Saturday, December 30, 2006

2006 Reflections, 2007 Resoultions

With one night & one sunrise left for this year, here are my reflections of 2006 & resolutions for 2007.

'Reflections' of 2006

Health - 2006 has been kind on me. Have been hale & hearty throught the year, except for some common cold & cough occasionally. Had a minor accident early this year, fortunately nothing happened to me. Been careful since then riding/driving a 2/4 wheeler. Food habits haven't changed much, plan to go complete Veg sometime next year......don't know when that would happen. No, I don't eat red meat, i just love sea food.

Finance - Sound year, but as they say 'Make MONEY (HAY) while the IT industry (SUN) shines'. Yearning to make MORE money next year.

Career - Had the opportunity to contribute to couple of articles & hone my writing skills. Privileged to working with different teams & products in the first 2 quarters. Have been having fun in the last 2 quarters working on POCs & Demos with wide set of clients from various domains. It has been challenging situation where one needs to accept CHANGE from your clients at last moments & implement them @ 11th hour. Initally, I used to loose my mind over it, but, as time passed got used to it & developed patience at the end of the day. Had the pleasure of personnel management, to coach 2 batches of freshmen. Last quarter has been hell of a roller-coaster, dealing with attrition - one of the major problems of IT industry in Bangalore. Hoping for things to improve, as we step into the brand new year. I would be completing my MBA in IT next month from Manipal University.

Personal - As with everyone, I have had my share of HIGHS & LOWS throughout the year. I have been seeing someone for the past 6 months, things don't seem to be going good between us for over a 20 odd days or so. When I look back at the fights we have had, they seem to be over something which we could have easily passed off. In any relationship, it all depends on what each one is looking from the other. Apart from that, for any relationship to succeed I would prioritize the following things - Being honest to oneself, Communication, Trust & Respect. I don't have any regret over anything that has happened; have learned to accept the reality & live by it. At the end of the day, they all sum upto what you call EXPERIENCE - 'Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes' - a quote by Oscar Wilde. For those who don't know her, let it remain that way, it won't make any difference ;)

Travel - Has been a wonderful year traveling to various places.
Started off the year with a night trek to Tadiandamol, Coorg with Malhar, Raksha, Nita & Nitin.
In March, been on a trek to Kalathagiri then to Kemmangundi, Chickmangalur with Rags & his folks from Thoughtwork.
In April, been on a trek to Bear Mountain, Masinagudi, Ooty with Rags, Shivu & Nilesh.
In May, been on a trek to Mulliangiri and then hiking from Bababudangiri to Kemmangundi, Chickmangalur with Rags, Nilesh and Deepak Reddy.
In August, road trip to Tiruvannamallai, Gingee, Pondicherry & Mahabalipuram with Rags & Nilesh.
In October, another road trip with my old college buddies to Goa.
Finally, over Christmas weekend, been on a trek to Brahmagiri, near Nagarhole with Rags.

Photography - After spending 8 months shooting with FZ-30, have learnt some stuff & got to explore more functions/features of FZ-30. Learnt few stuff in processing the pictures from the web & my colleague Vijay.

Reading - Reading has been quite good too - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, The Quilt & Other Stories by Ismat Chughtai, Unio Mystica I by Osho, Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck, The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt,David Thomas.

Music - I don't play any instruments, but follow things in the music world & try to make it to most of the music festivals/concerts that happens in Bangalore. Had been to Fireflies, June Rock Out & Deep Purple, missed out on IIMB Fest, Strawberry Fest & Sunday jams.

Sports
- Soccer - Watched most of the games in this year's FIFA World Cup, was disappointed with the performance of ENG & GER. Atleast France made it to the finals & couldn't pull it off. Whatever happened in the final between France & Italy, still support Zidane. UEFA Champions League & EPL is going great, except the fact that Gunners have played badly and just hope they finish among the top 4 in this season's EPL; so that they qualify for next season's Champions League. I wish Chelsea win EPL & either Arsenal / Liverpool win this edition's Champions League.


F1 - Followed most of the F1 races & had interesting competition between Schumi & Alonso for the Championship. I thought Schumi would change his mind and continue another year with Ferrari, unfortunately he won't be around for next season. Looking forward to the Kimi's performance with the Ferrari in the next season, hope he beats Alonso.

Tennis - Watched all the grandslams & loved the way Roger Federer has performed through out the season. I wish he wins the French Open title next year, the only title which eludes him. Even though Leander & Mahesh won during the Doha games, I hope they don't make so much fuss when they can't get along well personally. Tennis too saw one of the greatest player retire this seaosn, none other than Andre Agassi.

Cricket - I don't really watch this sport much, atleast when India is playing - damn such a waste of time,we end up loosing most of the times. Watched last 2 matches of Ashes, man England performed very poorly & Aussies, as always dominated and won. I am hoping for a 5-0 whitewash. Hats off to Warnie, who happened to take 700 wickets in test cricket & has announced his retirement along with his teammate McGrath.

Movies
- Not a movie buff, but I am surprised at the number of movies I have watched this year. Guess they sum up to around 50+ movies in theatres, DVDs, HBO, Star, AXN & downloads.

Blogging
- Haven't blogged that often after August this year, hope to be regular next year.

Gadgets - Panasonic FZ-30, Apple iPod, Sony Ericsson K608i

'Resolutions' for 2007

  • Go for morning jogs everyday & do some yoga.
  • Cut down on binge drinking.
  • Convince parents, its not the time for marriage.
  • Achieve perfection @ work & photography.
  • Keep the learning curve growing.
  • Blog more frequently.
  • Attend more music festivals.
  • Travel to distant place.
  • Buy more gadgets.
Yesterday evening I sent an SMS to few friends and requested a response. Here is the SMS, "Hi! Only 2 days left 4 new year. So....Wat do u like 2 see change in me? Or wat shouldn't change 4 next yr. Reply frankly in as much as u know me...To be a better person".

