NDTV In Memory : Ek lau Is Tarah

Speechless, it left me. "In Memory: A Musical Tribute" was a programme recently aired on NDTV, in rembrance of the brave souls who sacrificed their lives during Mumbai terror attacks. Hosted by Vikram Chandra, the show paid an emotional and tearful homage to the fallen heroes. Musical giants Lata Mangeshkar, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan et al paid tributes to those martyrs through some truely heartrending numbers. But one particular song "Ek Lau Is Tarah", crooned by Shilpa Rao almost moved me to tears. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I just could not place it.

A google search confirmed my doubt, its a number from Aamir, arguably the best movie of 2008. A man-on-the-run thriller, I watched it sometimes back and loved the brilliant script and the haunting background scores. I am still wondering how this delectable piece of music missed my ears. Probably "Ha Raham(mehfuz)" somehow eclipsed this equally captivating and melancholic number. I am gonna watch the movie again this weekend, to relish the experience once more. Thanks NDTV, for a wonderful tribute and some really soothing music. These are difficult times and those one and half hours provided the pefect soul-curry.

Lyrics and translations of this the soul-stirring track...

Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula…
(Why was a flare extinguished like this, my Lord…)
Gardishon Mein Rehti, Behti Guzarthi,
Zindagi Aahein Kitni…
(Struggling through dark clouds, flowing, passing by,
There are so many lives [being lived]…)
In Mein Se Ek Hai, Teri Meri Agni,
Koi Ek Jaisi Apni…
(Your life and my life is just one flame amongst all of these)
Par Khuda Khair Kar, Aisa Anjaam Kisi Rooh Ko,
Na De Kabhi Yahaan…
Guncha Muskuratha Ek Waqt Se Pehle,
Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Yeh Jahaan…
(But God please, may no soul here receive, this kind of ending…
Before the arrival of a flower-like*, smiling [peaceful] time,
why did this life leave your world…)
{*writer refers to the gradual, sweet smelling natural death of a flower}
Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula,
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula.
(Why was a flare extinguished like this, my Lord,
A flare of Life, my Lord)
Dhoop Ke Ujaale Se, Aus Ke Pyaale Se,
Khushiyan Mile Humko…
Zyada Manga Hai Kahaan, Sarhadein Na Ho Jahaan,
Duniya Mile Humko…
(The light of the sunshine, the beauty of the morning dew,
We recieve joy from all of this…
Is it too much that we ask for a world with no borders*)
{*As in, borders/divisions between people, ethnicities, religions…symbolizing all
artificially created conflict amongst humanity}
Par Khuda Khair Kar, Uske Armaan Mein Kyun
Bewaja Ho Koi Qurbaan,
Guncha Muskuratha Ek Waqt Se Pehle,
Kyun Chodd Chala Tera Yeh Jahaan…
(But God please, why should anyone be sacrificed to fulfill this desire*…
Before the arrival of a flower-like, smiling [peaceful] time,
why did this life leave your world…)
{*Why should there be sacrifice for the sake of creating this division-less, conflict-free
society? }
Ek Lau Is Tarah Kyun Bhuji Mere Maula,
Ek Lau Zindagi Ki Maula. (2)
(Why was a flare extinguished like this, my Lord,
A flare of Life, my Lord)

translation courtesy docmitasha@wordpress.

My Favourite Calvin and Hobbes strips

They say a picture is worth a thousand words..so after Calvin &Hobbes quotes, here's a few of my fav C&H strips...the strip ran for ten years, from 1985 to 1995..so its really tough to pick a few from this goldmine..I am just offering a snick pick here..discover Calvin and Hobbes' magical world at this link..n be obsessed..for life !!







and my personal favourite..

My Favourite Calvin and Hobbes quotes

If you know me or have read my first post, it is obvious to you that I am a total C&H freak..I have got the whole collection in my PMP and I can never have enough of this boy wonder..the past two months have been tough on me...and through all those days, Calvin and Hobbes' adventures kept my spirits high..someone said "Calvin and Hobbes outclasses the rest of the comic strip world more than anything else has ever outclassed the rest of its medium"...and I cant agree more..so as a tribute to this masterpiece of Bill Waterson, presenting few of my fav C&H quotes..

