50 02<-->20 06

Every media powerhouse has come up with the Best of 2005 in every sphere of human activity . I too decided to give out my Best of 2005 blog entries in my blog.

1. Kerala Mix: My series on the peculiarities of Keralites Gold, Alchohol, Comdey
2. Karunan Palpatine & Murali Skywalker : My take of Kerala Politics with Star wars background.
3. What No Organisation, but a b-school teaches you [look out for my unintentional arrogance]: My retort to an article with the opposite title.
4. Reliability=Glenn McGrath: I am known for explaining things badly. A sample
5. Angels & Demons: As crazy as I can get. A Tamil Cinematic version of Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons. Tests your nerves.

The blogs of 2005, that caught my attention and made reading their entries worthwhile and fun.

1. Silverine: Tongue in Cheek, Wit, Goofy, and Popular.
2. Kraz: Creative writing. Kraz is art.
3. Ullas : He blogged, and also defended his Ph.d, Congrats.
4. Girl with Big Eyes: Even MBA's are artists. Contemporary and witty.
5. Silent Eloquence: Miss the blog today. Thoughtful insights and experiences.

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year.

Hurricane Indra

With female Hurricanes creating havoc on the American Coast and Media, the headline in The Herald screamed 'Hurricane Andhra'. Now is Andhra a female name? For convenience we have Indianised it as 'Hurricane Indra'. Indra-The Hindu God of Rain.

Indra does know how to devastate, Goa received the pounding from the lord for 3 days, 11 inches in 33 hours.

Teacher Blogs

'A student spends 25,000 hours in the campus. The school must have the best of teachers who have the ability to teach, love teaching and build moral qualities' - A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

Compliments on Teacher's Day.

Some interesting questions on blogging by faculty members have been raised in Chronicle careers. Is it right for a faculty member to use blog as a publishing tool? What happens when a faculty member maintains a personal blog, that can go against him during tenureship? What happens when a blog of a faculty job applicant is seen by the selection committee. Can blogs be used for job evaluation and a selection criteria? Should faculty blogs only be of academic nature or further research? Read here

I feel a blog is a great way to educate and share knowledge. There is great potential in open access to ideas and thoughts. Blogs go a long way to fulfill accessibility without constraints.

Address to the Nation by Hon. President of India on Teachers day is very inspring. Read here

Soft wares in Bloegs

Joel on Software

In my search for Software Blogs, Joel has some interesting writing. I should thank Toji Leon for showing up some good links and snippets on Software Project management. Softwarebyrob looks at developer dilemma and has some good links to other sites. Panopticon Central gives some snippets on how to be a project manager at Microsoft Eric Meade goes Agile, and Kent Beck's (XP guru) ideas on developer testing is available at IT Conversations. Some good blog entries on testing is available at Software Test Engineering. Cem Kaner's Blog has a comprehensive look at managing software development environments.

The trail is never ending. I shall be starting a teaching and research blog. See you there.

DEA-d

I am in Mumbai attending a three day workshop on Data Envelopment Analysis [DEA] at Department of Economics, University of Mumbai. The workshop is conducted by Subhash C. Ray., Professor, Department of Economics, University of Connecticut. I enjoyed the mathematical decomposition of DEA, the discussions on technical and scale efficiency measurements, and mathematical programming. To know more about DEA technique, google it or visit here

Dravid-ian Leader

Is Public Relations and rabble rousing becoming a leadership skill that rises above a leader's performance? Intriguing as it may be, the 'non-performing', 'non-playing' leader is today the most effective. All that matters today is leadership effectiveness and not efficiency. The first arena where a non-performing leadership got credence is the Davis Cup. Mr. Naresh Kumar will always be remembered as a 'Non-Playing captain' of India (officially).

So what makes a 'non-performing captain' click as a leader? Simple, A non-performing Captain can redeem his place if he is a proven Mentor. Ganguly has build his team around him. He will not be able to raise his game, but will inspire the likes of Kaif, Yuvraj, and Harbhajan who will consistently fail but click in a one odd game with the backing of a great mentor. It does not matter as long as the team is being lead with aggression. So does the 'Lead by Example' Theory fall flat in Leadership style? Yes, It does in India.

Visionary Evangelists like Dravid have no place in Indian Leadership scheme of things. India is a land of emotions that will allow only the likes of a Ganguly who is a Relationship Builder. The missing quality in both Dravid and Ganguly is 'Execution Management skills'. The Aussies are great managers of skill, discipline, and fitness. They go about their task with precision and with attention to great details. Indian leaders cannot become execution managers.

The other aspect of Leadership is culture and background of a Leader in a team.
Dravid-ian Leader: A Leader from South India. Even in this era, South Indian Parents warn their children not to 'ask anything'. It is bad manners. 'Donot ask for that toy, icecream, or new clothes, when you go shopping with your Uncle'. 'Donot accept any gift'. 'Ask your parents before you accept anything from your relatives'. It is this 'do-not-ask' Syndrome that affects the psyche of a South Indian Leader. Dravid never demanded his batting position, he never asked for a place in the team like Ganguly, who cribbed when he was left out of the Asian XI team. He was thrust the role of the wicket keeper, and threatened for not having a good ODI strike rate. It is that South-Indian attitude of being selfless, idealistic, silent performer that has been Dravid's nemesis. Dravid fell for Chappel experimentation. He could have asked for his playing eleven, and then lead India to victory. But, South-Indians are always taught ' Teacher is right, Donot question him, Do what he says'. A Leader from North of Vindhyas knows to make the right nosies at the right time and force his way through to get his point through. Ganguly's aggression comes from the West-Bengal Communist attitude. He has created the 'Men-in-Blue cadre', he gives the 'Men-in-Blue' the revolutionary attitude despite knowing that it is a failure. The 'Men-in-Blue' become Life long members of his coitere. Dravid will always be the prodigal second son of India. How we lost a great leader.

Feni Tourism---Arrack-anomics

Goa VAT reduces tax on Feni from 20 percent to 4 percent. The reason cited by the Chief minister is to boost tourism. Is Kerala Listening?

'Kallu' Tourism, 'Arrackanomics'

Tourism under alchoholic conditions ...hic..hic..hic..

Teaesting.. 1..2..3

User Acceptance Testing:
from Engagement Day
Load Testing:
from Marriage day
Stress Testing:
from the day after marriage
Destructive testing:
What your kids will do between the age of 2-5 years

Structural Testing:
What the voyeurs and college hang-outs do. Inspect in parts and comment on flaws.
Static testing:
What the shy introvert does by looking at a photo
Black-Box Testing:
Send a sublime love-letter and wait for the flaws in it to emerge
Dynamic Testing:
Send a provocative love-letter and you get an immediate response to the flaw (one tight slap)

ELSS

Every One Looses Sleep Scheme [ELSS]

ULIPS look like tulips

Every investor has it on his lips

The stocks ride the 7k waves

the NAV's ride Sine waves

Say a Prayer before you slip

If ULIPS give me life insurance cover, who will give me the cover for ULIPS?

Failurerror

Error=>Fault=>Failure
is the same as
Voters=>Politicians=>Governance

Will have to wait and see how many in Mumbai will pay tax on Aug 31st?

Reliability=Glenn McGrath

In one of the sessions on Quality and Reliability, a student asked what does reliability mean? I didnot want to scare him by giving a conventional definition of Mean Time To Fail and empirical failure rates. I said
Glenn McGrath Bowl in a Cricket Test Match...
An exhibition of two extremes of reliability...One at the Bowlers end and the other extreme[failure] at the Batting end. A study of variation, accuracy, and precision is best done analysing McGrath's good length deliveries. I call him 'Six Sigma Pigeon'. The first Ashes Test match tells you why it is true.

