A Mini Karnataka Tour

The last week of December was a pleasant tour with Raghu, Vishwas to a number of places in our Karnataka. The period before that was full of hectic activities, and waiting for a fresh break, which makes the trip even sweeter.

We went for seven days savouring Belur, Ambaateertha(in Kalasa), Hanumaan gundi, Gangaamoola in Kudremukh, Kuvempu's Kuppalli, my friends wedding in Shivmogga, Unchalli falls, Yana, Magod falls, the river rafting and forest rides and sunsets in Dandeli, culminating with the ruins of the grand old Hampi.

Pictures speak louder than words they say.( really? even when the reader is reading it aloud! ).
Anyway, here's the link from my Kodak DX4330 camera. I wish somebody gifts me a D70....the only person I can hope to do so is my boss, but you know how bosses are.
http://employees.org/~vedu/Mini-karnataka-Tour

Any town we go had a few things which are common..for instance there are jewellery or pawn broker shops, wine shops always staring at you in the eye. Shivamogga city has too many wine shops, Shirsi has too many doctor shops. Dharwad has too many educational institutions. Its interesting to note the kannada accent changing as we go from Benglur towards west and move north.

Unchalli falls was the most exciting part, thanks to Raghu for taking us up there, and to Vishwas for pushing me to climb down the hill and back up again. A treacherous climb nevertheless, but it was a heaven from the foot of the huge falls and sweet water to drink.

The people living in ghats seem to cut short distances by atleast 30% when they say it. They may say something to be 2 km which seems like 3-4 km by walk :(. But their warmth can be felt instantly. The first thing they would usually enquire is where you came from. We had to reach Ambaateertha and we asked a man in his 50s. He explained two routes and joined us for a kilometre or so in our car till his house.As he got down, he requested so many times to just come to his home, have eLneeru or something and move on. He could have just let us go after saying thanks. There seems like a basic connect between people, without any competition, just living together. We, living in the cities wont do anything for nothing.

The river rafting at Dandeli was fun, even though I felt it could have been even more exciting had it not been so safe. But a couple was having a great time, the guy was falling on her when he was asked to lean and she was telling everybody about it.

The main purpose of the trip was originally to visit Hampi(eit). Being the winter season, all hotels booked in Hospet, we were fortunate to find some hotel in a shady place for the night. But Malligi seemed like the best of them all, unbelievably
cheap as well, even though we didnt get it.

Hampi is more of an experience than a place. You would be facing the remains of grandeur of a past tens of centuries ago. You would be gasping at the sight looking around 'How could they do this with such stones' and thinking of scenes of destruction. It is said that it took 6 months after the battle of Talikota to bring the city to its knees. HaaLu(destroyed) Hampi seems like the correct words to describe it but it feels like rubbing salt on the wound.

Our guide Basavaraj explained things with a lot of interest and concern. Various dynasties ruled here, famous of them being the Sangama, TuLu dynasties. What we hear as Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by Hakka and Bukka(Sangamas) under the guidance of guru Vidyaranya. Krishnadevaraya(TuLu) as we all know it was the most powerful ruler of the empire who ruled for over 20 years. This period is termed as the golden period when "gold was sold openly on streets". After Krishnadevaraaya, there were internal rivalries which helped the mohammadens attack, capture, loot and burn the place. A hood after the destruction has its left portion cut as if it is eaten away by a gaint bug. The capital of entire south india is now sadly, a gram panchayat.

The Viroopaaksha temple had its roots right from the 7th century AD where poojas are performed even now. The temple has been extended by various kings till the 16th century. Amazingly, the shadow of the main gOpura falls inside the temple as an inverted image through a hole using the pin-hole principle. Also, a small channel of tungabhadra river flows into the temple through the paakashaale(kitchen) of the temple.

The KadalekaaLu Ganapathi is about 20 ft high and the king's family used to perform poojas here it seems. They say that the word KadalekaaLu came from the shape of Ganeshas stomach. One can see that the stomach is cut vertically. It seems that the mohammedans, when they went on plundering temples believed that treasures could be kept at the bottom of an idol or inside it, and thus the cut.

