Eloquently Eclectic

Hello world ! :)

2011-07-21T17:17:00.003+05:30

A very big Hello to all my dear readers. Yes, I am back to blogging after a nearly two year long break . And boy what an amazing 22months it's been. It's brought about huge changes for me and my views on the world. As I already mentioned in my previous post, lot of changes are coming through to this edition of the blog , starting with getting a new online identity for the blog. From today onwards this blog will be accessible from the new domain " www.buzzpoint.net " . Thanks to the awesome team at Uberlogic Cloud solutions , who worked tirelessly in acquiring this domain for me :).

Currently there are some issues with the whole SEO thinggy as this domain was already registered with blogger.com by the previous owner , and blogger.com is not allowing me to add the this domain in my account, hence until this issue is sorted out , all my posts will be available on the old track-back urls.

At the moment Buzzpoint comes you from Trivandrum, india . Yes i have returned back to Trivandrum and will be here for a while , until the next duty calls :).

Thats all for the moment.. hopefully frequent updates will follow ;).

stretches Time to Start Blogging Again

2011-07-18T14:39:00.000+05:30

Well, I am back. It’s been nearly 22 months since I have blogged.Many reasons... but none of it matters cause I am back now. Everyone has probably removed me from their list of blogs to read because, well, I haven’t been blogging. But today I went back and read some of my old blog posts and decided it was time to get back into action. Really, I just need to write things down so that I won’t forget them.

The past 22 months have really been rocking , new experiences , awesome learnings and much more. Plus there are interesting changes in the offing too , been searching for an identity a name, a domain for soo long. And finally the domain name for which i was long after has been acquired from the previous owner , and is with me to stay . More on this and many things coming ahead in the posts to come. Stay tuned ! :)

Mild Earthquake in Trivandrum, kerala

2009-09-18T19:13:00.010+05:30

Mild Earthquake in Trivandrum

Mild Earth-quake tremors felt at Most part of Thiruvananthapuram District in Kerala at 6.44pm (Friday, September 18, 2009).
It Measured a Reading of 3.4 on Richter Scale (recorded at Trivandrum) . The focus (epicenter) of earthquake is reported to be 18kms in sea , from trivandrum city.

Steps to take in case of an earthquake:

* If you're indoors, stay there but seek cover under an interior doorway or heavy desk or table. Avoid windows and outside doors.

* If you're outside, stay there. Get away from buildings and watch for chimneys, overhead wires, poles or other objects that might fall.

* If you're in a car, pull over and stop away from bridges and overpasses. Stay in the car and turn on the radio for information.

code adict ?

2009-06-13T00:37:00.003+05:30

its been quite sometime since i posted something relevant or simply interesting out here, so here is a short take on software Engineers , that i found while surfing on net, thought to share it here... Enjoy ;)

how do you know if You've been programming too long ?

* When you are counting objects, you go "0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D...".

* When asked about a bus schedule, you wonder if it is 16 or 32 bits.

* When your wife says "If you don't turn off that darn machine and come to bed,then I am going to divorce you!", and you chastise her for for omitting the else clause.

* When you are reading a book and look for the space bar to get to the next page.

* When you look for your car keys using: "grep keys /dev/pockets"

* When after fooling around all day with routers etc, you pick up the phone and start dialing an IP number.

* When you get in the elevator and double-press the button for the floor you want.

* When not only do you check your email more often than your paper mail, but you remember your {network address} faster than your postal one.

* When you go to balance your checkbook and discover that you're doing the math in octal.

* When you dream in 256 pallettes of 256 colors.

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

And here is a Vintage reminder of why you should never use M$ windOS or any of its newer versions.

--------------------
And a very Interesting News which just broke in !

M$ to Sell Ad Space in Error Messages

M$ announced that it is selling advertising space in the error messages that appear in WindOS. Acknowledging for the first time that the average user of their operating system encounters error messages at least several times a day, M$ is trying to take financial advantage of the unavoidable opportunity to make an ad impression. "We estimate that throughout the world at any given moment several million people are getting a "general protection fault" or "illegal operation" warning. We will be able to generate significant revenue by including a short advertising message along with it," said M$ marketing director Nathan Mirror. The US Justice Department immediately indicated that they intend to investigate whether M$ is gaining an unfair advantage in reaching the public with this advertising by virtue of its monopolistic control over error messages.