Weasle Jargon

"The core-competence of my family helped me implement the chain of activities that added value to the established mission statement of my life......"
[argh] Jeees...Bust this Jargon, "When will they learn to say what they mean, and mean what they say?".

You know Weasle words have attacked when;

a) The Church advices its clients to add value to all their prayers.
b) Divorce Lawyers become consultants doing a SWOT on different conflict scenarios
c) Your dad advices you about the Key Process Areas [KPA's] of leading a married life
d) Shifting your office table is akin to Knowledge Work Re-engineering
e) Getting your job done by somebody else becomes Knowledge Process Outsourcing [Wasn't that 'free riding?]
f) Carry a Power-Point presenTation about yourself on the next speed date

Read more on Language Abuse with Business Jargon here

Women of Kerala, You are NOT Safe

Manorama editor take a bow, because Rediff has just broken news contrary to your fantasy. Read the full story here
Women are not Safe in Kerala Homes: Study [Source: PTI, 18 July 2005]

Manorama got it right, Women are safe outside than inside their homes.

Women of Kochi-You are Safest

If The Week magazine cover story is to be believed, Kochi is the most safest city in India for women. Are they talking about Kochi, Ernakulam? Did they do the survey on women, or ask men of Kochi as to whether the women are safe? Interesting logic by the Assistant Commisioner of Kochi "Kerala women donot venture out after 8.00 PM, so Kerala women are safe". God save his own country!

The other reference is to Panjim [Goa] city as best for party..that is not news any more. For the uninitiated, parties are worth the purse bulge in your pockets. Many party hotspots are away from Panjim. If you have the money to flaunt, every city is best for party. Public Transportation System in Goa comes to a standstill at 8:00PM, so the common man in Goa is still away from the party and night life. When will perceptions change? Good that the Goa Assistant. Commisioner did not say "Goan people stop working at 8:00PM, so they party all night".

Any way I dismiss this as another of Manorama Pulp fiction stories

Pulp Economics

The two best sellers in any book review (non-fiction) variety these days are more fictional theories of world economics. Thomas L. Friedman borrows the concept of Flat Organisations to announce that 'World is Flat' {Review by Dr. Zarkaria}. I am sure you would have got the forwarded mails about Friedman warning US kids about the superiority of Indian kids in Mathematics and how they will starve them out [Read here]. The book comes across as a cross between a Drucker and Prahlad. Low on grit, High on hopes. While extolling the great Indian Outsourcing happening, Dell Theory of Same-Supply-Chain-Nation-No-Wars, and business-entertainment cross over trenches, he forgets to delve into the gulf between developed and underdeveloped.

I feel Freakanomics will make a better read than Friedman. However, I can catch him on NYT specials and editorials. An interesting hypothesis by the authors is that crime rates in US have come down owing to legalising abortion (Single Mothers--> Family Orphans-->More Crime). Other good questions are about school teachers cheating by awarding high marks to undeserving students to gain promotions. Hope to catch up with this interesting reading. Pulp-Economics.

We could think of some interesting socio-economic phenomenon in India too..
1. Why are People from Kutch, Gujarat more enterprising?
2. Why One in every three person in Namakkal has something to do with Trucks, and Logistics?
3. Kerala is becoming a land of geriatrics, Why?
4. Which state contributes more to the crime rate in India?
5. Will reverse migration (cities to villages) happen? Why?

Can you think of some more interesting phenomenon...Kerala ones? I got a forwarded Link to a site that has more on neo-liberal-economics here

I got Surveyed

marupadi ayakkumallo

NiceLetter...a fwd from luv

Human Evolution By Design

Charles Darwin's Theory of evolution is questioned by the Catholic Church. Cardinal Schönborn claims that Human evolution follows a pattern, a process, and is designed. Darwinism claims that evolution is unpredictable and the degree of randomness is very high. Interesting debate. If only we can do a Deep Impact like experiment to prove the theory of human evolution [Source: NYT]

Fast Man on a Slow Horse?

Fast Men and Slow Horses never win a Race,
Slow Men and Fast Horses never won it too...
Drive, Dissent, and Dominance have parallels to Passion, Pride, and Power of Individuals.
This inside story is interesting read for entities in organisations.

XQ's and +JUST's

XQ's : (1) To break a serpentine Q by squeezing in between two sandwiched bodies, and then uttering 'XQ's me. (2) Breaking ice with that lovely fresher face you meet at college on the first day.

+ Just: (1) A word that implies that a single seater in a crowded train compartment or a bus should be converted into a three seater (2) Enacting the camel-in-the-tent story from Arabian Nights (3) A privilege for those who make themselves look underprivileged (4) Your private space is not yours and should be shared (5) Move out of that space, or I will make sure you are +justed

Twisted Logic in Mangled Truth

"I have grown used to that. I know that for many in this building and in power in this country the blood of some people is worth more than the blood of others."-Mr. George Galloway, Former Labor MP, UK [Source: Daily Mail]

30 Lives in London...cannot be equated with.... 30 Lives in Baramulla [Jammu & Kashmir]. When will the G-8's realize that third world nations are not third class citizens of this world? Is it the hurt 'ego' of UK or the 'lives' of people that is speaking in the media? I found the former voicing more concern than the latter.

Des!gn

Source: Business week IDEA Best Product Design 2005

These are my picks:
Industrial Products: Samsung Digital Presenter : Showerhead
Computers: Inotus: Lenovo Smartphone
Consumer Products: BV2SHelmet : Watch
Unique: fabric Freshner : ixiBike : Paint Buddy
Design Explore: Nike eyeD: Jeep : Car
Concept Designs: Shoes : Chrysler

I found this piece not very original. My grandfather used the same design- nut and tobacco grinder

Remember Who You Are: Book

Daisy Wademan. (2004). Remember Who You Are: Life Stories That Inspire the Heart and Mind, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

A book of reminiscence from a Harvard alumna, about the most influential anecdotes from fifteen distinguished Professors of Harvard Business School. The book made sense to me coming from an academician. This will be the only book that will be as inspiring as one that comes from top industrialists (Sloan, Morita, Welch et al.). It disproves the theory that 'Those who can do, do..While others teach". I add "Those who teach, make others do". Academicians also make sense... and this book proves the point. The most influential people in a person's life is his/her teacher.

The collection of anecdotes are divided into four subthemes; namely a) gaining Perspective b) Managing Yourself c) Leading Others, and d) Building values. The book appeals to me for its lucid language, crisp presentation, unassuming and unconventional advice. The credits go to the academic community at Harvard who perish the myth that academicians are Phi Beta Kappa Individuals with low ambition and drive.

Prof. Jai Jaikumar advices all his students to 'Relax' and 'Celebrate Life' to improve the "Luck" of people surrounding you. His escape from a near death experience on a mountaineering expedition delivers a great message- "passion delivers opportunities from Moments of Hardship by Luck". Prof. Henry B. Reiling's definition of Good Luck is "the absence of Bad Luck". Prof. Jai furthers this belief, "Success is born in your Good Fortune; and Obligation is born in Your Success". Great acts of philanthropy are thus born out of your success and greater responsibilities are created as you scale great heights.

