There’s lot in a Name...

                                  Juliet : “ What's in a name? That which we call a rose
                                                 By any other name would smell as sweet."


Such a dialogue comes in well celebrated work of William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”. Is it true? What’s not in a name? Why there is so much gaga over a name.


Recently I had a friend fathered a lovely boy. I asked him to name him “Abhimanyu”. It means someone who is intelligent and sharp minded. My logic also was about name starting with alphabet “A”. Having suffered whole of my life, for having name starting with “tail ender” alphabet “V”, the name for the newbie also explained his luxury to have things at first. Moreover Abhi would be pet name so easy to be pronounced.

But I had to face other side of the story. The name Abhiamanyu was straight away rejected coz, in Mahabharata he was killed in his puberty suggesting such a name would be inauspicious for the baby. However, this threw me into deep sea of thoughts. First of all, it was because of Arjuna’s absence Abhimanyu had to enter Chakravyuha, that too with permission from his uncle Yudhistira. Second, it’s completely ill of us to relate to a name to a mythological character. Just imagine, if a person is named “Krishna”, does his uncle be “Kamsa” ? Or if a person is “Rama” ,his father is married to three women?

What is the logic when a guy named “Ganapathy” marries some “Gauri” ? Or some lady named “Seetha” giving birth to child named “Ram” ? I remember a person whose name was “Prahlad”. Does it mean his father was Rakshas “Hiranya Kashipu” ?

All these thoughts would end me up in a rib tickling Ha ha ha ha.

Names are now meant not just for addressing persons any more. It goes beyond that. Sunil Shetty became Suniel shetty, Hari Om Rajeev Bhatia into Akshay Kumar, Yusuf Khan turned into Dilip Kumar and another Dilip Kumar was renamed to music director Allah Rakha Rahman ( AR Rahman). Someone changed their names to hide their identity or religion, someone for acknowledging their new faith, someone believe in numerology and someone for easy vocalization. Does anyone remember “Vernakula Suriya Pathapathaje Usantha Joseph ” as their name’s initials or just as “Chaaminda Vaas” the srilankan who had ousted Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar numerous times.

I don’t know how far this is true. I was told that, in Sikhism, new baby is named by the first word from the page, the Guru opens of “The Guru Grantha Sahib”. Funnily in case of Navjot singh sidhu and his wife ( who is Navjot Kaur) , the opened page was same and same word “Navjot” was referred. In another strange case, father was Brahmin and mother was a catholic Christian so their son became “ Alan Bhat”. So much constructive approach in naming was about one person who was named “Samvedan” (means sensitivity). This mentioned individual’s grand pa was “SANjeeva” , father was “VEnkatesh” and mother was “vanDANa”. The name was compounded by capitalised letters of listed names. !!

Calling names is again one more “in” thing amongst youth. In his childhood, one of my friend was big fan of the then kannada movie star Ambareesh, people used to call him Ambareesh so much so that none knew his real name. One more funny incident was, our temples used to have supervisors who were addressed as “Patali”s (traditional designation system). Naughty kids would call their sons as “Patali Putra”s. I too was addressed with an odd name “Shakti” :P ( the story is too immaturish, too shy to share here ). My principal’s initials were S.Y.K, who was always referred as (PSYCH) secretly.

Don’t you now feel that there is really something in names?

Yes, each individual wants his brand ! he wants it to be unique, un-common, stylish and powerful.So it has to start with his name. It can even make or break a person’s career. All the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis, Khans, Kapoors or Mallyas have already carved a niche. First names are not really needed!

Here are some of my suggestions when you want to pick a name

1. Have starting letter from first 5 alphabets. This would help the child to have things falling at first place as the world is so much crazy to order alphabetically.

2. Look up for its real meaning (in popular language ), never ignore the eaning for its attractive fancy phonetics.
There was a girl named “Suvidha” ( which means facility ) !

3. Have the name short and pronunciation simple. A no no for the following
“ Ramagopalanathan subramanian Aravinda Acharya” it takes years to figure out first name.

4. See for the chosen name or its derivatives, for any derogatory/obscene/stupid meaning applicable
For example in English speaking countries, the Indian name “Hardik” is crazily laughed at.( find the reason yourselves).

5. Try to have a name which is fresh and not much heard.
Not just for his looks, his name too added to Hrithik Roshan’s star value.

Once Akbar demands to know from courtiers about most funny incident one has come across in their lives. Each courtier tells his share of incidents, anecdotes to please the emperor. But emperor looks less interested.
Now, it comes the turn of Birbal, the pet courtier of Akbar. Birbal, asks Akbar to come for a walk, in disguise. All Akbar has to do is to observe people and ask their name.

First they will encounter a beggar whose name was Lakshmi Putra ( Son of Godess of Wealth). Then they will see a person dead. Funnily the person who had died was named Amar (Eternity) and lastly they will see a blind woman whose name is “Sunayana” (Lady with beautiful eyes).

Akbar and Birbal return to palace, all laughing. !

How to be a GODMAN? *

( * applicable only in India )

Long back I had read this story in a Kannada comic book.

A thief is chased by palace guards. He keeps running, helplessly searching for shelter. It would not be feasible for him to run more and escape from guards,he feels. Settles down under a tree near by, smears mud paste on his forehead, covers his body with an orange gown,wears a fake beard and closes eyes as if he is meditating.

Guards without recognizing him, go empty handed. And here near the tree, a small group of devotees starts to offer him food, worship him. The thief starts lecturing on honesty,love and devotion. He becomes a ‘Baba’ as he saves peoples lives coming in their dreams, serving the poor,feeding hungry , speaking about love and blessing his devotees.!

Story may be very old, but it is the essence which remains fresh and globally applicable.

Cricket, Politics, Movies and Religion.

Enter any of these fields and be successful, you will get media coverage and loads of money. This is going to be the truth for centuries to come. There will be huge fan following you and your every mistake is either forgiven or neglected grossly.

Out of all the above mentioned areas, Religion is one connecting force for the rest. You want to win a match against Pakistan, then pray. You want your favoured candiadate to win , again pray. If you want to save your power seat, perform Yagya or visit temples. From shooting first scene till the time you release the movie you will keep praying to all the gods. Human beings are sinners as everyone say and to “purify” themselves they will again go for doing tough religious rituals.

You see, how powerful Religion is ? and how wide is the scopr for it?

If there is a face for Religion ? someone who can cure your chronic disease, who can get you, your lost seat? Who can save you from all the odds ? This essentially means if there is a GODMAN?

I personally, am against Anthropolatory ( Human worship, Vyakthi Pooja). Any human being is vulnerable for six proven adversaries namely Kaama,Krodha,Lobha, Madha,Moha and Matsarya (Ari shadwarga). No human being can overcome these, none can be perfect which is why I feel, any human being at the maximum could be respected but never be worshipped. I don’t belive in offering pooja to Babas,Gurus or Swamys. Moreover, its not a good idea for them to claim godmenships too.

I have somehow, for fun,listed here the qualities those can make an ordinary man into powerful Godman. A person who can not save himself from anything natural, can claim doing unnatural things, creating anything from air in the name of spirituality.

It happens only in India.

Before doing anything,change your name, whatever it be. Suresh, Ramesh, Sam, Akram or Banta singh whatever. Search from old scriptures, for Sanskritized words which relate to love or peace or harmony. Make sure it is unique and lengthy. Let the name be neutral it should not have any glimpse of religion you represent. This will make sure that you have devotees from other side of your religion. Be very cautious to chose your name. For the centuries to come you will be addressed with this name, so spend some good amount of time here.

First quality that has to be had by any “Godman” candidate is excellent oratory. Dispatching speeaches with catchy words/phrases with little sense of humor can turn anyone into an ardent devotee. So command over the language ( particularly English, as India is multi lingual nation) is very much essential. Topics for lectures usually should include love or peace, charity or fraternity or unity.