Mr.Bean , Rowan Atkinson my favourite

2009-06-12T22:46:00.004+05:30

Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is in this world, but not of this world. His nous exclusive doesn't seem to grasp things the artefact an cipher mortal would and his chronicle is member daylong hardship because of this, try himself into unceasing mishaps and far out, zany situations, which he is mitt to variety conceive on his possess as he doesn't seem to intermixture with anyone and he rarely speaks. But he never gives up and, despite the simplest of tasks existence a unceasing try for him, applying his possess zany methods of finding the difficulty ever pays soured for him in the end.

Thats just a short intro on the Character Mr.Bean , portrayed by Rowan Atkinson. Rowan Sebastian Atkinson is a very popular English comedian, actor and writer known for playing the title role in the television comedy Mr. Bean. Mr.Bean is a child in a grown mans body, whom effectively portrays the lighter side of everyday task.Atkinson was born to Anglican farmers, Eric Atkinson and Ella May. He completed his primary education at Durham Choristers School , followed by St Bees School , and graduated in electrical engineering at Newcastle University .

Apart from acting, he has a passion for racing cars and apparently owns a large fleet of cars. His car collection involves Aston Martin V8,Audi A8,Bentley Mulsanne,Renault 5 Turbo and a McLaren F1 , just to mention a few.

Rowan Atkinson as Mr bean ,never fails to leave a trail of merry mayhem and side-splitting laughter in his wake , which makes him one of my favourite actor of all times :)
Please nominate me in the Best of the Best Awards

Shopping Re-defined

2009-03-07T01:00:00.003+05:30

Wikipedia Defines shopping as Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with intent to purchase at that time. Shopping is the activity of selection and/or purchase.Here is a totally new and cool way of shopping online via shopwiki a shopping experience defined via wikis.
The best part of shopwiki is that, its us the consumers who decide the best products and place's to buy it. A product listed in shopwiki has even video reviews available , so that the customer gets a first hand experience of the products from the very users who have tried it out.

An example would be to buy Wireless Routers From shop wiki. Just a search yields a comprehensive list of all available Equipments and models, with very detailed reviews (and even video reviews) available on the page. The page even lists out and explains various terms and terminologies associated with the products being searched and the best place to get them at attractive and cheap rates.

The search on Routers lead me to a description of the various Network standards such as 802.11b ,802.11g and 802.11a , Which gave me a Detailed understanding of the Wireless network standards and In turn helped me to decide on the best Router i need to purchase, meeting my requirements at a cost-effective price.

Another cool feature is the related product listing on the page, for a search on Wireless routers i got a listing on the page for VOIP, which gave a top class listing of all the products utilizing the VOIP feature. Truly shopping through, shopwiki is a cool and remarkable experience, it truly re-defines E-shopping.

Jai Ho Rahman

2009-02-23T23:52:00.002+05:30

A.R. Rahman has done his billion fans proud! The 81st Academy Awards will forever, remain the most cherished not just by the ace musician, but a whole nation that is celebrating his victory. Yes, A.R. Rahman is the man of the moment, the toast of the world!

Oscar winners normally generate a lot of publicity. This time over, you can be sure a nation of One Billion people will be in a frenzy. It has been quite an eventful journey from Chennai to Hollywood for the music maestro who caused a billion Indian hearts to swell with pride when his score for Slumdog Millionaire was recognised twice over.

The 43-year-old music wizard, born as A S Dileep Kumar in a musically affluent family in Chennai, changed his name to Allah Rakha Rahman in the late 1980’s.

His genius for music came to the fore when his ad jingles became very popular. He became a force to reckon with in the music industry ever since he debuted in Mani Ratnam’s 'Roja' (1992). Rangeela, Rahman’s first Bollywood assignment made the whole of India sit up and take notice of his talent.

Some Rare Pics Of ARR .

The Truth.. atlast

2009-01-25T21:47:00.001+05:30

Finally bill Gates admits it that windows Vista suck big time ;) During GIZMODOS CES 2008 interview , bill was asked a very Simple Question "what Microsoft product could have used a little more polish before release? " And thanks to bill's honesty, we have the answer..

Linux Rules !

2009-01-06T18:59:00.005+05:30

Ever thought of the day when 99.9% of the worlds computers Run Linux ? obviously M$ will be broke then (which offcourse will happen pretty soon.. viva linux ! :D ) So what will be the scenario like then ?

* Penguins will be a happy lot. They will send lots of flying kisses from the Antarctic. Some will even swim north to meet their celebrity cousin, Tux.

* Antivirus companies will close down. Headed by Symantec, they will open their own bakeries.

* Less PC users will die from the shock of getting a blue screen of death, or on finding all their important documents and photos missing.

