My sketches

There is a common illusion picture with two hands back to back.. i thought i would draw the one hand that inspires me in a way to continue studying, although in vain!..
















How many of us still say 'I love you mum' everyday, to the only woman who cares for us day-in and day-out? Although there are umpteen number of people who say that to a girl we met few years back....













You want to call it love!... I want to call it Friendship.. after all a soul mate is a friend who walks you thru thick and thin being a friend without being asked for, and ur enemy without being a separate entity... :)

PhD conferment of Abdul Kalam by NTU Singapore

NTU honours Dr Abdul Kalam, President of India, 2002-2007, with the conferment of the Degree of Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Causa) on 26th August, 2008. The honorary degree is conferred in recognition of Dr Kalam's life-long achievements in the service of India, his international reputation in science and technology and his contributions to the improvement of India-Singapore relations.

A report on The Straits Times, Singapore local newspaper

This is the speech Dr. Abdul Kalam made on that day. Please go through it if you guys have time.

Dr Kalam's Acceptance Speech at
the Conferment of Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

21st Century University Vision
I am indeed delighted to be in the internationally reputed Nanyang Technological University (NTU) which, in a research intensive academic environment, is nurturing students from across the globe in diverse disciplinary strengths as well as entrepreneurial and leadership skills for the 21st century. My greetings to the students, faculty members, alumni, staff and distinguished guests assembled here. I consider it a great honour to me for conferring the Honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering conferred by the prestigious Nanyang Technological University (NTU). While I am with you, I wish to share a few experiences - my personal experience during my education, my personal observations on integrative approaches that have enriched the world, the creativity that is needed for the challenging problems confronting humanity and my thoughts on a 21st Century University Vision.
My first encounter with Integrated Learning environment
Since I am in the midst of students being prepared for techno-managerial expertise, I would like to give my experience with a teacher who taught me system design, system integration and system management in an integrated learning environment in the classroom.
While I was studying Aeronautical Engineering in Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chennai, (1954-57), during the third year of my course when I was a student, I was assigned a project with five other colleagues, to design a low-level attack aircraft. I was given the responsibility of system design and system integration by integrating the team members. Also, I was responsible for aerodynamic and structural design of the project. The other five members of my team took up the design of propulsion, control, guidance, avionics and instrumentation of the aircraft. My design teacher Prof. Srinivasan, the then Director of MIT, was our guide. After four months, he reviewed the project and declared my work to be gloomy and disappointing. He didn’t lend an ear to my difficulties in bringing together data-base from multiple designers. I asked for a month’s time to complete the task, since I had to get the inputs from other five of my other colleagues without which I cannot complete the system design. Prof. Srinivasan told me "Look, young man (this is in 1954), today is Friday afternoon. I give you three days time, by Monday morning if I don’t get the configuration design, your scholarship will be terminated." I had a jolt in my life, as scholarship was my lifeline, without which I cannot continue with my studies. There was no other way out, but to finish the task. My team felt the need for working together round the clock. We didn’t sleep that night and a few nights, working on the drawing board skipping our dinner. On Saturday, I took just an hour’s break. On Sunday morning, when I was near completion, I felt someone’s presence in my laboratory. It was Prof. Srinivasan studying my progress and the design. After looking at my work, he patted and hugged me affectionately. He had words of appreciation (he said): "I knew I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline. You have done a great job in system design”.
Through this review mechanism of Prof Srinivasan, I was injected the necessity of understanding the value of time by each team member and brought out the best from the system design team. I realized that if something is at stake, the human minds get ignited and the working capacity gets enhanced manifold. That’s what exactly happened. The message is : whatever be their specialization, the students should be trained to systems approach and projects, which will prepare them for new products, innovation and undertaking higher organizational responsibilities. A Teacher has to be a coach like Prof. Srinivasan. I am confident that the success of NTU is based on the foundation of its faculty and research tasks.
Integrative approaches transform the world
In all the projects that I have dealt with during my professional career, the time during my Presidency of my country, and even now, I have been coming across again and again how networking of individuals, disciplines, organizations, states and countries lead to innovative results and missions. We have been witnessing how complex missions demand synergising diverse disciplines and groups across the world to take up new avenues of research, be it improving the quality of life, exploration of the unknown or bringing peace and preventing conflicts. We are enjoying the fruits of technology expanding physical travel and connectivity beyond any realm of imagination in the past centuries. While the humanity can be proud of this kind of non linear growth of technology and expertise in many fields impacting the world at large, are we up to the challenges that confront us today? Take any issue - be it energy independence or environment protection or understanding the atmosphere or exploration of outer space or increasing outreach of science or equitable distribution of prosperity and wealth or dealing with deadly diseases or weaning people away from drugs or combating terrorism or preserving the family ties, they all require the creativity of best of minds from any part of the world. The question is we have to ask ourselves is whether the universities provide adequate breeding ground for such minds?
Creative mind
Inventions and discoveries have emanated from creative minds that have been constantly working and imaging the outcome in the mind. With imaging and constant effort, all the forces of the universe work for that inspired mind, thereby leading to inventions or discoveries. Higher the number of creative minds in an organization, the best results of invention and discoveries will emerge. Unique academic environment is an enabler for great thinking that leads to creativity.
Education for sustainable growth
As I greet you all in this picturesque campus of NTU in the city of Singapore, an innovative world hub for business, education and tourism, I have been picturing in my mind the revolution that has taken place in university education itself since my younger days. I have had the benefit of receiving quality education with value system from dedicated teachers. I remember with gratitude, the educational institutions and the teachers for their guidance and the life missions that they enabled me to take up. The evolving education system, and the successful accomplishments of many dynamic teams have changed the world immensely.
It is natural, therefore, the university system itself has to meet new requirements in the twenty first century. The number of universities and the number of students in universities have increased several folds. The number of international students has multiplied considerably. With the mobility of citizens from one country to another, the students belonging to multiple cultures live in most of the cities of the world. The costs of educational system have increased and funds availability also is an important aspect. The teacher-student ratio is a major issue. For want of quantity, quality and particularly research should not suffer. The universities, in my view, need to address four important criteria.
a) The education has to address the needs of the citizen for contributing to the sustainable growth in various areas of national and global development.
b) It has to meet the diverse cultural needs.
c) It should ignite the minds towards research and enquiry.
d) It has to be cost effective for deserving students to take up subjects of their choice.
Technology through communication media and internet has revolutionalised the education delivery, which needs to be used in conjunction with the direct teaching. The 21st century challenges faced by nations require the universities to address disciplinary and interdisciplinary subjects of relevance to the society. Now the question is, is it possible that university education can drive sustainable growth of a nation?
Some time back, I happened to read the Conference General report of the International Conference on Education for sustainable future in Sep 2003, which refers to central challenge for higher education for sustainability. Since it is relevant to this audience, I would like to quote
“The Johannesburg world summit for sustainable development has made one thing unmistakably clear that the political leadership the world over is incapable of rising to the challenge of sustainability. Yet, most of the hundred or so world leaders who attended have a higher education degree from some of the world’s most prestigious universities – the higher education sector is failing society by producing leaders incapable of addressing the most pressing problems. If higher education is the nursery of tomorrow’s leaders then the sector bears profound responsibilities to create a sustainable future. This implies that graduates of every discipline need a sound working knowledge about sustainability”, through their education in the university campus.
You may like to debate this view and arrive at a conclusion on the introduction of sustainable development in the teaching and research. Of course, NTU may have an answer to the above challenge.
Technology is a non-linear tool
Science is linked to technology through application. Economy and environment are linked to technology. Technology is the non-linear tool available to humanity, which can effect fundamental changes in the ground rules of economic competitiveness. The growing technological evolution in the last one hundred years is the testimony of the fact of this non-linear trend. Technology consists of stages like research and development, technology transfer, technology absorption and production of products or systems with the desired performance, quality, and cost-effectiveness Hence technology empowers nations through science. What are the future challenges facing the humanity, which needs to be addressed by the combined efforts of various nations?
New Paradigm for Science and Technology: Many challenges are going to be thrown on the sea, under the sea and above the sea. Scientists will also have challenges in bringing back a clean environment by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy from sun, wind and nuclear systems. Some of the future tasks are:

• Evolution of clean atmosphere by replacing fossil fuel by cost-effective renewable energy systems, leading to energy independence;
• Exploring the human body, particularly gene-characterization through the proteomics project for developing gene-based drugs;
• In the area of communication, a big revolution is setting in. High-bandwidth mobile wireless is in the offing. This could result in the mobile phone becoming a convergent system for multi-media applications for meeting the needs of communication in the office, home and on the move.
• Particularly for India, having 1 billion plus population, enhancing the food-grain output from the present nearly 230m tonnes to 380m tonnes by 2020 with reduced land, water and number of people working in the farms through the use of technology could be a role model for the rest of the population in the world
• A sustainable Rural Development through provision of urban amenities in rural areas (science and technology as the focus) will need innovation, research leading to products, systems and services in physical, electronic, knowledge and economic connectivities.
• Understanding precursors for phenomena like earth quake and tsunami which damage decades of development and put humanity into descent
• Evolution of Unified Field Theory, which may be the ultimate of physics, by revealing how the universe is born and how we are born;
• Evolution of an alternate habitat among the system of our galaxy for humanity by the scientific community of today and tomorrow;
• Evolution of earth, moon, mars complex to bring to the earth new material like helium-3 and other rare materials for the generation of solar power;
These are the some of the major areas of research and innovation, which need the joint research and development efforts of multiple nations based on their individual core competence. Certainly Indian Universities, Institutions and Nanyang Technological University can work on certain specific missions which are of our interest.
21st century University Vision
I have in the last ten years have met more than 3 Million University students and faculty from more than 150 universities in India and 50 universities in abroad. Based on this spirit, I wish to formulate a 21st university vision for your consideration.
• The universities have to prepare citizens of the future with a global outlook and be capable of serving his/her nation or nation of his/her choice.
• Science and technology and public policy are interrelated for mutual benefit and ushering in human kind’s development. This link has to be solidly built in the university education
• Good teachers can be in any part of the world. The university has to bring in this resource through innovative content generation in virtual class rooms.
• Technological connectivities among universities have to be pursued on a war footing using cost effective virtual class rooms.
• Cost effective continuing education possibilities are essential for citizens to be in tune with time.
• Can university education lead to sustainable development of the nation?
• With the world population increasing and resources dwindling, a mindset has to be developed for conserving and sharing the resources and look for new research for abundant resources. This calls for a “noble spirit” as well as a “research spirit”
In summary, the 21st century university education is about developing enlightened citizenship for a knowledge society for peace and prosperity of nations and the world. 21st century University has to be the incubator of world knowledge powerhouse. Based on my interaction with Indian and foreign universities, I have detected certain dynamics. Wherever there is research intensity, it has enhanced quality teaching and also the university has got a great name in the world of teaching. Universities from developed world with their vast experience of a century, have realised the significance of research as a foundation for the university. This is one dimension. The other dimension is that the student community with research focus will most aggressively ask questions. The third dimension is that the sharp gradient and accelerated development processes can give a platform for research for sustainable development. There is a large student community in the developing countries and there is an urge for higher education. Hence, we should see how we can empower them through university to university collaboration, student – faculty interaction, lab to lab collaboration, reaching out the world class quality teaching and research through a virtual reality environment with the excellent content generated.
Conclusion
Ultimately, education in its real sense is the pursuit of truth. It is an endless journey through knowledge and enlightenment. Such a journey opens up new vistas of development of humanism where there is neither scope nor room for pettiness, disharmony, jealousy, hatred or enmity. It transforms a human being into a wholesome whole, a noble soul and an asset to the universe. Universal brotherhood in its true sense becomes the sheet anchor for such education. Real education enhances the dignity of a human being and increases his or her self-respect. If only the real sense of education could be realized by each individual, and carried forward in every field of human activity the world will be a much better place to live in.
Once again, let me thank the members of NTU for giving me this unique honour of being conferred with the degree of Doctorate of Engineering. My best wishes to all the members of NTU for success in their mission of providing a distinctive education to the students for solving real world problems.
May God Bless you.

