My Views

5 high-paying jobs you would die for!

2010-05-15T22:26:00.002-06:00

I was browsing the web and came across articles on high-paying jobs and low-paying degrees etc.. Having seen some of the Tamil movies of late, I thought of putting my own list. This is based on the expected money/work ratio.

Be a story writer for Vijay movies: He is one of the top-heroes in the Tamil industry, so you will get a good remuneration and big time exposure. But the sweet deal is you actually don't have to write a story!
Dialogue writer for Maniratnam movies: Every one knows why!
Light-boy for P.C. Sreeram: I heard that he hates lights so much that he never had electricity at home!
Fitness trainer for actress Namitha: Another no brainer!
Special effects director for Vijayakanth/N.T.Balakrishna movies: This is not as easy as the other jobs mentioned above, but the sheer impact these scenes have on the audience takes this job to the top!

Cheers

Obsession with English

2009-08-15T19:17:00.002-06:00

I got some funny interaction today which made me write this blog. During the course of the conversation I pronounced the word "Career" in the same way I pronounce "Ca" in "Carrier". My friends started making fun of my pronunciation. At that moment I asked how does he pronounce "Tier" and he confidently called it like a "Tyre" as most of the Indians do instead of "Tear" which is the correct pronunciation. I also called him out with "Quesidillas" (Casidias) and "Quilin" (Chilin). I was happy that I got my share of making fun of someone else. But I just realized that how stupid I was. How could anyone make fun of some one's language skills. Language is just a form of communication. As long as the listener is able to understand me, I should not worry about the way I pronounced them. I am not saying people calling "Tier" as "Tyre" is correct as it conveys different meaning. But what difference would calling "Career" as "Carrier" make? Is it not similar to using "Know" and "no" Would the listener be blinded just by pronunciation.But in my opinion such obsession is very much prevalent with many Indians. I am surrounded by many Americans and I have very different way of pronunciation with words like "Environment etc. But I was never once been asked to correct my pronunciation as they very well know English is not my native language and I am speaking in a way I was taught. All my friends would do is listen to me and call out the correct pronunciation for themselves. I learnt so many words in that way. I have a chance to listen to Dr.Kalam when he came to Houston. For any of you who have heard him talk, you would realize he is not the smooth orator especially in English. I was there with my close friend who is an American. I started worrying about what my friend would think about Dr.Kalam, as I have praised Dr.Kalam whole hearted before the speech. After the talk I was trying my level best to avoid asking my friends opinion but ended up talking about the speech. Apparently my friend not even bothered about the way Dr. kalam spoke and he was all praise for the content.But today's episode made me realize how obsessed are we with English.You take any of the Indian movies (I am taking liberties here I watch only Tamil and Malayalam movies, sometimes Hindi and Telugu movies as well) the way to show someone as cool person is to make them speak in English. How stupid is this? What does the language has to do with being jovial or smart? Even my cousin sister talks phrases like "Whats your problem man?" "Hey Dude" which I dislike to the core,but my whole family is in awe of her language skills. I am not complaining here, but my point was we give too much importance to language skills. You do need language in work place to convey your idea, but would that be sin to not to fuss about aesthetics if the content is conveyed good enough?

Parody called Politics

2009-02-19T22:05:00.002-06:00

Couple of days ago, I read about Dr. Subramanyam Swamy, chief of Janata party in India attacked in Chennai High Court. He was there for his views on "Sedhu Canal Project" (now put on hold after stubborn resistance from public). The attack on him has got nothing related to the project, but he was attacked for his views on a terrorist organization called LTTE. As most of the Indians (at least south Indians) know Dr.Swamy along with Cho. Ramasamy and Jayalalitha (Former Cheif minister of Tamilnadu) are some of the few sane people to oppose the the terrorist organization.
I am having troble comprehending why some people associate LTTE with the plight of Tamil Ealam. The organization might have started with a noble intention, but it certainly does not have any such image now. We clearly know that LTTE leadership has killed more pacifist Srilankan Tamil leaders than the so called Sinhalese government has. We could clearly see that they are power corrupt and their intention is not about getting peace but about keeping their wealth.

Leave all of these points. Why are these people insist on India stopping the war in Srilanka? Are they really worried for the safety of common man? If yes, why are they not staging such protests for the ongoing war in Iraq? or they did not even rise a flag for the war on Georgia by Russia a few months ago? May be the presence of Tamil speaking people might be the reason for their involvement ! How concerned they are? Can language alone be the reason for concern? If yes, what kind of people we are letting to lead us. If India heeds to these people's request and set a seperate country for Srilankan Tamils, how can we be sure that these people would not ask for separate country for all the Tamils in India? I am sure they will, because most of these protesters didn't even bother about many of the ongoing problem with in our country of India.

We keep seeing that Law and Order situation is getting worse in Tamilnadu. How could they not be? one of the worst violence I ever witnessed recently took place in Ambedkar Law College in Chennai. It has reached to a point that if you want to study law in Tamilnadu, you need to be at least good in two arts 1) Attacking with deadly weapons 2) Belong to a political party. Look at the latest images of the Lawyers Vs Police confrontation and you will how many goons are there in the name of Lawyer.

