Back to the top ?

This essay is well worth a read,

“The confidence came from a little boy. In the late 1950s, this boy struggled to have two meals a day while he studied under the streetlights and went barefoot to school. This same boy almost left school in 1960, because his poor widowed mother could not support his education. That this boy, who is myself, could become the president of the Indian Science Congress is what gave me the confidence to say that India could again achieve intellectual and economic greatness. If this miracle could happen to any Indian, then given an opportunity, it can happen to every Indian.”

The most informed Indians ?

India today says Keralites are among India's most informed.

The statistics they bring up to support this are eye opening. 24 out of the top 25 towns with the highest newspaper reading population in India are from kerala. As for radio listeners, Kerala has the top 26 spots. That is as clear a domination as it could be.

After all this, It is sad to see the state lagging behind many others when it comes to economic prosperity. Communism must be the the main reason for this or is it ? Any ideas ?.

The other day, I was reading through this article and the accompanying comments. All I will say is that I am amused. Big time. Any comments ?

Marriage is a word that is coming up frequently in my friends circle. Society expects you to do certain things at certain times. Now is the time for marriage, it says and so it will be.

Wonder who it is going to be and what is she going to be like.

Anyways don't be surprised, if poetry makes a re-appearance on these pages. I am but polishing my meagre skills in anticipation of a now seemingly imminent feminine presence in my life.

What better way to a woman's heart than through a few flaterring lines of self written poetry :)

It's back to boom time for Indian IT

“Here are some figures for anyone who has doubted the future of the Indian software industry.

In calendar year 2003 Cognizant has upped its revenue guidances for the year five times — each time by hefty amounts.

It started by predicting revenues of $229 million and that climbed to between $300 million and $305 million. Cognizant didn't stop there. It revised its guidances three more times: first to $330 million, then to $354 million and finally to $365 million.

One thing's for sure. Cognizant is about to post terrific returns. The company believes that revenue growth will climb by 60 per cent for 2003. That means it's about to post the highest revenue growth amongst India's top five software services players.

Says Lakshmi Narayanan, president and chief operating officer, Cognizant: "The reasons for such stupendous growth are clear. The IT industry is transitioning from the early stages of a global mega trend in offshore outsourcing to a mainstream mode where offshore outsourcing is seen as the highest priority by Fortune 500 and blue chip companies in the US and Europe."

Cognizant isn't the only company that has the champagne ready. In Delhi Vijay K Thadani is looking pleased.

For the chief executive officer of NIIT, business seems to be booming after about two years of instability.

The company has recorded a 347 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 5.9 crore (Rs 59 million) in the fourth quarter of 2003 against a Rs 1.31 crore (Rs 13.1 million) net profit last year.

These aren't isolated cases. After two years of cost-cutting and living with trimmed margins, the Indian software industry is once again on a roll. Most companies have announced improved business and have revised projections upwards.
”

Read more.

Capitalism is not the answer

I love a good debate. Occasionally, even flame wars will do. If you read my comments elsewhere on the net, you will, more often than not, see me take a contrarian view to the popular opinion, just to liven up the debate.

Something of a prankster ( slashdotters might prefer flamebait ), you might call me. Occasionally, I step beyond the line and get burned but then that is an occupational hazard.

It is my belief that more can be learned by seeing the issue from both sides than passionately sticking to a single viewpoint. Everything is relative, anyways. In my school days, we used to do this fun activity where the same guy had to defend and criticize a topic, switching viewpoints at the sound of a bell. “Just a minute”, I think it was called.

I learned this form of debate growing up in kerala discussing films. Yes, films. Keralites devote ( atleast used to ) an unusual amount of time discussing the question : “Mamooty, Mohanlal : Who is better ?” Since I didn't have a preference either way, I used to oppose the prevaling opinion in the crowd that I was in, for the sake of a debate :-)

I think, it is this middle of the road approach, that made me an Agnostic. I enjoy riling up atheists by asking them to explain the fundamental issue about the origin of the universe ( “How something can never come out of nothing” ). To theists, I normally ask, “If God exists, why can't he do a better job at proving he exists”.

