live broad band

Middle Age

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:25:00 +0000

After a painstaking search, I got the name and a few lines of the Kamala Das poem I remembered during a conversation with a friend. It's called "Middle Age". Sadly, I cannot find the whole poem online. My professor had presented it brilliantly as the difference between a girl and a boy in how much they understand the mother, adding an additional perspective to its beauty. She explained every line in the poem as if the poet wished he child was a girl - maybe the professor was bringing in her personal reading here. The poem has so much emotion that it makes me sad. This is one poem that had certainly enhanced my view of the world, and my love for poetry (and established Kamala Das in indelible ink in my mind - whatever critics might talk of her). The lines I got online are thus (hopefully I still have the text at home, and will be able to find out the entire poem):

Middle age is when your children are no longer
Friends but critics, stern of face and severe with
their tongue

...
(lines comparing the child's growth to the pupae coming out the cocoon
and memories of reciting jungle stories written in golden ink)
...

they no longer
Need you except for serving tea and for
pressing
clothes
...

(the mother touches books of her child,
weeps a little secretly.)
...

You have lived
In a dream world all your life, it's time to
wake up, Mother,
You are no longer so young you know

(Symphony : Pg. 26)

Reviews:
ONE
Source: Kamala Das: A Critical Spectrum, By Pier Paolo Piciucco - Essay: Suffering and Humiliation in Kamala Das's Poetry , K.V. SURENDRAN (Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Kannur University, Thalassery Campus, Palayad, Thalassery Kannur, Kerala.)

“Middle Age” is a poem which surveys the little, unnoticed pangs of mothers who are already on the “wrong side of the forties.” She begins the poem telling us when a person can be called middle aged.

The situation she describes here is one that is common place and found in every other household. When children grow up estrangement develops and the views or the old generation becomes totally unacceptable to the growing generation. The ultimate result is that the elderly people are made to suffer for no fault of theirs. The modem solution to this problem is nuclear families where the grey haired are mercilessly banished. Even when they get an entry to the households their role is limited to providing amenities to the other inmates of the house, that is, the role of a servant.

Certainly it is a life of humiliation and suffering that the middle aged are made to experience. Like a pupa becoming a cocoon and then butterfly, the silent obedient child has all on a sudden become an independent self-asserting personality and the casualty is his own mother. The poet's attempt in this poem is to wake up the dreamy middle aged mothers and to prepare them face the ultimate reality shedding the mental torture that has been in store for them.

TWO
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/I_want_practical_criticism_of_poem%27middle_age%27_written_by_indian_poet_kamala_das, by Thankachen

Kamala Das is a well known Indian poet writing in English. As a writer, she made bold attempts to break the traditional shell of Indian woman with her fiery tone and confessional mode of writing. She takes reader to her confidence and opens her mind before them. In her poem, Middle Age she tells us her feeling as a mother. She tries to bring out the loneliness that she feels at her middle age.

In the opening of the poem, she tells us that one's middle age is when his children become a critic all that he does. At this age the children lashes their tongue without any mercy. They use harsh language towards their parents. This change in their attitude is beautifully compared to the transformation that happens to pupae in a cocoon. The children emerge in harsh adult glory. They do not need their mothers except for serving tea and pressing their dress.

The mothers do not take this change as something very natural. They need the company of their children all the same. They miss their children very badly. In their loneliness, they touch books and other things of their children. They weep a little secretly. They can only dream of the days when they narrated many animals' stories to their children. As they remember those days, they can only cry in their present helplessness. It gives them a realization that they are no longer as young as they used to be. It reminds them that it is the time to wake up from the daydreams.

This poem is written in free verse. It is written in a conversational tone. The rhythm of the poem takes us to a dreamy world of a lonely mother. The visual imagery in the poem like the pupae coming out the cocoon and the jungle stories written in golden ink are very remarkable. The reader gets such a picture in his mind. It also takes us back to our child hood when we used to listen to such stories from our parents.

At the end of the poem, she comes to a realization that things are different in their middle age. This poem can be taken as an effort of the mother to accept the harsh reality in one's life that as the children grow up, the parents grow old. The mother is helpless at the callousness shown by the children. In this poem, Kamala Das portrays the generation gap that happens in the relationship of mothers and children in a touching way. It also reveals her most sensitive heart before the reader.

THREE (lots of word-use errors)
Source: http://keralaenchanting.blogspot.com/2009/08/appreciation-to-poemmiddle-age.html

The elegant poem written by the renowned Indian poetess, Kamala Das, speaks of the dismal state of a mother whose love is rejected by her son. She vividly depicts the loneliness and estrangement of middle aged people through the thoughts of a poor mother whose full-fledged intimacy and motherhood are neglected by her son.

