My Engagement Invite!

When you Lose

Gray are the days, Dark are the thoughts,
On those days when you lose.
Hopes fade out, doubts wade in
On those days when you lose..

Rise of fear, fall of dreams,
Silence of Sound and a Voice of doom
Fall of Strength, Breaches in Will,
On those days when you lose..

But, In fear lies Courage, In doom lies the hope,
Doubts leads to Strength and Failure goes faceless.
So, on those days when you lose, Fight for fighters never lose!

HIM

Sing out your Sorrows,
Laugh out you Worries,
Dream out your Downs,
Drown your Frowns.


Talk to family,
Talk to friends,
Speak to Self,
But when every thing fail,
Converse with him to get you out on Bail.

When you are down, put your trust,
To give your life a very good thrust.

To him we come, to him we go,
But in between, lead a life full of fun.
Enjoy every moment, Savour every second,
For you are among the lucky few, choosen to have fun.

Search Engine Statistics

Search Engines are part of every day life. Most of the search engines are now set as home page. Search Engines have moved the power of the internet to the user. Every thing is now searchable and “findable”.

So which are the most popular search engines and how do they compare against each other?

The following data give a comparison of the Search Engines over the period of May07 to June 07.

The Staticstics from May 07 - July 07 can be viewed in here.

Keeping in with global usage, Google has been the head of the pack closely followed by Yahoo and Microsoft.

What are the things that make Google world’s favorite search engine provider? Many experts have argued on this time and again and have attributed it to the following:

1. User Experience:

This is USP of all Google products. The experience of a user in Google’s search site is so good that people always come back to it.

2. KIS Philosophy:

Google’s search site is one of the simplest sites around, yet it is so powerful. The simplicity of Google’s page can be highlighted by the fact that initial version of the search page carried a message which said “Please enter a search team and click search”

3. Efficiency:

Google’s search results are the most accurate results around. In fact the phrase “to google” has replaced the phrase “to search”. All of this is made possible from Google’s efficient search algorithm

So, what really happens when you hit the search button on Google’s site? This can be illustrated by the following diagram:

Hope this article was helpful!! Keep blogging.

Shivaji in Matrix

The Rhythm of Silence

My child hood revolved in admiration of a man “Tanjavoor” Vishwanathan Iyer. He was much respected in his village, a staunch shivaite and a percussionist par excellence.

His typical day started at 5 am in the morning with a cup of steaming hot filter coffee, which was followed by a walk through the village to the banks of the Cauvery River. There, he would walk down the steps singing a very familiar raga. Once in the water, he would immerse himself 3 times chanting “ Gange che yamune chiva.Godhavari Saraswathi.Narmadhe Sindhu kaveri. Jalesmin Sannidhim Kuru” for each time he immersed himself. This routine was followed by him doing his “sandhya vandhanam”. We watched the sun rise as he recited “Adhitya Hridayam” the sacred chants on the Sun god. It felt as if without his wishes the Sun would never rise.

When he returned home, he would find at least 20 people waiting in a dignified silence and bowed heads. They would touch his feet and seek his blessings after which it the sound of music would start reverberating in our house. 20 Mridangam (a percussion instrument) would play raga after raga in unison, with him being in the helm of things, correcting when there is a missed beat. His weekends were the times I got to listen some of the most melodious music. He had sold out performances in temples and Shabas. This was my child hood memories of the place – full of music.

During my engineering holidays, I returned back only to find the sound of music replaced by wheezing sound of an old man and the sound from his walking cane. With all the old favors disregarded, there he was all but lost and forgotten. Most his hair had fallen and he looked frail and weak. But lost not were his skills and the respect he commanded. The Shabas that once sought him out did not care any longer. Time had taken its toll, people were no longer interested in a man who stood by principles and lead a life devoted to music – they preferred the quicker sounding beats of the film music and quick raps.

