Ideas shared

How to lock screen automatically after 35 mins in KDE 3.5.x

2012-01-26T02:25:00.000-08:00

#!/bin/csh
sleep 2100;
dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface lock;

Put the above file somewhere. Create a Keyboard shortcut to this script and every time you unlock your session, type the shortcut, and your session will be locked after 35 mins.

Poem, as sung by A Raja and Kanimozhi in Tihar

2011-08-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

Life is not a fairytale
Things don't always end well.
You go to jail
And don't get bail.
You try and try
And yet you fail
To get your bail.
You rot in jail
Life is not a farytale
Things don't always end well.

Shanti Bhushan/Prashant Bhushan CD controversy

2011-04-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

Points to be noted.

Hindustan Times(HT) says the CD is not doctored. HT bases its report on a "govt agency". It doesn't name the agency. How can a media company get a test done in such a quick time, that too from a govt agency? Doesn't the govt agency have any other work to do? Was the work done without any fee? Why would a media company choose to get a report done by a govt agency when the same govt is driven to the back-foot by the very person whom people are trying to implicate by the CD. The author of the linked article is none other than the respected journalist Vinod Sharma, widely regarded as unbiased in issues which not concerning the Congress. He says in the article that he will disclose the report at the right time. Ya, right.
Times of India too says that the CD is genuine. It bases its report on "forensic experts"; it too doesn't not name anybody. Of course, how would you name them? How would an expert(if there indeed was) sign on such a report? His/Her reputation would go to pieces, and nobody would approach such an unreliable person in the future for any work.
Prahsant Bhushan says the CD is doctored , on the basis of reports given by two agencies, one in Hyderabad and one from the US. Both, according to my preliminary analysis are reliable agencies. The links to their websites are here and here.

Why do people smoke?

2011-04-17T03:31:00.000-07:00

I used to take a walk almost every afternoon when I was working in ITPL, usually with my colleagues who were also my classmates in college. We had quite a few interesting discussions during the time. One day, one of them said he had read somewhere that people smoke not because of their addition to nicotine; it's because they get a feel-good feeling as they inhale a lot of air while they are at it. This sounded interesting. It was interesting because the reasons for somethings might not be what they appear to be. Sometime later when I was traveling in an auto, I saw a billboard with an advertisement for clothes. It struck me then that the models looked good not because of the clothes they had put on, they would have looked good even if they had been dressed in rags. So, one should rather improve one's health and try to remain fit, than buy expensive and utterly useless clothes.

I observed a few more things recently. I read somewhere that some people, in order to show that they are not lonely, pretend that they are texting. On a ride in an auto recently, the auto-driver stopped and bought some gutkha, and consumed it. I have also observed people sporting a confident look when they are chewing gum. Imagine Ricky Ponting standing at mid-on, doing this. So, I think, people get a feeling that they are *doing something* even when they are doing a completely useless thing like chewing gum, chewing gutkha, smoking cigarette/beedi, or texting; this makes them feel less lonely, and more confident.

P.S: I have not done research regarding the cigarette thing. Too lazy.

Grammar of anarchy in the land of Democracy

2011-04-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

Last updated: April 11, 2011

Imagine your computer is infected with a deadly virus such as Brontok. Would you go about doing your day-to-day work on your computer as if nothing has happened? Even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able to do it. If you insert a pen drive the virus will infect it; it will reboot at random times; you won't be able to open your anti-virus program or to surf the internet. The computer's Operating System - the framework under which the software programs work - would have been fucked.

The Democracy of India is in a similar shape.

We have elected people into the Parliament who have turned out corrupt. They have amassed huge amounts of money by using their powers of discretion to favor select people in return for kickbacks. They have ensured that the profits from the happening sectors(mining , oil , telecom, real-estate /construction) are all privatized into the pockets of their election-expenses paying cronies, and have made sure that all the losses are nationalized( BSNL , Air India). They have got re-elected by using their money power and muscle power. If they have been caught doing things against the law, they have changed the laws to bail themselves out.
The highest courts of our Constitutional Republic are filled with corrupt judges like Dinakaran and Balakrishnan. They pass orders to whoever pays them well. Politicians influence these judges to pass orders favoring their cronies/kin. When some honest judge refuses to be influenced, his voice is muffled by those at the top. These corrupt judges also ensure that honest judges don't get promoted. There is also this funny but tragic phenomenon of Uncle and Aunty judges. So, if you think the courts are clean, think again.
The bureaucracy is hand in love with the legislature in looting the public money. One needs to get through the UPSC exams to get into IAS. This involves interviews; this implies that the interviewer has to take a subjective decision whether the candidate is good or not, and whenever there is subjectivity there is no transparency. So, I am sure a lot of people get selected even though they don't deserve it. And at the state level, people pay lakhs of rupees to get into govt jobs, and more money to get transfers etc. So, to recover back the money, they indulge in corruption. To act against the corrupt IAS officers, the govt needs to give permission and the govt., which is more often than not the beneficiary of it, won't give permission lest the can of worms is opened.
And I don't have to say anything about our independent media.

So, all the four *pillars* of democracy have been infected with the virus - the virus of corruption. Just like the Brontok virus prevents you from running the anti-virus program to heal the system, they will prevent you from doing anything that will help bring back Indian democracy to its former glory. If you ask the politicians to curb criminalization in politics, they will say consensus is needed. You can wait a 1000 years to get consensus. If you raise the issue of fixed orders, the judiciary will book you for contempt for court. If you try to expose corruption in the bureaucracy, they will make you run around like you don't have any other job in the world, and they will assault you. If you try to expose the media for its bias, they will start calling you names.

They themselves won't take steps to stem the rot, because they are the rot. You can't expect a virus to heal itself. So, the only way to clean the Operating System is to reinstall it, and to add more protection. We need to convert Windows Operating System into Linux. They won't do it, so we need to force them to do it. And, one way of forcing them to do it is to speak in the "grammar of anarchy".

Update: But I think instead of asking for Lokpal bill, Anna Hazare should have asked for electoral reforms which would have more impact than the Lokpal bill.

Amen.
P.S: Please correct me if I am wrong.

Deterministic theory of the events in the universe

2011-04-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

This was written in December 2005.

Consider this argument. Suppose I am tossing a now almost defunct
Indian 25 paise coin, what do you say is the probability of heads
falling?. You might say 0.5 or half. But consider this for a moment.
Suppose you know how the coin is flipped and you know all the
conditions which might affect the outcome of this experiment like the
atmospheric pressure and temperature in each infinitely small volume in
the space, the positions of all the molecules of every discovered or
undiscovered gas or some other state of matter for that matter(or
energy?) in the space and the magnetic and electric field at every
point in the space around, you can definitely say whether heads will
fall or tails.

So the thing which is being said is that "The state of the system(the
whole universe) at time t=0 sufficiently predicts the outcome of all
the events that are going to take place afterwards."

The three basic assumptions which allows the above statement to be made
are:

1: All matter and energy in the universe is made of a fundamental thing
which can be given a name like "whocares".
2: The positions and all other parameters of all the "whocares" in
the universe at any instant of time "are" defined . (There is no
uncertainty as believed by Heisenberg).
3: All the parameters related to all the "whocares" in the
universe are sufficient to predict the exact parameters of any other
"whocare" in the whole universe at any instant of time in the
future.

You might think what is the use of the parameters of all the
"whocares" in the universe. It's simple. Suppose your position
tomorrow has to be determined it is sufficient to determine the
positions of all the "whocares" of which you are made of.

