Swarnim Rythms @ FIA 06

We "Swarnim Rythms" performed for Federation of India Association on 26th August 06 @ San Diego Neuro-Science. Here are the videos... Again, better late than never. Poor audio quality..

Sholay - Introduction Music
Parineeta - Piyu bole (Namita and Rishi)
Kalyug - Jiya dhadak (Rishi)
Anjaam - Badi Mushkil Hai (Pravin Tiwari)
Kashmir Ki Kali - Diwana Hua Badal (Namita and Rishi)

Harmonica and Tabla - Me
Keyboardist - Kamal
Guitarist - Hitesh and Ravi
Bongo - Pravin


Intro with Sholay - Me on Harmonica... intro @ 3:00



Badi Mushkil Hey - My Tabla @ 4:00



Jiya Dhadak Dhadak



Diwana Hua Baadal - Listen to Hitash bhai's guitar @ 0:30, 1:32 and 2:40



Piyu Bole - Totally crappy song... This was the first song of the show.. mike setting were not proper.. Instruments playing louder than singers and Bongo sound just ate up my tabla.. damn it !!

RangTarang 06

We performed for "Rang Tarang", Indian cultural show, in Qualcomm on May 06

Here is the video... I am uploading it way late, but still.. better late than never... I am not sure who has recorded this video, but it gives highlights of the whole Rang Tarang Show..

In the video, music group is from 1:24 to 6:48. The audio mixer got lil bit messed up, so drums didn't get recorded properly..so most of the songs sound empty..

My Tabla @ 2:36 @ 3:12 @ 4:10 (just missed) @ 6:36

Height of Creativity...

While reading my usual business blogs, I came across an article that showed how to use your surroundings to start a business.. The example that author mentioned is...

"AN INDIAN entrepreneur has given a new twist to the concept of low-cost airlines. The passengers boarding his Airbus 300 in Delhi do not expect to go anywhere because it never takes off. All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by stewardesses bustling up and down the aisle." "His company, Aeroplanet, now provides an on-the-ground in-flight experience to those who cannot afford to fly. The price is a mere 150 rupees (3.75 dollars) per head."

Take a look..

Initially I thought that it's a hoax.. but this guy and his company indeed exist. He is been featured in Time magzine also.

If you think about it, its really practical idea... Its educational, entertaining and probably a "life time" experience for poor people....

Surely its better than.. people here in America paying $30 for ridiculous experiences like Halloween haunted houses, where you are just walking around and volunteers trying to scare you, yelling "boo" at every step.

Hshhhh... Creativity !!

He Who Knows..

Just came across this Arabian Proverb... Its all magic of words..

He who knows not & knows not he knows not, he is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not & knows he knows not, he is simple - teach him.
He who knows & knows not he knows, he is asleep - awaken him.
He who knows & knows that he knows, he is wise - follow him.

Smokin' SD - WildFires..

Wildfire is not that unfamiliar term to San Diego, but I never realized that I will experience it so closely this time.

(Photo Credit: KPBS-Flickr)

On Sunday, because of high winds and dry weather, almost 10 fires started in San Diego county. The Witch Creek fire in Ramona, which started with just 100 acres on Sunday morning, spread across 13,000 acres till Sunday evening. While on Monday morning it burnt up to 140, 000 acres of land across northeast of SD. The speed at which it was spreading and moving towards SD city, was indeed scary. The winds were blowing at 60mph and humidity numbers were in single digit. The temperatures all over county were soaring to 90-100 deg fahrenheit, making weather conditions similar to AZ.

On Moday morning, when I woke up from a phone call from Qualcomm automated notification system, to report my "home" status.. I realized the urgency of the situation. My place in MiraMesa was surely safe, but mother nature was already showing its rage in Rancho Bernardo, around 20-25 miles fro my place, burning all houses and apartment complexes. Area of Poway (15 miles from my place) was already under mandatory evacuation.

(Photo Credit: Google - Map Data @2007)

I called couple of my friends in that area to find out the status and was glad to find out they were safe, but surely were scared to death of loosing their houses. One of my friends mentioned that last month his colleague has just moved to their new house in Rancho Bernanrdo. They had their house warming ceremony (VastuShanti) on Saturday evening and now received evacuation orders on Sunday night.. How cruel your fate can be... Hmmm.. God Delusion !!!

Mira mesa being safe, I decided to go out with couple of friends. Sky was full of black smoke-clouds. The smell of smoke was in the air and small flecks of ash were falling around.

We went to the evacuation center in Qualcomm stadium to find out if they need any help esp with "man power". Considering the requirement for relief work, I really didn't realize how I spent 8 hrs there, helping evacuees in sorting and distributing beddings. Considering the 2003 SD fire, people mentioned that relief work was really well organized. Infact at one point, the number of volunteers in the Qualcomm stadium were more than evacuees :) !!

When I was returning home at 9 pm, Moon looked like one in eclipsed state, red-yellowish in color. Generally in crystal clear weather, moon looks bright white as milk, but witch creek fire is surely acting as a "witch", causing moon to be disappeared.

After reaching home, when I turned on the TV, I was lil bit shocked with the news that the fire has spread a lot on west side of SD and mandatory evacuations has been issued at South DelMar and North Sorento Valley area, probably 10-15 blocks from me. Considering the wind conditions, if fire would have spread little bit more, then MiraMesa was the next one going to be under mandatory evacuations. With flaky electricity conditions, I packed all important docs and stuff. While sorting out some low-priority stuff, I realized that how difficult it is to pack my "5 years of stay in USA" just in couple of bags. It surely made me nervous at that point. What must be going through those minds, who were already under mandatory evacuations... and I can not imagine thoughts of those who have already lost their houses and belongings.... When you work as a volunteer, though you are doing your best, your state of mind can never reach at the same level as the evacuee, the pain they must be gong through.. and now I was about to switch the sides and that thought itself scared me a little. I really didn't want to end up in Qualcomm Stadium as an evacuee...

While trying to sleep at 2pm, I heard some people in my apartment complex moving their luggage in their cars, but I guess they were doing precautionary evacuation. No voluntary or mandatory evacuations were announced officially yet.

On Tuesday morning, I guess mother nature must have been heard the prayers, the winds were subsided to ~10mph. Witch Creek fire is not moving towards south, but still moving lil bit on north-west. Most of the fire is under control and not spreading much. By afternoon, most of evacuations on south side of the fire have been lifted areas.... still its only 10% contained !!

Its unbelievable how things can change in such a short time... On Saturday, I was relaxed and working on my guitar lessons, wondering how to play F chord smoothly.... and...... on Monday evening, I was worried that I probably will not be able take my guitar with me if mandatory evacuations happen.... Hshhhhh !!

Probably nothing happened to me specifically. I was never hit by the worst, but overall its a realization that "Life comes to you really fast, when you are busy doing other things" !!

My Country, My Country

Oh my country, may you have a happy morning.
Reunite everyone; heal your wounds.
I yearn to see you smile some day,
When will sadness set you free?

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds,
Take them all under your wings.
You are their father; you are their mother,
Stay firm, no matter how your winds gust.

Jesus and Prophet Muhammad said,
Their unity is your weapon.
Love, peace, intellect and construction,
May God in the heavens bless your success, my country.

Oh my beloved Iraq; oh Iraq,
Oh my beloved, oh my beloved, oh my beloved Iraq.

- By Kadhum Al Sahir

Theses words itself depict the pain, chaos happened/happening in Iraq. Filmaker Laura Poitras, filmed a documentary "My Country, My Country" about so-called "democratic" elections in Iraq. The huge contrast in American perspective of Iraq and what Iraqi civilians really need, has made a painful footprint on my mind.