In the middle age, the children became critical and unfriendly and use harsh words to their parents. Here, the mother is very anxious and alert about her son. But being in a fantasy world,the son finds no importance for his mother, but for serving hot tea and pressing his clothes regularly. At the same time, the mother wants her child to be beside her in each moment as the life's turns make her more dependent on her son. The son grows up into an individual with a self-sustaining personality, and starts breaking the affectionate hearts. The mother cannot scold and hug the son freely, instead she herself wraps all her pain within her and weeps secretly by touching her son's books and clothes. His adult ego makes him hate all the little pranks once made by the mother. As he grows, he views them all with a deep aversion and hatred.

The short and excruciating poem of Kamala Das touched my heart deeply. As I go through the lines, I was able to feel the doldrums of the middle age. To a woman, motherhood is a part of her feminine self that yearns for love and its fulfillment. But the harsh realities of adolescence overturns it without any remorse. Once I finished reading the poem, I could hear the cry of a weeping heart of a mother.

Dialog from Chenkol

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:07:00 +0000

Dialog from Malayalam movie Chenkol (1993).

Seven-layered vegetarian tostadas

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:20:00 +0000

Ingredients:
Pack of round tostadas / tortillas (available in Mexican aisles), canned pinto beans, avocados, roma tomatoes, salt, minced jalapenos, sour cream, lime juice, grounded cumin*, red chilly mix*, canned tomato paste, oregano, parsley, lettuce, shredded cheese.

(*if needed)

Steps:
Layer 1: Preheat oven, and bake the tostadas for just under 3 to 4 mins. Keep aside.
Layer 2: Take 2 cans of pinto beans, wash away the preservatives, add a little salt and smash. Add water and cook for a while to smash easily. Keep aside.
Layer 3: Make the guacamole (explained below). Keep aside.
Layer 4: Make the salsa with tomato paste (1 can) + 2 minced Jalapenos. Add oregano, parsley and such Italian herbs, and enough water to make it semi-thick. (Add red-chilly for extra spice!) Keep aside.
Layer 5: Keep the sour cream ready.
Layer 6: Take the lettuce, peel each layer, roll up and chop into thin strands. Keep aside.
Layer 7: Shred the cheese, or keep aside the shredded cheese.

Take one tostada on a plate, forming layer 1. Thinly spread layer 2: pinto beans; layer 3: guacamole; layer 4: spicy salsa; layer 5: sour cream; layer 6: lettuce and top-up with layer 7: some shredded cheese. Hold the tostada on your palm and eat as messily as possible. Repeat, and compete on how many you can devour in one round!

Making guacamole

Halve, seed and spoon-peel 4 to 5 semi-ripe avocados. Keep the seeds aside since they help to preserve the guacamole. Dice 3 or 4 roma tomatoes into tiny pieces. Smash the avocados and add the tomato pieces. Add salt, minced jalapenos (red chilly for a spicier mix!), sour cream and lime juice. Mix ingredients well. We may add grounded cumin if needed. Add back the seeds and make sure to use within the same day.

(Courtesy: Pritesh and Kinjal)

Searchwiki can only be an experiment

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:17:00 +0000

On November 22, 2008 (a week earlier in Europe according to reports), something strange started to happen with Google's biggest source of revenue - that ubiquitous service in which the monolith has virtually no competition - Google Search.

Around November 21, we saw a heavily publicized launch for what Google termed as SearchWiki. (Even the WSJ prominently carried this story.) Some claimed that it was not a "Wiki" at all since it was not essentially a socially-driven search system, while some others said that Google was just trying to copy Wikia. Read the Google Operating System blog post about the launch.

Few actually saw the fully-functional version of the modified search system until November 22. But taking us by surprise, by afternoon, Google made a hushed withdrawal, replacing the original search system. Read the TechCrunch post about the withdrawal.

Soon, Searchwiki made a reappearance in Google Experimental (Google's description mentions a cheesy "sound-effect" recorded by Sergey Brin himself - aargh!)
Worst of it all, the Experimental version didn't work - (It doesn't work the moment I am writing this blog!)

What really is happening at Google? The way it's happening, it doesn't seem intentional. The reception to SearchWiki has been very divided. While one side maintains that it will kill the manipulation of searches by SEO's and foster better search results providing for a combination of search and social sharing capabilities, the other side says that unmoderated commenting will prove to be a haven for spammers, and cannot do well because the mass customer is always "dumber" than the search engine developer.

My take? This technology is so new and immature that it should only remain an experiment. Search results are more vulnerable for manipulation in Searchwiki, say for instance, if a website starts hiring people to just promote their website for specific keywords. Of course, Google says that your preferences will not affect another user, but that doesn't make sense since we already have an array of bookmarking options. I believe that Google's plan was definitely to slowly transition to a user-influenced search system. Also imagine searching for "ExxonMobil" and getting the first page full of links to exxposeexxon.com. The "dumber than thou" argument also underscores the fact that Google should not impose something that's so noisy and complicated on every user especially given its reputation for simplicity. Obviously, the ramifications of such a search model can be huge since the internet is getting more and more search-driven.