* On the contrary, death rate among illegal hackers (Crackers) will rise surprisingly. Some will start funding Microsoft to revive the good old days of Windows. Some others will try to target Linux, only to be pecked away by Tux.

* Steve Ballmer will be caught using Linux on his PC. Reason - Windows Vista too heavy on the poor guy's pocket!

* Devastated, Adobe will slash the price of Photoshop from $700 to $7.00. People will still prefer the free and open source GIMP.

* Linux users will become game maniacs as the gaming companies turn their attention to Tux.

* Names like Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player will be featured in history books.

*Computer viruses will disappear. A search for "virus" in Google will display results for biological viruses, and not the computer ones, at the top.

Enjoy..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adapted from Ashutosh Mishra's post

The Mom Song

2009-01-03T18:39:00.002+05:30

This is the " Mom Song" sung by Northland’s Patti Harshey , a light-hearted ditty describing everything Mom says in a 24-hour period. Set to the “William Tell Overture” and played by Tim Tracey and Susan Eissele Lyrics by Anita Renfroe.

Enjoy ! :)

Happy new Year !

2008-12-31T12:30:00.002+05:30

When the clock strikes twelve on December 31st, people all over the world cheer and wish each other a very Happy New Year. For some, this event is no more than a change of a calendar. For others, the New Year symbolizes the beginning of a better tomorrow..

It is a time to remember that everyone has a chance to have a ‘New’ beginning.It is a time of Thanksgiving to God for a beautiful year with better prospects in the subsequent years.It is a non-negotiable period to rekindle the simple warmth of family kinship and friendship.It is most of all a period to appreciate the virtue of humility for being one of a number that lived to see the dawn of the New Day in a New Year..

Wish You All a Great, Blissful, Healthy, Bright, Delightful, Mind Blowing, Energetic, Terrific & Extremely Prosperous year Ahead :)

Enjoy !

Buzzpoint.Cn

2008-12-31T12:09:00.003+05:30

Just a quick post. I am planing to gradually move this blog over to a new domain (Buzzpoint.Cn) The blog will be available on blogger subdomain (gameonbuzz.blogspot.com) as well as Buzzpoint.Cn.
Currently Buzzpoint.Cn DNS is configured for a URL forward, but in a few days it will made the base URL ;)

Just a new road..but the destination is still the same .. Enjoy !

Back again !

2008-12-30T18:35:00.003+05:30

hey, After a small break am back again on gameonbuzz :D . I know it has been almost 2months without a post here. ANd the excuses are all the very same > Life has been pretty hectic and schedules too tight ;) .

But from now the postings will be more frequent , well i am not entirely gone jobless, itz just tht i decided to find time and scribble something here everyday :D

Webflock Launched

2008-10-09T21:28:00.004+05:30

With Immense pleasure, i announce the Launching of Webflock (Webflock.info) , The latest, Blazing Fast Proxy service from gameOn labs. Previously i had made proxies to bypass the ban on orkut in college (yup in my college Orkut and all major proxy servers where banned). But there where limitations as they where mostly hosted on free servers and had very limited bandwidth and low anonymity.

However , Webflock is being launched in a Full fledged way. Its supported on glype with a custom algorithm . its hosted on a power server provided by CdkHosting (Uk) with a plethora of bandwidth.

What makes Webflock Unique from the rest is, its blazing fast page rendering and Ads free proxified pages. yes thats right, like all proxies , webflock doesnt have annoying popups, popunders or ad banners in any of the proxified pages.

I would highly appreciate if u post a review of your experiance with webflock , and give your valuble sggestions on improving the service. Also kindly place a link to webflock from your site/blog.

if you have creative ideas for webflock and would like to join webflock team, just contact me ;)

Is Google chrome Dying Away ?

2008-10-08T19:41:00.003+05:30

Use of Google's Chrome browser has declined since its launch a month ago, but that hardly seems surprising, given that a certain number of those who downloaded it were undoubtedly checking it out with no real intention of making a long-term commitment. With just a month of usage statistics available, it's too soon to draw any conclusions about Chrome's real market potential.

Chrome's share of the overall market peaked on Sept. 4 at 1.16 percent. By Oct. 5, that number had dropped to 0.81 percent. Taking into account day-to-day fluctuations, the usage appears to have stabilized at .7 percent after the initial surge of downloads from both Google fans who were ready to switch and the merely curious.

