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Bold move by Tata!

Taste Banana in a Orange!?

Mind-boggling breakthrough:

Genetically Altered Flavor.

We have started breaking all rules of nature.  We accept that as long as it gives benefit in the short term, it is fine for us. 

Is it in the right direction? I feel this invention has a potential to turn the ecosystem upside down.

Read here

Mobile Magic

What have you done in mobile banking till now?  Checked balance, booked tikects, paid bill etc.,   Have you ever withdrawn hot cash using your mobile? 

 

Airtel is on a pilot project for the same. Here it goes...

 

As per this article, it may serve as a convincing reason for many people to open a bank account to use this facility.

 

And, another news is about the AdRBT - Ad Ring Back Tone.  Instead of the caller tunes, you can set this and whoever calls you will listen to an advertisement instead of the usual ringtone/caller tune till you pick up the call.  It is a kind of profile based targeted advertisement.  And, I hope the person stands to gain something from the mobile company (as a part of ad revenues that it makes) in return for the curse of his friends and relatives.

 

Dasavatharam

I saw Dasavatharam today.  After that, I have been reading reviews.  One thing I found amazing in the reviews which I have read till now.  Either the people praise the movie most or chuck it most.  So, before being distracted by the reviews,  I want to record my views of the movie.

Overall I found the movie good, except for the theatre which is very clumsy and sultry.  I liked some of the shots like the gopuram being shown bottom-up and top-down.  Not all the songs are good, but the Mukunda-mukunda and Kallai-mattum are catchy with both music and lyrics.  I felt relieved when I found that "Ulaganayagan" song is not in the main story-line.  

There is no solid reason why Kamal should do 10 different characters in the movie.  But the answer - that is something different and Kamal felt it is worth giving a try.  That's good, but not all the 10 characters are characterised well.  The "Khan" character and the entire group associated with that character(?) is not at all characterised well and is definitely redundant, except for that without that character the film will not be Dasavatharam.  Kamal has taken a lot of pains in doing  those characters, but whether the efforts will fetch the desired results is yet to be seen.

KS Ravikumar was being interviewed in CNN-IBN and he told it is definitely not possible for him to redo the film in any other language just because it is a humongous effort and he will be bored if he does it again.  That is definitely understandable with a single person playing all the important characters in the movie and the background work associated with taking each and every scene, especially if it involves more than one character.

The special-effects in the climax scene are awesome.  The fight between the American and the Japanese is worth watching.  It is just on the margin of becoming unrealistic. 

Talking about the protagonist, Dr Govind's story line, he's after a virus which he developed which may prove to be extremely dangerous to the mankind.  In a mix-up, the vial containing  the virus and himself have been couriered to India from US. With him, follows the villain Fletcher and the chase sequence starts from there.  In another mix-up, Asin joins Dr. Govind and runs with him till the end.  The story is similar to many of the Jackie-Chan movies where the hero runs constantly and the villain chases.  With all these, there are other Kamals like the police officer Balram Naidu, Poovarajan and Avtar Singh coming in the middle.

Kamal's dialogue delivery for Balram Naidu and Bush requires a special mention.

Loose ends in the movie are kept loose for us to tie them and make a meaning out of it.  So, those who are unable to tie them would find themselves lost.  Finally, it is yet another Kamal movie where nothing is said explicitly and most of the things are left for our interpretation.

Klean Kerala

I was on a trip to Guruvayur last week and happened to stop at Trichur Railway station. I was amazed at the cleanliness at the station. Compared to the Salem, Chennai and Bangalore, Trichur station looked clean and tidy - good chairs at waiting hall, clean rest rooms, neat display systems with LCD TVs and LEDs at various places.
I ordered a cup of tea from one of the local tea vendors at the station. After giving me a cup of tea, he showed me two dust bins in that vicinity to throw the used cup into!!

Splash of colours on the sky

Last week, it rained in Bangalore!