You might as well say that the things such as your future can't be
determined because it is in your hands and that the decision of your
future lies with you. But it is necessary to remember that the thoughts
which you get and the decisions that you take are all the outcomes of
chemical processes which take place in the mind which wouldn't have
taken place if the materials necessary for the chemical processes were
not there and according to the assumptions, all the materials of the
universe are made of "whocares" and the position of all those
"whocares" in your brain would have been determined at time t=0 and
so even if you think that you can change your future "the very
existence of that thought" would have been determined at time t=0.

"So, what does it mean?. We think we can change our future but in
reality the future is determined."

Another important corollary can be drawn:

What if it is determined at t=0 that nobody in the future will come to
know all the parameters of all the 'whocares' at t=0, then no one
will ever come to know the theory.
Suppose it was determined that somebody will come to know the theory
then that somebody who comes to know the future, he will come to know
it but won't be able to change it because it would already have been
determined at t=0 and no one can change it.

So the whole essence of this idea or theory or whatever name you give
is that :

1: "The outcome of all the events in the universe is
determined at t=0."
2: "The discovery/non-discovery of the "Parameters of all the
'whocares' at t=0' has
already been determined at t=0 but we don't know what it is
and we may never
know till somebody discovers it"
3: What was the event that happened at t=0 which determines all
the outcomes that happen even know is for you to accept or decide and
depends on your faith. Bye for now.Ufffffffffffffffffffffff.

Unfinished essay on limitations of capitalism

2011-04-05T03:08:00.001-07:00

I did not finish this essay because I found a book which beautifully explained the limits of *free markets*. This book was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize for non-fiction.
The book: How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities by a writer for the New Yorker John Cassidy

The Mosambi test:

If you have ever drunk the perfect Mosambi juice you will appreciate what I am talking about.

The mosambi is first peeled and then carefully every piece is also peeled, and only the pulp is collected. Care is taken that not one seed gets mixed with the pulp. Now, the pulp is put in a mixer and ground and you get the perfect mosambi juice. The total absence of the bitter skin and any seed is what makes the perfect mosambi juice. Now, picture the way the mosambi is made in the juice stalls.

They just put the whole fruit into the mixer and add some large amount of sugar and some salt(to mask the bitterness) and some dirty ice. The point is, you do get a decent juice , but with excess sugar and salt and probably some bitterness will still be left.

This gives an illustration of how Capitalism gives an inferior product (because it takes a lot of labor to peel the ffin mosambi without even a shred of skin or seed), and masks it with substances not good for your health and sells it.

Now, you might ask why there will be some juice stalls which will want to attract customers like you and may be they do the perfect mosambi juice. But, the problem is , this will happen only when there are large number of people like you. But, the problem is there are large number of people like me (who are ready to pay a premium). Now, you might ask , why dont you do the mosambi juice yourselves.

Well, I dont have ffin time. So, since time is money, I am ready to shell out a few extra bucks for the perfect mosambi juice. But, others are not ready to do that and since a large number of people dont want the perfect mosambi juice, majority will sell it. This situation is analogous with democracy. Large number of people who cant see through the hypocricy of the politicians choose the wrong person, and all athoers like us have to go along with the shit because, it is what large number of people want. (This is the first problem with capitalism, majority is always right)

So, enough of the mosambi example.

Let's take the example of organic farming and organic produce. We have been eating pesticides and fertilizers since the green revolution(or a few decades back).But, the concept of organic food has been a very recent one. So, there is this huge ffin delay for us to realize that we have been eating poison all along . Some people would have realized that this ffin green revolution wasn't good. But, the food shortage was so much that eating food laced with poison at that time was better than eating nothing at all. Dying from not eating anything was felt to be worse than suffering from some long-term diseases as a result of eating that shit.

So, long-term welfare is sacrificed for short-term. But, people fail to realize that long-term problems will eventually catch up with them. Another example for a similar phenomenon is the habit of packing eatables in plastic in hotels which is ffin dangerous. But, if they give it tn something like banana leaves, it might be less convenient or costlier, so they don't do it.

We too don't carry any vessel, because again it is not very convenient. Coming back to organic food, since some people would have realized that we are sacrificing quality(of our indigenous food crops) for quantity. But, the cost of organic food was so much that not many wanted to spend so much on that (but they would have no hesitation to spend on shitty things like gold, some new house, vehicles) etc and there was also ignorance and the huge cost that is associated with the spreading of knowledge regarding this . So, majority opinion always prevails.

There are other instances of limitations in Capitalism.

1. Since people buy the vegetables by weight, farmers tend to grow hybrid vegetables which are very large in size, and slightly cheaper compared to indigenous varieties, and the hybrid ones are less tasty. But, people tend to buy mostly hybrid vegetables, and thus farmers seeing that very few people buy such stuff stop growing them. Thus, it is very hard to find good tasty indigenous varieties of vegetables, which don't look like monsters.

2.

Poem on why some people believe in God

2011-03-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

When the future is uncertain,
The outcome, unknown.
When your fate hangs in balance,
And you can't wait, no more.

When you're faced with mounting problems,
You can no longer cope.
When you believe it's the last straw,
And you have lost all hope.

Won't you then want someone,
To help you with this all.
Won't you then start believing,
In the Imaginary god.

Poems I wrote in a poetry workshop

2011-03-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

I attended a poetry workshop this weekend (Mar 26-27, 2011) , organized by TFA(Link to TFA website) . I wrote a few poems there. I am posting 2 of them here.

One of the task given was to identify a problem that one had while composing poetry, and represent it by a place/animal/thing, and then try to resolve it as the poem progresses.

Difficult cat:

The cat sits on the mat
Staring blankly at me.
I call it by its name
It stares at me again.
Am fed up of this brat
Doesn't do what I say.
I think I'll kill it
Get it out of my way.
Then it comes, sits on my lap.
It's so cute, I'll let it stay.

If I have written the poem properly, you will have guessed that the problem I have in poetry is over-reliance on rhyme which sometimes influences the content of the poem I write. But, since it sounds very good when the poem rhymes, the trick is to use it wisely, and only where required. The poem is addled up, I agree.

Then we were asked to write a poem about a nun. This is what I wrote.

Nun:

A nun is someone
Who thinks she has won
Her battle on desires.

A nun is someone
Who doesn't want to be a wife,
A part of someone's life

A nun is really someone
Who has none to tell her
How beautiful she is!!!

Poem on internet addiction

2011-01-04T06:44:00.001-08:00

Sunrise, noon, sunset, night,
I didn't do nothing tonight.
Gmail, facebook, orkut, twitter,
Oh I'm just not a quitter.

A decent proposal

2010-12-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

Not that I will ever find this useful. But, here it goes:

Oh girl, I am not a rich man.
I do not have a car.
But I will take you far
In the road of life.
Will you be my wife?

A poem I wrote

2010-10-27T00:22:00.000-07:00

ಸತಿಯ ಸಂಗ ಸಾಕಾಗಿ
ಸತ್ಸಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುವನು ನಮ್ಮ ಧರ್ಮಪ್ರೇಮಿ
ಸತಿಯ ಸಂಗಕ್ಕಾಗಿಯೇ
ಸತ್ಸಂಗಕ್ಕೆ ಬರುವನು ಅವನ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ

Times of India crap

2010-05-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

There was an erroneous article in the Life supplement of the Bangalore edition of "The Times of India" dated May 16, 2010.
Here is the article.