Chrome does have Many Drawbacks,like complications in adding pluggins to browser, flash and action script play issues, Css issues (which breaks the sites display) etc btw then it is a noble concept from google stables and like the track record of its previous products, chrome is also bound to conquer markets.Still, it is too early for most people who experimented with Chrome to decide whether they will permanently shift away from their current browser.

Nano gets a New Home

2008-10-08T19:28:00.002+05:30

Nano, the small car of Tata Motors and the cheapest Car in the World, will now roll out from a Gujarat factory. Group chairman Ratan Tata made the announcement in Gandhinagar on Tuesday with Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the day he completed seven years in office. The site chosen for Nano is Sanand, 30 km from the state’s commercial capital Ahmedabad, on an area of some 1,100 acres.

This announcement comes ,days after India’s top vehicle maker pulled out of West Bengal because of violent protests.The plant to be built at Sanand, near Ahmedabad, will be located on about 1,100 acres, and have an initial capacity of 250,000 units, which can be expanded to up to 500,000 cars per year, Tata said.
Tata Motors, which had planned to launch the Nano around October, will in the meantime explore the option of making it at existing units in Pune city and northern Pantnagar.

The Nano has attracted worldwide attention due to its planned price tag of Rs100,000 (around $2,100).

Tata announced late last week that it was pulling the Nano car project out of Singur in West Bengal, even though the plant it had been constructing was 90% complete.
The decision followed a month of violent demonstrations by evicted farmers and activists of the opposition Trinamul Congress Party who complained they had been forced to give up their land for a pittance to make room for the high-profile factory.

Ratan Tata's Interview on Times Now

Gujarat is one of India’s most industrialised states and has a relatively sound infrastructure that has already attracted a number of multinationals.
Analysts have said the company, which had invested about $350mn in the West Bengal site, could roll out hundreds or a few thousand Nano cars initially from its existing facilities.

Read More >

The Hindu

Google to Game ?

2008-09-18T20:20:00.003+05:30

From last Tuesday, this has been the hottest rumor from the tech world and it is still Bubbling over. More to reality than mere speculation. Unconfirmed Reports (speculations :D) are flowing in all directions That google is attempting a Buyout ( rather say acquire) game maker VALVE ..
Yes the Very same Company Which made Counterstrike and CS Source (the most played First person shooter ever ) and off course the famous Half life series.

Its also widely believed that the Internet search giant could also be eying Bellevue, Wash-based game maker in order to get its hands on the Steam content distribution technology.

If Google is indeed in talks to purchase Valve, it's part of the company's effort to take on Microsoft on all fronts. Google is currently offering bigger and better solutions , which a few years before ,Microsoft had the complete Market monopoly.
Also if Google is chasing Valve, it may not be for the game business alone -- more than likely,it's the content distribution technology.

Valve Software runs a digital distribution platform, called Steam, which has an estimated 15 million active user accounts, and can be used for distribution of copyrighted content.The company uses this technology to distribute and manage more than 440 games over the Internet .

Both Google and Valve are Yet to make an Official Statement, regarding the rumour. Lets Wait and see if Google is going for a Full STEAM ahead :D

CERN Network Hacked ?

2008-09-14T11:34:00.007+05:30

Hackers infiltrated a computer system at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), targeting a system that was just "one step away" from a control computer. Scientists working at CERN's LHC, the most Ambitious Experiment ever being conducted till date ,were worried about what the hackers could do, because they were "one step away" from the computer control system of one of the huge detectors of the machine.The hackers targeted the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment, or CMS, one of the four "eyes" of the facility that will be analysing the fallout of the Big Bang.

There seems to be no harm done. From what they can tell, it was someone making the point that CMS was hackable,It was quickly detected." " said James Gillies, spokesman for CERN.

its being reported that the hacking ,was a competition between two hacker groups - known in hacking circles as 2600 and 1337, that led them to break into the experiment just before it was to begin.its ironic that the attack took place at the very place where Worldwideweb (WWW) was born. The group calling itself 2600 or Greek Security Team, mocked the technicians responsible for security at CERN as "a bunch of schoolkids".

CERN relies on a 'defence-in-depth' strategy, separating control networks and using firewalls and complex passwords, to protect its control systems from malicious software, such as denial-of-service attacks, botnets and zombie machines, which can strike with a synchronised attack from hundreds of machines around the world.

Now the attack was not a conventional Hack for destroy one, the hackers left a note on the site (in greek) saying they had no intention of disrupting the work of the atom smasher.