It was not too wise of Google to launch such a huge change directly in its most used service. Actually it's much worse of a trip-up than what facebook did by not involving its users when it launched its new interface. In case this was just an effort to collect a larger sample of usage data, Google should've informed the users that it will be temporary. This unacknowledged blooper from Google is certain to fuel the argument that Google is foraying into too many things than it can effectively focus. Since every product Google launches leverages at least some share of Google's impeccable search capability, a faultering step here can be disastrous. Will Google be able to maintain the small-firm approach that it had 10 years ago even as it has become the biggest "portal" to the web, given the mess in which Yahoo has submerged itself? The task is tough for sure.

As an aside, an SEO professional came out with a script to turn wiki on and off, which was kind of neat, had Google stuck to its earlier plan. Also read: Networkworld critical about Searchwiki

Update: As of 11 p.m. on November 22, SearchWiki has made a full-fledged comeback. Now that it's going to stay in one form or the other, you should read this awesome illustrated guide to SearchWiki entirely so that you get an idea of the do's and don'ts in a changed search environment. I maintain my stance that SearchWiki should be allowed to gradually graduate from a experimental release - there are too many jitters as of now. And I'm not happy that they removed the "Note this" feature from search. I used to love the ability to privately bookmark my searches. Give it back to me, Google!

Update (Nov. 24): To de-personalize your search, add the string "&hl=all" to the address bar once your search result comes up. It not only removes SearchWiki but also prevents your web history from influencing your search. Get your de-personalized Google search Firefox plug-ins here.

Filter Kaappi!

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:56:00 +0000

To help my coffee addiction be unconstrained by the tightening economy, I purchased a manual drip filtration coffee brewer today. It has been a while since I stopped drinking instant coffee because I began hating the very taste. To be honest, I miss my favorite South Indian filter coffee every morning, and I'm trying my best to make up for it. I know that the filter is just one component - next will be to figure out the right kind of coffee (chicory-blended, if I can get hold of it!), the right kind of milk, and the right mixes to give me the taste I long for. That's why I would prefer to call it kaappi than just coffee - it is something different!

I got my filter from the nearby grocer. In case you want to order online (in USA), you may do so here.

To use the filter, take off the lid and unscrew the inner screen. Place the filter on top of a cup, or better, on top of a metal glass collector. Add 3-4 teaspoons of coffee and moderately tighten the screen. Fill a quarter of the filter with boiling water and wait for less than half a minute for the water to start dripping. Unscrew the screen a bit, and refill filter with boiling water. Place the lid tightly so that the fragrance of the coffee does not escape.

Once the collecting glass has enough coffee, pour it into boiled milk, and add sugar to taste, to enjoy a refreshing cup of coffee. I will update this post once I get the right coffee-chicory blend.

The necessity of the word

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:33:00 +0000

THERE is an ancient legend which tells us that when a man first achieved
a most notable deed he wished to explain to his tribe what he had done.
As soon as he began to speak, however, he was smitten with dumbness,
he lacked words, and sat down. Then there arose - according to the story - a masterless man, one who had taken no part in the action of his fellow,
who had no special virtues, but afflicted - that is the phrase - with the magic of the necessary words. He saw, he told, he described the merits
of the notable deed in such a fashion, we are assured, that the words
"became alive and walked up and down in the hearts of all his hearers." Thereupon, the tribe seeing that the words were certainly alive,
and fearing lest the man with the words would hand down untrue tales
about them to their children, they took and killed him.
But later they saw that the magic was in the words,
not in the man.

"The record of the tribe is in its enduring. The magic of literature lies in words and not in any man. Witness, a thousand excellent, strenuous words can leave us quite cold or put us to sleep, whereas a bare half- hundred words breathed by some man in his agony or in his exaltation, or in his idleness, ten generations ago, can still lead a whole nation into and out of its captivity, can open to us the doors of three worlds, or stir us so intolerably that we can scarcely abide to look at own souls."

-Kipling, Kipling's Analysis of True Literature, The Scrap book

Truths

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:57:00 +0000

Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto
deep within
the bowels of the world

and he will say
starvation
was not his choice
poverty
was not an alternative.

But the devil
says
the choice
was yours.

Change motivates,
motivations change
change responds,
responses change.

The power to choose
is still yours.
Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto.

----
"piece.of.mind"

Rahman in 2008: You know or you know not!