Ofcourse, there is a problem with not having strong principles, best said by the quote,
“If you don't stand for anything, you will fall for everything”.

Still, I prefer it this way.

Why am I writing all this ? I have been part of several debates on the future of america's economy on public forums lately. I have written both extremely positive and highly negative predictions based on the type of the forum I am in ( the opposite view to the popular opinion ).

Paul krugman and others well known columnists have been extremely critical about Bush's tax cuts and the burgeoning US budget, current account and trade deficits. Paul krugman infact goes on to say, in one of his regular columns in NYT, that America possibly can face an argentina style crisis if tax cuts are not rolled back and government spending curbed. Coming as it is from the man considered to be the world's foremost expert on currency crises, it has caused widespread concern.

These columns about “america needs a billion a day in FDI to finance the ever increasing debt of the country” or the “fundamental shift in the economy which has resulted in a jobless recovery” get endlessly discussed in public forums with ridiculous suggestions like “Let us build a fortress around america and ban all imports” thrown around as possible solutions.

It is fun to occassionally step in and point out that for the last few decades, america benefited most from globalisation. Now is payback time.

What americans are most concerned is the apparent lack of care shown by big companies when sending jobs offshore. They forget Capitalism is not driven by ethics but by profits. Capitalism is inherently cannibalistic in nature, a dog eats dog mentality as well chronicled in the history of microsoft.

There is already increasing evidence that although the US GDP is picking up, the benefits will not reach the “common” man but will stay at the top level in the hands of the already rich. Fortune's latest list of the 400 richest americans seems to confirm this when it says that the rich got richer. Not consistent with the situation on the ground. Infact, The word “Oligarchy” has started making the rounds.

Ofcourse, when I point out all these on the “Nothing can touch US” forums, I get very few people to agree with me. More often than not, I get flamed to hell :-)

I like the socialist welfare economies of europe. They have taken the middle road between capitalism and communism and seemed non the worse for it. There is a serious risk of deflation for a few of them but then that might be because of the export dependance on the states.

China is an interesting study. Perhaps, theirs is the hardest task of all. To preserve a communist styled leadership while having a capitalist economy. For now, the western MNCs are interested in tapping china's huge and seemingly endless supply of $100 a month cheap labour. Once popular issues like China's human rights track record have conveniently been relegated to the background in a relentless pursuit to improve their bottomline, a popular buzzword in a recession. If china manages to pull it off inspite of all these, it will be a miracle unmatched in the annals of human history. Only time will tell.

Finally, there is India. If there is any award for the country with the maximum potential, we will walk away with it hands down. Sadly, the potential rarely gets realised. Unfortunately, the very diversity that we are so proud of is proving to be our bane. A collective decision is more or less impossible in our scheme of things.

Like our cricket team's reliance on sachin, will we will always end up depending on individual brilliance ( Naidu ? ) to save us at the end of the day.

Luckily, we seem to be finding a new hero ( anju george ? ) regularly these days. Maybe, it is a tide of better things to come.

All these forums did help in increasing my limited knowledge of how the global economy works. Till I lose interest, my occassional ramblings on politics/economics will continue. Anyone wants to take a contrarian view ?

Dilbert pokes fun at IIT grads - The Economic Times

“India's IITs have, of course, been the subject of admiration - now bordering on envy - in corporate America for more than five years now. A 1998 BusinessWeek article on India's whiz kids has this to say for IITians: "The rise of IITians, as they are known, is a telling example of how global capitalism works today. The best companies draw on the best brains from around the world, and the result is a global class of worker: the highly educated, intensely ambitious college grad who seeks out a challenging career, even if it is thousands of miles from home.

By rising to the top of Corporate America, these alumni lead all other Asians in their ability to reach the upper echelons of world-class companies."

A researcher at UC Berkeley estimated that fully 20 per cent of start-ups in Silicon Valley are IITian-owned. Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has described the Indian IITian as a "world treasure." Bill Gates says the computer industry has benefited greatly from them.”

Continue reading to see the dilbert comic strip.