...and guess what.... After the release of this film, the filmmaker Laura Poitras was on the USA Department of homeland Security watch list.. as most dangerous candidate.... Hail so-called "freedom of expression".... !!

Overall, the documentary is just fabulous. It was nominated for Oscars. Every screen-shot in the documentary shows the dark side of "fruits of freedom" !!
The song mentioned above always plays in backgound. Along with the lyrics, the music itself depicts the pain of "My Country".

- Trailer
- Film synopsis
- "My Country" soundtrack

On the flip side, I feel that documentary depicts only the bad things happening because of American occupation of Iraq, but it never shows any thing good happened because of fall of Saddam's regime..

Any way, I hope "Oh my country, may you have a happy morning." !!

भय इथले संपत नाही...

भय इथले संपत नाही...मज तुझी आठवण येते...
मी संध्याकाळी गातो...तू मला शिकविली गीते...

हे झरे चंद्र सजणांचे, ही धरती भगवी माया...
झाडांशी निजलो आपण, झाडांत पुन्हा उगवाया...

त्या वेळी नाजूक भोळ्या, वारयाला हसवून पळती...
क्षितीजांचे तोरण घेऊन, दारावर आली भरती...

तो बोल मंद हळवासा, आयुष्य स्पर्शुनी गेला...
सीतेच्या वनवासातील, जणू राघव शेला...

देऊळ पलिकडे तरीही, तुज ओंजळ फुटला खांब...
थरथरत्या बुबूळापाशी, मी उरला सुरला थेंब...

संध्येतील कमल फ़ुलासम, मी नटलो श्रृंगाराने
देहाच्या भवती रिंगण, घालती निळाईत राने

स्त्रोत्रात इंद्रिये अवघी, गुणगुणती दु:ख्ख कुणाचे
हे सरता संपत नाही, चांदणे तुझ्या स्मरणाचे

ते धुके अवेळी होते, की परतायची घाई
मेंदुतून ढळली माझ्या, निष्पर्ण तरुंची राई

- ग्रेस

Ram Sethu

The Ram-Sethu is a heated issue these days

I received following satire on QC's humor mailing list॥ Whoever has written this, has surely done a wonderful job !!

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

The Lord surveyed the Ram Setu and said "Hanuman, how diligently and strenuously you and your vanara sena had built this bridge several centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstood the ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It is indeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge at Hyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other day even before they could stick the posters on its pillars."

Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of your grace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the sea and they held. No steel from TISCON or cement from Ambuja or ACC was ever used. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now."

Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the bridge and construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot of money will be made. They will make money on demolition and make more money on construction. "

Hanuman humbly bowed down and said "Why not we go down and present our case"

Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us to submit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or school leaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and some times in bullock carts and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as the address proof is concerned the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is itself under litigation for over half a century, If I go in a traditional attire with bow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize me but Arjun Singh may take me to be some tribal and, at the most, offer a seat at IIT under the reserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in dressed in a three-piece suit and announce his arrival. It would make even the devotees suspicious. So it is dilemma so to say."

"I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."

"My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce the lay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and how the project cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is accepted without documentary evidence in India. You may cough but unless a doctor certifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present himself personally but the authorities do not take it as proof. He has to produce a life-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that complicated."

"Lord can't understand these historians. Over the years you have given darshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, Saint Thyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and still they disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth. The only option, I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government records straight once for all."

Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he may look like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mama Mareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was in the forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on earth as long as Salman Khan is around."

Book Du Ciel

The Book Du Ciel is up.

It is the log of observations through my 6' dobsonian reflector. Generally, I log everything in my notebook, but I guess BookDuCiel is better platform to save everything.

The only trouble might be to scan & upload my sketches, but at this point, lets not worry abt them..

Bazooka, my 6' dobsonian reflector...

Last month I bought new dobsonian telescope. It is Celestron Starhopper 6. It has 6 inch mirror with the focal length of 1219mm.

The focal length is more than I presumed. When I ordered it, I didn't realize that tube will be so lengthy. It is light, but when I carry it, I feel like I am carrying a missile launcher on my shoulders. I hope the cops or Tierra Del Sol border patrol guys will understand what I am carrying :)

I think I should name my dob as "Bazooka" !!

Any way, life is pretty interesting these days because of the Bazooka. The first time when I pointed it to Deep Sky objects like M13 Hercules cluster or M22 Sagittarius cluster, I was spell bound. The M22 looks exactly like this from my telescope. The M17 Swan nebula was beyond my expectations. From my Bazooka, it looks like this ...in black & white.. simply beautiful..

The simplest but the best object to watch is ..Moon... just unbelievable.. I am watching moon everyday.. Because of its phases, everytime it reveals different sets of craters and marias..

Hshhh.. I am already in love with the Bazooka !!

The Fly..

While reading the book "Contact", I came across this nice poem by William Blake. Its from his collection "Songs of Experience".

-- The Fly --

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength and breath,
And the want
Of thought is death,

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live
Or if I die.

-----------

Btw, Happy Independence Day !!

The Romeros...

Last week, San diego symphony summerpops showcased "The Romeros family"...

Romero family is amazing.. They are playing spanish classical guitar since last 4-5 generations.. and best part is every musician in the family plays great... This is the only family in whole world that has such a long history... also they are not only the musicians.. but they manufacture their guitar themselves... Infact they used to have a huge guitar store...

Here are some youTube links.. When you watch these videos, look at their right hand fingers.. the way all five fingers move on guitar is simply fabulous..

- first one
- second one
- third one , same flavor , once again

In the summerpops, they played the third song... Infact I witnessed 3 generations on stage... It was an awesome experience..

Also here is a small documentory about them...

Knuth FAQ

Came across Donald Knuth's webpage on Stanford. The FAQ is interesting.

Food for Soul

Just added a new section on the blog... If you are hungry, pick up something from it. If you have some interesting stuff, let me know..

Right now, eating this one !!

Woo-hoo !!!

KT... I am falling in love with her.. she is fabulous.. simply amazing... she is one-man (one-woman) team, playing whole orchestra by herself.. just unbelievable..

My music buddy Hitesh is in the same hyperstate as me.. Being guitarist, I think he understands KT better than me.... so what :) ?? Woo hooo !!!

Listen to her "Black horse and cherry tree" song. The original version is here ..it sounds okay.. not bad.. neither really impressive... right :) ? But... I like her not only because of her tunes, composition or voice... but.. she is great performer.. This is what I mean.. check her "One man (one-woman) performance" .. or.. "this one" ....damn.. she is gifted !!

"Her public debut".. I love the ending on this one !!

"Same one with plain guitar".. Woo hoo !!

..and same is the case with "Suddenly I see", "Michael Jackson's I want you back", "Heal over".. !!

Hitesh bhai.. when can I stop by for some guitar lessons :) ?

M$ vs Goog lifestyle..

So we always keep on hearing interesting stories about life at google.. free food.. 20% of your own project time.. free dental.. free massage... free broadband.. and bla bla..

Here is the reality.. This is an email from microsoft internal mailling list.. some ex-MS guy joined google and he is comparing both work lifestyles.. The email was supposed to be M$ internal.. but as usual leaked out !!

Here it goes !!

Where does QC fits in this ? Hmmm...

SDMM Music Show..

Finally it happened..

We "Aarohi" group performed for San Diego Marathi community. We had 18 songs... Show went on for almost 3 hrs.. Infact whole audience was present till end of the show... That's an achievement in itself :) !! Out of 18 songs, we received the request for replay of 3 songs.. not bad !!

The show was almost houseful. Almost 220 people showed up.. Actually the reason for that might be bcause we were playing all bollywood songs. If it would have been all marahti songs, then i believe attendance would have gone down.

My tabla, bongo, keyboard and flute came out well and was surely audible..