We're pulling your pants down because we don't want to see you running around naked looking to hide yourselves when the panic comes.. (says the note posted at site)

--------------
Read more >

Hackers infiltrate Large Hadron Collider systems and mock IT security

Hackers attack Large Hadron Collider

Andrew Chernous, Insurance Industry Cyber Risk Specialist, Joins InternetPluS Ltd. Advisory Board

2008-08-04T07:44:00.003+05:30

.

Chernous (ARe, MBA) is a Technology Insurance Services Account Executive for Manin & Manin, a Whitman, MA-based insurance brokerage services company. Andrews specialties include professional, intellectual property, and management liability insurance products. He also leads the firms cyber risk practice, focusing on the security and privacy risks of networked computers and the Internet.

InternetPluS Ltd, the leading provider of automated Internet Business Risk Management products for government, education, insurers, banks, ISPs, and e-Commerce, today announced the addition of Andrew Chernous to the companys Advisory Board.

Chernous (MBA) is a Technology Insurance Services Account Executive for Manin & Manin, a Whitman, MA-based insurance brokerage services company. Andrews’s specialties include professional, intellectual property, and management liability insurance products. He also leads the firms cyber risk practice, focusing on the security and privacy risks of networked computers and the Internet. Prior to joining Manin & Manin, Andrew was the Regional Underwriting Manager for AIGs Technology and Professional Liability Group in Boston. Chernous is also is a member of TechAssure, a leading trade association focused on the needs of insurance and risk management for the high tech industry.

For many companies, the risk of financial loss arising out of network failure is at least as significant as the risk of a fire loss," explained Chernous. Yet, insurance and risk management continues to focus on traditional perils such as fire, earthquake, and flood. InternetPluS is well positioned to help both insurance companies and their clients quantify the risk so that meaningful insurance products can be developed."

Andrews background in cyber-risk management within the insurance industry gives InternetPluS the critical insight and industry exposure it needs to better serve the rapidly growing need to insure Internet risk, business continuity, and performance metrics," noted John Bosky, president of InternetPluS Ltd.

Achieving Your Childhood Dreams by Randy Pausch

2008-08-03T06:44:00.004+05:30

Randy Pausch , A Professor at Carnegie Mellon University gave this life-affirming lecture, a call to his students and colleagues to go on without him and do great things. This was delivered at Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 18, 2007, a few weeks after Pausch learned he had just months to live. Titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," the humorous and heartfelt talk was videotaped, and unexpectedly spread around the world via the Internet. Tens of millions of people have since viewed video footage of it.

In this video footage of his Last lecture Pausch talks about his lessons learned in life and gives advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

This is how he responded when he came to know how his lecture has inspired millions globally..

I am flattered and embarassed by all the recent attention to my "Last Lecture." I am told that, including abridged versions, over six million people have viewed the lecture online. The lecture really was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful. But rest assured; I'm hardly unique. Send your kids to Carnegie Mellon and the other professors here will teach them valuable life lessons long after I'm gone.

-- Randy

Professor Randy Pausch ,due complications from pancreatic cancer,passed away on July 25, 2008. He was 47.

Read more about him >>

Randy Pausch : The Enduring Legacy

Alice.Org

Memorial At CMU

Randys Website

Almost Done

2008-08-02T08:53:00.005+05:30

The renovation work on the Blog is almost Done.. whew that was fast :D , it didn't take that much time as i thought it would have. I didn't bother to create a Theme from scratch. Picked a layout from the net and worked on it, to bring it to the current shape. I really liked the new framework and have decided to use this at least for next 6 months. i had initially thought of Making it into WEB 2.0 format introducing AJAX . but it required a lot of time, to optimize the design to fit Various Browsers and Debug possible errors,(which sadly at the moment i do not have). so decided to stick with this Design.
Technically speaking ,this design/layout is not perfect either.. By default it has been optimized for viewing on Mozilla Firefox from any OS. When i tested this on IE it showed smooth for IE7 but has problems with IE6.
On the plus side , i have added a number of new features to this Edition. for example the You can double click on any word in my blog to get the Definition and Usage of the Word. Like this many more features are being coded and tested daily, and is waiting in queue to be added ;)
When i add a new feature (which was not there in the previous Edition of My blog) I'll try to make a Detailed post about its working.

If you have any comments/Suggestions for Improving the design Do let me Know . .

Thinking of a New Design..