Irritating Interference

2009-01-08T23:41:00.002-06:00

I do understand that people are like pebbles and it is tough see them the same way. Your success is how you cope up with them without actually getting frustrated. But I think it is very challenging to keep the face straight when dealing people with the annoying habit of talking themselves up too much. I do remember one such person I met. Someone I admire for their wisdom, ended up believing the one talking himself up little too much, when it was very apparent that the conversation has too many jargon to make any real sense. I was trying to understand the reason. One plausible reason is that the talking too much person is very articulate and he was very careful about using jargon that are exclusively outside the horizon of the one who is listening. You won't be bothered too much as long as his gibberish does not hit you in the face. When it does, I think it is normal for sane people to be furious.

I am still wondering why I started writing this blog at the first place? May be because I was reading about constructive criticism and I realize that the person criticizing you actually heeds to these annoying people. Though not intended, the criticism might look scathing as you know the source for such comments is absolutely rubbish. So I was wondering how do any one manage such situation with out showing obvious irritation?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I found this quote suitable for the situation described above

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe"

-Albert Einstein

who else could have said this :-)

Why do they do?

2008-12-10T12:21:00.004-06:00

This is not the start I was expecting. Some times things become harder to understand in your own perspective, especially when the reason for it sounds very childish. It is even harder to take it easy when some one doubts your honesty. I may have used some strong words which are uncalled for the topic. The heart of the matter is we were expecting to get some information . The information can be obtained only from one source (at least for now). As we know them very well (I now doubt that), we talked to them about getting the information on a later date. Everything went well till the actual day came. The replies are standard " oops! we cannot do it at the moment. We are not happy with the progress we make, give us some more time" I would have preferred a straighter no!. At least it could have saved some anxiety. The reason I feel bad about is that I know the real reason behind the refusal. It has to do with we getting the information out in the real world. It sounds like a good reason to refuse. But really what hurts more is that we literally promised about the retaining the information. In actuality, we would have helped them had we got the information.
But the best part is now I am confident that I am striking the right chord. May be the information we want is merely a confirmation of what we already know. I am sure they will come to us in the future for the same and I am sure I would be more than happy to share.

P.S: The blog might be really abstract for most of you. But I cannot go any deeper at this time.

Not the time!

2008-12-01T13:28:00.003-06:00

I was reading a letter from a person in Chennai (I am not mentioning the name as I am not sure whether he actually wrote it, nor do I know whether he is a writer as my literary expertise is novice to say the best) I am writing my opinion on the content of the mail related to the media coverage of the recent Mumbai terrorist atrocities. From the words of the mail, I feel that he is a left wing person. The whole purpose of the mail was to lambaste almost all the T.V. Channels about their coverage of the incident. He sounded more interested in refusing to acknowledge Taj Hotel as the Icon of India (I don't do it either) rather than the actual nature of this abominable act. I saw a couple of curious points he made

1) The channels should have given more importance to CST terminal and should have identified all those dead people.

Do you really expect them show the gory images of dead people on the street and pay attention to all those dead rather than looking to save the rest. I think it is better to show the places where the morons called terrorists are still unleashing their ignorance and make the people aware of their surroundings than focusing on a place where it is already done and dusted.

Identifying the victims on these magnitudes of attack is not an easy job and it would have been stupid if the T.V channels started showing the faces of brutally assaulted victims.

Most importantly, the writer of the mail hails from Chennai so he might be following it on television as I did and we have no clue whether any one were permitted to enter CST immediately after the attack?

2) The media was not focusing on the common people and were very concerned about the rich people

I do feel sometimes that screen personalities take up more coverage than real achievers. But it stops only with their personal achievement. Whenever we generalize the term "rich" we conveniently forget about their value to the society. Not all of them are just rich in material things. We need to realize that lot of the common people do need them for their livelihood. Just because they stayed in a posh hotel which we don't like or their principles, we cannot treat them that badly. We need to understand that if any of our industrialists die in situation like these, the loss for the society is more than a personal loss. The whole blog is not about socialism or Communism or which is better. I just want to point out that, don't hasten your decision in times like this.

There are plenty more in the mail I didn't like. I am not going to write about them all. People tend to get emotional very easily so these kind of mails are not to be taken seriously.

I was checking a video forward sent by my friend in some Pakistani channel. There was this buffoon claimed as an expert analyst. His point was the whole attack was organized by Indian Military (He even said that the Americans organized the 9/11 attack) and his evidence was the terrorists were wearing a saffron wrist band and Muslims don't wear them. Wow,What a point? Okay let me go and get a skull cap and become a Imam (I really didn't mean any offense to the sentiments). I don't know about the channel or the name of the buffoon but I am sure I don't need to.