Infact during the show I realized that playing for 3 hrs is not a joke... infact you dont get time to think abt anything.. My mindset was so busy in logistics, that I didnt realize what I was playing.. It was like an auto-pilot.. becasue of so many music practices, the hand was moving on tabla just automatically.. and thats indeed great... means I was thinking so much about the sound system setup that I didnt get much time to think abt what I was playing.. any way.. being an auto-pilot is always good.. no need of improvisation at last moment :) at my level :) !!

As usual, sound system got messed up during the show. the second half was really disappointing. There was feedback from vocal mikes everywhere.. Man... We have put up so much time and effort in practicing all 18 songs and at the end of it show doesnt reach to the peak because of SDMM budget restrictions.. feels really bad... any way better luck next time...

As usual, video recording also didn't turn out well. With a camcorder setup, childern running all over the place, audience cheering/talking.. obviously the audio recording quality got messed up.. I guess the video is just good enough as a remebrance.

But... the audio recording directly from the mixer is amazing.. Its like studio recording.. we weren't able to believe ourselves that quality can be so good... btw, I am talking abt recording quality not the content of the recording :) !!

Any way, I will upload the photos and video-audio recordings soon...

So now.. show is over.. relaxed from the tiring music practices.. but now my evenings have become so empty.. Feels bad... time to kick off something new !!

Knock Knock.. Its ITC !!

Knock Knock... Who's there... ITC !!

... There is going to be a huge trouble for QC tomorrow.. ITC hearing... I hope it survives and stock stays up !!

Otherwise... EV-DO group will be fired :) !! Hmmm.. Haven't updated my resume for a while now !!

UPDATE: ...and here is the result :-( ..bad bad ITC.. no doughnut for you !!

First Time on Telescope

This memorial day long weekend was surely going to be miserable-and-in-turn-memorable for me. I didn't preplan anything and the last minute plans of hiking in Joshua National Park got shelved. So I presumed it was gonna be really boring weekend.

But looking at weather conditions, I decided to buy a telescope from the local frys store. I got a 3.1 inch f/9 refractor, Galileo FS-720. Its surely not a high end equipment... expensive than my estimate.. but still good enough for a beginner.

The obvious choice for observation was moon. Sight of moon was indeed fabulous through 24mm eyepiece. My 10x60 binocs has surely given me a good look at moon before, but at 25-50x zoom with a telescope stabilized on a tripod, opened new doors to lunar-heaven. I was able to see various marias, craters like Copernicus, Plato, Pythos, Eratosthenes, Kepler, Tycho etc. Increasing the magnification till 100x revealed finer details on Tycho and Copernicus. Dilip and Ranga were watching moon through telescope for first time and I was able to see their excitement while they were looking through the eyepiece.

Saturn was also a good catch. I have seen it before through 6 and 22inch reflectors, but wasn't sure how it will look like through 3inch. It wasn't that difficult to spot. Through 24mm eyepiece, saturn rings were not easy enough to observe, but 10mm eyepiece revealed the rings clearly. I was able to see the gap between the planet and the rings easily. Infact Saturn's largest moon Titan was also visible at 4'clock position from Saturn. In an effort to keep Saturn within the high magnification view with my manual tripod, I wasn't able to observe it in full detail. Any way better luck next time..

Watching Venus was okay. I was able to see its phase.. green tinge at the edge of Venus is surely a puzzle to resolve. Mizar-Alcor double in Ursa Major was also good to watch.

Any way, handling the telescope first time in my life, is indeed a memorable experience and has surely made my long weekend really short :)

Narayan..

These days I have become <PuLa> "Naraayan" </PuLa>.. Handy man.. for my music group !!

We have music show on 23rd June for marathi community, here in SD. We are performing 13 to 17 songs. So these days, music practices are part of daily life.. really hectic schedule.. I am playing Tabla in 5 songs and flute in one. We have couple of really good percussionist in our group, so I am just assisting them with my Tabla.

Now, here is the interesting part..

Last week, the group asked me to play "Bongo" for "MungaLaa".. Now I never played Bongo before.. but song is really "empty", so to add some fillers, I am required to play Bongo.

Again, in yesterday's practice, they asked me to play "Ghungaru" in two folk songs, just to add some more fillers in the song.

In today's practice, our keyboardist asked to me to assist him on the keyboard for "Crazy Kiya Re".. and I was totally in a shock... means.. being Tabla player, playing new percussion instrument like "Bongo" is not a big deal.. playing "Ghungaru" is okay too... but playing "Keyboard" is not a joke.. hshhhh... I have played Harmonium before, but surely not a Keyboard.. so I was really skeptical, but "Crazy Kiya Re" song itself is not that difficult.. I picked it up quickly.. still needs plenty of practice on keyboard.. but still.. not doing bad !! Infact, we have only one keyboardist in the group and he has to play in all the songs.. so again.. I am "required" to help him :) !!

Any way, so now I am playing "Tabla", "Flute", "Bongo", "Ghungaru" and "Keyboard" for this show... so any thing else? lets see if our "Guitarist", "Drummer" or "Singers" need any help too...

..Surely.. I am "Narayan" of my music group :) !!!

JPL Open House

Visited NASA-JPL facility yesterday.. JPL is in Pasadena, approx 2 hrs drive from SD.. It was open for general public over the weekend.. This is an annual event. I missed it last year, so was really curious and following it for a while !!

It was an awesome experience.. NASA-JPL showcased most of their ongoing research, current spacecrafts deployed in space, most of the spacecrafts being deployed till 2010 and details of most of their previous missions..

The best part of the whole open-house was real-life models of their missions.. full scale models of mars rovers spirit/opportunity launched in 2004, mars reconnaissance orbiter (MRO) launched in 2005, Phoenix mars lander to be launched in Q4-2007, Mars science laboratory (MSL) scheduled for 2009, Voyeger launced in 1977 and now at the edge of solar system, Cassini spacecraft for saturn etc.. They showed operational Mars rover (spirit/opportunity)... I have always seen small models of spirit/opportunity, but watching full scale rover was breath-taking... It was abt the size of a dining table.. Its rocker-bogey wheel-suspension system makes it move like an insect, crawling over the rocks. I talked with a JPL engineer "Scott" who worked/s on the ground controller software for rover. Rover is running vxWorks 4x on a RISC 20Mhz processor with 256 MB flash memory.. Rover talks with base station (MRO) with 128Kbps speed.. I was really surprised by the fact that they are using totally aged hardware.. I believe COTS is always the bottleneck in these projects considering their testing cycles :)... but Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is surely a breakthrough.. its the rover that JPL is launching in 2009.. Its huge... size of an SUV.. I wasn't able to take off my eyes from that machine... Full scale operational rover was crawling like an insect all over the rocks.. infact that guy is using 200 Mhz processor :) !!

The 3D hi-resolution images from rovers and MRO were all over the place.. Infact these wall-size images were so huge that I felt like standing on the mars :) !!

Got a chance to talk with Cassini's project manager, Engineering team of Deep Space Network, Ulysses solar spacecraft etc. Saw demos of infrared telescope, search of extra-solar planets etc.. JPL also opened their Spacecraft Assembly Facility, where they have built these rovers. Its their mechanical engineering facility where they manufacture the skeleton of the rover. They showcased their state of the art welding techniques, EDM cutting techniques for aluminum-titanium alloys.

Last but not least... There was a small booth which talked about India's ISRO Chandrayaan-1 mission also :).. JPL is deploying a spectrometer for scanning minerals on moon with Chandrayaan !!

Though JPL open house talked a lot abt mars exploration, they didn't mention anything about 2018 moon landing missions.. "Apollo on steroids".. I was looking for more info on that one.. but probably I missed the booth or JPL is not contributing much.. or still its in preliminary stage with launch vehicle rather than spacecraft..

