Closer to Life

2005 is just a month away ! We will do a review of 2004 later.. but how will 2005 be, for you and me. It will as usual begin with Calendars, Diaries and Pens.. and resolutions for some of you (not for me...) You will have a sudden surge in your mailbox.. New year greetings.. The same person will forward you a lots of mails, in the name of Wishes (Duh!). And soon, The new year charm will be over. You will browse through the calendar to find out when Aug 15th and Jan 26th fall. How many holidays will you have.. and how continuous with weekends they are..

You will find difficulties in writing the year as 2005, you always tend to write it as 2004. You will soon be into a holiday less february., and My best prediction for next year is.. Valentines day will be a Big Celebration, this time..

It will be yet another dry year for you.. Every year has been the same way.

My plans for 2005 are confidential, and will not be disclosed until the eve of 2006 (bcoz thats when i realize what i planned..)

December is a useless month that gets lost in the feeling that, a new year is going to be born.. come on guys, whats so special about a new year. ?

Iam infected by Chimera !

My Master of Science exams begin today, and continue to torture for 3 more days. I'm still not sure about the order, i have the same content for all exams. Where do you think the art of blogging on something everyday, came from.. thanks to all exams like these,. Without exams, most of us will be precisely talking, and answering straight to questions, and not hunting for words, and elloborate unnecessary things.

For instance, i write about Doppler effect, like this. "Doppler effect is one kind of thing that we experience, most of us do. It is something that has to be noted about, and it will be of great importance if we come to know about it. Also, this Doppler effect, thats something related to sound, has a greater impact on the perfect senses in extremely critical situations."

See, you can write about just anything, without even kowing about it.. and if you know just a few important points... then you can write even a book on it ;-)

anyway, wish me luck !.. im writing my exams with ultimate faith on blind luck,.

Karthigai Deepam

In tamil nadu, we have a mini festival of lights, called Karthigai deepam. This time we used to Burn back the Left out crackers, and this is the day we really illuminate the Diyas, and make the home glow (and sometimes burn..). If Diwali itself has a blowback, that not many people are celebrating it with the enthusiasm, they usually had.. Karthigai Deepam can do nothing better.



But my uncle had enjoyed, This festival with his new 6 MP Canon Power Shot, Digital Camera. I received this photo in less than 2 mins, after the lights were on. I appreciate the enthusiasm, and the passion for technology he has. My Mayavaram mama !

The Future of Present !

Few statements that i read from a few books, are somethings that keep buzzing in my ears. For instance, "There is no free lunch !" - this one i read from many books, and had many forms. "Free lunch - Never !", "You cant get a free lunch", "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". (Americans always speak differently.. they say "I dont know, nothing man !".. that is their version of "I dont know anything").

But the following statement,( read carefully !) i assume can be in rarely a very few books.
"There can be no word called 'IS'"


I read this in a book "Harmony" by Osho and an article by Kevin Maurice. The point is - There is no such thing as present. It is gramatically wrong to say present. There can be future, There is a Past. But where is present.Irony is we feel the present, but even before we can realize it, it has become past.

There is no now.

There is no present.

All that you sense, experience, and think about is past. It is a biological fact that your reality is past before you are aware of it. Sensation and perception are always behind.

Memory is all you know. All that is happening is unfolding in the future. Life is what is about to be. Death is past. Illusion is present.

The now or present is an absurd idea that cannot occur as time cannot stop for the moment to be. Time is a river that cannot be captured by the present. You must stay alert for the next unfolding. Are you ready ?

avyukta 1000

Ever since i got my new Computer - Avyukta, and connected to the Net from it.. i wanted to do something other than checking mails. And I started quitting to watch TV since then, and here im on my Blog with 1000 hits. There is no achievement here, but still most of the times, we get thrilled with numbers. "This is the 10th Time Tendulkar sneezed on the ground.. This is the 100th day for a movie (which did not have audience).. this is the 5000th car sold by Hyundai". Numbers are important in one way, and unimportant in another. "Life is not counted by days, but by deeds...". Same way, a Blog is not weighed by the Hit Count, but how many minds it reached. (i can hear you saying, "romba Over da !"

whatever ..

but hey ! you know what .. Im happy about this :)

Wanna IMAX at Home ?

This is for all of you having a 5.1 Surround Sound PC at home. Microsoft has something to offer, High Definition Quality. Of course, it is a bit older (it came with WMPlayer 9 and now Windows media version 10 is ruling). Still it is worth downloading (145 MB in a dial up is like an Ant trying to pugh the Liberty Statue down). Check it out, and let me know if you can download it completely (anybody Broadband in Chennai ??).