One can see that the early buildings were made of stone. Later, when Tulu dynasty ruled, the architecture was such that buildings had the ground portion of it made of stone, the middle part of it was made of flat bricks and the upper part made of wood. Many structures are seen burnt on the top due to burning of the wood. The Lotus Mahal has ducts inside the wall which can circulate water through the ground and first floors with the intention that the rani got air-conditioning. The bathing place for the rani collects water outside the building and after distilling, forms a small pond for her and her sakhis. You can see that women were given greater importance, for many of the engravings shows women in warfare. The Vitthala temple houses the famous stone chariot along with 56 small pillars which produce different sounds including the sapta-swaras. It is said that musicians used to play music using wooden sticks on these musi-pillars! Arabs trading their strong horses in exchange of jewels are also seen. There is a story of ramayana told in
pictures of stone. There were separate markets for trading jewels and ornaments, paan, horses and women!

You can easily sense that there is so much beneath the ground. It was sad to see a banana plantation just by the side of an old marketplace! The ASI have done a lot of work of late, albeit slow(it is a slow process) and excavations are being done even now. They have identified 400+ temples as of now, but there were about 1800+ temples in reality(many having their idols uprooted). The ASI museum shows how many places looked like before restoration, i could not but stand in awe of their work. Just a couple of months back, they found a few gold coins while excavating.

The government has initiated activities to spruce up and try to relive the glorious past by conducting the Hampi Utsav. Our Dy. CM MP Prakash has had a lot of part to play in this and it showed in the panchayat elections that when entire Ballary
voted for BJP, JD(S) won here.

Pandu's Story on Thatskannada.com :)

I was glad to receive a mail from Prasad Naik of Thatskannada.com telling me that they've published the story I sent them.

Here's the link : Pandu

This is just a one-off story, never aspired to write stories. So, keep in mind when you throw bricks at me!

Two Great Films

I think I take films seriously. Films have been a great teacher, and at times, in real life, relate many times to scenes(guess lot of us do).
I haven't watched a lot of English movies, even as I hear them being the best-in-class. Nevertheless, I have treasured some of them like Forest Gump, The Terminal, Cast Away, Sound of Music, Basic Instinct, Life is beautiful...there are a few more. I shall soon compile a list of my all-time favourite movies; seems like showing off, its okay.

A colleague of mine(He is from Kerala) recently asked me why kannadigas dont watch kannada movies. Though he got a suitable reply, the real answer to the question was just not limited to the movies, it pertained to the basic mentality of *we the people*.

Our Kannada film industry has seen a big spurt in activity recently mainly gathering steam from films like Jogi and Amrutadhaare. People flocked like anything to watch them. There was a time when somebody had not watched Jogi, people would stare at him/her in disbelief. Such was the craze! Personally it left me wanting for the lack of thought that was put in it. Yana Gupta dancing out of a cart was almost nonsense. Killing brutally with machchu again and again coupled with foolishness of Jogi does not put it in good stead.
Oops, I started with telling about two great films which almost went unnoticed amidst the above noise just like they did in the theatres.
1) Haseena : Directed by Girish Kasarvalli, which won Tara the National award for the best actress this year. But, I still hear some movie-watching-kannadiga-public reacting as if its unheard of. A story of a oppressed muslim woman and her kids fighting her way in a rigid society, told in a touching manner; it is a great experience everytime I watch it.
2) Beru( The root) :
Metaphor at its best! Its director P.Sheshadri shows that he is a genious in getting a message across with a simple example of the root of a big tree destroying its owner itself. Adding subtle comedy, it won the National Award for the best Regional film this year.

Atleast getting awards makes us watch them, who cares for the rest of them! I wont talk about much about their content nor the experience for two reasons. One, my vocabulary is not strong enough to convey such strong experiences and two, its always good to look forward to a movie without knowing much about it.