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sun, 25 May 2008 02:52:00 +0000

Two new albums of A R Rahman, 'Jane Tu Ya Jane Na' and 'Ada: A Way of Life' were released just in time for me to review during the long weekend. This makes it three albums for Rahman already this year, and with 'Ghajini', 'Yuvaraj' and 'Dilli 6' as also a few Tamil albums round the corner, this year seems to be one in which Rahman returns full-fledged to mainstream cinema.

As other reviewers would agree, the task at hand was already daunting because of the variety of music that Rahman has presented in these handful of songs. Especially with Ada carrying a historical journey of six years of Rahman, expectations ran high. With my little knowledge of music, the best I could do was to break each musical piece into parts, and analyze them irrespective of the whole. I used this opportunity to review 'Jodha Akbar' as well. Even though Jodha Akbar had been listened to several times already, and had undergone the test of time, it surprisingly has achieved high scores.

To ensure that all my measures are comparable and do full justice to Rahman, I heard the songs in the same stretch, reviewing them as I listened. The measures used are particular to Rahman, and since Rahman does not have comparison, cannot be used for anyone else. (Especially not for Pritam!) Worth mentioning is the fact that one factor that adds to Jodha Akbar's magic is the lyrics, whereas it is the same that is missing in Ada. Prasoon Joshi in Jane Tu is way less impressive than in Taare Zameen Par and Rang de Basanti, but of course, way better than the Sameers in other Hindi flicks.

Rahman also seems to miss his stalwart singers in some songs, notably Asha Bhonsle, Hariharan, Lata Mangeshkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Adnan Sami, Kavita Krishnamoorthi-Subramaniam, ahem...well the list goes on. But, look at the new singers he has brought in - they all have their own original styles. He has also taken advantage of the full voice of Malayalam's own "morning-singer" Jayachandran, to whom Hindi has so far been alien terrain. Sunidhi Chauhan is at her liberterious best whereas Blaaze is thankfully not overshadowing Rahman's work. I went back to the songs in Roja , Dil Se and Rang de Basanti as reference points to where today's Rahman is. I found that 'Milo Wahan Wahan' counts among the best songs of Rahman, and is close to 'Ae Ajnabi'. So does 'Jashn-e-Bahara', and my spreadsheet agrees. As the Rahman fans exhort, it certainly seems to be Vintage Rahman, and I am sure it will continue to be so album upon album, like it has been from 1992.

For more information, refer to the Rahman in 2008 spreadsheet. And do not miss the latest interview of Rahman in CNN-IBN, posted as a six-part series, here.

Business Insights

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:25:00 +0000

I have to note these ideas down so that I do not forget them for life. What better place than a blog to throw in what I have learnt from life! (I miss my personal diary - I hope it is safe at my home, inside my briefcase, so that I may get back to it at a later point in life.)

Relationship Management. Make strong relationships and use them well. This is much better than kissing a**, because here the other person has an opportunity to use you as well. And when you make use of people, you are actually satisfying their ego. Be grateful for their help! I would love to add some unproved ideas - Be genuine in your relationships. The three pillars of any relationship are - trust, mutual respect and predictability. Lose any of those, and you end up straining your relationship. These pillars are built over time, and are hard to rebuild.
Due diligence. When you try to achieve anything, try to seal the deal from all angles. For instance, when you are looking for a job, don’t just contact one person you know, contact everybody, and make sure that they all know you. Also, find out everything about the company. Now, you have made sure that only 10% is out of your control. Also, avoid complacency. Make sure that you're quick to respond because there is always somebody who does everything you do and much much more!
Question. Ask the right questions and ask them early. What you lack in your head, you make up with your feet. (Courtesy due) If you have the nerve to withstand the "Mr. Stupid" label, you are guaranteed to come up with a result. And, if somebody says something that is not straightforward, never feel shy to ask where he or she got the data. Most of the time, you find that conclusions are made out of little evidence!
Agree. Perceptions once made are difficult to change. Agree to the perception others have about you. And ask them to help you make amends. This usually works much better than a defensive stance. Ask for help and you will get it. (Courtesy due)
Selling. In consultative selling, shamelessly driving in the value-add that you bring is important. Being modest and expecting the other person to understand is too complicated in a busy world.
Persuasion. Be persuasive whenever you make an argument. Being persuasive means to drive in your message in every paragraph you write, or every sentence you speak. It is understood that good and bad coexist. You are not expected to show the negative side in any more than an indicative manner when you are attempting to seek support for a venture.
Promise. Under promise and over deliver. If you promised the moon already, you are screwed. In marketing, Value = (Benefit - Price), which is called value-based selling.
Communicate. Communicating your idea is your responsibility. It is not enough to have an idea. You should be able to convey it in a manner that is understandable. Rehearse enough so that the audience believes that you were able to do it with ease.
Simplicity. Keep it simple. Even complicated things can be explained in simple terms. Simplicity is understandable, and anything understandable is worth a try. When you have to convey multiple ideas and your thoughts begin to rush in, "think like a four-year-old, but re-word your thoughts like an adult would do". (Courtesy due)
Exit. Have an exit strategy. Nothing goes on perpetually. In other words, begin with the end in mind. Not to forget the importance of the "backward process" where you make sure early-on that your deliverable are what somebody actually wants to see, for instance, by making mock-up models. This helps us to be proactive rather than reactive.
It depends. Almost usually, there is no answer to a particular problem. The correct answer actually depends. Our job is not to find the correct answer (absolutist thinking), but to find the answer that suits the situation. So the question to ask is not "What is the correct answer?" but "What is the correct answer for this situation? / What does the answer depend on and why?". And, most importantly, do it for the right reasons! (Courtesy due)
Do not generalize. Our stereotypes do not work everywhere. People are inherently different.
Stop complaining. Bitching does not take you anywhere. For instance, you might know that an acquaintance is not essentially a good person because you have closely interacted with him or her. But if you spell out this opinion to a third person who hasn't interacted as much, you lose your credibility. It is better to let others know for themselves. Think positively, and at least initially separate your analysis of a situation from what your emotion tells you. And, instead of complaining, do something!
Uniformity. Once you have a goal, every strategy you apply should be aligned towards that goal. This is a basic principle of strategy, but we can apply it to every single thing we do. Setting your goal early on always helps because it allows you to focus your resources.
Stop helping. People do not need your advice and support unless they ask for it. Sometimes it is better to let them roll in the mud and get dirty. Helping can make the other person dependent and less free. And, just to let you know, I am not trying to advise you here - these are ideas that will help me from repeating my own mistakes! Also, when you try to help, you are always helping your own ego. Forgo the ego once in a while!
Resourcefulness. Being resourceful is more important than knowing. Know where you can find what you want, and that is much much important than using your brain to store everything. I can bookmark this blog, as far as I know when to come back and look for help.
Opportunity cost. In other words, Profit = Revenues - Cost. If the cost is too high, then you may still end up a loser. A friend said:

"Always watch what the world needs along with your interests and try to get a common field of interest. That way you will not be left just as a revolutionary. Because going against the wind and wish of the people and becoming successful is always difficult. You may at the end find one successful moment of satisfaction. But you will not be able to measure the cost."

Perfection. If you are doing a crime, better do it perfectly and with dedication! Better not leave that little strand of hair that Sherlock Holmes will search for! And not knowing what to do is OK, but if you are sure that you do not want to do it or you know that you cannot do it perfectly, better not do it at all.

(Courtesy: Sarvesh, Mittal, GW, MH)

The Alchemist and Cinema Paradiso

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:01:00 +0000

I had read 'The Alchemist' long back, intrigued by what such a lot of people were finding so fanciful about. I agree to most of what has been written here. But then since positivity is all about seeing the open half of the door when the other half is shut, I wish to add that there are certainly some takeaways from the book, and therefore it's not an entirely pointless read.

The protagonist returning to his own place in search of his treasure does not actually take away the importance of the journey he makes. With a pair of change of clothes and a mattress to sleep in, we may go around the world, but as Alfredo tells Salvatore in 'Nuovo Cinema Paradiso', we got to go away a long time, for many, many years, before coming back and finding our people again, and the land where we were born...

Ballads that the backwaters sing

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Time to post another song! Rendered by K J Yesudas to the tune set by the legendary Salil Choudhary, this is from the film "Ee Ganam Marakkumo" ("Will you forget this song?"). Well, the fact is that I did forget this song, and Youtube helped me rediscover it. So, here goes!

(Image Courtesy)

And here are the lyrics, courtesy Pattupetty:

Movie : Ee Ganam Marakkumo (1978)
Singer: Yesudas
Music : Salil Chowdhury
Lyrics: O N V
Director: Sankaran Nair

"Kalakalam kaayalolangal paadum kathakal
Kalakalam kaayalolangal paadum kathakal
Oru muthu polaam penkidaavin
kuttanaadan penkidaavin
Kathum novukal pookkalaay
Narum thechi pookkalaay
kannuneer vaarkum kathakall

Kalakalam kaayalolangal paadum kathakal

Virahini nee vaarkum kannuneer
Kathir maniyaay mannil veezhave....
Virahini nee vaarkum kannuneer
Kathir maniyaay mannil veezhave....Athu
vayalkilikal koythu poyii
valakilukki koythu poyii
Aanem keraa kaatilum pinne
aaluum keraa mettilum chennu vithachuuu

Karutha penne ninne kaanuvaan....
Kadalthira pol kezhum kaamukhan
Karutha penne ninne kaanuvaan....
Kadalthir pol kezhum kaamukhan
Aaa pavizha malli pootha dikkil
avane engo kanduvo nee
etho swapanm kannilum pinne
ethoo gaanam chundilum ninne pothinjuu

Kalakalam kaayalolangal paadum kathakal
Kalakalam kaayalolangal paadum kathakal
Oru muthu polaam penkidaavin
kuttanaadan penkidaavin
Kathum novukal pookkalaay
Narum thechi pookkalaay
kannuneer vaarkum kathakal"

Journey to the Past

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:50:00 +0000

I retrieved an old verse that I had written and posted in my college yahoo group as a parting message. The poem was not bad, but my comments seemed too naive :-p. I'm not sure whether this is any indication of how much I have grown as a person in the last five years. But, I think that's what the poem talks about.