Get a theme and deliver your speeach with meaningful and crisp sentences.

Read scriptures of every religions (like story books).They will give you enough “content” to lecture.Remember interesting anecdotes and the context to use them. This usually make your so called devotees think that you know lot of things about religions. This will also make your secularist views come front ( which would fetch you some more devotees from politics at least).

As you start getting donations, don’t start your investment for personal benefits immediately. You will lose the battle soon. So first identify the critical complication around your surroundings. Chalk out a budget for that task to materialize. Usual complications include and not limited to, water problems, shelter for the non priviledged class or cleaning any infamous dirty area.

Contacts are very important. You should be very wise enough to develop relationship with known figures,keeping neutrality though. Movie stars, Cricket stars , politicos are the usual targets, have foreign contatcs too. They are later potential donors for your “religious” adventures ,as color of any money related to religion is always “white”. Invite your contacts for all your charity works to inaugrate or public gathering.These exercise will let you, known to the rest of the public through media, you will be international figure in case if you have foreign contatcs. Sport a smile always, speak softly and be nice with media, keeping a low profile.

Now here is the important one.

Learn some magic tricks. Yes ! if you cant, you are no different than street side astrolger. This is the defining one for you. You need not be one amongst Houdinis or Sarkars. Simple tricks like getting things out of no where would make you look more attractive. You can practice and master them. Wear always long gowns to cover your loopholes. First try with small items like ash powder, petals or some rings. Then you can switch to bigger things like Golden watch, Silver Linga. Beware ! never get caught, or never fail to execute your tricks. Practice can make you achieve this. Be modest when your so called devotees get surprised. Act like it was no big deal for you to create them out of nothing. After all you are born with these powers.

Remember this saying,

You can fool SOME, ALL the time.

You can fool ALL, SOME time

But you CAN’T fool ALL, ALL the time.

There will be some odd people who might question you, testify you or challenge you. But always remain calm. You can deal with them offline with some “Gandhi Notes” or usual statement of spiritualism not being able to get proved by pure or applied science. Moreover you have your ardent fans now, who can handle those “odd” guys , just wink at them ;).

How can one come in dreams? That too when you are not as attractive as Hrithik or Kareena? How can you cure chronic diseases challenged by medical science? This is the last task you should achieve before you claim your “GODMANSHIP”.

You are already popular. Give away some “Gandhi Notes” to some families and discuss with them offline. Allow a person who is confided by you to have you in his dreams. Script a heart whelming story which can connect you to common man and his agonies. Let this person appear in a public gather especially when media is present. Once whole of public is informed about you coming in said person’s dreams and curing his cancer ( again spend some “ Gandhi Notes” to create medical certificates ), you will start appearing in everyone’s dream. India is populous country and many of them have some or the other disease, agony. If they start dreaming of you daily, atleast there will be one day when you cure them of their disease or solve their problem.

After all, a stopped clock too shows right time twice, daily

Never do a Nithyananda ( sex scandal ), never do a Radia ( 2G Corruption Scandal ), never do a Amar singh ( doctoring a CD ) for your benefits. Even if you do, no problem Don’t get caught.! Even if you get caught, spend some “Gandhi Notes” with a solid scripted story which proves your innocence.

Once you ensure all this, one fine Friday morning, claim “GODMANSHIP”.!

After all its INDIA with 35 million Gods. They would love to have one human GOD.

Long way to go….! Love all ..serve all !

Women who taught me Life !!

 

First of all, if you are a lady, congratulate yourselves as we just celebrated 100th International Woman’s day (IWD). It’s great to see women occupying considerable portion of world stage once was dominated by men. Today they are there in all fields, from space to classrooms, corporations to parliaments and police stations to street markets.

My readers, I intend, in this context,share with you stories about some women I met, who changed my life non linearly to a great extent .Many of them are my school teachers or lecturers as I had understood real life from classroom. It’s so etched in my heart that I would be grateful for them whole of my life. All I would love is, post reading this blog, you to acknowledge women who have shaped your life. Be grateful to them.


In Preschools, Bhagavad-Gita classes. Every Saturday noons, I used to attend them where a team of 30 students with all sorts of backgrounds used to come, sing devotional bhajans, recite some selected verses of Bhagawadgitha and later wrap the session with a small quiz program or a small indoor game. The one who conducted was Mrs Vijaya Kini. We used to call her Lathakka. ( I recently came to know her real name though). She was pleasant lady, who would invite all the students to her nice home, start the session with meditation rendering Mrityunjaya strotra. She would dictate bhajans, made sure that we take them down on our notebook.Following which, we would be trained with composition and sing the songs. Then, we would recite verses from Bhagwadgita which were very tough to pronounce. But she would make sure that our pronunciations were right. At the end there would be small quiz to attract our interests or some indoor games which usually involved math or being cautious. The great part, it would interest you to know that, Lathakka taught us the meaning of bhajans, verses from Bhagawadgita usually with assisting anecdotes. There are two things which are free in this world, Linux and Bhagawdgita classes. Lathakka still runs the sessions with same vigour and enthusiasms. Let lord Krishna bless her and her family.


I was a Quiz champion in my high school, was great at learning any Indian language as a result of getting introduced to Sanskrit at early stage. I was good singer before my puberty ( yes, I was). There used to be competitions where one would recite chapters of Bhagawadgitha, participating in which I could memorize verses, banish my stage fear and be confident .This was a strong base for my academic career, which helped me improve my coding techniques ( knowing many computer languages), presentation skills, sentence formation skills and importantly to mingle with any person.


Primary School Then it was Lalitha teacher in my First grade. She was smiling old lady with white hair resembling cotton. I remember she would often make me sit in the front rows, make me read the contents of book loudly. In the noons, she would share her food with me like she would do with others. She used to cook yummy food.Thats when I learnt that eating together will get you a sense of togetherness and food tastes aesthetic. Also not to forget beautiful Ratnwavathi teacher. She was class teacher in my baalwadi. She used to tell us so many stories and kannada rhymes. Cinderella story, the foolish thief or poems like “Ondu dina peddana hendathi yenu madidlu?”.


Last time, I met Lalitha teacher she was smiling and was happy to know about me. She still had same smile though she had wrinkles. Her touch was warm though her hands were timid. Much of things I discussed I think she had forgotten unfortunately. Ratnavathi teacher has become one of the top trainers of scouts and guides in Karnataka. When she met me last time, I remember her saying that I was very mischievous and intelligent when in baalwadi. I felt so happy and my eyes were wet.


Navodaya Entrance exam. It was in 1995s. Couple of my friends and me were interested to join JNV School, which promised qualitative education for the creamy layer of the district with free accommodation for seven long years. But there was a catch! To prove his academic excellence one had to pass an entrance exam and make it to final sixties. The exam contained graphical questions, mathematics, data analysis and language specific area. I remember Krishnaveni teacher who taught us for free, all she knew about cracking such an exam. First of all, her name is very beautiful. Krishnaveni means a lady with black coiffure. She used simple tools like scale, eraser to make us understand graphical questions and their significance. She also taught us basic mathematics on average , percentages and fractions. At the end of the exam, I was the only one to make it to final sixties and to enjoy classic education for seven long years. I became so selfish, I have not met her since years, will sure meet her with a surprise gift next time I visit my native place.


English always has been my language of interest. Its so hyped since our childhood I had no option left other than to get attracted and attached with it. But coming from a town with Kannada medium background the language was a tough nut. Till 8th grade, we Kannada medium students were excused to use Kannada but later we had to switch to English. Verbs and adjectives killed us, vocabulary and spelling choked us, that was a pity then. Just to give an example, one of the Biology exam where I had to explain about digestion I wrote “Mouth Juice “ for saliva. Such was my English.