To finish off in a lighter tone

I watched the Hindi movie "Yuvraaj" last night. Being a Tamil only speaking south Indian, my push for watching this Hindi movie was the music by none other A.R.Rahman. I am not sure whether the movie was intended to be funny or very unintentional comedy. Looking at the posh sets I think the later. I was laughing my heart out, when Salman was crying about how his heartless father chased him out of the house. All those instances told by Salman made it very clear that father did what he should have done. I hope Subash Ghai will be wary of these kind of sentimental scenes in future.

Moved

2008-10-30T00:23:00.003-06:00

I happened to see the most talked about video of the latest times " The plight of Tamil speaking people in Srilanka" It was one of the most disturbing videos I have ever seen in my life. Something needs to be done for the people over there. It is not possible for anyone to live in such atrocious conditions. However, as proclaimed by many of the Tamil fraternity, mostly "screen personalities", supporting Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTEs). In fact, they are half responsible for all the problems there. These kind of events reiterates the need of Gandhi's principle of non-violence. I sincerely believe that had the Tamils in Srilanka had a Gandhi like figure or a firm believer of non-violence, they might be enjoying a very peaceful life they are entitled to. Because of the belief in violence and the unquenched quest for power of the so called "Leaders or Liberators" who are few in number, a large section of innocent community is being vandalised and in fact killed.

Ramblings

2008-10-06T20:58:00.004-06:00

I was watching an Interview of A.R.Rahman yesterday (I got this bad habit of reading or watching while eating). Like all those who were born after 1972*, I am an die-hard fan of his music. I complained in one of my earlier blogs (I consider it as the most incoherently organized blog I have ever seen) that he isn't focusing on Indian music. I even went to the point of saying that he doesn't fit into the western musicals and he should get back to his roots. I still believe that his western compositions have been inspired heavily by his Indian tunes and I rarely find it amusing to listen to something which has already been done beautifully. But I got a chance to know why he wasn't composing as much as we like. He said to the host of the show " I get the same kind of situations to make songs. Everyone wants pathos, romantic duet, opening song and one kuthu** song and it becomes monotonous for me. I have to make sure that I like the song 100% so that at least 10% of it would be likable for the listeners" I realized how true it was. I listen to cine songs only and as he said they all have same kind of situations. With no control over the visuals, and some time not even sure of whether the song would be shown on screen, it would be very tough for any music composer to keep churning out one after the other. What could an alternate? I am thinking of listening to private albums (which haven't got any base in South India). It is not that I never listened to them before. I listen to TSJ studios @ http://blog.tsjstudio.com/ (yup the same ones whose song "ragasiyam" was mistaken to be in the film Vaaranam Ayiram) and I listen to http://vanithaudios.blogspot.com/. Both of them are known to me but if you listen to TSJ studios you wouldn't mind that. My favorite female singers usually are typical carnatic singers who also sings cine songs. "Bombay" Jeyashree and Sudha Raghunathan are my favorites. I like the voice (I call it as a basal voice) of the singer in http://vanithaudios.blogspot.com/ and It looks like she has exposure to Carnatic music as well so I listen to that as well.

I read the following quote allegedly told by Einstein (can one of you say whether it is authentic?) but I liked it a lot. "If the truths don't substantiate theories, change the truth" (I loosely translated it from Tamil)

*- 1972 is not the absolute year. I assume those people would be 20 years or younger when "Roja" was released.
**- Kuthu is a kind of feel good song of the physically working class people (This is entirely my definition and I didn't mean to offend any one)

Recent Buzz about Nanotube toxicity

2008-05-28T23:33:00.003-06:00

I am back to blogging after a long hiatus. The recent buzz about the toxicity of carbon nanotubes had my phone ringing all day with inquiries about its impact on my research and with it my future. The whole topic was started by a widely read daily USA news paper. The next day it was published in Indian newspaper (at least in Chennai). For those of you who is wondering why am i writing a blog on this topic, I am working on using Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs) especially the ultra-short form of them (US-tubes) for "Diapeutics" (Diagnosis+Therapeutics) applications. Before posting my views, i should say the paper was the first one to study the Mesothelial (Kind of cell membrane you could find in the Pleural (Chest) and Peritoneal (Abdomen) cavities )effects of carbon nanotubes and a neatly researched one as well. The authors on this paper have enough experience and expertise on this subject. "Mesothelioma" is a type of cancer caused by fiber like particles especially asbestos) . Since carbon nanotubes are known to be longer in length, they make a very good candidate for the studies. But the kind of carbon nanotubes they used were called multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). These MWNTs have multiple layers of Graphene sheet as opposed to single sheet in the case of SWNTs. They are really long > 2 micron and broad with diameters ranging from 15 to 160 nm. Where as the ultra-short tubes we use for our studies are only 50 nm in length and 1.4 nm in diameter. And for all of my well wishers the study itself showed that if the CNTs are smaller they have a no harmful effects (Even though the two material are different). In addition, what ever studies we had so far showed that the SWNTs and US-tubes are non toxic and could be used for clinical applications. I personally feel that this observation would have no negative effect on the area of nanobiology or in the use of nanoparticles for imaging application (my field of research) as it will be very difficult to administer a micron length nanotube in to the body as obviously the 'frustrated phagocytosis' ("the inability of the immune system to completely engulf the foreign object" will take place and you could have very little success in cellular labeling as longer particles (>100 nm) are not the best of particles for higher loading efficiency. For those of you have not got the access to the original article, i am quoting the conclusion from the article published online (see the reference below) "As such, our study does not address whether CNTs would be able to reach the mesothelium in sufficient numbers to cause mesothelioma following inhalation exposure. Although the study suggests a potential link between inhalation exposure to long CNTs and mesothelioma, it remains unknown whether there will be sufficient exposure to such particles in the workplace or the environment to reach a threshold dose in the mesothelium. Intraperitoneal injection of long asbestos into the peritoneal cavity of rodents has been demonstrated to cause mesothelioma in the long term. However, our study did not address whether the mice exposed to long CNTs that developed inflammatory and granulomatous changes would go on to develop mesotheliomas. Neither did our study rule out the possibility that short CNTs may have some intrinsic pathogenicity by virtue of their particulate nature, which would not have been detected in the assays used here, which are specific for fibre effects. These are research questions that must be addressed with some urgency before the commercial use of long CNTs becomes widespread."