Films like these wont run on PVR,Inox, or any big-banner theatres for long. I guess some popular theatres try to save themselves from the wrath of KRV by screening them in the afternoons. Another commercial reason is that the theatres are not guaranteed profits by such movies, more often they should end up in losses. Its not their fault, they are a reflection of the society which is gasping in darkness(and even in theatres). The carriers of social messages is ignored by the society itself.

But still, a brave plaudable effort was done by ellaKAVI group in Benglur. Last month they organized a show in a Preview theatre screening Beru. With proper propaganda, originally planned for two shows, they were forced to do three shows on that day. There is one more such occasion soon, talk to me or ellaKAVI group before 13th Dec if you are really interested.

All of us might wonder why we blog : Is it due to play the me-too game? Is it to create a personal virtual world? Is it to show how smart we are? Is it because we are too shy to speak out(well, there's no audience by the way to listen to you)? Is it due to utter boredom? Can be many.
But the reason for this post is a willingness to share two wonderful experiences which I hope you too would explore.

Combi Puzzle

PD posted this wonderful combinatorial puzzle. It was so nicely knit, really enjoyed it. Here it is :
If you have 2 numbers, if you order them using = and < there are three possible orderings
- a < b, a = b , b < a
for three numbers, this is 13
a < b < c
a = b < c
b < a < c
b < a = c
b < c < a
a < c < b
a = c < b
c < a < b
c < a = b
c < a < b
a < b = c
b = c < a
a = b = c

for four it turns out be 75.
the problem is to characterize such a number and to devise a way to calculate the number of

possible orderings with n elements.
----
Two approaches to solve it is here. Let me know when you find more.

Bangaarada manushya

We had heard the movie name right from childhood, that its a story ending in tragedy. Everybody praised it. But I had never watched it fully. From the last couple of weeks, am fully in awe of it. Films have taught me many subtleties that nobody has, and this is definitely one of them.

Songs which are there to summarise what the story narrates, the self-belief of people doing wonders, the humble want of seeing people around you prosper, pure love, the beauty of co-operative living, an example of a ideal village, a motto to live : all tuned into a beatiful narration.

It gives me mixed emotions that so few of us know about it, atleast in kannada. Yes, our previous generation had hailed it for years, but it was just another Raj Kumar movie for me. And our generation, dont have a clue about themselves in the first place.

I feel every person wanting to see a better world should watch it....more important, understand it.

Unlike portraying scenes where there is crying, emotional drama at times of problems...most times, the narrator seeks the characters to face it directly, even with the supposedly 'bad' guys. Well, there are no 'bad' guys infact, as in the real world.

It is not a usual boring success stories that these bussiness books showcase, but a far greater, far more necessary aspect of lives when man fights with destiny.

I cannot stop myself from recommending 'Nagunaguta nali nali' and 'Agadu endu' at
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/18/s/movie_name.2226/

You will search for the director's name(Siddalingaiah) on the net in vain. I pity you O'Internet, that you don't know about him.

Eee hasiru siriyali

Along with friends, had been to Shivamogga last month.

Words are not enough to describe how it was....a few photos can do a better job.

Here they are :

http://www.employees.org/~vedu/Shivamogga/

Pandu - Senior Software Engineer

Having got nothing much to do apart from watching Shewag smash, wrote this story on the long weekend. No one needs to take it personally. Any similarity with a living person is highly possible. If you are the one, I don't know you .

Pandu- Senior Software Engineer
-------------------------------

Pandu, studied at decent college to get his degree at a place near Bangalore. His branch did not matter. The computer s/w industry was booming. Everyone was making money. Pandu followed suit. Even before he knew what he was doing, he was writing programs. He enjoyed doing it though. When the lab internals got tough, there were always backup of every program on the c:\windows folder to copy from.

Classes were rarely attended. Neither were many of his teachers good enough to make students learn. Getting good grades was easy. Four years in college few. Just after that, Pandu joined a MNC in the obvious city Bangalore, making his parents proud. He got a new business card for himself, a new bank account, a set of debit, credit cards for free. It was as if he was being pampered. Everything was new ; new cubicle, computer, phone, draw...no way he could be not proud.