1. True friends are hard to come by...I need more money.
2. How come we play war and not peace ?...too few role models.
3. I believe in stars, because life's a lot more fun when you are not responsible for your actions.
4. Life's disappointments are harder to take when you dont know any swear words.
5. I live according to ONE principle, and I never deviate from it.."Look out for number ONE".
6. That's one of the remarkable things about life..its never so bad that it cant get worse.
7. God put me on earth to achieve a certain number of things..right now, I am so far behind, I'll never die.
8. I'm not dumb...I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.
9. Nothing helps a bad mood like spreading it.
10. That's the difference between me and the rest of the world..happiness isnt good enough for me..I demand euphoria.
11. I have plenty of common sense...I just choose to ignore it.

12. Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous.
13. They say winning isnt everything and I have decided to take their word for it.
14. Reality continues to ruin my life.

and The Top One...

15. The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.

Genius, pure genius !!

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business-oriented networking site for professionals. An account in LinkedIn is considered vital for career and business growth opportunities. It also helps in increasing one's web visibility. Hence many of us maintain LinkedIn accounts. But after creating the account and putting up a profile, we often feel clueless about our next step. As a result most of our LinkedIn activities remain limited to sending and accepting invitations. How to make better use of it, we wonder.

The answer comes from Guy Kawasaki. Guy who ? If you have not heard the name, Guy is considered as the original Silicon Valley evangelist. A former Apple Fellow, he is credited with bringing the concept of technology evangelism to the masses through his pioneering work at Apple's Macintosh Group. "The Art of the Start", his book on starting a business is regarded as the Bible for entrepreneurs. His immensely popular blog "How to Change the World" talks about the different ways in which you can make a more productive use of your LinkedIn account. Read it here and increase your business connectivity !!

Why are we so gullible ?

"Good news to all of us. UNESCO announces INDIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM as the BEST National Anthem in the World. Pls forward this to all the PROUD Indians ". I got a mail informing this "good news" yesterday and almost fell down from my chair !! By Jove !! From where did UNESCO get such an ludicrous idea ? How can someone possibly determine the superiority one national anthem over another ? The mail did not carry any proof of the claim and I realized that it is just another hoax mail. But the mails kept coming, from "proud" Indians eager to spread the good news !!

This is not the first and definitely won’t be the last such mail. Over the past three years, I have seen a fair amount of such hoax mails. The subjects vary widely such as free Sony laptops, Bill Gates sharing his fortune, baby who needs A- blood, two moons in the sky, Orkut closing its website, pictures of Nano car etc tec. Some even come with messages from Christ, Lord Ganesha etc, prophecing dire consequences if you fail to forward them( I will love to know if they keep Orkut profiles !!) A casual glance is enough to figure out the obvious nature of such mails, because they never provide any proof of what they claim. But the menace has only increased over the years. We laugh at general public going crazy over milk-sipping Ganesh or bleeding Christ or sweet-tasting sea water. But these mails come from people who are supposedly the cream of the society, highly qualified and who use internet in everyday life. What is excuse for such gullibility ? Probably it has something to do with our education, where we spend our whole time running after grades. We parrot the textbooks and never question what we are taught. So we condition ourselves from an early stage to believe anything we see or hear.

Probably it is also a manifestation of Slacktivism, the feel-good that one derives from having come to society's rescue without actually getting his hands dirty, volunteering any of his time, or opening his wallet. We forward mails and sign petitions in support of an issue or social cause that have little or no practical effect other than to make us feel satisfied. We forward mails that requests blood for a dying baby, but we don’t bother to call the no. given with the mail(which always turns out to be an invalid no.) and find out the details. We forward mails, because some unknown and unseen sponsor will donate 10 rupees to a cancer patient for each such mail. Thus we get to help a righteous cause, without spending any bucks or moving our ass from the chair !! How convenient !!

The huge popularity of astrology, Fortune-telling, palm-reading and related practices show a different facet of our gullibility. More on it, in my next post.

