Transforming India - A country of moviegoers

What is the best way to transform India and get rid of its ills?
Make movies about the things you truly believe in and if possible
rope in a popular actor. Sounds easy, hmm? So, when Priety Zinta
wears seat belt in her car, it's more effective than a campaign
run by traffic police in Dehli.

IIT – Bombay to Launch its Indigenous Satellite

Source
AN ASSEMBLY of 30-40 students from the leader Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B) has designed a satellite that could be the first of its kind in the country to be launched into orbit.

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep

Slacker

The day before I watched a movie called Slacker,by Richard Linklater(who has also made movies
like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Dazed and Confused). A different concept altogether.
Watch it to find out more. Then I also looked up Wikipedia for the term Slacker, and here
is an excerpt :

"
Hard work for its own sake is a fairly modern phenomenon, becoming culturally acceptable during the Protestant Reformation. A positive view of work was not a cultural norm for Hebrew, Classical antiquity, or medieval cultures. Greek society recognized that work was necessary for the satisfaction of material needs, but philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle made it clear that the purpose for which the majority of men labored was "in order that the minority, the élite, might engage in pure exercises of the mind — art, philosophy, and politics". The Greeks believed that a person's prudence, morality, and wisdom was directly proportional to the amount of leisure time that person had.
"
Now, my two cents.
How does Gita explain hard work for its own sake? Karm Yoga? There are 3 ways mentioned
in Gita which get one closer to God : Karm Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Gyan Yoga. So unless a
Slacker is a believer(Bhakt, Bhakti Yoga) or has a sharp intellect devoted in search of God
(Gyan Yog), he/she is not as spiritual as a non-Slacker.

The Nice Kandyman - Tehelka article on Murali

Excerpt:
Even today, despite being a veteran of 116 Tests, Murali is a nervous wreck before a game. From the afternoon before, he is restless and nervy, sometimes short-tempered and curt, and tries to sleep as much as he can to avoid that feeling of nervousness. On the morning of a game he can’t even eat, and when he’s waiting for play to start spends most of his time locked up in the toilets or the changerooms. And till he bowls his first ball, Murali is worried. When he sends out
that first fizzing offbreak, though, a switch is thrown somewhere in the back of his mind. The nervous energy that comes from being expected to deliver in virtually every innings he bowls, is converted into a drive to perform.
Source

Try the mobile phone before you buy it - in Noida

Dubai-based Jumbo Group has opened its store in The Great India Place, Noida.
Here one can try out mobile phones before buying them. I.e. live demo as opposed
to the dummies placed in other retail chains(Subhiksha etc.). But the prices
are slightly higher here. (See source)
So a good strategy would be to try out and zoom in at your phone at Jumbo, at
the Great India Place and then go to the basement of CenterStage Mall and buy
from Subhiksha or The Mobile Store(located side by side).

What did Tehelka's business editor do when his mother was diagnosed with cancer

Here is a personal account of how did a person in Delhi cope when his
mother was diagnosed with Cancer?

Excerpts : 8 things no one tells you about marriage

If these pictures tell
the story of your marriage/relationship,
may be you need something to read,
;-). Here is something for you to read,
excerpts from 8 things no one tells
you about marriage.



1. Early on, when people say, "Marriage takes work," you assume "work" means being patient when he forgets to put down the toilet seat. In your naiveté, you think that you will struggle to accommodate some annoying habit, like persistent knuckle cracking or flatulence.

If only it were that easy. Human beings, you may have noticed, are not simple creatures. Your man has mysterious, unplumbed depths — and from where he sits, you're pretty complicated, too. You have to learn each other the same way that you once learned earth science or world geography.

"It's like losing weight," says Andrea Harden, 45, of Buffalo, NY. "You want it to be a one-time deal. You lost it, now just live. But then you learn it's a lifestyle. That's marriage. The effort is a forever thing." So don't be too hard on yourself — or him — on those days when you feel like you're struggling through remedial math.

2. Whoever decided to tell newlyweds "Never go to bed angry" doesn't know what it's like inside a bedroom where tears and accusations fly as one spouse talks the other into a woozy stupor until night meets the dawn. If this scenario sounds familiar, I've got three words for you: Sleep on it.

3. You will go without sex - sometimes for a long time - and that's okay.

4. A great marriage doesn't mean no conflict; it simply means a couple keeps trying to

get it right.

5. You'll realize that you can only change yourself.

For more read the original article.

If I had a magic wand...

...I would dissolve all this fog over Delhi's skies. It depresses me
beyond limit.