Any way... Overall it was amazing visit.. This is first time I was visiting NASA lab.. In the morning, when I was entering JPL facility, I had so many questions in my mind .. and.. after 6 hrs, I left JPL with new set of questions :) !!

Talking with "Scott", rover software guy, popped some older questions.. and stirred my life again :) !! ..In Qualcomm I am working on the similar stuff "Scott" is working in JPL.. but me being in Wireless domain is different than his Astronomy domain.. means.. if I can work on the exact same technical stuff, I am doing currently, but apply it in astronomy domain.. then it will be like..."heaven" :) !! but will it ever possible ?? ...and thoughts abt ISRO pops up again... Hshhhh .. Hoping the dream will become reality soon !!

Chit-chat with Pandit Ravi Shankar...

I talked with Pandit Ravi Shankar today... It wasn't just "meeting" him, but "talking" with him. Uptill now, I have seen some great Indian classical musicians really closely.. like Zakir, Rashid, Bhimsenji, Jasaraj, Hariprasad and Shivkumar.. I have seen them face to face, I have touched their feet.. but I never got a chance to talk with them. But this time, for Ravi Shankar, I made it.. I talked with him.. Hurraaay !!!

Ravi Shankar himself and Anushka were playing in SD after a long time. SD is their home town, thus I have seen Ravi Shankar multiple times at different concerts. Since last one year, he had some shoulder injury so wasn't able to perform, but now he has started his musical journey again.

So me and my music group buddy went for the concert. When concert was over I thought abt meeting Panditji... My friend initially thought that "I am crazy" :), but when I told him how I have seen Hariprasad, Bhimsen, Shivkumar in pune.. face to face.. he also got enthu...

There were almost 100 people waiting outside greenroom... We weren't on the guest list either.. Only family and friends were allowed to visit.. I was the "back-stage crasher".. as usual.. so obviously we were at the tail end..

..but at last.. the moment appeared.. When we entered the greenroom, I saw Anushka talking with her american friends, but my eyes were looking for Panditji .. and there he was.. sitting on a sofa, talking with a american couple... Panditji looked at me.. and I guess he got little bit confused... probably he was thinking "who the hell is this young fat guy".. so he invited me and asked my name... I touched his feet and told abt myself.. immediately he identified me as "Marathi".. asked me about my liking towards music.. details abt my tabla.. Gharana... how long I have been playing.. What I am doing in San diego.. and at the end.. he said "surely meet me again"... hshhhhh.. while leaving the green room, I said hello to Anushka also !!

When my friend was introducing himself.. I was observing Panditji... nobody can believe that he is 87 years old.. His age is hard to determine from his cheerful face. He still has his legendary aura with him.. he was cheerful, bubbly and in an excited mood.. distinctive similarity with Pt Bhimsen ji.. I guess age or physical strength is never the issue with these legends. I am sure that its damn difficult for a 87 year old person to move his fingers on the sitar as smoothly as his young blood... but his brain and heart surely puts him in trance, inspires his fingers to move and his complex compositions comes to reality on sitar.. When you listen to him, you definitely get the feeling of a great composer, artist.. a complete musician... a legend..

Whenever these legends perform on stage, I always think that "what must be going in his mind.. what is he thinking abt while playing?" "Would he be worried abt his fingers not moving as fast as before".. or "he just enjoys the music and goes in trance".. you never know...

Any way, felt good after meeting & talking with him... a life time moment to cherish.. Infact my friend went crazy after meeting Ravi Shankar.. it was first time in his life he was visiting a great musician so closely and it turned out to be a chance to "talk" with him !!

In the concert, Anushka played "Puriya Dhanashri".. it was "so-so"... somewhat noisy :).. her "Kirwani" was good though... Infact a fellow flute artist "Ravi Kulur" was strikingly noticeable.. and finally Panditji rendered a marvelous raga "Jan-Samohini"..

..I hope I will get a chance to listen to him again...

200 calories..

200 calories.. just a fraction of your daily diet.. the number seems really small.. probably a doughnut or handful of peanuts or 2 coke cans.. and thats its.. you will consume 200 calories in seconds.. Take a look !!

...but to burn these calories.. ain't easy as it seems.. it takes around 20 mins of running @ 5 mph for my body type... Its surely a pain.. so now whenever I come across free food in QC meetings, I have to think twice... I have surely lost the appetite for desserts or cookies.. not because I don't want them.. but just to save some efforts on trade-mill..

and guess what... loosing 1 pound of body weight requires to get rid of 3500 calories.. hmmm do the math...

but still... since last couple of weeks.. I am consistent in burning calories.. at-least 300-400 calories everyday :) !!

Come on Cartman... Fight !!

Oh GOD...

Oh GOD,

Why are you so "depressed" these days? Why are you "hiding" yourself from us? Why there are so many "storms" in your life.. causing "murkiness" in my life?

Your "fuzziness" has affected my "seeing". You have "cried" in last 4 months. Because of that I have lost my "transparency".

Last week you showed me the "light" and I was able to explore the "heaven" again.. I saw thousands of "light sources".. "colorful diamonds" from your "treasure"..

But in this week, I am again "under the black matter".. lost my "vision" again... why are you putting me in this mode? Are you so "depressed"? Are you going to "cry" again ?

I was planning to "visit" you tonight... like last time.. but it looks like you don't want me to...

Oh GOD.. please make my "nights" cheerful again :-) !!

Lirpa Loof...

Lirpa Loof is going around everywhere since last couple of days.. I always browse for these every year around this time... but this time I almost got loof-ed.

I guess you don't know what is "Lirpa Loof".. Here it is !!!

Few of these from Google are just awesome..
- 2007 - TiSP
- 2007 - Paper Gmail
- 2006 - Romance
- 2005 - gGulp
- 2004 - Job Offer at moon
- 2002 - Pigeon Rank
- 2000 - MentalPlex

Infact this Page Not Found error message from google is damn funny.. Google Rules !!

Assassination of Bill Gates affecting stock market in 2003.. is indeed hilarious..

but frankly.. this one about AppleTV almost had me.. for a moment I thought that I should buy AppleTV.. and the next moment I saw that tag "lirpaloof" :)..but after reading the comments and details, I am totally confused again, if it is indeed true or not..!!

Any way, Slashdot also has geeky collection for this year..

Did you come across any interesting "Lipra Loofs"?

We.. The Indians..

We.. The Indians.. 11 people represent our country in a game of cricket.. They are the "chosen" one !!

Mr. Sachin Tendulkar - Greatest batsman ever..
Mr. Virender Sehawag - Highest score made by an Indian in Test Cricket
Mr. Saurav Ganguly - Holds the Indian captaincy record for the most Test victories.
Mr. Rahul Dravid - Highest test batting average of any Indian batsman in history
Mr. Yuvaraj Singh - Best fielder currently on the team.
Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni - Ranked second in the official ICC cricket rankings for batsmen in limited over internationals
Mr. Harbhajan Singh - First Indian bowler to take a hat trick in Test cricket
Mr. Ajit Agarkar - World record for the fastest 50 wickets in One-day international cricket.

..and remaining 3 bla bla guys..

These 11 Indian idols lost miserably to Sri Lanka today and thrown out of WC 2007.

Their records show that they are THE best ones in India... then.. what happened???

Mr. Sachin Tendulkar - The richest cricketer ever.. can't spare much time through advertisements.. Greatest batsman really don't need any practice.. Any way looks like it was his last world cup.. Bye bye !!

Mr. Virendra Sehwag - "Nawab of Najafgarh, Delhi".. Looks like he is busy with his restaurant "Sehwag Favourites".. really can not spare time for practice.. Lost his form but "Dravid Zindabaad" motto has saved his seat in Indian team !!