Get them Here

I've been to Manmathan yesterday ! I hold some respect for the Movie Critics in Aanandha Vikatan, and he has not put me down yet. Aanandha Vikatan said "Manmathan is Simbhu's first Movie". And i adhere to it. It is clearly a step ahead of all his Garbages earlier. I liked the movie, technically too. Yuvan Shankar has rocked, but why should he pierce our ears with some nasty humming, few times in the movie. Sound, Camera and Editing has helped the movie, in a very big way. We can clearly see the impact of western movies, Simbhu had watched a lot of english movies... but only those played in HBO and Star movies, like most of us. If im not wrong, Simbhu must have been really impressed with the movie "Primal Fear" which had a really really interesting last 40 seconds. We can excuse him, for he has tried. I see a good future for him, if this is the way he is taking. (Look at me.. im talking as though, im a big film critic.. but hey ! great men are always misunderstood.. :)

whats more.. in chennai

Like to make money ! Then get ready to spend some.. Join a Seminar conducted by ITCOT Consultancy and Services, about Starting a Call Centre Business. You know how much popular this word is - "Call Centre". Though I dont see a Career opportunity for students there, it is a good way to start making some money and support ourselves in earning a job. Read more about the seminar here.

The Land of "Angry" !

Have you ever wondered why things go out of our hands, why we loose control of ourself, and why we fail to succeed at times which requires a calm face.

How is that some activity takes us irritated, and changes the way we react. We react to an activity entirely different from normal, when we are angry. This emotion called anger, is burning inside us, and takes away the control of our senses from us. Let me illustrate.. when you are angry, have you felt like throwing down the thing in your hand (no matter what it is) on the wall.. when you want to throw it you have no control, though somewhere your mind says that was not necessary.. but our sense is out of control and DUMM we throw it.. and the anger goes on and on..

Anger is "an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage," according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger.(I wonder how these guys have the patience to read all these things.. i couldnt even study Salt and water equation in chemistry.)

We should not equate Anger to resistance.. what i mean here is, we believe that if we do not show anger, that implies we are obligant with the opponent or something. Being angry does not prove we are strong, or bold or a tough person.

I know, none of us like to be angry, its not our wish to be shown angry in front of someone, but it just pours out, right ??... (i know most of you are angry reading this even..;-)

There are techniques to control our feelings..(no.. not counting 1 2 3..). But this has to be a mind work.

Anger can be suppressed, and then converted or redirected. This happens when you hold in your anger, stop thinking about it, and focus on something positive. The aim is to inhibit or suppress your anger and convert it into more constructive behavior. The danger in this type of response is that if it isn't allowed outward expression, your anger can turn inward—on yourself. Anger turned inward may cause hypertension, high blood pressure, or depression.

But then , you can calm down inside. This means not just controlling your outward behavior, but also controlling your internal responses, taking steps to lower your heart rate, calm yourself down, and let the feelings subside.

ok ! ok ! Calm down.. if you get angry thik about this ..
" If swimming's such good exercise, how come whales are so fat? "..
oh No ! you are still angry..

Mixed Bag - I

I had nothing to do at home, but watch 4 DVDs. One of them was a very impressive movie. I know it was a very old movie, but i then realized that i should have watched it even earlier. The movie is "Minority Report" by Speilberg.

Hope you would have seen this movie, and if you have not.. heres the suggestion. Buy a DVD player, and a DVD of Minority Report and watch it twice. Its so good.

I did a lil bit of travel yesterday to Cuddlore on the beautiful ECR Road.


This one is a beautiful travel road, where the Gods say "see all the readings your speedometer can go !!". But watch it, the road is very narrow and the curves are so deadly. It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes from Anna Nagar to Thiruvanmiyur, and 2 hours from there to Pondicherry. Its only travelling inside Chennai, giving headaches.

Did you see The Hindu yesterday, with alternate pages having Messages from the Kanchi Mutt. Thats a very good and healthy move by the Mutt, and it was very very essential. But i think, the Mutt should have moved a even further. Whoops ! Im not saying anything until afternoon.

Mumbai Express is Kicked off, and the Project is out for Tamil New Year for sure. Its supposed to be a family entertainer, with laughters rolling around. "It is a laugh-a-riot movie and hopefully the viewers will enjoy it," Kamal said to an interview to "The Hindu".