It should be noted that the article is of women who worked as spies. There is a picture of some female spies. But, it also includes the photo of
an American journalist Roxana Saberi. But, the thing to note here is that Roxana Saberi wasn't a apy but just simply accused of being a spy by the
Iranian authorities and detained, and was later released. To put her picture is grossly misleading. Here is the article

There is another thing I have noted. A few days back, there was an article about an incident where an insect was found in a Frooti pack in Intel
office.See this The next day there was an interview of Vineeta Bali, the Britannia CEO, she saying that she belives Parle has nothing special to offer to Britannia in the form of an acquisition. See this too . I don't believe that there can be two adverse stories in two days. Most probably, the second article is a clear case of "Paid News".

Sonia in Rae Bareli - Why are the traditional media missing this?

2009-12-12T22:06:00.001-08:00

The Telangana issue is brimming with tension and Mrs Sonia Gandhi is in Rae Bareli, inspecting the status of all the Central schemes, and why would that be? The traditional mainstream media are missing this. She took a very bad decision and now she is running away from it. Simple.

Poem to scare people to lose weight

2009-12-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

Cut down your weight
before it is too late.
You may be rich, you may be great,
but if you are fat, disease is ur fate.

Some of the parts in this essay about work is very good

2009-07-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Interesting: http://audioanarchy.org/antiwork/05-The_Abolition_Of_Work.mp3

Amazing site for info about candidates contesting the elections

2009-04-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Amazing site for info about candidates contesting the elections

http://www.empoweringindia.org

Dont start an NGO, start a GO

2009-03-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

Hmm , it's been a long time since I have blogged. But, in a sense maybe it tells that my life has become more intense. Or maybe not.

Well, I have always been thinking of how I can be of some help to those around me, and I have seen many many people who help others. Like, one day, a guy came and asked for some money for CRY. I told him that even though I felt they were doing good work, I wasn't in that good an economic condition to contribute(Recession times you see). But the actual reason was something else. How do I ensure that the money I give will be used properly. How do I know what they are doing is the most important thing to be done?. Is rescuing children more important than treating the sick, or saving trees from being cut, or burying the unclaimed bodies, or is it organ donation. I wondered how people choose the area in which they want to work. I realized that the people who do social service are the people who have lost something very precious, and so they have nothing more to lose. If they had anything to lose which they found valuable , they would be spending their time and energy on saving it. Like people who think money is most important , they will always think of how to reduce tax, evade tax, etc. Like how , you and me think of how to stay put in our jobs in these recession filled times. But, people who have lost what they consider the only thing that counts for in their life will do social service, since there is nothing valuable that they need to save. Like this mother who loses her child say to some muscular dystrophy, she will try to do awareness on how people with terminal illness, can do organ donation. Like this man who couldn't bury his child, cremates all bodies which are unclaimed(The re was an amazing show in CNN-IBN called, the "Reliance Real heroes, in which I saw these really real heroes). Like how people who don't have children are amazingly sweet to children. But, ofcourse, there are those who renunciate everything, even though they haven't lost anything, and do social service, they are the ones who are really great. Like Mother Theresa, Mahatma, Vivekananda, etc. But, is it just that they realise that the most precious thing for them is the service to humanity. Whatever.

The point is what is the best way to serve others. Which field to choose, if you haven't lost anything, or even if you have. I saw these amazing lectures or talks on TED. They showcased the prime things that can be done to alleviate poverty , disease, protect environment etc. Like this lady who said that the way to prevent AIDS is to increase life expectancy by preventing malaria, etc. Like this lady in MIT who was doing research on how to convert firewood to high calorific fuel, which can drastically reduce the forests which are being cut for fuel.

The point is , after seeing these videos, I felt that if anybody wanted to do something for others, they should invest in such prime research, which has such a wide area of influence.

But then, after some time, I realised something. If 1 billion dollar is used for such research , hundreds of billions of dollars are wasted because of corrupt and ineffecient bureacracy and political class. When we try to optimise the code we are trying to write, we see which part of the code is the one which is taking lot of clock cycles, and try to optimise that . So, when I see the problems being faced in India, and the developing world, I can't but notice the billions which are getting drained because of corruption, ineffecieny and bad plaanning which in turn lead to all sorts of problems like bad healthcare, poverty , unemployment , poor infrastructure, child labour, unclaimed bodies etc.

So, the one and only one thing a person has to do to serve the society is to involve oneself in the public sphere, i.e to vote for the best person. But, wait, wait. There are no good people in the fray. This brings to mind one amazing quote by Azim Premji, or by somebody else. He said that "In every problem, lies an opportunity". So, if there are no good leaders, you contest. Till such a time you find a better leader in your constituency, you contest.

So, the mother of all solutions is to vote for the best , and if no one is good, stand yourself.

Another thing, is that I have noticed that when you see parents talking to children(young children, i.e babies), you learn a lot of words, because they use their hand signs. So, if you wanna teach adults a new language, its best if you show videos of children talking to adults. It can be made into a business idea as well.

Another thing I have noticed is that humans are evolving too slowly, i.e the environmental and the societal conditions are changing so fast that there is a lag between the evolution of the environmant and the humans, and that is why possibly, there is such an explosion of new diseases, and this might ultimately lead to the deterioration of the health of the humanity as a whole, and might lead to extinction

The last idea, or insight that I had, and that has come in the media as well, is that the politicians don't bring up the real issues like infrastructure, healthcare etc, but only pseudo issues like communalism, pseduo-secularism etc. So, people vote on such issues, rather than the real issues.

Uff.

And i forgot . See this.

Hmm

2008-12-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. Not that anyone is missing it.

Everyday, I hear this crazy recession fears. But I don't understand one thing. How can the world go into recession suddenly?. If one thinks the world as a closed system. Let's say I am standing on Mars, and looking towards Earth. Nothing goes in and nothing comes out of Earth. Only if there is some destruction of any sort say like a natural calamity or something like that can the net worth of Earth be reduced. Only then will the world go into a recession. Rest of the recessions are man made.

Bulla economics I know, but I am not convinced otherwise.

My last day in ****

2008-11-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

When this happened, I had a hangover of 7 days. That was the most intense week of my life. I wrote the poem over those 7 days.

I have censored three words of the poem to make sure no one can find out the identity of the person I am referring to in the poem.

I had shared the poem with many asking for their opinion(read appreciation). Well, I am declassifying the poem now.

It was my last night in ****,
The end of my stay.
Off to my home town I was going,
Two comrades with me, helping.

It was a dark night and there was lightning,
Ferocious and frightening.
For the bus, we were waiting,
Which had no sense of timing.

It did come at last,
It didn't stop, and was going fast.
We had to shout and we had to scream,
Till the driver recovered from his dream.

I got into the bus alright,
But my luggage wasn't there quite.
Asked him to stop,
He didn't say nope.

And I was lucky,
There was space in the dickey.
I bid my comrades goodbye,
And got into the bus with a sigh.

The bus jerked and I fell,
Luggage in hand and clumsy as hell.
By jove, well o well,
What did I see, wait for a moment, I'll tell.

Nearby was a girl, sleeping on her seat,
I saw her and my heart missed a beat.
My classmate from **** ******, yes it was her,
No doubt about it, it was very clear.

Beautiful girl with a beautiful face,
In my mind, a soul full of grace.
Hadn't seen her since high school days,
Life surprises us in so many ways.

Then I got settled in my seat,
And hoped that my sight wasn't a cheat.
But the odds of the girl being someone else,
I realised were so very less.

So, assured I was that it was none but she,
I slept with at most glee.
Happy as anything, that moment was me,
With no worries except my broken knee.

At the same stop as mine, she got down,
I am lucky, I live in a small town.
While getting down, I stared at her to help her recognise
It wasn't easy I must say 'cos of my body's newfound size.

