Shyam's Blog

Me writing a blog on 27th Dec 3:30AM. No sleep? Something wrong? Jet lag? 'yes' to all such questions. I slept from 4pm to 9pm last evening and am not getting any sleep now. I am too hungry - feels like I have missed my lunch today! Don't forget, the day for me is now starting at 9pm or so. This is something like Nehru's dialog - "When the whole world sleeps, India awakes." When everyone is fast asleep I am here online writing. My recommendation to everyone who visit India for their wedding - please come 10 days in advance and get rid of jet lag. From my current experience, I am not able to catch up with time. When I see people running, I feel, "Why are they all running?". When I am running, the feeling is visa-versa. Yesterday's 'navagraha hOma' and other rituals were really laborious. If people think that that is just a pre-match practise session (and real match will be more tiring), in the real match on 28th, like Russel Peter's di...

Feels interesting to write a blog standing in a Free Internet place here in Singapore. Journey from SLC to LA was short, but the start was typical movie type. It is worth writing one more blog. LA to Tokyo was 12 hours - during which I watched 4 movies - First, I started with Shivaji: The Boss, next was 1/2 of Japanese movie which I got bored. Third, I started, Gandhi My Father - another boring movie. Next one was Heyy Baby. By the time I pressed 'start', I was fast asleep. I don't remember seeing anything. All I know is the last scene/song when I woke up. After this movie-time, I pushed to TV Documentaries - First was Planet Earth's "Sesonal Forests" and then, "Ganges", finally, "Live for Longer". All the three were really good and informative. The "Ganges" documentary showed the places to visit to get a good look at Ganges - Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Prayag, etc. These places are so beautiful! In "Live for ...

Watched this movie today. This is a 1980 movie about one group of tribe in African forest who have not seen the modern world, come across a coke bottle. They are fascinated with that bottle and use it for everything. Slowly, they start to fight for that bottle - soon they realize that that bottle was sent by God to create evil. They decide to throw it away by sending one guy to the 'end of the earth' to discard it. This guy comes across the modern world and the story ends in a happy way! One thing narrator mentions, "Man created things to make life easier. It has in turn made life more complicated." So true it is!

   

What does that number mean? Check your credit card. If it starts with a '3' it is Amex, if with '4' it is Visa and if '5' it is Mastercard. There are many other rules to create a 16(or 15) digit number. What is it with the Stripe on the back of the card? It functions like a audio tape which stores magnetic data. One thing to keep in mind - Never take your card near a powerful magnet (such as demagnetizers in electronic stores). You may lose the data. How do credit card companies make money? You don't want to know them all, Do you? They are really smart people, smarter than customers for sure. Else, how can they run the business on your money? The money they handle is YOUR money. All you get back from them is facility of 'no need to carry cash'. Firstly, lets talk about US market. Sources say, US credit card debt is around $2.5 trillion. Nearly 1 billion credit cards were issued in US in the year 2006 alone. These numbers surely gives an estimate as t...

This video in BBC's Planet Earth Series is one of the best wildlife videos even captured. In this video, an elephant is attacked by 30 lions in the night. It is said that lions usually don't attack elephants. In this case, because of lack of food, this pride took this extreme step.

It is 4:30am and I am writing this blog to share this music recording! All started at 11pm when one of my musician friends called me to record a song. Here is the piece - A thillana, in raaga 'Des', set to 8 beat. I am on the vocals. Drums - Charles Mallela Keyboard - Charles Mallela Bass Guitar - Charles Mallela (that was all he had, else the list would have continued) Recording started at 2:00am and we both were almost tired and ready to watch India-Pakistan cricket match. But, soon, our energy was just enough to give it a shot and complete it. About Charles Mallela... Charles Mallela is a music composer and keyboard artist who has had passion for music since a very young age. With his dad being a Guitarist, Charles started playing songs on the keyboard as a kid and today, he is no doubt the most wanted artist in the Utah area. Known for his simple sounding and melodious, yet complex music, he has a great fan following club around the globe. You can listen to his latest compo...

Click on the first link on the sidebar of this blog under "My Favorite Bloggers", which reads "Runup to the Big Day".

Sree gaNanaatham bhajare in "EeshamanOhari", a rare composition of Muttuswamy Dikshitar. You can learn this simple song Click here for Lyrics. Choose from tracks below to listen to audio - Single voice track . Dual voice track. My brother and I learned this song in 1988-89, i.e., when I was around 10 years old. When I sang this today, I felt that I still sing in that old style of a kid. We have not sung this song very often.

