I read this very interesting article on goodnewsindia.com. If this is so successful, I wish it comes to every corner of the country and the plastic is taken away as soon as it is dumped down.
Alka Zadgaonkar Wrings Plastic Waste for Profit
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Advanced Management Courses
Watch Chak De India
Watch Swades
Lalu Prasad Yadav's Railway Success
The above can easily run into semesters with students' perspectives etc.
OK!! Apologies for being sarcastic. :-) But it caught my attention this early morning when in a TV channel it was being shown that some management institute had screening and group discussion on Chak De India as part of curriculum.
Remember "Yeh 75 minutes tumse koi nahin chheen sakta..." ? a.k.a "Nobody can snatch these 75 minutes from you.." ?
Watch Swades
Lalu Prasad Yadav's Railway Success
The above can easily run into semesters with students' perspectives etc.
OK!! Apologies for being sarcastic. :-) But it caught my attention this early morning when in a TV channel it was being shown that some management institute had screening and group discussion on Chak De India as part of curriculum.
Remember "Yeh 75 minutes tumse koi nahin chheen sakta..." ? a.k.a "Nobody can snatch these 75 minutes from you.." ?
Friday, July 25, 2008
Its Uncertain I tell you
We were all working peacefully this morning and the discussion was still on about why the heck is this diesel crisis and power crisis and will the Air conditioner stop working in the completely closed room. As usual, the possibility of conspiracy theories behind the power and diesel crisis were also being discussed.
And then there you go. Someone comes and says there were couple of blasts at a stone throw distance from our workplace. And the whole focus shifted. There were 9 low intensity blasts this afternoon in Bangalore and quite a few were pretty close (< 1-2 Km) from my house and my office. And then there were discussions, a little panic and little philosophy. To be honest, I was the philosophically boring one. I am sure my colleagues were like "Oh no not again" :-) Buts that's alright.
But I guess its high time we throw that panic out of door since its no help getting panicked. Its just a sense of excitement unfortunately. We should get this straight. Our lives have become uncertain. We might be here today. We may not be tomorrow. The home minister may condemn. Critical IT establishments may be brought under Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Great fine. But, you cannot guarantee where a trigger may go, from a common man's security perspective.
I was having this discussion with a few colleagues some time back and they were not definitely satisfied with my point when I asked , is it better to die suddenly with a sense of security until then or is it better to live every day without any sense of security and fearing that some mindless attack may happen? I think I would go for the former.
Unfortunately, a common individual must get this that we must live life without panic and be ready to accept that one never knows when they may be at a wrong place at a wrong time. That's what happened with two unfortunate souls who died today in the blasts.
Buses, railway stations, malls, movie halls etc. are so many soft spots. Will we stop going to those places? Ofcourse not. We believe that the people in charge of the security of the community have done their pre-emtive job.
Until then blasts will happen. Innocent people will keep dying. Our ministers will keep condemning and promising not to spare the guilty.
It must have been a normal morning for the poor woman who had no clue that a blast was in store for her. It could have been you. It could be me. And we start taking these things as part of life.
Unfortunate!!
And then there you go. Someone comes and says there were couple of blasts at a stone throw distance from our workplace. And the whole focus shifted. There were 9 low intensity blasts this afternoon in Bangalore and quite a few were pretty close (< 1-2 Km) from my house and my office. And then there were discussions, a little panic and little philosophy. To be honest, I was the philosophically boring one. I am sure my colleagues were like "Oh no not again" :-) Buts that's alright.
But I guess its high time we throw that panic out of door since its no help getting panicked. Its just a sense of excitement unfortunately. We should get this straight. Our lives have become uncertain. We might be here today. We may not be tomorrow. The home minister may condemn. Critical IT establishments may be brought under Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Great fine. But, you cannot guarantee where a trigger may go, from a common man's security perspective.
I was having this discussion with a few colleagues some time back and they were not definitely satisfied with my point when I asked , is it better to die suddenly with a sense of security until then or is it better to live every day without any sense of security and fearing that some mindless attack may happen? I think I would go for the former.
Unfortunately, a common individual must get this that we must live life without panic and be ready to accept that one never knows when they may be at a wrong place at a wrong time. That's what happened with two unfortunate souls who died today in the blasts.
Buses, railway stations, malls, movie halls etc. are so many soft spots. Will we stop going to those places? Ofcourse not. We believe that the people in charge of the security of the community have done their pre-emtive job.