Following are the responses I have recieved till today:
  • Change u'r attitude towards SN management N don't chnage u'r frankfull thoughts to any....
  • Live life on u'r terms not on public demand
  • U r gud d way u r but spend quality time wit u'r family
  • I cannot xpect any bdy to change fr me....I my self hav tonnes to imprve. N change fr urself nt fr others
  • Get married soon :) ;)
  • Hey...wel i think u r the best as u r....very open n polite...quite informative also at times...i love d way u counter attack N argue wit frends...nevs on me mind it :) der wise no changes for u to make, ya one, don use kannada wen ua talk t me N V bad at tat.
Now, I am requesting those of you who know me to give me an honest response too.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

~ ThunderBird ~

Awesome bike, ride to believe it. No, I don't own this bike, I envy my friend who has it. You can visit here to view the pixs.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

'The Invisible Guy' turns a year older

Yesterday 'The Invisible Guy' turned an year older. Just looking back at the past year, realised that life has been good to me.
  • my hairline has receded even more:)
  • lost many friends to an anchor called 'marriage'
  • financially OK!...but still yearning for MORE
  • shot many people @ different places through my FZ-30
  • tryin to be mature in the current relationship
  • become more wiser
  • developed loads of patience
  • professionally honed my skills
  • added more gadgets - Panasonic FZ-30, iPod, SE K608i
Thank you everyone for the wishes.

Friday, December 01, 2006

World AIDS Day



After reading headlines of some of the major news networks, India has the 2nd most cases of AIDS in the world; I felt I could atleast bring some kind of awareness to this subject & spread it with few pictures. Click here for more info on World AIDS Day.

Sources: Rediff | Adsoftheworld | Creativebits

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Update on myself!

It has been quite a while since I posted anything on my personal blog. Occasionally, I have posted couple of posts reviews on couple of Web2.0 sites on my work-space blog & have been posting few pictures bi-weekly on my foto blog.

Personally - Have been doing quite a bit of travelling over last 4 months. Had two good road trips to Pondicherry & Goa, during the long weekends. Travelled to different parts of Karnataka to witness my buddies from school & engineering get settled in life. Over the last 2 months have attended 6 weddings, with one of my cousin's wedding slated @ the end of this month. I am not sure if all of them have made the right decisions to marry early in their lives, hope they have thought enough before making them. I wish them all the very best for their future. I found this quote quite introspecting, from a man who led our nation's struggle for independence.

'I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage' - M. K. Gandhi

Apart from that, have been spending my time capturing moments from all my travels and places I visit. Have been trying my hand on the post-processing of the pictures, the results are quite satisfying; but still a long way to go before I get comfortable with Photoshop CS2 - one of the best softwares around.

Socialising - I would say,it has been decent. Meet my close chums - Rags & Malhar - almost every week; couple of weeks back had a re-union party with quite a decent number of ppl from my batch of engineering; also happened to have a small get-together during the last week of Oct'er with my ReadiMinders. The only people I haven't been able to keep in touch are those from the photography & bloggers. It has been almost 5 months since I met them, have been in touch with few of them over mails, IM or phone calls. Firang Squirrel, was virtual up in arms, because I had not met her nor shown myself @ her home, from the day she got married and settled in Bengaluru. It was great to catch up with her over lunch & get an update on how she has been living & adjusting to the way of life in 'Namma Bengaluru'. My network has swelled to quite a number on Orkut in the recent past. This has increased my interactions with friends who are living in different parts of the world.

Professionally - Things have been quite hectic & challenging, working on demos & use-cases for our client. Getting insights into various domains and also dealing with the constant changes in the requirements which shape the demos & use-cases. Been part of couple of GeekNights which are held @ Thoughtworks, Bangalore. It has been a good experience so far, with AOP - Aspect Orieneted Programming and the other being Sahi - Web Automation and Test Tool & Google GWT - Google's AJAX API.

Gadgets - Got myself an iPod, a gadget which I had been waiting to accquire for quite sometime. Upgraded my mo-fone to Sony Ericsson's K610i, one of the best 3G handset around.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Xplore Google Reader

Check out the feature rich Google Reader. Based on my usage of the Reader, here are my 2 cents.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Gunners gun down the Lions

If you are an EPL fan, then you would know what I mean by 'Gunners gun down the Lions'. Premiership Sunday had four great teams playing each other for glory, the first fixture @ Stamford Bridge, between Chelsea and Liverpool & the second fixture @ Old Trafford, between arch rivals Arsenal and Manchester United.

As always, any match between the arch rivals would draw a lot of crowd and this fixture wasn't much different. It was a great match which I enjoyed watching till the end. Right from the start, the Gunners were attacking the Lions and I feel they outplayed them in every division. Arsenal had really good chances of taking the lead within 5 minutes of the game, if only the stand-in captain Gilberto Silva had converted the pentaly won by Emmanuel Adebayor. Ronaldo did have a go @ Arsenal just before the first half, Jens made an amazing save by putting himself infront and taking a mighty blow to his face.

Second half had more action coming from Arsene Wenger's boys with 5-4-1 formation with Emmanuel Adebayor upfront. Tomas Rosicky too had one shot @ the goal, but it was wide shot @ goal. Alex, finally substitued his lead striker Ronney with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Scholes with Michael Carrick, hoping things would get better. Thats when the Gunners turned things around, with an amazing interception from Cesc Fabregas, who architected the goal, by passing it on to Emmanuel Adebayor, who gracefully converted it. It was a wonderful moment for all the Gunner fans to see 1-0 score card @ Old Trafford, without their lead striker Henry.


~ Emmanuel Adebayor's Goal ~



~ Jens Brilliant Save ~

ManU could have equalled, if only Solskjaer's shot could have passed Jens. The save was brilliant & that gave the Gunners their first win in EPL for this season. By winning against ManU @ Old Trafford, I feel the Gunners have proved their critics wrong and they r back in the race for this seasons title. Even with some major changes in the current Arsenal's squad with many old guards - Ashley Cole's moving to Chelsea; Robert Pirès moving to Villareal; Sol Campbell moving to Portsmouth; Jose Antonio Reyes on loan to Real Madrid; - moving away and the retirement of Dennis Bergkamp, the team still has a formidable lineup, which can upset any team.