Was practising music. Recorded this at the end of my practise. Was full satisfied singing to myself many of my favorite songs. This song ( sree raamana pujisalilla ) is one of the songs I and my brother have sung many times in concerts. This is one of the favorite song of Valli auntie, our Guru Vid. D V Nagarajan's wife. Listen it here... I don't know what's there in this song. It has its own effect and feeling which makes the Kumars' hair follicles to raise. Let me know what you feel of this song. You need not know the meaning of the lyrics. All I am asking for is, 'what feeling does this give you?' If yours is the same as mine, then, it is normal. Else, I am seeing or feeling something different than what you do.

Photo - Courtesy fohn.net It is "Tiger week" on Animal Planet. Known for its majesty, it is said that, there are more tiger in captivity in the US and around the globe than in the jungles of India. Fact is that, in 10-20 years from now, Tiger will be extinct. I just can't believe such a thing happening when people can just talk about Tigers, but can't see them in real! So sad to even think of it's extinction. Save Tigers and save their habitats. One thing which tags itself to the name "India" is Tiger. The Royal Bengal Tiger is our national animal! It is proud indeed that India is an unique land to find such diversity of wild animals. We have the elephants, the lions, the peacocks, the India deer, and not to forget, Tiger! It is time to showcase the world our wildlife and promote tourism. This must in turn earn revenue to preserve our wildlife.

Watch this video and tell whether it is true or false. Click here. My view - "looks true".

Wishing everyone a very happy Diwali

Title of this is NULL - because, my mind is blank. Last night was India Night here in Salt Lake City, where I performed. I liked the atmosphere and the crowd - 500 or so cheering for the music is just great. But, I was tired after the show. Tired in the sense that, I am not getting what I want. My inner feeling was not refreshing. The feeling was that, I enjoy more singing for myself. People come to me and tell, "You sang really well...". Some come with an expression I can't believe - "Wow..., you sing so well.. Your voice is ....(pause) I just can't explain it". My mind goes blank when people tell such things. I am not able to understand that what they say is what they really mean :(. I really doubt and think to myself, "was it really good? I didn't feel so standing there on stage". I feel like retiring from onstage performances. If everything is NOT perfect as to my expectations on stage, I don't get the mood to sing. This is what I defin...

Thought of writing this blog to recollect all the people I saw on TV - this is people in the news - and not the "news makers". Let me start from people I saw first - the days when we got our TV - 1986 or so. People in the news were - Meenu (that pretty lady who was reading the news for a long period - upto end of 1990s), Geetanjali Iyer (that long face, thin lady!), Komal G B Singh (more a announcer and host) and couple more men, the names I don't recollect! Men - one was that beard-wala and one more, that bald and thick glasses-waala. In Hindi news, "Raman" was very common. Don't you remember - Salma Sultan of Hindi news? Another bunch of readers - Rini Simon (Rini Khanna), Usha Albuquerque, Neethi Ravindran, Sunith Tandon, Tejeshwar Singh. Coming to other channels - Pranoy Roy started a 20-minute news in DD-2 between 7:40pm and 8pm in early 90s. He used to have his own bunch of readers -Vikram Chandra, Srinivasan Jain and Barkha Dutt were the main readers....

Isn't it true that fast food in India is better than in the US? I feel that people in the US hate to go to fast food - still, they go there because of compulsion. I have seen lot of people here saying with grouse feeling, "I have to go to ... today for lunch". They know it doesn't taste good, nor, it is worth the money! In India, we are not compelled to go to a fast food place. Instead, people love to eat in those places because they are tasty. Also, it is worth the money!

ubuntu CD! I downloaded the ubuntu Linux to install it on my home pc. Just after burning a bootable CD for that, my eyes saw colorful details on the CD. This is how ubuntu CD looked. One specialty of this picture is, nothing has been done to enhance this image. I used a tripod and manual focus with high shutter speed. When I tried editing this snap by doing, enhance color or sharpen, nothing much worked. The image was already in good shape for the show! (Don't forget to verify your "VIBGYOR") Rainbow on a CD! Shooting star!

Didn't feel like getting up this morning. Felt like, "wish I had more time to sleep... - Put the alarm on snooze couple of times. Then, came a thought in my mind. Money and sleep are similar. Both are things which we always ask for more! Isn't it? Even though you are sufficient with whatever you had (sleep/money), you just want little more. ahaa! Money and sleep, on the other hand - both have dreams! Don't they? By this thought, it was time to wake up :)

Jamoon I made - just for YOU and ME, It was so yummy!

Team Google!

Endless Road - Logan Canyon, UT On a rainy day, it was fun to shoot this picture by placing my camera on the road! (Photo edited using GIMP)

Books: Bookcase :: Masalas: Masalacase.