A great wired article on MIT Open Course Ware

“To demonstrate, Humes brings up a video presentation in which a disheveled and highly animated professor, Walter Lewin, is demonstrating how an EKG test works. First of all, he's a great speaker. He does demonstrations. We never had that. Our class was all tedious derivations. Every day he impressed the heck out of me. He relates it all to things you know. Look at these kids laughing. They give him a standing ovation at the end of each lecture! We never had a moment of levity in our class.

Humes was so stoked by the physics class that he also reviewed the OpenCourseWare version of calculus and has since moved on to linear algebra. Now he prepares for exams at Murray State by practicing with OpenCourseWare quizzes covering the same material. ”I do fine and feel great, and then when I take my test the problems are easier,“ he says. ”There's a lot of satisfaction that comes from being able to understand the MIT classes.“

”Check this out,“ he says, clicking to an early lecture in linear algebra. Soon he is transfixed by the famous mathematician Gilbert Strang. He finally turns to me, displaying the most amazing grin - that of someone who's just discovered the joys of learning.

It's a Nobel Prize-worthy grin.
”

Read more.

Next to Gutenburg and Bibliomania, OCW is where I spend most of my online time when I get bored with aimless surfing.

Hey, I would have thought hits from india would be up there among the top three. Looks like not many of our universities are wired and not many of lecturers know. Next time you come across an engineering student / lecturer, ask him/her whether he knows about OCW.

Ground-breaking work in understanding of time

“A bold paper which has highly impressed some of the world's top physicists and been published in the August issue of Foundations of Physics Letters, seems set to change the way we think about the nature of time and its relationship to motion and classical and quantum mechanics. Much to the science world's astonishment, the work also appears to provide solutions to Zeno of Elea's famous motion paradoxes, almost 2500 years after they were originally conceived by the ancient Greek philosopher. In doing so, its unlikely author, who originally attended university for just 6 months, is drawing comparisons to Albert Einstein and beginning to field enquiries from some of the world's leading science media. This is contrast to being sniggered at by local physicists when he originally approached them with the work, and once aware it had been accepted for publication, one informing the journal of the author's lack of formal qualification in an attempt to have them reject it.

In the paper, ”Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity“, Peter Lynds, a 27 year old broadcasting school tutor from Wellington, New Zealand, establishes that there is a necessary trade off of all precisely determined physical values at a time, for their continuity through time, and in doing so, appears to throw age old assumptions about determined instantaneous physical magnitude and time on their heads. A number of other outstanding issues to do with time in physics are also addressed, including cosmology and an argument against the theory of Imaginary time by British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.”

Read more.

I just had to post this on the main page. I mean, with a title like Indeterminacy vs. Discontinuity, how can you ignore it ?

Reloaded !

“I'm sitting in a former naval barracks in Alameda, California, watching the digital assembly of a human face. Bones, teeth, glistening eyes. Layer upon layer. Finally the hair and skin, the creases and tiny scars that make us who we are. The face blinks and breathes. Then it snarls, and my skin crawls.
Agent Smith is back, and he's pissed.

”People get really preoccupied with, 'Are you going to top yourselves this time? Are you really gonna come up with a zinger?'“ Gaeta tells me. ”My job has nothing to do with making zingers. The point is not to knock you over with a visual trick. The point is to be able to construct events that are so complex, in terms of what human bodies need to do, that the total 'effect' is impossible choreography. 'My God! It looks real, but it just can't be.'“

If the dojo fight in The Matrix was a kung fu sonata, the Burly Brawl is a symphony. Neo tears the sign from the ground and wields it as a kendo sword, vaulting pole, and battering ram. A woman walking by can't believe what she's seeing; suddenly her body is hijacked, she drops her grocery bag, and another Smith charges into the fray. Whole battalions of Smiths arrive, mount assaults, attack in waves, scatter, regroup, and head back for more. (At ESC, one massive pile-on was dubbed the ”Did someone drop a quarter?“ shot.) In the thick of it, Neo is dancing, chucking black-tied bodies skyward, pivoting around the signpost, and using shoulders as stepping-stones over the raging river of whup-ass.

Creating the Burly Brawl, however, is a taller order than inventing Bullet Time. To portray Neo in hand-to-hand combat with more than 100 Agent Smiths in the old way would have required Escher-like tangles of crisscrossing still-camera rigs and years of compositing. What Gaeta needed was a virtual camera that could fly through the 3-D scene - as free from the laws of space and time as Neo is from the physical laws of the Matrix.