The first fixture was won by 10 men Chelsea, with an amazing solitary goal by the Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba. Tiger Woods these days seems to be accompanying his friends in different sports at different parts of the world. He was supporting Roger Federer during last week's US Open finals against Andy Roddick, yesterday he was witnessing his friend Andriy Shevchenko play @ Stamford Bridge against Liverpool.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

5 minutes to fame



~Canon - Funtwo~


5 minutes and 20 seconds is what it took for this South Korean student Lim Jeong-hyun to enter the hall of fame of You-Tube. This video made him popular across the world & in his country. I saw this yesterday evening on CNN, about the guitarist who has performed the rock version of Pachelbel's 'Canon'.

For more on this: Web video turns South Korean into global guitar star | YouTube guitarist revealed CNN Video

Source: YouTube | Yahoo | CNN | Wiki

Monday, September 04, 2006

Tribute to Steve Irwin

~Steve Irwin~
1962-2006

Steve Irwin a.k.a 'Croc Hunter', as most of us have known him, is no more with us. Nat, broke to this news to me an hour and half ago. I was shocked to hear it in the first place and couldn't believe it, asked her twice before I could digest the news.

'The 44-year-old was killed by a stingray barb which pierced his chest while he was shooting a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef'. For more, read this,from 'The Sydney Morning Herald'.

I have watched many of Steve's shows on Animal Planet and enjoyed all of them. He has always amazed me with his documentaries, especially the one in which he swam with Crocs, am not really sure if there is anyone else who has done that. He is fun to watch, no matter which animal he speaks about, he always tells you so much about the subject that you never get bored watching his show. His style of narration was very unique & Aussie and loved them. I feel no one can ever substitute him in what he used to do, he was the best @ his job.

I feel very sad about how death came upon him, who had lived all his life so closely with nature, trying to understand them and was killed by one of them. He did many things which most of us would have dare to do it in our wildest dreams.

I know he will be missed by millions of people across the world, hope his family can handle this incident emotionally.

Image Source: Amazon.com | News: The Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Back on Airtel Network

HeyA!

I have moved back to Airtel, I hope you have updated your phonebook, if you haven't then mail me & will respond back.

Cheers!

Vevck

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Is it really necessary to spend so much???

Let me know your thoughts on the same. All those who can't understand Rupees, it is worth 1,076, 426.26 USD

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Your Blogging Type is Artistic and Passionate

You see your blog as the ultimate personal expression - and work hard to make it great.
One moment you may be working on a new dramatic design for your blog...
And the next, you're passionately writing about your pet causes.
Your blog is very important - and you're careful about who you share it with.

Abstract Art

~ Atomic Life ~

~ Abstract Lines ~

~ Absolute Abstract ~

So, what do u think of my Abstract Art? How much are you willing to pay me for the above art work?

It took me just 10 minutes to create all the 3 masterpieces ;). I am not kidding, just 10 mins; even you could be an abstract artist. If you are wondering how could that be possible? Then visit Jacksonpollock.org, a website by Miltos Manteas. Really interesting piece of flash animation based on "Splatter". For more you can read Action Painting from wiki.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Happy Friendship Day

' Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation ' - George Washington

Monday, July 31, 2006

Post-mortem report on 'The censorship of blogging in India'

Here is my Post-mortem report on 'The censorship of blogging in India', If you are unable to relate to what I am saying then you should continue reading this post.

What do u understand the term 'Censorship'? According to my favorite knowledge source, Wiki, here is the definition of the term.

'Censorship is the systematic use of group power to broadly control freedom of speech and expression, largely in regard to secretive matters. Sanitization (cleaning or decontamination) and whitewashing (from whitewash) are almost interchangeable terms that refer to particular acts or campaigns of censorship or omission which seek to "clean up" the portrayal of particular issues and facts which are already known, but which may conflict with a presented point of view.'

Currently, I live in India, the largest Democratic (gives me a sense of FALSE PRIDE) Nation in the world. I presume to have/had the freedom to express myself meaningfully on any subject, until Government of India (GoI) on 13th July issued a notice to ban certain sites - Blogger - Blogpsot - Typepad - Geocities. This ban when enforced by the ISPs spread across the country, made an impact on the bloggers especially those on Blogger/Typepad only the following week i.e. 17-19th July. Even though this so called 'Censorship' lasted only for 3 days, this post mortem 'The censorship of blogging in India' shows the lack of knowledge in interpretation & implementation of the GoI's Notice by our Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

  • Why did the GoI issue a notice to ban these sites/domains?
They say that terrorists/certain groups/individuals have been using blogs as a medium for communication, spreading hatred & inciting people for varied interests.

  • But, did the GoI actually issue a blanket ban on these domains or was it the implementation failure of our ISPs in blocking only certain URLs issued by the GoI?



~ GoI - Department of Telecom's notice ~
Via: Neha Viswanathan

After looking @ above scanned version of the Actual Document of the notice, the GoI never really issued a notice for blanket ban, rather the SICK ISPs need to blamed for creating the un-necessary confusion among the bloggers and the GoI.

The Post-mortem report:
  • The ISPs should be blamed for creating the confusion & depriving the freedom of expression & making the GoI look as the 'Culprit'. I feel the ISPs should find a better methodology/process/steps in carrying out Government's notices & regulations.
  • Blogger.com, few bloggers & blogging as a concept, got a wide range of coverage from the National & International media.
  • Bloggers across the world were united in lending voice to this episode & I believe this led to the birth of a Google Group called BloggersCollective. If you wanna know more about them, then here are few useful links BloggersCollective and their website Bloggers Against Censorship.
  • Going further, if the GoI does plan to do something silly like issuing a notice for implementing a blanket ban on the entire blogging domains, I feel this episode should be studied carefully. The Government should address such an issue in a sensible manner by weighing lot of options before making a final call. There are millions of people who use 'Blogging' for various different purposes, U just can't make decisions based on few individual groups/individuals who abuse technology. Even if the GoI does issue such a blanket ban notice, there numerous ways to 'Circumvent' the censorship.