I almost gave up the hope but one lady came to rescue. Her name was Rajeshwari Bhat. She always encouraged my desire to learn the language, for my efforts put in. She explained grammar so well that it became my stronger area. Traditional ways of teaching was not followed but she depicted every character of an English chapter like a movie, every subtle element of grammar she made us understand. I was at then, at the end of CBSE X Board exam awarded with Merit certificate in the language.


Just to make you know significance of what it means , the awarded certificate meant you are one best amongst 1000 who appeared for the exam.


Engineering There was this lecturer named Jyothi Shetty. She explained Data structures with C so well, that even for today, I find it very useful. Computer graphics again with C made me think and visualise images. I had even designed a computer game of shooting balloons with arrow. Her lectures made me strong in C language which is paying dividends for me in this coding life.


There are many other teachers who taught me and made me realize what life is . I am also thankful to them.


Family. In my family and personal life I always liked few women. All of them showered plenty of love on me, gave me all eatables I liked and at the end would give me some pocket money. First such is Meera Mhav ( Mom’s cousin) and Ramaa mhav. They both were poles apart financially. But the care they showed is immeasurable. I remember one of my aunt Sakhoobai Akka who was teacher herself, would take me to her classroom, made me sing some filmy song or dance infront of her students. I still cherish those moments. Her students too still remember me. Unfortunately Sakhoobai Akka succumbed to death fighting prolonged cancer. I was very young then. Then I had one more aunt who was very intelligent and creative, Krishnabai Akka. She had mastered Sanskrith , Bhagawadgitha engaged herself in embroidery, poster making. I would accompany her wherever she used to go. She was the one who inspired me to join Bhagawadgita classes. Sadly, she committed suicide for having troubled marital relations. It was a big blow to me at young age.


Last and not the least, my beautiful mother, who never wants me to lose at any cost to anyone, who constantly inspire me to do different things , excel in different fields. From the day I was born till the day I breath my last, I think I owe everything to her. For the hardships she had endured, for dreams she had to sacrifice for us, for the wonderful cook she is. Just wonderful.


Women are great, powerful and inspirational.


Every species you see, males are considered usually good looking. Lion looks elegant compared to lioness, or male peafowl when compared to peahen looks gorgeous. Similar is the case when rooster is compared with hen.


But in case of homosapiens it is not so.


Now, I know the reason. !

Tera Kya hoga Computer ?

Security is in high demand these days. Growth in information technology and having high stake data has called for a genuine need for protection.

Some of the illegal activities which have created problems are
> Hacking : gaining illegal ownership over system
> Phishing : fraud process of getting sensitive information by means of spoofing
> spamming : transmitting unnecessary bulk messages/mails in software.

Awareness about security is need of the hour to target these problems. As one gets educated about proper usage of any application in software market, complexity of security problems gets diminished.

A malicious Software (Malware) is something which usually harms the system. I have listed some of them

Infectious or harming malwares :

a. Virus : - Its a computer program which infects other executables,harms computer when they are run. Usually double clicking it,triggers the problem . It might have some payloads which performs other actions. Here user intervention is a MUST !

b. Worm :- Its almost same as virus but they volunteerily gets executed and spread the infection themselves. Here user intervention is not required,they are very fast to spread.

Never use Virus and worms interchangably. Both are different.

Hiding and decieving malwares :

These are very interesting infecting softwares. They hide from the user , act innocent without showing their presence and does illegitimate activity.

a. Trojan Horse : Its a malicious application,gets installed by attracting the user. Tempted by the dummy offers displayed, user installs the program which will contain payload to allow worms into the system or install other malwares.

b. RootKits : These are applications which conceal themselves and subvert usual OS operations. They give illegal authority to their masters.

c. Backdoors : These allow illegal entry point to attackers bypassing normal authorization process. User will never be able to trace the presence of these application.

Malwares for monetary benefits :

untill 1990s malwares were thought to be existing for pranks but later on intentions turned to profit making . Some of them are listed here,

a. Spyware : Its like trojan horse but intended to display ads , altering the web pages to get the creator of spyware some monetary leads.

b. Key Logger : This is an application which stores keystrokes of computer user which can be later misused. Usually bank related vulnerabilities are exploited here.

c. Botnets : These are applications which act like potential users usually found in online chats. They display ads or misguide other valid users.

Anti Malware solution or Anti Virus solution as its generally called, aims at securing computer from all the malwares. They identify infections first of all,If the user intends, AV Solution takes appropriate action.

Let us know few basic concepts of anti virus technology :

Anti Virus Product : This is a software which takes care of scanning the computer and take appropriate action after infection is identified. The common actions which are executed once an infection is found are as follows :

* Repair : repairs the infected file.
* Quarantine : separate malware from application, move it to a monitored location
* Delete : Delete the infected file


Scanning : This is process of examining computer's memory , file systems to be infected or not. There are two ways of scanning, in On Access Scanning (OAS) where continous scanning will be happening and whenever any of these resource is accessed by any computer application. In On Demand Scan (ODS) scanning is done whenever user requires scanning to be done. OAS is highly recommended.

DATs : These are also called Virus signatures. These actually contains pointer for infections. This help scanner to find the culprit application and take appropriate scanning action.

Take an example : A cop is finding goons of a gang. He has a file which contains photographs, contacts of gang members. cop will be successful in catching these people based on file. In Anti Virus analogy, cop is scanner, file containing photographs and contact of gang members will be DATs and gang members are malwares.

As everyday many bad people join the gang, file having photographs should also be updated with new gang members. This analogy is called DAT updation.

Site Advisor (SA) : This is one McAfee product, comes free of cost.
We generally surf web pages without having knowledge about their authenticity. Site advisor once installed helps user to decide to access web page or not. SA warns user with Red Balloon for any web page which is harmful or tells with green ballooon that a webpage is safe to go.

This can be downloaded from : http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/windows.html


I will spend some time to collect some tips to secure your computer. If you are not able to afford to install any Anti Virus products, you can use free software from AVAST.

This can be downloaded from : http://www.avast.com/free-antivirus-download

Hope this blog was useful :) Create awareness , protect cyber world !

MMS – Modern Moral Stories

New year wishes to you and your family !

Its 2011,so thought of sharing with you some “REMIXED”moral stories befitting today s times . Hope you like them.

All these moral stories are imagined to have happened in Bangalore.


The Hat Seller and Monkeys

One evening,our own hat seller, again makes way towards Banashankari III stage,after a hectic day of “No Sale” of hats. He had made sure that he roamed every traffic signal,convinced every software engineer,real estate agents about this cool cow-boy hats he flaunted. But alas, no buyers.

As the sun started to set,he feels drowsy. He comforts himself under a fly-over under construction.Arranges bag of hats beside him and drops himself to eternal happiness of sleep.

After almost an hour later hat seller wakes up and sees that some monkeys around him have emptied his bag of hats,wearing them. His hat, too is stolen away.

After giving enough time to thoughts, hat seller takes some paper sheets out and writes something on them. Distributes these papers to every monkey and in return monkeys return their hat to the hat seller.!

Moral : If you allure any Bangalorean with 60X40 sites for free, he does anything for you. After all these are monkeys, why not they return hats for the same offer ?

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The Fox and grapes.

This fox escapes from Bannerghatta Zoo, fed up with the way they treat animals. It keeps running ,panting and making sure that none chasing it. Thank god! There are so many street dogs that none took special interest to identify this fox.Some street dogs admired the fox for its shiny complexion.

All said and done,fox now feels hungry. And it darts towards green pasture. A tall plant bearing green grapes, is standing there. Fox starts drooling…

But fruit bunch is at too high. Fox now plans to go Rajinikanth’s way. Into action.
It jumps to get it, coiling and re-coiling itself. Tries every smart moves it knows. Show jumping,liverpool,dry ditch… but No !