”The concept of Bullet Time had to graduate to the true technology it suggested,“ he says. ”For Reloaded, we had to finish the job so that we could get relentless, uninterrupted, and editable chunks of Neo in the zone.“

While the topography of the human face is the hardest to simulate digitally, it turns out to be one of the easiest to map photogrammetrically. It has fewer shadows and occlusions than, say, the city of Paris. The language of the face communicates maximum information through the subtlest inflections. The interfaces of our souls are designed to be read in a heartbeat.

Then Reeves and Weaving each sat down on a stage in front of five Sony HDW-900 video cameras. The massive datastreams from these cameras - one gigabyte a second - were treated like holy water; even the cameras' color-correction software was disabled to prevent any loss of data. Instead of recording to tape, which requires compression, the cameras were modified to send uncompressed data to a bank of high-end PCs that stored it on a huge disk array. ”The scene in that room was surreal,“ Gaeta recalls.

”

Reloaded.

The first one was one of the best films I have seen. Imagination and the realisation of it in a way I have never seen on the silver screen before. After reading this, I dont know how I am going to wait till May :)

Something new

Something new is happening at itismylife.com.

I have started something there which I hope will grow over time. Each of the pages there right now has a different design or rather a different graphic on the top and a matching color scheme. Let me know whether anything there is to your liking.

netLife will link to anything new that appears there. So for all practical purposes, you can continue visiting this page to read anything and everything that I write.

Bloggies

The nominations have been announced..

I was disheartened to find that not a single indian blog made it to the final five.

I was part of the bloggie panel which was asked to narrow down the list from 20 odd nominations in every category to the current five. Madhoo and Mahesh were part of the top twenty for the asian blog category. I did my bit and voted for these two. Unfortunately, it wasnt enough. I think ( i am not sure ), I was the only indian blogger on the panel. So we went unrepresented in this year's list.

But not to worry. I am sure next year will be ours :-)

Update : Blogsnob and Anil are part of the nominations. ( Thanks kiruba! )

The Bangalore Blogger's Meet.

It all started with a mistake.

Me and suresh went to the Prestige Meridien Coffee Day instead of the bombay store one :(. After carefully scrutinizing the crowd there, we came to the conclusion that the big fat guy smoking a cigarette and watching us intently was not Sathish :-)

It turned out that we were right for Sathish was patiently waiting for us on the steps of the Bombay store, with a warm smile on his lips. It is another fact that I ended up scanning him from top to bottom in the hope of finding a camera (which was what Arun was supposed to have in his hands) :-) Fortunately, Sathish indentified me correctly and so we got started on what was going to be a long night.

A few words about Sathish. An extremely warm and easy going guy, He is a pleasure to talk to. A genuine nice guy which is indeed the rarest of things in this kaliyug :-) We went about the first few minutes chattering about our jobs, blogs and what not. Soon it dawned on us that the others have not come yet. It is indeed frustrating to stand waiting for someone without knowing how the person whom you are waiting for looks like :( Anyway, at this moment, indra chose to make his entry. Since we know each other well, There was no problem in identification.

We continued our chat for well over twenty odd minutes only to notice that the time was around 6:40 and none of the others were in sight. At this point, by mere chance, I happened to notice a canon camera in the hands of a tall bearded guy. I must admit that at this point, overjoyed at finally seeing arun, I ran towards him and shouting his name. I dont know what went inside his head but he took a step backwards :-) Soon though, we shook hands with him and harris and found out to our great dismay that arun and harris were standing at the other side of the store from 6:00 PM onwards. A quick phone call to ayesha confirmed the fact that she was on her way. Soon she made her entry with a beige colored bag, the color of which was fiercely debated upon during the whole night :-)

So started the Bangalore Blogger's meet.