Until then blasts will happen. Innocent people will keep dying. Our ministers will keep condemning and promising not to spare the guilty.
It must have been a normal morning for the poor woman who had no clue that a blast was in store for her. It could have been you. It could be me. And we start taking these things as part of life.
Unfortunate!!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Diesel Shortage in Bangalore
Today, we got an email informing us that there is a severe diesel crisis in Bangalore. And as you know, power cuts are a common phenomena and hence many times, the offices are working on generators. And these generators work on diesel. So, diesel cut means, the generators cant sustain for long and if they cant, well!! then your guess is anyone's guess. Thats right. The work in Bangalore can come to a halt.
These so called modern offices are built with nice looking windows only to be not opened. I wish they could. That way we could turn off everything in day time and opened the windows. Its anyways fabulosly pleasant in Bangalore. But alas we cant.
We have already gotten emails asking us to shut down our systems when we go back home. And guess what !! I forgot :-) :-(
Is it possible that all offices in Bangalore might come to a halt if this crisis grows? What other ramifications can this have?
Unimaginable crisis!!
These so called modern offices are built with nice looking windows only to be not opened. I wish they could. That way we could turn off everything in day time and opened the windows. Its anyways fabulosly pleasant in Bangalore. But alas we cant.
We have already gotten emails asking us to shut down our systems when we go back home. And guess what !! I forgot :-) :-(
Is it possible that all offices in Bangalore might come to a halt if this crisis grows? What other ramifications can this have?
Unimaginable crisis!!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Ex-VP of IBM/HP Facing Charges of upto 10 years in prison
This is absolutely scary. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, then go to google and search for the keywords "Atul Malhotra", "IBM" or "HP". The news article will pop up.
Now, coming to the brief intro and the analysis, Atul Malhotra was with IBM for almost 7 or 8 years. While at IBM he gets some document containing sales strategy etc. The document was sesitive. He was not supposed to share it with anyone. Then he moves on HP. He shares it some VP at HP. Lands in trouble. HP fires him. Reports him to cops. He pleads guilty of leaking IBM trade secrets. Faces a prison term of upto 10 years in prison. Also faces a fine of $250000.
When I was reading the article on some news website, I also saw lots of comments so eager to see him punished etc. And then there some comments citing racist politics.
No doubt this guy has done something wrong.
But this issue seems to have been blown leagues and bounds out of proportion. I think, this guy never realized that what he might be casually doing might land him in such a huge trouble. Is HP trying to show, through its action, that it is some kind of honest/altruistic organization believing in complete transparency? I am sure that will be too nice a music to the ears. Several questions remain unanswered (or may be there were answered in court) :
Why was this guy so badly cornered?
Why wasnt he just warned and told that this is unacceptable and that document destroyed right there?
How does one ensure that the document is not destroyed now?
Is he being made a scapegoat? Could he be a victim?
Could it be possible that there was this casual meeting and he just casually shared the document that he thought is pretty innocuous and based on trust?
While I accept that he has done soemthing wrong, but he for sure does not deserve such a inhuman punishment.
I am pretty sure that in today's world, the organizations are structured in such a way that, some folks act in a way, buckling under the pressure of their superiors, which might land in trouble. In such cases, should those poor folks be severely punished?
Reminds me of a classic Cadence-Avanti case few years back.
These stories for sure scare the hell out of any corporate employee because they are never sure whether what they are doing is right or wrong, to be honest.
Now, coming to the brief intro and the analysis, Atul Malhotra was with IBM for almost 7 or 8 years. While at IBM he gets some document containing sales strategy etc. The document was sesitive. He was not supposed to share it with anyone. Then he moves on HP. He shares it some VP at HP. Lands in trouble. HP fires him. Reports him to cops. He pleads guilty of leaking IBM trade secrets. Faces a prison term of upto 10 years in prison. Also faces a fine of $250000.
When I was reading the article on some news website, I also saw lots of comments so eager to see him punished etc. And then there some comments citing racist politics.
No doubt this guy has done something wrong.
But this issue seems to have been blown leagues and bounds out of proportion. I think, this guy never realized that what he might be casually doing might land him in such a huge trouble. Is HP trying to show, through its action, that it is some kind of honest/altruistic organization believing in complete transparency? I am sure that will be too nice a music to the ears. Several questions remain unanswered (or may be there were answered in court) :
Why was this guy so badly cornered?