Pandu's english started to refine. His office was a happening place. Just after a month of joining, a few sleepy training sessions later, he got his first bug to fix.

Meantime, he was made to learn how to eat, dress and talk "socially"; it was not that he had never ate in public, he was just not social-enough. Pandu, felt, he was finally learning some etiquettes. Those taught during his childhood looked old and silly. For him, work life was everything. He had to establish himself. The people who he worked with was his "public". And, he was appreciated.

Hikes and bonuses became common in course of time. Pandu started to compare himself with his friends and classmates working elsewhere. Though we was well-off, being among the top 5% of salaried class in India, he felt at a bit of loss. Software development seemed to become more and more routine. Bugs never seemed to end, adding to the frustration. He hated looking at code written by somebody else. It seemed to be a common problem among his peers. Coding was not as enjoyable as it used to be in his college, where he would sit for days mulling over programs and deriving great pleasure thus. But this was not to be expressed, he was earning enough.

In a year and half, he could not stand. He started complaining about his job to his manager. A few of his colleagues had moved jobs for higher salaries or had left to US. His manager could see it all. Pandu, was now to be sent to US too on a new project. All of Pandu's qualms were now laid to rest. He had always nurtured his affinity towards US, though not publicly expressed it. This was the time. He had heard and seen it on TV and he was now going to live it. Going to US, (with/without reason )was a statement of Pandu's competence.

In US, his new "friends" were his coleagues with whom he shared his apartment with. Two per room. Brought up in a orthodox family which was already stifling his neck, he began to experiment new things, true to the American culture. Experiments, became habits. Weekends were the only time when they boozed and were supposed to have fun.
Impressed by the american professionalism, he started wearing things which his new friends told him as "branded". Branded dressing became synonymous with neatness.

Pandu's love for experimentation and coding were not so important now. It was how he communicated with his peers, how he impressed his bosses, which mattered.
He was supposed to have fun with sports too. After planning over a hundred e-mails, buying lots of equipment, they played cricket. Pandu was now called Pandy, sounded something like a harmless bear. It was not unusual. Padmanabh became Paddy, Joshi became Jo, Satish became Satty. It was cool to be that way.


Six chilly months later, he was flown back to Bangalore, with a box of chocolates, among others. His mates in office were dissappointed to see the same chocolates that Shyam, Raghu and others had brought earlier too.

Pandu felt a feet taller back in his home. A magnetic force was repelling his contact with the ground below. His small stay had showed him how to "keep balance with work and personal lives", as if he never felt anything personal at his work. It had never occured to this poor soul earlier.

Pandu, the taller one, had now two freshers to look after, one of them a good-looking girl. He was now becoming a lead, his priorities implicit. His thirst to learn and experiment had almost died. Nor did it matter the concepts that were shown in his computer science books. Success now meant more responsibilities, more talk, better dressing. He was not afraid of bugs anymore. He had learnt how to talk them out to be non-issues.

When he talked to his american colleagues visiting his centre now, his accent would change. He had also gone through an accent reduction course. He never missed to teach the visitors a thing or two about cricket.

Having reached the other side of the globe, he now felt increasingly part of global community. International news mattered more. Bangalore had way too traffic and dirt. The garden city had become the pub capital of India. Buses were a clear no-no. Autos were costly and rude. Pandu, now bought a Hyundai Santro. He was the only traveller in the car for months, until his parents stepped in.

At work, Pandu now got involved in discussing functional specifications, along with a lot of other documents. He learnt to Microsoft Excel and Word better. Things were lot safe and in control. Promoted to 'Senior Software Engineer' and his business card updated, Pandu now started to get offers for marraiges. Pandu had arrived.

He could associate with most of the music western. Remixes were original for him. Indian music had not kept pace with the times for him. But he himself had not kept pace nor learnt the western way of challenging and building new things. He was safe. Mediocre, but appreciated. It was good enough.