There she was, I was talking to her,
In my mind right now, its just a blur.
But I will never forget one image,
The value of this no one can ever gauge.

"Red salwar and blue jean,
On a body, beautiful and lean.
Shining eyes and pleasant face,
She was beautiful in so many ways."

My feelings to her, I haven't told,
I just have not become bold.
Neither do I know if she likes me or not,
How to do this I haven't thought.

After I deliberated a lot,
This is how I crystallized my thought.
And this is how I feel,
That I should deal.

"My life might not be great,
And she might not consider me a suitable mate.
But in life you have to sometimes wait,
I just hope by that time, it is not too late"

P.S:
I am not sure if I have the same feelings now. I guess time changes everything.
But, at the time of writing the poem, every word was true, and nothing was inserted just to make it rhyme.

Warren Buffet

2008-10-01T22:47:00.001-07:00

Why don't people just invest wherever Buffet does?

Terrorism, religious fundamentalism, conversions,joblessness, Kalam, HDK

2008-09-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

As long as no one forces anybody to convert why should anyone have a problem if someone wants to convert?. Why can't people mind their own business? I know that there are certain Christians who want to convert people. I have personally received pamphlets from them. And I have taken them and used them appropriately since I had cold at that time. Well, the point is, even if they give some money to a person, the person benefits. He gets money. The real losers are the Christians themselves because, they are offering a person money *only* if he wants to convert. That shows how jobless they are and how lopsided their thinking is. But, it has to be said that *usually* Christian convents give a better *primary* education. I studied in a convent and I received a wonderful education. The school was awesome with a great playground, where we used to play football everyday before classes started. Well, we had to attend Christmas masses though. I didn't give a damn at that time because it involved sitting on the white marble which was cool. I read in a recent newspaper report of a annual day school celebration in a school in Bangalore that the proceedings began with the reading of the bible. This, I don't think should happen. Why don't have a reading of Quran instead?. Another thing. I don't know if this was from before but I have been noticing that there are pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses in BMTC buses. This is wrong again. Well, people will argue you can't really put a Muslim god's picture since if you do that, Roshan Baig and Deve Gowda will come with topis on their heads along with jobless people from Shivajinagar and throw stones at BMTC buses. Well, you can put Jesus' and Mary's pictures. The point is we should steer clear of patronizing *only* one religion in such circumstances. Coming back to the topic of conversions, I have seen lot of educated people talk about this topic, and they say, we have to protect our religion. If you really want to do that, why don't you go the himalayas and do tapas. Why don't you stop eating meat? Why don't you go and help the poor and needy? No, they don't want to do that. Because, they can't do that sitting in their armchairs.

Even, I have noted that these Christians target the dalits, and if something happens to the dalits, they go and do something *only* because they see an opportunity for conversion. Well, one might say that it is only because the dalits are discriminated upon. Point taken. But, if they are discriminated, they should lodge a police complaint. And, why wont these people help those who don't want to convert. Well, there are great Christian institutions as well. I have personally seen my primary school teacher distributing biscuits to beggars(good quality biscuits), and giving biscuits and asking us to do the same. There are many Christian institutions which are doing great service in the field of education, and medicine(Read Mother Teresa etc). I saw an interview in which a pastor in South Africa tells about how he encouraged people to use condoms(to prevent AIDS dude) even though they were against Popianity(Christianity is twisted beyond recognition, only thing Christ said was, Love your enemies. It is another matter that I also follow his principles, only hitch being my enemies are good looking females. Just a joke dude). There are such great people in Christianity. These conversion fanatics are only spoiling the good name of their religion. Well, the shitty Bajrang dal is no better. What right do they have to go and damage the churches?. Why can't they stay at their homes and grow vegetables? They are simply people who don't have any other job or work to do. They are like those retirees who go and walk and chat with people of their age and do nothing else.

The basic premise of my argument is that people are jobless, and that's why they want to do this conversions, and that's why people go on and damage churches even though the other party might not be guilty, and because of this joblessness that somebody actually thinks of creating circuit diagrams to build bombs.

It is just my observation, and it has no proof. My point is these bomb blasts happen when there is nothing happening. No cricket is happening dude. When there is cricket, I bet people will be watching it and will have no time to prepare bombs.

So, the solution to all of this is to have entertainment through out the year(cricket etc).

Another thing I have noticed is the ghettoisation of Muslims. They always live apart. Only if they are integrated in the society(physically), can there be a change in the hindus hate muslims and vice versa situation that we have.

And another thing, I saw this speech by Chiranjeevi, and he says he was inspired by Kalam. I have seen this happen many times(Remember HD Kumaraswamy. I remember Kalam commending HDK for doing village stays. Even I was happy with HDK. But, little did I know that it was just a step in the scheme of his father HD Deve Gowda). People chumma take his name. And, because of the, "Authentication by association" funda, people actually start liking these ridiculous people.

And, I am jobless enough to write such a post, and you are jobless enough to read it. Hi5. It's not nice. I get these HI5 requests. I don't want to have multiple social networking accounts dude. It's tough to manage one.

Lines going down

2008-09-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Lines going down,
Waves going right.
We do this day and night,
I never thought, my life would be so bright.

- Only VLSI engineers can understand this poem.

BMTC bus and kannada nameplates

2008-08-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

When discussing the communal clashes issue in our college, we realised one thing. That, Hindus should point out the mistakes of Hindus, and Muslims of Muslims. If it is the opposite, tempers will rise. In the same way, people from Karnataka should point out the mistakes done by the Karnartaka govt in the name of Kannada. If any kannadiga goes to UAE and sees the nameplates in Arabic, would he be able to make sense?. If the nameplates are there in English AND kannada, people will start using public transport, as people who can't read kannada nameplates might not want to use BMTC service(as a mark of protest), or most probably can't(though there are numbers, it is not enough if you want to travel to a different place than your usual destination).

So, it is high time BMTC introduces bilingual nameplates. Period.

I hate dogs especially you

2008-08-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well, on one of such times, I have felt seriously bored at work, I tried to google for " I hate dogs especially you ", I found zero results. Hurray, I was the one who coined the sentence, and such a meaningful one at that.

Well, I was one day going to catch the bus to my office. I was a little late. So, I was running. But then all of a sudden a dog comes, and barks at me. Bough. Bough. Well, I wasn't impressed. I got scared, and in self defence. I too barked at it. It went away, and a lady there said, the dog was always like that towards strangers. I saw something around the dog's neck. A few days later I was a couple playing with the same shitty dog. Well, when I was going, the dog again barked at me, and was giving me a stare as if it was challenging to come near it. I got scared, and was turning back, when the man began to tell me that it was not going to do anything , provided I walked slowly without doing anything silly. What the heck? Well, I had the guts to walk by it. But, I didn't enjoy it. I am always scared everyday of the dog, as I have to take the same route. The couple that I saw that day, were calling it "nano". What an obnoxious name.

I DONT FFIN UNDERSTAND ONE THING. IF THEY LOVE THE FFFIN DOG SO MUCH WHY DON'T THEY KEEP IT CHAINED AND INSIDE THEIR HOUSE. WHY DO THEY WANT TO FEED IT AND KEEP IT OUTSIDE? DOES A PERSON FEED A SNAKE AND LEAVE IT OUTSIDE?

FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHY DON'T PEOPLE REALISE?

August 14, 2008

2008-08-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I wrote this post. It is bad. Or may be not I am not sure.