Even though I wanted to write a post on this subject last week, I wasn't able to do so.....Reason?....From last week I am unable to access Blogger & Blogspot from my workplace. The official reason .....Testing new things on how to utilize the available bandwidth in a proper manner.

I am very impressed with Neha Viswanathan, who has given her voice & time on the subject starting from day one. Click here to view her post which covers the entire episode with regular updates.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Long live INDIA

Israel
  • POPULATION: 7 million (less than half of Mumbai)
  • SIZE: Less than that of Kerala
  • ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 2 soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, 1 by Hamas
  • RETALIATORY ACTION: War on Lebanon

India
  • POPULATION: 1 billion+
  • SIZE: 6th largest in the world
  • ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IT: 200+ dead in Mumbai blast, 8 in Kashmir
  • RETALIATORY ACTION: A speech by Prime Minister
Source: Through Email.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Update of myself!

The first 3 weeks of this month was very hectic, with a challenging task of completing a Use-Case for one of the leading market analysis & research firm. Everything came along fine and use-case was successfully executed on 14th.

I knew the following week would be another stressful one to pass through; that's because my 3rd Semester MBA xams was scheduled from 20-23. I am grateful to my managers, who gave me a week off for the same. Efforts/Preparations for this semester's xams wasn't anywhere close to the previous two semesters; eventually started preparing for it from 16th till 19th. Finally, today had my last paper & it went well; Now when I lookup on all the 4 papers, seems like I have done pretty good, lets wait for the results to be announced in the coming months to know the reality;). One thing I observed this time around was that my concentration levels had dropped very much, they never lasted more than 40 mins. In case any of you have observed yours, could you let me know how good is your concentration?

Due to my xams I happen to miss out on couple of things, first one being the movie marathon @ the blogger couple Jessica-Kishore's residence on Saturday & followed by dinner @ my college mate's place.

Now that I am done with my xams, I hope to spend some good time socializing:)

Friday, July 14, 2006

Food for thought

"If someone with a nostril ring takes it out, then blows their nose, do they have to cover that hole as well as their nostril holes so that snot does'nt blow out everywere?"

Courtesy for this thought is my friend Pawan Reddy.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Insane world

I am all geared up for watching the France Vs Portugal, the 2nd Semi-final of FIFA world cup 2006, which is gonna kick-off in another 15 minutes . But, I am sure that I will be alive after watching the watch, irrespective of who is gonna win this game; even though I am supporting France. I guess you are trying hard to make sense of what I have written in the previous two sentences, thinking howz football and life correlated???

Then let me point you to this headlines on Yahoo. I am very horrified after reading that piece of news, and many Qs started sprouting in my mind - how can someone be killed for watching football? I really don't know whatz happening to people, what on Earth are these people gonna achieve by killing innocent people for watching sports? Every passing day the world is turning out to be an 'Insane' place to live, all in the name of religion.

Whatz your reaction after reading that, I would like to know your thots on the same.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Cubicle Song!

Today morning, an ex-colleague sent me this song 'My Cubilce' a parody to James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' on the mail. Thot of sharing the same with the rest of the blogger commune; the lyrics of this song is very humorous, check it out:

To listen to the song please
open this blog in Internet Explorer:










My Cubicle



My job is stupid,
My day's a bore,
Inside this office,
From 8 to 4.

Nothing ever happens,
My life is pretty blank,
Pretending that I am working,
Pray I don't get canned.

My cubicle, my cubicle,
It's 1 of 62,
It's my small space,
In a crowded place,
Just a six by six board booth,
And I hate it, that's the truth.

When I give a sigh,
As the boss walks by,
No one ever talks to me,
Or looks me in the eye,
And I really should work,
But instead I just sit here,
And surf the internet.

And my cubicle, my cubicle,
It doesn't have a view,
It's my small space,
In a crowded place,
I sit inside there too,
And sometimes I sit here nude.

Monday, June 26, 2006

No one bends it like Beckham

If you did watch the pre-quaters between England and Ecuador, then you would get what I mean by 'No one bends it like Beckham'. I am talking about the free kick, where David Beckham scored the lone goal for 3 Lions to take them to Quaterfinals of Fifa 2006. If you weren't able to catch the match, then check the highlights here; watch out for 60th minute where Becks bends it.




~ENG Vs ECU 2006~


Video Source: Youtube.com

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Review: JRO 2006

~JRO 2006 Flyer~

JRO stands for June Rock Out which is an annual musical event held in the month of June. According to Unwind Center - the center behind this musical fest, claims "Evolving as 'India's Mega Music Festival', - JRO is a performance stage; where bands get to perform before large appreciative audiences." For on their mission statement click here.

~Unwind Center, Bangalore~

JRO which started off @ Chennai, is in its 8th succesive year and Chennai has witnessed 7 years of this festival. This was the first edition of JRO @ Bangalore. Even though this edition started off on June 10th, I got to know about it after missing the first 2 weeks of it. Thanks! Neets for letting us know of JRO.

Now that u have some idea about this Fest, let me digg into the fest. So, the final week of this Rock fest saw 3 bands - Parousia [Bangalore], Panatella [Chennai], IIIrd Sovereign [Mizoram based in Delhi] - performing @ Unwind Center, Bangalore.

Panatella kicked off the night with some decent music belting out their own compositions & doing some covers after the requests from the audience. This was the second time I was witnessing Panatella perform in Bangalore, previously they had performed @ Strawberry Fest; you can read more regarding 'Strawberry Fields festival' & the band.