Shall we tell the President - Review

This novel written by Jeffrey Archer in 1970s is of suspense genre. On March 3rd, Mark Andrews, the special agent of FBI gets to know about a plot to assasinate the President. But except him, four others who know this plot are murdered the same night. Only thing he knows for sure is that a senator is involved, and the assasination is planned on March 10. The story is about how he and the Director of FBI, Tyson put together the pieces and solve the puzzle. Within the first twenty pages, the story gears up with the top speed which it maintains till the end. Especially as the D-day comes closer, Mark takes the story in the jet. I would recommend the readers to gather the facts as the story goes on and try finding out the culprit even before the author tells who it is.

Animal Farm - Review

Recently, I read this book by George Orwell. It was written in 1940's. But still the subject seems to be very relevant even today. Not only today, I think it will be as interesting as it was anytime. The story goes on like this. The animals in a farm feel they are extracted maximum work by the human beings and are fed too little. They conspire and successfully overthrow their Master and go on to manage their own business. Slowly, the intelligent animals (pigs, as the author writes) take over the reins and become masters. The not-so-intelligent animals are deceived and extracted to the most, again. Orwell brings out the cunningness of the crooked people through Napolean, a pig who eventually becomes the dictator of the Animal Farm. The character of Squealer was clearly portrayed as a middle man who spreads the dictator's message across in the most persuading way.

Beautiful Bangalore

Today morning, as I woke up early, I had an opportunity to see Bangalore minimum traffic. I was surprised that I had not even once noticed the fragrance of eucalyptus when passing along the Lalbagh in RV Road all these 3 years. I am not sure whether it was because of my ignorance or the pollution's effect. But certainly today I enjoyed riding on the road in my RX-100, further down to the rose-garden road after crossing the south end circle. With the wind breezing on to the face, enjoying the picturesque parks on either side, it was a wonderful experience.

Tata Nano

Finally, the one lakh car is out.

This is what Ratan Tata had to say about making of the NANO. It must be a great sense of feeling for him to have achieved a feat which had faced and is still facing a lot of criticism. Here he talks about the inspiration, challenges faced, potential customers, future trend and competitors.

This NANO is all set to revolutionise the Indian roads.

Click on the pics to follow the articles.

Path to the semifinals: Group E

With England kicked out of the World Twenty20 tournament, now the contest is among SA, NZ and India. NZ has a W/L ticket, SA has an RAC - almost through to semifinals unless it does something haphazardly to kick itself out of the tournament. NZ can just wait and watch. It should hope for India to lose the match or win convincingly against SA, in the first case India will be kicked out and in the second case SA will be kicked out based on NRR.

India will have to go for the tatkal, as a win in today's match will get a conformed berth in the Semis. This is the current scenario. NZ has an NRR of 0.05. SA, even if it loses to India, has to ensure that its NRR after the last match of Super-Eight does not fall below 0.05. Till now it has scored 312 in 39.1 overs and has given 288 in 40 overs. So, it comes down to

If India bats first and wins, and 'x' and 'y' are the scores of SA and India, then SA has to ensure

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (288 + y) / 60 >= 0.05

Or, if SA bats first and makes 'x' runs, and India finally wins in 'k' overs, it has to ensure,

(312 + x) / 59.166666 - (289 + x) / (40 + k) >= 0.05

And if India loses, SA upgrades the W/L ticket of NZ to a conformed one and books a hassle-free air ticket for India to head home. This post had been written yesterday by this time, and in an eagerness to watch the match, had forgotten to post it.

Sivaji

Sivaji
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Sivaji Trailer released!! Have the flash version here.

Got the news yesterday itself from Filbert and Avyukta. At office, when I tried opening the flash and mpg links in megashare as given by Filbert, could not download the entire content. Only some 20 seconds of data got downloaded. The first task coming home was to download the trailers and watch. But there was some problem with the IE, and it could not play the flash format. I did not intend to watch the "mpg" file format as Filbert recommended the flash version is of better quality. So downloaded the flash player, which also did not fix the problem. Lost hopes with IE, went to Mozilla, downloaded the flash plug-ins for that browser. It also failed to play. Finally, I tried the "Brahmastra" -- Restarting the computer. Yes, It worked!