(Reference :
"Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study"Craig A. Poland, Rodger Duffin, Ian Kinloch, Andrew Maynard, William A. H. Wallace, Anthony Seaton, Vicki Stone, Simon Brown, William MacNee & Ken Donaldson. Published online: 20 May 2008; | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.111; Nature Publishing group")

What Next Mr.Minister?

2007-08-30T01:47:00.001-06:00

We are now facing the real ugly face of politics. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) resident doctors have gone on strike demanding their rightful original degree certificates. The reason for the delay as told by our country's health minister is the signature of the registrar Dr.Sandip Agarwal. Sounds crazy? FYI Dr.Agarwal is the registrar of AIIMS. Still staying sane? I envy you. Mr.Anbumani Ramadoss argues that the selection of Dr.Agarwal is illegal. Not long ago, Mr.Ramadoss tried unsuccessfully to upstage Dr.Venugopal as the Director of AIIMS. Reason for that is the medicos strike against increased quota for backward class. I am not defending their action of going on a strike in such a life saving profession. But the treatment meted out to one of the world renowned heart surgeons Dr.Venugopal is nothing but stupidity. If Dr.Ramadoss and his party (of course run by his Father) can get the public life to standstill supporting the quota why not one against them (Again, strike by any medical profession is insane). He is now threatening the medicos that he will take stringent action against them if they don't call off the strike. There are no promises about their certificates though? What is he thinking in his mind? What next? After Dr.Agarwal saga is over he will contend that Dr.Venugopal's signature should not be there. This all happen because there are people who wants to stay in power regardless of self conscience (Don't forget Dr.Ramadoss's party holds a crucial share in the member of Parliament all of them are equally insane except one! Not Dr.Ramadoss certainly)

2007-07-09T07:25:00.000-06:00

It has been long since i wrote my last blog. I got a feeling that i am always looking at things in a negative sense. I even thought that my messages are always convoluted.But let me try this time to see whether i am hitting the bull´s eye this time. I was reading "Indian Express" online, apart from the serious London bombings one news which caught my attention on the first page was the Public Interest Litigation filed by a tamilnadu congress man (from the congress party and not from the original congress which struggled for our freedom)The issue here was to ban "Sivaji-the boss" as it depicts so called "Saint" Sonia Gandhi and our prime minister Dr.Singh in a real bad light. The objectionable scene comes when our superstar go to "adhikesavan" for opening a college for the needy. As always, the politician asks for bribe.IN that scene the villain happened to stand in between the photographs of Sonia and Dr.Singh. And it is damaging for their untainted image (i can promise that for one of the two, for the other i am not sure whether she has one) But honestly, friends i could have never looked at it this way. To double check i asked some of my friends who have seen the movie and Hurray! i am in sync with my friends!Leave all this aside. The compensation asked by the petitioner is whopping 50 crores for the congress committee. But i was wondering where this ardent congress man was when his fellow politicians ripped each other of their dresses as well as their dignity in front of their party office (sathyamurthi bavan) which was telecasted all over the state at least. And inevitably all the rape scenes and corruption scenes (just in movies,in police stations)happen in front of our "father of the nation".But none of these self proclaimed caretakers of our nation have ever questioned that.Why ? someone please explain to me.

What Next?

