which I use whenever talk centres around India. It goes something like this,

The rest of the world has the “haves” and the “have nots”. Only India has the “have but did not wants”.

The dialogue from Mudhalvan best illustrates this. To be satisfied and be happy with the simple pleasures of life is a gift which adversity has bestowed upon the Indian middle class.

Capitalism is fueled by ambition. The great american dream has its roots in the ambitions of the immigrants who set foot in the land of oppurtunities with dreams of making it big.

India is, ofcourse, well known for its “chaltha hai” attitude. A casual approach towards work indeed towards life itself is what best charecterises India. You don't get to find a lot of perfectionists, go - getters, people bend upon conquering the world from India. Occasionally, a raw talent like tendulkar comes around and suprises the world. But people are still searching for the Steve Waugh from India.

Why is this ?

Can it be something as simple as the fact that oppurtunities were simply not available as a result of which lethargy set in at a national level ?

Or is it simply a lingering legacy of the british rule which left behind an absymally poor country and people shorn of ambition ?

Or is the fact that knowledge/art and not business was what was encouraged during the ancient maharaja days.

Or is it the fact that from a long time back, we have had a history of renunciation where people realising the meaninglessness of the material world have given it up and found comfort in the spiritual ? The idealogy behind the matrix, that the world that we see around us is an illusion, is something widely prevalent in local literature and nothing new to us.

In any case, the new wave of capitalism is changing the way India functions. National research instituitions which for a long time worked under the “knowledge is free” principles are actively patenting their ideas and defending their IPs. The IITs are getting more and more concerned about their industrial collaborations and profits.

Capitalism definetely has its pluses. But it distorts the moral fabric of the country. Americans are just waking up to this fact.

Should we be worried ?

I dont know. Change is as always inevitable. Clinging to age hold traditions will take us nowhere. Looking back and glorifying the past is something Indians are good at. Something which I regularly indulge in.

But I can't be oblivious of the fact that poverty is rampant. Money, however ugly the word might sound to be, is what is needed to take us forward.

Let us take an example which I am best qualified to talk about. Me. Here I am, doing everything in my wherewithal to earn more. There was a time when I used to write simply because I enjoy writing. Now I try to think of ways in which I can increase my traffic and earn more.

Still, I console myself by thinking that I am doing this with a short term goal of earning more to meet a long term goal of early retirement and social service.

The sheer fact that I am ashamed of thinking up of ways to earn more shows the deep seated guilt in the middle class minds associated with earning more than what is reasonable.

Maybe, I am a hopeless romantic or an idealogical fanatic or an emotional fool.

But here is what I hope,

I hope to see an India where money is seen as a means to an end and not as a lifelong quest. I hope to live in an India where people have all the money in the world and are still able to give it up if needed.

A return to the time of the Budha, someone who had everything yet gave it up all and embarked on a search to find the true meaning of life. The only worthwhile quest that life has to offer.

Onamashamsakkal !

Happy onam everyone.

I found this excellent article which I think is worth reproducing here.

Onam - The Festival of Exuberance

Kerala is celebrating another New Year- Year 1179, according to the Malayalam calendar, also known as “Kollavarsham”.

Chingam or Bhadrapada, the first month of the calendar ushers in ONAM, the national fiesta of Kerala. After the rain drenched Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month of plenty. The sky becomes blue, the deep forest becomes greener and it is time to reap the harvest, time to celebrate and to rejoice along with the Nature. And Onam epitomizes the newfound vigour and enthusiasm about everything around. It is celebrated with traditional Malayalee fervour with visit to temples, family get-togethers, gifting each other clothes called Ona-kkodi and lots of merry making.

This picturesque ten-day harvest festival has been part of Malayalee psyche for centuries now. There are records of Onam being celebrated during the Sangam Age. Onam festivities have been recorded during the time of Kulasekhara Perumals around A.D 800. It is believed that during those days the whole of Chingam was celebrated as Onam season.

Pablo Neruda - Poetry of Pablo Neruda

“And it was at that age...Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.”

Read more

There was a time when I used to write poetry. It was a long time back, during my college days. Vignesh was one of the very few who has read them. ( He used to write quite a lot of them as well .. )

After aimlessly wandering on the web for a while, I chanced upon the above poems by neruda. I remember getting inspired when I read those words on a lazy sunday afternoon in the balcony of my Trivandrum home.

Some moments do stay back as memories for you to savour.

Google ROCKS !

I guess, It is obvious. Everyone knows it. Any other company would have been content to lay back and rest on their laurels. But they are not that kind. No Sir. They keep coming up with fantastic ideas like Google news and the latest one about which I will be talking about.

I signed up yesterday for their latest product : Adsense.

What is it ?

It delivers targeted advertisements to your website. For years, online advertisers have been talking about targeted ads but nobody has ever really delivered. And google has. In a big way.

Just take a look at the ads on this page about kerala. The ads are about kettuvallam houseboats and the karakathi beach house ! That is how targeted it can get. And I didnt have to do a thing. Google understood the content of the page and delivered the best ad for it. Infact, the ads were so targeted that I felt very tempted to click them myself ! In the end, I did a google search and learned more about them :-)

This page about a US VISA bill affecting indians has ads about green cards and immigration.