Why wasnt he just warned and told that this is unacceptable and that document destroyed right there?
How does one ensure that the document is not destroyed now?
Is he being made a scapegoat? Could he be a victim?
Could it be possible that there was this casual meeting and he just casually shared the document that he thought is pretty innocuous and based on trust?
While I accept that he has done soemthing wrong, but he for sure does not deserve such a inhuman punishment.
I am pretty sure that in today's world, the organizations are structured in such a way that, some folks act in a way, buckling under the pressure of their superiors, which might land in trouble. In such cases, should those poor folks be severely punished?
Reminds me of a classic Cadence-Avanti case few years back.
These stories for sure scare the hell out of any corporate employee because they are never sure whether what they are doing is right or wrong, to be honest.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Being Busy
An interesting point is "We are always busy".
Why are we being so busy?
Is it normal to be busy?
By being busy, are we in control?
By being busy, are we exploring what we are made for?
By being busy, are we just being a machine ?
By being busy, are we taking time to introspect?
I want to be less busy :-)
Why are we being so busy?
Is it normal to be busy?
By being busy, are we in control?
By being busy, are we exploring what we are made for?
By being busy, are we just being a machine ?
By being busy, are we taking time to introspect?
I want to be less busy :-)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
BJP Claims Karnataka
That was the headlines in the morning when I turn on CNN-IBN. That has been the headline in all the channels since then and much to the chagrin of my wife, I have been glued to my TV since then. It is definitely the fun time to watch the TV. Complete Entertainment.
As usual, media predictions went which way I do not know. But definitely not the right way. And if you notice, there is a trend here by the way. Media exit polls have been going horribly wrong since quite sometime that I remember. To many this might be coming as a surprise but somehow to me, this is not coming as surprise. Because, as I watch more and more of CNN-IBN and NDTV these days, the analysis seems to be significantly lacking in objectivity. Conducting loud mouthed debates not letting everyone speak, coming to own conclusions have been some noteworthy observations that I have made. Finally, Sagarika Ghose puts it that Media has things to learn. I ask, Isnt it obvious Sagarika? Watch your own folks in debates in your channel where you do not even let people express their opinions completely. And what opinion polls are these? What basis are these being conducted? Has this been asked?
To clarify before I begin this next paragraph, let me be clear that I am not at all a BJP sympathiser. In fact, I used to be long time back. But after what happened in Godhra and how things have been handled since then, it would need some miracle for me to ever vote for them unless some other good deeds of them convince me. Inspite of that, it was so obvious to me since the beginning that this has to be BJP in Karnataka this time. How could it be not obvious?
Does that mean, people have suddenly started loving BJP? Absolutely not. And that is something, the master craftsman Arun Jaitley, the CM to be Yediruppa etc. need to keep in mind. The bottomline is, people had nothing left but to choose someone and turns out BJP was the best in the rotten lot. Forget about Congress. Dharam Singh did all his best during his tenure to ensure that a common man would never vote for Congress. Then comes the Betrayal saga. After that, it does not need too many experts, expert opinions and judgements to figure out that majority is never with people who they cannot trust. This is a fundamental philosophy of life that will stand out for ages that once you lose trust you will lose everything. That is precisely what JD(S) got.
Congress can say several things like secular vote got divided, BJP won on caste vote, BJP won on sympathy vote etc. The bottomline is, BJP is the winner and the Congress is the loser and the JD(S) is the super loser.
While this is an amazing opportunity for BJP to again prove that it is indeed a party with the difference and does not belong to the same breed of high promises and low executions.
Arun Jaitley should stop making comments like Congress is on the decline. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh should stop making comments that BJP will rule Karnataka and India. The "rule" itself sounds like monarchy.
Infact, Yediyurappa displayed lots of humility. I hope he continues to be humble and gets some good work done fast, not only in Bangalore but in the whole of Karnataka.
In the run up to the general elections, it is completely in the hands of BJP to either capitalize on this opportunity and lose it by their own immaturity.
I hope BJP does not get swayed away by caste politics, reservation politics and religion politics. By focussing on simple things like development, infrastructure, convenient life for every individual, ease of access of everything to every individual, they will for sure ensure they will win the hearts of the people of Karnataka.