Embark often
On a journey to the past
Relish moments
Irretrievably lost.
Stop there!
Never trigger worry
And make
Clocks walk backwards.
Change freshens you
As you adjust to it;
What place
Do memories hold,
How stale
Do things become,
If time stops?!

Wed Aug 20, 2003 6:40 am

Google Chatbots!

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 07:15:00 +0000

Translation chatbot:

Google has released 23 translation chat-bots. (If you didn't know, a bot is simply a (ro)bot). You just add any of them to GTalk (or any other jabber client) and send a message. They (some ultrageek translators who type at lightning velocities onto a gargauntan monitor filled with at least 1 million open chatboxes 24/7/365 and yada yada) will reply back with the translation within a second.

List of bots:

ar2en, de2en, de2fr, el2en, en2ar, en2de, en2el, en2es, en2fr, en2it, en2ja, en2ko, en2nl, en2ru, en2zh, es2en, fr2de, fr2en, it2en, ja2en, ko2en, nl2en, ru2en, zh2en*

To add the bot to your buddylist, use this id format:
[firstlanguage]2[secondlanguage]@bot.talk.google.com

Example: en2es@bot.talk.google.com

Sample chat:

me: hello
en2es: Hola
me: what's up
en2es: ¿Para qué son
me: welcome to ootty
en2es: Bienvenida a ootty
me: nee poda manda
en2es: Nee Poda Manda
Sent at 10:57 PM on Monday

*Explanation on the language codes:

EN = English, NL = Dutch, DE = German, ES = Spanish, FR = French, IT = Italian, KO = Korean, RU = Russian, JA = Japanese, ZH = Chinese.

Group Chatroom Bot:

Add any or all of

partychat@partych.at
partychat0@partych.at
partychat1@partych.at
partychat2@partych.at
partychat3@partych.at
partychat4@partych.at
partychat5@partych.at
partychat6@partych.at
partychat7@partych.at
partychat8@partych.at
partychat9@partych.at

to GTalk and follow the instructions at partych.at or http://techwalla.googlepages.com/ to create a closed (can be password protected as well) chatroom of friends of your own, and carry on a persistent (the group chat option in GTalk is not persistent) chat with them. We can be simulataneously active in 11 different groups at the same time using the ids above. Using /help or /commands on the partchat bot will provide online help. This was created by Akshay Patil of Google.

Sample conversation:

me: what the hell?
partychat: you are not in a party chat, for help using PartyChat, type '/help'
me: /help
partychat: To enter a party chat, type '/join chat_name [password]' (password may not be required).
To exit a party chat, type '/exit'.
For a list of PartyChat commands, type '/commands'

Find a more detailed treatment of Google's chatbots or IM bots here.
Pretty cool, ha? Enjoy!

Outsourced!

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 01:06:00 +0000

This video and others from the 2006 film "Outsourced" are pretty good. Though I'd be baffled to see anyone who would take losing her job so lightly, this movie promises to be one which you could show your American friend who is puzzled at an Indian's oddball behavior. Go to the movie website to see a streaming video of the first 8 minutes of this movie. Though I did not see the rest of it, the teasers do promise something impressive. Now, with the news that the NBC (The Office) guys would be looking at converting this into a TV series, you can be hopeful of finding an American on the road teaching you how they do things out there in India :)

And, talking about outsourcing, you shouldn't be missing this one!

rBST in Milk: No clear indicators of safety

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:49:00 +0000

Basic Facts: Most commonly available reading: rBST on Wikipedia
Latest News, with the real 'economic' perspective: Post-gazette
Scientific community is not sure that rBST is safe (esp. for children): FDA website

This Youtube video details the story of the Fox News reporters who were sacked for reporting the fallacy in claims that rBST is 'safe' and the litigation that ensued.

Have you heard about non-food?

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 23:46:00 +0000

Gravel talks at Google

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:40:00 +0000

Democratic candidate to the 2008 US elections, Mike Gravel speaks to Google about his general poll plank and on the National Initiative. Listening closely to the later half of his talk, we come to a conclusion that the National Initiative is not such a ‘stupid’ idea. It is actually well-researched idea which no politician would support. It’s something that we need in India as well, being a democracy with a representative structure that sometimes acts against the will of the people. Adding a feedback chain where people can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a legislative decision in fact strengthens democracy. The National Initiative website tells us more…

Ayyam a Malayali...