The next few minutes were spend on top floor of the bombay store discussing varied stuff like the color of ayesha's bag and the interesting birth date of harris ( Dec 25th ). Unfortunately, Sathish had to leave early lest sooraj throws a tantrum at not seeing his favourite person in the whole world :-)

We continued a few moments there and then decided to move to a place where we can get something to eat. After a lot of thought, we settled upon the ICH. The waiters were not exactly pleased when they saw a bunch of people walking in towards closing time and made their displeasure known by scaring ayesha :-)

At this point, I must digress and say a few things about the others. I have already talked about Sathish and chose not to talk about Suresh and Indra ( good friends :-) ).

Arun is a tall, well built, bearded guy with a serious air to him. He exudes a quiet confidence and a serious manner. A measured talk, a deep voice and a silent yet strong presence marks him out. He was ofcourse the photographer for the night. With his skills, We are all bound to look like bollywood heroes :-)

Harris is someone who reminds me very much of vignesh. I am sure they will become best buddies if and when they meet up. The best word to describe him will be cool. A genuinely funny person, he was making us all laugh with his interesting comments and funny one liners :-) I must say that he was a tad pre-occupied with all those pretty girls walking past us but hey so was I :-) Towards the end of the day or should I say the night, We even had a decent technical discussion. All in all, A really cool guy, just like his blog :-)

And finally, a bit about Ayesha, the oldest member of the group at 27. She is a librarian which incidentally is something that I wanted to be during my childhood days :-) She comes as a intelligent person with a learned background and a lot of reading behind her. Unfortunately, Since we were at opposite ends of the table, we couldn't get much time to talk during the whole meet.

During the course of the dinner at MCH Arun, Ayesha and Harris expressed an interest in starting a community blog centred around indians. I expressed doubts at whether this will take off since I already had a failed community blog behind me :-) What do you guys think ? Is it worth starting one ? Any ideas on that ?

So after finishing a small dinner at ICH, we parted ways in front of the foodworld with solemn promises of keeping in touch and meeting again.

All in all, A night to remember and hopefully the first of many to come.

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 ?

I want to live.

(what follows is not meant to be provocative or partial to any religion .. Instead it is meant to be the opposite. It is meant to bring about a sense of unity and oneness among all humankind .. )


I wish to be reborn in a world where there is no God.


I am tired of explaining to christians that Jesus would never have said, “Do not worship anyone other than me”. I am amused when i see Jesus, the epitome of simplicity, is made to live in multi million churches, each church trying to be better and bigger than the next one. Do u think Jesus lives there ? If he lives anywhere, it would be in the poorest of slums among the pooorest of poor. Follow the man's life & ideals not the man himself. People remember everything other than the three most important words in the bible, God is Love.

I am tired of explaining to Muslims that Allah would never have used the word Jihad. It is sad to see Muslims try to find the shapeless formless Allah within the confines of a Mosque. The very form ( or lack of form ) of Allah suggests that he is to be found everywhere, not just in the confines of a Babri Masjid. But who is to understand or listen ?

and finally, I am tired of explaining to Hindus that Upanishads say, Aham Brahmasmi or Tatvam Asi. Roughly translated, it says God lies within you : You are God. All forms of idol worhsip was introduced in the Vedic age in order for the common man to understand. Lord Rama's Life is a symbolism : To show how an ideal man ( Maryada Purushottam ) would be like. Rather than following the ideals expressed, People seem to think that building temples and worshipping Lord Rama is the best thing to do. When will people learn ?

Man always wants better things for himself. And he or she thinks that by worshipping ( bribing ) God, he or she can acheive what he or she wants. Pathethic. With his weak mind, Man can only understand the principle of give and take. In his weak minded interpretation of God, he reduces the very image and ideas of God. All that God wants you to do is to live a good life. Instead of doing this simple thing, People can be found singing hymns or bhajans at the top of their voices thinking God will listen to them and reciprocate by giving good things to them. Pitiable.

I want to live in a world where there is no God. Let there be no worship or places of worship. Indeed let there be no religion. Let there be no believers because Every believer can turn into a fanatic with the right amount of provocation. Until Man has the sense to understand God, Let there be no God. Indeed, a Krishna, Jesus or Allah will be willing to die a thousand deaths if it means that it will bring peace to this world. Let us kill religion so that humans can live.,

Yes, I want to live in a world where there is no God.