And then they will not have to rely on Expert Opinion Polls. They can be sure then that Expert Opinion Polls will predict their failure. And that will mean, they will win :-)
As usual, media predictions went which way I do not know. But definitely not the right way. And if you notice, there is a trend here by the way. Media exit polls have been going horribly wrong since quite sometime that I remember. To many this might be coming as a surprise but somehow to me, this is not coming as surprise. Because, as I watch more and more of CNN-IBN and NDTV these days, the analysis seems to be significantly lacking in objectivity. Conducting loud mouthed debates not letting everyone speak, coming to own conclusions have been some noteworthy observations that I have made. Finally, Sagarika Ghose puts it that Media has things to learn. I ask, Isnt it obvious Sagarika? Watch your own folks in debates in your channel where you do not even let people express their opinions completely. And what opinion polls are these? What basis are these being conducted? Has this been asked?
To clarify before I begin this next paragraph, let me be clear that I am not at all a BJP sympathiser. In fact, I used to be long time back. But after what happened in Godhra and how things have been handled since then, it would need some miracle for me to ever vote for them unless some other good deeds of them convince me. Inspite of that, it was so obvious to me since the beginning that this has to be BJP in Karnataka this time. How could it be not obvious?
Does that mean, people have suddenly started loving BJP? Absolutely not. And that is something, the master craftsman Arun Jaitley, the CM to be Yediruppa etc. need to keep in mind. The bottomline is, people had nothing left but to choose someone and turns out BJP was the best in the rotten lot. Forget about Congress. Dharam Singh did all his best during his tenure to ensure that a common man would never vote for Congress. Then comes the Betrayal saga. After that, it does not need too many experts, expert opinions and judgements to figure out that majority is never with people who they cannot trust. This is a fundamental philosophy of life that will stand out for ages that once you lose trust you will lose everything. That is precisely what JD(S) got.
Congress can say several things like secular vote got divided, BJP won on caste vote, BJP won on sympathy vote etc. The bottomline is, BJP is the winner and the Congress is the loser and the JD(S) is the super loser.
While this is an amazing opportunity for BJP to again prove that it is indeed a party with the difference and does not belong to the same breed of high promises and low executions.
Arun Jaitley should stop making comments like Congress is on the decline. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh should stop making comments that BJP will rule Karnataka and India. The "rule" itself sounds like monarchy.
Infact, Yediyurappa displayed lots of humility. I hope he continues to be humble and gets some good work done fast, not only in Bangalore but in the whole of Karnataka.
In the run up to the general elections, it is completely in the hands of BJP to either capitalize on this opportunity and lose it by their own immaturity.
I hope BJP does not get swayed away by caste politics, reservation politics and religion politics. By focussing on simple things like development, infrastructure, convenient life for every individual, ease of access of everything to every individual, they will for sure ensure they will win the hearts of the people of Karnataka.
And then they will not have to rely on Expert Opinion Polls. They can be sure then that Expert Opinion Polls will predict their failure. And that will mean, they will win :-)
Saturday, May 17, 2008
RTI Directory
Take a look at the following website :
http://www.rtidirectory.in/
There were two basic ideas which spurred the starting of this website.
1) The idea that two persons within close proximity to each other and
not knowing each other might file an RTI for the same piece of
information. In that case there would be some wastage of energy and
time.
2) Once a person finds information through an RTI, which is of public
importance then very few people actually get to see that information
since there is no means to disseminate it widely.
The Right to Information Directory is open for uploads from any city
and town in India. We look forward to an enthusiastic response form
applicants and browsers alike and look forward to your feedback.
The website is started by Mumbai based civic and environmental
activist Rishi Aggarwaal and developed by Wherrelz IT Solutions
**********************************************************
http://www.rtidirectory.in/
There were two basic ideas which spurred the starting of this website.
1) The idea that two persons within close proximity to each other and
not knowing each other might file an RTI for the same piece of
information. In that case there would be some wastage of energy and
time.
2) Once a person finds information through an RTI, which is of public
importance then very few people actually get to see that information
since there is no means to disseminate it widely.
The Right to Information Directory is open for uploads from any city
and town in India. We look forward to an enthusiastic response form
applicants and browsers alike and look forward to your feedback.
The website is started by Mumbai based civic and environmental
activist Rishi Aggarwaal and developed by Wherrelz IT Solutions
**********************************************************
Friday, May 16, 2008
Interaction with the Auto Guy
This morning, I had a fantastic and a pleasing experience. So you know, when people talk about the auto guys, they portray them as mean, whining, fearsome, frightening individuals trying to rip you off. Right? But I have always disagreed with them. I have always maintained that it is very unfair to portray them like that. We must appreciate how much stress they go through. Furthermore, to me it seems, the educated folks are most maniacs on the road.