During the month of December, in our village there were classical performances. Though the audiences were dwindling, the tradition was still carried on. On the last day of the fest, a popular vidwan (scholar) usually gave a performance. This year a Vidwan from the Madras was supposed to give the concluding performance. The day dawned, and the news reached the village that the car in which the Vidwan was traveling had met with an accident and that he would not be able to make it by time to reach the fest. The organizers panicked. They had a sold out crowd, but no performer. Somu the President of the Organizing committee had an idea, “Why not put the local talent to do some performance for an hour?” asked he. So, they went in search of young performers. All of them were reluctant to do a show in such a short notice. The organizers went into deliberations again as to what to do, when an old hand in the committee spoke. “There is a very old person in our village, who in his heydays used to be the crowd puller. Now he lays lost and forgotten. Why don’t we call him and ask him to perform?” Many people in the committee did not like that idea as bringing in an old timer was against “norm”. But due to lack of time and their inability to find a replacement, every one agreed with hesitation.

Dusk dawned, the sold out crowd was there. An old man with his Mridangam arrived in a bullock cart to the venue. He went to the back stage that was once his second home, drank a glass of ginger coffee which was part of his routine before the show. The organizer went up on stage explaining the change of performer. Angry murmurs in the crowd started voicing. Slowly the curtains went up to reveal an old man with his Mridangam. The murmurs increased, and a beautiful sound emancipated from the speakers, slowly the tempo was rising. Couple of minutes went by and only the talks of the Mridangam with the maestro’s fingers were heard. What was supposed to be a short one hour program went late into the night ending with a thunderous applause which was started by a single hand, into a standing ovation.

Twenty years later I return to the same house, to find my grandfather’s portrait hanging in the wall. People still talked about that performance of his which enthralled many. In the stillness of the dawn, I can still hear the rhythm even in silence.

Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons dead or alive is purely coincidental . It is just a short story!

Harry Potter 5 - Trailer with Interview

Shivaji - The Boss

1. OUT OF ALL THE SHANKAR MOVIES THIS IS THE COSTLIEST . 68% OF EXPENSES HE SPENT FOR LOCATION.. AND SURPRISINGLY 12% TO GRAPHICS!!!! 8% TO SALARY (EXCLUDING OF THALAIVAR) 8% FOR COSTUMES 2% FOR A.R.RAHMAN AND OTHER TECHINCIANS, AND THE BALANCE 2% WASTAGES!!!! !!!!!

2. FIRST TIME IN TAMIL MOVIE AMITABH IS JOINING WITH THALAIVAR... AS GUEST ROLE.(BECOS OF HIS CONVIENENCE TWO DAYS SHOOTING HAS ARRANGED IN POONA.!!

3. SIMILARLY MALAYAM SUPERSTAR MAMOOTY ALSO ACTING IN THIS MOVIE FOR ONLY ONE SCENE..

4. SIVAJI MOVIE HAS SOLD ALREADY TO KERALA FOR 6 CRORES,(ALLTIME HIGH)-THE LUCKIEST PERSON WHO GOT DISTRIBUTION IS OUR ACTOR VINEETH!!!!ALL TIME HIGH IN ANDHRA PRADESH-17 CRORES!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!(SLEEPLES S NITE FOR ALL TOP HERO'S OF ANDHRA)ALL TIME HIGH IN KARNATAKA 9 CRORES!!!!!! !!!! (THE LUCKIEST PERSON WHO GOT DISTRIBUTION IS OUR KANNADA HERO RAVICHANDRAN! !!!!!!!

5. THE MOST EXPECTED AND VERY BIG COMPETITION IS GOING IN TAMIL NADU.... (AS PER THE LATEST INFORMATION THE FINAL FIGHT BETWEEN SUN-TV AND RELIANCE.... .......... ......) FOR AROUND 80 CRORES INCLUDING OF SATELITTE/DVD/ AUDIO RIGHTS.!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

6. INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS FOR 100 U.S MILLION DOLLARS!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! (FOR 9 LOCATIONS/COUNTRIES INCLUDING OF DVD RIGHTS...)FIGHT IS GOING BETWEEN "AYANGARAN VIDEOS" OF CANADA AND PYRAMID OF INDIA....!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!