2007-03-23T23:56:00.000-06:00

For me India is Knocked out of the Cricket World cup . Still some of my friends feel that Bermuda will outclass bangladesh and we will be through to the next round. But i would go out with first round loss. With their current batting form i dont want us to be in the Super Eight. By exiting now we could avoid a defeat at the hands of Ireland which is quite a possibility. Atleast we could say we had one disappointing game against Srilanka and one terrible game against Bangladesh. Instead if we go to Super Eight, common man! it is difficult for me to come with seven new vocabulary for our performance. So what are we going to do next? first thing that came to my mind was that we will stop paying so much attention to a game. How stupid i am? my friend told me we should organise a series with Pakistan and we will still be watching it madly. Thats true. As Chappel said we haven't won a tournament overseas from 1985, there is still a serious attention needed. but we are always happy with a home series victory over bermuda. Next thing i thought was the safety of the players and their families. There is no point in harming them physically as they never asked you to have such a madness over a game. If you really don't like the way they play, Don't watch it! Thats all we should do!. After all this, let us look at what is needed at this stage. Foreign coach is not an option for a while after this debacle. So who will coach us? Sunil Gavaskar.Hell no! I dont want to see Rohan Gavaskar and Amol Mazumdar in the playing eleven at this stage of their career. So pick some one who played the game and have a proven record of coaching. They dont have to be an great stalwart in their playing days. Couple of names that come to my mind are Chandrakanth pandit, Kris Srikanth, Venkatesh Prasath, Javagal Srinath. But if we consider Srinath or Prasad we need a complete revamping of the team which i feel is good for the game. Dont just look at the age while picking up the player. True you need to look at the future, but it does not have to be at the expense of success. It is enough to look at 5 years ahead of us. This gives us enormous pool of players to select.

What should not happen

2007-03-17T22:33:00.000-06:00

India successfully succumbed to Bangladesh. So what is going to happen now ? One thing i really don't want to see is Player's houses and relatives getting hurt. They are not responsible for any of these things. It's all our fault to have so much passion over a sport. It is not be all and end all for us. Even if we bow out in the first round we should not feel terrible. We in fact should view cricket as a sport. I think by this we could avoid lot of disappointments and those cricketers wont be getting a lot of money for playing in such a fashion. After saying this lets see what went wrong for us today. The team selection is absolutely wrong. I don't believe shewag should be anywhere closer to the Caribbean leave alone the team. I have not lost confidence in him (Though i never had any!) He just needs some break. He still have a future in Cricket and by keeping him in the playing eleven Dravid is trying to spoil that. Uthappa he never seems to have any understanding of the game. After all he is just into the scheme of things. All he knows is a horizontal bat. So if he is not opening i don't see him at No 3. With Shewag in such an aweful form we need some one to steady the ship so why not Dravid?. If they really need utahppa why don't they keep shewag down the order. We all know he could murder a spinner. I am not going to blame Sachin and Dravid for their failure. After all they are human. Sourav played gem of an innings as he used to play and Yuvraj setting the base. One thing that surprises me is the absense of Irfan Pathan. Sure they don't have a place for fourth seamer. But i feel that he should have been given a chance because this was supposed to be a cake walk for India. Either he could have got the rhythm or give us a hint about what our future 11 will be. Our Bowling looked good especially Munaf and Zaheer. Munaf can be trusted with new ball than one change bowler. With his height and pace and of course line he could wreck through a batting order.I would try Dinesh karthik in the next game against Namibia as it seems now shewag is not going to give us a lot. Lets "see" if they can build a sky scraper against Namibia and beat Srilanka.

Tit Bits

2007-03-11T15:43:00.000-06:00

This time i am going to write about random things. I wish i could dig something apart from politics. But the chances are very remote. I am not sure how many of you read about an Indian MP who is not even a citizen of India. Mr.Mony Kumar Subba (I could not remember his original last name) a people representative from Assam is not even a Indian citizen. I meant he does not have legal citizenship till now (Sonia Gandhi has one! i should admit). He is the only one who never ages with years (Please leave the innocent saints off this!!). When he contested for the first time say he mentioned he was born on 1951 but in the last election his Year of birth became 1958. May be he went to kumarakonam after Atalji got his treatment and felt younger. The poor guy didn't know that he can only feel younger. But the funny thing is he forgot what school he studied. He never thought "Mahatma" would betray him. Little did he know that he is not in tamilnadu and they can open a school in the name of our "father of the Nation" even after 1967. The pity is that now only they found that all the documents he surrendered were scandalous. Leave all this! This guy is not fit to be in current politics. how come he is not blaming opposition for these findings. He should have consulted Lalu and Sibu Soren on this. Oops! Sibu soren is in Tihar right now. Anyways if at all our judiciary give him some punishment and send him to Tihar (may be in 10 years if things go well. Man! He is a MP of the ruling party!) he might get assistance. who knows he can even be a Minister? Above all this he could not use Secularism for this. Had he realised this before, he might have submitted another document proclaiming his religion. Wow!! I got an idea for this guy, Why don't he consult arjun singh and see if he can use class systems to use? (Not Eric Segal's "Class" folks, it is the BC and OC). He should have contested from Tamilnadu in DPA alliance. In that case he might have the backing of Karunanidhi who could make any statements made in the past void with his linguistic ability. But one thing is for sure his political future is really bright with impending punishment.