Excerpts from Tibetan journey - a book by George N. Patterson

I have been fascinated with Tibet and its people since the
day I visited Mcleodgunj. So, when I saw this book named
Tibetan Journey, I had to pick it up. In fact, I picked
up another one as well, named Among the Tibetans.
But I couldn't bring myself to like the later at all because
of its sarcastic tone.

As far as the former is concerned, even that is not the
stuff which can be called - un-put-downable but after
reading few initial pages in sequence, I read few randomly
and eventually settled for reading it in the reverse order.
That made it slightly more interesting.

It is written by George N. Patterson, a Christian missionary
in Tibet at that time. He journeyed from Tibet to India to
be out of the Chinese clutches, which were about to grab
Tibet, in 1950.

The author was well versed with the local Kham dialect,
and it shows in his understanding of the local culture and
customs. Written in a humorous tone, the book is worth
one read at least, though in a reverse order :-).

Here are few excerpts :

.........
Our deliverance from the jaws of death had given
me an appetite, or perhaps just made me more
conscious of the digestive function, and I gave orders
to dismount for something to eat at a house which
suddenly thrust itself at us from amongst the trees.
.........
It was an iron bridge-at least , its name meant "Iron Bridge".
The iron was conspicuous by its absence and the bridge almost
equally so. The misnomer disturbed my aesthetic appreciation and
I asked the guide why it should be thus named.
...........
"How do you do?" we Britished.
...........

Setting Free Download Manager as your default Download handler in FireFox

How to set up Free Download Manager as your default Download handler/manager/application
in firefox :
Go to :
Options -> Download Options -> Monitoring

Under the title Monitor, select the checkbox in front of Firefox.
That's it.

Two things you can do with Yahoo! but not with Google

Here is the original Post.


1. Specifiy the order of search keywords in queries

Say you want only web pages where word x comes before y but not vice versa, then just put the search query in Square Brackets. An example:

[Sylvester Stallone] - will only return web pages where the word Sylvester appear before Stallone.

2. linkdomain - An undocumented Yahoo Web search operator.

A quick question - Can you find the number of articles on Wikipedia website that link to CNN.com ? It’s almost impossible to get this data from Google but you can do so quite easily in Yahoo! with the incredibly useful linkdomain operator. The answer is:

linkdomain:cnn.com site:wikipedia.org

Vampire Electronics Suck!

From Environmental Graffiti :
.........
Recent studies suggest almost 5% of all energy used in the US goes towards standby power. With new consumer gadgets, one of the biggest “vampires”, coming out all the time, that amount could reach 20% within three years. Currently almost $4 billion a year is used to power devices that aren’t being used.
.........

Read More Here.

Shivpuri Rishikesh Slideshow

Goa - January 2007

Mcleodgunj trip with satish

Vagabond Wanderer

Today I have started a new blog, Vagabond Wanderer
, which is my travelogue written in videos and images.

Har Ki Paudi ( Haridwar)

Ganga Aarti - Har Ki Paudi - Haridwar - Part I


Ganga Aarti - Har Ki Paudi - Haridwar - Part II

Shivpuri (Near Rishikesh)

Camping experience at Shivpuri near Rishikesh - Part I


Camping experience at Shivpuri near Rishikesh - Part II

Sattal

Entry:



Paragliding(starting):


Paragliding - view from the top :


Paragliding - crash landing

Chandigarh

Chandigarh Roads


Sukhna Lake


Rock Garden


Rose Garden

अब के बरस

अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल
सावन में लीजो बुलाय रे
लौटेंगी जब मेरे बचपन की सखियाँ
देजो संदेसा भिजाय रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

अम्बुआ तले फिर से झूले पड़ेंगे
रिमझिम पडेंगी फुहारें
लौटेंगी फिर तेरे आंगन में बाबुल
सावन की ठण्डी बहारें
छलके नयन मोरा कसके रे जियरा
बचपन की जब याद आये रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

बैरन जवानी ने छीने खिलौने
और मेरी गुड़िया चुराई
बाबुल थी मैं तेरे नाजों की पाली
फिर क्यों हुई मैं पराई
बीते रे जग कोई चिठिया ना पाती
ना कोई नैहर से आये रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

Terror attacks in Rajasthan

Rajasthan must be one of the few states in India oblivious so far to the terror attacks.
But not any more.

Here is my guess to what could have helped Ajmer blasts.