It was Friday. It was when I went to piss at 4 o'clock that day, that I saw that it was a haze of grey outside . Well, with only work in my mind, I went back and hardly gave a thought to the heavy rain. I had some work in the office, so had to stay back till 6:30. Only when I came out to catch the bus did I remember the sight I had seen at 4. With not even a umbrella(lost the one I had got), me and Kela(my house-mate who defies the law of conservation of mass) did the usual skirting along the side of the building to protect ourselves from the rain on our way to the bus.

On the way home, it had stopped raining. When we got down, it started very lightly again, and then started ramping up(can't help but use the word after spending 2.5 months in the jargonic corporate world), till a point that it starting pouring heavily. My clothes were wet, but because I was going home, I didn't give a damn. Well, when I came back home, another shitty thing happened. Power went off. Well, I didn't have much packing to do, and I had to be only at 11:15 at Anand Rao circle(Near Majestic), there was lots of time. And it is the engineer's duty to do everything at the last moment. So, thinking I had all the time in the world, I disregarded the increasingly heavy rain, and started to play candle-lit carrom with Kela. Seriously there was nothing else to do. Kela is not a bad player of carrom and pleads with me to play carrom with him always. I oblige sometimes, and I have always been a large hearted man to let him defeat me always except once when I wanted to show who the real king of carrom was, me winning 29-28. Well, time was lost in carrom, and it hadn't stopped raining yet. Neither me or kela had an umbrella. And VK(who has the dubious contradiction of loving animals(doesn't wear leather belts etc) and being a proud non-vegetarian at the same time) had taken his umbrella along with himself to his relative's house. I pleaded with Kela to get an umbrella from the Gult owner of the house, so that we could go to the local supermarket and buy myself an umbrella. So, I went to the supermarket and found that they weren't selling any, and then went to another, and was asked to go to the third floor, time was running out(I wanted to be at the bus stand by 9). I went and saw to my horror that there were only girlie umbrellas available. But, when I searched properly I did find some black umbrellas. So, I decided to buy it. But wait, I saw the label, and here it was for 667 rupees only. Well, with no time, and having more than a goat's brain, I decided to adjust with a girlie umbrella for a day( which was available for 220 rupees), I got the umbrella, and Mr Kela had bought himself a chocolate plus cup cakes, which I snatched from him, as I hadn't had dinner. So, there I was at the bus stand at around nine, when I ralised that hey, here it was rainin g heavily, and it is 9. What if no ffing bus comes? So, I waited for 5 minutes, no bus. Another 5 mins, no bus. Some people were meanwhile getting into some private buses, maxicabs, cars etc. Me being a prowd owner of the BMTC bus pass, I was waiting for a bus and bus alone. Another 5 mins, no bus. I decided to wait another 5 mins, and in case of no bus, I decided to take an auto to airport road bus stop. But, the bus came, and I got a seat too. But, the bus was only till Marathahalli . Well, on my way to Marathahalli, I falsely remembered that I had to get the passport as photo ID along with the ticket. Well, after working at the job, I have realised that being calm is a powerful way to solve problems, and I realised that I had done direct booking at the booking center, and I didn't require a photo ID. Well, I saw a Domlur bus going ahead. Well, I forgot to tell that all the while, the bus I was moving at the speed of a bullock cart. It was around 9.45 at that time. So, I thought I would definitely be on time. Well, I caught the Domlur bus near Marathahalli, thinking that I might get additional Majestic going buses from Domulr depot. But, this bus too was going slow, and I was eyeing my watch. For the first time, I seriuosly began to doubt if I could make it on time. But then, the bus slowly caught pace, and the road being surprisingly less crowded from Marathahalli till Domlur, cane very fast. Then, getting down at Domlur bridge, I ran(No, there were no dogs) towards the bus stand. I could see a Pushpak, but I missed it in a few seconds. But, well I made it to the bus stand.

Here I was alone in the bus stand when some lady(27-30 yrs old I think) year lady came. With an umbrella each in our hands, I remembered the "Pyaar huwa ikraar huwa " song. Well, I came back to reality soon. Another Pushpak bus came. There was space for only two people to get into the bus. It was so crowded. I thought for a moment that maybe there was another bus coming later. But, better sense prevailed and I got into the bus. Well, having lost a mobile in a similarly but slightly less crowded bus, at that very bus stop, I was careful enough to clutch my precious mobile, and my purse.

Well, after about 5 minutes or so, I realised to my horror that some guy was putting his hands into my shirt pocket to get my mobile. Well, I didn't shout, because I thought the other person might turn violent. So, I got away from that thief, and stood elsewhere. But, the bus driver was constantly asking me(In kannada) to go inside. What the *uck? How could I go inside when there was no ffin space. I told him that. Still he seemed to believe that there was some space. Well, I gave the same reply as before. Then he started torturing me asking me to go back, saying he couldn't see the left side's real view mirror. Thus, it should be clear that a torturer is a torturer, whatever language he speaks, and whatever country he belongs to. The driver was talking to people in singular whatever, I don't remember the word. It was as if he thought he was the lord. It was as if he was enjoying the overcrowding of the bus. I realised what sadists felt like. He was feeling comfortable in his chair looking at the crowded bus. I felt what a concentration camp felt like, and I for the first time sympathhised with the Jews, Borat notwithstanding.

Well, then again, we hit a stretch of traffic again, and we finally came toa place where it stopped at around 11:10. All along I had been looking at my watch and was increasingly reassured that I wouldn't reach Majestic before 11:10.(Anand Rao cirlce I had learnt was 5 minutes from there, though I didnt know the exact route). Well, I have recently coined a philosophy which states that if you want your plan A to succeed, don't have a plan B. So, I thought, I would somehow catch the bus. I began formulating theories like, the bus which is supposed to come, might also have been stuck in traffic, that the bus authorities would know of the traffic jam, and would wait till all passengers came, and that many passengers would be late, so the bus would have to wait. Meanwhile, I also formulated a plan B, because the situation was so hopeless. I decided to ditch the trip home, and book a room fro a day in some lodge if I didn't catch the bus. Well, the bus stopped at a place at 11:15. And at the same place till 11:20. 11:25. People began feeling impatient, and started getting down. I wasn't sure where the bus was, but hearing people's words, it was not a long walk to Majestic. Then, one guy walked out of the bus at 11:30 proudly proclaiming that the bus would take 45 minutes to go to Majestic, which I thought was greatly exaggerated. Then, 11:35, 11:40. The bus at the same place. I too came out. I realised I was foolish to come out so late. And followed the crowd, and to my horror I saw that all the buses were empty and people had filled the streets, and there were more people walking then , than in day time. Well, I started running , and because of the rain, there was so much muck, but as I was going home, I disregarded the dirt at the end of my trousers, and was going as fast as I could, getting away from people's way , and navigating as if I was running a steeple chase. Well, it was unprecedented. The whole road to Majestic was filled with empty buses. I realised that the person who said the bus would take 45 minutes had truly exaggerated. It would reach only the next morning. Well, I reached Majestic, and asked some good samaritan, the route to my bus stop, and he showed a short cut. And I ran. When I had gone to the bus stop, it was 12:15. I went to the reception, and asked if the 11:15 was still there. To my surprise he said, yes, and asked me to hurry, I might lose it if I was slow. Well, I ran as fast as I could, and it had gone. Well, I told some bus guy(there are many buses to many places by the same company). They told me to get into some bus, and said that I could catch my bus in Rajajinagar. Well, there were people like me, who had missed their buses. I was apprehensive that I might miss the bus there too. Well, I saw to my pleasant surprise that there was a traffic jam ahead. So, I thought, whoever said that traffic jams are bad? I saw some people were becoming ad-hoc traffic policemen to manage the traffic jam. My faith in the inherent goodness of people was partly restored. Well, I did manage to catch my bus at Rajajinagar. But, my ride home wasn't pleasant though.