Identify shadow of each leaf. These are leaves floating on a crystal clear water! This reminds me of Engineering Drawing II where we drew objects and their projections.

" hum hai rahi pyar ke"

Had been to Logan Canyon drive with friends. Here are the photos of the day. Leaf of the day Straw of the day Bowling accuracy! There were two pins left. One hit, one miss Just a Trivia - Bowling originated in India (courtesy - Wikipedia).

Houses burning in my apartment complex. Photo: Courtesy KSL news website. Above is the picture of one of the blocks of our apartment complex which came down under fire. 6 houses of that block were burnt to ashes by devastating fire caused by natural gas. The incident occured when a gas serviceman was on duty to check the leak which was occurring for the past few days. My block was couple of buildings away from this one. Firefigthers made sure that fire doesn't spread out. When I reached home from work in the evening, I was not allowed to enter the apartment complex. Everyone was stranded out for a few hours. For details see .. KSL link . Really a say day for all the residents of those burnt houses.

I didn't know that my photos were in the "Editor's pick" list on BetterPhotos.com. Here is the link of my album online. My Album . After a long time, I visited my profile to add more pictures to the contest on BetterPhotos.com. I found out that, 4 of my pictures have been "Editor's Pick", which is indeed great to know! I didn't know that till now because I had stopped accessing my profile! What does "Editor's Pick" mean? The "Editor's Picks" are simply contest entries that have moved on from round 1 of the contest judging. These images are found to be interesting, eye-catching or beautiful to the judges.

Visited Alpine Loop, UT. Pictures @ My webalbum This 20-mile drive is worth $3.00 (entry fee). Here is the map of the drive. To view complete driving directions, visit googlemaps

To take Red carpet Guard of Honour at Rastrapathi Bhavan.

Recently met a few entrants to the "land of opportunities" - US. Have to tell you about the "hype" they talk about. They feel, "America and all is just Hype".

Fall has come! Fall 2007 Visited Timpanogos Caves today. It is a nice place to visit - one can get both hiking and scenery. Hike is 1.5 miles up which is a bit tiring if you are not used to hiking. Tour inside the cave is really worth. To enter the caves, one needs to buy the ticket at the visitor center before starting the hike. Once you reach the start of the cave, you will join a tour guide who will take you inside the caves with full explanation and commentary. In our tour, there were 5-6 lovely kids who asked the guide questions all the time - questions ranging from, 'why is that lizard shaped?' to, 'will the rocks crack and fall on us now?'. Once, in the middle of the cave, tour guide wanted us to experience 'pitch dark' and announced that he would turn off the lights for a moment. It was just wonderful to experience it. Another trick he did was, he asked, 'does any of you ladies have a diamond ring?'. Actually, a real one! One lady turned up who w...

Bhavani Kangan Stores, Jayanagar, Bangalore. It is a three storeyed bangle store which my fiancee and I visited couple of weeks ago. The floor size of each floor is around 20 feet x 10 feet and each floor is filled with dozens of people in such a small area. Each floor is categoried into specific items. For example, one floor is full of bindhi-s, while the other, artificial jewels. We first went to the top most floor. I could hardly walk around and with much difficultly stayed with my fiancee. Once she got the item she wanted, she was given a token and told to go to ground floor to collect the item after payment. We then moved to the middle floor. By this time, I was sure not to get into the crowd and told my fiancee to get in alone and buy whatever she wanted. There too, she was given a token. Finally in the ground floor, we went to the counter and gave our tokens. Soon, our items were handed over. I just wondered who is that 'carrier' person who keeps going up and down to co...

India won the Twenty20 World Cup! I can't miss blogging this win. India scored 157 and Pakistan were all out for 152. It was a thriller and my heart was pumping in full speed when India were bowling the last over and Pakistan needed 12. Misbah was batting with 3 sixers under his belt. He scored a six in the second ball of the over. Pak needed one more six to win in 5 balls. 6 off 5! Very easy equation. One would have thought, atleast take singles and go near to the score and try for a two to sneak in. But, Misbah went for a six behind the keeper. Sreeshanth made no mistake to take the most important catch of the World Cup. What would it be IF he had missed it? Let me not ask that!!!!!!!! Congrats India. Match ended about 9:15pm India time. I am sure, all night, India will be awake and whole India will be in virtual bright day light all night. One thing still rules - India has never lost to Pakistan in the World Cup! It was overall a team effort by India. Many had good contributions...