Pandu could now eat fresh vegetables as lunch, noodles with sticks!. He would also rice with toothpicks had be been taught. Tea was always machine-made with calorie-free sugar. Pepsi/coke were common until they were charged with pesticide content. 10% tip was the norm. Whatever be his personal attitude, service at hotels, banks mattered most. He hesitated to talk in his mother-tongue which would not fit his professional style. Eating without spoon/fork was impossible.

He boasted of tasty pizzas to foreign visitors when in contrary, they were bored to see the same places here. They wanted to see the rich cultural heritage we had. It surprised Pandu! Being able to drive everyday, he also felt proud when they told him they would never be able to drive in Bangalore. He expected every visiting place to have parking. The city had not kept pace with him, let alone the rest of places. They did not exist until he discovered them in the weekend trips.

Things had happened too fast for Pandu, not even giving him the time to think. He had become blind under the bright lights of his own cubicle. He did not even know when his soul and mind were taken out of him. There were scores of people like Pandu. The software industry waits for its downfall standing on such souls. It was now set to boom though.

Progress??

Last month was a wonderful journey through SL Bhyrappa's eyes : 'Vamshavruksha'. Written with the imagination that would make sit and wonder whether Bhyrappa has met god! Everyday went by with a chapter or two, living the characters and their thoughts. Though he does play god in the novel, he leaves us with chilling thoughts of man's internal fights( easy to say 'dwandwa' in kannada).

Had heard somewhere that for being creative, one needs to have tolerance to ambiguity. Though it didn't sound interesting at that moment, this book really proved the point. I cannot explain. Buy it and read it.

We have become very lazy; so lazy that it can drive us out of our well-being. Lazyness was something to be desired in earlier times, and thats what made people do smarter things. It feels as if centuries of civilisation has done little to help a man live a good life. Good life was always possible, it was there to be taken and yet most of us don't have it, because of our laziness.

Our ancestors might have had a higher concept of well-being that we may now ignore as stupid rituals. There may also be areas of thought and feeling that we wouldn't have recognized at all in our lives.

Sometime back, on NDTV, they showed a guy who bent spoons, broke them with just mental power. Given that it is possible, would it not be believable that munis in ancient times could, as a curse, burn things?

We may also see that our forefathers used to do some really smart things which, in course of time, lost its meaning, and people couldn't identify reasons for doing them.
* Having lit light near gods in the evening which
a) would serve as a constant source of fire
b) would maintain a constant temperature when you sit for prayers
c) would be the best place to keep, since the place would be usually least disturbed due to wind
* Doing the parshyanchami before lunch/dinner so as to prevent insects from entering the food plate.
* Vedic mathematics which make our normal maths taught in schools silly.
* Treating animals, trees as gods, and thus protect them from destruction. ex: elephants, coconut trees etc.
* Treating a piece of paper as godess Saraswati, thus respecting it as a source of knowledge.
* Doing suryanamaskars which would keep the entire body fit
* Having to server a bit of salt before anything else is served, so that it may account for different tastes of people
* The concept of inviting friends, relatives to homes keeping a festival as a reason, making scope for socialising.
* The concept of making children join gurukulas, keeping them away from homes, in a disciplined environment and making them suitable to lead the rest of their lives.

We may never know the reasons for so many things that they used to do...but let us be open and not just discard whatever they did.

Marraige

PD forwarded this funny(maybe true) quotes....

Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success. - Jim Backus

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste. - David Bissonette

I've sometimes thought of marrying, and then I've thought again.
- Noel Coward, 1956

A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished.
- Zsa Zsa Gabor

I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house. - Zsa Zsa Gabor

When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her. - Sacha Guitry

Marriage is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important.
- Lisa Hoffman

She's a lovely person. She deserves a good husband. Marry her before she finds one. - Oscar Levant to Harpo Marx upon meeting Harpo's fiancee

We in the industry know that behind every successful screenwriter stands a woman. And behind her stands his wife. - Groucho Marx

Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe. - Jackie Mason

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out. - Montaigne

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher...and that is a good thing for any man. - Socrates

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man. - Lana Turner

Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution. - Mae West

Marriage is a three ring circus: engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering.