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:28:00 +0000

Of course, this piece is just for the mallus! Here's a song from a Malayali that I found in a social network - the network as such was pretty bad that I thought I'll rather embed the song here and give it a bit more "popularity" :) I wouldn't want to join shtyle.fm. If you're a member, do laud the singer for his work!

Source: http://www.shtyle.fm/showSong.do?id=8058

Have you piped the internet yet?

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:12:00 +0000

Pipes. They are the next generation of mashups - yeah, if mashups present a programmable web, pipes take it one step further - they bring it to the layman, who doesn't necessarily have programming skills. Pipes bring to us that version of the web, which we create by searching, filtering, slicing and dicing it to make it look the way we like it - all using easy drag and drop tools. If Yahoo! could get one step ahead of Google anywhere, it's through its Yahoo! Pipes service, which offers a pipe editor interface.

Tim O'Reilly's article claims "Yahoo!'s new Pipes service is a milestone in the history of the internet." There are dissenters too, like Tim Anderson,who argues that Yahoo! Pipes lacks a business model and allows users to strip the websites off the advertisements which help them run, leaving the internet robbed off its chief driver. Well, I'll say, it's a great idea - let's not nip it in the bud! It's not even a year since it launched and it's going to be in beta for longer - let's give the innovators and business moguls of Yahoo! and Google and Microsoft time to think out how they could cultivate a winner out of Pipes. At the least, let's hope that Google and Microsoft come up with clones to take on Yahoo, instead of killing this innovation.

Pipes are just like giving the crayons and the paper to the little boy. The little boy starts drawing - random lines and different colors initially, but not so much a picture yet. Things don't work easily at first, but he's not one who gives up so easily. He pulls up a magazine and starts browsing through the pictures until he finds one which he can copy. Well, for us, NYT through Flickr is such a good picture to start with. When you click on the link, you see a map peppered with red dots. They all represent pictures from Flickr. How are these pictures relevant? Well, a New York Times news feed has been "piped" with Flickr using keywords, to give the pictures related to the New York Times content. Cool, ha?!

The little boy is impressed. Just above the map in the NYT-Flickr pipe, he finds a 'Clone' button and clicks on it. He's led to a Pipes editor. It's not so intimidating because it looks just like a Visio flowchart editor, or even a diagram object in Powerpoint. Well, he feels NYT is pretty high standard for him - he can't digest that as much as he does 'The Hindu'. He's been growing with the paper, and the paper, with him. He goes to the The Hindu webpage, and clicks on the 'XML' RSS feeds button. There comes a list of all The Hindu's feeds. He chooses Kerala and replaces NYT's feed in the pipe. There you go - He's just created his own pipe! Save it as a different pipe, and run it - That's all he needs to do to get a feel of how many articles in The Hindu have photos that correspond to them on flickr. Zoom into Kerala on the map, and have fun!

Productivity

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:41:00 +0000

people feel
it's purposeless
to just sit and watch
the sunset
whereas
you could be productive
doing your work-out,
listening to your iPod,
skimming through email
on your latest Blackberry,
or reading a book
chewing some sour cream potato chips
along with the sips of RedBull,
or, if possible,

doing all of them together -
and yeah,
you do appreciate the fact
that the sun
is important for our lives -

while the sunset happens
in the background
all the time,
the sky assuming

shades of red

which slowly give way

to gray,
and it darkens.

India Poised!

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 23:16:00 +0000

Here's the text of Amitabh's "India Poised"ad:

"There are two Indians in this country. One India is straining at the leash, eager to spring forth and live up to all the adjectives that the world has been showering recently upon us. The other India is the leash. One India says, give me a chance and I’ll prove myself .The other India says prove yourself first and maybe then you’ll have a chance. One India lives in the optimism of our hearts. The other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds. One India Wants. The Other India Hopes. One India Leads .The Other India Follows.
But conversions are on the rise .With each passing day more and more people from the other India have been coming over to this side. And quietly while the world is not looking, a pulsating, dynamic new India is emerging. An India whose faith in success is far greater than its fear of failure. An India that no longer boycotts foreign-made goods but buys out the companies that makes them instead.
History, they say, is a bad motorist. It rarely ever signals its intentions when it is taking a turn. This is that rarely ever moment. History is turning a page. For more than half a century ,our nation has sprung, stumbled ,run , fallen ,rolled over ,got up ,dusted herself and cantered, sometimes lurched on. But today as we begin our 60^th year as a free nation, the ride has brought us to the edge of times great precipice. And one India – a tiny little voice at the back of the head – is looking down at the bottom of the ravine and hesitating. The other India is looking up at the sky and saying, its time to fly…"

And here's an excerpt from The Economic Times on the state of the Indian economy:
India's economy set for more strong growth, 2 Sep, 2007, 0955 hrs IST, AGENCIES

  NEW DELHI: India looks set for another year of strong growth after the economy unexpectedly accelerated by a scorching 9.3 per cent during the first three months, analysts say.