Donot Attend Your Fifth MBA Alumni Reunion
This one is interesting, the anecdote advices you not to attend the fifth reunion because 'short term gains' stiffle growth; you will compare your achievements with your batchmates that are superficial in existence. I agree!
You becomes risk averse and go low on confidence imagining what your classmates will have been able to achieve in five years. This makes you follow the secure route out of the fear of coming up emptyhanded early in life. The big thing is "don't hesitate to make career changes". I find many MBA students scampering for "Job Placements". I tell them "Donot Chase Jobs, Let Jobs Chase You, because it is building a Career that is your goal". Forget Changing careers, Indian MBA's hesitate when it comes to changing jobs. They mistake jobs for careers.

Face Uncertainities, and Take calculated Risks
The most humorous anecdote is from Prof. Jeffrey F. Rayport about the "Stuffed Bird". I was visualising "Doctor Proctor's" quixotic methods of challenging students. I believe hard nosed professors intimidate students to challenge them. "Creative acts demand Courage and Confidence". When "Doctor Proctor" asks the students to write a four hour examination about a stuffed bird, he simulates the real life scenario of great uncertainity.

Be 'Like' Yourself
The best section of the book is "Be Like Yourself" by Prof. Richard S. Tedlow. It answered the question that has been lingering in my mind for the last 4 years as an academician. I am one of those 'Kindergarten professors', and look at awe at those Professors who mesmerize a class through their lectures. I sometimes felt that one has to put a mask and create a different atmosphere. The questions is : How much can a Professor be himself to be a good instructor? Does being Yourself and presenting your complete personality (jokes, sharing your beliefs, informal approach to students) and self-revealing in front of a class make you a great Teacher?". The message is "You don't need to be Yourself in class- but You've got to be like Yourself". It helps in proper balancing of one's work life and personal life. We need to critically seperate our personal life (who we are) and work life (what we do). It is helpful to have a personality very much 'similar' to your real self, than 'put' up a pseudo persona. Personal Time matters, and a strong personal ethic rubs on your work ethic. One should not mix behaviour at home with work place behavior. It confuses you, and creates an Identity Management crisis.

Stay Grounded-Connect With people
On Managing your career as you move up in Life, one anecdote says 'the only change is circumstances in life'. As one moves up in the organisation (positions), the two things that she/he is deprived of are 'ground realities' and 'truth'. People report to your position with sugar-coated "bitter" pills. One needs to stay immune to "Self-praise Syndrome". Spending time with your loved ones will help you realize your self. The message is "However hard you try to love your job, your Job cannot Love you, but Your loved ones will". So as you move up in life "Stay down to earth", "instill Intellectual Honesty", "Courage in Subordinates to Question your Answers". All this can be achieved by "Increasing accessibility to your employees".

Set High Standards
This inspiring anecdote talks about realising the persihability of your cherished experiences and memories. how many of us have really cherished success in life. Sat down after a success and rewinded the moment immediately? It is all about Living the moment. It helps us to face later challenges in life and boosts our self esteem. It helps us give "Gifts of High Expectation" to others. It helps us to challenge our students.

The Best Lines are these...
"You Go out Today and Be a Leader. Stick to your Guns about what You Know to be Right and Wrong, and don't let anyone else drag You around by the Nose- Remember Who You Are"...

Did anyone say only Jack Welch can talk about Guts?

Angels & Demons-Tamil-Climax

Angels and Demons Episode-I
http://phdstudent-india.blogspot.com/2005/06/angels-demons-indian-version-tamil.html

Continued ....
Angels and Demons Episode-II
Rajni alarmingly puts the strings together. Thittam-The plot to IMILATI realizing their ultimate power of earth..bestowed on her son..the titanium laden beaches along the east coast of Tamil Nadu..... using the secret weapon.

Rajnikant (RAbert Laangdon) air dashes to Tanjore (The worlds largest archive of Palm Leaf Literature on IMILATI). Rajni discovers the links of IMILATI to the Kama Kodi Peedam, where the election of the heir to the throne of multi million followers of Hindu faith will take place. The IMILATI will use the 'thittam' in the Peedam-To strike at the hour when the new seer is elected.

He arrives at the Peedam, but he hears that 4 candidates are missing from the Peedam. The IMILATI had claimed its first victim at Valluvarkottam, in Chennai. Valluvarkottam, named after Thiruvalluvar strikes Rajni as the IMILATI's chosen place of revenge. The next three murders will happen at IMILATI chosen locations. At Valluvar kottam he looks for IMILATI related signs and symbols. He sees the Statue of E.V.R [Thanthai Periyar], and infers that IMILATI will strike at E.V.R's birth place, but by the time he acts, IMILATI have committed the second murder at the origin of Periyar River [Sivagiri Hills, along the TamilNadu-Kerala Border].

Rajni swears revenge. He knows that IMILATI is to strike next at another IMILATI follower abode, Vivekananda Memorial Rock in Kanya Kumari.[It was once touted as the Alexandria of the East, and this would have been the Headquarters of IMILATI]. Vivekananda is also cited to be a IMILATI follower who settled in kanya Kumari. He dashes to the rock only to find the third murder executed on the rocks. He looks at his Omega Constellation watch..The time 10:00 AM.... day was October 2nd.. Gandhi Jayanti (birthday of the father of the Nation)..Was Gandhiji part of IMILATI?

Rajni surveys from Vivekananda rock and then sees the grand design of IMILATI. Forming a golden Triangle is The Vivekananda rock Memorial in Bay of Bengal Side of the Sea, A Tall Monolith 100feet Statue of Tiruvalluvar on The Arabian Sea Side of the Sea, and then the striking Gandhi Memorial at the tip of the Mainland.

The three generations of IMILATI's coming together at the confluence of three great oceans. How symbolic of IMILATI to recognise the three great IMILATI of Tamil. Rajni was surprised to know that Gandhiji also was a born again Tamilian.

Gandhi Jayanti..Rajni puts the clue together.. at noon on October 2 (Gandhi’s birthday) the sun’s rays falls on the spot where his ashes were kept for public view (marked by a bxe "Gandhi, Mahatma" lack marble box), before being put into the sea at this place.. He rushes to Gandhi Memorial, and encounters the Hashashim [Kalabhavan Mani]. The Hashashim has cornered the victim and is waiting to strike at 12.00 ..Rajni looks at his Rado watch..11:59AM...Hashashim grunts...

Phew..(To be continued..)

Its My Life.......

Life is all about balance. Darkness can't be
without light, and light can't be without
darkness. You see everything through different
angeles to gain perspective over situations.
You act rather rational and people can find you
stiff and/or emotionless due to this. Life is
not really that good to you, yet it's not so
bad. Like everything else, you need to balance
it in order to find peace.


How do you see life?
brought to you by Quizilla

What type of Killer am I?

You are a Samurai.
You are full of honour and value respect. You
are not really the stereotypical hero, but you
do fight for good. Just in your own way. For
you, it is most certainly okay to kill an evil
person, if it is for justice and peace. You
also don't belive in mourning all the time and
think that once you've hit a bad stage in life
you just have to get up again. It's pointless
to concentrate on emotional pain and better to
just get on with everything. You also are a
down to earth type of person and think before
you act. Impulsive people may annoy you
somewhat.