Bangalore, slums, roadside eateries, etc

2008-08-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

I have observed near my place of work(3 idlis cost 23 rupees inside) the numerous roadside eateries which serve dishes like poori and may be some chitranna(lemon rice). And of course the main customers of these places are the blue collared workers. And the road I take everyday takes me past Kundalahalli colony which looks like a slum area. And a km from that place is my payout where the rent for a sucking 2 bedroom house is a god damned 9000 rupees.

Why do such places exist, so near to the riches?????

Well, the answer is very simple.

Because, we are one of the most stingiest(excuse my grammar) people in the world. We give 20 rupees per month for people who take kachda everyday from our houses. 15 rupees to the barber for a half an hour work of labour, some 300-400 for a maid. Basically we pay very less for blue collared workers because there are so many willing blue collared workers in India(bcos of the large population). What this results in is that these people can't eat in a decent place, can't live in a decent house(rent is too high). So, these roadside eateries , slums come up. And, we complain about them. The solution to all of these is just to pay the amount they deserve. India will definitely become a better country then.

Poem about a boring meeting

2008-08-11T06:31:00.000-07:00

In this meeting, there's nothing for me to do,
But, have to attend because of you know who.
Only escape is when you have to go to the loo,
And when it's over, it's just Yahoo!!!!!!!!

- About a meeting which turned boring, and prompted me to compose this poem in order to preserve my sanity.

2008-08-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Nobody has asked me yet, as to what my philosophy of life is, but if somebody asks, I would exclaim that, if I have to tell in brief I would tell, "we are on earth for as much time as we live, and after our death, there is eternal nothingness, and so, my only aim is to enjoy my stay here", and if I have to tell it in detail, I would have to quote a few great thinkers. This list of quotes was collected when I came across some great ones on http://en.wikiquote.org , when I was bored and had nothing else to do.

Another link which is great for time pass:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths

Voltaire -
Man is free at the instant he wants to be.
Paradise is where I am.
The man, who in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.
Unsourced -
The man who leaves money to charity in his will is only giving away what no longer belongs to him.
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.

Gandhi -
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

Einstein -
A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future.
If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me as a German and France will say I am a man of the world. If it's proven wrong, France will say I am a German and Germany will say I am a Jew.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Sartre -
He was free, free in every way, free to behave like a fool or a machine, free to accept, free to refuse, free to equivocate; to marry, to give up the game, to drag this death weight about with him for years to come. He could do what he liked, no one had the right to advise him, there would be for him no Good or Evil unless he thought them into being.
Monsieur ... I do not believe in God; his existence has been disproved by Science. But in the concentration camp, I learned to believe in men.
Generosity is nothing else than a craze to possess. All which I abandon, all which I give, I enjoy in a higher manner through the fact that I give it away.... To give is to enjoy possessively the object which one gives.
One always dies too soon—or too late. And yet, life is there, finished: the line is drawn, and it must all be added up. You are nothing other than your life.
When the rich make war, it's the poor that die.
Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.

Albert Camus -
There is not love of life without despair about life.
Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter.
I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn't.
I had only a little time left and I didn't want to waste it on God.
Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest — whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories — comes afterward. These are games; one must first answer.
To two men living the same number of years, the world always provides the same sum of experiences. It is up to us to be conscious of them.
The preceding merely defines a way of thinking. But the point is to live.
There is always a philosophy for lack of courage.
Poor and free rather than rich and enslaved. Of course, men want to be both rich and free, and this is what leads them at times to be poor and enslaved.
Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day
A healthy attitude also includes faults.
Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.
Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.
The current motto for all of us can only be this: without giving up anything on the plane of justice, yield nothing on the plane of freedom.
We have nothing to lose except everything.
When the meaning of life has been suppressed, there still remains life.
You will never be happy if you keep searching for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you keep looking for the meaning of life without living it.

Simone de Beauvoir -
I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.

African -
The path is made by walking

Introduction

2008-07-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

Well I was thin before. Many people don't believe me when I say this and I don't want to get my old photos to show them how I looked before when I was thin. I want to show them that I can become thin "now".

Well, I became fat when I was in my P.U.C I think. I used to play Football regularly in my school, or some sport, every day. So, I was thin as a stick. Well, when I went to Alike to do my PU, there too I saw people were playing Football everyday. But, I didn't know them well enough , and there they used to play barefoot and they played a predominantly aerial game. But, I tried to play with them, but since I didn't know any of them, and they hadn't seen me play, nobody passed the ball to me. That was the end of my playing days in Alike, nipped in the bud. It is another matter that, I scored a goal in a Science versus Arts and Commerce match in second year. But, it was too late, and because I think the food was predominantly rice based, and I liked Alike food a lot, I gradually became fat, and the fact is I didn't even notice it then.

By the end of two years, I was fat.

Well, in my graduation period, we used to play for a stretch of time regularly, in patches. But because of the rains , during majority of the stay, we couldn't go out. And with people adamant on playing FIFA on the computer rather than offline, on the football ground, we were short on people. It is another matter that we revived the playing days in the 7th semester and we even played Football the day before our end-semester exam. Well, again it was too less I think. Moreover our college used to give 4 months holidays per year, and because of the non-overlapping of the holidays with my VTU and Medical friends(former classmates), I used to stay at home, and used to go occasionally on the bicycle for cycling. I never went walking or jogging, because I loathed people who did that, because it was very boring, and I felt that they could as well play some game, and enjoy and get exercise too, all at the same time. Given my fondness for good food, and the scarcity of it in our great messes, and the abundance of good food in my house, and because of the boredom caused by the long holidays, and as an accompanying activity to my reading(novels), I ate a lot. And I became fat.

Well, but, as I said, we continued to try to play in the college. But, as I had grown fat, I began to feel that my knees were struggling to withstand the force of the jumps and falls, during playing. But, because I am fond of playing, I continued giving it little thought. But this reached a crescendo in Final year, when I was playing barefoot and because of it the stress on my knees and legs was more.

Then came the D-day. The day, I broke my knee. The day, I later found out I had a ligament tear. We were playing football after a gap of many days, and there were many people that day playing, and all of us were enthusiastic, and the size of the football court that day was big. So, there were quite a few long passes that day. Well, as usual, my opposing team scored a goal, I remember it was Sanjay, thudding the boards of the Hockey goal, which we used as a football goal. As usual my pride hurt and I had to score for my team to bring our team level. Well, many minutes passed, and there was no goal. And then came a long pass, and I thought if I collected the ball correctly, I could take the ball to the opposite team's goal, and score. But, when I saw the long ball, I realised it was slightly tough to collect the ball cleanly. But, my ego wouldn't listen. It said that I have done similar things before. When the ball finally arrived from a great height towards the ground. I instinctively stretched my foot, but I stretched it too far. My foot wobbled with my knee as the pivot as I fell very very awkwardly. At the moment this happened, I saw the bone below the knee joint twisting away from the joint and then coming back to its normal position. This was the most horrific moment of my life. Well, I felt a lot of pain at the moment combined with the horror of seeing the joint out of position for a moment. I sat down, cleared the crowd of concerned players away to take breath of fresh air, and then thought that just like the players in TV who come back on the ground after a relief spray, I though I could continued too, but again I tumbled. Then , at that moment I realized that I had a serious injury on my hands, or knees rather.