When I saw these, I knew Google had a winner on their hands. This will change the online advertising industry in a way nobody could have thought about. And it came from the most unlikely direction.

Ofcourse, there are still a few issues. This site's home page is not getting very targeted ads. I read in a forum that a page listing download mirrors was getting ads about lady's mirrors :) But I am confident that google will solve them sooner than latter.

And finally, we will have ads which are related to and enhance the content of the page. Way to go !

So if you have a website and want to make some money, go ahead and partner with google.

Mamallapuram / Mahabalipuram.

Since the current design of tamizhan.com revolves around a photograph of arjuna's penance from Mamallapuram, I thought I would share some information I collected on it during the process.

from the indiamart pages,

Name.
The proper name of the site is “Mamallapuram”, after Mamalla, an honorific of the Pallava king, Narasimha Varman I (630-668), who created the earliest of its monuments. But it is popularly called “Mahabalipuram”, or “The city of Bali”, whom Lord Vishnu chastised for his pride and of whom there is a relief in one of the excavated temples here.

About Mahabalipuram
The history of Mahabalipuram dates back to two thousand years, it contains nearly forty monuments of different types including an “open air bas relief” which is the largest in the world, for centuries it has been a centre of pilgrimage, it figures in the early annals of the British search for the picturesque in India in the 18th century, today it attracts shoals of foreigners in search of relaxation and sea bathing, and most strange of all, it has an atomic power plant for neighbour. A small library has been written on it.

Over its history and that of its monuments a number of scholarly controversies rage. Mahabalipuram was already a centre of pilgrimage when, in the 7th century Mamalla made it a seaport and began to make temples fashioned of rock. It was through Mahabalipuram that many Indian colonists, who included sages and artists, migrated to Southeast Asia. Sri Lanka's national chronicle, the “Mahavamsa” testifies to this fact.


from the TTDC site,
This skilfully carved rock is the largest bas - relief sculpture in the world. It gets its name from the figure of an ascetic who is believed to be Arjuna, the hero of Mahabharata, doing penance to obtain a boon from Lord Siva. However, there are others who think that the figure is actually Bhagiratha who entreated Siva to let the river Ganges flow over the earth.

Among the other carvings on the rock are animals and heavenly beings witnessing the descent of the Ganges from the Himalayas and some episodes from the Panchatantra tales.


from the roamin-aboout site,

One of the most spectacular carvings is the “Descent of the Ganges”also known as 'Arjuna's Penance'. The carving tells the story of pious Arjuna who persuades Shiva to use his hair to break the fall of the River Ganga. The large cleft between the boulders is the where the Ganges descends.
Around him is a crowd of animals, gods, and ascetics watching the saving of the world as the river descends.


from the jetairtours site,

TOURIST SPOTS IN AND AROUND MAMALLAPURAM :
Caves : There are nine rock-cut temples. The Mahishasuramardhini cave, depicting the goddess fighting a demon on one side and Lord Vishnu's cosmic sleep on the other, is a particularly remarkable one.

Krishna Mandapam : A bas relief, notable for its realistic representation. The panel relates to one of the stories of Lord Krishna.

Arjuna's Penance : This is the world's largest bas relief measuring 27m X 9m. This huge whale-backed rock contains figures of gods, demigods, men, beasts, birds and almost all of the entire creation. And, this is easily the pride of Mamallapuram.

The Five Rathas : There are the five monolithic temples, each created in a different style. They are also known as the Pancha Pandava Rathas - and four out of the five rathas are supposed to have been carved out of a single rock.

The Shore Temple : This is one of the oldest temples. Unique about this temple is the fact that it houses shrines for both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. This belongs to the early 8th century AD and it is a classic example of the first phase of structural temples constructed in pure Dravidian style.

The Government College of Architecture and Sculpture: Here training is imparted in the various branches of temple art and architecture, according to Silpa Sastra.

Crocodile Bank : Is situated about 14 kms. away from Mamallapuram. Over 5000 crocodiles representing 6 different species are maintained here. There are also numerous other types of rare reptiles.

Covelong : The remains of the fort have now been converted into a luxury beach resort which offers facilities for windsurfing and swimming, an ancient Catholic Church, a mosque and the  ruins of the fort make interesting viewing from this 5 Star hotel.

Tirukalukundram : This tourist spot has a small Shiva temple situated on the top of the Vedagiri
hill which is 160m high. Just before noon everyday, two White kites stop at the temple and are fed by the temple priests. Legend has it that these two birds are actually saints who daily make a stop to rest at the temple on their flight between Varanasi and Rameswaram.

There is also a larger Shiva Temple in the town below. At the South-East end of the town is a spacious tank whose waters are said to have curative powers. Once every 12 years, a conch is discovered in this tank and thousands of devotees flock to bathe in the tank at this auspicious time. A collection of the conches is displayed in the larger Shiva Temple.