In February last year, India and Pakistan decided to reopen the Munabao Khokhrapar
rail link, after more than 40 years. Munabao lies in Rajasthan. It seems the rail link
has opened the terror links as well.

Videos

Talking of videos, here are my two most popular videos till date.
One features Sudeep Goyal, another Chandigarh Roads :

Sattal - Paragliding - Crash Landing

Just came back from Sattal, it was a group outing by and for Mentor Graphics Noida team.
Here are two videos which I shot while doing paragliding.
I ended up doing a crash landing in the end ;-)
Don't miss that prolonged "Oye" sound just before the end.

Only the last minute :



Complete version :

Arun's wedding video

Recently I attended Arun's wedding in Agra. Here's the video :

Ramazan bodes well for Pak

In the ongoing Twenty20 cricket world cup Pakistan have now beaten
both the world cup finalists(SL and Aus) in a row. These wins coincide
with the festivities of Ramadan. Pak seems to be benefiting from the early adoption
of Twenty20 at the domestic level. They have held 3 contests thus
far, less than only England(5) and SAF(4).

Pakistan's wins come as a much needed freshener for the cricket world,
bored and numbed with the monotony of Oz supremacy. Let's ravel
in as long as it lasts. Hope Bob is enjoying it too...

20% discount on books and NCERT online

Having moved to Noida, one thing I miss about Bangalore is the flat 20% discount on books.
Premier book shop and Blossoms on Church Street used to offer it without asking.
Same was true for Tata Book House in IISc.
But here in Noida, I don't yet know of any such shop. Do you?

On a different note, some time ago I came to know about NCERT's course material
online. It's a commendable feature with one problem though. One can't download
a book in one shot. One has to download every chapter separately.

If one wants to download it slightly faster, here are some file lists which one can
use with wget(wget -i fileList).

SRK in Chak De

Much has been said about Shahrukh Khan's performance
in Chak De India. I have to agree it is a fine one
but only as compared to Shahrukh's previous
appearances.

It is hard not to imagine how Aamir Khan would have
done it. And he would have done it much better.
No second thoughts on that one.

SRK didn't go over the top in this movie but he
didn't have the required intensity for an emotionally
battered coach.

In my opinion he was outshone by many actors
in the movie itself. Chitrashi Rawat(Komal Chautala),
Shilpa Shukla(Bindia Naik),Javed Khan(Sukhlal) and
Anjan Srivastav(Tripathi Ji) did far better. As far
as emotions are concerned the Dahi-Chawal dialogue
between Bindia and Sukhlal was the highlight
of the movie.

From the fun point of view players' registration
scene and antics of Chautala were the core of the
movie.

Anyway, nitty-gritties apart, it is a must watch.

Hats off to Bishnois !!

It is common in India for celebrities to commit a crime and
to get away with it by buying the witnesses. But not so for
Salman Khan, poor chap. He was caught hunting in a Bishnoi
territory. Bishnois are a community who religiously guard
trees and wild animals and have laid down their lives in
past doing the same.

Salman Khan was in trouble in another case of rash driving
in Mumbai, in which case the witness has gone missing(no surprises here).

But in Jodhpur he is up against Bishnois, who have the
political backing and near zero possibility of being
sold out to money.

Salman, you are in trouble.

Posing for the cameras

This is a picture(courtesy : AFP and The Hindu)
of Lin Dan expressing himself after winning a badminton match. Isn't it unusual? Don't those sports guys react to the crowd rather than so clearly looking into the eye of the camera?
Well, in this case there was another lensman watching :-)

Lok Sabha and Marhi Da Deeva

Yesterday surfing through various TV channels, on one of the channels "Lok Sabha",
I saw Deepti Naval wooing Raj Babbar in Punjabi. I found it interesting. It was a movie
"Marhi Da Deeva" that was being shown. It has a tragic ending. It also is one of
the best cinematic works around.

It has been directed by Surinder Singh and based on a novel by the same name
authored by Gyanpeeth award winner Prof. Gurdiyal Singh. Here is a
synoposis from IMDB :

"The film is a social tragedy born out of the gradual transformation of feudalism into capitalism.
It concerns the predicament of the protagonist Jasgir who becomes the victim of the exploiters
tendencies of the Young landlord. His father was treated kindly by the elder landlord but the son
Bhanta tries to retrieve all what his father had given to Jagsir. Against the background of this
external oppression Jagsir is also deprived of normal life because he belongs to low caste and
cannot marry from among his own people as his parents marriage itself was not acceptable to his
maternal grandparents, who discarded his mother. Jagsir is thus condemned to live and dies
without a child who will light a lamp at his tomb. Jagsir however falls in love with his friend's
wife Bhani. Does love hold any promise for the future or is Jagsir to drag his life to death and
become extinct without anybody to light his tomb?"