P.S. A US student did a gullibility test asking people if they will sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide". The reasons were very convincing ..
1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
2. it is a major component in acid rain
3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
4.accidental inhalation can kill you
5.it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

Out of 50 people he surveyed, only one refused to sign. Dihydrogen monoxide is popularly known as water !!

The Elephant and the rope

A great read.......

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. "Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Breaking News !!

Don’t get misled, folks!! If the header of this post makes you expect some kind of breaking news from me, you will be disappointed.(disappointed in the same way when you see those meaningless news being aired as "breaking news" across the news channels). If it is news, it is "breaking news”. This seems to be the mantra followed by the sundry 24x7 news channels these days. No matter when and how fast you flip through the channels, you are always assured of some breaking news. This ISO 9001 kind of guarantee comes from the fact that channels use their own adjustable standards to determine the "breakability" of a news. So they have the flexibility and convenience of airing any ordinary no-news as a snazzy and in-your-face "breaking new". Breaking news are the real spice of any news channel today, providing humour( "Commissioner’s Cat Missing") and despair(" End of World Tomorrow ?") with the same spirit !!

This particular term is tweaked out of the phrase "breaking a news", which basically means "make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret". We first saw its heavy usage post 9/11 when the breaking news of WTC attack was flashed in front of us for days and weeks. And it has not looked back since then. Thanks to its liberal use/abuse by the news channels, we have lost appetite for the everyday news !! Now a news is worth a look, only if its breaking news. Those single flashy lines catch your attention instantly. After instant coffee and noodles, now we have instant news. How convenient and time-saving!!

Hence breaking news now equals to TRPs for the news channels. Each is trying to score brownie points over others by often projecting garbage as breaking news. Which means news is less news and more of drama today. The "sensational" Aarushi murder case showed this ugly facet of the news hungry channels. The poor girl got no respite even after death. She was killed again and again through the relentless attacks on her character. Her parents were given the same treatment. A tragic news was turned into a spicy crime drama through some horribly irresponsible coverage. But no lessons were learnt from these mistakes. The "Big Bang" experiment and its coverage showed it plenty. Breaking news flashed across the channels, "Will the world end tomorrow ?" Clueless news readers talked how dark (black ?) holes will devour the world, complete with YouTube images. Panic ensured and people chose to bunk office and schools to spend the last day of their life together !! It all may seem very funny today( I am still alive and blogging !!), but such reckless and dramatic broadcasting betrays the very purpose of news.

This penchant for drama and breaking news has seen the channels go histrionic over smallest of matters. During Beijing Olympics, one person of Indian origin won a broze medal as part of US gymnastics team. Immediately media reached his ancestral home and breaking news came out !! We have all seen the mass hysteria over our meagre Olympics medals, thanks to the hype from these channels, hailing it as the new dawn of Indian sports. A new dawn was it called, when 24x7 news channels first sprouted, promising quick and accurate news, round the clock. But now it seems sunset is not very far away. What happened to the good ol' days, I wonder, when news was presented as news and meant to provide accurate information, not to break your heart, brain and senses !!

Bihar and Assam : A Tale of Two Floods

As I write this post, the flood situation in Bihar is seeing marked improvement. And our national media, which did a commendable job of highlighting the gravity of the Bihar floods, is now shifting focus to "even graver " issues like the Big Bang experiment and the resulting Doom that will befall on our planet. (also commendable is the effort to provide comedy by the news readers who talk about some dark holes, oops black holes !!). In all these brouhaha, it was entirely forgotten that similar to Bihar, nearby Assam is also being ravaged by equally destructive floods. Dozens of special reports were aired on Kosi flood victims, but the Assam floods found no mention, nowhere, though the situation has remained very critical there.