2008-08-01T06:59:00.002+05:30

Lately i have been thinking about taking blogging seriously :D , well previously i used to post something once in while (when i used to get some time free).. So a decision has been made to Give a New look and Feel to my blog, For the next few days I will be experimenting new designs and codes. Except the content everything is going to get revamped fro scratch.
I plan to complete the overhauling in the next 3days, if you see frames and Sticks over here (sometimes making the content Unreadable), U have visited this blog in midst of a Coding test. As its testing phase now and i am testing the compatibility of my design with various browsers ;)
Hope to make the new design bigger and better with the same old Homely touch ..:D

Emergency tips to keep safe in times of terror

2008-07-26T21:48:00.003+05:30

These Tips were posted by Sachin Uppal on his blog, Thought of posting it here as This is an appeal to all indians.. If you Own a blog/website You are also Encouraged to Share these..

TIPS to keep safe in a time like this - A public appeal to all Indians:

* Please keep away from crowded places.
* Try to avoid traveling for few of days.
* Inform any suspicious activity to police immediately.
* Keep general vigilance in and around your vicinity.
* Do not spread panic, relax and help others.

Remember we the The public should never get paranoid,Instead, we should feel confident (to face any situation), these Terrorists can be identified and nabbed if we are vigilant.

Terror Strikes in India .. Yet again

2008-07-26T20:49:00.007+05:30

It has been quite sometime that i have made a Post here, i was certainly not intending to post one till next week.. until one hour before, when i heard the news of Ahmedabad Blasts.
It certainly is a condemnable cowardly act done by hardcore Fundamentalist terror Groups, who are dead against this country and the secularism prevailing here. Unconfirmed Reports are suggesting a Total of 16 blasts till now (since all the Phone and communication networks are jammed, the exact picture is yet to be known,as of now)
The Only reliable source of information apart from the news chanel has been from the blog posts made by bloggers from Ahmedabad and the nearby regions where the blast took place. many of them have posted Pictures taken from their mobile phone cameras.
here are some of them.. needless to say they are straight from those blogs and viewer discretion is advised..

According to the sources on NDTV, now its over 16 blasts in the Ahmedabad City which has left 10 killed and over 100+ injured. The scene is really chaotic right now in many parts in Ahmedabad with police trying to shoo away the people with power. This is in favour of the people only as you never know how many blasts have been planned.
These bombs were allegedly planted in soft targets like Cycles, Tiffin Boxes, Buses - and with evil intentions in crowded areas ... more news is awaited.

get detailed news report here>> http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080058856

Amazing video!

2008-06-21T06:22:00.002+05:30

Today morning I came across this video from youtube,Thought of posting it here.. just see the video and then read on..

It is one of the most awesome and inspiring videos i have ever seen on youtube.The video was made by Matt harding, he was sponsored by stridegum ,to travel around the globe. and look at what he has made of his tour..such an amazing sprite of creativity. He starts the adventure from mumbai,INDIA then goes on to another 42 countries.The video was made in 14 months of travel.it is so culturally enriching to see all those People from different countries around the world come together like this.

India is featured twice in the video (Mumbai and gurgaon) Also The Background music Lyrics is adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's poem "Stream Of Life" from Gitanjali. The song is titled "Praan".

click to www.wherethehellismatt.com , to watch the full video in High quality.

Fish Curry, Muvatupuzha Style!

2008-06-20T21:15:00.004+05:30

Today I had the rare opportunity to taste a unique Fish Curry made in muvatupuzha Style (muvatupuzha is the name of a place,which is near ernakulam,kerala,india) Well it happened like i went to my college mate's hostel today,actually its not a typical kind of men's hostel its like 4guys from class took a house for rent . And all guys from class occasionally goes there. And since its near college and we spent a lot of time there we simply call it our class's MH (mens hostel) ;).

The MH is situated at a densely populated residential area, and surrounding houses are occupied by families. Our MH is the only place,near by where students have taken a building for rent and staying there. Near our MH is the house of Biju etttan who is a professional Photographer, his wife Ramya Chechi is an Excellent cook (so says my friends,and i actually agree with them now !) They both are from muvattupuzha.they came to trivandrum as Biju ettan was working here in trivandrum.

Today evening Ramya chechi came to MH with a Plate of fish curry, which she had just prepared and wanted to know how the taste was from my friends. And since i was also there,i got an opportunity to taste it too.. it was a nice ,spicy and of a very peculiar taste.. i asked her how it was made, she gave a brief idea on how it was prepared (off course she was reluctant enough to share the so called secret recipe). The fish curry ,according to her was made in muvattupuzha style where they add Kodampulli [tamarind] (sorry,don't know its sci-fi name :D] instead of cocunut milk. and yes lots of spices too. .