I have the whole world with me, but i do require the stipend!

I personally feel that having a good family to support you, good friends to stand by you and most of all an open mind to the world will make u a happier person than anything else in this world. Ofcourse money plays a major role in it. But it is definitely not all about money, I know many people would agree to that. Nevertheless it is strange that we tend to respect people with wealth more than a wise and honest man under poverty line. There is this song in tamil- "oruvan oruvan mudhalali", Muthu, which has lyrics about money and man. It goes like this-"If money is not your servant, it will be your master. The covetous man cannot so properly be said to possess wealth, as that may be said to possess him". All i have learnt regarding money till now is, when a person's stomach is full, it doesnt matter if he is rich or poor. I have never wanted money in large amounts. It was just to satisfy my basic needs, but sometimes i feel those needs are needs of a rich guy when viewed from a poor's point of view. I can have 3-4 meals a day, sitting in a lab with ac, while a person below poverty line has to work his ass off to earn a single meal for himself and his family. Now we can see why Gods(if at all they exist...) take the sides of persons with wealth. If he had created us so that we could peacefully co exist, he should have given equal priority(=money+happiness) to all of us. But then again if he intended us mankind to sort out that difference and help each other, then man he has no brains! If he wanted us that way he should have induced such thoughts in us rather than making us so materialistic and money-craving barbarians. That makes us feel that we do what we want to do going against anything and everything if need be. Man is made by his belief, as he beleives so he is. (a quote from Gita... I am not religious nor god-loving, and neither do i believe in destiny) .Not many of my friends are interested in literal money. But come on tell me how many of us wont take up a job that offers twice as much as what we get now? Though we perfectly know that we have been living with this amount till now, and we are well off with this amount, we want more. Why? What for? Money was one of the reasons that forced me to take up this PhD. These thoughts come to us only because there are different strata of people when the society is characterised based on money. People from villages yearns to live a city-bred life. People from city(In India) want to live like someone in USA. How many of us have cousins and friends married to people in USA and other countries? Why? Is it because the guy is super brilliant? No , its because he has lots of money to sustain both of them and probably their off springs too. This kind of divide came up only because concept of money came in. Why is earning money given such prime importance in this world? I sometimes wonder, we never should have interrupted nature in any way. That is a different kind of thought process, coming back to the money mindedness of humans like me...
After a long wait by me and hari, the much awaited stipend came by today. And i should say the excitement has not settled down yet. It is probably because this is the first salary we have ever earned till now. Like all, i thought i too would make a list of things i am going to buy( consumerism...), how much i will send back home and of course not to forget the social responsibility of charity. I will be very glad to send money back home. My parents are everything for me. They never denied me anything.I used to demand stuff and get it done. They have sacrficed many of their needs just for the sake of us children.. I am what i am because of my parents only (and friends of course).I also would like to help few friends whom i feel require monetary help.But i have a strong feeling i should do some charity in some sense.I always wanted to do something for the differentially-abled. My dad is massively involved in this blind organisation for quite a while now. I could do something for it. But it is not sinking in, probably because they do get a lot of attention these days. I want to do good to some portions of the society that hitherto have been touched. I want to see somebody happy(and happy is definitely not just money, it is a feeling that there are some people who care about the fact that they exist and look upon them as equals) at the end of the day, and it should be routed through proper channels. If you guys have any suggestions i am ready to take it up. Just leave a comment. Of course I have not decided on how much i will be giving, but i thought let me at least start this process... I maybe wrong in many of the views i have put forth till now. My way of thinking and analysing things might be very irritating to some people, but i know one thing for sure, being money minded is not me!. Hari was telling me that day (quoting from a book -Phantoms in the brain), being morale, kind and loving is there in our neurons, not many realise it, its there in our genes. Finally for what have i been writing about all this? I need some change in my thought process. I need to realise the more i get richer the more somebody is getting poorer. In control systems for any system to be stable(bare with me i am an Electrical Engineer), there must be a feedback, more importantly a negative feedback. Similarily in life we need to have this negative feedback, for the whole world to be stable, and that is by sharing the things you have , losing something you have more(could be money..)and being open to everything and most of all being a human!

Ice Skate for the heck of it!

Ice skating is one of the things i always wanted to do. And when i had the chance i did not hesitate. 27th August 2008, an adventurous team of three headed by the ex-Nitc EEE Class rep(As always), went on to create a mind-boggling experience that sure will render in their hearts for ever! Yes, Me Hari and Ashish went for ice skating here in singapore yesterday.
The ice skating rink was not an open space but on the third level of Jurong Entertainment center at Jurong East. I had class from 10.30 to 12.30 in the morning. So we decided to go in the afternoon. Since it happened to be a wednesday, we students who had students pass got concession fee for the same. Normally it costs 15$ for 2 hours. We paid 11.80$ for unlimited time (privileges of being a student still...:)). We entered the rink with an air of tension and silence as if entering an exam hall with calculators in our hands.. alas it was not jus that,it was more than a lame exam.It was an experience and we thought we should savour every single moment of it. Nevertheless it was a hobson's choice. We gave ourselves no other option. It was like a pass\fail exam with the difference that you are sure you are going to fail it. Nevertheless we took it up. We were being men i should say! Not just for the fact that many girls were gracefully skating over there, but that we took it up! We put on the ice skating shoes and we could not stand up properly on it even in the normal floor. When we we entered the arena, the music started. :) We could see lots of people falling and skidding everywhere. There were few kids who were amazing, for them it was like playing with their toys. They were so graceful and never cared when they fell down. I think with age comes this ego where you feel uncomfortable falling in front of others. How i wished we were children again? We watched our steps, made sure we did not bump into anyone, unless it was a beautiful chick(..lol.. we dint do that, although vice versa was inevitable). There were few girls who were learning how to skate, and if you happen to be close to them you sure are gonna get pulled down. It happened many a times to all 3 of us. I knew a bit of skating so i started skating properly after some time, nevertheless both hari and ashish were fast learners. They were picking up. I was trying to do different styles, turning and braking and rotating, which all ended up in me getting my bottom frozen! Although it was tiring, we took rest and continued.We started at 2.30 pm and went on till 5 pm. We would have continued if only me and ashish did not have that wireless communication class taken by hari's professor. We had to leave. So at 5.18 pm(singapore time) history was created by us, and we hope that history will repeat itself in a better way!