~Pantella~

IIIrd Sovereign, the Death Metal Band from Mizoram was the next to take the center-stage. I had not known them before, so my expectations weren't that high from them. When they started playing their music, they weren't disappointing at all. The audience by then had swelled in number & the numerous Death Metal fans were Head Banging to the metal mania. [Neets said during the previous weekends she didn't find much audidence @ Unwind Center]. It was pleasure for me to witness a live performance of a Death Metal Band, all the members are good @ their craft, the lead guitarist & the drummer impressed me a lot. I loved the bass guitar of Jonah. Prior to this I had witnessed to another Death Metal band, Mumbai's Demonic Resurrection performance @ 'Strawberry Fields'.

~IIIrd Sovereign~


~The Head Bangers~

Parousia, the Rock band from Bangalore was the last band to perform. May be these guys played well, to be frank I was in no mood to listen to Soft-Rock after the high-octane performance of IIIrd Sovereign. Half the crowd had left by the time these guys played, I feel the organisers should have gone by the order they had originally planned to start off with Parousia, Panatell and winding up with IIIrd Sovereign.

Now Bangalore has another annual musical event to its calendar. Unwind Center needs a round of applause for keeping the fest free from smoke, alcohol & sexual connotations in its true sense, which is very common among Rock fests. Few words for the organisers, I feel they could improve on their PR campaign - so that the festivals gets wider audience and kick start the show without any delays.

~The Group: Nita (Gal in Red with a smile), Ranjit (Geek with Helmet) and Sridhar (Cool Dude with leather jacket), Self (as always behind the lens)~

JRO Rocks!!!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Y I love football

Its very uncommon to find a football fan in a cricket crazy nation, luckily I have friends who are very passionate about football. Here is Y I love Football:
  • Beautiful game - all u need is a rectangular grassland, 22 men and a football.
  • Team sport - truly a team sport, the onus doesn't lie on any individual's performance.
  • Simple - you don't need to know much rules to follow the game.
  • Short - all the action happens ends by 90 mins, provided the match doesn't extend to extra time of 30 mins.
  • Outcome - you are never sure of the outcome of any game, untill the last minute has been played. Ghana's performance in this edition of Fifa 2006 is the very proof of outcomes.
'Captured this football shaped water-tank above a home while I was travelling to Andhra Pradesh two weeks ago. Looks like the owner of this home is a football fanatic as well;)'

I have been supporting 'England, Germany, Argentina' teams in the order mentioned for Fifa 2006. Lets hope England plays upto to their ability & not just depend on Wayne Rooney's performance.


The knockout stage begin today, starting off with two matches:
  1. Germany Vs Sweden [20:30hrs India Std Time]. My bet - Germany winning by 2-1.
  2. Argentina Vs Mexico [00:30hrs India Std Time]. My bet - Agrentina winning by 2-0.
I am a sports fanatic & if you wanna know which sports I follow closely, check this post 'Sports Unlimited'.

Let me know if u r passionate about football & following this World Cup, we could catch up over weekends to watch the action @ some place in the city.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Pakistani Bands ROCK!

Today morning one of my college buddies forwarded this link to the group, where you get to listen to a lot of songs from Bollywood movies. I am not a great fan of Bollywood movies nor the kind of the music they make these days, so I began Xploring the site for different songs; Thats when I hit this resource which was a gateway for songs from the other side of LOC.

Speaking of LOC, I remembered Neets having written a post on the same subject titled 'Rock the LOC'. So, decided to try some music from the folks who live across the LOC. Prior to this, I had only heard the popular Pakistani Bands/Singers like Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junoon, Strings, Jal, Shehzad Roy being the latest who is featured regularly on the music channels in India. I loved the songs of Junoon & Strings [prior to their entry into Bollywood, I feel they sound more POP these days]. Coming back to the present, I started listening to songs listed under the section 'Pakistani Underground' & I was really surprised by the quality of music some of these bands have. Their music compositions & the lyrics really ROCK!. India too has many Rock bands who perform @ various college Rock festivals, but these Rock bands never go mainstream. The main reason being the fact that majority of the audience in India listens to POP & Bollywood songs, the sponsors hesitate in supporting these Rock artistes.

Click here to listen to the songs which I enjoyed.

Image Courtesy: UMRev

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Fifa 2006: England Vs Trinidad and Tobago

Half Time Report: I was very disappointed with 3 Lions [England] performance against Paraguay in their opening match. Even though I am supporting the Lions this time for their second title, I felt they played well below their capability. I thought Sven would have some decent plan and the 3 Lions would put up a decent show against the Caribbean Island Nation called Trinidad & Tobago. John Terry, Chelsea's captain saved the blues for England by some good defending @ the goal line to dismiss the header of Jones, just before half-time whistle.

The way match has proceeded till half-time, I feel the 3 Lions deserve the 'Boos' on their way back to dressing room. Before the match started the analysts on ESPN where predicting a 3-0 win for England, I guess they would be eating their words now. The commentator was saying England is a good team, with Rooney on the pitch they make a great team. I don't know what he meant, but I am very F****** disappointed with 3 Lions performance in their 2nd match.

Here is the stats for the match till half-time, courtesy Yahoo!



Got to go, lets see how the 3 Lambs perform in the second half.

Full Time Report: Finally England manage to score their own goals in this World Cup & they are through to second round. Two goals came in a span of 10 mins from Peter Crouch's header @ 83rd minute & the brilliant shot from Steven Gerrard @ 91st minute to finish 2-0 at the end of the match. I hope 3 Lions play an attacking game in their upcoming matches, otherwise they won't make much head way in the coming weeks.

Here is the final stats of the match, courtesy Yahoo!


Thursday, June 08, 2006

Quote

'The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal'
- Aristotle

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Champions League Final: Clash of the Titans

Tonight when Arsenal play Barcelona for the 2006 Champions League title @ Stade de France in Paris, the match would go down in history books of European Football. Both the teams play their natural attacking game & I am sure it would be a cracker. Not to forget Arsenal's defense, which has been a revelation this season where they have entered the record books for having 10 clean sheets in this season's Champions League.