Movies with Sports theme: It all started with Lagaan - a full cricket match in a movie. Now, there is Chak de India - Hockey team. There is also soccer - Don't forget - Bend it like Beckham. Oh! A smaller commercial movie - Iqbal, again cricketing dream of an young boy. Recent movies: I think, Bollywood is trying all new things and trying to stay away from same old romantic melodrama. Time has come to show stories much more realistic. There are couple of movies which show the rise and fall of politicians. Recently, there was a movie based on life story of a business tycoon. Gone are those days of simple romantic musicals of the Khans and Kapoors! But, some of those movies are always worth watching. Next, Bollywood will bring a movie of a Software engineer ;). I think some spice can always be added to that storyline.

Yashoda and Krishna Rama & Sita Above sketches were done by my fiance when she was in school! I captured them on my camera during my India visit.

My India visit was eventful with loads and loads of fun and masti. 1. Got engaged! 2. Enjoyed singing at 2 concerts 3. Good food on all days whomever I visit. 4. Ate at Vidhyathi Bhavan - Rs. 17 for 1 masala dosa. 5. Watched Mungaru MaLe in PVR Cinema - Super theatre and super price too. 6. Did a bunch of shopping In the theatre, it was full maza. My fiance and I sat down at the start of show. A lady came along to ask for, "What can I give you sir? Tea, coffee, juice, ice cream, popcorn?" I was surprised to see the service and I spontaneously asked for, "popcorn and 1 water bottle". After few minutes, there arrived our order - Rs.80 only :D. hmmm ie., less than $2. In short, it was two weeks run in fast forward mode - I now need to sit down and recap slowly to enjoy more :).

Sept. 9th 2007, Vid. T S Krishnamurthy on Violin, Vid. Anoor Dattatreya Sharma on Mridangam, and Vid. A Somashekar on Ghatam. This concert was at Shivam, Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore. Like the previous evening's concert, this too had a very good set of artists with me. The concert was a marathon three and a half hour one with nearly 15 items in the list. Most of them who had made it for the previou's night's concert, were here! So, no repeats from me! I sang 'bhakthi bhikshameeyave' in Shankarabharana. 'ninna nOdi dhanyanAdheno' in Pantuvarali was put in the main item slot. This concert was more of a chamber music with close interaction with kids and their parents who are into music. My message to them was to keep the music along in their lives and not let it dry out in the long run. If they move abroad, they need not think that there is no music in that part of the world. Music is within us, deep inside our heart and mind, and we carry it wherever we go. We n...

Sept 8th 2007, Manandhi Hall, Jayanagar - Vid. Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma on Mridangam, Vid. Shrishaila on Ghatam and Vid. Charulatha Ramanujam on Violin. It was my pleasure to perform with great artists like these. The evening started with Veeriboni varna in Bhairavi, followed by ShrimahagaNapathe in Naata. I also sang MalayamArutha with improvization in the end. The main item of the evening was Todi's Koluvamaregadha; nevarval at 'thambura chEkoni'. Singing was really made easy by such a wonderful support from all the artists on stage. They made my music come out with free flow and made everything look simple. In the audience, I had great musicians sitting in the front row - Vid. Ramachandra Rao (an octogenarian and a very scholarly person), Vid. R K Padmanabha and ofcourse my guru, Vid. D V Nagarajan. The event was organized by Om Sumsthe and Balaji School of Music.

Arrived in India last night. I am feeling like I am in a 15-day fair with people all around and vehicles coming in from all directions. But, Sunday night was supposed to be a sample of what would come on Monday during peak hours of traffic. I am sure it will be more fun. On the way from Airport, listened to "sakkath hot maga" channel on radio - radio mirchi! Some RJ was talking bla bla bla in Kannada with full artificial accent. I thought that she learnt Kannada after becoming an RJ. On flight, one uncle-auntie were returning back to India after their first visit to the US. I asked them, "How was it? What did you feel about America?". Their answers were so simple and straight forward - "Cleanliness and discipline and good there". Add these two to Indian land and India will surely be on par with the West in all fields. How is it so easy? - you must ask. Just put the word discipline to all Officers, politicians, traffic, etc. That part gets better automatica...

Flight from SLC to LA was kewl . I just missed my camera in hand during the ascent. It was a beautiful sunset with lake in the background. LA is sooooo big! The city's view from above was endless. On flight, there were thunder strikes in far distance. I just dreamed (is this past tense of dream? This passed the spell check! I didn't know that) seeing clouds below the flight and shower beneath. It was dream come true - the flight was above a cloud bundle and it was raining from that cloud! It was spectacular to see that fuzzy hazy picture below that dense cloud. OK. I am in LA airport online browsing the net. One old chinku passes by seeing me and my browsing magic. He asks me, 'is internet there?' - I say, 'yeah'. He started asked me some more questions which I didn't understand. I just asked him, 'Do you have a laptop?' He said, 'I have microsoft'. I was stunned with the answer. I thought, 'Microsoft's some new thing... similar to ...