Madras Bashai

Disclaimer: This post is neither to hurt anybody nor to put down any language in any way.
Caution: Royal Usage (pun intended) of tamil language awaits you. Men who have not got their moustaches intact are forbidden to read further. I would suggest the females not to be too curious.
Few weeks back one of my best friends asked me the meaning of a word which I use very often. He happens to be in chennai only. I felt a bit guilty that after being so long with me he does not know proper Madras Bashai, so I thought I should do a favor to him by posting this....
Gals who did not bother to read the caution and started reading, there is foul language here, so I guess it is not Your cuppa tea...
Ok, to kick off.. My friend asked me the meaning of baadu. Now, every friend of mine knows that I use it very often to rebuke someone when I am pissed off or as a friendly gesture at times. Baadu has many meanings, for the past 3 years we machans at NITC college wereof the consensus that Baadu meant DEAD BODY, until we found out its supposedly true meaning in Wikipedia (Thanks to venky for sending me that link..). I will give you the meaning later in the post, but to start off with the basics...
One of the words that i use very often is Gethu, it means superb, awesome, kickass! it also has a synonym semma, but the former being superlative. And i also use Thaaru-maaru, which literally means zig-zag, but it’s a slang for awesome! When you want to ask someone if they are ready?,you just say, ready-aa? or when you want to ask somebody Is it OK?, You say Ok-vaa?. The meaning of adding this -aa at the end is analogous to asking, is it?. Finished-aa?, meaning have u finished what ever u were doing? Pannada- I use it for swearing but it is not that demeaning. It means a person who takes the bad leaving behind the good, expected to have originated from the word pannadai in tamil which means a layer which filters bad elements from toddy in palm trees. I also use Nadaari, synonymous to pannada. But I do not know the original meaning of it yet. venna a.k.a vendru, literally meaning butter, meaning useless or dumb person. Vetti meaning totally jobless. Tharudala, again useless. Tubelight- not so shrewd person. Udhaaru-Vudrathu- to exaggerate, synonymous to reelu or gapsa. Sappa matteru is one which i use very often. It means a very easy thing to do, also synonymous to Jujubee. Sight Adikkaruthu-Admiring gals usually without their knowledge. Rousu udradhu- To show off.
Porambokku- Unoccupied, usually unusable or fallow land. Derogatively and dismissively, a person without identity, a nobody. Mispronunciation of 'Pembroke', as in Lord Pembroke, who stated that land belonging to no one would belong to the government.
Saavugraaki- Verbal abuse against bad drivers. OB adikkarthu- to waste time, OC- Free at no caost. Bladu,mokkai- meaning a person who puts unbearable PJ's. Kattai- refers to a hot female, we say 'Semma kattai da'. Kalakkarudhu- meaning to rock! Kadalai- meaning verbal flirting! Figaru- attractive gal.
Now the real and royal tamil that many use when their nerves twitch. Baadu- meaning to hold on the torch light when the king and queen have sexual intercourse. Otha- used with baadu as otha baadu. it means the F word. Thevidiya payya- son of a prostitute. Maayiru- literally hair, but used for swearing. I guess this would do now. For people interested in more words in madras tamil can refer to wikipedia.

me@ntu.edu.sg

Someone had said, "In the book of life the answers are not in the back", but i say at least the hints are there in the back. I am here at NTU (Nanyang Technological University), Singapore, and I will be spending the next 5 years of my life at this place. I reached singapore on 17th morning at around 9 am. After nature calls and calls to india me and hari got out of the changi airport at 10 am and took a cab to NTU. We reached the International House, Students service centre, NTU and we were humbly overwhelmed by the hospitality here. The student volunteers took us through everything we needed in the beginning. We had to pay the fees for accommodation and fill up certain forms. We both got separate apartments at Nanyang Heights, and were dropped by a mini excursion bus to the apartment.
My apartment had 5 Single rooms, a kitchen(an oven, a refrigerator, and an electric heater), a dining hall( with a dining table),a hall , a washing place(with a washing machine) and 2 bathrooms( in one there is a jacuzzi). The room allotted to me was SR 1(Single room). It was a capacious room with a writing table and a showcase attached, a cot with mattress and a cupboard which was pretty spacious. I kept my stuff and took a bath.
After taking bath and getting freshened up we had to run to the NTU medical centre where we underwent medical tests like eye test, blood test, urine test and chest x-ray. After that I had nothing to do but explore the place. And me and hari walked a lot that day and got some necessary stuffs. Singapore is so neat and clean. People who litter the roads and spit in india dont even think of doing that here.Its because they will be fined if caught littering, which brings in a fear not to do it. India is one place where anything and everything can happen. This is what people from abroad think. If we want to change it we should learn from these people. I was talking with the Cab driver on the way to NTU, and i just said the roads are so clean and neat here. He replied in his crisp malay accent, "Oh Yes! People pay a huge sum as road tax so people except better roads. Every 6 months its digged up and new roads are laid, And watering the plants and trees on either side of the road is one inportant thing". We too pay Tax( Although some do not), but we dont expect anything from the government. We are submissive to everything. We get easily satisfied and adapted to any situation and condition. If at all we can change the plight in India we should demand. There might be people asking me who are you to say that? You are not even in India,You went out of India and are cribbing about the conditions back home. I have just got one answer to them, Yes I am outside India but that does not mean I am not an Indian. And i have come abroad just now, there is lot of time left. Time will tell those people if I come back or not. I am not telling them sternly i will come back after 5 years for sure, They would retort back saying everybody says this. Anyway coming back to me at singapore..
One more thing i noticed here was consumerism. Although not as much as USA, but still people equate happiness with material possessions. There are lot of entertainment centres and food courts. Tonnes and tonnes of cash and electrical power is being used up. All the transport systems, MRTs(Mass-Rapid Transit)(Metro trains), buses and taxis are air-conditioned. For a country which is smaller than Chennai probably uses up almost thrice as much power. Thats because people demand and want such conditions. Thats why probably developing countries are still developing. Its not like there are no plus points about this place, its jus that everything here is almost perfect. They do not probably realise how much this affects a farmer or a normal person in under developed countries. These people s demands will get satisfied and supply will increase. A typical case of rich get richer and poor get poorer...And being perfect is not my cuppa tea!