We gave our sincere reviews on her preparation and she was kinda pleased with it that She left with a Promise of making some more unique muvattupuzha delicacies for us..

Next time i see her, I'll definitely pen down the recipe for the fish curry from her and Put it here.. just try making it, am sure U will enjoy it as much as i did.. :D

Expecting the unexpected

2008-06-19T21:51:00.002+05:30

kerala University Exam and results are un-explainable and virtually unpredictable. the first thing is that in KU (kerala University) exam timetable is seldom followed as per the yearly exam calendar (which surprisingly the university releases ,at the start of every academic year,without fail). I remember once ,one of the exams i was to write got postponed on the day of exam. Another problem which the students has to face,due to this is that finally when the exam starts, the new fixture has exams every alternate day and there's hardly anytime for the student to brush-up the subject.

In kerala university the trend is that the theory papers are completed first and the labs take place after a huge gap (probably by the start of next semester after theory papers) [i am not sure about how it is for the degree students, but for B.tech students it is like this].The problem here is that,the records for lab has to be completed and submitted before theory exam starts and this sure makes way for precious time being wasted on writing records. Well writing this record thing is no easy task. We are made to copy down the theory part of the subject concerned to the record before penning down the actual experiments done.But the irony of the matter is that no one evaluates the record by going through its contents. during lab exams The external examiner just takes the front page of record, puts his signature and throws it away. just ask about this to any b.tech student studying in various engineering colleges under KU to know more on this.

Finally when the exam gets over, classes for the next semester starts from the very next day, as there's no thing as semester break in KU. Interestingly due to the continuous postponement of exams during course, the B.tech program under KU gets lagged and in order to complete the course within 4years, its quite natural that the duration of some semesters are to the tune of 4months max.

The most unbearable part of all is the wait for results to be published. it happens every time. the results of previous semester get published hardly one week prior to the next varsity sem exams. And the student is left with no time to prepare for any improvement of marks or clearing backlogs(if present) for the previous sem.

Another Hartal ..

2008-06-05T22:08:00.003+05:30

Harthal was propmtly celebrated today in Kerala,West-bengal and tripura. While the harthal in westbengal and tripura were called by Communist Party, the one in kerala was jointly celebrated by Communist parties & BJP. This time it was called on to mark a so called "protest" against the congress led Central gov't hiking the oil prices (petrol,diesel and LPG).[ironic it may seem, but the very same gov't is still in power by the support of communist party ]
The harthal in kerala was a 12hr one from 6am to 6pm. As always this harthal too was a big success {according to the politicians who declared it} , with people staying off from roads and Shops remaining closed.

Quoting from various news channels, attendance at various gov't offices where at an all time record low. Schools and colleges had declared holiday for the day in advance. State Road transport corporations bus's didn't run.The roads where all deserted , except for some two-wheelers speeding off through roads which would have been junctures of traffic mayhem during normal days. . Train schedules where overthrown, with most of the trains canceled or running very late. And this time , the stir also reportedly affected air traffic,with major flights being re-scheduled.

At the end of day,the common man still has the thorn path ahead with the inflation rising and the hike of fuel prices adding more wooes. So did another harthal make any difference?
No need to think for an answer,it remains the very perfect NO. Then why do the political parties call on Harthal and bandh,portraying it as the only means of protest for the impending problem (what ever it may be)..

An interesting thing to be observed is that delhi gov't has given a 40rs discount on LPG reducing the effective hike in price to only 10rs (initial price hike was 50rs). And none of the CPM ruling states have so far slashed the salestax or duty imposed on petroleum products, till now, which may have reduced the price of fuels,as well as remove the extra burden of the shoulders of the common man, at least to a small extent.

Click to http://www.harthal.com for more on harthal related issues faced by the country, especially in kerala state.

Law makers or Law Breakers?

2008-05-31T21:50:00.003+05:30

Rules! Are they not valid for People who make them? People who make laws and who are responsible for being a role model for the fellow countrymen are taking it their hands to break them first.
The Incident which prompted me to post this is a piece of news which appeared in a reputed news channel (in kerala) with support of adequate video footages to prove the truthfulness of the news.

Traffic rules are made to be obeyed by Every citizen of the country, they are not ment to be broken in general situations causing a great deal of discomfort for the common man. Today the kerala home minister made it a point to show the world that traffic rules and stuff like that put in the rule books are meant for ordinary people and Being the member of elite cabinet which decides the fate of people of the state, he is not meant to follow them.