Anyways, the above whining can go on forever. Coming to my point, today I took an auto from my home to my work which is less than 2 km and hence it comes to Rs. 14.
When I got down, I realized that I have only Rs. 13 in loose change or the only next one I have was Rs. 20. So I gave the guy Rs. 20 and asked him to give me Rs. 5. He said he didnt have change. I told him that I have only Rs. 13 in such a case and I dont like giving less.
The auto guy immediately tells me : "Saab kam chalega. Rs. 13 hi de do. Kitne baar log humein jyaada to de dete hain. Humein uska khayaal bhi to rakhnaa padegaa.."
I was so touched. The only thing I could respond to him was " Aaapke jaise log aur bhi jyaadaa ho gaye to duniyaa sudhar jaayegee"...
He gave a nice smile and drove away. And my morning work started with a fantastic good feeling.
Update :
Thanks to Marcos' comment, here are the translations into english :
"Saab kam chalega. Rs. 13 hi de do. Kitne baar log humein jyaada to de dete hain. Humein uska khayaal bhi to rakhnaa padegaa.." : means "Sir leess will do. Just give me 13. Many times people give us more as well. So we need to keep that in mind too".
" Aaapke jaise log aur bhi jyaadaa ho gaye to duniyaa sudhar jaayegee"... means "If we have more people like you, then the world will be a much better place"
Anyways, the above whining can go on forever. Coming to my point, today I took an auto from my home to my work which is less than 2 km and hence it comes to Rs. 14.
When I got down, I realized that I have only Rs. 13 in loose change or the only next one I have was Rs. 20. So I gave the guy Rs. 20 and asked him to give me Rs. 5. He said he didnt have change. I told him that I have only Rs. 13 in such a case and I dont like giving less.
The auto guy immediately tells me : "Saab kam chalega. Rs. 13 hi de do. Kitne baar log humein jyaada to de dete hain. Humein uska khayaal bhi to rakhnaa padegaa.."
I was so touched. The only thing I could respond to him was " Aaapke jaise log aur bhi jyaadaa ho gaye to duniyaa sudhar jaayegee"...
He gave a nice smile and drove away. And my morning work started with a fantastic good feeling.
Update :
Thanks to Marcos' comment, here are the translations into english :
"Saab kam chalega. Rs. 13 hi de do. Kitne baar log humein jyaada to de dete hain. Humein uska khayaal bhi to rakhnaa padegaa.." : means "Sir leess will do. Just give me 13. Many times people give us more as well. So we need to keep that in mind too".
" Aaapke jaise log aur bhi jyaadaa ho gaye to duniyaa sudhar jaayegee"... means "If we have more people like you, then the world will be a much better place"
Ahh!!! I couldnt vote this time :-(
Damn it!! what an irony it is... Got the first chance to vote and couldnt vote this time in Karnataka assembly elections. Lazy ? May be. But why cant we make things simpler? I am not the only one you know.
I was supposed to get myself registered. And I did not do it. Hence I could not vote. There were many people who did not know where to go to register. I understand ti sounds like excuse. But here is a point.
Why can't the registration process be made online? I mean, one anyways has to provide an identification. Hence the Election Commission of India should open up the concept of online registration. Then people having access to computer can register whenever they want using a certain mode of identification such as passport, PAN card etc. ONce they register using an identification method, they should be able to vote using the same identification. Is it too difficult?
That way I would have registered online and would have voted. I am sure so many people could not vote because they did register.
Let me see what the Election Commission says to my suggestion. I have sent the commission a small email.
I was supposed to get myself registered. And I did not do it. Hence I could not vote. There were many people who did not know where to go to register. I understand ti sounds like excuse. But here is a point.
Why can't the registration process be made online? I mean, one anyways has to provide an identification. Hence the Election Commission of India should open up the concept of online registration. Then people having access to computer can register whenever they want using a certain mode of identification such as passport, PAN card etc. ONce they register using an identification method, they should be able to vote using the same identification. Is it too difficult?
That way I would have registered online and would have voted. I am sure so many people could not vote because they did register.