Suddenly it notices some shiny paper at the stemmy part of plant.

It visits Food world near by,pampering itself with couple of grape juice milkshakes.

Moral : Never lose your sodexho coupons. Someone will use it, for sure.

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The River goddess and Mobile phone owner.

A Gujarati business man with his wife and kids visit Hebbal lake for a family outing on a weekend. They spend time boating, speaking sweet nothings . His naughty kids enjoy watching “koochi- koo” sessions of young couples, hiding from public.

When Gujarati and his family returns home,he finds that his phone is missing. After thorough search he decides to visit hebbal lake again, this time alone.

He suspects that he might have dropped his phone into lake waters. He stands there helpless, sobbing.

There appears a bright flash, a beautiful woman standing in front of him introduces herself to be a River goddess. First she shows latest BlackBerry smart phone supporting 3G with long battery life and asks the businessman whether he owns it. Businessman snarls and goes “No!”.

River Godess later flashes, an Apple iPhone-4 with all necessary accessories, and again the businessman denies him owning it.

At the end, having no choice left, River goddess displays an old dull Nokia 7210.The gujarati gets so excited to see his mobile phone and pleads River goddess to give his mobile phone back.

Surprised Goddess asks why he did not opt for plush gadgets but to this dumb piece instead. The businessman replies. Satisfied with the reply, River goddess offers all the mobile phones to the smarty and disappears.

Moral : Bijiness (Business) happens with contacts and NOT by posh gadgets.

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A Father and his three sons

An old dying father, calls up all his three “legal” sons. Having spent many years into business, growing his assets from nothing to everything,raising his family, the old man recalls his deeds. Now being at final stages of his life, he shares his assets amongst his three children.
But, odd asset being a Full duplex house in HSR layout and not willing to damage it, old man plans a task for his sons. Old man remembers that he had seen many movies in his life time and there is no movie NOT seen by him. He orders whoever makes him watch an unseen movie,he would grant the posh home to that son.if not, he promises that the home would go to his second young wife.
Chucking, First son gets a DVD of Govinda’s movie. The old man rubbishes him saying he has seen the movie and not just that he quotes some dialogues of the movie as proof.
The third son,comes home with an old Justus Barnes movie. The old man watches the movie till the end,but discloses the climax before the movie ends,there by establishing the fact that he has seen the movie. Both the sons feel lost, and all of them will be awaiting for second son.

Two weeks get over, not a sight of second son.The old man sighs and hopes that he would still have something to gift his second wife.

He returns with a CD of a movie at last. Whole of the family watches the movie.Surprisingly , let alone old man, none has seen that movie. The second son wins luxurious home,unconventionally.

Moral : Kannada movies.! Of course.

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The Frog and Daughter of Corporator

Deepika,beautiful daughter of Karunappa,corporator of murugesh palya was worried. She had no serious boy friends. No guy with whom she had infatuations took care of her, neither dared propose her.Guys, who had crush on her feared her father for being powerful man.So, Deepika was alone.

“Happy Birthday” she heard someone shouting. A speaking frog.! She was surprised.Yes, it was her birthday that day and the little frog had wished. She was moved.

Double curious, as frog could speak and also for knowing her birthday, Deepika questioned.But Frog smiled and jumped into waters. For that day, she was very happy.

Few days later, she saw the frog pulling a stalk of lotus. Frog had got it as a gift for her as she liked the lotuses. Deepika was again surprised,accepted the flower, blushingly. The frog again vanished into dark waters.

Deepika, for the whole night was thinking about the frog. How it knew so much about her, how the frog made subtle moves to win her heart. She fell in love with the frog.

It was Feb 14. She got up hearing her favorite song “……….. “ sung by the little frog again. Deepika is again surprised. How come the frog probably could know so much about her?

It was there near her blanket, with ugly sloppy skin,triangular head and a yucky smell. But Deepika was in love ! Love which is blind and insensitive to smell too !

She kissed the frog on its lips. A tight one…

The frog changed into a six feet , fair man who was also a Software Engineer….!!

Moral : Dude, get into Social Networking sites, you will get every damn info, about her birthday, her favorite flower, favorite song….

Forget Tigers !! Save Parsis…… !

Daily tabloids are now running episodes on rampant Gujjars over reservations issue. Just being fed up, I thought it was time for me to brief my readers on one out of palce community named Parsis .


It was 8 th Century. Parsis ( Persians) were thrusted out of their own country by invaders .But somehow they reached the then Gujarat’s province which was ruled by some Jadhav Rana. Helpless clan needed shelter and way to make a living. The king, showed a jug full of milk to them. He meant symbolically, that his province was already populated and there was nothing he could do.

A clever man from the community poured a fistful of sugar into the jug. Sugar had got completely dissolved .Not even a drop of milk spilt out. The king smiled and was convinced. !

Still today, parsis have stuck to their promise.They never thought this country was not meant for them. Be it ups or downs, they were there, with Indians to create a saga. Like sugar in milk, sweetening it.

Just get your history freshened. In pre Independence era, Indians had to depend on Britishers for everything. Not just that, pay tax for whatever they themselves prepared. It was Jameshedji Tata who imported upated machinaries from abroad,initiated many industries for Indians.Swadesi campaign he did it in action and not by fruity talks.His automobile industries, steel plants made India a strong nation. He was once restricted entrance to plush hotel as it was for “whites only”. Humiliated, he built the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel for an whopping 4 crore rupees in 1903. It was his great vision who taught us Indians to be self depenedent. Jameshedpur is named after him and he was awarded Bharat Ratna.

Sam Manekshaw- 9th General . Just before his death, it was reported that he said “I am Okay !”. World War II, 1948 war with Pakistan,1962 China War,1965 and 1971 Pakistan wars, he commanded the army. It was because of his bravery we are having safe heavens today. Pakistan always hated him. They always felt they lost not to India but for this brave man. Parsi community has even shed its blood for India. Admiral Jal Curtji, Air marshal Aspee marwen engineer too are Parsis.

There is no field not excelled by them.

Dadabhai Navroji ,the grand old man of India ( NO.. its not Gandhi) along with him was Dinshaw edulji wacha another Parsi who were founding pillars of famous Indian National Congress( A O Hume just took the credit). Pheroze Shah Mehta who was Knighted by British empire, was also leading activist for Indians, Bhikaji Cama who designed one of the early Indian flags too did her contribution for Indian freedom struggle.

Ardeshir Irani who directed first Indian Talkie movie Alam Ara,in 1931, Nariman Contractor who captained Indian cricket team, Soli Sorabjee, Nani Phalkiwala for being esteemed jurists,Russi Karanjia who opened indian media and journalism for a wider horizons,Zubin Mehta for being a wonderful world class musician….

Today India is one super Nuclean Power. Homi Jehangir Bhabha,whose dreams,talks and works in 1944 made us so. India was then poor country struggling even for morsel of food. Young Bhabha was a nuclear physicist who worked to strengthen India. His remarkable leadership led us to outshine other developed countries in Nuclear program. Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Tarapur is namned after him.

Boman Irani, Cyrus Broacha too are parsis.

Demographic stats reveal that,by 2020 Parsi population would come to just 23000 it includes even Rahul Gandhi ! (less than 0.0002% of the 2001 population of India). What a pity ! When they were offered minority status and reservation benefits by government of India, they refused it silently. Instead, they requested the commission to treat them equally like any other general community. Its really isnpiring to learn about them and to know their achievements for India, a country which depended and depends on them !

Now lets come to tigers !!.

There was a tiger. It hunted a deer and feted on its meat.

North Or South ... Ms Arundati Roy, Shut your Mouth !