Main weapon: Sword
Quote: "Always do the right thing.
This will gratify some people and astonish the
rest" -Mark Twain
Facial expression: Small smile

What Type of Killer Are You? [cool pictures]
brought to you by Quizilla

Angels & Demons- Indian Version-Tamil Cinema

· Superstar Rajnikant in and as RAbert Laangdon: Protagonist, symbologist, professor at Indian Institute of Religious Science [IIRS], Pudukkottai

· Jothika as Vellam Vetrammal: Tsunami Specialist at NIO

· Vetra Vel-Murgan: Murder victim, NIO scientist, priest at Mahabalipuram Shore Temple

· Nasser as Maruthamalai Kohlan: Director of NIO

· Kalabhavan Mani as The Hashashim: Killer hired by the IMILATI

· Carlos Vetrivel: Thiru Swamigal -Chamberlain

· A. K. Hangal [Hindi theatre Actor], Shri Shri Mortati Swamigal: Member of the Kama-Kodi Math and participant in the Kama Kodi peetham election

· Comedian Vivek as Guntherpetti CLICK: Sun TV reporter

· Kovai Sarla as Chinita Macri-amma: Click's videographer

Story Line

Rajnikant is a chair professor of symbology at IIRS. He has specialized in early Dravidian, Sangam Architecture and Literature. He is currently working on the influence of Tamil Sangam era in Christianity. He is attributed to unearthing Tamil Symbols named ‘Baasha’[swirl your finger and denote one, means The power of one is equivalent to 100 times] and ‘Baba’[fold the middle and the index finger and keep the forefingers raised, a sign of spiritual enlightment in TamilNadu].

Vetra-Vel Murugan is a 68 year old NIO scientist, but comes from a very religious family. He is the Poojari of the 7^th Century Mahabalipuram Shore Temple. Velmurugan is found Murdered at the Temple Sanctum Sanctorium. On his chest is branded the Symbol ‘IMILATI’. After googling and Yahoo Deep searching in the internet , Director of NIO, Dr. Maruthamalai Kohlan contacts Rajnikant, who is an expert in study of ‘IMILATI’.

What Rajni sees is an authentic symbol, IMILATI. He reads it with shock...I-MILAT-I.....MILAT....anagram for TAMIL. He Knows that ‘IMILATI’ is an intellectual group that has been dormant for years. The IMILATI stand for a one tamil world. The origin of IMILATI dates back to First Century B.C in a place called Poompuhar in Tamilnadu, on the banks of cauvery. Thiru-Valluvar, the sage poet who wrote the sacred verses [Thiru-Kural]. Thiru meaning ‘Sacred’, and Kural meaning ‘Voice’. The 3rde Century B.C to the 3^rd century A.C was the golden ‘era’ of Tamil-called ‘Sangam’ Era. The Era saw the emergence of a Tamil order in every field of literature, arts, mathematics, geography, and philosophy. The ‘IMILATI’ was a select group of intellectuals who hold the ‘secrets’ to ‘the origins of human language’. They embedded themselves in the corridors of power [ministers, advisors, and Brahmins in the court of Pandya and Chola Kings] and still continue to have considerable influence in Tamil Politics [Dravidian Parties]. It is mandatory for school children in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to study Thirukkural right from their inception into the curriculum. Their influence has spread far and wide and have considerable support in Sri-Lanka. It is believed that the ‘ELLAM’ movement in Jaffna province is supported and funded by IMILATI- the Tamil Tigers.

Many stalwarts like Avaiyar, Kamban, Valluvar, Periyar, and current Dravidian exponents like Cho, Vaiko are said to be members of the IMILATI [A type of Free Mason Organisation]. It is rumoured that the current members of the IMILATI hold their meetings at Guna caves in kodaikanal, which is closed for public from 2003. IMILATI are not known to be terrorists, but they are passionate about their cause for Tamil world. They believed that all languages owe allegiance to Tamil and hence Tamil is the World Language-The Mother of all Languages. The IMILATI have tried to convey this message through works of art, Literature, and architecture. Come to believe of it, Americans were once Tamilians. The IMILATI have impregnated ‘Silicon Valley’ and ‘Bay’ Area. Many world-class software engineers are members of IMILATI. It is believed that Microsoft Windows is an IMILATI product. Tamil was the first Indian language incorporated into MS products. It is believed that the funds from IMILATI software engineers in US are used to fund their cause. The rise of ELAM state in neighboring srilanka is through IMILATI influence.

Rajni finds that the IMILATI has resurfaced through this murderous act. But what shocks Rajni is the revelation of Director of NIO, Dr. Maruthamalai Kohlan. Dr. Kohlan says that the murdered Poojari of the Temple was also a scientist at NIO. He was working on mineral nuclear physics, a technology that could generate nuclear power equivalent to 1000 Hiroshima Bombs from One atom of Titanium. Titanium deposits are in abundance along the eastern Indian coast, especially mahabalipuram. Experiments have shown that natural titanium becomes very radioactive after it is bombarded with deuterons, emitting mainly positrons and hard gamma rays.

Rajni discovers that the IMILATI have appropriated this Titanium technology. His reasoning is that Titanium is a Tamil Mineral with chemical Symbol Ti, both appearing in Tamil.[Titanium was named Thittam by IMILATI..the last two letters TI stand for Titanium]. Titanium , in latin means Titan, the son of Gia [Mother Earth]...IMILATI believe that TamilNadu is blessed with her son-Ti. Thittam in Tamil also means- ‘Plot’. Rajni alarmingly puts the strings together. Thittam-The plot to IMILATI realizing their ultimate power of earth..bestowed on her son..the titanium laden beaches along the east coast of Tamil Nadu..... using the secret weapon.

Continued...http://phdstudent-india.blogspot.com/2005/07/angels-demons-tamil-climax.html

Note: The characters in this story line are fictitious. The places and facts are coincidences and at the mercy of my logic and fantasy. It is not meant to further any bias or animosity towards any individual or organisation. This is a work of fiction.

YAAA.....AAA...HH...OOOOOOOOO

Yahoo Deep Search: Just what the doctor ordered for me..IEEE search in Yahoo.

Yahoo 360!...All in one solution..My second Orkut! I liked the messenger Integration

9.77 seconds

There seems to be adrenaline with the name Powell, and Jamaicans. The world 100m record progression throws some interesting observations. 9.95seconds (1968) to 9.77seconds(2005). The progression shows a downtrend from the normal trendline (a Polynomial function is my assumption , based on some research articles). Though records are broken faster, the difference is a hundredth of a second every occassion. According to the trend line, the worldrecord today, should be 9.75seconds (a crude excel calculation). The advent of new technology helps athletes (from 1983 a record is broken every 2-3 years). But, definitely this is not the sunshine period of 100m sprint. The late 1980's and early 1990's was the era of Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell. The fast trend started with Carl Lewis(9.92 in 1987) and by 1996, 0.10 seconds had reduced in the record books. This is the era of African athletes, and their dominance will only increase. I predict by 2010, 90 percent of the American athletics team will comprise of athletes of African origin.

What no Organisation, but a B-school can teach you

Vineet Nayar, President of HCL Technologies has remarked in his guest column in Business Standard, "What No B-school can teach you". It has been a growing trend for business managers (who themselves are what they are partly due to their b-school name tag) to lambast b-school education weaknesses. A trend which started off after the book 'What they dont teach you at Harvard business school". I agree with the quotes borrowed by Mr. Nayar from Vernon Sanders Law about experience being the best teacher. I agree with the premise that the classroom is the most dangerous place from which to view the outside world. What I certainly donot agree is generalising a statement that No b-school can teach anything worth a managers salt. A few questions;
1. Mr. Nayar says 'Pride' is not taught in b-schools. I agree, Pride is a virtue and not a skill. This column on rediff ends thus "Vineet Nayar is president, HCL Technologies. He graduated from XLRI in 1985." I am sure Mr. Nayar wears his XLRI alumnus tag and takes 'pride' in displaying it. Forget, teaching 'Pride', an MBA aspirant takes great 'pride' when he gets admission into an IIM and passes out with flying colors. He wears his tag proudly to state that he is 'the cream of intellectualism'. Pride is relative Mr. Nayar, it all depends on how you handle it. Life at b-school is tough, and what a student imbibes is his relative ability to excel, take pride with humility, and healthy spirit of teamwork. No organisation or institution can teach these virtues, that are part of a person's upbringing. Remember, these virtues take some time to influence a person's character. A person's experience over a career spanning 10-15 years cannot be compared to his experiences in a 2 year stint at a b-school. But the two years does make a big difference.