This game would give us the chance to witness the best forwards currently in the world 'Thierry Henry' & 'Ronaldinho' playing against each other. The above picture was shot during the award ceremony last year & I don't expect the two players to be so friendly on the field atleat. Both have a class of their own, Henry has amazing pace to leap forward & Ronaldinho, has the knack of beating the best defenses. Lets see who performs better & scores in this game. I am not sure whether Henry would be with Arsenal for the next season, but this is the right oppurtunity for him to win & leave the club on a high note.

Everyone says Barcelona are the favorites for this seasons Championship League title, but don't write off Arsenal so easily, Gunners have the team to beat any big name & its reflected during their march to the final game. My bet on the final score-line for this game would be 1-0 victory for Arsenal.

Go Gunners!!!

Enjoy! the game.

Don't miss the Rediff Special on Henry - "Tribute to the 'King' " | More news on this fixture.

Picture courtesy: Teamtalk.com

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Live every moment & realize it

One of my colleague sent me a link today & I felt like sharing it with people on blogosphere. This small movie has been created by Scott Stratten. So did u realize anything after watching it?

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Watz in a KISS?


I know the response to that question would certainly depend upon the individual's socio-geographical background. If your next question is why am I even talking/writing about Kiss/Kissing on this blog, then I shall lead you to the source of news 'Rs500 for a Kiss' which irked me to come up with this post.

Now that you read that piece of information, how would you react to that? I really don't understand what is the fuss all about, why would you impose such hefty fine on a couple if they are seen kissing in public. Atleast for me, if a couple is kissing in a public place it really doesn't affect me, unless the kiss leads them to engage in something else.

What is the message that our authorities are trying to convey by imposing such fines on the public? Can they really deter young couples from kissing in public by imposing such fines? I would say NO they can't. As the news says,"Kissing in public has always been a taboo"; this is just one such meaningless TABOO which exists in India - the country which gave Kamasutra to the world. What I fail to understand is the double-standards which we follow @ every home in this country.

I don't know how other religions address TABOO subjects like Nudity, SEX, etc; Hinduism has given sex its due importance in the scheme of things. If you are interested in reading more about how Hinduism gave sex its due importance in the overall picture then I found this article 'The Erotic Arts of India' - by Dr. K. L. Kamat - who shares his first-hand research and information about ancient erotic art and literature of India.

So, here is my question to these authorities who are trying to be the moral police: In a land where 'Temples' have figures of loving couples in various sexual positions & nude apsaras depicted in sculptures, what is really there in a 'KISS'? After all, Kissing is most commonly an expression of affection. Here is the disturbing fact, Delhi - the capital of India - accounts the highest number of Rapes cases in India. Don't believe me, then read this TOI article, "Delhi:The Rape Capital of India". Instead of having such Draconian rules & trying to implement them, I feel the Delhi police should be more concerned about nabbing the rapists & punishing then, making Delhi more safer place for women.

BTW my friend Rags, during his last week's getaway to Somanthpur has captured few shots of the temple, check them here & you will know more about what the sculptures I have been talking about.

I tried to KISS [Keep It Small Simple] my post, hope I am not fined ;)


Update: My friend Kishore has an interesting collection of pictures from various temples, ruins and heritage sites across India. Thanks a lot for sharing the album, now the audience can relate even better as to what I am trying to convey. View the album 'Heritage India' by Kishore Murthy.

Painting Courtesy: Ibiblio.org
Source: Rediff | Times Of India | Wiki | Kamat.com | Google



Sunday, April 16, 2006

A memorable week

Yesterday night I was just recalling all the incidents & events that occured over the past week. This post is a brief account of each of those significant incidents which took place.




'Dr. Rajkumar 1929-2006 (Image Courtesy:Wiki)'

Dr. Rajkumar, the legend of Kannada Film Industry died on Wednesday last week in Bangalore. The actor died of cardiac arrest, he was 77 years old. He was one of the most famous actors in south India's vibrant film industry. Even though I haven't watched any Kannada movies offlate, I have watched many movies of Rajkumar. I pay my tributes to the great actor & humble man who led a simple and disciplined life, may his soul rest in peace. Within minutes of his death, the news began spreading like wild-fire across the IT Captial of India & what happened later was not that suprising to many local people. Most of us - people who have lived in Bangalore during the actor's kidnapping by Veerappan - knew how worse the situation would get once the news of the actor's death reaches his fan(atic)s. Fanatics? What else would you call them when they build temples for their Filmstars & worship them like God; Am I not justified in calling them fanatics?

An hour had passed by since the actor's death, few locals [am sure they are not his fans]who approached our company and asked us to close our operations for the day. The reason stated by them on the need to shut our operations was to mourn the loss of the great actor. Sensing trouble & keeping employees saftey paramount our company decide to close by 4pm. The scenario was the same with most of the IT/Non-IT companies located across B'lore, most of the companies decided to shut their operations before regular working hours. Here is a extract from an email sent by the HR Dept of one of the IT companies loacted in ITPL,Banaglore:

Dear Colleagues,
We have heard news reports about the sudden demise of Karnataka's leading cine actor - Dr.Rajkumar around noon today. We are in touch with ITPL Security Officials as well as other Corporates in the city to assess the situation resulting out of this.

Reports indicate that certain roads such as Dr.Rajkumar Road in Rajajinagar and areas around his residence - Sadashivnagar are being blocked to traffic. Depending on the mob turning up to pay respects to the departed soul, further areas could get blocked.

In order to avoid any inconvenience and keeping your safety paramount, you are advised to plan an early safe return home.

Thanks and Best Regards,


When I reached home I didn't witness any kind of disturbance in the surrounding areas, but heard from friends who where returning from various parts of Bangalore that @ certain places the mob had blocked roads & burnt few vehicles causing inconvenience to public.