1998,It was my student life. My favourite question, in the quiz back then was “Who won the Booker Prize for 1997 ?” for which I knew the answer(It was a fresh question,none knew Arundati Roy then). Her novel “The God of small things” had earned US$ 30,000 and a citation. She was the face of promising Indian literature.

Born with cross religio-cultural background,Ms Roy was struggler. With an architecture degree in hand she worked in various jobs including writing screen plays for movies, performing for them and even running aerobics classes.  Then she landed up in writing novels which confronted social issues,her surroundings. This was the time she penned celebrated novel “The God  of small things “ which was her semi autobiographical having references from her childhood life. Such a great history to start with !

Is she an Indian for real?

Same question is haunting many people,now a days.

The time when major nations worldwide had tested and adapted Nuclear wepons, it was show time for Indian Government. India had successfully tested 5 bombings in Pokhran Rajastan under able leadership of Vajpayee in May 1998.Yes, we needed Nuclear Power just to make our neighbors  realize that we are not to be underestimated. Who else can take risk when countries like China, Pakistan share your borders ? . We Indians have taught lessons to world on Non-Violence, have showed that we can endure any hardships without going violent. We needed to arm ourselves and become a Nuclear Super power. It was red letter day for Indians.

Unfortunately, Arundhati Roy stated “The bomb is India. India is the bomb. Not just India, Hindu India”  in her essay The End of Imagination(1998). She not just questioned India’s sovereignity but also painted the issue with religion. How could one convince her that India did not possess the weapons just to save one particular religion. The test was headed by A P J Abdul Kalam. Ms Arundhati Roy took no efforts to learn about whos who of the project. But commented with sheer negilgence just to be in newspapers.

2001,December Let and JeM had attacked Indian Parliament killing 6 policmen and a civilian. This was yet again failed attempt of cowards to threaten India.Mohammad Afzal was awarded Death Penalty for having masterminded the attack. Arundathi called death sentence for Afzal to be stayed. Why her heart softens for this terrorist who mercilessly killed CRPF Jawans. Is she related to him ?

Everyone in Andhra Pradesh , West Bengal knows how barbaric  Naxalites or Maoists can turn.

Nobody can describe them better. When peace talks failed between Government and these extremists,government had no option other than shedding blood. Troups of jawans were deployed in every corner of exetremists infested area. Naxals and maoists were given dose of their own medicine.
Many of the extremists surrendered and naxalite activities were thus controlled.

We again had statements coming from Ms Roy, criticizing Governments action as “war on poorest people in teh country” and calling Naxals /Maosists as “Gandhians with a gun”. What a heights of insanity ? what a shame. Where were you when the same “Gandhis” killed 70 soldiers, or  butchered another 50 by a bomb rigged civilian bus? Nathuram Godse killed “Mahatma” with a bullet, but you are killing Mahatma’s soul and idealogies merely with comparison. ! shame on you.

Namaste sharada devi Kashmira puravasini

Tvamaham prarthye nityam, vidhyaanam cha dehi me

Meaning :  Salutations to Godess Sharada, resident of Kashmir. I pray you daily to offer me knowledge.

This hymn is composed by saint Adi Shankara of 8^th CE .Staring from Mahabharatha,Kambojas ruled Kasmir. Kashmir was resided early by brahmins who are now called Kashmiri Pundits. In their era, sanskrit was bettered. Panini introduced grammar for sanskrit. It became center for both buddhists and hindus. Later it was ruled by muslim rulers including Moghuls,Durani empire. Raja Ranjith singh too ruled Kashmir till it became part of British India. At the time of Independence, the then ruler of Mulsim dominated Kashmir, Raja Hari singh was given choice of joining either of nations India or Pakistan or to have seaparate nation of his own. Meanwhile Pakistan started sending troups to acquire Kashmir and at the same time Raja Hari singh signed the document to be part of Indian governement, which was entirely legal and as par with British rules too.

Kashmir always has been part of India since the time immemorial.

Architecture degree holder Ms Arundathi Roy, who is also hungry for attention devised a mechanism to appear in front pages, unfortunately by playing with Indian  emotions. Freedom of speech was the right she chose to tarnish Indian image infront of whole world. What a pity!

In a seminar “Azadi – The only way” on October 2010 at New Delhi, along with Huriyat conference party leader S A S Gilani, Arundhati Roy crossed the limits.

She stated “Kashmir should get azadi from bhookhe-nange Hindustan” and continued saying that Kashmir had never been part of India. How dare she say this ? Any school going kid also knows that Kashmir is one of the states of India, has been part of constitution. Just because citizens there are not happy with the way military operations are carried out ,how one can one justify that state has to be liberated ? Unless we send military troups there, how well we can curb militants? Do you think they are “Gandhians with grenades” ? “Bhooke-Nange Hindustan” comment shows how sadistic she is about her own nation.

Why we had to scarifice our soldiers Major Somanath Sharma,Vikram Batra, Sudheer Walia, Capt. Harshan, Vijayanth Thapar  defending  Kashmir against coward Pakistanis ?Why you are acting as agent of separatists parties, Paksitani terrorists ? If you are really worried about India why dont you join some NGOs and work for developments aiming women and children? Why you are unhappy with every policy of India? Why you are sadistic of India and have communal thoughts ?

If you are not happy here, go and settle down somewhere else, or try staying in China and “criticise” their acquistions of Taiwan,Hong Kong or Tibet,why dont you try that out ?

This is India ! Frankly speaking we dont require any Nuclear weapon to destroy us. But one black sheep like this , we end up losing the game.Till now not even a single sedition charge has  been slapped against “The Godess of CHEAP stunts”. 

I serioulsy regret, having taken pride of learning about Arundhati Roy early in 1998. I would better lose the quiz competition  by not mentioning her now.  

Alas !

Enthiran... ! The Robot

Enthiran.. The Robot !!

                 

He is not an immortal, he is not a phenomenon. But he is beyond those boundaries which are cliched off for legends. I witnessed something on screen last saturday which made half a thousand souls around me feel ecstasy !!

There is nothing Rajini “KANT” do !

I am Chitti, The Robot

Speed 1 Tera Hertz
Memory 1 Zeta Byte

Thats how great Robo introduces itself. It can read books/magazines in seconds, can run faster than train, can sing any raagas, can attract magnetically,metallic weapons used by bloody goons of the street. The way Chitti the Robot cooks food, applies henna for all the lasses, dances ,helps Sana the heroine to pass the exam.

Clap clap clap !

Chitti the robo however lacks emotions, feelings and humanly behaviour. He doesnt sport idea of lying, covering a naked girl with a cloth whom he saved or even to avoid stabbing his creator scientist Dr.Vaseegran (Scientist Rajini). All it has is artificial Intelligence which is based on flowcharts and algorithms.

Gradually Robo learns to understand,feel and play emotions. He even gifts a golden necklace for his lady love Sana. You see a chronic love angle in the story where Nickle made robot tweets for his love.

Upgraded Version 2.0

Chitti the Robot !

This is flipped side of Chitti who is mal-programmed. Chitti now aims to win Sana’s heart and get rid of his creator Dr. Vaseegaran . He becomes destructive killing everyone who oppose him . At one point of time he loads his wrist with bullets and shoots them through his fingers. !

How vaseegaran takes control of evil Chitti and gets back his love is all up for you to see in theater. For god’s sake do not spend money to get pirated version and see in your lappy. ( worst idea). All i say would be “Watch in theater dude !”.

Special effects of the movie worth your pocket. There is not even a penny of yours is wasted. Great humor, impressive story line accompanied by melodious tracks by ARR takes you to next dimensions of Indian cinema.

You would generously lend some extra points for Rajini Saar for his devotion for the role despite his age almost touching 61. Aishwarya has done indeed a good job to stick to role opposite the lord of south Indian movies. S Shankar has co-written a nice script, giving it techie masala as well. “Irumbile oru Idhiayam” and “Chitti dance” are my fave tracks.