2. What are the 'take-aways' from just 2 years of b-school life? The answer is a confident personality. A spring board to ones career that enables a student to dream and push his limits to achieve excellence. I challenge any organisation worth its salt to take up the task of making a manager out of its employee in two years. I bet they will fail. Experience is a teacher, alright, but not always the only perfect teacher. Experience require proper thought, application, and approach. I agree, this theoretical approach is least successful, but I advocate a blend of both. If Mr. Nayar were to say that only experience can teach these virtues, why have graduate education at all? Let us send our sons and daughter's to run businesses right after primary school.

3. Results, b-school students are made to push limits and produce results. Some b-schools require students to show profits on their projects, do shadow consulting, and their performance is graded.

My argument is no institution can teach virtues like values, pride, passion, and result oriented approach. So it is immaterial to pass the buck to b-schools. Show me any organisation that can teach ethics, values, and self-righteousness. Give a student b-school education through out his career, he will make a better manager than one without.

MBA Systems

Since 2000, MBA Systems has been added to many a b-school specialisation. Glorified technical jargon with a decent spreading of strategy talk is what most b-schools in India dish out in the name of IT and IS Management. Any engineer worth his communication skills gets picked up in the IT sector these days, without much ado. A closer look at what skills are imparted in b-schools in the name of IT management is enough to show the widening gap between IT Industry standards and b-school training standards.

Any Indian b-school curriculum(even the IIM's) look at IT & Systems as another glorified MCA course. Forget the specialisation, many of them donot have a curriculum. For a b-school, IT& Systems starts and ends with a subject and its variants-Management Information Systems [MIS]. All other courses offered are variants of the same. Infact, the concept of MIS has changed over the years and today there is more than transaction processing systems (Intelligent Decision Support Systems, Expert Systems). Many b-schools follow the text book based MIS appraoches (Laudon & Laudon, O'Brien) which are out dated and obsolete. Just like a shop floor manager who cannot manage the shop floor without understanding the process (how the machine, lathes work), an IT manager cannot manage technical people with jargons and powerpoint presentations on what is data-mining (cliche).

The outcome of this "global" -"jargon-based" approach devoid of any fundamental knowledge base doesnot serve any good for IT companies that recruit the students in large numbers. Many b-schools manufacture an "IT specialisation" by offering programming courses, while the students believe that an IT&Systems Job is that of a Software Programmer, who gets paid at a higher scale that his engineer counter part.

MBA Systems is much beyond "coding". The IT Industry in India has outgrown the requirement for developers and solution providers. The Industry requires Domain specialists, Solution Designers, and Skilled Project Managers. High value jobs require specialists, not generalists who come with a mix of marketing, finance and looking to learn technical skills on the job. The Industry requires managers with good technical skills, who understand and manage technology efficiently. The training should revolve around managing life-cycle projects, managing requirements,bridging the technical team and client requirements (requires understanding of design, implementation, financial management, and strategy). Teaching Datamining and e-commerce through power-point slides doesnot create IT Management awareness, neither does discussing a case study about outsourcing and Infosys. The classroom is the most dangerous place to look at the outside world(a chinese proverb). Learning by doing is the key, and every MBA systems manager should know how to select appropriate technology, how to price high -technology products, how to understand and articulate client requirements and liase with the technical team.

So what makes up the ideal MBA systems training?

Peter Balo in his Case Study on IS Curriculum identifies a matrix of Business, Information, and Strategy with Organisation Strategy, Structures, and Operations as a requirement for any IS curriculum. Prof. Bharat Rao's, (IIM-Lucknow) article is the only available online guide on what makes an MBA Systems program (India Infoline, 11 November 2004). There are some relatively niche b-schools like Goa Institute of Management, which have exhaustive curriculum designed based on SEI-CMU training standards. Only, IIM-Bangalore's Post Graduate program in Software Management meets Industry standards.

Animal Farm in Goa

I just chanced upon this book which I had read in school days, Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1945). A World War II critique and satire on the communist rule and totalitarian society that prevailed in Russia, Animal Farm appealed to me more as an example of a totalitarian organisation.
Organisations [Mason Farm] with Top Management [Wild Boar named "Napolean"] evolving a totalitarian approach to manipulate every entity [animal] in the Farm through "tactics" of incentives, job security, freedom, and task.

Have we not seen employees like Boxer[the horse] who gives his life working hard for the farm?
Do we not see Boss-men [Napoleans] intimidating employees? Do we not see "Yes men" like animals who always blurt out "Napolean is right"?
Do we not see the hounding "dogs of Napolean" and Squealer pig(propoganda minister of Napolean), growling and thwarting any dissenting, whistle blower in the organisation?
Do we not see Napolean conspiring to hold on to power, and leadership by eliminating noble people [Snow ball]?

Finally, the pigs of the farm walk on two legs, like the men against whom they revolted. As the story ends..Pigs look like Men, and Men look like Pigs, until they both become one and the same. Socialism(Pigs of the farm) and Capitalism (Human Beings) merge at the corridors of power.

Do we see any resemblence to the socialists of our country who cry hoarse about disinvestment and FDI, but go about opening up the farms they rule to the capitalists? They fight as an opposition in other farms (states), but walk on two legs in the North-block and South-Block corridors of power. Citizens of the democracy, like the four legged animals shout slogans during every election "Four legged good, two legged bad". But, they finally know for sure it is the two legs that rule.

On a concluding note, The Animal Farm in Goa is restored after the 13th rebellion in five years. The two legged animals of the farm (old boars) hold on to their portfolio's. The Goan farm is a farm of boars and pigs. Some Boars instigate communal rebellion, while the other Boars buy out the four legged animals of Goa.

Making Technology work for Poor

I attended Dr. R. A. Mashelkar's(Director General-CSIR) Public Lecture on "Making High Technology Work for Indian Poor" at National Institute of Oceanography [NIO], Dona Paula, Goa. The ocassion was the realease of NIO booklet Sagar (11 June 2005).

Here are some ideas and salient points from Dr. Mashelkar's Lecture, which I felt was very similar to what Prof. C. K. Prahlad talks about in his book "Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". The topic of the lecture was suggested by Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Over 4 billion people living at less than two dollars per day. Dr. Mashelkar emphasised on making high technology work for poor in education, health care, energy, connectivity was the focal point of the lecture. In education, he gave the example of Mr. F.C. Kohli's initiative of Computer based Functional Literacy Program [CBFL], that has succeded in making 40,000 Indians literate with a cost of less than 2 dollars. Dr. Mashelkar later made a point that what India needs is "community based " schemes, and not one-computer for every Indian schemes. He stated that Indian rural folk share village resources. Similarly, high technology can become successful only if it is introduced through village STD-ISD booths, kiosks, chaupals (ITC e-chaupal being another example).