13th April 2006 was declared an holiday for all the Educational institutions & Government offices by the Government of Karnataka to mourn the death of the actor & also the cremation was to happen @ the end of the day. The IT Companies followed the same by declaring a compensatory holiday in the view of the situation; with this holiday it made a long weekend since Friday was an off on the occassion of Good Friday. Even though my company had declared an off for the day I couldn't stay at home doing nothing, so I decided to come to work on 13th as well.

Now here comes the hardest part, the cable guy across Banagalore pulls off every channel except for hand full of Kannada channels - all of whom are beaming live pictures of the final farewell paid by people from Kanteerava Stadium. Everything looked fine till few fans went bersek @ the Stadium & then police had to resort to Lathi Chagre and shoot tear gas shells @ the crowd to control them. Situtation worsened when the actor's body was taken from Kanteerava Stadium to Kanteerava Studio - the place where the actor's was cremated. During this procession, the fans out numbered the policemen & started behaving violently, they started burning police vans and attacking them. The mob even lynched a new recruit to death by stoning him, this wasn't the end of violence. When the body finally arrived @ Kanteerava Studio & the family members could not perform the final rites, as the fans didn't oblige to part with the body. That's when the police had to step in & tried to control the crowd, but when things got out of control the police decided to open fire, which resulted in death of 7 people. It really doesn't make much sense to me on why the crowd behaved in such a manner & nor did the actor deserve this kind of final farewell. End of the day 8 people had lost their lives for nothing & this makes me say that we Indians really don't value a life of an individual.

Coming back to the office scene, I wasn't the only one working on that day, was glad to see many of my colleagues working as well. Few of my colleagues asked me why I wasn't mourning the demise of a great actor by abstaining from work, I said the way I mourn death is different from what we are seeing on the television. Then couple of my colleagues started asking why we Kannadigas are behaving/reacting in such a grave manner on the demise of the actor. I don't understand how can people make such generalized statement toward all of us (kannadigas). Isn't there any difference between us & the mob - who are involved in arson, destroying public & private properties, burning vehicles, lighting 3 petrol/gas stations & Lycnhing a policemen. It really doesn't make any sense in accusing every Kannadiga of being like that, I hope such people grow up in their thinking or else I challenge them to make the same comments in the public domain if they really have the nerves.

Many things could have been planned by the government especially on how to handle the fans during funeral and how to contain violence if it occurred. I never believe in enforcing anything on anybody, but time and again it so happens in India that Freedom is often misued by people who are @ the seat of power. On 13th of April, most parts of Bangalore looked deserted as if curfew was imposed, most of the public remained indoors sensing violence, shutdown of public transport system, all the resturants & shops were closed, gas stations were closed & the Cable TV guys pulled off all non-kannada channels. Mourning the death of a beloved one has to come from within & it can't be enforced by an outside force.

Here are few pictures which were captured on our way to City Railway station.

'Advertisement signages were destroyed through out Bellary Main Road'

'The burnt vehicle in front of Aditi Technologies, Bellary Road'

'Trident Hyundai Showroom near Cavery Circle'

'Another building on Sankey Road which was stoned'

'Hero Honda Showroom on Bellary Road'


Alwar Rape Case: This was something which caught my attention early this week, I was happy with the way things proceeded & the final justice being delievred in record time of 22 days. This is very significant case which shows that the judical system & the ploice can work together and deliver justice if they really want. I hope this Case would be used a benchmark for delivering justice to hundreds of similar cases which are pending for many years. This was an high-profile case, as the guilty B H Mohanty, is the son of Orissa cadre Additional Director General of Police B B Mohanty, even this didn't stop the police & the judical system in delivering justice to the German national.


Salman Khan: The Bollwood Actor is in news most of the time not for his acting abilities but for all the scandals & controversies. This time the actor was sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment and sent to the Central Jail in Jodhpur by a local court in connection with the 1998 black buck poaching case. He just spent 3 days in the jail before obtaining a bail & walking out of the jail like a free man. Sunday edition of The Times of India, had an interesting debate titled 'Is our legal system making examples of celebs?'. The debate has two interesting views from Prahlad Kakkar, Ad Filmmaker & Mahesh Bhatt, Filmmaker; I very much agree with what Prahlad Kakkar has to say. Rediff carries a special page for his controversies, click here to read more.


Soccer: The Gunners were very disappointing in their performance against the Portsmouth during the mid-week tie. Even though Thierry Henry gave the team their first goal, they ended up with a draw to take home just 1 point. There were atleast 3 chances where Arsenal could have scored and won the match, but they never converted those chances and that has been the problem with them during this season. Things were very different during the weekend fixture, where they beat West Bromwich 3-1 and have kept the chances alive of finishing 4th place in the English Premier League. I hope they carry on their winning streak for the big game on 19th April when they play Villareal during the first leg of UEFA Cahmpions League Semifinals @ Highbury.

I was happy to see Chelsea win their match against Bolton, which takes them closer to retaining the Premiership title for the second succesive year.

Cricket: India won the 7th ODI, to wrap up the series 5-1 & moved to 3rd position on ICC ODI rankings. The 3rd position happens to be all time best for Team India, since the rankings were introduced in the yera 2002. The 7th ODI was an interesting match, I enjoyed the batting of Robin Uthapa, the lad from Bangalore who plays for Karnataka made his ODI debut against England. In the very first match, he got into the record books of Indian Cricket for scoring 86 runs which happens to be the highest number of runs scored by an Indian debutant batsmen. He could have easily got his first century, only if he the had the discipline of his Captain, Rahul Dravid. I hope India win both their matches against Pakistan which is coming up on 18th & 19th April, even as these matches are being played for the benefit of the victims of Pakistan eathquake. Special on Rediff.

