Resolution Ritual

Well, its that time of the year.. While any time is the right time for resolving and doing things, this new year resolution ritual seems to be age old and I have seen people do and have been part of this ritual for quite some time now.. So here comes mine for 2007 and beyond:

1. Become a more calmer person: Not sure how I would do this, but would like to calm the mind, be softer in reaction (react less and act more). One thing I would to practice is to 'speak softly' and make it part of my DNA. I have a very long way to go on this front. Here I am reminded of Thiruvalluvar's 100th kural (இனிய உளவாக இன்னாத கூறல்... கனி இருப்பக் காய்கவர்ந் தற்று.)
2. Beginning learning an instrument: Start learning key board and be able be able to identify ragas and stuff.
   
3. Devote time to spirituality: Haven't spent much time in this front since returning from US. I would like to re-establish contact with Vedas and on a regular basis.
4. Devote time reaching out in my own small way: Again, I feel deficient in this area, need to shore up. Would like to devote time and energy in this front.
5. Blog: 1) Start blogging from my domain viswanathan.in 2) Blog in Tamil 3)Consistent and well thought out writing. Would like to write like Sujatha & Tom Friedman
6. Health: 1) Continue exercising regularly 2) Run at least 3 marathons
   
7. Rise Early: Make it part of my DNA in 2007
   

After Saddam Hussein

What now after Saddam Hussein?

Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq with an iron fist for over 30 years was hanged today. He was responsible for three major wars which resulted millions of Iraqi deaths and economic loss. He ruthlessly suppressed his opponents and was hanged today for one such act in 1982.

The important question is not whether he was guilty of crimes against humanity but whether the Iraqi Government that exists today had any legitimacy to do what it did and whether the trial itself was fair.

The new Iraqi Government could have conducted a fair trial by methodically following international norms and there by bringing some amount of legitimacy to itself. But the trial was divisive and flawed from the very beginning. The final sentence and the execution all seem to have been carried out in a hurry.

While, US can technically wash its hands off the whole affair, it is implicitly responsible for how the whole thing transpired. It could have halted or altered the course of the trial,but it let squeaky Iraqi justice system muddle its way through this important trial.

After 3+ years of wars and thousands of Iraqi and American deaths, Iraq of today seems to be worse off than ever before and edging perilously close to a all out civil war. Removal Saddam Hussein didn't create a better Iraq and neither would the execution of him.

Murder For Mobile?

This case shocked the Chennai..

Yes.. Three teenagers brutally murdered a 11 year old boy, Arvind apparently to buy mobile phones and for to party for the new year.

The quick apprehension of the alleged culprits by Chennai Police, does bring some relief to the shell shocked middle class core of Chennai. However, the culprits will be let off lightly as they will only be tried in a juvenile court where the maximum sentence is 3 years. This is just a slap in the wrist for the grievous crime committed by the teenagers, aged between 15 - 17.

I believe, it is time for India and Tamil Nadu to revisit the juvenile laws and make necessary amendments such that some teenagers can be tried as adults depending on the nature of the crime and on a case by case basis.

CASting Its Spell

Finally CAS is moving beyond Chennai.. I had wondered (or cribbed would be more appropriate) about Chennai being a victim of CAS, when rest of the country was having an extended party without any cable TV distribution regulation. While that is still the case, India is taking baby steps towards regulating loosely controlled cable TV distribution system.. I hope it works

Travelog # 22 - Tanjore Periya Kovil

Tanjore Periya Kovil (after the local name for Shiva - Periya Aavudayar) or the mouthful Brihadeeswar temple is like none other temple you would typically expect to see in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. Built around 10th century, Brihadesswar temple is home to one of the largest Lingam (perhaps the largest in the world) and one of the largest Nandi .

Unlike the other temples, this temple is one of the few worship places maintained by the Archaeological Society of India (ASI) and is part of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I visited this temple exactly 2 years ago during my visit to our native place near Mayiladuthurai. Here are few pictures from that visit


This is what we got to see as we got out of the car. We were told that, this is a monthly ritual in which the utsavar is taken around in the temple in a 'Veethi Ula'.