Let me see what the Election Commission says to my suggestion. I have sent the commission a small email.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Belur Halebidu Trip
After a long time, finally I got to meet up with friends and could get out of town on a long trip. We decided to go to Belur Halebidu. Belur-Halebidu are around 230 kms from Bangalore. So covering them was going to be a long tiring trip. Still we decided to go ahead.
We started early in the morning from Bangalore at around 7:00 a.m We booked a small tempo traveller that was good enough for around 13 folks. The highway was pretty good enough. At aroun 11:30 a.m we reached Shravanabelgola. A beautiful place it was indeed. But we decided not to climb the steps of the taller hill since it would hamper the plans of Belur and Halebidu. Instead we climbed the smaller hill and still could get the pleasure. :-)
After a brief stay at Shravanabelgola, wee started heading towards Belur. The tempo would go over Hassan. Hassan is a good place to stop over for lunch since there are quite some good hotel/restauarants like Sri Krishna, Hassan Asshok, Suvarna Regency. But since most of us were asleep in the tempo, we went past Hassan and directly stopped at Belur. I must admit though that while the road was pretty good enough, the drivers werent and we saw many accident scenes primarily because of the mistakes to overtake over a single lane and coming straight in front of the opposite coming traffic. Never do that. There is no hurry and nothing is more important than life. Enjoy the trip and go slow. Its a bad sight to see such accidents.
We reached Belur at around 2:00 p.m We had lunch at Belur in a pretty ordinary restaraunt and then straight away headed to the temple. We hired a guide because these temples can never be understood without the help of a knowledgeable guide. These guides are Govt. of India approved. And the guide we chose was indeed very knowledgeable. He explained the art, culture, science, history, geaography and everything. It was really fun to understand the concepts in details. After spending some time at Belur, we headed towards Halebidu which was around 15 kms. Halebidu was another beautifulpiece of art. This place was the capital of the Hoysala kingdom.
Halebidu has a beautiful garden and an adjoining lake. So go to Belur first, and then come to Halebidu and relax on the grass besides the lake.
At around 6:00 p.m we started heading out of Halebidu and back to Bangalore. And there you go. It started raining heavily. Wow. what was a pleasant rain it was after a hot sunny humid day.
We started heading towards Bangalore. Wanted to have dinner at Hotel Hassan Asshok but they didnt have Dosas in the night. What a bummer it was. So we came out and started heading home. At Bellur Cross, we stopped to have our dinner. After having and coffee and we started heading back. Most of us fell asleep after a tiring day. We reached Bangalore at around 12:00 in the midnight.
It was a fantastic trip. Belur and Halebidu are awesome and I wouldnt mind going again and just spend the whole day there.
Dont miss them if you are in Bangalore..
Enjoy the photographs.
We started early in the morning from Bangalore at around 7:00 a.m We booked a small tempo traveller that was good enough for around 13 folks. The highway was pretty good enough. At aroun 11:30 a.m we reached Shravanabelgola. A beautiful place it was indeed. But we decided not to climb the steps of the taller hill since it would hamper the plans of Belur and Halebidu. Instead we climbed the smaller hill and still could get the pleasure. :-)
After a brief stay at Shravanabelgola, wee started heading towards Belur. The tempo would go over Hassan. Hassan is a good place to stop over for lunch since there are quite some good hotel/restauarants like Sri Krishna, Hassan Asshok, Suvarna Regency. But since most of us were asleep in the tempo, we went past Hassan and directly stopped at Belur. I must admit though that while the road was pretty good enough, the drivers werent and we saw many accident scenes primarily because of the mistakes to overtake over a single lane and coming straight in front of the opposite coming traffic. Never do that. There is no hurry and nothing is more important than life. Enjoy the trip and go slow. Its a bad sight to see such accidents.
We reached Belur at around 2:00 p.m We had lunch at Belur in a pretty ordinary restaraunt and then straight away headed to the temple. We hired a guide because these temples can never be understood without the help of a knowledgeable guide. These guides are Govt. of India approved. And the guide we chose was indeed very knowledgeable. He explained the art, culture, science, history, geaography and everything. It was really fun to understand the concepts in details. After spending some time at Belur, we headed towards Halebidu which was around 15 kms. Halebidu was another beautifulpiece of art. This place was the capital of the Hoysala kingdom.
Halebidu has a beautiful garden and an adjoining lake. So go to Belur first, and then come to Halebidu and relax on the grass besides the lake.
At around 6:00 p.m we started heading out of Halebidu and back to Bangalore. And there you go. It started raining heavily. Wow. what was a pleasant rain it was after a hot sunny humid day.