Cochin city is kerala's growing metro. The traffic congestion in Cochin, especially near vytilla Jn is a nightmare for ordinary law abiding citizens.Today the traffic at vytilla was made to be plouped just for the smooth and unhindered passage of the home minister. Kerala police proved thier mettle by switching of the traffic lights at various junctions (through which the ministers car were to pass through) and manually controlled the traffic, Taking speacial care to keep ministers way very clear till he was through.

It was just yesterday that kerala Transport Minister Mathew T. Thomas said during a Meeting with the fourth estate that Traffic rule violations will be dealt with seriously and No one, including ministers will be allowed to break the traffic rules and go through red lights. But just hours after the ministers speech, a member of his own cabinet that to the home minster has flouted the rules.

Indian constitution provides this previlage only to the President and Prime-minister of the country. According to the Blue book there are strict measures to be followed for the security and VVIP's are ensured an obstacle free path towards their destination (through road).Even then its taken care that the common man , in no way experiences any inconvenience. But here it is different. The minister responsible for the enforcement of laws , is actively breaking them.

Another thing which I noticed from the video footage was the number of Pilot vehicles and follow-ups accompanying the minister. The minister himself is traveling in a luxury class Skoda, The convoy consisted of A Kerala police jeep in front , it following a Toyota Qualis (looked like the highway patrol vehicle) then the ministers car, then another Qualis (belonging to kerala police). {The visual then shown[on tv] was from another angle so i could count only these cars, there may/can be more cars in the convoy}. Now the question that came to my mind was, why a state minister is going forth with such a large convoy.Isn't it a waste of money and resources, Especially in a time when the Kerala Gov't is finding it hard, to mobilise the required funds for the proposed food security measures as well as its normal day to day functioning. With the fuel prices running high , is this kind of blind blanket convoy feasible?

Most probably this will not be reported in any print media tomorrow and the story will slowly die down and yes such bending and breaking of rules will continue.. after all law is seldom meant for the law makers..

Note :: If the video footage ,which appeared in the TV Channel is available online , I'll post it here

IPL : The Fantasy and The Ferret

2008-05-30T22:06:00.002+05:30

The much hyped and barraged IPL is on to the final four teams and today the first semi-final is being played . Heard from TV news that the hike in ticket prices for semi(Almost double to triple than the league matches) have not deterred the fans from crowding into the wankhade stadium for the first semi.Well such a thing is not a surprise in a place like india where cricket is a religion.. Still this is worth a mention, especially during such a time when the inflation rate in country has touched up a new high of 8.1 and the petrol prices are presumably going to be hiked.

From the very beginig IPL has had itz share of controversies.With a tournament the size of the IPL, we can certainly expect many things to be going wrong, but in this particular case, a LOT of things seem to be going wrong with the IPL and the BCCI. The Controversies kicked of by the issue of media coverage and content sharing rules imposed by the BCCI.Later it was the team selection and the large amount of money involved in this,because of the rather large sums of money involved, everyone is getting nervous. The unheard of salaries that the cricketers are commanding is making everyone take a sneak.

According to the Unofficial IPL blog statistic , Ishant Sharma, who just broke onto the international scene is commanding a salary of $950,000 or Rs 3.7 Crores, that is 1 lac for every ball he has bowled in ODIs.

Also another major point to be noted is that IPL has and is Promoting the game of cricket ,more to a sport business than an Enjoyable sport. Movie Stars (sharukh, preity etc) and Buisiness magnets like mallya,Mukesh Ambani etc have made sure that this is made another Profit concentrating business. Last week Sharukh khans Kolkata knight riderz have offically listed their profit margins,proving the point of business rather than sport again.

Now the food for thought is not the importance of controversies in IPL or cricket, it is the Artificial importance which is being showered on a game which already is at top of charts. And the huge amount of money (legal and illegal-- ie the betting and all involved) flow ,mostly behind the scenes.

It seems like Money is no more talked in thousands or lakhs, it is now being talked in millions. May be the time has come when the BCCI,being the richest cricket board in the game to consider something to be done for the poor and needy of the country rather than concentrating in the marketing of the sport in new dimensions focusing just on filling their pockets.

A New Beginning . .

2008-05-29T22:47:00.004+05:30

Another Blog featuring the Observations of An Ordinary Person In an Extra-Ordinary World?> Well actually no ;) This is an Attempt to Bring forth the Realities that ever Exist in the world to a Broader Perspective.. Itz not actually that complex as it sounds, just a formal presentation of a few thingz that Not many people care to have observed or Ever even think existed.. And yeah Call it the log book of an observer..

So here it is.. a New beginning . . A New Bond..