The main gopuram is truly impressive and an engineering marvel considering when it was built. The legend goes that the shikaram at the top of the temple is made of a single stone weighing 80+ tonnes. A scaffolding (inclined plane made of sand) was built from a distance of 11 km to carry that stone to a height of 70m.



The temple and the surroundings were well maintained. I think, it is because of the ASI is managing it and not by the Tamil Nadu Endowment board, which has poor track record and mired in corruption and political interference.


Huge Nandi, which seems to be as popular as the Shiva inside



Inside Sarabhoji Maharaja Palace, which is very close to the temple is a also place to see in Tanjore.


More pictures in flickr

How to get there:
We went by road from Mayiladuthurai and it took us about 2+ hours to reach Periya Kovil. The traffic itself wasn't that bad during the early morning time, but remember to have working horns (louder the better) and solid brakes. The traffic on Indian roads can be crazy and it augurs well to slow down and be the one to give way to the other guy.

Where to stay:
We didn't stay in Tanjore, but I do understand it has some decent hotels.

Food:
Lots of vegetarian Restaurants available, the food is good and cheap.

Other places to see:
Sarawathi Mahal - One of the oldest libraries, but need sufficient time to explore and enjoy.
Sarabhoji Maharaja Palace: Impressive place, but needs maintenance.

Taking Some Time Off

I took this week off from work (and from blog.. it looks like) to go out somewhere. We looked in to going North East or Ladakh, but the schedules didn't work out as we were pretty late to planning. The only options available to us where Kulu-Manali or Sri Lanka, but either of them didn't excite us, so we decided to stay local and do a little of cleaning (which never seems to end).

I am hoping to catch a Kacheri or two this season and possibly get to do a couple of post in the last few remaining days of this year.

Talking about the music season, it is in high gear in Chennai with concerts happening in multiple places. The challenge is there is no one place to find the schedules. The local news papers do publish the itineraries, but they are not user friendly. Wouldn't it be nice to have a site where we can search artist, sabha etc.,? What say you?

PowerPoint Trick

I learnt a new trick (yes, this old dog can still learn new tricks) with PowerPoint recently and would like to share it with you. This may be a 'old news' for many PowerPoint experts, but when I found it, it was a 'wow' moment for me. So here it goes..

I always had a small problem during my pitches. Either I had to remember all points I want to cover or carry hard copy speaker notes. Neither of it really worked for me, So when I found out I could see the slide with the speaker notes in my monitor while projecting the slide only on to the big screen, I was thrilled. Here is how to do it:

1. Right-click on the Windows desktop and click Properties. The Display Properties window appears.
2. Click on the Settings tab, click on the second monitor
3. Click the “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor” check box,
   
4. Click OK.
   

(You must have a projector hooked up to your laptop's external monitor port to select monitor )

1. In PowerPoint,
   
2. Select Slide Show
   
3. Select Set Up Show.
   
4. In the Multiple Monitors section
1. Select Monitor 2
2. Check Show Presenter View
   
5. Click OK.
   

When you start Slide Show, you will see on your laptop the slide that is currently on the projector (top center), your speaker notes (bottom center), your other slides (left), and various controls (middle and right).

This does leave one challenge.. If the speaker notes is verbose and in small font size, you will not be able to read it. But, that wasn't a problem for me, as I like to see only the speaking points which can be bulletized and put down in bigger fonts.

Is this cool or what???

What About Them?

The story of Santhi Sounderrajan raise and fall brings to fore rather uncomfortable questions about them which have so far been brushed aside.