7. AVM PRODUCTION ANNOUNCED THEY WILL GIVE 25% PROFIT TO THE CHARITY(SIVAJI FOUNDATION) IF THE MOVIE TOUCH SILVER JUBLIEE...

8. FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF RAJINI MOVIE ... HE HIMSELF GIVEN INTERIVIEW AS THIS MOVIE WILL BE GREAT SUCCESS!!!!! !!!(COURTESY TIMES MAGAZINE)

9. AS PER THE COVER STORY OF NO:1 JAPANESE MAGAZINE CALLED "TOSHO" HAS MENTIONED THIS MOVIE HAS CROSSED THE EXPECATION OF THE HOLLY WOOD MOVIE OF "CASINO ROYALE" AND ONE THE HIGHEST PAID ACTOR IN THE WORLD IS OUR ONE AND ONLY SUPER STAR RAJINKANTH

10. THE "TOSHO"MAGAZINE REVEALED THE TOTAL REVENUE FOR AVM PRODUCTION (IF THE MOVIE SUCCESSFULLY RUNS FOR 50 DAYS IN SOUTHER REGION )WILL BE AROUND 430 CRORES. This is More than turn over of any Tier 2 S/W companies)

11. FIRST TIME THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO BE DUBBED IN LOCAL LANGUAGE OF TURKEY, HAUSA, GONGA (TRIBAL LANGUAGE OF SOUTHAFRICA) AND KSHINOLA (TRIBAL LANGUAGE OF ARGENTINA) .

Sister's Wedding

Am back after nearly a 3 months hiatus.. during that short period, i went to Macau (which will be the topic of my next blog), to Las Vegas (another blog by itself) and my little sister got married to Karthik, a fine chap from Mambalam Chennai..

So without further prolong lets go to the Blog..

29th November, the day before the D-Day, started quite early. Too early to my liking in fact. But what to do, your sister does not get married every day. So to honor the occassion, I , the eternal lazy person of the family got up at 4.30 am (it is my mid night).

My mom and dad went to Priya's new home, which is in the next street to light the lamp. On the way back, my father twisted his ankle. He was in distress by the time he reached home. My mom got really upset that during the start of the marriage it self, some thing like this has occured. We consoled her saying that it was due to 'dristi' (Evil Eyes) and gave a lenghty prayer to almighty.

The van for our departure to the Choultry came at around 6.15 am. We were to reach there by 7.30, after which the inauspicious was supposed to have started. The van was at the end of the street, as the driver did not know the house. Your strong man (me) went to usher the van into the street and move around a zillion vehicles parked in our always jam-packed street.

Venkataraman maama, Krish uncle, me and subash patnaik maama all loaded our stuff to the van. We did not let dad lift things as he already had a bad foot. Four of us sort of compensated for his absence. Appa, Amma, Priya and myself were supposed to go in a car while the rest followed us in the van.

Finally we started by 6.45, amma was tense as she wanted us to reach before the raghu kalam. Needless to say, we made it by 7.15.

We arranged all our stuff in the hall, waited for the groom's party to come. They arrived in two batches. The first batch arrived at 10.00 a.m. The groom arrived at 10.30 a.m after being held up in one of the infamous traffice snarls that is fast becoming a customary norm in Chennai life.

From there what happend was a fast blur. Life happend in fast foward. So I will keep this part of the narration short. Probably i will give a bulletted summary of what happend

29th November
1. Vratam in the morning followed by Naandi where in we saluted all our anscestors.
2. Nichyadartham in the evening

30th November
1. Wedding of Priya with Karthik, this was preceeded by Vivek indulging in heavy weight lifting. I lifted Priya and strained my back yet again.
Photos of the Wedding

2. Evening Reception.
Reception Photos
1st December
1. Sambhandi Virundhu

All through the event, Sundar uncle, Santa, and I supervised the food part of things.