I feel, Kamal's hopes are always a mystic feeling. Let's see.

BUZZ ! The following is Important if you are in chennai.
Click here to find out the best Broadband plan, that suits you. Im sure, if you are a PC Owner.. you can take this one. Unfortunate me, Airtel is yet to provide these solutions in my area. Recently almost all telecommunications Xions have been providing Broadband, but the network should reach everywhere to make it even popular. People in my area (atleast me !) are dying to have this kinda connections.. but no Service Provider has a smile for us. Damn with technology

Standing on the Giants Shoulder

Whats more interesting, than announcing a Google Service. This one is called the Google Scholar. Quoting Sir Isaac Newton's words "If i can see further, it is by standing on a Giants Shoulder". Thats exactly whats been tried in this Beta Scholar.


[ctsy: www.google.com]

Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

Well, the very name blocks me from using the service. You know why ! ;-)

Whats more interesting is, the Principal Engineer involved in this Scholastic activity is Mr. Anurag Acharya, an Indian name at Google.

Speculations Ended

[ctsy:The Hindu]

The Long prevailing speculation about Dhanush and Rajnikanth's daughter Aishwarya ended today, with the Chief Minister presiding the wedding. More details on the Hindu portal.

Iam sure everyone sitting on a software company would have got this photo in your mail. I got the photo 3 times already. One from CTS, HCL and Accenture. Whew !

So, what next..

A life of Choices

Can you visualize the war going on with Technology ? Google is bringing smiles and gasps virtually every afternoon. Yahoo is competing to it [did you hear yahoo is going to give you 250 MB]. Microsoft is rushing to survive on the web. People are having wide choices on Browsers, EMail Softwares, Search Engines, Calendars, Planners, RSS, Blogs and so on. There are so many sites offering free Web space. So many hosts. Free SMS online. Free net2phone.

I have nearly 7 browsers [IE, Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Slim Browser, Netscape, Advanced Browser, lynx (!)] on my PC[avyukta], and Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mail Waher Pro[a very effective anti-Spam email software]. I have Picassa, ACD See, Irfan, Jasc, Adobe. What am i doing ! I've gone Crazy and nuts about the Quality every software is providing.

You will really be able to appreciate the forthcoming versions of every software. But which one will you choose. Of course in India, only the most pirated software is popular.

My uncle said, Linux is also not popular, just because it is free. People in US dont like free softwares, as they cannot be Sued. They want Responsible people like Microsoft. Whew ! Thats a different way of thinking, isnt it.

We had a very little O/S earlier, and right now, we even have 3 64Bit Operating systems. Windows XP has a new 64 Bit version, Linux has one.. and one more o/s (i dont remember the name.. starts with D). If you are a PC owner, very certainly you will have Winamp, Real Player and Windows Media Player all installed for a common purpose, but dont know why.

So here we are, we have Softwares for virtually every need - every digital need. We can have a few enhancements. Of course, technology is taking us to a point, we never believed we will reach. but that will happen very fast. After that , we may not have software production like what we have now. Think about it.

POP - Power of POP, thats recursive ;-)

I was wondering about the Acronym PHP. PHP stands for PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. Im not sure, what the Internal PHP again stands for. Luckily for me, i found a new one myself as a Title for this Blog news. POP - Power of POP.

Something you have been expecting that will pop up, is now hit reality. GMail now supports POP and you are free to download mails on your hard disk, and read them slower from your HDD, than Faster online.



I Guess, there is only a little more we can expect from Google about GMail. Its almost hightime they hit the Public roads, and take on the few ignorant people into its fantastic technical seduction.

Whats more, we have Mr. Jayendra Saraswathi's hearing tomorrow. Could be interesting to see some confessions and some kind of news from him renouncing the Position of Jegathguru and handing over the control to the Kanchi Mutt, and let the Mutt decide about its successor.

Hope you had a fair deal of Diwali sweets. I had enough. Festivals are here for just this reason - make yourself happy.

Credibility Questioned

You simply have to pause for a moment and understand the word "Disappointment". Thats a terrible feeling one will have. That happens when a person has not did something you were expecting. You feel completely numb about that person. I respect the feeling of Disappointment for the Impact it gives. Disappointment is devastating for your mind, 'coz it blows it off, like nothing else.

The reason im pouring out about the word is , someone has Explained me this word perfectly. Here he is below on this picture.