After being given compression bandage treatment initially, a month later after a MRI scan, the doctor realized that the injury in fact was a ligament tear. Very few people know that a ligament tear takes more time to heal than a bone fracture, and thus is more serious. Well, so they put a cast on my knee, and then the saddest part, I was given crutches. Well, then I realized how it is to be a disabled person in India. The odds are always stacked against you. It is tough to board a bus. You can't shit if you don't have western toilets. Well I had to attend a job interview in Bangalore with my cast on leg, and a sock on top of it to hide the cast. I wore only one shoe on the healthy leg(right leg). Well, to my luck, no one from the company noticed this. Well, it is another matter that I got the job too, but I got it only b'coz the guy who was originally offered the post rejected it.

Well, with the cast and the crutches, I had to continue my eighth semester, i.e doing final year project, and studying for end-sems. Well, I did finish the semester, the last day of which I went to hospital ,and asked what the future course of action was. By this time the cast was taken off, but there was still pain in the knee, but a thousandth of the initial pain, when I was injured. There were of course niggles, and the occasional stumble. The doctor advised me to do the exercises that he had asked me to do, and which he realised I had neglected till now.

Well , I had thought that he might recommend surgery, which he had told that was may be required. Well, I heaved a sigh of relief, booked the last ticket home, and went to hostel, with a light heart. Well, an interesting thing happened on my way home on the bus. Can't divulge details here.

Well, in the holidays, I once felt so much pain in my left injured knee, and even the right knee was paining equally at that time, but as I usually do, I gave it time. And at the end of the holidays, the knee had become far less painful.

Well, then, before leaving for Bangalore I decided that I got to lose weight to reduce stress on my knee. When I happened to check my weight here, I saw it was 74.5, up from 68, when I was in second year. The ideal weight for my height being 65.

Well, then I decided to reduce my weight to 65 in a period of 12 months.

This I decided I would do by:

1. Doing Yoga
2. Eating well, but eating differently
3. Playing some low impact sports daily
4. Getting good sleep
5. Waking up and going cycling

Well, as of now after about one month, after doing 1,23 and 4, to some extent, my weight has reduced from 74.5 to 71.6.

Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope to keep track of my weight, and hope to lose the required by this methodology of mine, of which doing Yoga is the most important part.

Well, if this becomes a success, I (along with SK) plan to start DWS, Davangere Weightloss Solutions, with "Weightloss by Yoga" as the flagship service. It will overtake VLCC, and maybe even Microsoft, with the scale of the problem of obesity we are seeing today.

Well, I still don't know the score of the football match that day.

Obesity and salt

2008-05-31T03:29:00.000-07:00

Why are Indians more obese than people from other countries. One of my classmates said the some one had proposed that a virus could be causing Obesity. Today, a thought occurred to me all of a sudden when I was eating Jamun(Nerlennu in Kannada) fruit with salt, that maybe salt was the reason. As someone said, "Correlation doesn't mean causality". And, when i searched for "Obesity and salt" on Google, I found several results. So, the idea was already there before. Chehh. It's tough to get a new idea these days.

Being happy

2008-05-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

Mahatma Gandhi said,
"There is no "way" for peace. Peace is the way"

I go one step further,
"There is no "way" to be happy. Being happy is the way".

Poem on suicide

2008-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Should I live or leave?
It depends on what I'd rather believe
The beauty of life, and the joy of existence,
Or death's eternal nothingness.

Why are there ugly actors but not (as many) ugly actresses?

2008-05-18T05:17:00.001-07:00

India is basically a patriarchal society, and the people who see the movies are predominantly male. So, these people like to believe that females will fall for males, however ugly they are. And the fact that married male actors are more successful than married female actresses probably shows that there is a thin line between real life and reel life of the actreses, as far as the audience is concerned.

Matrimonial site idea

2008-05-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

The idea for the site is not unique. The concept exists in Orkut. The website is to match those couples who have crushes on each other but are afraid to tell that to each other. When a person decides it is time for his/her marriage, and if he/she has a crush on someone, it is better to find out if he/she has the same feeling towards him/her. So, the person will have to enter the e-mail id(unique to a person) of the person he/she has crush on. If the other person too has entered this person's email id, there will be a match. But, if you don't know the other person's email id, you will have to get it somehow. Or you can use the phone number as an accompanying universal id.

The design for such a website will be very simple, but the venture will be a success only if a very large number of people use the service, and if the people using the service are serious enough, and don't play games using the service.

Farmers' helpline

2008-05-18T05:15:00.000-07:00

There are lot of helplines run by the government, for women, for students during exams etc. Why can't there be a helpline for farmers to prevent them from committing suicide, or just a general helpline which will route different queries to suitable personnel?

Wiki website idea

2008-05-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

This is an idea about a website, that suddenly sprang in my mind. I was always exasperated whenever I saw some shopkeeper, or any service provider for that matter, give deficient service, and still manage to make a lot of money. At such times I always wondered why no other person came in and took advantage of the deficient service by starting his/her own business. But then, I realized that probably someone needed to informal prospective entrepreneurs of the prevalent situation. So, I hit upon this idea wherein there is a wikimapia kind of a thing wherein say, if you want a barber/hair stylist at a particular place say, XY extension, you indicate on the location of XY extension in the map that you want a barber here. If a lot of people want that, they will second your opinion, and the rating of that particular demand will increase. So, prospective entrepreneurs can see the kind of demand for different services/products and they can start suitable businesses.

But, there are a lot of issues to be taken care of while designing the website.

Lucid dreams

2008-05-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

This post is about the lucid dreams I had a few days back. One night I had a lucid dream about a mixer grinder, and another was of a horrible scenario in college.

The first lucid dream went like this. I wanted to grind something. So, I put the ingredients into the mixer. When I saw that the electrical plug of the mixer wasn't connected to the electrical socket, I decided to plug it in. But then, I saw that the bottom two pins of the plug were sort of bent and softened. But, I decided to plug it in anyhow. But, after I did that, I saw that there was a reddening of the socket, and I realized to my horror that it was going to blast. I ran as hard as I could, and came till the main door of my house, when there was a blast. I couldn't remember if I had the time to open the door or not. I just felt for my mouth to see if it was just a dream. Yes, it was just a dream.

In the second dream, I was back in the college hostel. But, the hostel was kind of transformed, and I had new wing mates. I had returned from my home after the holidays had got over, and because of my habits in the holidays, I was getting up late every day. So, one day I got up late as usual and realized to my horror that my classmates had written their end-sem exams and had come back , and I had slept in my room during the exam. I asked people how many exams had gotten over through these days, while I was sleeping, and I didn't get satisfactory answers(Different people take different electives). I was so sad. I thought maybe my in-sem marks will help me pass, and then I realized that I hadn't done well in a few electives, and I wasn't sure which electives I had missed. My mind was convoluted. An idea sprang up that probably I can tell the teachers that I was ill, and get a re-exam. Another idea came to my mind that probably, this was all a dream. And I shook myself to see if it was so. I was actually thrilled in my woken state realizing that my horrible situation was just a dream.

Cigarettes

2008-05-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hmm, some people say that it is their fundamental right to smoke and no one can ask them to stop as long as they do it in private, but the problem is that the government has to pay for the treatment of the people affected by tobacco related illnesses. So, I say, dont give treatment to people who are affected by tobacco-induced illnesses. Let them pay for themselves, and let them go to private hospitals. But then, I am told b a medical student friend of mine that you cant tell perfectly that an illness has been induced by tobacco consumption. So, till you are able to do that, this measure can't be implemented.

