Friday, August 31, 2012

~ Little Bangalore ~

Everyone has their own place which they feel comfortable living & call home. Bangalore, is the city which I call home.

People of Bangalore have been warm to people from many different states of India & other nationalities. The recent incidents on North Eastern people is more political driven (or manipulated) than an act by the citizen of the city. I hope those who have known the locals would very much know the difference.

It's probably in the air & culture of those who are born here with a motto of - live and let live. Otherwise how else would you find Kannadigas (people from the native state) being minority in the state capital. Not really sure where have all the locals disappeared, but here is a beautiful Tilt-Shift styled video of Chikka Bengaluru / Little Bangalore.


Friday, August 17, 2012

~ Illegal Aliens ~


If I have to visit any country on this planet, either for work or pleasure I need a passport and an appropriate visa.

But that rule isn't applicable to the country on the far east - Bangladesh. The very country which was liberated by us as East Pakistan is causing a near civil war in India. People from Bangladesh have been entering and leaving the country at will. Since, we cannot easily differentiate the race, they can easily pass off as Indians. They have settled in various parts of the country; pre-dominantly in the Assam, West Bengal, North Eastern States & most recently Kerala.

Instead of asking fellow Indians (i.e. people from north east) to move from various cities across India back to North East. Why can't the Government of India or State Governments take any action against the illegal immigrants (Bangladeshis) & deport them back to their country?

Why can't Indian government deal with such large scale illegal settlers in our country rather than witness their own citizens fight amongst themselves?

We become laughing stock for all such governance issues. Congress has been the main culprit over the years in using these illegal settlers for vote bank politics. They are equally communal as the BJP. Being pseudo-secular is a bigger threat to the country. Both of these political parties have been using Religion for their own agenda of gaining power.

I hope the citizens of India - irrespective of which religion you follow or not follow. COUNTRY comes before RELIGION. If an Muslim is killed in Myanmar (Burma) then you don't attack Buddhists in India. If an Hindu is killed or abducted in Pakistan then you don't attack Muslims in India.

Killing anyone for that matter is a crime and should not be tolerated. That's just isn't correct; whether you belong to any religion or not.

I hope some common sense prevails in these mind-less attacks in the name of RELIGION. Illegal immigrants are illegal no matter which religion or country you represent. FYI, Tibetans who have been given Asylum aren't illegal.

Thought process started from this post.

Some more fodder:
Bangladeshis in India - aliens or muslims?
Illegal immigration in India
Illegal Bangladeshi Immigration: People Take the Mantle When the Government Gives Up
I don't care if you are a Muslim
The-illegal-bangladeshi-immigrant-do-the-bogeyman-numbers-add-up-
India's 'Mexican' Problem: Illegal Immigration from Bangladesh
Illegal Bangladeshi Migration to India: Impact on Internal Security
Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants threat to India: court
Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, a big problem: Government
Manufacturing Muslim rage, generating vile hate
How Pakistani site incited Muslims in India against northeasterners
‘Pak Muslims destroy our temples and abduct our women’

Monday, August 13, 2012

~ Guitar ~



Not really sure of what attracts me to this instrument. I have been fascinated with this instrument from a very young age. My maternal uncle used to play it & was used to see it at my grandparents home every time I visited them.

Been lucky to witness some great performances in Bangalore over the years. Now here is a 3 part documentary title Story of the Guitar from BBC. Enjoyed watching Part 1. Now, waiting to watch the remaining 2 parts.

Via Open Culture.
Image Credit: PRLog

Monday, August 06, 2012

~ Hello Mars, once again! ~



Curiosity just landed on the RED planet a.k.a Mars 9 hours ago, with a perfect landing.

I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! 

Just spell bound by the success of the mission. There is so much of complexity involved in every stage of the project till the Curiosity is safely landed and does it's job for what it has been sent to. I can only imagine the effort put by various teams which were involved in this epic journey.

The work is Magnificent. I am into software development. My work isn't as complex as these guys; rather some simple social web applications which helps businesses and customers. The nature of such work just eclipses mine.

To achieve a near perfect landing, it would require a lot of testing. Testing on various levels - electrical, mechanical, pressure, EDL (Entry, Descent & Landing), software, environment, etc. If testing fails to uncover any faults, then project would just burn Billion Dollars of tax payers' money. Therefore for such kind of projects - test plans, coverage, benchmarking, regression - is very vital for the final outcome. I feel testing is more valuable than development at certain phases of the project. The statistics from the endless testing would finally pay the dividend for the over-all success of the project.

Bugs / Faults are essentially part of the software development system. The journey of the product is to evolve every passing. If it isn't, then it's better to quit! In a mission critical project like MSL (Mars Science Laboratory ) my guess is that the fault tolerance level would be a near 0.

Following are some of the interesting references:
Science Goals
The challenge of complexity
Technology
Planetary protection
Robotic arm
Instruments on Curiosity
Mars Missions 

Here is a video which covers the various teams who are involved in developing the rover over many years. Gives us an insight into various domains and the kind of rigorous testing it undergoes before lift-off.



Curiosity is also Social Media friendly. It has a tweet handle - Curiosity Rover - in case you want to follow it's life on Mars on a daily basis.

Updates:
Oscars for Geeks
Next Gen, Nuke powered Rover
The Creative and Business Lessons from MSL