Such negligence is nothing new. It is well-known how national media avoids North-East like the plague, often citing logistics as the lame excuse. But lack of national exposure should not be a factor in getting flood relief, when the incumbent party also rules in Centre and especially when the PM is elected from the same state. Unfortunately, that is what happened. The Assam CM has shown little concern towards the plight of his fellow people, but urged them to contribute towards the Bihar flood funds !! Pathetic as it may sound, but true. He boasts of a 700 cr flood relief fund at hand, which only shows his stupidity, given the grave situation in all 27 districts of Assam. Even the utilization of the available funds would have made a difference, but that was not be the case thanks to his callous attitude. The four MPs of the state have also continued their vow of silence in the parliament, not bothering to voice about the plight of the people back home.

Same can be said of our PM, whose heart seems to tilt more towards Bihar. He was very prompt in air-surveying Bihar flood situation, but could not find time to do the same in case of the worst affected Majuli district in Assam, despite early promises. He preferred to review it from the comforts of an AC room , through LCD projectors !! This empathy comes from a man who calls Assam his adopted home, being elected to RS three times from the state. He requested the nation to help Bihar flood victims and also announced a thousand crore flood relief package, but forgot that his adopted state is also reeling under similar floods. During his tenure, Assam has been victim of four destructive floods, though he never made any such public request on behalf of Assam. The government and private companies are also joining the Bihar flood relief queue, donating handsomely to the cause. These include many companies like ONGC, who generates a lot of revenue from Assam, but never showed such magnanimity during previous Assam floods. It is the same story with Assam Rifles, Railways and other Central government organizations.

This grim story is being repeated every year in Assam, with the onset of monsoon. Even before rehabilitation of victims of one flood is complete, the havoc of the next flood sets in. And it will continue to remain same, unless some sincere and urgent measures are taken to tame the rivers.

Chaebol : The Korean Way of doing Business

Well, guys !! Your weekly dose of enlightenment is long overdue. Those of you who wonder where I had been all this time, just wait for my next post, to be titled "How I missed the Olympics bus" !! For now, let me lecture you on something called "Chaebol". Before you do a wiki on it and send my weekend blogging efforts into oblivion, Chaebol is a Korean word which means "a business group". Since the earlier post was on my Alma Mater, the next honour/disgrace naturally goes to my roji-roti provider, which happens to be a Chaebol.

In a broader context, Chaebol refers to the well-known and family controlled South Korean corporate houses like Samsung,LG,Hyundai,Daewoo etc.The fact that a country as small as South Korea has churned out such internationally reputed brands, naturally calls for a closer look at the way these bigwigs operate.

To understand their meteoric rise in Korean as well as world economy, we must go back to 1940s when Korean economy was in shambles from long Japanese occupation. After the Japs left,many start-ups sprouted independently or by acquiring left-over Japanese businesses. To help them rise,these companies were provided special privileges by the government.In a span of mere 30 years, the chaebol-government cooperation turned around the Korean economy. Capital Seoul,once a city of ruins under the japanese regime, grew rapidly to become the second biggest metropolitan in the world.South Korea was hailed as the new Asian Tiger.

Just as the future was starting to look bright and rosy, the Asian Financial Crisis of late 1990s reared its ugly head. Many of the Chaebols went bankrupt overnight, Daewoo being the most prominent victim. To fuel their explosive growth,these Chaebols had focused heavily on overseas markets and were deep in debt.So when worldwide economies faced a slowdown, they took the hardest hit. Government forced them to adopt more transparent corporate policies and reduced the stakes of the controlling families in their businesses.Lead by Samsung,the world's second largest conglomerate, the chaebols recovered quickly. South Korea is today regarded as one of most technologically advanced countries of 21st century.

However all is not well today. Recently some of these chaebols have been plagued by scandals and tax issues,resulting in implication and resignation of top management. Back home,Indian chaebol like entities like Reliance, Birla are also facing scandals and bitter in-house rivalries. Even in namma Bangalore, Nilgiris, the country's oldest super-market chain was handed over to Actis, a UK based PEI by its controlling family in 2006. A recent survey has claimed that such family controlled businesses rarely remain in control of their owners beyond 3 generations. All these have put a question mark on the futures of these family controlled businesses.Only time will tell whether they will be able to preserve their unique identity and grow in 21st century economy.