Mr. Saurav Ganguly - He just made a comeback.. how can we blame him? "Prince" takes a while to settle !!

Mr. Yuvaraj Singh - Either busy doing affairs with "Kim Sharma".. or "Xbox360" advts for Microsoft.

Mr. Mahendra Singh Dhoni - Because of his shoulder length hairs or because of tinted glasses, he really can not see the ball.. how can we blame him?

Mr. Harbhajan Singh - "Sardaar".. Indian team selected him for his best "bowling" record against SriLanka as compared to "Anil Kumble".. but "Sardaar" didn't understand his role in the team !! Instead of taking wickets, he put up sixes in the batting...

Mr. Ajit Agarkar - I still don't understand how he gets selected every time.. probably for his looks..

Can't we choose 11 players out of billion people that can really show India's potential? Nope.. Its not possible...

Star Gazing 2007-03-10

I went for star gazing at Tierra Del Sol (TDS) on Saturday with San Diego Astronomy Association group. They have their own observatory with 22 inch optical telescope. TDS is an hour drive from SD and the site is excellent. You can catch Mag 7 stars easily with naked eye.

My main objective this time was to do some binocular astronomy, like observing Messier objects. I had list of 16 objects to locate within 3 hrs (thats pretty lame objective for pros.. but for beginners like me its okay :)). Bob & Ravi were also with me and they didn't know much abt stars. So we had good beginner's session with fundas and then with constellations.

Best part of the star party was...

- Saturn from 22 inch. Bob said that it was like a textbook image of Saturn. Rings were just fabulous. 4 of its satellites were clearly visible !!

- Watching M41 open cluster in Canis Major and M36-37-38 open clusters in Auriga through binoculars was fun. I tried to locate these objects from SD multiple times and it was frustrating. But at TDS, I got them within a minute.. I was damn happy :) !! Infact for M36-37-38, I first observed them through binocs and then checked their relative-locations in sky-chart.. and it was perfect. It was indeed (a small scale) achievement for me. I am sure that now I can find them from SD also.

After 3 hrs, whole thing got ruined because of cloud cover and winds. We were planning to wait till moon rise @ 12:34 and then observing moon through 22inch would have been fun.. but gusty winds were just unbearable !!

Overall, I located 10 messier objects out of 16. Others were lost because of the cloud cover... bad luck.. bad day for star gazing !!

Any way, my Nikon 10x50 binoc, which I ordered last week, is on the way.. I should get it tomorrow.. Feeling excited !!

Faster Than Light...

Ever thought about moving faster than light? ..Or.. do you know "anything" that can travel faster than light?

The speed of light "c" is 300,000 Km/s in vacuum. In any other medium, light's speed is always less than "c". Anything with "mass" can not travel at speed of light. These are universal truth or basic assumptions in physics.. on which whole "physics" is based..

But NEC researchers have made a breakthrough where they got "something" moving faster than light.. Any guess on what that "something" is ?... :)... the light itself.. These guys made the light break its own record :) They have developed new type of "medium".. a special "vapor".. that can make light travel 310 times faster..

Unbelievable.. and they did it in year 2000 only.. Hmm.. wasn't aware abt it before.. here is the press release.

Actually.. While reading abt "Faster Than Light", I also came across some interesting experiments. There are "things" that can really travel faster than light.. both in "absolute" terms and "relative" terms.. From this article,

Think about how fast a shadow can move. If you project a shadow of your finger using a nearby lamp onto a far away wall and then wag your finger, the shadow will move much faster than your finger. If your finger moves parallel to the wall, the speed will be multiplied by a factor D/d where d is the distance from the lamp to your finger and D is the distance from the lamp to the wall. It can actually be much faster than this if the wall is at some oblique angle. If the wall is very far away the movement of the shadow will be delayed because of the time it takes light to get there but its speed is still amplified by the same ratio. The speed of a shadow is therefore not restricted to be less than the speed of light.

Others things which can go faster than the speed of light include the spot of a laser which is pointed at the surface of the moon. Given that the distance to the moon is 385,000 km try working out the speed of the spot if you wave the laser at a gentle speed.

Stand up in a clear space and spin round. It is not too difficult to turn at one revolution each two seconds. Suppose the moon is on the horizon. How fast is it spinning round your head? It is about 385,000 km away so the answer is 1.21 million km/s, which is more than four times the speed of light! It sounds ridiculous to say that the moon is going round your head when really it is you who is turning, but according to general relativity all co-ordinate systems are equally valid including revolving ones. So isn't the moon going faster than the speed of light? This is quite difficult to account for.

These are all examples of things which can go faster than light, but these are not physical entities.. They don't have "mass". It is not possible to send "information" faster than light on a shadow or light spot.. so "FTL communication" is not possible in this way...

Binocs..

Finally... I ordered binoculars for star gazing. Nikon Action Extreme 10x50.

Till this point, I was surviving on cheap binocs from walmart or target.. Also, it was a headache justifying the price for astro binocs and thats why till now I didn't buy anything and survived on bushnell 10x50. But now I am really tired with the quality of these cheap binocs and decided to go to next level..

Obviously there are hundreds of good astro binocs avalable.. but more you explore, more you will get confused. OpticsPlanet website is surely a good resource and their discussion forums are awesome. After a long research, I made up my mind with Nikon 10x50 Action Ex. I hope it will serve me well.

Planning for a Messier Marathon soon.. Want to join in :) ?

Osama...

Don't get confused with "Bin Laden".. I am talking about 2004 Golden Globe - Best Foreign Film Award Winner movie Osama.

Movie depicts Taliban regime and shows oddities, extremities in their behavior & teachings.. It is shown through eyes of an 12 year old girl. Just to have daily bread for her family, she has to work.. and for that she has to change into a "boy". The whole movie is her fight for survival in a "extremist male driven society".

The movie is realistic, practical and in turn pessimistic. Obviously there is a glimpse of hope at every turn, but finally it doesn't last long with reality.
Its a first movie directed fully in Afghanistan and is written through personal experiences. The direction of the movie, cinematography and acting of a 12 year old girl is just too good...

When I saw hindi movie "Kabul Express" i.e. bollywood's depiction of post Taliban regime, I was really disappointed.. Its surely a "bakawaas".. But "Osama" movie deserves its golden globe award.

I know very few of you will watch this movie, but at-least check out the movie trailer on yahoo.

Void...

There is a "void" in my life. It makes me restless. I don't have the answer to fill it up and that drives me crazy. Why am I feeling that "void" these days only? It must have been there with me for a long time.. at least last 4 years.. At that time, though I felt it sometimes, it wasn't that significant.. but these days I can feel its existence...

I think I know "what" is causing that void.. "Why these days" is understandable.. but "How".. is really a tough question.. I hope whatever I am thinking is indeed the right answer... otherwise....

..Time to tackle the "black hole" !!

Run Forrest Run...

Forrest Gump... I don't know what's there in this movie, but whenever it is aired on TV, I always watch it. I guess I have watched it more than 10 times till now.. Why?? Six Oscars and thirteen nominations says it all.

The movie is just fabulous. Its amazing philosophy.. perspective of an autistic person. The dialogs from the movie are just tooo deep..

- "For no particular reason", I started running that morning.
- Lieutenant Dan, You got "new legs".
- My mama said life is a "box of chocolates", you never know what you are gonna get next.
- We all do things, that sometimes just nonsense.
- Where the hell's this God of yours? It's funny Lieutenant Dan said that, 'cause right then God showed up.
- Whatever it means.

Hshhh you should read whole script :).. !!

The violin-piano piece at the end of the movie when feather files away in the sky..
is a masterpiece..