On health care, Dr. Mashelkar gave the example of a Sanitary Napkin developed by CSIR laboratories. Sanitary Napkins are made of super-absorbent material(absorb 200-400 percent fluids), and thus very expensive. One of the CSIR labs took up the challenge of making a super-absorbent with the same performance but at a lesser price. They finally succeded in making an alternative material at a cost of one ruppee. He said it all depends on maintaining the performance. It can make a huge difference to poor women whose personal health and hygiene leads to better living. Price-Performance in high technology is crucial to reach the poor. He went on to give the example of Aravind Eye Hospital eye care and their success in providing quality eye care at low cost. The quality of care is very high(low failures in cataract operations), and at a lower price (refer the case study on Aravind Eye Hospital).

His examples in energy management included using bullock carts to power reverse osmosis plants, and the anti-virus water purifying plant (patent) for villages. In connectivity, he gave examples of Dr. Ashok Jhunjunwalla's WLL technology.
Though the lecture was inspiring, the question answer session were he said more should be done in the field of disaster management in coastal areas. His advice was to increase awareness about remedies available in ancient Indian medicine, science, and ingenious methods that Indians fail to document.
I feel we neglect our ingenuity. We donot document any finding, only to loose it to an American who patents the finding.

Book Tag- MEME

Book Tag Chain..Booker Blogs.
Extending the meme from Pramod (gatecrashing as the Fifth link). The Indian origin of this meme is from Yazad

Total Number of Books I Own:
A modest 56. I am a stinchy personal Librarian. Thanks to coexistense with Institutional libraries, and my predatory skills in Campus Libraries my personal collection is minsicule.

Last Book I Bought: Angels and Demons, and five minutes before that I got House of Blue Mangoes, Life Ahead from Broadway Book House, Goa.

Last Book I Read: A Demon in my View (My Review in the previous post)

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me:
Malgudi Days: The World of Swami in a Penguin paper back was presented to me when I was studying in Ninth standard.

Interpreter of Maladies: Jhumpa Lahiris observation of small things in life that makes a big impact. I liked it for its crisp writing, short story style narration. The Best stories of the book: Temporary Matters, and Interpreter of Maladies.

Saving Big Blue: It came at a time of my MBA, before Jack talked straight from the Gut. Lou Gerstner's guts to stand by his belief that IBM can be made into a lean, fast organisation. Steady leadership insights into strategy.

Khazakinte Ithihasam(The Legends of Khazak): Appukkili, Mash, Mullah...Khazak is real, stark, and vibrant. O. V. Vijayan breathes life into every character of Khazak.

The Fountainhead: Roark! He rocks and rolls over conventional wisdom. Made sense to rebel, to be different, stand out.

Alchemist: Learn to Dream. If you ever dare to dream and pursue it with true intentions, then the whole world conspires to make it come true. It was simple yet profound.

My unfinished book: War and Peace [Unabridged]; Leo Tolstoy

Tag five people and have them do this on their blogs:
If you happen to read this and want to continue the chain, add a comment. However, I invite some of the blogs I stumble upon regularly.

Prachi Singh ; Nikhil Kulkarni ; Girlwith Big Eyes ; Samoj ; Vishnu ; Silverine; Reshma

Extend the meme.It comes circle...Kraz tags me

Weekend readings

Indulekha (1889), Translated by Anitha Devasia
A historical background into the classic malayalam novel by O. Chandumenon gave me an insight into the dynamics of Kerala Nair society. A matrilineal society, Marumakkathyam law of inheritance, The Malabar Marriage Commission intervention, informal marriage alliances(Sambandams), and conflict of tradition with modernity forms the backdrop to this interesting novel. I liked the dramatic dialogue based narrative (like reading a play) useful in bringing out the nuances and interplay between the characters. Chandumenon himself had mentioned that Indulekha would never be read in English, I felt the Malayalam work is the classic. I felt the same while reading Legends of Khasak (Khazakinte Ithihasam) by O. V. Vijayan. Thanks, to the translator, English literature gets to know that there are better classics. The romance between the protagonists, Indulekha and Madhavan has depth and meaning. I was very disappointed with Namboodiripad's character. An english dialogue just cannot replicate the accents, and thus the humor in the character falls flat.

Now Reading..
A Demon In My View, by Ruth Rendall
I found this preface interesting, but the story very boring. It had an interesting premise. A story of a psychopath who has never know how to talk with women. He stays with a scholar who is doing his PhD in psych analysis. The author fails to bring out any nuances, or suspense. The writing is verbose, but foggy. Bore!
Hope to do some reading before the term starts, and I go back to Software Engineering Research. I have hit the writer's block, so moved to reading.

Watch the ECLIPSE

IBM Eclipsing Microsoft, not the Sun

IBM in efforts to build a Java-based Middle ware wants to 'eclipse' Microsoft and not Sun. The battle of 'middle earth' is to automate life-cycle projects early. Business Analysts will use lego-brick model solutions that move on to generate code. Having acquired Rational in 2003, IBM looks to take out Microsoft .Net strategy[Visual Studio Team System] and not support them in future. Watch out at http://www.eweek.com/category2/0,1738,1485700,00.asp

Decision Support Systems

"The demand for executive decision making tools is increasing across all sectors while security is becoming a major concern with all organizations"- University of California (UCLA)-IIT Bombay Survey, IT in Business, 2005.

Tomorrows managers will increasingly rely on decision aids for tactical, and strategic management decisions. A great deal of research and tools have been developed for operations and production decision making. There is scope for marketing decision aid tools, and Strategic Management tools. For the first time, a survey has undervalued the hype about outsourcing terming it as restricted to operational sectors like programming and network management. It is interesting to note that organisations are increasingly focusing on customer-interaction technology. Technology awareness among customers is increasing and IT companies have to deliver better solutions. In particular, there is a correction to the Agency theory in Economics, though transaction costs of organisations reduce, there is a significant increase in technology costs. The new areas to look out for Pervasive computing, Human factors in Computing, and Cryptography.

ACM Conferences in Goa, India

ACM Conferences in Goa India

HiPC - International Conference on High Performance Computing 2005

eCommerce Effectiveness and Profitability Conference 2006

PhDweblogs

Did you stumble upon? I did on this phdweblog collectionPhDweblogs

I stumbled upon this wonderful, site. thanks to ParrywallCollected Advice on Research and Writing

Great Advice on writing, especially computing related research.

Computing Curriculum

Computing curricula in Indian Universities is driven by the whims and fancies of academic programmers (I should not be complaining as I too am in the league of extra-ordinary gentlemen, oh yes the movie was a dud!), for whom there is nothing beyond a series of programming languages, and hardware jargons. The discipline of computing has mutated into streams of specialised nature. It is in this context that Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) is proposing a curriculum to guide students, academicians, and engineers to all these knowledge areas. ACM is inviting comments on this Computing Curricula Overview Report, 2005
It will be in the interest of the academic fraternity to contribute to this report through valuable comments. This can atleast narrow the gulf between practioners and academics. Send you comments at ACM feed back before May 30.

Ph d Plagiarism-Meta Data-UGC

Finally, the call has been answered. Forget doing anything about research, UGC (University Grants Commission) is atleast taking a step in some direction. Regulation for Submission of Metadata and Full Text of Doctoral Theses in Electronic Format Regulations, 2005, Draft version1.2, is open for public review till June 15.

The objective of having a central thesis repository (electronic storage) for Ph d thesis is;
a) To facilitate electronic submission of doctoral thesis, develop data about bibliography-data (meta-data) so as to facilitate easy search and retrieval of Ph d thesis submitted in Indian Universities.
b) To build an electronic Phd thesis archive for future reference.
and; the most important in the Indian context
c) Detect plagiarised thesis passages, and authenticate the research work.