S7 ONAM VIDEO

Dasavatharam...

Dasavatharam, the much awaited and hyped up movie, proclaimed to make it to the oscars, turned out to be a decent movie with USP of 10 Kamal's. People who have seen the movie would agree with me to just bury the script in reams of cynicism and accept that Dasavatharam with all its flawless flaws, is a decent spectacle to watch and that kamal has re-affirmed his talent. Although it seems to me as a normal movie with overtones of typical filmi masala, no one can take the credit away from kamal for donning the 10 roles he has done. The story starts of with kamal explaining chaos theory and how that is related to his story and then to the fight between shaivaites and vaishnavites in the 12th century over the idol of Lord Vishnu.An ardent Vishnu devotee loses his life to save the idol of Lord Ranganatha. Kamal plays this devotee Rangaraja Nambi. I would like to add here that for all the hype and anxiety they created they could have given us better graphics, although the camera work was fantastic. The graphics were not upto the international standards but then the hype makes us expect to that level. This has been the problem with movie-watchers like us who watch movies made all around the globe.If we accept the simple fact that this was a movie made for Indians, especially south Indians, we would start seeing the positive aspects in the movie more rather than criticising it. But then again, there is nothing wrong in speaking about the negative aspects too.After the 12th century show, the story revolves around the protagonist Govind Ramasamy(kamal) who is an upright scientist at U.S. From the labs at the firm he is working, a virus vial which was safely guarded, traverses a part of USA before reaching chidambaram in south India. The frantic car and bike chases really stole the show as they were a feast to the eyes and made with pulsating zeal. Christian Fletcher was played with ferocity and without any pity. Although, at times i felt that the chase was way too long and it resembled tom and jerry chases where finally jerry evades tom always. Certain stunts were breath taking and I admired them. Andal played by Asin was like a cantankerous mule. She was very irritating and her screenplay was done with crassitude. She was glutinously holding onto the Idol, whole of the movie and did not feel remorse even after making a huge accident. She showed too much naiveness and there were certain filmi gimmicks too. When she was about to be sexually assaulted she pleads them respectfully to leave her. That was not funny although it was intended to be. The obstinate Iyengar paati krishnaveni, who still beleived that her son was alive created sympathy. Again hats off to kamal for his voice intonation and accent for all his roles, esp to this one. Vincent Poovaraghan who speaks malayalam mixed tamil ( actually that is original tamil) was awesome in dialogue delivery and expressions. The kamal i loved and enjoyed the most was Balram Naidu, the telugu-loving RAW Officer. Kamal did a fantastic job in speaking tamil the way a real telugu guy would have spoken. His spontaneity was cheerful and enjoyable, one of the reasons you should watch this movie. Other characters were the seven foot tall Khalifulla Khan, President George Bush, the japanese sama Shingen Narahasi, and the Daler Mehndi types, Avtaar Singh. One of the commendable efforts was erecting a large set at the Taramani Film City in India which was a Replica of the White House, with Kamal Haasan’s makeup for the role lasting six whole hours to obtain the desired outcome. For the climax scenes of the film, a tsunami effect was created in Mahabalipuram. The scene was shot at a 50,000 sq. ft. area land in which a 100-ft. wall was created near Muttukadu. Six machines, which generated 20 ft. high waves, was imported from the US, for a total cost of 3.5 crore rupees. For the climax, another scene was shot dramatically above the Nehru Stadium with the permission of the chief minister, Karunanidhi. Himesh Reshammiyas music was decent, although i feel Rahman would have done wonders. And I also feel shankar could have directed this venture rather than K S Ravikumar. It suits him better. Now We all know that though the movie had 10 roles of kamal, all the roles were not interconnected properly. It looked like Kamal did those 10 roles just for the record sake and that any body could have done those roles. I personally felt the same until i started reading certain articles and blogs regarding why 10 roles were casted and why it was given the name of Lord Vishnu's dasavatharam. Apparently there were certain similarities in those 10 avatars and these 10 avatars and here it goes... The following analysis was done just to understand certain aspects of characterisation by certain people and is not to hurt any person's feelings regarding Lord Vishnu and his avatars.

1.Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan Lord krishna is dark-skinned [shyamalam]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in mahabharatham. Lord krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how vincent was introduced. He appears when asin is about to be molested and he saves her like draupadi. Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of vincent’s men are drugged at P. Vasu’s Place. Sounds familiar?

2. Balarama avatar - Balarama naidu This is an easy asumption as the name suggests.

3. Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja nambi Nambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown.

4. Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni paatti During the mukunda song, krishnaveni paatti does varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too krishnaveni hides the VIRUS vial inside the statue so as to protect life forms.