For no particular reason, I love this movie.. If you haven't watched it yet, keep in mind you are missing something..

Viva Las Vegas ..

Had a short trip to vegas.. couple of friends are getting married.. so most probably it was our last bachelor trip together :) !!

Thoughts of going to Vegas always excites me.. Glamor, Richness, Grandiose Casinos, Never ending money-flow, makes me get out of the routine life. Everybody says that fulfill your "dreams" in "sin city".. Want to earn more money, then gamble.. Gambling for "fun" is a good way of looking at it.. but Gambling for "dream"..is just too much !! but "No" gambling in Vegas is surely a stupidity.. then whats the point of being in Vegas?.. Bright fluorescent lights, Adventurous rides, Expensive cars, clothing, World Carnival, delicious food banquets, Watching people getting panic-yelling across roulette table .. surely makes Vegas more enticing..

But every coin has two sides.. moon has a farther-dark side never visible from earth.. or milky-way has a black hole at the center which is eating up the milky way itself... Similarly.. Vegas has its dark side..

On one side, Casinos on the Strip glittering with fancy lights.. but have you seen the open ground between two casinos.. there will not be single flash of light. Hundreds of homeless people will be sleeping there.. On one side, "rich" people spending thousands of money in casinos.. but have you seen those people on the street distributing cards of hookers.. How much do they earn?.. In fact how many girls in a strip club.. dance by their choice.. Do they dance for money or do they for their survival? Or does the money change their "thinking" also?

Can "dreams" go along with "reality"? Can dreams be fulfilled in more "ethical" way... I don't know !!

These two extremes in Vegas disturbs me a lot.. Infact its not just Vegas..

In my last trip to Pune, I have seen similar changes in the society. The culture which I have seen 4 years back is totally different than what I saw in my last trip.. On one side of a street you can see a restaurant serving "sizzlers" @ Rs 350 and on another side you have "Vada-Pav" cart for Rs 6. The multiplex theater "E-Square", having samosaas for 50 bucks a plate, is full of "young" crowd.. while a single theater complex like "Mangala" totally empty and getting bankrupted.. Money is flowing all the over the place.. real-estate prices are at the peak.. IT industry in pune is paying grand salaries to its employees. These "s/w developers" can afford anything.. My "capitalistic" buddy says that these "s/w developers" are driving economy by spending more in the market.. and in turn other streams will benefit soon.. Though whatever is saying is correct and I do see a cell phone with "Vada-Pav" cart guy.. does that really define his improvement in lifetstyle.. Does affording a cell phone show his "progress"? Does the "absolute amount of money" an indicator for "progress of a society"? Our finance Minister shows GDP of 8% from last year.. which is mainly because of IT services.. while remaining sectors like agriculture are still in 2% GDP.. Out of billion people, only 200 millions are earning like a hell.. People who are rich are becoming richer.. and people who are poor are becoming poorer because they can not keep up the pace..

Isn't it increasing the "gap" in the society? ..I am not a "communist" ..I believe in Ayn Rand's "objectivism" .. but still.. I am a "socialist".. Why does the AC cars of Deccan Queen train get burned.. is "religion" the only reason for such a communal violence?.. or is this the "gap" in the society? ..Why does thousands of farmers die in Maharashtra and Andhra? Are their loans piling up because of "lack of rain" or is it because of their fight for survival to keep up the pace.. ?

..I don't have any answers .. but It always makes me think.. and disturbs me..

A Common Man..

A common man with a dream .. can build a great empire.

"I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it." ... "Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."

Gulzar gives poetic charms to these words, while Rahman's high vocal pitch escalates it to a totally different level..

These words still linger on my lips.. my brain.. & my mind...

Jaage Hain Der Tak
Hamein Kuch Der Sone Do,
Thodi Se Raat Aur Hai
Subah To Hone Do.

Aadhe Adhure Khwaab Jo
Pure Na Ho Sake,
Ek Baar Phir Se Neend Mein
Woh Khwaab Bone Do.

What If..

What if... "You go to bed.. wake up next morning.. find yourself on moon" ... Duhhhh !!! What are you gonna do? .. something similar to spider-man movie !!

For me.. No more work.. hurray... No more internet connection... No more cell phone.. Yehhh... Just don't have to worry about anything..

..Walking on moon will give a feeling of our ancestors.. "hooping" here and there..

Watch beautiful sunrise and sunset.. Infact watching earth-rise and earth-set will be a heavenly sight... blue planet rising from east.. With earth's rotation and cloud cover, it will always be a different sight..

Really good clear sky view at night time... just get your binocs or telescope out.. point it to orion nebula and no more atmospheric abrasions... every night will be a "star-party" !! ..really?... every night?? how often will have a night on moon :)?

What else... Hmmm.. ..too much heat.. barren land.. no more "blockbuster" ..no more "south park".. no more "slashdot".. Duhhh.. no food.. no water ..no oxygen ..Fight for survival.. new tensions.. new problems.. ohh man !!!

and NASA says that there are 181 good ideas to implement on Moon :D

Donations..

I feel like I am really generous... esp to public libraries.

I borrow lot of books and DVDs from my local SD library. Most of the time, I just forget to return them before due date. So in turn I pay hell lot of fine to these libraries..

When I was in AZ, my local library used to charge just 25 cents per item, so it was okay.. but SD library is really "cruel" on me by charging $2 per item per day. So having 10 items checked-out at a time, late-fee just piles up and I end paying big bucks from my wallet. If I do the simple calculation for last 4 years, then I think I would have saved enough to buy a iPod :) !!

I believe there are members like me who make these public libraries profitable. Paying late fees to public libraries is just a special way of donating to community :) !!

Last month, I donated something to KPBS - local PBS radio channel. Its not like I donated them huge amount, but still they were so nice to me that along with my membership, they sent me lot of goodies, which they shouldn't have..

Any way, time to get some tax deductions on my donations :) !!

Blinking at some Older Questions..

Some old questions always keep on popping in my mind. These questions are "old" in the sense that I have already faced them earlier, thought abt them for a while and tried to answer them.. but still they reappear and I have to answer them again with current timeline. Sometimes people keep on knocking at the door with slightly tweaked "old question" and I have to make sure that my previous answer is still valid and logical.

Confused ? .. The "old" but "important" question I am talking abt is "my returning to India for goods".. The question for me is not "Am I?" ... infact it is "When am I?" .. I have answered this question multiple times: at time when I was joining QC, at time when I was really needed at home and also during my last India trip... Whatever decision I have made first time, still holds the ground.

These days, somebody again knocked at my door with a real "googly".. and it made me think again... But.. more the knocking, more it solidifies my position..

According to author of Blink, all the important decisions are made in two seconds and after that you will just keep on justifying your position..
Though I disagree with author abt "two seconds", I am surely experiencing the justification phase.

Open Book..

"Life is an open book".. whoever said that, Its a great statement "philosophically" or "spiritually"..... but "literally" its damn scary !!

Yesterday, I received my credit reports from three credit agencies. This is the first time I have requested them and I got shocked by what I saw inside. They, probably govt knows most of the stuff about me.. my personal info, residential records, employer records and credit card records since last four years. In residential records, they knew each and every temporary place I stayed in, Employer record shows my joining dates, credit card record shows when I have paid each and every credit bill and how much was the balance every time... Unbelievable.. and everything is protected with a (public-or-supposedly-private) key... my SSN.. Just one "mouse click" reveals everything !!

Life in USA is indeed an open book... check your open book today before it gets closed !!

So the question pops up... Is this govt really "democratic"? hmmmm.. lets see..