Wedding: Both Prithvi & Shalina, my classmates during engineering got married yesterday. I wish them a very happy journey for their rest of their married life. I happened to meet few of my classmates, some of them after 3 years & it was great to see them. There are 3 more wedding which are scheduled for this month and all the weddings happen to be that of my classmates. Looks like everyone is eager to get settled in life;)





Movies: Watched 'Crash' & 'Bandits' over the weekend. They are worth watching atleast once.


News Source: Rediff | Times of India

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music - 2006

'The Stage - Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music - 2006'

Firflies Festival of Sacred Music -2006 is an annual music festival which is organised by Fireflies Ashram @ their premises which is located in Kaggalipura village off Kanakapura Road. This is the 4rd edition of the event & the theme of this year's festival is "Inner and outer journey in the context of globalisation". The previous 3 editions were known as 'Bhoomi Jathre'(in Kannada) which translates to 'Earth Festival' in English. Thanks to Vasu, who had been there on two earlier editions & letting me know of such unqiue music festival.

We - Vasu, Kishore, Rags, Ranjit, Nita, Nithin, Nishant & myself - reached the Fireflies Ashram @ around 7 pm; Malhar joined us @ around 9pm. The music festival was an all night affair which started off @ Dusk of 8th April and ended @ Dawn of 9th April. I have been to many music concerts, college fests & other musical festivals, but this music festival was something very different & unique. The unqiueness of this festival comes from various factors - the music, people (the organisers & the audidence) & the place. It has been 10 hours since I stepped out of that place and the sounds still reverberates inside me. This edition had a very wide genre of music - Classical, Carnatic, Choir, Folk, Hindustani, Hawain, Jazz, Percussion & Sufi. I have never had the oppurtunity to experience so much variety in music over a night, except here @ Fireflies. Also the audience was very mature who appreciated every performance;
this is what makes this festival so unique.

'The Groups/Bands that performed during this edition'

Music is something that binds people, bridges countries & diminishes the physical boundaries in this world. It also helps one to connect with the artist performing & at the same time helps you connect to yourself. There were many times during the night where I was totally immeresed in the music which let me connect to myself. This years theme was very much focused on that 'Inner & Outer Journey' - I truly experienced both of them during the night. Currently I am soaked with the music, sights & sounds of the Fireflies Festival & it will remain fresh for some more days.


I have only one suggestion for the organisers of this amazing music festival, make it smoke free next time. I am sure we can get our HIGHS by listening to the MUSIC & we don't need WEED nor ALCOHOL.

Update I: I managed to capture few moments from the festival, you can now visit the album here.
Upadet II: You can visit Kishore's album from the same festival here.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Just a passing thought

Who you let in can change your life
- Tagline from the movie 'Being Cyrus'

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Love:Its all about sharing & giving


'Love' is one of those emotions which is very hard to express in words, I am sure many of you would agree with that. 'Love' is something which is found in every being & also intrinsic. Love can be observed in most of our actions & at any given point we are participating in things that we love. I could be conversing with a person; going for a trek in the wilderness; watching a favorite sport / program on Discovery Channel; writing a post; freezing a moment through my camera; listening to my favorite song; sketching a portrait; doing my routine job; cooking a dish; watering plants; hanging around with friends & guzzling beer; I could go on listing many such activities which I love doing. One thing that is common in every action I do would be the emotion called Love. I am passionate about them and have always given my best in everything. I hope most of them who have known me well agree with that ;)

The emotion remains the same when you love a person, you are passionate about them and willing to share & give anything to your beloved. The popular saying 'Opposites attract', is definitely true in some instances, but, that isn’t the case with me. Let me explain why I believe in commonality & why it goes well with me. Since, I come from an Electronics & Communications background, I would like to borrow some concepts from there. When two people share many common interests between them, then there would be less 'Impedance'. Also, achieving a near zero 'Impedance Matching' state is easier with those who share common traits when compared those who have diverse traits. Impedance matching (also called reflectionless matching) is for minimizing reflections and maximizing power transfer over a large bandwidth. When we apply the same concept between people who share common traits/interests, I believe there would be minimal conflicts & maximum exchange of 'Love' between them. I am not sure how many of you agree with that, but I would love to spend my life with a person who shares some of the common traits or interests that I have.

Just take a minute & try to remember all your close friends & analyze their traits/interests; I am sure you wouldn't be surprised to find many of them sharing the same traits/interests as that of yours. So, it makes much sense that when you share something common with the other, you also tend to give more than you receive - that’s one of the attribute of 'Love'.

Nita happened to tag me on this one a fortnight ago & I know I am late in responding to that tag. I had many things going @ that particular passage of time & I needed sometime to get over them. Now here goes the list of the traits of my dream partner.

  1. Honesty - I feel by being honest to 'Self', a person would be truthful to the other as well.
  2. Communication - I value this the most and feel in any relationship communication is the key trait. Sometimes it could prove costly on the relationship if either of them fail to communicate.
  3. Acceptance - Accepting people the way they are and being open-minded to others thoughts & feelings is something I believe in.
  4. Listening - Being a sound listener, as this helps a person give a sound feedback.
  5. Maturity - Maturity comes with age, experience & learning.
  6. Learning - I feel a person who stops learning, stops growing - spiritually, mentally & physically. I like people who are eager many subjects
  7. Independent – Should be capable of handling/dealing with situations or incidents independently & making the decisions.
  8. Social Being - Be a free spirited individual who moves around without much fuss about things.
  9. Adventurous - I am an outdoor person, who would love to travel & visit as many places as possible in my life time. I expect the same kind of enthusiasm from the other.
  10. Organized - I like people who are organized.
BTW I happened to meet (virtually) someone recently who shares many of these traits; unfortunately I am 6 months late in knowing her, as she is currently seeing someone else. It's the song “She's The One” by Robbie Williams that comes to mind when I think about her.

'Life with Love is a life of involvement, commitment & participation. Life no longer remains plain, it becomes a Celebration!'


P.S: Everything expressed on this post is only my perspective on the subject 'Love'; if someone feels that it’s borrowed or plagiarized I give a DAMN.