Two concerts lined up for Sept 8th weekend, one on 8th (Saturday) evening and another, the next day. It should be fun to sing in front of my home crowd after a long time. Here are the concert details. All are welcome. Date:8th Sep, 2007, Saturday at 5 PM Organizers: SRI BALAJI SCHOOL OF MUSIC, BANGALORE and OM ASSOCIATION, BANGALORE Artists on Stage Violin : Vidushi Charulata Ramanujam Mrudanga : Vidvan Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma Ghatam : Vidvan Shrishaila Venue MANANDI SAMSKRITHI SADANA 9TH Main, 43rd Cross, 5th Block (Near Jayanagar Telephone Exchange) Jayanagar Bangalore Date:9th Sep, 2007, Sunday at 4 PM Organizer: SRI BALAJI SCHOOL OF MUSIC, BANGALORE Artists on Stage Violin : Vidvan T.S.Krishnamurthy Mrudanga : Vidvan Anoor Dattatreya Sharma Ghatam : Vidvan A.Somashekhar Venue No 591, “SHIVAM”, 10th Cross, 16th Main, Padmanabhanagar, (Near Kidney Foundation Hospital) Bangalore – 560 070

This is an old link which moved around the net in the emails and inboxes. Click here... When email started (94-95, atleast for me), it was usual for friends to share PJs, funny pictures and links. Now, I think, that fever has died. Those forwards used to spread so fast, that by the end of day, we would have received the same forward from 2-3 senders. It also used to happen that, I send to A, A sends to S, S sends to G, and G sends back to me! Duniya hai gOl.

Be proud of India by watching this video. Watch here This is a video about How India has changed in the last 15 years. The talker, Dr. Jhunjhunwala, talks with great confidence! He is Padmashree and sometimes reminds me of our former president, APJ Abdul Kalam.

Anil Kumble changed his name after hitting a ton (century) in the Oval test match. What is his new name? Aton Kumble, because he didn't score a zero (nil), instead, scored a ton! Hence the name. PJ - courtesy, my brother.

60 years of Indian Community was shown in orkut! Orkut is the 2nd largest visited site in India each day. Now-a-days, people might have stopped asking for phone numbers when they meet the first time. I have seen people asking, "you there in orkut... right? I will scrap and add you in my list". If you are reading this blog, I bet you are almost there in Orkut now! One more trend - if a person doesn't know a new word or a phrase, he/she is sure to run to computer and search it on google.com. This leads to new phrase - if someone needs more information about something, you could just tell him, "just google it" - the word 'google' acting as a verb here.

To starters, this How-to in Yahoo Finance is a good one. These things are not taught in Engineering schools or colleges. But, every money earning person need to know the basics of money management. After a while, all these become 'common sense' - I mean, just ways to save/invest/use money. Don't forget " Dudde` dodappa " meaning, 'money is uncle'. ha ha ha. Wrong translation ;) , but funny to translate it directly from Kannada to English.

Bangalore's Sister Cities are... 1) Minsk, Belarus 2) Cleveland, Ohio, USA WHAT???? Where did I get this???? here What are these "Sister Cities"? Read here

Tag boss told that I broke the rules ;) in my previous blog. That blog officially passed only 6 points. I need to write two more now. 7) I love to watch movies sleeping. I have gone to theater to watch movies and have slept there without watching 8) I am shopping crazy - if I go for shopping, I spend a lot. So, I avoid shopping.

My friend wrote 8 random things about himself and tagged me to write the same. 1) I am random and make decisions real quick. I don't waste time to decide something I want to do. 2) Singing is involuntary. Be it driving, shopping, shower, cooking, playing; I might be singing something which I myself am not aware of. So, if people feel I am not concentrating on their talk, excuse me. 3) I crack PJs in most of my conversations and sometimes in the most tense/critical situations - It could be a minute before an exam, a job interview, etc etc. 4) One thing which I don't know but I am told - I sometimes bite my teeth in sleep and it is supposed to sound like someone cut/scratch opening a window or a wooden frame. 5) I cannot survive without tea-coffee for more than 12 hours. 6) Music is both my strength and weakness. Strength - because, I sing and love it. Weakness - because, I can't live without it. 7) I am too too too picky about food - totally non-adjustable. This behavior can...