We started heading towards Bangalore. Wanted to have dinner at Hotel Hassan Asshok but they didnt have Dosas in the night. What a bummer it was. So we came out and started heading home. At Bellur Cross, we stopped to have our dinner. After having and coffee and we started heading back. Most of us fell asleep after a tiring day. We reached Bangalore at around 12:00 in the midnight.
It was a fantastic trip. Belur and Halebidu are awesome and I wouldnt mind going again and just spend the whole day there.
Dont miss them if you are in Bangalore..
Enjoy the photographs.
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
http://www.bhopal.net
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) 's complete resource on Bhopal, the History and the present.
International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) 's complete resource on Bhopal, the History and the present.
The Students Bhopal Campaign
This is the location to find all information
http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/
and express solidarity and participate..
http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/
and express solidarity and participate..
Air, Water, Earth and the Sins of the Powerful
Tehelka magazine's article on Bhopal Gas Leak... Read it to get an idea on what happened and what is happening..
Air, Water, Earth and the Sins of the Powerful
More Information under Bhopal Label
Air, Water, Earth and the Sins of the Powerful
More Information under Bhopal Label
Thursday, May 01, 2008
NY Times Article :: Mother's Influence on Barack Obama's Life
It has been such an inspiration for me reading this article.
A Free Spirited Wandered who set Obama's Path
Forget the influence etc. Just from a human perspective, purely based on what has been mentioned in the article by the author, the beliefs and practices of the lady have been so phenomenal that you feel like following similar practices.
A Free Spirited Wandered who set Obama's Path
Forget the influence etc. Just from a human perspective, purely based on what has been mentioned in the article by the author, the beliefs and practices of the lady have been so phenomenal that you feel like following similar practices.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Olympic Torch Relay
What funny Olympic torch relay it was . Wasnt it? Again proves that we do so many things just for the sake of doing with no introspection. I couldnt stop laughing at what I perceived this whole thing as drama.
Ideally, when asked, what would you imagine sports and their objective to be? For me, it is all about building relationships, friendship and a desire to live in harmony.
This olympics seems to anything but above and the torch relay process is a classic example of that. The relay has been a tight security affair at every place it has passed through. Shouldnt it have been a friendly jubiliant affair where people would throng the streets to catch a glimpse? Alas!! not so. Times of India reports that the people who witnessed the relay were the torch carriers themselves, 15000 policemen and a bunch of children.
Similar was the situation in many countries.
So it turned out to be a high security activity. What an approach to friendship isnt it?
Well what is the morale? There can be no peace and fun at the cost of someone else's human rights. Human rights have to be valued. Only then will there be harmony in this world.
Hats off to some sportpersons who have threatened not to participate and to people like Baichung Bhutia who refused to carry the torch in solidarity with Tibetans.
Speaking straight from my heart in a democratic country. :-)
Ideally, when asked, what would you imagine sports and their objective to be? For me, it is all about building relationships, friendship and a desire to live in harmony.
This olympics seems to anything but above and the torch relay process is a classic example of that. The relay has been a tight security affair at every place it has passed through. Shouldnt it have been a friendly jubiliant affair where people would throng the streets to catch a glimpse? Alas!! not so. Times of India reports that the people who witnessed the relay were the torch carriers themselves, 15000 policemen and a bunch of children.
Similar was the situation in many countries.
So it turned out to be a high security activity. What an approach to friendship isnt it?
Well what is the morale? There can be no peace and fun at the cost of someone else's human rights. Human rights have to be valued. Only then will there be harmony in this world.
Hats off to some sportpersons who have threatened not to participate and to people like Baichung Bhutia who refused to carry the torch in solidarity with Tibetans.
Speaking straight from my heart in a democratic country. :-)
Jab We Met
Oh baby!! Did I like it soo much that I am tempted to write on this blog? In fact, yes. I really loved the movie so much. Yes I did.
I saw this movie on board my flight from Bangalore to London during my recent travel.
Why did I fall for this movie? Was it extra ordinary? No not at all. In fact there were several flaws. The second half was dragging as I felt. But there was something about this movie that just moved me, made me feel good, feel happy, feel romantic.
It a simple down to earth movie yet one could push someone into introspection. Every dialogue was so simple yet was conveying a strong message.