Please send your suggestions/reviews to pagarwal@ugc.ac.in within 15th June, 2005.

I welcome this technology initiative, but this is not a solution to the plagiarism bug in Indian universities The UGC needs to streamline and monitor admissions, registration, and research standards in every university. A UGC code of conduct for Phd guides and research scholars should be established. All doctoral scholars from Indian University will be legally bound by this code. They will be thus held responsible for all published research, data, and findings undertaken during the course of their Phd.

Karunan-Palpatine & Murali-Skywalker

Is it just coincidence, the world talks about Starwars parallels with the Bush wars, but a parody on Star wars in Kerala Politics is just too hard to miss...by the way the movie is superb...read on Star wars:Episode IIII-The Revenge of Kins Three years after the Battle of Assembly, the Party Clone Wars are coming to a close. Anthony-Obi-Wan, now a general, is sent by the High Command of the INC-Republic to silence remaining thiruthalvadi’s-separatists and the evil opposition droid General Achu-Grevious mama . And Chancellor Karunan-Palpatine has become power hungry, proclaiming himself Emperor, and, with Murali-Skywalker’s help, begins to turn the INC-Republic into the Galactic Empire-[INC-Indira]. As Murali-Skywalker ultimately becomes the evil we know as Darth Vader, sister Padmaj-Padme goes into hiding, and, at the end of one war, another conflict we know all too well is about to begin. Three years after the initial battle of the Party-Clone Wars, the long and tiring conflict between the thiruthalvadi’s and the INC-Republic is nearing its end. However, Anthony-Obiwan, now a Jedi Master, and Murali-Skywalker, now a Jedi Knight, learn a shocking development. Their Mandalam Vote-bank is under attack! Of the clones in the party. They hurry to their Mandalam to counter the attack led by General Achu-Grevios mama the leader of the CPM-droid armies, and a much bigger threat than even Count Dooku-type-old comrades, a former KPCC Jedi turned CPM Sith. They are now charged with bringing him to justice, but there is more going on than just an attack on the center of the INC-Republic. Finally Achu-Grevios-mama is killed by Anthony-Obiwan after the mother of all Assembly-battles. Little by little, Chancellor Karunan-Palpatine transforms the INC-Republic into a tyrannical regime, putting him at odds with the KPCC-Jedi Order and a few non-corrupt senators, who have all grown weary of his staying in power. Murali-Skywalker, on the other hand, has grown closer to Karunan-Palpatine, but he also suffers from disturbing visions of his sister, Senator Padmaj-Padme Amidala. He has been leaning closer and closer to the dark side since before the Party-Clone Wars began, and Karunan-Palpatine encourages him to embrace it. Karunan-Palpatine discloses that he is the only one who can save Murali-Skywalker and Padmaj-Padme from the death. He also buys him out on letting him know the secrets of Kerala-politics-dark forces. When it all comes down to it, Anthony-Obi-Wan Kenobi will have no choice but to face his former apprentice Murali Skywalker in battle, and as the Clone Wars end, the seeds will be sown for yet another conflict which will determine the fate of the galaxy. During the battle Murali-Skywalker says, "If you are not with my party, Your are my enemy", to which Anthony-Obi-wan replies, only a son of a karunan-palpatine can talk in absolutes. Murali Skywalker is vanquished by KPCC-Jedi forces and is resurrected by Karunan-Palpatine and baptized as Murali-Lord Dearth Vader in the power of dark forces... Party jayikkettey..Let the force be with you.. Plot courtsey: [1] http://www.imdb.com/SearchPlotWriters?raiderforce39

Pogo to Pokemon

Pogo=>Pokemon=>WWE=>AOE=>F-1=>UEFA=>Cricket=>Chess
Age of Innocence (Age:2years and above)
I started crawling when my rhyme CD stopped playing "London Brige is falling down" . The TV remote until that time was just another toy that gave a red light when I pressed a button, I always tore it apart and it became the most untouchable gadget in my life). My first summit expedition was climbing on the 3-feet sofa. My relentless efforts after many falls and shoves ended triumphant, as I laid my hands on the television tuner. Trial and error (I have done more reliability tests on the television set than the manufacturer claims!) resulted in my discovery of Cartoon Network, Pogo, Disney. My face animated more than the cartoon character on screen. I slowly started picking up names. I was well versed with Mickey, Tom, Jerry, Popeye, Flintstone et al. Infact I knew more characters and programs than my amma's favorite weeping characters in TV serials. But my characters never cry, they all laugh.

Age of Discovery (Age: 6-9)
I now knew more about the TV than anybody at home. I knew the weeping-tamil and malayalam serials my amma watched. My father always watches a group of loud men arguing for hours on a channel which had red color. Earlier I never used to be scolded for watching TV. Now, amma shouts at me, my father says TV watching is bad for my eyes (they never told me that when I was watching cartoon's, Infact I remember my mom telling all my neighbours how nicely I watched cartoons, and how intelligently I said their names). How times have changed, now she does not boast about my TV watching capabilities. I have to finish my homework before watching TV. I never miss Pokemon, Popeye, and Super Heroes. Now I like Pikachu, Spiderman, Batman, and all fancy dress super heroes who fight villains. I will never mind watching Harry Potter the 150th time, like my amma who watches the 568th episode of the serial which I have grown watching and I fear will continue to do so till the end of my life. I sometimes fancy all my favorite Pokemon characters coming out of the 29 inch television set every night in my dreams. But reality is thrown in with weeping ladies and khadi clad men fighting before a miniscule audience with a mike weaving loud mouth journalist. Life is getting exciting...

(to be continued...)

Malayalam (A)

This narrates the ultimate movie going experience of a Malayalee outside God's own country. It is not every day that one gets to see Mohanlal on screen in a Goan theatre. So, it was when I decided to hear Lalettan mouthing 'Best kanna Best" instead of punctuations after dialogues in the Movie "Chandrolsavam". My interests were accentuated by the fact that the movie was playing at the only Multiplex in Goa. The theatre was half full, malayalee families hoping to touch a chord with the land which they left in search of better things in life. I donot know whether it is a way of going back to better things they left behind.

The movie begins, the titles start rolling. In the dark hall, a man searches for his seat which I thought was normal as one has to be a master of rows and column depiction type, last seen in Matrices and Determinants chapter of class XII Mathematics(CD-12, BD-13...). After three minutes of frantic searching and frustrated sounds from the audience the man sits down on the floor. The audience started feeling uncomfortable, afterall if it was anybody his behavior was not in tune with a Non-Resident Keralite status. I am sure the same crowd would not have any problems if this theatre was in Kerala. The first scene unfolds, and I was waiting for lalettan's entry. The man seated on the floor("We call 'thara seat' in Kerala) started getting restless. He just stood up and enquired "Abey kya ye Malyalam Phillum Nahin hai ka?". The audience and myself ignored the irritant, and asked him to go to check whether he had walked into the right screen. The service personnel addressed his issue and he sat quietly in a corner seat.

At the end of a heady mix of lalettan histrionics, the usual tharavadu-themmmadi-tandavam concoction of Devasuram, Narasimham, Ravanaprabhu movies, I was as exhausted as much as Lalettan after the movie. The man from the corner seat started making loud noices. He was arguing for his money back. The reason which I came to know later was he was upset it was Malayalam movie without an 'A' but a 'U', which he didnot notice.