Weekend visit to Bryce Canyon was a real experience! Highlights of the trip: 1000s of pictures taken. unlimited talking and laughing. unlimited eating (lemon rice, curd rice, tomato bhaat, MTR rava idli, etc etc). We had taken cooking stove and cooker to prepare the food items. It was kewl to sit in front of the motel room and cook ourselves. The whole place was 'ours'. We had everything we wanted - good food, TV, and most important to a few-High Speed Internet :). Tour was great. My dream-list now includes - 1) Rent an RV for a weekend and go with a full group. 2) Rent a Harley Davidson Motorbike and go on the freeway! Here are some pictures of our weekend picnic. Don't see evil, Don't talk evil, Don't hear evil. Face the sun Heavenly sky Trees standing tall in Bryce

This is an interesting fusion if a different kind. Just listen to this! I have deliberately kept the audio editing in poor quality. Listen here...

In Bangalore, "compound" means a wall or a brick fence bordering the house. I don't know how this term got that usage!

After a long time, I am recording my audio. Sample audio here which is mixed using Audacity to generate effects. With three concerts scheduled in the next one month, I better get ready with new songs.

It was interesting to know about this custom in the Latin American community. I think, there is something like this in the Hindu customs too. Read here You can also listen to that discussion which was on today's Radio.

Meet this comedian.. Gabriel Iglesias . He was on Comedy Central. Watch his videos by clicking on his name above.

Maria Sharapova was too good for Sania Mirza in the QF of Acura Classic Open in San Diego today! 6-2 6-1

How do you relate the term "Guide" in your life? Travel 'Guide' ... one who takes you around a historical place to explain the value of that place? Or, 'a person', who has been your moral support throughout your career/life/etc. ??? Think over the word "guides". For me, the moment, I bought this book, it reminded me of my high school and college "Guides", which had all readymade question and answers in them! "MCC Guides" were a popular brand. All teachers hated 'guides' because it made the students copycat types. These guides were really handy in 11th and 12th when we had languages and I hardly open the textbook. In Engineering, 'guides' were replaced by something called, 'xerox-notes'. Two places which were/are popular in Bangalore = Krishna xerox in Malleswaram area and Classic xerox in Hanumanthanagar area. Why am I reminded of 'guides' and 'xerox'? I bought a Java programming related bo...

See his left wrist. You might just check his right wrist. If no wrist watch, then he got to be a s/w engineer! It is difficult to use the keyboard with the watch on the wrist. So, s/w tend to not have a watch at all. If at all they want to know the time, they have the clock on the right hand corner of their monitor. To verify this, I just scrolled through the office. Each one of them had empty wrists!

Do you know that? Well.., I know that too. Also, one more thing I noticed. No practise or out of touch made my kitchen skill go for a toss. After King Kumar (my dad) handed over Kingdom Kitchen to his Kumaara (me), the citizens are disappointed with the food being served. King Kumar was meticulous and precision perfect right from KOsamri to Kesari bhaath. I am making all 'kuusu mari' and 'kesaru baatu'. So tough to get back to ruling the kitchen! Coming back to the title of the blog - Practise makes MAN perfect. Why so? Why MAN? Why not WOMAN? hmmmm. As one of my friends says "sahavaasa alla guru..."

That was my first home address in the US. The house was behind the city's main bus stand which made it easy to commute to most parts of the city. The house in itself was such a raw home that no one would imagine a kind of that now! I am talking about Spring 2003. Here some highlights of that house. 1) No TV 2) No Microwave 3) No couch or sofa to sit on - all we had were camping chairs which were foldable. 4) No computer in the house - nobody owned a computer. So, no internet access once we were home 5) No vacuum cleaner - hence the place went unvacuumed nearly a YEAR! 6) No chopper/mixer in the kitchen 7) No latch in the restroom :(. We had to obstruct the restroom door when opened with a closet door 8) We were 4 roommates - Nobody had a cell-phone. We had one landline which was shared by all 4 of us 9) None of us owned a car - getting a ride from school or walmart was like luxury for us. With all these "No"s, life moved on without any issues. Now, all 4 of us live in a l...

Definition as stated in Wiki: "A folksonomy is a user-generated taxonomy used to categorize and retrieve web content such as Web pages , photographs and Web links , using open-ended labels called tags ." Read more here in Wiki

' aatak vuntu, lekkak illa ' - meaning, you are in the game, but not as full-fledged player; something like, unofficial player. We used this phrase a lot when we were kids. If a new kid (usually younger to us) comes to join us, and is not strong enough in the game, he is given this 'title'. He can get used to the game before he can be promoted as main player. This was handy in situations where that kid gets out in Cricket, still he is termed 'not out' because he was ' aatak vuntu lekkak illa '. Maybe after getting out couple of times, the kid, as a courtesy, will opt himself as 'out' because he was given a chance to be part of the game!

What is all that wave about Hari Puttar? I mean, Harry Potter! Will want to get some idea by reading/watching about him. I don't know why this million $$$ hype of this!!! Don't we have such stories/tales in India? Our grandma tales are as interesting as any other fantasy stories like these.