Few excerpts of the movie I would like to mention here :

[ Back Ground : Scientist Vaseegaran(Rajini) has come for a haircut. Chitti the robo(Rajini) is getting bored while his master is busy getting hair cut . He is given some magazines to beat his boredom]

Chitti reads a magazine just by waving it in front of his eyes ( Speed 1 Tera Hz). He keeps piling these “read” magazines stacked. People around him are taken by surprise. Chitti asks for some more magazines as he is still bored while Vaseegaran’s haircut hasn’t yet started.

He is now given a telephone directory :) . Chitti “scans” it . Done,saved ! ( Memory 1 Zeta Byte )
One of the customer, so as to verify Chitti’s memory power tells his name to be Bhajan Lal and asks Chitti to reveal his telephone number. Chitti just “retrieves” from his memory and asks him his initials as there are ten Bhajan Lal’s.

Surprised with this , Bhajan Lal says his initials to be “K”. Chitti again “retrieves” from his memory and tells that there are three “Bhajan Lal K” s. Now Bhajan Lal ends up saying his address. Chitti the robo will slap him with his stupid telephone number. !

Another customer lets chitti know his telephone number and challenges chitti to discolse his name.
Chitti reveals the customer’s name immediately.

Kanna, Chumma adiridille ? Eppudi ?

[ Back Ground : Sana( Aishwarya) is preparing for her exam with Chitti at her hostel. There is loud music played at a nearby Goddess temple. Chitti now wants to stop the disturbance]

Chitti sees a gang of thugs negligent about disturbance, caused by the loud music. He requests them politely saying that music has gone beyond 300 decibels and students are not able to concentrate.
But thugs will not be warm for his request.

Chitti blows whole music system! Thud. ! Starts walking away from gang , with Sana !

Angry goons now take their weapons out. Machetes, knives, Axes , chains ,daggers they display everything.

Chitti switches Magnetic mode on ! Entire weapon gets attracted to his body. And within next moment he adorns himself like a goddess !!

The chains become necklace and also a belt. He holds entire weapons the way Kaali maa does !

I dont know what happened to me ! I just jumped,stood erect on my seat clapped for this Darshan while entire audience went crazy :P

The Tester’s Perspective

“ Boundary Value Analysis is done when you know the range of Inputs and Outputs; Black box testing is performed when you do not know the internals of a product, load testing is done as to check what extent the product can bear the stress.... ”

There is a developer. There is a product. There are plenty of clients, stakeholders, end users and your product can’t go wrong. And here goes... A tester comes into the picture.

I will tell you, the things running in tester’s gray cells from here on.

 Is the product specification right, do clients and end users get what they require?
 Has the product developed in right way?
 How can I break the product? What might be the loophole(s) of the same?
 Is the documentation for the product and usage guidelines proper?
 How to convince developer(s) about the bug/anomaly I found?
 How to achieve faster testing mechanism to find bugs?
.......
A tester has to know everything, right, left and center. A to Z. As the days went by I came closer to this truth.You are not actually finding mistakes but it’s just the way for the product to get better. So the user of the product gets good night sleep for a better product.

I am going to share some of my findings in this regard. I being a tester (Never wanted to be one, but I was the one as fate had)

 First I was of the opinion that, it’s all about breaking a developer’s ego. He develops the product mammoth size and you find a pinhole. He is hurt.
 Rather than testing, Developing is more interesting. In reality, trust me both are challenging. Developing product from nothing is interesting and learning the same and bettering the product is similarly interesting.
 A tester has no scope for scripting/coding. Wrong.! He has to create scenarios for the products, write the code on product (as the developer did) and then automate the same. Find a way for product to go wrong in quicker way.
 A tester should think like a villain. Yes. A badman can only break the product.


Let me give an analogy, a developer is like a teacher who preaches student what to follow and a tester teaches what NOT to follow. Both are working for betterment of the student by their own methodologies. Their attempts are genuine, unique and equally challenging. And I will tell you li’l secret; it’s always what not to follow things are attractive and interesting. ;)
........
Human being always lives with dvandva (meaning duality).White and black together are contrasting to each other. Importance of each other is known when both are present. You can always develop a habit (meaning a product here) like a developer. But for little while think like a tester.

 Is that habit/state of mind serving your presence, is it representing the real you?
 What makes you uncomfortable with this state of mind under test? What’s your limiting point?
 Is there any other way I can get improved?

And here you are not breaking your developer’s ego but you are happy being realistic to find your mistakes on your own and if you will, that loophole can be miraculously get rid of.

Here is a legend from Mahabharata which I would like to share,

Arjuna was on his chariot with his chauffeur Krishna, warring against Karna who was almost defeated. One arrow shot from Arjuna, propelled Karna’s chariot to a hundred units of distance. And now, Karna in reply, propelled Arjuna’s chariot just one unit of distance.

Even being at the rival side, Krishna couldn’t stop applauding for Karna’s deed. Everyone at battle field including Arjuna were taken by surprise.

The reason: Karna had displaced Arjuna’s chariot by one hundredth of what Arjuna did for Karna’s chariot.

And the Krishna explained that, Arjuna’s chariot (refer here as product) was actually owned by Lord Soorya, created and tested by the great architect of Gods Vishwakarma, boarding currently Arjuna and supergod Krishna ( this was post Vishwaroopa darshana) was thrown by tired Karna’s one stupid arrow. Just imagine how much powerful Karna was when compared with Arjuna who propelled an ordinary chariot containing two normal human beings a Karna and one Shalya the chauffeur for Karna.


Arjuna felt shameful .


Moral :

There was still scope for improvement with Arjuna’s chariot ;)

“A Man without a Religion ”

It was Aug 2, a Saturday. I was reluctant to go to office, but was bound to give the status of one clients’ work. The day was boring as I was alone and working. I finished my assigned job by 7 something in the evening and was heading for a BMTC bus. I thought would fill myself with some omlettes and some juice.

There he was. The man without a religion.

Since couple of weeks , I had observed that there were many South Korean trainees who flocked our campus. Deep white complexion, tiny eyes, shiny hair and were speaking “God-knows-what-words”. They were very happy and full of high spirits who always moved in groups and never cared for rest of the world.

But this guy was alone. Was eating sandwich and drinking lassi. He was lanky, hair was lengthy.He had worn red jacket, a low-waist jeans and a boot. It was fun to watch him drink lassi :)

I was done. And I kept myself busy, Big 10 bus, a window seat. Within few minutes bus was occupied. And this lanky dude entered the bus and sat next to me and threw a smile. I smiled back. Yeah, I can work on Saturdays and still smile :).


Within no time we became friends. He introduced himself to be Lee @#$@#$. Yeah I dint get his surname. He also told that he is from @!?@#$, a place near Seoul, South Korea. And I introduced myself in the same format.

Well, I started off. I asked him about India and whether he liked India and Blore. First thing he told me was that, he liked that people here had a religion and he dint have one. He also gave examples Hindus, Muslims, Catholics and religion with turban (he meant Sikhs). He it seems wasn’t aware about who god was before. When ever he said god, he pointed sky that seemed funny to me. I must appreciate Lee had done his homework about Bangalore very well. He had “Google-earthed” for Bangalore. Not just that he even remembered some of neighboring states of Karnataka. We discussed about politics, Farming, Education, English and our enemies.We had lot of things in common. I had to tell him that Pakistan was once our own part and we had partition followed. The similar thing also existed between South and North Koreans. Lee was surprised to know that Indians and they shared Independence Day on Aug. 15. Bus was moving and people were staring at us.

“Anjeng” was their hello, he said to me. And he liked me for pronouncing it right. He asked me to pronounce some more words/phrases which meant “I am cool”, “ I love you”, and “Bye”. In return I taught some filmy words, “ Maa..! main aaya “, “Hey Bhagwaan” and our own “Namastey”. Lee was impressive with pronunciation.