Finally a small pointer to end the Blog, MY LINE IS CLEARED!!..

Inspired by Life - II

Well, i found this video very hilarious and more to the point..




Enjoy.. and leave u'r comments.

Software Professional

Inspired by LIFE!!

Long hours sitting in the office, sipping the umpteenth coffees ,
Living on a diet of coke, they choke if they don’t have their daily smoke.
Working on a 30K Salary a month, they feel tired and stretched.
Oh nothing is good enough, nothing is good enough.

Joining Google, Yahoo are their dreams, with the messengers ruling their screens
Job sites, new roles search are the norms of the lives,
He is a person whose inter personal skills are in hives.
Oh nothing is good enough, nothing is good enough.

With the appraisal around the corner, they hope to get good ratings on.
When the raise they get, is full of sh*t; they threaten to quit
Meetings with managers, meetings with finance, in the end a very few get their dues,
Oh nothing is good enough, nothing is good enough.

Some get to go onsite, others don’t take the bait.
They set the dates, when the company lets open the gates
This cycle goes on, Oh nothing is good , Oh nothing is good.

Crickets Lows

Probably the most disgusting moment in Cricket.....

This is Greg Chappels in-famous underarm ball.

Should we all go and stick with WIN at ALL time irrespective of the COSTS? What about ethics?

Please leave your comments on this one

Laws of Manu and Theory of Relativity

Prologue
"The Manusmriti (Sanskrit मनुस्मृति), translated "Laws of Manu" or "Institutions of Manu", is regarded as a foundational work of Hindu law and ancient Indian society, compiled and written quite late, c.200 CE in India. It is one of the eighteen Smritis of the Dharma Sastra (or "laws of righteous conduct"); Smriti means "what is remembered" and is applied in general to a Hindu text other than the Vedas, including traditional Indian epics, the Puranas, and science and grammar treatises. Unlike the Vedas which are considered to be eternal or of divine origin, the Smritis are considered to be of human origin and therefore susceptible to the flaws of humans. They contain laws, rules and codes of conduct to be applied by individuals, communities and nations."
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_Smriti

It was a Friday nite, and I was keeping guard in the hospital where my grand mother was admitted. During that period, I was going through a book on Indian Hindu Laws – “The Laws of Manu”, which gives rules to be followed in life. Though some of the concepts given here might not be apt today, many of them are. There was an interesting section (given below) that had gotten me in to thinking. It stated:

“64. Eighteen nimeshas (twinklings of the eye, are one kashtha), thirty kashthas one kala, thirty kalas one muhurta, and as many (muhurtas) one day and night.
65. The sun divides days and nights, both human and divine, the night (being intended) for the repose of created beings and the day for exertion.
66. A month is a day and a night of the manes, but the division is according to fortnights. The dark (fortnight) is their day for active exertion, the bright (fortnight) their night for sleep.
67. A year is a day and a night of the gods; their division is (as follows): the half year during which the sun progresses to the north will be the day, that during which it goes southwards the night."

This, to me, gives an insight to the Theory of Relativity
(http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/) and more specifically a concept called time dilation http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module4_time_dilation.htm#true , which proves the above.


One fact which can be derived from The Theory is that time is not absolute. In fact, time as one person “sees” will be different than the time as another person “sees” it.

This is what the laws of Manu also postulates. That time for a man is not the same as time for gods. Many will find the concept of time gods difficult to accept, but I feel that god (and other beings) referred here are some beings in some other dimensions. Probably science will “discover” these one day, just as theory of relativity proves the laws of different time.

So it is safe to say that Vedas did have a lot of science behind them; just that we are slow in understanding them.

Comments on this are most welcome.

Time Pass

Hey this is a cool link that I found

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whiLwDoRk_o

Do chk it out and post your comments here.
Better if u have a broad band connection :-)

My Life Ratings!!

Hey all folks .. this is my life rated according to a site.
It just reflects my current state of mind i guess ;-)

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.2
Mind:	7.7
Body:	7.3
Spirit:	8.3
Friends/Family:	6
Love:	4.3
Finance:	9
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Do leave your comments

Poem in Farewell mail

A poem that i wrote to be put in my farewell mail..