A drop of water is enough to create a ripple.

Mom made news - read here in my brother's blog .

NPR: 5-Second Rule Rules Click above and click on the audio to listen to an interesting discussion. This is about, "do you pick the cookie or chips which might slip off your hands on to the floor?" Here are highlights of the talk... "When the first kid is born, that kid is always given new one if something falls of the hand; for the second child, the fallen item is picked up and cleaned and given back to eat; for the third, 'just pick and eat' ". "It has to do with 'wet' or 'dry' item which falls down". "...depends on how people react who are in with you. They might think... 'aaaaaaaaaaah' seeing you pick something from the floor". "God made Dirt and Dirt won't hurt" - What an interesting phrase!

Sunday Special - Pani Puri It is a rare occasion to write a blog as the event unfolds! This is one of them. Dad's Sunday Special - Pani Puri. It started with a meticulous making of 'pani' and then making fresh puris. Dad was making this for the first time and he had to invite the God of all foodmakers - NaLa! This can be termed as 'aavaahanam'. Once he had done that he was ready to make anything just from the inner instinct and seventh sense! Why 7th? Because, first 6 have been taken up by others - First five are basic senses as we read in biology class and the sixth, taken up by Night Shyamalan; next is seventh, which I am referring to! Pani was ready. Curtain unfolded. Drama begins. Oh wait. Why did I tell "curtain unfolded"? In our kitchen, we don't have a real door to close to avoid food-smell and fumes to spread all inside the house. So, my dad came up with a curtain which is typically a window shutter available in Walmart or any home furnishing s...

Oh man! It is already 7AM and I am not ready for Social Studies final exam. There is so much to read and revise. I wasted my time watching a movie last night and then thought of getting up early to complete rest of the chapters. On the other hand, I am getting up late and the exam starts at 8. I think I can make it to the exam hall 15 minutes late and still do well in the exam. dhubbbbbbbb! Suddenly, I got up from bed to realize - This is not exam season. Oh yeah, even if it is, there is no Social Studies exam today. Oh noooo! I got out of High School more than a decade ago - How can there be Social Studies exam for me today? Finally, I thought, "Today is Independence Day, time to sleep longer". Very often I get this haunting nightmares of exams - especially Social Studies and Kannada exams. Why these??? Former, I hated the subject; latter, I always took it too light and used to open the book to read the lessons on the day before exam! Moral of the story for all kids - Prepar...

It is usual for us to think about, "during those days..." stories. Today's Malls in India are so huge and attractive that a family can spend the whole day inside - start with a breakfast, do some shopping, have lunch, watch a movie in the multiplex and then go home in the night. I think this is very much happening with many there. 10-15 years ago, there was no concept of "Malls". All we had were some big stores like the Kids Kemp. Apart from this store, a chain which caught people's attention was "LifeStyle". This is what we can call "Malls" of 1990s. Do you remember one more chain - "The Wearhouse"? That was becoming popular when we were in Hubli. That store was across the street from where we lived and we hardly bought anything there. I think all those chains didn't last long. Now, with malls like Forum, Big Bazaar, Garuda etc., coming up, I think shopping is more fun than ever before. Oh, the word "shop" reminde...

Anybody can use a computer - no age bar. Here is the scene - Dad in the US and mom sitting in India. They need to talk now. Talking over phone is routine - 'usmein kya hai?' (what is the big deal). So, I put a small twist to the tale to make them use the net for communication. Here comes my expert techie dad and novice techie mom. Why did I mention 'techie' to them? Yeah, they are techies now after having started to use PC. The PC back in India is disconnected from power and other wires. Why? Because, anytime, there could be extra super power voltage and destroy the system why nobody is at home for 2-3 months. First task of techie dad is to make mom connect them and Switch ON the computer. We are almost there! Switched ON the power. On this end, techie dad is like expert customer support guy who sits somewhere on the globe almost like blindfolded and tells the customer on phone to do 'that'/'this' etc etc. Mom: "hmmm, Something is displayed on the ...

Java and .NET were/are hot tools to develop web applications. Latest readings show Python being compared with Java. Python is a quick in a development cycle - meaning, just write the code and save it. Go to browser and refresh the page to see the changes. On the other hand, Java, needs the code to be compiled. Many such trivial benefits of Python is making it a easier tool than Java. Pydev is a project plugin to develop python projects in Eclipse. Above all these, Django - a latest (not yet released) Web Framework is the fastest of the three frameworks (RoR, PHP, Django). Here is the futuristic book ( online book ) about Django. Paper version of this is expected for release in August 2007. Continuing on software web development topic, the term pace is playing a major role. Pace has two angles - one, the pace with which the project proceeds to completion; the other, the pace/performance of the application when users/customers use it online. Managers want the project to be kicked off soo...