Rajini, as usual, looks young. I would have already watched the trailer some 4 times. Movie seems to be nicely packed with theme, action, stunts and excellent BGMs. There are some awesome scenes: 1. Rajini dodging an attack simultaneouslycatching a chewing-gum. 2. Signing in both the hands 3. The way he brings the revolver from one hand to another around
the neck. Too good!

All I say is get ready for the big-show. Sivaji count-down starts!!

Photo Courtesy : www.galatta.com

Wayanad Pics

These are some of the scenic pics taken in Wayanad. More pics here

checking

This is just a check message. Just to see how the photo upload from picasa works. Seems like good!

Wayanad-Bike-Car-Trip

Marvellous Road

Just like that, 11 of us from our office started on our bikes and car to Wayanad, an adventurous trip. We took 6 bikes and my car. The most unbelievable part was that we planned leave Bangalore on Sat. morning by 4:00 am, and really left at 4:30 am itself. We reached Mysore by 7:15 itself. Most of the way, the speedometer showed over 100 kmph. Had breakfast in mysore and Reached Gundulupet around 10:30 am and reached the initial destination Sultan Battery around 12 noon. Ok, I should not say "destination" as there was none such. We were always on the road travelling from one place to another. While going from Gundulupet to Sultan Battery, the jungle stretch is too good.

In all we visited 5 places in Wayanad
1. Jain temple
2. Edakal caves
3. Another dilapidated temple (on the way from Panamaram to Kuruva islands)
4. Kuruva islands
5. Muthunga wildlife sanctuary.

Edakkal cave is amazing. It is believed to have formed out of earthquake before some 6000 years and inside you will find inscriptions by stone-age people. It is like two big rocks on either sides balancing another one on the top. It is very chill inside the caves. Just to experience that, you wont repent trekking for about 1.5 kms.

One more thing worthy to mention is the road to Kalpetta (the one that you see on the image). On either sides, you see the tea plantations and the road is excellently maintained. It is like you love driving and driving in those roads.

One more experience which had taken me in amazement is when a middle aged lady residing in one of no-so-high-profile houses near the roadside exchanged "welcome" when I said "thank-you" for her voluntary-offering of a bottle of paana-thanni (mud-ka water)

Kodaikanal - Place for Summer

The Lake

This summer, surprisingly visited the cool location. The most interesting part was my car driving up and down the Kodaikanal hill. Got some expertise in the hill driving too. Actually it is more thrilling to drive down hill than to climb.

There are some good places to visit in Kodaikanal like Pine forest, Guna cave(but it is properly fenced and you will not get the same picture as you saw in Guna movie), Pillar rocks etc. We missed something called cocus walk. Boating would have been a fun, had the rain not played the spoilsport. You get bi-cycle for Rs10/hour and can go around the lake, downhill and enjoy riding. I did feel difficulties in riding a bicycle almost after 3 years. The last time I was regularly using it was when I had Hero Impact in college. Seems like I have become a full time software engineer.

It is an approx 20 km ride around the hills where you can cover all the above places. And near the lake, there is Bryant Park which is full of different colorful flowers. Nice place to spend time. There is Silver Cascade on the way uphill to Kodaikanal

Best strategy would be to reach Kodaikanal in the evening(around 3), go around for boating and Bryant park, have some shopping of spices/oils if you need, towards the night and start the next day early, take a guided tour. You can get more information in the hotels about the tour plan and places to visit.

Before buying anything, it is always better to ask in atleast 4 different shops. In our general experience, we found that the woolen blankets, oils were cheaper in Kodaikanal. But for getting oils and spices, it is better to go to the government outlets.