Santhi Sounderrajan raise from obscurity to an iconic status in Tamil Nadu in the last one week was truly awe inspiring and showed the world as to what grit and determination can do. Santhi grew up with abject poverty, yet rose from that to compete in several International Athletic events. Last week, Santhi won a silver medal for India in the women's 800 meters, which brought overnight fame and monies (INR 1.5 million) badly needed by the family. Yet, it also brought some scrutiny in the form of a gender test, which Santhi failed and led to the withdrawal of the medal.

As a society, third gender has been treated shabbily by everyone, including the close families and stuff. Shunned by the society and their own families, they are driven to prostitution, poverty and drugs. Indian movies generally portray them in a poor light as a group that must be kept away. I don't to understand all the issues involved, but I do feel they should be given assistance and not be driven away. Can the latest medical advancement/s help?

In this front, I applaud Tamil Nadu Government for going ahead with the already scheduled award ceremony. Mr. Karunanidhi could have easily hidden behind some procedural trivialities and and canceled award, but by not doing so, he sent out a positive message to the whole group.

I hope this Santhi episode ignites a public discussion and brings forth some positive changes for them.

Cool FireFox Addons

Even though I use Firefox for most of my browsing, I am forced to jump to IE for browsing some of the Tamil sites like Vikatan, Kumudam & Dinamalar etc., because these sites use proprietary fonts that work only with IE. But thanks to Saravanan, I am now able to browse these Tamil sites through Firefox itself.

Saravanan pointed me to Padma font and a greasemonkey script both of which helps to view the proprietary Tamil fonts in Firefox.

Now I have one less reason to use IE.. Thanks for making that possible Saravanan.

Travelog # 21 - Fog Attack

This seems to be recurring annual ritual in Delhi. The dense fog that envelops Delhi during this time of the year throws the air traffic out of gear. This is just not one day occurrence, but a predicted recursive incident day after day, year after year.

The fog itself is not the problem, several airports around the world have successfully overcome this kind of problem. The solution is itself is rather simple, the Airport and Planes must be equipped with CAT-IIIB Instrument Landing System and the Pilots must be trained use it.

Last year, civil aviation instructed all airlines to equip their planes with CAT-IIIB and train their Pilots. Interestingly only the Government carriers have compiled with this order with most of the private carriers turning a blind eye to the binding order.

This has led to chaotic situation in Delhi Airport which has cascaded to most of the domestic airport. My flight from Chennai (9W 831) to Delhi was delayed by over 6 hours yesterday and now I am dreading what awaits me tomorrow. I am scheduled to fly back to Chennai by 6:45 AM flight which will most likely be delayed.

I wonder why private carriers openly flout Government rules and what is even more astonishing is why would India allow such a flagrant violation which directly impact thousands of air travelers for days and weeks on at a stretch.

The bottom line is If you are taking a flight in and out of Delhi between now through January, be prepared for long delays.

Who Should Be The Next President Of India?

Who should be 12th President of India?
By next summer India would have elected its next President and the speculation has already moved in to top gear. I will also join the fray and put my down my two cents.

The next President of India should be

1. A Woman: India never had a Woman President and this would send a strong message and might even act as the required catalyst for passing the women's reservation bill which has been languishing the in the Parliament for a while.
   
2. A Christian: While there has been Muslim and Sikh Presidents, India hasn't had a Christian President. So, why not a Christian ?
   
3. From North East: North East region of India doesn't have a good representation in the current federal power structure. This would send right signals to the rife torn region.
4. Not a politician: Dr. Abdul Kalam, the first non-political President has fared well and India should continue to follow that route. He has brought in flair and some degree of independent thinking to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.
   

It might not be possible to find a person to suit all of the above requirements. However, the following meet some of the criteria mentioned above.


JM Lyngdoh: He meets 3 of the 4 requirements and is eminently suitable for the job. Like Dr. Kalam, he has humble middle class upbringing with a strong sense of values. He did a commendable job as the Chief Election Commissioner of India for which he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay award. So, my first preference is Mr. Lyngdoh. However, I don't see his name doing the rounds and he may not be in he radar screen of the major parties like Congress, BJP and Communists.