A soft word spoken, a secret sign given,
Laughter’s shared, sorrows barred,
Good times we had, fun was all that we cared,
Presence of self, not to be forever,but thoughts of times together fades never,
With a heavy heart i bid adieu, to start on a path which is new
Thoughts and wishes to all, for all sands of time,
till the next time we say hi !

Send in u;r comments

...and finally to sleep

Yo all out there!
A poem that i wrote sometimes back.Please send in u'r comments.....
Situation : an old man, sitting in the beach... no one around. reflecting on his life.

...and finally to sleep

Long have I walked, weary have I become,
Lots have I seen, dark it seems
Laughter of children, fun with friends
Wait for my lover and life with her forverver
But nothing is forever..nothing is forever
Now all is gone, life seems long
Toward's the sunset i go on and waiting to sleep...finally to sleep

Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD!!!)

Hi all,

This time around it is my experience with SCBCD Exams by SUN.

Somewhere in the month of October, me and my close friend registered for the next level in Java Certification - Business Component Developer. The process of registering to the certification was initiated by NIIT (Prometric Center) who on seeing their old records found us eligible for receiving a discount for the up coming certification Needless to say we fell for this Markeeting gimic :)

We had initially registered for a date in November for the certification. I thought that 2 weeks of study would have been more than sufficient - It was not to be. BCD exams are more vigours and a little more tougher than SCJP. Lots of concepts are involved and much to understand.

I found the following links / books very useful during the preparation stages
Books
1. Head First EJB - Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates
2. SCBCD Exam Study KitJava Business Component Developer Certification for EJB
Paul Sanghera

Additional link of books to be used can be found in jdiscuss.com Book Review Section

Web Links
1. Java Ranch - The ultimate resource on the net for any Java / EJB related stuff.

2. Ejb Certificate.com - There are lots of practise exams here with ANSWERS!!. I would advise on going thro the exams ONLY AFTER reading the books.

3. jdiscuss.com - Lots of mock exams here too. good site overall.

4. Valoxo.com - contains all necessary links for the preparation for this exam.

After many postponds and many delays (self induced and otherwise) we finally wrote the exam on Dec 24. I scored an okie 71%. It was pretty average considering what I knew, but wonderful considering the fact that i just intended to pass the exams!!!.

Hope this blog was useful for all. keep posting.

Flights of Fantasy

" Flight number 07529 now boarding.....". We put down the coffee that we brought from a Taj Counter (for 25 per cup and undoubtedly the worst coffee I had till date) and proceeded to Terminal II. The First Class, Business Class passengers were first in Queue, followed by women with kids . Then it was zone wise boarding in to the flight for lowly Economy class passengers (us!!).

The way into the flight was linned up with security and some beautiful stewards. This lifted the spirits within... Smiles everywhere. We turned to see who was behind us and we saw director/ actor/ producer Visu along with u. One the final approach, a elderly Air Hostess Welcomed us in to the flight. There I had the first look of the interiors of a Economy Class of Lufthansa Aircraft. Pop burst the bubble that bloomed out side expecting a comfortable ride. This looked more like a PTC bus with all seats so close and no leg space!The seats by themself looked more like a medival torture seat ( or modern dentist chair)..... Totally there were three column of seats. Two near the window (2 seats each) and one in the middle (5 seats). The leg space, well the less said of it better.. I was horrified!! The seats allocated to us were rite in the back of the air craft.
We fought our way to the place where our seat was with a heavy hand luggage and finally "parked" ourselves in to the "Luxurious" seats. Well to admit it, it was a bit better than what it looked; but not to the extent I had expected.

"Hullo and welcome aboard Lufthansa - 07529. This is your Captain speaking. The flight is about to take off in a few mins. Please wear your seat bealts please".