Last Friday's first-quarter data, driven by robust manufacturing and services output, surprised many analysts who had forecast growth as low as 8.5 per cent after five interest rate hikes in a year.

The aggressive monetary tightening and a stronger rupee, which has hit exports, means it is unlikely India will repeat last year's torrid 9.4 per cent expansion, the fastest in 18 years, analysts say

But India's "growth story," which has prompted foreigners to pump billions of dollars into shares, infrastructure and other investments, remains intact.

Expansion is being "consumption led" with "rising incomes and a growing middle class" in the country of 1.1 billion people, said Deepak Lalwani, director at London investment house Astaire and Partners.

"The economy has gained its own strong momentum due to cumulative reforms," said Lalwani, who sees growth of 8.5-9.0 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2008.

Agriculture, which has pulled down the broader economy, also fared better than expected during the first quarter, posting 3.8 per cent growth.

While nine percent is at the upper end range of most full-year forecasts, economists have raised their expectations following the quarterly figures.

JP Morgan boosted its growth estimate from eight to 8.6 per cent and Morgan Stanley from 7.7 per cent to 7.8 per cent. India's HDFC bank said it was looking at "8.5 per cent plus" from an earlier 8.3 per cent. Other investment houses said they were considering hiking their forecasts.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he was "confident GDP growth will remain close to nine per cent this year" even though first-quarter growth was "a shade below" the 9.6 per cent expansion logged in the year-ago period.

India's economy, which has expanded by an average annual 8.6 per cent in the past three years, is the fastest growing after neighbouring China. China's economy expanded by a roaring 11.9 per cent in the second quarter.

Analysts say India's growth would cool in coming quarters as the central bank's tight money policy, which has pushed interest rates to five-year highs, crimps capacity expansion and hurts credit growth.

Sales of cars are already slowing due to higher loan costs and spending on consumer durables has fallen.

"There is some softness already in credit growth and rail freight and exports," said Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank.

But the central bank is unlikely to ease its hawkish monetary policy stance rapidly.

Data Friday showed inflation fell to below four percent for the first time in over 15 months to 3.96 per cent but the strong first-quarter growth means that fears of overheating are still alive, analysts said.

"It does not seem likely the central bank will loosen rates in a hurry... (as) the economy continues to grow at an above trend pace," said Manika Premsingh at Edelweiss Capital brokerage.

The new inflation rate is far below the bank's annual target of "close" to five percent. But economists say the drop was mainly due to a high base effect from a year earlier when inflation stood at 5.6 per cent.

"The bank won't be lulled," said Soumitra Chaudhuri, economic advisor to credit rating agency ICRA.

"Inflation isn't dead, the economy is growing fast, and if you don't watch inflation it will come back with a vengeance," he said.

(Shamelessly) Posted as-is from:

Finer Balance

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:28:00 +0000

FINER BALANCE

pierces in
the sword

as i attempt
to balance

mountains
on the sharpest edge*

nothing

except
the resurgent gumption

to hell
with the world

compels me
to strike

harder

cut the tide
in two.
---
*(sharpest edge = 'muhlmuna')

You're going right

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:20:00 +0000

hello.
i really hope you don't become
depressed at this moment.
you shouldn't.
you have so much to live for
and you've always had.

doing everything that did not happen
automatically to you
so that someone else
has an easier path to his dreams
has been your dream all along.

it's good that you understand
the basic insecurity of people.
especially when precariously poised
at one edge of a hanging bridge
without option but to remain so
because they fear the lurking tiger ahead
and hungry alligators in the lake below.
you don't want to join them, do you?

believe me, your aims are too different from the rest.
as you move relentlessly
across such situations
facing victory
against the greatest obstacles
and failing at the last moment
when your end is at sight
you know there is neither victory nor loss
nothing is difficult
and nothing is important
and your thoughts become loftier.

you will return to the world
where you have time for everything
and do what you always liked to.
you'll be the thinker.
who, one day, will not need thought.
and you won't be sad in doing so.
and never shall you look back
and spill a tear.
now, you cannot.

Picnic at EagleCreek

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:06:00 +0000

Here are some videos of our short picnic to EagleCreek Park in Indy.

The EagleCreek Lilly Lake trail:

Bold ducks at EagleCreek - Amidst the wild animals!

Fireworks in Indy

noreply@blogger.com (TeleRaviRays) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:03:00 +0000

Since it's becoming tougher day by day to write something, I'll rather post a video. :) Play!