Marriage is bliss. Ignorance is bliss. Therefore ...

Marriage is not a word; it is a sentence, Life Sentence!!.

Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.

Marriage is when a man and woman become as one; the trouble starts when they try to decide which one.

Marriages are made in heaven. But so again, are thunder and lightning.

Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After marriage, the 'Y' becomes silent.

Do not marry a person that you know that you can live with; only marry someone that you cannot live without.

I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.

If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say, talk in your sleep.

New Workplace

Yesterday was my last day at Cisco. Spent more than 3 years in a place, was a hectic time getting the official formalities completed. Never did I know that I would miss so good moments due to my decision. Nor did I know that there were so many people who liked me. Howmuch ever I try, it brings some nostalgic thoughts:

* Fighting over the carrom-board
* Arguing with Shravan. Almost everytime, both of us would feel 'I wish he understood what I was saying!'
* Having an hour long lunch gobbling almost entire lunchbox of Dheeru.
* Arguing over severity of small bugs
* Suggesting AI projects to Venky
* many more....


But this is an exploration, and I wanted this change. Let's see what's in store in my new place.

Just like that

Got 5 continuous days without work this time due to Deepavali, today is the second day. It feels so good to be sitting alone in the verandah of my brother's home when its' drizzling outside. My brother is back from US and everyone in the family seem so animated....talking about life, marraige, society and stuff....well, as always.

It is so surprising that we never seem to learn from things and repeatedly *not* do the things which we talk as the right thing to do. Has it been like this with humans always? Then, its a pitiful life for man. Had we based our opinions on things which we hitherto know as facts, wouldn't our generation be so better?

Read somewhere that a man's heart lies in his head and a woman's head lies in her heart....this generally seems to be true. Well, infact the heart and the head both are the same, since hearts cannot think :).

Few days back, Aruna had sent an article on the Peak Oil theory, which described how our known global oil resources have been increasingly getting depleted. It went on to say that at the current rate, oil may not last for more than 40 years. In our search for expansion, industrialisation, wealth, we abused the oil left and right. India had not been a great spender, but it will soon happen, we too will "grow" to help our destruction. It now feels that nature is such a delicate thing, and we have to learn to co-exist with it and not take over it. Hopefully, and helplessly, other sources of power will try and delay the process.

But we have to recognize the situation seriously and take responsibility for it. Else, a day will come when our children will be thinking how foolish their earlier generation were in not recognizing a calamity. My kid would say "How the hell could my father go on his bike to office spending half a litre of petrol everyday...was he crazy?".
I have to have a suitable answer.

Dasara Holidays

We had 3 back-to-back holidays last weekend. It was a nice break at my home with 2 children each of my brother and sister. How I wish I were like them : all the time happy and giggling, getting fed constantly(well, with clothes on!).

The way girls and boys react to situations are not very different to how they would during childhood. I see Apoorva(my sister's daughter) take so much care of her younger brother, as if acting like a mother! But Swaroop(my brother's son) is on the opposite pole, reaching to kids only when *he* wants. Otherwise he will be furiously interested in cricket, GK, etc. It is thrilling to watch them!

We had a elderly person called Basappa from my native (Hallikhed, Bidar) visit Mysore to watch the festival procession and other things. It is the third time he is coming to watch in 10 years. As always, he had not taken his family along. Looking the conditions he lives in my native, it seems ridiculous for a *logical* mind to travel so long, spending almost a thousand rupees to watch an event which in no way changes his life(or maybe I am wrong here). I wanted to know why he thought it was so interesting for him..but he wouldn't tell..he is too simple to sit and discuss things..but I was happy to see him back.