I do not want to comment anything else about this person, as of now. It is wrong to comment on a person, who is just Convicted Guilty and not Declared Guilty. But here is the word, Mr. Jayendra Saraswathi has got disappointment in everyone's belief.

But i'd like to say something to the people wh feel bad, and think that this has brought down the name of their culture. "No single man can cause a difference in your life and Social Status. Your belief on Mr. Jayendra Saraswathi's did not bring you Pride so far. So, it will not bring you ill name also. His crime does not make us guilty. His actions dont define us. We are not followers of a Single person. We are followers of an Entity with a culture. Hinduism is not dependant on Mr. Jayendra Saraswathi's morality. We are Hindus and so we shall be."

Sorry about getting too sensitive on this. But i think we have to.

The Conspiracy Theory

While talking about Sri Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan, my manager was metioning a book by name "The DaVinci Code". This book has raised a conspiracy relating to the life of Jesus Christ[i was thinking only Jesus would be the only person out of any conspiracy, at last!]. The book claims Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, and seems to reveal various other fictious facts [call it an oxymoron]. Though the catholics were successful in projecting Magdalene as a whore, Dan Brown( the author) has tried to restructure turth, and shake the believes of the true faithful believers. This book is mere fiction, but the effort taken to research on the story propeller, makes us think. Im yet to read the book, myself.

Conspiracies have always been the favourites, these days. My favourite conspiracy is the Tejo Mahalay - a famous Shivan temple centuries before. And now called Taj Mahal. Feel like hitting me isnt it ?

Whats more, its raining in chennai today, taking a break on Tuesday. Unfortunately lost a bet with my friend. I bet on "Its going to rain today.." and the skies were so merciful[Damn], that it never even dropped a raindrop. And right now, outside my window i see the angels from heaven falling down the sky, kissing the ground. How many of us like the pleasure of getting wet on a rain.

Whats more important than a Kamalhaasan picture announcement. "Mumbai Express" - Kamals next flick officially announced.So we got Rajini's Chandramukhi, Kamal's Mumbai Express and Vikram/Shankar's Anniyan all of them released on April 14th. Let us see if we get quality entertainment.

Tamil - A Rich Language

I was curious about eBooks last week [thats because im yet to install another game on my avyukta]. So, i ran a search that varied from Osho to Sujatha, and ended with Kalki. Project Madurai is the site, and they got an Amazing collection of tamil ebooks in a PDF Format. I downloaded Ponniyin Selvan from there. What a book it is. Im just running on the 47th chapter [47 Adhthiyayam] and am i interested. Actually im falling for the Organaization of the story.

May be im not right on the following statement, let me give it a try. I did not feel the extreme way of expressing, in Kalki's writing - but thats what people are praising him for. I did not find the intellectual expressions just as i find in Sujatha. May be he was good for his times, or may be i dont have the maturity to appreciate it.

But one great thing, which i assume all writers would have Studied from Kalki, would be the Story Organaization. The way, a Huge huge story is edited, and the way scenes are linked makes me think Mr. Kalki is a master of screenplays.

Names are the best you will like in Ponniyin Selvan. Few good names to pen, "Poonguzhali", "Pazhuvattaraiyar", "Vanthiya Thevan", "Sundara Chozhan", "Vandaar Kuzhali". Tamil is a super current flowing in his writing."Yavvanam", "Maya Manogaram", "Kali Veri" , "Sannatham","paravasa pravagham"

Worth a read [but you will need a month to complete it]

Raining all the Way

Chennai is really happy about the way its been raining for the past 3 days. And it is still Raining. Surplous water is something it cant achieve, but what this rain can give us is a temporary relief from the Nasty water trucks.

Diwali is just around the corner, and an awesome week ahead. Damn, this diwali could have been on Friday. And with Ramzan on Monday, we could have njoyed the coziness we had last two days [hope you ennjoyed your weekend].

Hope you know about a Mag called "DIGIT" previously called as CHIP. People with PC at home, this one is really worth a buy. And this month Digit gave along a DVD, 2 more CDs and a worthy book that mainly takes the Mobile market. All this for Rs. 100. Think about it.

Kamalhaasan had his b'day fly on 7th. He is 52 [if im not wrong]. Man, even at this age, Vasool Raja MBBS has gone for 100 days. Great to live in times of these people.

Anything interesting to you guys ? mail me in this email address.
keerthivasan at gmail dot com

Interview Questions - see if you can use them !

The following is a News article from CNN.com. Its about Google recruiting people. And see if you can clear these questions. I realized, i can never even take house keeping jobs there at Google.com

Goes..