Next comes the Afzal hanging case. For those who know only Pakistan cricketer Fazil (I am sure there are many) he is the guy who is convicted of attack on our Parliament. He was given death sentence long ago.As usual he applied for Mercy plea to the president. After all that's the only decision of the Indian President that can be taken by him. I think this does not make a big difference to his power either. And it is still "Under consideration". I don't know why? may be Mr.Kalam is too busy with his future stint as a visiting Professor at MIT (Madras institute of Technolgy) his Alma mater. I am really happy for Mr. Kalam. He feels completely out of place there. You should be a bureaucrat to be in that position. If you are intelligent and have some conscience that's not the place. At least we could have avoided Insat-4B technical hitch and couple of unsuccessful launching. So let me get to the point. What is the purpose of having a capital punishment if we could not execute it? do we need a special court for faith? frankly that's what happening now. Not Mulayam singh and others came to help Nalini in Rajiv Gandhi murder. She got the same punishment for same crime. After all she was accomplice in murdering in one "to be" Prime minister. This guy was helping in plotting to kill 1 prime minister and 533 people representatives and bunch of other people. Just because the incident did not happen means he is not a criminal? or None of the VIPs died there ? What happened to those security personnel who lost their lives. if killing them does not deserve capital punishment why did you hang "Auto Shankar". He did not kill any popular figures. But by this apart from all these vote bank politicians, one common man (i don't know whether man is a term suited ) will be happy. He is our Moninder singh. He could also get absolved in Nithari Killings. But for that he should adopt a different faith. I am really hurt to say this, It is not good for our nation to see all the decision based on the religion the accused belong.

Just read this

2007-02-08T18:09:00.000-06:00

Quite some time for a blog though. I thought of trying music this time. I am just getting a feeling that all my blogs always on the gloomier side of the subject. I love to hear songs. Infact I could have put a headphone as my identification mark on my documents. But off late I am listening only to Tamil songs and sometimes Telugu. I really miss those terrific sounds of other music. I always find it interesting to see how people overrate one. Let me take my word back. It is actually under rating many. It all started with the "Asian Mozart". He scored music for Broadway musical, Couple of Foreign films. Etc... But tell me did you really like his Western compositions? Or did he really do western composition? His Broadway musical is Infact a conglomeration of his Super hit Indian compositions. Even the story line of the play was indianised. Where does Western come here? I think they meant the audiences. This is not to disrespect anyone. Infact I go head over heels to hear ARR music. Most of the current Indian Composers are popular among public for their songs and not BGMs. Gone are the old days where R.D. Burman stirred us with his score. Gone are the days where you imitate the on screen character with an Ilaiyaraja masterpiece in south. Forgive me for missing out Many Doyens. Once Harris Jeyaraj, a very popular composer among youth in south told that Scoring BGM is tough but thankless job. If a composer From a Genre of Music Directors who uses part of their song or songs for all kind of Circumstances in a movie BGM says this, imagine scoring an original BGM. All the songs of the Mega hit movie down south "Chinna Thambi" by IR was finished in a day(All song wet on become chartbusters). But it will take weeks to finish rerecording for a movie. It is really sad to see RDB or IR never got any recognition. So Can you do justice in a place where you are completely out of place? The case with Beethoven, Mozart or even Yanni is entirely different. They do the music to do the talk. But we are sprinkling sound with lyrics. We all know Lakshmi kanth- Pyari Lal. Their Music for a south Indian film "Ragasiya Police" went unnoticed even with an appreciable composition, because they could not connect with the music of the place, tradition. Even IR flopped miserably outside south for the same reason. In that case ARR is musical genius. He connects with the whole Indian subcontinent well. He has the talent to stay with the culture and liking of the people. Then why should he try to establish him in a place where he has no chemistry. Why is he trying to do that at the expense of his expertise? I am not sure, he has given south anything to celebrate apart form the recent “Sillunu oru Kaadhal” (SOK) in Tamil. So it is High-time that he changes his track and comeback to his home turf. I should also add that we should not judge our talent based on the fame they get on western world. I am sure Rani mukarjee in “Black”(Hindi) and Meera Jasmine in “Kasthurimaan” (Malayalam) showed tremendous acting prowess than Bruce wither spoon in ‘Walk the Line” .One more thing I noticed in Tamil music is Rap is the only form of Western music that exists. All they know is a rap music which goes completely irrelevant to the situation in the movie. Infact HJ is the only one who tries to give us something outside this Rap genre. I recently heard his album “Unnale Unnale” and it was refreshing break from stupid remixes and raps. I hope soon our music directors will stop brutally assaulting us in the name of remixes (it is a gross violation of intellectual rights for me!). Why don’t they do their job for which they are getting paid for?

HJ- Harris Jeyaraj, IR- Ilaya Raaja, ARR-A.R.Rahman, BGM- Back Ground Music

I wish I could have never written this!