The flight take off was a nice experience. It was like a roll-a-coaster ride. It started slowly and picked up speed and whoosh... it took of in few seconds. After we gained cruise altitude, I looked out of the window. Chennai never looked more beautiful. Weird feeling looking at Chennai from that altitude. Singara Chennai from 7500 ft.

The flight lights were dimmed, and a movie was started - Coach Carter. The stewards came and offered some drinks, which we gladly accepted as our throats were parched. The movie was good, but it was interrupted by frequent visits to loo... ( too cold up there). Since I was seated in the middle row, it was a annoyance. The movie ended at 3 am IST and still could not get a wink of sleep.

At 7am the captain announced that we are approaching Frankfurt. From there we were to take a flight to Boston. At that point I asked from some water, the stewards ask me to get it myself!! Amazing Service..unforgettable.

The flight landed at Frankfurt at around 8.10 am. We were amazed at the size of the Airport. It was H-U-G-E.
More importantly the airport was very clean. The boarding gate that we were to take was nearly half mile away and there were shuttle service inside the airport!!. The connecting flight was 3 hour away. So we had to time to kill.

We decided that we would explore Frankfurt Airport. The airport was beautify filled with beautiful beings :-)
Water was sold here at $2!!! It was a great Airport.

We needed to do our morning chores and found restrooms there. Unfortunately, in the rest rooms we were in for a great shock. No water. Only tissue paper!!! Felt very uncomfortable.

We brought a few chocolates, and then had a choco meal. The connecting flight was some 30 mins away, so we started to join up the queue.

Only 30 mins separated my journey to the U.S where on landing i felt like An alien in an alien world..

Begining of the flight fantasy..

"Hi are u interested to coming onsite?" asked my boss. Was dumb struck... To be in a company of this size and for so less time, to be offered a onsite request was something like a reward for all the work I had put in.

All those hours waiting for HR appointment, all those hours travelling hungry, all those hours working in the lab, and all those hours taking coffee from mom's hand for an extra effort...

All those hours spend finally seemed paid off... The flight was scheduled after a period of 3 months, before which I had to clear the Visa. The three months wait, well, was the longest 3 months in my life. Each day began with a count down to the "VISA DAY" and invariably ended with my sister pulling my leg for the same!! and me buying an ice-cream to my friends...

The Visa process was by itself a new experience..Prepared on all sort of questions they mite ask and all sort of details filledup, forms rechecked, dress well creased. I went to the consulate at 8.15 AM and came out at 10.00 am. The process was it self well organized, but it was scarry!!. The fear of rejection hung in the air! After the initial documentation check, we had to wait for the interview process. The interview was by it self so easy... Just took 30 seconds, and viola I had my Visa!. Once out of the consulate, I felt as if a huge block had been removed from my chest, felt that the world had been finally conqured and the last frontier had succembed. Now that the Visa was obtained, it was necessary to start the next set of procedures - The approval process and the packing.

The packing was entirely handled by my lovely sister and mom. In fact, I just ended up nodding to them when they said this is packed here, that is packed there .... The Visa was got on May 3rd and got the Visa on-hand on May 5th. I was supposed to leave on May 7th but I postpond it to May 9th as May 7th was getting to be a problem. On May 7th I took up my SCJP Exams. Scored 81% in that and was happy!!!. May 9th finally dawned. I reached office with the expectations of getting my tickets to US when the bombshell was dropped, my trip was not yet approved by the local director who had lost that approval mail... After much running around and delibration, we finally we able to say that I will not be leaving on May 9th as planned. It was heart breaking.... Was exhausted both physically and mentally. Finally around 8 pm, the approval was got for the trip; then we booked the tickets for the forthcoming Friday- May 13th early morning IST .

I was leaving for US on Friday the 13th!!. Preceeding my departure from my home, my close friends and my relatives had come for to see me off.On Thursday nite 10.30 P.M we reached Anna International Airport. The imigration process started at the airport. The boarding pass was taken and We went in for the security check at 112.30 am. At 1.00 A.M we boarded the Flight and the Flights of fantasy had begun.....