Talk of the day is about seista, or a small nap during the day. Latest researches show that people have 33% less heart problems when they take a nap compared to who don't. I really think taking a nap makes us fresh. Be it 10 minutes - it will be great to feel the effect of a good nap. Some said, they have long 12-hour days and a nap makes them keep their concentration for a longer time. Also, it is believed that performance of people who took a nap improved by 37%. Whatever numbers say, go take a nap if you missed it today!

A lawsuit on a suit! Meanings of the word "suit" ... 1) a set of clothing, armor, or the like, intended for wear together. 2) the act of making a petition or an appeal. So here is the Suit suit story involving a customer and dry cleaner. - Customer, a lawer by himself, sued the dry cleaner for not giving back his pants. - Dry cleaner says, customer had forgotten which color/what type/etc of the pants he had given and defends that customer is asking for wrong pants! Customer - immigrant from one of the Asian countries, is a lawyer. He thought he could sue and make a million bucks. Other lawyers had noticed his behaviour during his divorce case couple of years ago, which was indifferent. This customer, also filed saying, "am not satisfied" referring to the display, "Satisfaction Guaranteed" which was in the dry cleaner store! Court said - You will not be given a single penny! The "not satisfied" clause does not mean what he thought - it just means,...

Just read that Team India left for UK. This reminded me of 'my cricket days'. I mean, when I was an avid fan of cricket few years ago. Back then, more cricket was played by our team. Here are some of the matches/series still in memory. India-Pakistan match in Bangladesh in which Kanetkar hit the winning runs when India needed 314 to win the match. In this match, Ganguly had batted superbly to keep the run chase possible. The floodlights were poor and India had lost most of their batsmen. Kanetkar and Srinath were at crease when the winning runs were hit! India vs England in England – Kaif and Yuvraj did a great run chase to win the match. India were 5 wickets down for 100-odd. During this match, myself and my friend were on a visit to Kochi on work. We were watching the match in our hotel room and after loosing 5 wickets, we switched off the TV to go for a walk. When we came back, India was winning! India and Pakistan test match in Delhi – Kumble took 10 wicket...

This blog will go for a long discussion within me. If this is Chapter 1, there will be many more chapters to come till I make a decision. Very often, I get this question - "Should I go back?" If so, when? Sometimes I feel, I should. Other times, I don't see the need. This change of answers inside me is just swinging like a pendulum. I have seen people being in this phase and then finally deciding to go back. The end result is so much to take and give that it is a total change of life for someone who has lived outside India for nearly 5 years. Hasn't India changed in the past 5 years? Can I adjust to the latest society and trends? How is it to live in a busy city and work in an office 20 miles away from home. How is the work environment in India? I don't know have an answer to the last question as I haven't worked in India. What will I get going back to India? That is a touch question to answer too. In simple sense, I will get back to 'my' place - the f...

Bought a HP Tx1119US notebook. Looks kewl with Vista on it.

Heard of addresses saying, "5th Main, 1st Cross"? Why is that we don't see such address naming convention in the US? Is this system only in India? If yes, phrase, "crossroads of life" must have been coined in India only ;). Thinking about roads and crossroads, what comes to mind is the traffic in India. 30 years ago, roads were so empty. Automobile Industry was just booming. All cars were big. There was no issue of having a fuel efficient car. People's mindset was not on gasoline price, but on the horsepower of the engine. This is similar to what US is right now. Last night, on the radio, there was a discussion in NPR on US Govt. considering of supporting fuel efficient cars to save fuel. Also, this will help a big deal in supporting the G-8's buzz talk, 'global warming'. Seeing all these, I feel, India has seen all these talks of fuel economy and energy saving two decades ago! In other words, US will soon see choked roads all the time, everywher...

"What does your son do?" In most cases, answer will be simple like - "Software". What actually is this term software? I really don't understand the term well even though I am partially in it. I might know just a drop in the big ocean. Where did it all start? Is there an end to it? As far as I am concerned, it all started (for me atleast) with Microsoft's Windows picking up in the late 90s. I started with Windows 3.1 version on a 486 (80486) machine. All I was doing then was playing a shooter game and couple of other DOS based games. No internet facility though at that time. Later on, with internet booming in India, email started. For my bachelor's project, I used in net for searching for data and information about the then buzz acronym for me - 'DIP' (Digital Image Processing). By the time I moved out of India, email and chat had become popular. For now, what all can one do with the so called 'Software'? hmmmm Everything. Talk with friend...

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