5. Vamana avatar - Kalifulla khan In vamana avatar, lord vishnu takes the vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant kalifulla symbolises vamana avatar.

6. Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa.He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around.

7. Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi First of all the name itself is a play on the words singam [means lion in tamil] and narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. Lord Narasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy Hiranya-kashyap and he also teaches prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer fletcher! and is also a teacher(sama). Lord Narasimha had to kill the asura with bare hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.

8. Rama avatar - Avatar Singh Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolizing true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.

9. Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!

10. Koorma avatar - Bush This is considered to be the most loose adaptation by many movie-lovers. But if you look at the real koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the ksheera sagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras. Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom..May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise…not knowing what is Na Cl.

I would like to add on one more view regarding this movie. After all the hurry-burry scenes, it all comes down to the basic question of- Is God there?
Lastly when Asin asks Kamal not to say that God is not there, he replies- " i am not telling god is not there, i am saying it would be good if he (chauvinism not intended) is there". This clearly explains what Kamal was intending. It was a conceited reply and kamal has spoken about God in many a movies now. He has tried to incorporate his ideologies regarding God, being a self confessed rationalist, the way he is. And if u ask me why that 12th century story then i would say 2 reasons
1. Its kamal for you!
2. Maybe u can draw parallels between what happened in 12th century and what happened in dec 2004, both these times they were fighting for a God's Idol but for a different reason, making the so called god omni present even over different era's.
In my perspective Kamal has stopped being an atheist and started beleiving that all is one and one is all! Thats why in the end he shows people thanking their respective gods for saving their lives from the tsunami, if there is God, that is!
On the whole the movie is entertaining and a treat to watch if you go without any expectations.

My travel with the tide-Phase 1-Nagpur

When I wrote my previous post i was sitting on my couch at home, but now i am at a net cafe in the busy streets of bangalore pretty close to the all famous mall The Forum! How I got here? is a question I need to answer to all, but i can't do so in one post because it would become too long and my friends hari and gman do not like long posts by me. I have been wanting to complete this blog post for quite some time now. Not only because I needed to blog (its been quite a while since i did) but also for the simple fact that too many events happened in this one month. I will take you all on a small roller coaster ride as to what I was up to when I went to Nagpur in this post.

May 7th to May 13th- Nagpur trip

I came back from my college on May 5th and went to nagpur on May 7th to help my bro get back to chennai. I went there so that I can help mahen(my bro) and his local guardians who are shifting to chennai permanently.The train reached nagpur in the afternoon at 2.00 PM. The climate over there doing summer makes Chennai look Kodaikanal. The next day morning we both got up late and mahen left me to sleep while he had some unfinished work at the Administrative Block and then went to bring a mechanic to repair his bike. I remember I was lying down when his friend ravi came and informed me that mahen had met with an accident. We both ran to the place of accident. He was dripping blood all over his body, legs, hands and thighs. I was so shocked that it had to happen now. Although he was in pain he did not show it on his face. We went to the nearby dispensary and got his wounds cleaned and medicated. Although it was not a major accident it still got us all depressed. Mahen forced us all to go to a place called choker dhani in spite of being injured, simply because he did not want to spoil my holiday. And so with all my rebuke and accusations we were at this place called choker dhani, 20 km away from his college, which was rich in rajasthani culture. People were dressed in typical rajasthani clothing and called us "sethji". There was a....

Hi folks!I am in chennai now and the date is June 22, 2008.Exactly one week back ,I had written this post and is incomplete for the simple reason- I was so B-U-S-Y that I could not bring myself to blog! B-Bored U-useless S-slothful Y-yearning to be lazier. Before I complete that i will briefly describe what i did this one week- (Sleep, eat, play) *100 , went online at times but otherwise totally 'vetti'(jobless). Guys the date now is 30th june 2008 and i am really pissed off with myself for not completing this post. I have loads to blog on and like hari says
Time time everywhere.... but not a second to spare..
Okay no point crying over spilled milk, I am going to finish this post today.
Choker Dhani was very capacious and had the ambience of a traditional Rajasthani village.In the evenings, a village fair was recreated on the huge sprawling ground where folk dancers and magicians performed. We also enjoyed mouth watering welcome drink and sumptuous snacks and dishes. We had great fun over there despite mahen writhing in pain at times.
After that day we did not have many outings because we had got down to the business of vacating mahens room, and mind you that’s the toughest job ever! But meanwhile we did not compromise on the places that I ought to visit in Nagpur. We went to Fountain Sizzlers, where we got amazing continental food, Ten Downing Street(TDS), which was a pub cum restaurant, and to many such places. We also went shopping and got us both a sherwani each. That is pretty much it from Nagpur. I personally felt that this Nagpur trip was one of the most wonderful trips I have ever had. At last I seemed to have found out the subject that truly arouses my characteristic choler and fills me with zest.
Meeting new people and making friends.
Traveling.
This trip sure was a harbinger of more trips I had during this month and a fun filled one too.

MAHEN'S FRIENDS
AT CHOKER DHANI!

Reached Or Left?