- According to my open book, all my personal records are already with govt..
- What abt bank records? Ohh.. Feds are already tracking all global bank transfers
- What abt cell phone talks or personal data?.. FBI is already on it
- What abt my personal activities like browsing? Feds are requesting search queries from all search engine giants. Though google has denied it, Yahoo MSN & AOL are already pumping their data to Feds.

Last but not least..

- What's the deal with biometric passports? Providing my "unique" finger prints and retina records to govt for sake of "security"..
- Installing RFID chips in human body to track a human. One such RFID manufacturer is already going for an IPO this year. Congratulations !!
- Big Brother camera & speaker system to monitor and control you... Communist govts like North Korea already have these systems in "every" household since last couple of decades.. thats why they are called "communist".. Isn't it? but now what abt UK?

If govt is collecting personal data, establishing infrastructure to track, monitor and control people for "security" reasons, then they have to define the scope, otherwise soon it will clash with "Freedom".. As George Orwell said it precisely that such a "Freedom is Slavery" !!

Duhhhhh...

Democratic govt and Communist govt... I guess the borderline is becoming really hazy... You never know when Nineteen-Eighty-Four will turn into reality..

God bless us... I mean to say.. "Govt bless us" !!

Clear Sky Clock..

If you are planning for a star-party or star gazing session, then having clear sky is absolute necessity. Infact if you are planning to drive to some remote place, then you should know weather details for next 4 to 5 hrs or so...

..Clear Sky Clock is exactly what we need.. It gives you hr-by-hr details about cloud cover, transparency, darkness as well as humidity, temperature and wind conditions..



SD weather is really bad these days.. heavy cloud cover, raining, windy and too cold.. Looks like no more star-gazing sessions till next thursday.. Duhhhh !!

Memory of the Camps

I watched a documentary Memory of The Camps, aired on PBS Frontline.

Its about the time when allied forces rescued concentration camps from Nazi rule.. Its really disturbing... Press reaction says everything... "... will undoubtedly become the definitive cinematic record of the hell on earth that Hitler created" - Boston Globe

Iranian president Ahmadinejad calls Holocaust as a myth. Isn't it absurd that Iran holds a conference to validate the reality of holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day only ?

.. we will never learn anything from history and if we don't then..

Some survey says 41% Britons believe that another Holocaust can happen in UK..

DON.. The Remake

"DON - The Chase Begins Again" movie dekhana mushkil hi nahi na-mumkin hey !!

The remake attempt of original Amitabh movie DON has ended up in total disaster. It is a "typical bollywood movie".

< definition > "Typical bollywood movie" implies that you can safely ignore it or if you are in "insomnia" then watching this movie guarantees 100% "hypersomnia" < / definition >

Being "Farhan Akhtar" movie, I surely had some hopes, but it seems like he is also following "copy-cat" philosophy of great "Annu Malik". Screen shots from Matrix, FaceOff, Fast & Furious are sprinkled everywhere !!

Watching Shahrukh Khan for 2hrs-45mins is a lifetime punishment. I never understood why the hell everybody compares him with Amitabh. Shahrukh's "monkey" face and overacting is just unbeatable . Amitabh can never reach to that level. I am talking abt "Angry-Young-Man" not the "White-Beard-Black-Hair-Senile".

Whoever is the "cast director" of the movie has done unbelievable job .. Karina's "Ye mera dil" dance, Priyanka's "Marshal Arts", Pawan Malhotra's "Naarang" and not but least "Shahrukh's "ddddd don" are (literally) breath taking. Boman Irani shouldn't have played villain role. He is better with his comic roles.

Same is the case with "art director". There is a shot in the movie where Jasjeet enters into Petronas Tower to meet Vardhan. When he enters the room, it seems like the room is "under-construction". .. Excuse me.. I thought that the room is in "Petronas Tower"..

I guess the only interesting thing in the movie is "tweaks to the original plot". Especially Sharukh's transition from "Don.. then Vijay.. then "So-called-Don" Vijay.. then "So-called-Vijay" Don is funny.

I just got lifetime membership of "I-Hate-Shahrukh" community on Orkut !!!

Life Is To Whistle..

"Life is what happens to you... while you are busy doing other things"

Spanish/Cuban movie "Life Is To Whistle" depicts same philosophy in very vivid manner. Three "Strangers" are passionate about "Things" (Sex/Ballet, Music/Mother's love and Social work). While trying to pursue their happiness (things), they end up sacrificing some "other important things" (Sex, Love, Love).. While busy in analyzing what choice to make, their life takes them to their "another subconscious happiness".... and all of them are happy...

The End.. No hold on.. thats not the end of the movie... In reality, though these "strangers" feel that they have found out about their "another subconscious happiness"... actually they haven't.. !!!

Totally bizarrreee... The movie is highly philosophical... I think "excessively" philosophical.., most of the screen-shots and dialogs are metaphorical.. but still has some "okay" directional streaks !!

So what ? It has received multiple awards in various film festivals.. "Best Foreign Spanish Language Film Award", "Special Jury Award"..

Any way, I guess I have to watch "another" movie now.. just to wipe out those metaphors from my brain.. just to have better sleep :) !!

Paper Clips..

Symbol represents the philosophy behind a particular act. Symbol represents objectives of specific institute or community. Once you understand the thought stream hidden behind a symbol, you will never look at that symbol the same way, you used to do before.. Symbols make us think !!

Same thing has happened to me, since I watched the documentary Paper Clips.

Paper Clips is a Holocaust project carried out by eighth graders from a small town in Tennessee. School teachers told the students abt Holocaust, Hitler and death of 6 million Jews (overall 11 million) in concentration camps. The number 6 million was somewhat difficult for students to understand, so they came up with an idea of collecting paper clips as a representative for every life lost in the concentration camp.. The reason for using the symbol "Paper clip" was because Norwegian patriots used to protest against the king by wearing paper clips. The clips were meant to denote "we are bound together".

So these students started writing to various celebrities, authors, politicians etc and they received responses in terms of paper clips.. When students started counting these paper clips one by one, they began to understand the enormity of holocaust. Initially the project was focused for students, but over the period it absorbed the whole community. In fact the news about the project reached all over the world. People started contributing to project by sending "a paper clip" as representative for their closer ones, who died in concentration camp..

Few concentration camp survivors visited this school to spend some time with these students and share their memories. It gave whole new insight into the "Cold", "Calculated", "Extermination" of Jews by Nazis in concentration camps.

Overall, students received 24 million paper clips. As a memorial, the school hosted 11 million paper clips in a railcar, which was being used during WW-II to carry Jews/prisoners to concentration camp.

Initially the project started with an objective of "Understanding Holocaust", but finally it turned out to be a project of "Love, Humanity and Freedom".

A Paper Clip.. A Symbol.. !!

Welcome Home SRE-1..

Following up with my previous blog entry. About Space capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) module, which was launched by ISRO 11 days back.

Today SRE-1 is returned home.. in excellent condition.. Hurray !!

When SRE-1 was directed for re-entry, it was traveling with lightening speed. According to ISRO press release, "The capsule made its re-entry at 09:37 am at an altitude of 100 km with a velocity of 8 km/sec (29,000 km per hour)". "By the time SRE-1 descended to an altitude of 5 km, aerodynamic breaking had considerably reduced its velocity to 101 m/sec (363 km per hour). Pilot and drogue parachute deployments helped in further reducing its velocity to 47 m/sec (about 170 km per hour). The main parachute was deployed at about 2 km altitude and finally, SRE-1 splashed down in the Bay of Bengal with a velocity of 12 m/sec (about 43 km per hour) at 09:46 am."

I believe it takes hell lot of design efforts to build a re-entry capsule that can sustain against the warp speed and intense heat being generated because of earth's atmosphere... In fact just out of curiosity, I looked into the numbers for Apollo 11 mission space capsule, called "Columbia" which carried 3 astronauts. According to NASA, "Columbia entered the atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour (25,000 miles per hour), its exterior reached a temperature of 2,760° C (5,000° F)."