My sister tells me that I have become very silent at home. She seemed to suggest this so many times that I have become conscious of it. But this would have been true anytime since it is *she* who talks :)

Daasara Padagalu

I may not agree to all of what Shri Purandara daasaru has said here. But, you look at this composition, it is simply great. 'Daasanaagu' - From last week, I may have listened some 100 times atleast. It is so gripping! I want to be able to sing it one day :)

http://www.udbhava.com/udbhava/songs.jsp?id=55

Came across this song only recently. How many such might be there...among his 475000 songs??!

Restrooms

Many funny things happen in restrooms.

One would see many of us talking about code,bugs, politics, girls, jokes, weekend stories etc. It is also the place where people meet to say atleast a 'Hi'. Otherwise, no one bothers to visit your cube, nor do you care enough. There are people who I am seeing for last couple of years in restrooms and still don't talk to them!

Sometimes secrets, conspiracies also get revealed unnoticingly.

Well, let there be two kinds of releases in restrooms: Software and Hardware. There could be both, by the way!

Two guys from the same team had come for a software release.
One told the other:
"Hey, I closed 3 bugs today!".
It was only afternoon! I thought this guy must be *good*.
"Cool!,howz that?" asked another.
"Well, infact, I marked two of them as U (short for 'Unreproducible') and returned the other one moving it to I(need more info. from the submitter of the bug).
This guy would really make it big in the industry, I felt.

Recently, it has been raining almost everyday and as expected, visits to restrooms increase.
A guy came for a s/w release and just before starting, letting a sigh, he said :
"Aah, it is soo cold !"
A friend of mine quickly replied: "Whhat! you think that's a thermometer ?" :)

Fun With Perl

Came across this wonderful piece of code :
perl -wle 'print "Prime" if (1 x shift) !~ /^1?$^(11+?)\1+$/'

It finds out whether the number that you passed is a prime number or not. All this by just string matching! This was posted by someone called Abigail.

To read an explanation, go to http://montreal.pm.org/tech/neil_kandalgaonkar.shtml

The Marketing guys would not like this though!

One of the shortcomings of this is that it would take large memory for big numbers, and would slow down too. But the idea is beautiful.

A weekend

It was my weekend in Bangalore....and rarely this statement is true.

I have been reading a few Kannada books of late, and all the time I have felt that it would have
been great to write even this in Kannada. I am almost 25 and till now, being a kannadiga, never
have I felt this attachment with my language. I used to feel comfortable while reading english and was so uncomfortable reading kannada.

Now, when I am reading works of Dr. Prabhushankar and Beechee, I get a feeling that the english that I have read pales in front of frankness and humbleness that these writers showed and lived their lives. It feels as if I want to hug these books and never let go!
Partly responsible to this are my friends DC and Manu. Avarige naanu runi. Else, I would have
missed these goldies even longer.

It so happens that I would not listen to my father when he told something like 'Don't do this, do
that, else you will suffer' and the like. But when I get to read the similar thing from Beechee, I can now understand exactly what my father wished me to understand and failed.

It was a hearty feeling to read Beechee in the park and relate to what we have in our village...and many times I could....the backside of homes(we call it hittalu) falling off due to rain..and it used to remain unfixed for years together!!.... any small news spreading so quickly in villages...the indifferent attitude in cities..etc.

A walk near my place

This is our home in Vivekanandnagar in Mysore since my 4th standard. it has been 15 year since. Daily, my parents go for a walk in the evening, and today, my dad had literally dragged me along with them. I usually tend not to go for a walk when there is a big rush of people everywhere.

The area Circle is very near our place. We were one of the first homes who had moved here after the layout was formed. It is a nice feeling to see it grow along with us. The circle has become a market place with lots of shops, vegetable vendors, chat vendors, cows, people making bargains. Everyone must go through this place to come to our area or to Shreerampura and further layouts.
There are some shops which have existed since the beginning...one was Kumar Stores, he still sits in the shop with his wife. Kumar's brother who also sat in the shop parted with him and opened his own one along the same road, but never made such business as his brother did. Shops when they exist for a long time become landmarks and Kumar Stores was one such. I did not really like to buy items there...Kumar to me seemed like arrogant and caring less for the customer.
There are a few other shops like Sudarshan Medicals and a hardware store. 'Hardware' now takes a completely different meaning to me..but this hardware shop sells water tubes, paints, taps, wires etc.