2006-11-06T17:39:00.000-06:00

Call me a Regionalist if you want! But what ever I write here is what I really felt in last evening’s events in Indian Students at Rice (ISAR). A gathering is meant to bring together all of us and have a wonderful time together. But yesterday made me feel more alienated. It is not the linguistic barriers I am concerned about. Infact being a bilingual is more than sufficient for me. I have many wonderful friends who speak languages which I can’t speak. But they know my limitation and they always made me feel at home. But last night I was really caught off guard. Except for the good soul which put the slides in English I could have ended up being clueless as what is going on? The same opinion was expressed by one of our beloved chief guest in much softer tone (befitting his age). In truth this is exactly why I decided not to take any position in the executive committee. After all a leader should communicate and command. But unilingual approach is fine with planning when it gets transformed to action it rips of the opportunity of many to feel at ease. About this a Couple of questions came to my mind. Isn't this one of the very few occasions we come together? Of course it is, but that’s true for me too. Why can’t they speak on a language 95% people can understand? Perfect. But what about English where 100% can understand? Too westernized thinking? Okay here is a simple solution which was followed last year and an ideal one. How about sprinkling English here and there and make us feel more comfortable? Am I asking too much? I was never feeling any of these before the intended to be Fun “Antakshari” happened. I was cheering and booing till they announced that there will be a situation songs. Since I could see other Tamil people in other teams, I thought its time for me to enjoy something. It might be wrong. But I did not know that I am not allowed to sing (for me not allowed to sing in my language means not allowed to sing). That’s fine; after all we were in lesser number. Shouldn’t they have given my other “common” team mates another chance to do it in the “Accepted” language? But instead I was stripped of points for trying to be one among us. This is no big deal for me. And my relationship with everyone will remain the same as I am too grown up to fuss about these things and my friends are too precious to lose. But why cant we make sure that when ever we come together, actually “We” come together rather than someone feeling “they “ came together (even for a nano second).

Am I confused?

2006-08-02T12:44:00.000-06:00

Last night I had a conversation (I would prefer this term than Chat as the talk had some purpose in it) with my friend. He was critical about Israel’s stand on the current crisis in Middle East. I differed with his opinions and we settled amicably (I was happy that it turned out to be in my favor). Before going any further I want you all to know that I have no soft corner what so ever for any terrorist organization. Some of you might think that I am biased. After all this is my blog. I read an article by TJS George in “The New Indian Express”. The article is not on any statistics about how many lives we lost to terrorism. It is just about how bad we are at learning lessons from our past mistakes. We all talk about India becoming a superpower and we all are proud about our success in Science and technology. But I feel we are not realizing that for long we have been in the state of “becoming superpower” and it is long past due to reach the status of superpower and the main obstacle in the course is Terrorism. I was telling my friend that we should stage a war against terrorism and this is the ideal time for it. The answer I got from him had taken me aback. He without hesitation replied that Muslim people in India are yet to attain equality. Why does he have to think that attacking terrorism will trouble our beloved Islamic friends? I am talking about our country and he is talking about religion. What is the relationship we have between these two? India is a secular nation my friends that’s where we have our pride. When I say terrorism I include Naxalites and ULFA s. He further tried to convince me that Naxalites are ideology based organization against inequality. But what they see as inequality in their region is present everywhere in India. Why are not they present in all the places? What is the role of two communist parties which work democratically? In my view the Naxalites choose a place where they could easily brainwash the people and carry on with their jobs (?). How many more disaster the poor city of Mumbai has to bear before it loses its spine? I am deeply saddened when people say they are happy that Mumbai came back to its normal life immediately after the disaster. It takes lot of energy to start walking with an injury than keep walking without any hurdles. We could have achieved another revolution if we channeled the energy they spent to get back to their life. How may more Kandahar we have to see? How many more “operation Vijay” we have to fight? And how many more innocent people we have to lose? to finally be able to differentiate between eradicating terrorism and appeasing a religion.

Is studying Science a sin?