Potential Yeman

I was on the National Highway 7 driving my Santro from Bangalore to Rasipuram on Friday night, when the water bottle that I kept on my dashboard slipped suddenly due to some turn or bump on the road.  It went under the pedals.  I noticed when it fell, but for a minute, I did not actually care.  Then I thought what if it goes under the brake pedal and blocks it from pressing against.  I decided to take that out, applied brakes, lowered the speed, tried lowering the gears that's when I  realized I could not apply clutch.  But somehow managed to bring it to neutral and stopped the car on the road-side.  If it had got under the brake-pedal instead of clutch, probably I would not have posted this now.

Srirangapatna

Dhariya Doulat Bagh
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Planned a visit to Mysore last saturday. Due to time and health constraints, after visiting Srirangapatna, came back home. But, Srirangapatna alone is worth one full-day visit. What you see is Dhariya Doulat Bagh which was Tipu's Summer place now converted to a museum.
First I should say about the road from Bangalore, except for some 5 km stretch scattered in-between, the road is very good. Srirangapatna is on the Bangalore-Mysore highway, roughly 10 km before Mysore. On the way, there is a Kamat hotel at Lokkurichi(at about 50th km from Bangalore) after crossing Bidadi and Ramanagara. A good choice for break-fast. Otherwise, I heard there are some good eating places in Maddur.
Here is a list of places to see in and around Mysore and Srirangapatna.

Srirangapatna Temple
Very similar to our Srirangam temple in Trichy. Infact Srirangapatna itself is an island in Cauvery river just like Srirangam.
Timings : 7:00 am to 1:00 pm and from evening 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm (Car parking : Rs 20)

Dariya Daulat Bagh
Timings : 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (Free car parking). Has lush green fields and shadowy trees.

Tipu's Gumbaz
Timings : 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (Car parking : Rs 20). Again a huge place, nice gardens. The buildings are proofs for excellent Mughal architecture. Built by Tipu himself for his mother, seems he also had deserved and reserved a place for him too.

Sangam
Timings : till 7:30 pm. This is a place Cauvery meets two other rivers, whose names I forgot. Not a great place in the non-season if there is less water.

Ranganthittu
Speciality : Birds. Season : June to October. Boating is also available here. Timings : 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. This is at a distance of about 5 km from Srirangapatna.

Palmuri falls - 6km from Ranganthittu. Timinsg might be in line with others.

Brindavan Gardens
Everyone knows what it is famous for. But it is closed temporarily due to Kavei-issue. Best time to enter is evening 5:00 o'clock. Entry is not allowed beyond 6:00 pm.

At Mysore, one can visit the Palace and the Zoo, both open between 9:30 am and 5:30 pm. If you get hold of any person in Infosys Mysore, the campus there should be in your must-see list.

Chamundi hills
About 16 km from Mysore in a different route (not the one towards Bangalore or Brindavan gardens). Speciality : Devi Temple, Timings : Morning 8:00 to Evening 8:00

More photos

SNIFT

Santro Xing
Originally uploaded by rectarun.

Yes, I need to introduce my friend... SNIFT (my Hyundai Santro Xing). I coined this name for him today, with whatever data you see in his pose. He is with me from Jul 21, 2006. But never had time to introduce. Now crossed over 4000 kms, he has been very kind to me, though on the first day itself I hurt him trying my heroics in giving him a shadowy shelter in a narrow space between a tree and an Accent.

Options

Sorry folks, if you had come to get something about the derivatives in share market, for that I would like you to visit Tamilnithi.

This is about options in life. At every moment in life we are faced with some or other kind of options. And after scrutinizing all, we choose one and later repent for what we have chosen. We always want to better ourselves or in better terms, want to better our neighbours. We tend to think we have enough resources, but the problem is in utilizing them properly. At any point, there will always be a person doing better than us. We think of undoing our chosen option, but in real life the ctrl-z rarely works. It finally comes down to "want more, learn more, enjoy more" and in all these we lose our happiness and try to find them in the desire to get more and more, in the process, losing whatever is remaining too. Contentment is the key word which is missing these days. More you need, more your time put on business, more your business owns you, less you find time chilling out, less you listen(or better to put "communicate") to your inner-self, less you find time to search your real passion, end up in an while(1).

See the other post related to this by me.