Google remains picky about whom it hires, even as its payroll has ballooned from just under 700 employees at the end of 2002 to about 2,700 workers today.

In its quest to identify the programming elite, Google recently inserted an unusual aptitude test in such magazines as MIT's Technology Review, the Linux Journal, Mensa, Dr. Dobbs and Physics Today.

The 21-question test includes such geek brain twisters like, "How many different ways can you color an icosahedron with one of three colors on each face?" and "On an infinite, two-dimensional rectangular lattice of 1-ohm resistors, what is the resistance between two nodes that are a knight's move away?"

The test also includes more subjective, tongue-in-cheek requests like "Write a haiku describing possible methods for predicting search traffic seasonality" and "What is the most beautiful math equation ever derived?"

Google has received an enthusiastic response to the test, said Alan Eustace, the company's vice president of engineering research and systems, though many of the people sending in their answers are economists, professors and other intellectuals more interested in a mental challenge than a job.

Over the summer, Google launched a similarly nerdy recruiting stunt.

Without mentioning its name, Google placed billboards in Silicon Valley and Harvard Square that read: (first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits of e).com.

Anyone who figured out the correct answer wound up at a Web site that posed another puzzle that, if solved, led to a Google-branded site seeking resumes.

Google isn't always so subtle.

During the last two years, Google has offered cash prizes to computer engineers who compete against each other to solve complex coding problems.

Got Your Diwali Dress ?

Few days back, I met few of my old friends [what does Old friends mean? This one needs a big thought, Duh !]

We were running out of topics to talk about, and Diwali poked up. From Trouser Town to Deepavali legiyam, from Adayar Anandha Bhavan to Cinderella Paavadai, From Festival Bonus to decline in Diwali craze. Of course, the way i used to enjoy the coming of Diwali during my school days, was a lot lot better than how i do it now. People have reduced cracker buying.. reduced sweet making / buying.. But if one thing still exists on the Craze component, then its just the Dress Buying.

I felt the Hype of the TNagar, when i was caught in Nelson Manickam road, for minutes together. Nalli, Pothys, Chennai Silks and RMKV have been rocking the Money world for the past 2 weeks.

One special concern about Cinderella Paavadai [Hope you heard about the New arrival on RMKV]. Thats the talk of the town, or rather Buy of the Town. Orders have been overwhelming that my friend's daughter has to wait till November 30, to get her Cinderella Paavadai. I've never seen such an advanced booking system for Clothes. But we can appreciate the Cultural Comeback of Paavadai. See, as i told you, we are turning back...


By the way, Bush is the Confirmed the President - United States of America.
Did you know, that the American President is the Most Powerful man on the Earth

In Bush we Trust

Bush is likely to Win the Presidential Elections. It was a great thing to watch the Highest attendance in polling, in the History of America. It doesnt matter to you or me. Are we going to get Water in our Taps, if Bush retains power? But one good thing has happened, Indian BPO shares have gone up !

See how things get affected.. few times back we thought "Why should Onions price rise, if there is war in the Gulf.." and now, we will have to draw an ER diagram for virtually every activity happening. It makes sense, for Gold prices to go down, if WTC is attacked. We call this a Trigger effect.

I recollect a Quote i was taught, during my school days.
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Does that say something ?

Dream Election

United States of America, elects its president today. People are given Two optimal choices. Vote for Kerry. Or Vote for Bush. People, today will select one. And without any further speculations, the leader will take the country to progress, for the next four years to come. You can call this peace of mind. Thats exactly what Politicians are supposed to do. Ask people to elect them, and then work silently. I admit, American politics is equally rotten as India is.

But let me tell you the scenario here. We go to polls, then file our Vote. But we do not know, who will be our leader. We dont have the Authority to decide our leader(thats pathotic). Only Mrs. Sonia Gandhi will decide who our leader should be. She will point to Mr. Manmohan Singh, and He will lead us, and Damn, we will have to accept our insufficient Access authority with a Dirty face.

That puts a question on the purpose of vote. Voting is meaningless, when someone takes control, without our permissions. Who are they to decide when we are here to vote. Where are your voices thrown ?

People who were not elected by the people, have been in the parliament ruling us. Thats Irony. Heights of Irony.!

What can we do about this ?

If your are sighing with a breath of air that says "These things cannot be made straight! They will exist, as it is.. we can do nothing about this..." , then Yes. we can do nothing about this.