2006-05-16T20:19:00.000-06:00

A Radical Change of topic from my last blog. Thanks for all who replied. Since I have exposure to Science in India and abroad, I thought of writing this blog. In my honest opinion, i don't think any parents want their child to study Science(By science I mean Pure Sciences like Chemistry, Physics and Biological Sciences) as a first choice. Taking an undergraduate course in Pure Science is meant for those who missed the Cut-off bracket in Entrance exams. The evergrowing number of Engineering colleges in Tamilnadu adds vitality to my views. Even parents who are educated do not like science as first option. Why Science which is omnipresent is considered as a kingdom of losers?. Is it because they see people with science degrees work as Management trainees or bank Clerks? If it is, why don't they see there are more people with Engineering degrees in Call center than Science Graduates? (Which in my view doesn't require 4 years of rigorous study in Engineering Discipline) Why don't they realize that more science graduates are working in non-science field because of our view towards science. When I joined my undergraduate degree in Science, the obvious notion everyone including my parents had was I am not an bright(leave alone brilliant) student. It is true that I didn't score good enough for a Engineering seat. But losing in a couple of exams or losing your sharpness for a couple of weeks will never alter one's self. It does not mean that I am belittling any engineering graduates (of course they are smart enough to keep their hold for extra two weeks than me). I am just saying that I am not bad. Is it all parent's mistake? When I probed this further,it was startling to see that they are not at all responsible. Who is the culprit then? Yes the same fourth pillar of Democracy. I never saw TV as a useful one except making you an Couch potato. But what the Papers and magazines are doing? It seems to me that for them, whether Sonia a Saint or not is more important then Science. It is imperative that we need to know more about our country. But politics alone is not a solution. The other themes they publish are Beauty pageants or Team India (Cricket) winning a local club in Pakistan. Most of the newspapers don't have any separate column for Science even those who have one publish once in a week. Is Vijayakanth a deciding factor in poll seems more appropriate for first page compared to whether nano biology can really cure Cancer. To sicken me further, I read a leading magazine just now which says the most happening thing in tamilnadu is the rumor about love between Simbu and Nayanthara. For whom it is important? Even it is important for other people it is because you publishers never allowed them the joy of other happenings. How many times you have seen CNR Rao on any Tamil magazines or newspapers (both Tamil and English) talking about emerging field of scientific research. Don't say language is a problem, if Reema sen can be interviewed why not CNR rao?. You have all the great people who can make a scientific interview more intresting(like Madan, Sujatha). Sometime ago most parents trained their daughter to say she wants to become Kalpana Chawla. The poor lady has to die to make us feel about science. Once in a while they will put a news box in the middle pages (they know most of us look at first and sports pages) about two students who are going to compete in a world class Robotics Competition. But Amitabh acting as a ambassador for IIFA awards will be on the first page. IIT Saarang will be given more importance than IIT-Chem fest. Why is this atrocity? One of my junior in Loyola (Hari) attended an conference in China to exhibit his new idea about Vanderwaals equation in Chemistry. Nobody knew except a few. But Sivaji shooting in Hyderabad is creating ripples. Please come out of this or go out of my India. For the following idea I fear that I will be blamed for westernising (like saffronising) education. Is it not a good idea that we call engineering studies as B.S in Engineering like most of the western countries and make sure science graduate has to do 4 yrs of learning to get his degree. Nobody is called a Engineerist when he do research in engineering field. So will you people reading this will give credit to students who learn pure science?

Poll fever

2006-05-08T18:39:00.002-06:00

Hi All

This is my first attempt at blogging.I am sure some of you might not agree with my views but i just wanted to have a place where i can check how far could i go with the crowd. If you have appreciation or even critiscism please allow me the pleasure of knowing it.You can reach me at viskid@gmail.com. My first blog is with the newly formed lokparitran party. I am really happy that my fellow student friends are coming up with a fight that we can all be proud of. Gone are the days where oratorial excellence alone can keep you alive in student politics. Since i have my own aspirations of serving the country rather state as the first step. To be precise serve a small section or constituency before breaking the shackles.So my real doubt is did they take a correct decision in going for the poll all alone?. I perfectly agree with the view that the main focus of the party is to show how good we can do ? but for a first timer is it ideal to go all alone? the first and foremost in my mind is will they (i am not yet member of the party) be able to survive with the same vigour till the next elections if they didnot win any seats leave alone losing deposit(which seems to be obvious for me. i am not making fun.even MDMK lost almost all its deposits when they went alone in the first elections) are we all mentally strong enough to take defeat which will last for a while?. Why these questions arouse in my mind? I have a few reasons to have them. The reasons are not in order(i.e all of them served their purpose equally).In politics it takes longer time to establish your name or face to the public unless you are a facisimile of M.G.Ramachandran. With a large majority of the people still not knowing what to look for in a candiadate. Most of them failed to understand the simple fact that Election is not a one day affair rather its five years of their social betterment. So where is their party stands now? With no fiery orators, no bashers of other parties, how are they going to establish their identity?I read abt their Bike rally in favour of one of their canditates. What do they achieve by going on a bike? Do they think upper middle class and upper class (strictly economical) are going to vote. They always enjoy the Election day as a holiday. Only the middle class and Low income group people will be coming for vote. will you be able to attract them with your Bike rallies? Even on reel life they want to associate themselves with the charecters, what abt Real life? How will you be able to make them feel that you will get to the ground to work for them? I dont think Bike rally with flashing cell phones will get them closer to the people. I dont mean that they are flaunting, i just want to say that we have not developed that much. In my honest opinion they should have tried to get one or two seats by forging an alliance with any of the leading front.Lets get elected and show the promise by showcasing your good works(with media support you can really do that).I am saying this because we lost 59 years but i dont want to lose remaining years because we could not succeed in a single day(May 8). I am really praying that they continue their work after May 8 whatever the results may be. Because if we give up now, we will never have time. I know how hard it is float a party in initial years(We have to take care of our own family, because their motto is not to earn from politics). Friends,Please remember that "it takes long to remeber, but it takes longer to forget". there are couple of other topics i want to post i will do it in imminet future..All my views are based on what i read in so may papers and magazines.All of my opinion might be unacceptable, but i want to know them why?otherwise i will never have a real understanding of this issue.So friends if you really have any criticism or appreciation please let me know.