A look at the morning papers made me pity the poor man, all other theatres had atleast one Malayalam movie playing in the now familiar slot across movie halls in India(the morning show). All had that familiar caption for the morning show MALAYALAM (A).

mude und verrückt

2004 Word of the Year- Blog
noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer [Source: Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary 2005]

18 million phishing e-mail messages in 2004, 73% of spam e-mails in 2004, and finally......did you know that 42.7% of statistics figures are provided on the spot, off the cuff, But the one on phishing is not.

Came across the worlds largest digital panoramic photo
2.5 billion pixels[2.5GP, gigapixels!]..The CASIO4.1MP looks meek. Check out the technical details

Auf Wiedersehen!

Deutsch Unterricht?? genau!

Guten Tag! Ich heisse "search research". Ich komme aus Kerala, India. Ich wohne in Goa , India. Ich habe Deutsch fur sechs Monaten gelernt. Jetzt spreche Ich Deutsch langsam.

My first steps in German...Hope to make it more frequent.

Udayan is a star

A movie with a crazy title "Udayan is a star" [Malayalam Movie: Udayananutharam] just got me out of the blogger paralysis syndrome. A mallu movie screened in Goa is as rare as Lord Ganesh stone idols drinking milk!
Malayalam actor Sreenivasan[in picture] is a powerhouse of talent. The screenplay and self-deprecating humor is the hallmark of this script-writer turned actor. Enjoy this clean comedy that is a satire on happenings in Malayalam Film industry. A sample dialogue;
A short, dark, 44 yearold who desperately wants to be an actor in Malluwood, Rajappan [Sreenivasan] asks Udayan[Mohanlal]: "Udaya, nintey padathilay Hero Njanalley. Makeup ittal njan sundaranakum" [Udaya, I will be the Hero of your movie. If I put on make up I will look handsome]
To which Udayan[Mohanlal] replies: "Phu, Makeup-inokkay oru paridhiyilley-dey! [Phew, even "make-up" has its limits!]
Just the kind of movie I craved, when I am reading research literature written to make sure that it remains a research publication not worth the paper it is written on. Like movies about movies, there should be movies on Ph.d's. Why don't researcher's write in simple language? Why a 'researcher's language'? Even research has it's limits. That limitation is language, and English is the worst language of them all.



Blog Fatigue and Blog paralysis

I started this blog as my Ph.d Journal. What was that supposed to be? I still donot know it myself, and will write a blog as soon as I get to know about it. Today, this blog is a crazy amalgamation of weird photography, and socio-politic glib talk. So as with any blogger, I should say Blogger fatigue has set in! What is that again?
I better get back to work, as that is one reason for my blog fatigue.

Fringe Cringe

What is fringe benefit tax? How is it going to change my tax structure? A question the finance minister[FM] should ask himself, and he definitely will be struggling to answer. Proof?..read the definition of fringe benefit in the budget…

"any privilege, service, facility or amenity, directly or indirectly, provided by an employer to his employees (including former employee or employees) by reason of their employment; or any reimbursement, directly or indirectly, made by the employer to his employees for any purpose; any free or concessional ticket provided by the employer for private journeys of the employees and their family members; and any contribution by the employer to an approved superannuation fund."[Source: The great Indian Budget 2005, A Block buster presentation, which is like a Bollywood Masala Movie..there is something about everything for everyone all of 2 hours]

Got any clue? If No…You are on the same boat as the Finance Minister! He probably thought that since Australia and Newzealand have this tax we should also have one on similar lines. Afterall we are second to them in Cricket. But Mr. FM just see the amount of detail that has gone into putting such acts into place in those countries. You have made sure that CA' and Finance MBA's donot get to loose their tax planning consultancy assignments and their jobs. Mr. FM, why don't you implement the same laws on members of parliament and MLA's? If at all there is fringe benefits[FB], our MP's and MLA's know what FB is more than you and me. The stationary allowance, constituency allowence, petrol allowance, security allowance, telephone allowance, cooking gas allowance, usage of tourist bunglow allowance.......is it not endless

Does that mean that all Saturday night parties, employee picnics, Birthday Parties, reward schemes, motivational perks will be taxed?

The tax of 30% on any employee friendly expenditure[client visits, Diwali Bonus, Gifts to appreciate performance] is on the employer. So next time your employer throws a big induction party, he "can" pass the buck to you. Imagine a Birthday bash from your employer and you getting taxed on your birthday…What about the "chai-pani" expenditure?

Now, chances are that your employer will convert all benefits in monetary terms and add it to your salary. Now your ‘SARAL’ should have salary heads and non-salary heads..The FM wanted to boost spending by cutting taxes at individual level? Looking at this fine print it seems he has delivered a googly and gathered some serious reverse swing. This will go a long way in ensuring that we follow the philosophy "to each one, his own". What could have been his motivation? Cut unnecessary wastage of money in the name of pampering employees. Ensure corporate fiscal responsibility?

The Hindu Business Line sums it up as a Leftist way of taxing the capitalist, it says that the FM had the left hardliners in mind. Proof of this is the numbering of the section in budget 2005....115WB..[WestBengal?]. It is worth going into 115WC [Now, I know what you are thinking that is the section for valuation of Fringe Benefits]

Whispering Palms Mandrem beach, Goa

Super Star

The Carnival Revelry is ending. Lent is here! I just got the superstar on the hilltop at Divar Island.

Footprints

The Sands of time..The unreasonable man never walks straight. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable adapt the world to themselves-G.B.Shaw

River Princess

Meandering Mandovi...
The King meets the Queen. The Mandovi meanders the Divar Hillock. Divar or Paradise Island is an Island on a river [Mandovi].

Dusk and Sea

Sunset at Miramar Bay, Goa. Had to tweak the exposure and aperture to get the reflections right. But I will never be satisfied. The perfect sunsets are only seen by eyes and not fish eye lens.
It will be a long haul for the fishing boat chugging into unknown depths. The smoke captured by a zooming in sun and Casio 4000 Lens.

Fish Catch

Mackerels[Bangda]. They call it the poor man's fish. This photo makes it elegantly royal blooded. I was on a bird shooting trek to Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Cherao Island, Goa. Sunday Morning, I took the ferry boat to cross the Mandovi River from Ribandar to Cherao. Two fishermen returning with fresh catch gave me a National Geographic moment. When fish eyes [fish eye lens] meet they make for interesting visuals. The blood red color?? Well, thats my probing camera trick to see beneath the skin ;-)

Morning sun playing on fish scales.

Mandovi Bay Goa

It is winter. The sun gets gobbled by the haze. Leaves do peep! The low tide at Miramar Bay and the Acasia tree shade play with the evening sun.

It is a pleasure to view monuments at night. The cross at the top and Mother Mary glow in the dark.

Church of Mae De Deus, circa 1873

Lovely sight on New Year eve. The Gothic spirals of the 126 year old Church of Mae De Deus Saligao, Goa caught our attention as we were moving towards Arpora. This photo from Lovey is just Lovely! The white facades and the elegance of portuguese architecture combine with the dazzle of lights to give a feast for eyes. The church was deserted and there was a chill in the air. Lovey clicked his cybershot many times to capture that perfect brightness. He did succeed as seen from the photos. Goa is photogenic.

Panjim City

Panjim City,

This photograph was taken on New Year day. Lovey and myself went around Panjim like backpackers. The city was quiet due to the New Year hangover. On the foreground is the Adil Shah [The first Muslim conquerer of Goa before Portuguese rule]Palace. In the background is the Captain of Panjim Port jetty. The ocean research ship named Cappadocia is anchored at the jetty.

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The Myth of Mandovi
The river that charms me day in and day out