I am back at home now. I guess, by now, everybody (from NITC) will be under their home ceiling. Just sitting on my couch and thinking about all these 4 years creates a medley of emotions in me. It brings about that part in me who is very consciously trying to fight the repercussions of separation. The feeling of getting separated from the ones you love and have lived with leaves a big void in your life, which will take time filling. The moment I left the college I knew it was going to be difficult, nevertheless inevitable. I was wondering why this feeling of total separation doesn’t come if we are getting separated from our parents or relatives? Why alone that friendship be given this treatment? Why can’t we take it as the way it is when we separate our relatives? That is, having a hope that we are going to reunite no matter what. I was trying to be foolishly practical when it came to bidding farewell to my near and dear ones at the college. I kept on reassuring myself that no matter what I am not going to lose touch with these friends of mine. But then another part of me asked, “This is what you told me when you left 10^th and 12^th?, how can you be so sure that you will be in touch with all of them no matter what?”. I just thought for a second and asked one of my other parts, have I been true to my conscience? Have I kept the similar promise I made during my 10^th and 12^th? I got a very prompt answer- NO! I am neither in touch with many of my old friends nor do I feel guilty or sad about it. Of course I am not speaking about my immediate circle of friends I had in my past, I do feel guilty that I cannot keep in touch with them. I am talking about those friends whom I did not spend much time with but still had a significant role in my life back then. Anyway no matter how much I reassure myself it’s a bare naked truth that i can’t keep in touch with everybody. I can only think of being in touch with the close ones who were there through thick and thin. But that also looks bleak, considering the fact that I might end up any where in the globe 5 years from now. It’s very human to adapt to situations. No matter how big a loss, our human brain is programmed to adapt to changes, simply people change. The things that matter to us now will be just a long forgotten dream later. I am desperately fighting against developing that feeling when it comes to my friends at NITC. I want to do my best to remember them and cherish the memories we had. I have started to accept that if I have a feeling I necessarily do not need to act on it. I have a feeling of separation now, if I start telling myself that this is it, it is going to be difficult to meet again, even if we meet again after a long time that bonding won’t be there and our love will diminish, I am doing great injustice to my friends and their feelings. So I decided to be brave and face it. When the Tata Sumo came to pick me up and I had all my friends, (barring a few) who mattered beside me, warrier vvs, britto, joseph, bijoy, sridhar, nithin and hari.I did not want to cry. I did not cry too. I felt depressed at leaving them, but hoping that we will meet soon again ( I am planning to go to ernakulum and meet them on may 15th I really cant wait for that day now). I was going to the city in the car, me lakshmi, hari and nithin were supposed to meet up for probably the last lunch we could have together at mezban calicut. They both were coming in a different car while me and nithin in one car. These people are one of the closest friends I have in my college. On the way to mezban I was profusely apologizing for the mistakes I did to all. We finally ended up in mezban. An air of silence seemed to fill us and we were not speaking to each other the way we used to. For some reason me and nithin did not feel it and were being normal while the other two were showing mixed emotions. I did not want this feeling to encompass me. I did not want to perish under this. I was determined not to show a teary face. I somehow managed for quite a while, actually I knew that there is no point in crying but whenever lakshmi cried, hari used to let her cry. Somehow I couldn’t see the two persons I love the most, my best friends and my best critics, crying. I kept on reassuring myself that time is a better healer (although I never believed that, I believe doing certain things is a better healer). At the entrance of the hotel when we were about to part I couldn’t stand it. I had to leave now. I bid farewell to both and went into the car. The car left and as I saw their faces zooming out I looked at myself into the mirror and saw a small tear rolling out. Then everything came as a flash, all my friends faces when I left the hostel, my NITC campus and every single thing associated with it. I was resisting myself from crying because I hate crying. I hate myself weeping over the inevitable. It was one of those times where your heart rules over your mind. And now I am here on my couch with laptop on my lap, not knowing how to express my feelings to all those I loved. I don’t know if I have left my home or just reached it!

True Indian!

"Where is your ticket?" , asked the ticket checker at the calicut railway station. He looked like a man in his 40's, with wisdom recondite and abstruse. He had a thick black beard (probably dyed it the previous day) and a scornful look on his face. And when he saw my face twitch he gave me a more contemptuous look that made me timorous.
"I came to drop a friend of mine here”, I replied in a low tone as if accepting a huge defeat.
"Did u check the board at the entrance? You are supposed to buy the so-called platform ticket to get onto the platform?” he retorted back.
"We were very late so we had to hurry, otherwise my friend would have missed the train. So I had to run in and I did not have time to buy the platform ticket”, I answered back cautiously wondering what was going through his mind. How I wished I had the intellectual ability to penetrate into his ideas?
"The usual answer everybody gives. You are no different. Stand-aside while i finish my checking and then I will deal with you" he shouted back.
So as always, when a government official like a traffic policeman or a ticket checker catches anybody, I was also asked to "stand aside". And the immediate thought that occurs to us is -okay now what next? How much cash do you have? How much you should tell him that you have? And finally how much should you give him? What is the maximum he can do? Can he put anyone into prison for not buying a platform ticket... Nah.. Not possible! I believed in the Indian penal code. I somehow felt something was amiss. This guy, for some reason din’t seem to me as a person who is so honest in his work. I feel it’s a rather common feeling that all these government servants are corrupted well from within. These people learn to excel in the three principal ingredients, of insolence, lying, and bribery. But then I just had 50 bucks with me and I had to try all my chances. Coming to think of it not even once have I gone onto a platform without a platform ticket (this was the first time-yes its true!). I felt an inside urge to speak to him about this.
So I approached him and said, "Sir, this is the first time I am getting onto a platform without a ticket. In fact I always advise every one of my friends to take platform ticket whenever they get onto a platform. So I am sorry just forgive me this time alone".
"You don’t have a ticket so you will have to pay the fine" he breathed.
"Sir, I just have 40 bucks with me. How much is the fine?" I asked.
"The fine is Rs 285", he replied. I understood everything that was going on. He too is no different from his cousins. I felt that bribery was a felonious act of extorting money. For a split second I had even thought that not all people are bad and there is still some good left in this world. But then when he said that I just wanted to kill myself for not taking the platform ticket.
Anyway I retorted back, "Rs 285 is too much. For not taking a Rs3 platform ticket i should pay Rs285 is it? I just have Rs 40. I can give only Rs30 because I need 10 Rs to go back."
He had a very thoughtful look and I felt as if he is reading through my mind. But to my disappointment he said," U look like a student, u might have ATM cards and credit cards so go get 285 Rs and come, Meanwhile I will have your mobile phone".
"Sir please I do not have cash in my ATM too. Just take this and leave me", I pleaded.
"What is your name?” he intervened.
"My name is Narendar", I replied promptly.
"Where are you from?", He questioned.
"I am from chennai.", I answered.
"Being a person born and brought up in chennai you are not following the rules and regulations, how will the uneducated people obey the rules?" He asked. I had no reply to it.
"Okay I will forgive you this time but you need to do one thing", he said.
I was expecting for this part of the conversation. I was about to take out my purse when he said-"Go buy 10 platform tickets and come, till then i will keep your mobile."
---------------
I was horror-struck. I felt so guilty for having thought bad about such an honest person. Like all times I thought he too fell into the drainage of corruption. He proved me wrong. I was wondering how cruel life would have been to him. It's like you are a rotten apple in a basket full of good apples, but in reality you are the sole good apple.I immediately saw his name plate on his chest to see his name and there it was a name which could have made history which should have been given recognition of some form. His name was Syriac Varghese. I just felt what would he be getting in return for being honest in his work. Just a lame salary! He deserves more!