Dr. Abdul Kalam: Dr. Kalam is a great role model for countless youngsters and his very name inspires hope and aspirations of the young and the old alike. He has done well in his first term and has shown that he is man of his own and can't manipulated around. While this is commendable, it hasn't won him many friends from Congress. So, while, BJP might support his candidacy, Congress might not.

NR Narayanamurthy: He is one of the founder of InfoSys and he needs no introduction. From, simple middle class roots, he has built an iconic company that continues to be the poster child of Indian IT companies. While he has many qualities that has made him a darling of the middle class, same qualities have made the politicians shun him. His views on Governance, transparency, reservation and stuff puts him squarely in the opposite camp of the political creed in India. So, his candidacy might not take off.

Who do you think should be the next President of India and why?

Remember Shakti - Delightful Performance

I went to different kind of concert in Chennai a couple of days back. This is the carnatic music season in Chennai and there is already boat load of kacheris that are happening. Amidst of all the classical stuff, a fusion concert appeared in the Chennai music scene.

The fusion program by Remember Shakti brought in the some of the best in the industry. The show was great with solid performance from all around, but I was completely floored by the superlative performance of Ustad Zakir bhai. He handled Tabla & Drums at the same time with ease and marching them to different beats. I wonder, how he was able to send different signals to both of his hands at the same time.

Overall, the performance was great and thoroughly enjoyed it. One request for next time.. Please start on time.. The program was set to start at 7:00 PM but didn't till 7:45 PM. It was a horrible waste of time all around.


Ustad Zakir Hussain on Tabla & Drums, U Srinivas on Mandolin, Shankar Mahadevan - Vocal, John Malaughlin on Guitar and Selva Ganesh on Ganjira, Gatam & Mirudangam. Special appearance by Vikku Vinayakram.

Short Clip from the performance.


Better clips in YouTube

Review in The Hindu

How Nerdy Are You?

Check your nerd score.. here..

Travelog # 20 - Singapore

Orchard Road
I have been to Singapore many a times, but stayed in a Orchard Road Hotel for the first time. For the uninitiated, Orchard Road is a must see and be seen place in Singapore. Its a shopping mecca and a yuppie hangout place.

Being the holiday season a stretch of the road was all decked and was glittering in the night. It was fun to leisurely stroll across and do window shopping.


Seasons greetings.


Glittering in the night


True to its reputation, I found Orchard Road busy all the all the time with locals and tourists alike.


Popular Kodak spot


Found my favorite Burger King and Star Bucks just a stone throw away from my Hotel. Burger King was the first one to come out with 'Veggie Burgers' in early 90s in Columbus, Ohio and I love the Star Bucks Cafe latte. Miss both these joints in Chennai.

More Pictures in flickr

A Short Video clip of the busy Orchard Road


(As usual, I ended up in Mustafa for shopping and utterly disliked the shopping experience. I aisles were narrow, over flowing with stuff and people. It was impossible to stop and look at display without being jostled around. That said, I am sure I will go there again. I kept asking, if I don't like it, then why go? The only answer I could come up with is the feeling I get of 'getting a good deal' at Mustafa. Here, I am equating 'good deal' to the price I pay for the goodies I buy..)

Singapore Marathon - Some Photos

Though Hari & Ramki helped, I am still in the doghouse with retrieving lost pictures and short movie clips. while I try to get out of the doghouse, here are some pictures from marathon photos.


Over 10,000 full marathon participants all pumped to go. It was amazing to see such a overwhelming participation in a country of just 3 million people.