We changed the bus at Silk board to Marthalli. We were seated in last seats of a BMTC bus. He was all smiling and asked me to join for party at M.G.Road, from which point we started chatting about food. It seems he liked Indian food , Parothas with chicken kebabs , Indian Chicken Biriyani. He also asked me if ever I come to their place I should try “Mee-Chi”. It was his favorite Korean dish. I am sure no Indian would like it coz it’s made of dog’s inner organs… I was about to puke: D

“What you guys do on weekends?” I asked for which Lee answered, that they roamed M.G. and Brigade Roads, went for shopping, boozed and of course watched Indian girls. (No matters to what country they belong to, Boys are boys, Rock stars: P) Yeah he liked our girls for their “dressing sense”. “They have certain charm hidden in their eyes, which is lacking in Korean feminine eyes” he commented. He said he recently broke up with his gal and was pursuing his career instead.

“How it’s in India to get married?”.

“Well it’s a tedious one. First of all the couple should belong to same religion, same caste. Then they should be speaking same language. After that, their horoscope should match. And then, parents of the couple on either side should agree. Then extra caution is taken from bride’s side for bridegroom’s behavior, like the latter doesn’t booze or smoke. And bridegroom’s side demands dowry to which brides owe. You know it’s complicated”.



“I don’t understand one thing here”

“What’s that?”

“If such restrictions are there in India to get married, then how come you are leading country for population?”

I am still thinking about it….!

THE ENGLISH TEACHER....!

Raman and his family had just arrived to Poonuru. He was very much used to being new to places, befriending new classmates and playing in new grounds; for his dad was a village accountant which was a transferable job. Poonuru village was well embellished by mother earth. Pavani River streamed through the village; dense banyan trees covering the outskirts and many plain grounds promised him lots of fun. He was waiting for evening to cast its spell.

Being stranger, Raman always knew tactics to get to know people. He wore his favorite track pant, topping a t shirt and a pair of sports shoes .He set to School maidaan with his attractive cricket bat full of signatures of cricketers. The trick was to gel with schoolmates, allure them with his cricket bat .Most of the time he won their attention. Then he would get to know about each of them, their family, popular hang-outs, about the school, the teachers, to-do’s and not-to-do’s, the pretty girls, movies and almost everything.

Mujju, Salman, Velu thronged Raman when he showed off his bat. Apparently they were playing cricket with a jackfruit stick which they called a bat. Raman seized the chance and introduced himself to one and half dozen crowd. All were admiring Raman for his bat, flashy dress and his geared bicycle. Mujju even dare sitting on the cycle. Raman was quite happy. He promised he would get good-quality ball the next day. He scored charming 37 runs out of 10 balls and took even 4 wickets. He got to know more about the rest of the gang.He also observed that Mani the hefty guy was dominating, quarreled each time with players and was inconvincible. When Raman stroke Mani’s wickets, the latter gave a killer stare, not just that, he left the place uttering non-parliamentary words.

Match was done. Raman quizzed about Poonuru. Velu found swimming in Pavani was a joyful stuff, Slaman said smoking at Kaka’s shop was entertaining and Jannu said stealing jackfruits grown at Stella teacher’s garden was wonderful. All had opinions and Raman was enjoying their attention for him. A cute girl just passed them and Dinga whistled at her. All were laughing and giggling at this gesture. Even Raman couldn’t avoid smiling. Dinga was sort of joker in their group. Now Raman diverted the topic. He wanted to know about the school.

Dinga was on his toes imitating headmaster. They all laughed. Raman sensed that headmaster was manageable. He always feared math. So Mujju told Shijo sir was too sweet to get scared, never scolded anyone. Kids spilled beans about social science teacher and unusual behavior of him eating chalk pieces. Dinga again was showing off his talent, how teachers spoke, their accent, their mistakes and the way they sign notebooks. Then Raman asked about English teacher. Group fell silent. Velu asked him to witness the class next day .And the group disbursed.

Raman narrated entire episode to his mom word by word. His mom Laxmi too was curious about English teacher.

*****
“…..Raman, Our College boasts about scoring good marks in English, we have produced toppers in the subject since years, students are performing better year by year...Rehman Sir has been teaching our students very well” headmaster was speaking. Raman’s parents were just nodding, and Raman was counting number of times headmaster uttered the word “English”. It was close to 43.

First period was of Math sir. Mani was shouting and Mujju was flirting.Shijo sir was explaining about Tangents and Secants. A rocket ruffled Dinga’s head (was shot by Mani) .Dinga woke up to see all students laughing. Shijo sir explained that Dinga’s head was a circle and Rocket was tangent as it touched at one point. Dinga was okay as he was “exemplified”. Raman too was impressed with his new math teacher. Velu shouted saying had that been a sphere thrown at Dinga, it would have pierced Dinga’s head at two points thus it signified a Secant. Students including Shijo sir giggled. Dinga flopped. Class was funny. Salman now turned at Raman asking him to watch next class for the English teacher.

Mujju was briefing Raman about Rehman Sir. He was a mossi (local slang for a Muslim) who taught English very well. They said none ever could speak English as fluently as he could; none even in the district. Students feared him but he never had beaten any of his students. He never believed in punishing too. Students did their homework and assignments. He never spoke personal things, never commented about anyone. Never smiled, not even when he produced seven English toppers for the nation, just meant his business and that he commuted bicycling.

The only time he became angry was when headmaster refused bringing English newspaper magazines at school’s cost. He rose and his eyes were pitching red. He insisted about need for the language and promised to arrange the magazines out of his own pocket and had vacated. Since then school staff including headmaster feared him.

******

Rehman Sir entered. He was tall man, with broad shoulders. Had shaved off his moustache, had sported a thick beard which ran all over his cheeks. Face had many wrinkles. He was dressed with a pant which never touched his shoe, and a shirt. Dark mark on his forehead hinted that he offered Namaz often.

“Students let me teach you about Gerunds and Infinitives”

Mujju, Salman, Velu took their books out. Dinga was fully prepared and Mani too was attentive. Entire class was concentrating. Raman too took his book out. Students were corrected for their spelling mistakes, wrong pronunciations and class was done. Raman observed that everyone wanted to get appreciation from English teacher.

Rest of the periods were insignificant even Raman’s mom felt later in the evening.

******
Laxmi was shopping for groceries one Sunday evening. She was looking out for Spinach, which her son liked most. “Laxmi Didi….!” she couldn’t recognize the person. He came to her and addressed himself to be Gullu; her neighborhood. Laxmi recalled her days before marriage.

They were in Hyderabad .This Gullu was son of Abdul Chacha the taxi driver. Gullu used to come to their house everyday, was pampered by her mom.Evenings he used to attend a local Madrasa He was often helping her mom for errands, played with her brother. Both were very naughty those days. Abdul chacha and her dad always had tough time with people of lane because of this duo. They even had once dismantled a transformer and had blackout. Last what she heard was Abdul chacha had committed suicide and Gullu had ran away.

“Didi, I know, what you want to know from me” Gullu said.

Laxmi was not demanding. She did not know what really had happened. But she did not interrupt him saying.

“There was one foreign traveler who hired my dad. He wanted to go to Tirupati and my dad was driving. Somewhere the traveler stopped for refreshments leaving my dad alone in car. When he returned, he saw my dad unconscious and foreigner’s asset robbed.
Unfortunately, the traveler lodged a complaint against my dad. My dad got handcuffed and was treated very badly by cops. My father returned home, he was very sorry for the crime he never committed. He committed suicide. Till his last breath he was claiming his innocence”

Tears rolled on Laxmi’s cheeks.