At that point a phrase said in the anime Full Metal Alchemist came ringing in my ears.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange.But the world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here. But I still choose to believe in its principle: that all things do come at a price. That there's an ebb, and a flow, a cycle. That the pain we went through did have a reward and that anyone who's determined and perseveres will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected."

Hoping that these words turn out true to that true Indian!

It all comes down to this- my way of life!

Living life is the only common thing we all humans have in this world of rat-race. Every Tom Dick and Harry wants to live life the way he wants. Everybody has their own perceptions about life and people. Some one has rightly said living is like licking honey off a thorn. We all, no matter what, have to live both the pleasant and the agonizing parts of life.We think life as an inexhaustible well. Yet every thing happens only a certain number of times and a very small number really.

I was wondering what to jot down now that I am in my final weeks of college life, which perhaps is one of the most significant moments of everybody’s life. Looking back at these 4 glorious years makes me wonder how these wonderful years have affected the way I think about life, about my perceptions of people and the way I want to lead my life. These 4 years have definitely taught me how to live or at least the way I want to cultivate my priorities in life and give a helping hand in the greater good!

Everybody needs everybody’s help in this world in one way or the other. No one can victoriously proclaim he can travel with the tide in solitude. Likewise u can’t have people always around you though u might need them. I am one such person who needs to have people around me and friends to share. But again there is an alter-ego which prefers solitary confinement. I guess every body has this two-sides-of-a-coin life!

The situations and problems I faced in my college life changed my perceptions about everything in a significant manner ( and I hope in a positive manner too..:).Usually i enjoy talking about my opinion regarding any subject, especially to a person who has an honest interest or even honest skepticism towards the topic.Most of the times i meet a person who is committed to not accepting my answers because he enjoys the role of having me strain to make contact with him while he sits back. I can nearly always see why I'd begun to press so hard.The person either hasn't responded to what I've said or he's been smug or he dint acknowledge that I've answered them. In the beginning i used to argue back if i felt i was right, but then now i have learned to be thankful to the feeling that warns me to stop. I feel that, most cases when you know what you are feeling, you are less likely to act irrationally.

Your thoughts and attitudes are special to you. Some of them are almost universally shared and others which you consider indisputable, are not nearly so obvious to people with different vantage points. I started accepting the fact that I'll hold nearly every attitude at some time, even toward people closest to me.I have faced situations(well.. i feel everyone would have..) where i momentarily feel enraged at anyone and acknowledge the fact that i feeling this way is the best safeguard. Feeling of rage is not wicked, in fact no feeling in itself is wicked. Attempt to deny the existence of such a feeling only has repercussions very harmful to you.

Of nearly any purely personal attitude that we have held for long, we are unknowingly reproducing it, or holding it in place not by a single activity but by a multiplicity of them. I understood this the hard way that we can seldom alter attitudes by adopting single practices or stopping them and not condemning other people is a good step toward relieving the tension of unwanted attitudes.

One of the most significant things this college has taught me is- love and friendships. However, it was very easy for me to understand the latter much better and feel has more significance or reality than the former. Love, like life also seemed an elusive thing to me or at least the so-called love i have been seeing in my college. Is it man's nature to be able to love only what he cant fully possess? I feel there is not much love in the word love. Love when done unconditionally and unquestionably is the true love u can get in any forms of life. But sadly, we are left with the fact that only few love their mates forever and others find it difficult or rather impossible to love or respect those who become accessible. Such people, no matter how much they acquire, feel unrewarded.My experience is that whatever we most esteem and try hardest to attain declines in value the moment we secure it. Probably, most of us have this illness. We perpetuate the belief that easy availability decreases value of what we own. This phenomenon is observable in everyday contacts, where our feelings are not so intense as in the so-called love relationships.If some one has known us for years and has watched us grow and learn, he or she may forever refuse that we have become capable.The philosophy seems to be-"If you are familiar and especially if you have needed me then i cant respect your skills".

How far does a prejudice against familiar influence us? Don't we all tend to treat the dinner guests than people who live with us? We keep our near and dear ones waiting many times but be very prompt in meeting a stranger because we don't want to give a bad first impression. Time you allocate for a stranger(probably a girl... in case of a guy) seems to be more important than the time you devote to your own mother.

Perhaps, the main cause of decline in feeling in love relatively, is that after assuring ourselves we have secured our loved one's affection, we slack in our efforts to treat them as respectfully as we did.When we come to feel relationship is secure, we see no reason to continue that behavior and love diminishes.

The miracle is that each choice we take modifies our subsequent views of ourselves and the world. We must rejoice this miracle though at times it produces tragedies. We must make those choices in life that enable us not to look back but to move forward in the right direction.At this juncture, when the time has come to bid farewell and move on with our own ways it makes me wonder where is the good in goodbye?

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz

An episode of my life is over, and perhaps the most important one, but the greatest happiness lies in the fact that it couldn't have been more memorable. And there goes my life in a nutshell...