So guys,whats your take ? Next time you plan to start a business,think hard as to whether keep it a family affair or promote it as a public business. Unless you are as fortunate as me, who don’t have the money for such a venture and hence need not worry about those trivial issues..:-) !!

Tezpur University : Why It Matters

For those uninitiated,Tezpur University is a central university located in Tezpur district of Assam,inaugurated in 1994 by erstwhile PM of India, P V Narasimha Rao.Yours truly has the honour of being an alumnus of this institute per excellence. So through this article, I intend to share the wonderful experience I had there during my PG years.

Why It Matters: The first thing that strikes you about the place is the bevy of facilities offered to the students for a nominal fee. State-of-the-art computer centre with V-SAT internet connection, well furnished library, spacious hostels equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity, indoor stadium, multi-gym are just a few of its highlights. The university boasts of a dedicated power line, guaranteeing virtually uninterrupted power supply. The student teacher ratio in this University is one of the lowest in the country, which means closer attention to the students. It offers a vast range of under graduate and post-graduate courses in engineering, management and literature.Tezpur university is the first university in India to offer M.Tech. courses in Computational Seismology and also in Bio-Electronics. Another aspect worth mentioning is TU's (as we fondly call it) transparent exam grading system. RTI act has been invoked these days all over India to bring more transparency into the grading system of academic institutes. But TU was ahead of its time, already having such best practices in place.

My Days: I did my MCA course under the Department of Computer Science and Engineering which was quite an enriching experience. The highpoint of those years was the grooming we received there. Learning under a host of esteemed faculties, combined with the access to a well-equipped lab which remains open 24 hours a day, we were ready to face the challenges of the corporate world by the time of our graduation. Same can be said of other departments as well, when it comes to the quality of education and facilities they offer. Outside the classroom, the atmosphere was equally fun. Cultural and sports events were organised throughout the year, providing an ample stage for showcasing one's extra-curricular talents. I took an active interest in them and that really helped me in honing my soft-skills. A vibrating campus life kept us all in high spirits, there was not a single dull momment both on and off the classroom. When I look back now,the environment was very reminiscent of the corporate life that we live today, albeit far less stressful. After 5 days of classes, it was time to party, the beautiful and bustling tezpur town providing great weekend bistros.

However TU is yet to reach the status of a frontline Indian academia, its location in a geographically backward region like Assam being a big drawback. Campus recruitments have been few and far in between, although the quality of education makes sure that you never have to struggle much in off-campus interviews.In recent times,the placement cell is taking new initiatives in this regard,with active help from its alumni. Lets hope in coming days,Tezpur University will find its righteous place among the crème de la crème of Indian academica.

So guys, if you have not checked out this happening place as yet, do it now(www.tezu.ernet.in) . And if you are an alumnus, feel free to share your valuable views and experiences.Tezpur University matters and lets make an effort to spread words about this wonderfull place. After all it changed our lives, and changed for better :-)

Hello World !!

Hello World !!
Any software engineer worth his salt starts his coding life with the above lines. Since yours truly also falls in that category, so its befitting that I start my blogging life with the very same lines. However I intend to share, bare and preach much more than plain Hi's n Hello's. You might wonder what an Indian SE has to offer other than copy-pasting techniques, but no worries. To use Calvin's(being an ardent fan, I will often quote him thruout my bloglife...so beware !) famous words "I am not dumb, I just have a command of some thoroughly useless information". So its high time that I offload some of these junk to your brains as well.

To keep myself busy during office hours, I take an active interest in a wide and random array of subjects such as economics, politics, films, world affairs, sports, cartoons, environment, gadgets, defense etc tec. Over the time, I intend to lecture and enlighten you on any such topics which catch my whims and fancies. You may ask "in this fast-forward life,who has time to read your garbage ?" The asnwer lies in my motto "Enlightenment in 21 seconds". You have tasted instant coffee, now you will taste instant enlightenment. I will serve crisp n hot, while being simple n short !!

So guys, anytime you feel bored n drowsy n clumsy, just hop across my blog. Gratification will be quick and sure.
Presto :-) !!