The circle has a big area in the centre. MUDA messed it up making weird, complex paths for traffic. There are big sodium lamps liting the entire area. When you move to quieter roads with homes, neighbors usually gather and talk. And they rarely miss to study a passer-by...as if scrutinizing them from top to bottom is their duty.

There is a Ganesha temple too...which I used to visit earlier...but have stopped going there..due to insecurity of my chappals. I have been unlucky, have lost 3 pairs of chappals in temples in a span of 2 months. I had also planned with the help of friends to catch the thief red-handed...but it never got executed.
Lots of pujaris have come and gone...but the current one has been here for atleast 4 years. He is a misfit for a pujari...first of all, he has a good and well-built body, he doesn't have a big belly and comes by Bullet!!

It would be nice to see this place 10 years hence...hopefully.

What do you want to do?

Long time since I came here....lots of things have happened in these days....well...nothing very great....most of them uninspiring things....

Yeah..I have started living alone now. It was so tough and mentally disturbing for my brother, vyini(my sister-in-law), maybe my parents...but I feel I have taken the right decision.

Life is very different and calm nowadays. I am less angry at people...basically ignoring people...not sure whether this is right or wrong.

Among other things ..after-thoughts of 'Lakshya'...RK Narayan's autobiography...I also did draw an image of my former colleague....started exercising and going out for jogging...something which I dreamt from a very long time...but too lazy to execute.

I think when you like something and work for it...one does not mind/feel the pressure or hardwork he puts in. If it is something which does not come naturally to you..like work :)...you should be greatly disciplined to get things done.

It is so hard to see that people in marketing feel themselves proud about lying to the customers. Wonder whether they do feel guilty at all anytime?

Narayan's book 'My Life' is a small book...told in simple terms for people like me. I feel people do "great" things when they have gone through a very tough stage in their lives...as if going through a stress-test or a agni-parikshe. More and more examples have been proving only this.

Take this for some thought :
* Nagesh Kookunoor was a chemical engineer for 10 years until the age of 30 before he switched over to film-making.
* Farhan Akhtar had spent two years doing just "nothing" apart from watching 2 films everyday before he made DCH.
* RK Narayan had failed in English during his school which was his fav. subject. He didn't take a job which he doesn't seem to fit in, inspite of critical difficulties at home. He knew what he wanted to do...right from the beginning!

So, what do you want to do?

Ramanagara

Last year sometime back, I had a quiet ride to Ramanagara...had a write-up of it. Pasting it here..I liked reading this...felt like I was there again :)

It was someday in May 2003...

Ramanagara Vist

Until next time..bye

Our dear PM not so long back

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=47372

He goes:

Rah Kaun Si Jaaoon Mai?
Chaurahe par loot-ta chir,
Pyade se pit gaya wazir,
Chaloon aakhiri chaal ki baazi chhor virakti rachaoon mai?
Rah kaun si jaaoon mai?
Sapna janma aur mar gaya,
Madhu ritu mein hi bagh jhar gaya,
Tinke bikhre hue batoroon ya nav srishti sajaoon mai?
Rah kaun si jaaoon mai? Do din mile udhaar mein,
Ghaate ke vyapaar mein,
Kshan-kshan ka hisaab joroon ya punji sesh lootaoon mai?
Rah kaun si jaaoon mai?

Translation:
-----------------
What Road Should I Go Down?
Honour lost at busy crossroads,
Knights defeated by pawns:
Do I make my final move, or do I withdraw from battle?
What road should I go down?
A dream was born, and died,
The garden dried up in the season of spring:
Do I gather these scattered leaves, or do I fashion a new universe?
What road should I go down?
Two days, on loan, is all I’ve earned
In a bargain already lost:
Do I take stock of each moment, or do I squander what little remains?
What road should I go down?


Heart-wrenching ! :(
Need I say more.