I liked Kareen-Shahid conversations so much that I actually watched the movie again and again in my return flight. Sounds crazy? May be. And by the way, Kareena was adorable in this movie. And this might be the first movie where I actually am impressed with the energy and role delivery of Kareena. She did it so good that it made me thinking on who could have done it better than her. I couldnt find one name to be honest. Same is true with Shahid. I was convinced that he lived up to the expectations.
Romanticism was oozing out of the movie. It was loudly asking everyone to live their present to the fullest. And have fun.
It is a damn good movie at the end of the day you know. And the morale to all directors is, Keep It Simple Stupid. And yet you can make a fantastic movie.
I saw this movie on board my flight from Bangalore to London during my recent travel.
Why did I fall for this movie? Was it extra ordinary? No not at all. In fact there were several flaws. The second half was dragging as I felt. But there was something about this movie that just moved me, made me feel good, feel happy, feel romantic.
It a simple down to earth movie yet one could push someone into introspection. Every dialogue was so simple yet was conveying a strong message.
I liked Kareen-Shahid conversations so much that I actually watched the movie again and again in my return flight. Sounds crazy? May be. And by the way, Kareena was adorable in this movie. And this might be the first movie where I actually am impressed with the energy and role delivery of Kareena. She did it so good that it made me thinking on who could have done it better than her. I couldnt find one name to be honest. Same is true with Shahid. I was convinced that he lived up to the expectations.
Romanticism was oozing out of the movie. It was loudly asking everyone to live their present to the fullest. And have fun.
It is a damn good movie at the end of the day you know. And the morale to all directors is, Keep It Simple Stupid. And yet you can make a fantastic movie.
Monday, March 31, 2008
IIT Kharagpur Trip
After almost 10 years, I finally got the chance to visit my alma mater, IIT Kharagpur, this time as an alumni. We flew from Bangalore to Kolkata and then the journey from Kolkata to Kharagpur was by road. This road, I came to know, was the Golden Quadrilateral. It was one smooth ride. The road was very wide and smooth enough except for the fact that pedestrians were still trying to cross the road and freaking the hell out of us. :-)
We reached Kharagpur almost in the mid night. The entry to Kharagpur was through Gol Bazaar area. I was happy that even after so many years, I could quickly recognize the GolB area by the huge overbridge that we would cycle over while coming from IIT towards the big market.
I know this might sound cheesy but it was nostalgic when our vehicle got stopped by the closed railway gate. Remember those days when the cycle rickshaw had to unfailingly stop for the approaching train to pass? The first thing that came to mind was Chhedis. :-)
Now, many shops have come up besides Chhedis. There also are some new restrictions on going out and coming back in after 10:00 p.m. The campus was well lit and it truly nostalgic.
Quite some new buildings have come up. But the overall campus look is still the same. The Harris is still there but they have cut down the beautiful tree.
Went to the Mech dept. and had a nice cup of coffee. Next morning, took a nice stroll around the scholars avenue. The conveyance was still cycle rickshaw.
Well that was short trip . Or may be not but mainly with events etc. Next time, I should go with no agenda and just walk around and come back :-)
We reached Kharagpur almost in the mid night. The entry to Kharagpur was through Gol Bazaar area. I was happy that even after so many years, I could quickly recognize the GolB area by the huge overbridge that we would cycle over while coming from IIT towards the big market.
I know this might sound cheesy but it was nostalgic when our vehicle got stopped by the closed railway gate. Remember those days when the cycle rickshaw had to unfailingly stop for the approaching train to pass? The first thing that came to mind was Chhedis. :-)
Now, many shops have come up besides Chhedis. There also are some new restrictions on going out and coming back in after 10:00 p.m. The campus was well lit and it truly nostalgic.
Quite some new buildings have come up. But the overall campus look is still the same. The Harris is still there but they have cut down the beautiful tree.
Went to the Mech dept. and had a nice cup of coffee. Next morning, took a nice stroll around the scholars avenue. The conveyance was still cycle rickshaw.
Well that was short trip . Or may be not but mainly with events etc. Next time, I should go with no agenda and just walk around and come back :-)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
This is just time pass
I can't believe I have not posted for more than a month. Ahh this is not a good trend :-) Have I lost out on thoughts? Or may be I have stopped posting random crap. But the fact is that the things have been kinda busy at work. Alrite!! same old crap. :-)
Nah I will be back soon with my post on the recent IIT Kharagpur trip.
Nah I will be back soon with my post on the recent IIT Kharagpur trip.
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