Muttukkadu : This is an ideal picnic spot. T.T.D.C, runs a Boat House, where facilities for boating and wind surfing are available.


Sounds like a good place to visit ?

google

search statistics on your site always make for interesting reading. ever since, i got included in this google directory , i have been getting a lot of hits from google and boy, are they interesting ! by the by, masala gets a lot of hits for people looking for steamy pictures because that is what masala means on the net, i guess :)

anyway, here are some of the search results that caught my eye ..

1. wipro hate
now this one is amazing :) google has pulled two words out of context, totally unrelated and occurring at two different places in my site and put them together. I guess, I need to sue google for this :-) And if the guy who did the search comes back again, let me assure you that I am happily employed in wipro and hope to continue there for a long time to come. And I would heartily recommend it to anyone else who is interested in a career as a software engineer.

2. dil viggy.
viggy, it looks like some girl is interested in your dil but ended up on my site :-) If the girl comes back again, let me send u here with the firm assurance that vignesh is single, looking for love and very romantic :).

3. mani ratnam address.
frankly, i am searching for this one too :).

4. how to kill
man, this one scares the hell out of me :). who would want to do a search like that and what does google mean by pointing to me !

5. survival philoshophy
something, i would like to know :). do you guys have a clue ?.

as a sidenote, google needs to re-think its page rank technology specifically with reference to weblogs because blogs tend to have a lot of backlinks and hence get a higher ranking on the google index. This can result in funny situations like mine here :)

what about you guys ? got any interesting google search hits ?

you and me.

11:00 AM monday morning.
I am sitting in a small room in the farthest corner of a big office. Work is waiting for me with the quiet confidence of a mistress waiting for her lover. I ignore her for the time being. She smiles, fully aware that I will be hers quite soon.

I look around. The empty room stares back at me. We lock eyes for a while and then i turn back to my screen. I can hear Paranoia waiting outside, biding his time. He has already send in his twin minions, silence and loneliness. Now he is waiting for the right time to attack.

I decide to do something fast to snap out of this mood. I come online to hang out on my site. I find nobody. I can see depression approaching from behind. I dare not turn back. I stand still and utter a silent prayer for someone to talk to.

and then you come.

I search inside and put on the brightest smile i get from my heart's closet. With a thumping heart, I approach you without the slightest hint of what I am going to say.

You get a little scared. An abundance of interest from a stranger is always a cause of worry. You step back a little and wonder whether you should run. You decide to give the guy a chance to talk. You never know unless you give the other a chance.

I come and stand before you. Not knowing where to start, i manage a “hi, i am anand”. I struggle for words knowing well that your time is limited and I have to make an impression fast.

Realising the state i am in, you put on an encouraging smile and say,“anand, Tell me .. What shall we talk about ?”

I feel a little relaxed. I look inside and take out my beloved topic. I say,“Well, normally, I talk about God and Philosophy on these pages ... ”

You get scared. You wonder, whether you are wasting your time here. Still, you decide to stick around a little more time. You say, “God is for the old, the dying, the desperate and the poor. Let us talk about something else, naa ?”.

I can hear Paranoia laughing somewhere in the distance. He knows me better than anyone else. I struggle to maintain my composure as I search within my bag of topics. I pick out Psycology and show it to you with a weak smile. You start to shake your head and begin to walk towards the URL exit. Now I can feel the cold breath of the fast approaching Paranoia. I frantically search and pull out a couple of old poems. You glance through them and find that they talk mostly about lonely souls and unrequited love. With a final shake of your head, you click your way through the URL exit with your key(board). Moments away from paranoa, I still have the time to notice your pet mouse clicking away in your hand as if mocking me.

I now resign myself to my fate. I turn back and walk towards Paranoia. In the distance, I hear the approaching footsteps of another visitor. I hesitate to turn around and talk, knowing fully that I will make a fool of myself ( yet again ). The alternative is to have myself for company accompanied by my ever present companions, silence, loneliness and paranoia.

I stand there, trapped between you and me.

mindless

God's biggest mistake was giving us humans a mind.

Without a mind, a human would be just another animal. An animal kills another when it is hungry. We are now animals, directed by a mind. And that mind tells us to kill another human just because he does not believe in something we believe in.

Without a mind, there would not be a good human or a bad human : only a human. Without a mind, there would not be a Christian, Hindu or a Muslim. Without a mind, there would not be an indian or a pakistani. Without a mind, there will not be money in this world. All humans will be equal : nameless bodies wandering in search of food.

Without a mind, there would not be a knife to stab another, a bomb to blast others. Without a mind, there would not be a war on earth. Yes, fights will be still be there. It will be minor disagreements ( like a dogfight ). Nobody gets killed by another human.

God, Please take away our mind. We have struggled to master it. Tonight, We give up. The mind you gave us : the mind which if used sensibily would have brought peace and harmony on earth is now an instrument used to kill. The mind has done more harm than good. If We dont return it tonight, there would not be anything left of us humans.

Mind is meant for the Gods not for animals like us.