.. Hshhh... Unbelievable.. Those astronauts survived at these extreme conditions..

.. Hats off to Apollo mission !!

Lets see how ISRO plans for their first manned lunar mission in 2018 !!

Zoop In..

My blog is blessed with a "Fameter".. A meter that judges how famous you are... really? .. do you see those stars on the upper right corner of the blog... No ??? hey.. check your eyesight.. or simply allow java scripts in your browser... Okay.. so now can you see those twinkling stars on right hand side.. thats the one I am talking about.. (I know.. I know.. they are not twinkling)

So please bless my blog by clicking on the 5th star...and make me famous... I can find it easily where u r clicking.. so beware.. of me :) !!

Any way.. the real story is... my buddy has a startup dream and just wrote a "Fameter".. Its still in alpha testing.. so help him by visiting my blog again & again :) and clicking on Fameter.. (don't forget the 5th star :))

< advt >

So do you want to be famous ? .. in one click ??
... Tadaa.. Install Fameter !!

< /advt >

- Kau

Comet McNaught

Comet McNaught is in the sky these days.. brightest one to naked eyes since last 30 years. Its becoming more and more brighter.. Its traveling so close to sun that most of its material is evaporating.. increasing its luminosity..

In northern hemisphere, (USA/India) it was visible till Jan 14th.. I watched it couple of times.. It was awesome site.. I have watched Shoemaker-Levy, Hyakutake and Hale-Bop before.. but McNaught is the best one for me... My father used to tell me stories from his childhood about some comet and about its tail.. He doesn't remember the name.. I believe it must be Ikeya-Seki .. any way.. now I also have stories about comet McNaught to tell him about and I have already bored him a lot on the phone :)

Now, McNaught has finished orbiting behind the sun and again visible from southern hemisphere.. and it is at its best... its just fabulous.. Its tail is going in a curvature.. leaving dust streaks behind.. kind of showing its circular orbit around the sun.. infact now its extravagant..

I have seen pictures of various comets.. but none was like this one.. Pictures from southern hemisphere are pouring on spaceweather. Also take a look at the pictures taken by original discoverer Rob McNaught. .. Just beautiful !!

Checkout this video taken by sun watching spacecrafts SOHO and STEREO

Goshh.. I should have been on southern side... I am really missing this !!

Photo credit: R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory

PSLV-C7 Launch..

Another step towards.. India Rising !!

PSLV-C7 is launched successfully today at 9:23am IST. It carried 4 satellites at the same time and put them in orbit. Quite an achievement in itself !! Considering last year's failure of GSLV, we are surely back on track.

The best part of this mission is Space Recovery Experiment module (SRE-1). This is India's first attempt in developing space re-entry vehicle/capsule. After some micro-gravity expriements, SRE-1 re-entry will be carried out in 3 weeks. Success of SRE-1 will be a huge step for India towards our moon mission Chandrayan in '08.

Video of PSLV-C7 launch is available here .

Photos of the launch are available here.

Video of 4 satellites being mounted is available here.

Feels good today !!

photo credit: ISRO

Resolutions..

"New Year Resolution". This is surely an interesting business. Everybody comes up with some new resolutions every year. It doesn't matter if you have really achieved your last year's resolutions or not. Nobody verifies. But so what.. its utmost important to come up with some new ones.. :-D

Infact how long these resolutions survive is another aspect. While talking with my colleagues, somebody said "My new year resolution is to have a fish tank". The moment we started talking about "Fish fry" & "Fish curry", the resolution ended up in trash.
As Pu La says, "Ganapati ani Sankalpa sarkhech !! Kunacha Ganapati deed diwasacha asto, Kunacha paach diwasacha, Baghu ya amacha kiti diwas tikatoy te"

Overall the strategy is
- Setup an (un)achievable goal
- Start working towards your goal
- Soon you will realize that "achievable" goal is really under "unachievable" category. Rectify it and work towards it.
- Loopback last step for whole year.
- At the end of the year, you will get "something" done (??).. doesn't matter what was your original goal.

Hmmm sounds similar to software engineering :-) !!

Here is an interesting article by Pu La about new year resolutions..

So what are my '07 resolutions?

- Start a blog ... Tadaa.. Goal achieved !!
- Keep writing a blog.. Uhhh ohh !!
- Instead of "Standing Outside The Fire", try to get into it... Ya.. this is a mysterious resolution.. I will let you know at the end of the year :) .. Its as secretive as 007 !!

- Kau

The First One..

Though this is not my first blog entry, still I am marking it as "The First One"... (Technically, A. B. C. D. was the first entry.. but that falls under beta testing category of the blogger. Fyi, actually test didn't pass .. leckage of 3.. )

hmmm.. so what am I gonna write in the "first blog entry" ? It should be something "great".. something to remember by.. something people will find great.. hmmm

Actually I really don't know why I have decided to start writing a blog. .. Infact I just don't understand why people write their blogs.. Most of the "writers (so called)" want to share their thoughts with "public".. Everybody wants to share their opinion about some "xyz" issue.. who the hell wants to know what are your "abc" thoughts on "xyz" issue.. There are hell lot of intellectual folks (surely..) whose thoughts are interesting to read about than yours... so why yours.. I guess everybody considers themselves as "intellectual", "writer" and want to push their thoughts on others..

But any way.. if you are posting some articles, or some links from an "intellectual", then its good... btw, I am not talking about "so called" intellectual otherwise it might turn into a deadlock according to my "Push-Thoughts-To-Irritate aka PT2I" theory as i explained above.. any way.. or if you are writing about your personal things :) ahaaa then thats interesting to read about !!

I guess you are getting the feeling that I am rude, senseless, sadistic with corrupt brain bla bla... .. "Knock Knock".. "Whos there" "Its Eric... Nah Nahna Na Na" !!

Any way.. where was I .. why am I writing this blog ?..

Probably because I got inspired by somebody who is writing interesting blogs about her personal life which I find interesting... So I am writing one so that she can read mine.. Nahhhhh Or probably, "people" are interested in peeping into my personal life and I am just satisfying their devilish mentality.. hmmm thats possible. Or probably, somebody told me to get into "new year resolution" business and one of the resolution is "write a blog".... that sounds reasonable.. Or probably, I am thinking about "writing" for a long time, but wasn't able to get a good name for my blog.. hmmmm cut the crap.. Or probably, I just want to come out of my "pvt ltd" shell and interact more with public.. ( Oh no.. another "PT2I" author !! ) Or probably, I just want to jot down some mysterious thoughts out of my "black hole" brain and really want to verify they are abnormal.. Naaahhhhhh

But any way... reasoning doesn't matter.. Only thing that matters is "Black Hole" is finally born ... Excellent... after a long time..

Now the main problem is what am I going to write about on this blog...

Probably things which I like about.. like music, astronomy, literature, tech-geeky stuff, hollywood stuff.. Or probably things which people like about.. like my thoughts on cricket or politics or something of that sort.. you got the point.. right ?

Or probably some crap, like this blog entry.. Are you still with me? I am surprised that I have wrote so much crap in so less time and people are still reading this... I told you .. Human mentality of peeping into other people's life.. I guess thats why "blogging" works..

Any way,

Happy Blogging !! Let the new year bring more "interesting" blogs in your life !!

- Eric

A. B. C. D.

Testing.. 1 .. 2 .. 4..
..Is this blog leaking.. where the hell is 3 ?? (sounds familiar hmm..)

Don't blame me if you see any bizarre thoughts on this blog.. Its not me.. Its the "blogger" acting weird..

- Eric