“I headed towards the foreigner. I wanted to tell him that I had lost my dad for no mistake of his. I shouted, I cried in the language he never understood. All I saw was him leaving the place with a mocking smile on his face.I was helpless”

There was a long pause.

“I decided, one day I will let this know man what he had done to me and my father, in his own language. Not just that, I made up mind that none should be in a situation, I was in.”

Gullu was emotional. They were walking ,walking and walking.

“What are you doing in Poonuru?” .

“I am the English Teacher here…..”

A Pawn becomes powerful at the END..!

“……from my boyhood, the struggle that attracted me most was the Indian freedom struggle. The role of Netaji attracted me very much. I was brought up in an environment of strict discipline from childhood. I was not permitted to mingle freely with outsiders. I used to feel shy of girls. Great store was laid by personal rectitude and discipline. My father set an example through his own personal conduct: He would not even chew betel leaves. A very straightforward man. Even while criticizing me, they marvel at the fact that such a son was born to such a father! In my own case, he reasoned rather than regimented and his attitude was that of a friend.... As I said, I grew up as a shy boy.....especially in the matter or mingling with girls.

I used to read books on the rise of Napoleon and his exploits..... This kind of history held special appeal.....in the Mahabharata, the roles of Bhima and Karna were especially attractive to me..... The spirit of sacrifice appeared crucial. People respond to characters in the Mahabharata in various ways. I value the character and role of Karna the most, on account of his readiness to make the ultimate sacrifice ….. ”

These are not excerpts from a politician’s biography, its neither glimpse from life story of any social reformer. It’s an excerpt from interview with Velupillai Prabhakaran, infamous for founding L.T.T.E and introducing “suicide-bombers”.


It was early 1970s. It was the time Ceylon was just renamed Sri Lanka. The little beautiful island country was popular for tourism. The rich flora and fauna, a great sacred history and strong cultural background, it had everything.

And it happened.

Jaffna, the cultural capital of Sri Lanka was observing a discussion amongst local Tamilian clan. This particular discussion was aimed at claiming political freedom, financial status for local repressed Tamil speaking people, and suddenly a mob of Sinhalese (The majority in Sri Lanka) attacked and later which lead to death of prominent persons.

Thileepan, a Tamil activist who was traumatized by incident, succumbed to death by following fasting as a way to oppose the then Sri Lankan Govt.

This incident really moved Velupillai Prabhakaran.!

He joined TNT (Tamil New Tigers), and the rest what followed was total massacre. To start with, Mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiappah was shot dead. Several bombs explosion while attempting to kill then Prime Minister Bhandara Naike marred many.

But, Prabhakaran was not in terms to settle. He established his own outfit which went on to rule Northern Lanka for 30 years, LTTE..! This rebellion group had its own Army, Navy and air force, the group chanted just one mantra, Tamil Ealam (Tamil country).People who opposed were gunned down, by hook or crook he got his enemy strangled to death. Guerilla warfare, suicide bombing, AK 47s, Strategy warfare, whatever let it be, he and his team excelled. Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sri Lankan President Rajasinghe Premadasa in 1993, he cared for none. Media feared him, Tamil Diaspora worshipped him …

But the point is, he too had a family, he even had simhalese friends; a loving wife; two sons and a daughter. He never tied killer-belt to his daughter’s waist and let her kill a VIP. Everyday he prayed and did the normal stuff.

Where he went wrong?

Nobody had ever imagined in a country where political majority was with whites, that a non-white black would be President. But it has materialized as Obama becoming 44th President of US of A.

“I have a dream”

The public spoke the same language. Ate same food, enjoyed same drink. They got educated, got married but there was only one line of separation. The complexion. It was the time when blacks were tabooed to join whites, restaurants, educational institutions, or any theatres. But none dared oppose “White Monopoly”over them until one of the blacks came forward, boosted the oppressed blacks, retorted back at rulers in white. It was none other than Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther received a B.A. degree from Morehouse College, which was a college for Negroes then. After 3 years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania he became the president where majority were whites, he received a B.D. in 1951. This boosted his spirits to fight for blacks and their rights.

MLK as he was called, never settled for the treatment he and his men received from the whites. He, in order to serve his purpose joined various committees, demonstrations as act of his protest against the unfairness for his men. He believed firmly on principles of Christianity and practicality of Gandhian way of passive resistance. He was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which aimed at restoring civil rights . He traveled for 11 years, conducted several thousands of speeches, and made people aware of their rights. He wrote many books and articles, led campaigns against injustice towards his men and strongly supported equality amongst citizens of USA.

His Birmingham, Alabama campaigns got attention from all over the world and this revolutionized US history. He was arrested at least twenty five times and was wounded various times. His house was bombed, he was mocked at. But he never let his spirits down. He was given five honorary degrees, was named man of the year by Time in 1963 and not just that he was then youngest one to receive to Nobel Prize.

He never believed in vehemence, civil disobedience and non violence were his weapons to fight. When Michael Jackson dances, Jordan scores a 3 pointer one can see what MLK had dreamt for his men.

How contradictory?


Political life I believe is like playing chess, where the repressed or rebellion is just a pawn. And he has to face the mighty troop of ministers, knights and bishops. You will move according to the rules of majority and you don’t have power. That’s why you are repressed. And remember when pawn reaches its final destination, it becomes powerful.

Only if Prabhakaran had realized this….!

Just KIDDING....!

Just kidding, I am sorry… :)


It has been part and parcel of our life. You do all the nasty things and have a readymade pretext. How funny? But none wants to be a kid infact.

I am now fed up being adult and doing mature things. And I am damn sure so are you. Get up early in the morning, do all the things and go to school wearing uniform. Seriously, I want to be a kid. Fight with neighbor, steal chocolates from Naveen anna’s shop, collect the pebbles, listen to mythic stories, by-heart the math table , make a paper boat and let it in rain water running in gutter, keeping a larva in matchbox and “bringing it up” till it becomes a big butterfly…

“Err execuse me , Juniper has issues, its ge-1/0/0 port has gone down; need to get it rebooted”

To hell with Juniper. I sometimes think to get that router emptied of all the ICs, cards sockets ports and fill it with blue water, grow some mosses and let some colorful fishes swim.. Will not the lab then look cute….?

I am of the opinion that every one has a kid hidden in them. Be it GM of the company or a paanwala. Little innocence, little naughtiness why can’t we possess? Even if we do why are we acting? Why, as we grow older stick to Economic times and not Tinkle? Why we stay away from tempting Ice creams and cakes once we were addicted to eat? These are some of the questions I usually avoid answering.


What we like actually in kids?

A colleague of mine chooses kids smile. She herself is mother, said she also liked her kid picking its first words ‘Mom, Papa’ (Not coz they are in alphabetic order ..!) .Some chose kids innocence; their face being bucket of question marks. A kid’s touch is charismatic. Isn’t it like a bird’s soft feather?

Why can’t we be kids?

Gotcha…! Scare for your image right? : P what if a passer by observes me dancing when I am listening to a rocking music? Or is it because you want to declare your maturity? You don’t want to have more toys as you are “grown” ? Come one..! Once in a while be a kid... You love it. I always liked being like that. It will “ F5” ( read it as refresh) your life.. Trash the files; stop the coding and go out and get wet in the rain.. Pick some rocking music and do a hip shake...and definitely read Tinkle.. ( Suppandi is just awesome , and he is still alive )

You will definitely LOVE your life again… Trust me 


Two kids were boasting ..….

Kid1 : I have got a big home.

Kid2 : I have got a bigger home .

Kid 1 : My bro is intelligent ,

Kid2 : My bro , sis both have scored better marks than your bro.

Kid1 : My mom is beautiful.

Kid2 ( frowns, feels he lost ) : Yeah I do agree with that, I lost , My dad too says so… 


Can you Kid ?