What's with Kenyans? I don't know how they run @ 20 kms an hour for 2 hours at a stretch. Here is Amos Tirop Matui of Kenya who came first @ 2:14:59, a record for Singapore Marathon. He clocked 23:39 @ 7.6 km, 1:06:43 @ 21K, 1:27:04 @ 27.38k and 2:14:59 @ 42.195)

And here is yours truly racing to the finish line as the 2667th. My official timing was 5:14:53 at the finish line. I clocked 47:02 @ 7.6km, 2:26:41 @ 21.0km, 3:20:03 @ 27.38km and 5:14:53 @ 42.195)

மீண்டும் பாலகுமாரன்

மீண்டும் பாலகுமாரன்



After a long hiatus, Balakumaran has started a short story series called கண்ணால் கண்ட காதல் கதைகள். In this, he will talk about his favorite topic love and lust. In the first short story, he handled unwed couples living together in his own style.

I used to be big fan of his mesmerizing writing, but lost track of him in the last decade. Regardless, will follow this series in Kumudam.

OfficeRecovery To The Rescue

More aptly it should read Hari & Ramki to the rescue. They helped me recover from the user error.

Hari connected me to Ramki who pointed me to OfficeRecovery. With remote help from Ramki, I downloaded the freeUndelete program and recovered the files I had erroneously deleted just a few hours back.

This timely assistance helped me save a few bucks and more importantly saved me a trek to Parrys Corner and one half day. I had tentatively planned to go to this company called Black & White data recovery services tomorrow in Parrys and try my luck. In my initial conversations with them, they wanted me to remove the hard drive from my machine and give it to them to run some specialized software to recover lost files. Before I did that, I thought of Hari, as he runs a company and may have come across issues like this. That hunch worked and saved me money, time and energy. Thanks Hari & Ramki..

Singapore Marathon - A Quick Update

I was going to do this post with some photos and stuff.. but lost the pictures and video due to user error. I am going to try and recover from this goof up and do a post with pictures and stuff, but in the meanwhile, here is a brief update.

In one word Singapore Marathon 2006 was AWESOME. The great Singaporean efficiency was evident everywhere, from bib collection to route to water facilities to post marathon party. They have thought of everything. One day, I hope Chennai will also conduct a world class marathon like Singapore. I am willing to go bat for this and shameless ape Singapore, Any volunteers?

Now, coming to my performance.
I went in with a target of bettering my previous Singapore attempt (4:49:01), but I will have to report that I did not pass. Simply put, I lost the mind game. Though, I did not have any great physical discomforts during the run, I simply didn't have the mental grit to drive all the demons away.

I couldn't have asked for a better course or for that matter better weather. The course was flat and easy to run. The weather was overcast, pleasant and even drizzled mildly. Yet, I took around 5:15. I will revert back with exact time in a day or two, when the chip timings get published at the Singapore Marathon site.

Singapore Marathon - Wish Me Luck

In Singapore now for the Marathon. Found this neat publicity poster near the busy Orchard Road. More after the run..

Freedom Movement Vs Terrorism

Freedom Movement Vs Terrorism
How does one define what is freedom movement and what is terrorism..? Where is the line. What is militancy / terrorism for India is freedom movement for Pakistan (Kashmir issue). What Tamils consider as the legitimate freedom movement by LTTE in Jaffna is terrorism in the eyes of Sri Lanka and the world community.

It is interesting to see the entire Tamil press and most of Tamil politicians unanimously support LTTE as an organization that is fighting for the legitimate aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka for an independent state. They seem to easily forget the fact that LTTE brooks no opposition and brutally silences its enemies. LTTE has long history of ruthlessly eliminating its opponents from Mr. Jayawardane to Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. Even today, they tried to assassinate a brother of Sri Lankan Prime Minister. The list can be long and depressing. The bottom line is LTTE as an organization is wedded to violence and that seems to be irrelevant for Tamil press and politicians.

But for the same Tamils and most of India, what is happening in Kashmir is a different story. Its pure terrorism, instigated and orchestrated by Pakistan.

I guess this kind of politicking is part and parcel of International Politics where terrorism for one side is freedom movement for the other side. Regardless of the definition and the spin, I fail to see how and why the entire Tamil Press and majority of the Tamil politicians are bending over backwards to support LTTE.