EPL Prediction

2008-05-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I predicted that Manchester would win in this post . I pat myself on my back.

A new poem I remembered

2008-05-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

I am god,
God is great,
I decide
My own fate.
Come what may,
I wont pray.
I am god,
God is great,
I decide
My own fate.

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and life

2008-05-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

I have always believed that sad and sorrowful times become more bearable if there is someone watching us undergoing such trying times. So, that is the reason why the lead actor in American beauty is so joyful even in such bad times because he is narrating his woes to someone, and that is why the heroes we see in the movies are heroes, simply because there are so many watching them. So, I feel an effective tool for reducing the sadness and sorrow in a person's life is to have a journal or something, and probably that is the reason why Anne Frank kept a journal when she was kept in the attic of a house to protect her from the Nazis.

So, my point is :The event of observation from an external person makes a person less sorrowful.

Another point is, if a person wants to test if he is really happy, he should see if he feels happy when nobody is watching him , and if he indeeds feels so , then he is truly happy.

Poems till date

2008-05-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

These are the poems I have written till date. I might have written more but I remember only these.

First: This is a rhetoric that can be used anytime.

Life is not a bed of roses,
So said Jesus and Moses.

Second: This poem showcases the feelings I experienced when I sat on top of the seventh block at dusk.

Infinite blue sky,
I wonder we are here why.
Pacing the earth,
Since our birth.
Making this our home,
Till our deaths come.
Infinite blue sky,
I wonder we are here why.

Third: Self-explanatory

Survival, sex, fame, power, more power,
Is the order,
In which man does harbor,
All his desire.

US elections - Politically incorrect remarks and politically correct resignations

2008-03-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Obama aide quits after making 'monster' gibe against Hillary Clinton.

OK....

Geraldine Ferraro said "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position". She resigned from Clinton's finance committee the next day, citing a desire to stop hurting the campaign

OK....

Doesn't each of this feel like a well thought out plan by contenders to tell such things through their aides, and accepting their resignations later, all the while being politically correct, but still getting their politically incorrect points across.

Well done Obama and Clintion.

US Elections - Democratic primaries and Presidential elections

2008-01-28T18:40:00.000-08:00

First of all, there is no way Republicans are going to win the Presidential elections.
Among democrats Edwards stands no chance and everyone knows that.
Fight is between Obama and Hillary.
Obama will win easily as the youth is behind him. Bill Clinton is actually hampering the chances of Hillary.
So, the verdict:
Obama - The next President of the U.S.A

Australian Open 2008

2008-01-27T05:47:00.000-08:00

Sharapova defeating Henin?. It shocked me, to be honest.

Well, I had predicted that Justine Henin would win the women's singles, and Novak Djokovic the men's singles. http://opensourcepredictions.blogspot.com/2008/01/australion-open-2008.html

But, Henin lost in the quarters, but Djokovic won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
At least, I got one right.

Way to go, Novak.

Sony WSG give 1b$ for IPL rights for a duration of 10 years

2008-01-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

This surely qualifies for the title "Joke of the millennium".

IPL will be a flop as far as viewership is concerned, for a simple reason. Indians watch Cricket only because India is playing. They will not if say Karnataka or Tamil Nadu is playing.

The people from Sony-WSG should have conducted a survey asking people if they would be interested in watching say, Bangalore taking on Delhi.

Let's wait and see the prediction come true.

Australion Open 2008

2008-01-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

The women's winner is very easy to predict.
Yes, It will be none other than Justine Henin. She recently won a hard-court event in Australia, beating Kuznetsova.

The men's winner is tough to predict though.
Nadal has lost to Youzny this year, so you cant count much on him since his favourite court is clay. But, the court will be slower this year,so that is a positive for Nadal.
Federer hasn't been playing Tennis for a while. So, Novak Djokovic appears to be the front runner.

So,
The predictions:
Men's winner - Djokovic
Women's winner - Henin.

Meanwhile, I had predicted Manchester United to be the winner of the League this season. Well, they are leading the league right now. Way to go, Man U!!!

Twenty Twenty World Cup 2007

2007-09-20T13:32:00.001-07:00

Hmm, the prediction did not come true unfortunately.

Twenty Twenty World Cup 2007

2007-09-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hmm, the prediction did not come true unfortunately.

Twenty Twenty World Cup

2007-09-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

South Africa will win the Twenty Twenty World Cup.

US Open Predictions Result

2007-09-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

Well, two out of three predictions came true. Henin and Federer won as predicted. But, Paes/Shaughnessy(I don't know the exact spelling) lost contrary to the prediction. I think patriotic fervor is to be blamed for the mistake.

US Open 2007

2007-09-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

The winners are going to be:

Men's - Roger Federer.
Women's - Justin Henin.
Mixed doubles - Paes/Shaughnessy.

First prediction

2007-08-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Manchester United will win this year's i.e 2007-08's English Premier League.

Introduction

2007-08-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

Why am I doing this?
When I was watching this year's French Open and Wimbledon, I was able to predict the winner of almost all matches except the match between Justin Henin Hardenne and Marion Bartoli, which I thought Henin would win.
So, I thought why I should not start a blog listing all my predictions. So this blog.

Will my predictions come true?
I am predicting a success rate of at least 90 percent for my predictions.

Why the qualifier open source?
Because there won't be any lawsuits for using these predictions.

Can you use these predictions for financial gains?
As all open source things go, there is no warranty for these predictions, so use these at your own risk.

Ideas shared

How to lock screen automatically after 35 mins in KDE 3.5.x

Poem, as sung by A Raja and Kanimozhi in Tihar

Shanti Bhushan/Prashant Bhushan CD controversy

Why do people smoke?

Grammar of anarchy in the land of *Democracy*

Deterministic theory of the events in the universe

Unfinished essay on limitations of capitalism

Poem on why some people believe in God

Poems I wrote in a poetry workshop

Poem on internet addiction

Sunrise, noon, sunset, night,I didn't do nothing tonight.Gmail, facebook, orkut, twitter,Oh I'm just not a quitter.

A decent proposal

A poem I wrote

Times of India crap

Sonia in Rae Bareli - Why are the traditional media missing this?

Poem to scare people to lose weight

Some of the parts in this essay about work is very good

Amazing site for info about candidates contesting the elections

Dont start an NGO, start a GO

Hmm

My last day in ****

Warren Buffet

Terrorism, religious fundamentalism, conversions,joblessness, Kalam, HDK

Lines going down

BMTC bus and kannada nameplates

I hate dogs especially you

August 14, 2008

Bangalore, slums, roadside eateries, etc

Poem about a boring meeting

Introduction

Obesity and salt

Being happy

Poem on suicide

Why are there ugly actors but not (as many) ugly actresses?

Matrimonial site idea

Farmers' helpline

Wiki website idea

Lucid dreams

Cigarettes

EPL Prediction

A new poem I remembered

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and life

Poems till date

US elections - Politically incorrect remarks and politically correct resignations

Obama aide quits after making 'monster' gibe against Hillary Clinton.

US Elections - Democratic primaries and Presidential elections

Australian Open 2008

Sony WSG give 1b$ for IPL rights for a duration of 10 years

Australion Open 2008

Twenty Twenty World Cup 2007

Twenty Twenty World Cup 2007

Twenty Twenty World Cup

US Open Predictions Result

US Open 2007

First prediction

Introduction

Grammar of anarchy in the land of Democracy

Sunrise, noon, sunset, night,
I didn't do nothing tonight.
Gmail, facebook, orkut, twitter,
Oh I'm just not a quitter.