Movie boasts of an impressive cast line, most of them of Punjabi origin,including Pankaj
Kapoor, Deepti Naval, Raj Babbar, Parikshit Sahani, Asha Sharma and Kanwaljeet singh.

A must watch.

Although I had a tough time finding out the name of the movie. I looked it up in Times of India,
but it doesn't carry program schedule for "Lok Sahba", I looked it up in zipzap.com, but to
no avail, since "Lok Sabha" is not so popular a channel. Eventually I found it at two places.
Firstly in "The Hindu", the newspaper and secondly here. It was heartening to know that
"Lok Sahba" has its schedule online.

North East takes Centerstage

In December,1995 as a 13-year old I had attended a "National Integration Camp"
in Itarana,Alwar as an NCC cadet. It witnessed cadets from almost 20 states,
IIRC. There the best of the singers belonged to Darjeeling.

And now they have come to the fore.

Never before in the history of Indian media has North-East been so mainstream.
In the currently ongoing Indian Idol 3, 3 out of final 6 contestants are from the
North-East. Amit Paul from Shillong, Prashant Tamang from Kolkata and of
Nepalese origin and to top the list Meiyang Chang from Dhanbad but more
importantly of Chinese origin.

While Chang is being described as the "cutest" contestant, it is Tamang who
has generated the maximum buzz, being the only one to have a Wikipedia
entry dedicated to him.

Personally I think Tamang/Amit are the best singers of the lot,
but Indian Idol is not simply a singing competition anyway. It's
more of a performance event.

On a different note I think this edition of Indian Idol is a big leap forward
in truly mingling North East with rest of the India.

Startup scene in NCR is heating up

2 important milestones have been achieved in past month, announcement
of Yahoo's 35 pc stake acquisition in Tyroo and Oracle's acquisition of
Auptyma(yet to come to press). It once again shows that NCR might lag
behind Bangalore in terms of numbers of startups but when it comes to
quality it's one up.

Understanding spoken English

I have always felt there is a difference in the way I understand English spoken in an
Indian accent and the way I understand English spoken in a foreign accent.

I guess, today I know what is that difference.

For a word spoken in a foreign accent I don't understand it unless it has
been pronounced completely while in an Indian accent I usually have it
guessed before its utterance is finished.

A tribute to the spirit of Marwar

In Jodhpur :

Trader fights 29 years to recover one paisa

Keyboard shortcuts for gmail/google reader/firefox

Most of my time spent online is spent using firefox/gmail/google reader. So it is
really important that I use keyboard shortcuts for the above three to avoid
the heavy strain caused by the frequent mouse clicks and constant switching
between mouse and keyboard.

For switching between tabs in firefox I used to use Ctrl-[Shift]Tab earlier
but it created problems at my workspace desktop since that is Linux
and Ctrl-[Shift]Tab combinations are used for switching between multiple
desktops etc. Similarly for Ctrl-F4(used for closing tabs). Then I started
using Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDn for tab switching and Ctrl-w for closing
tabs. Firefox has pretty much done away with Ctrl-F as well with its
"finding as you type" feature. Another cool feature from firefox is its
quick searches.

For gmail, some of the shortcuts I use often are :
g-i : go to inbox
g-a : go to All Mail
g-s : go to starred
y : archive
r : reply
f : forward

Similarly for google reader :
g-a : go to all items
g-u : go to subscription
g-t : go to tag
m : mark read/unread
n : next item
v : open the item in new tab

Though i don't really know if using keyboard shortcuts prevents wrist
injuries since if it takes less effort to use a computer, you will use it
more and in effect you would be hurting your wrists by an equal amount
in either case.

Note(3-8-07) : Here is another link to firefox keyboard shortcuts.

Uploading videos from my Sony Handycam to Youtube

How to upload videos from my/your Sony HCR36-E handycam/camcorder to Youtube :

Well, you can upload them to Google Videos as well since it doesn't put any constraint
on the video size or duration unlike Youtube.

Anyway, once you have transferred video from your cam to the PC, you will
notice that it is in avi format. And a clip of around 3 minutes will take almost 1 GB
on your disk. Ok, forget that for a moment. Your first concern should be to edit
your video. For doing that I use VirtualDub. Just select the unwanted frames
and press the delete key. Then from the file menu, select "Save as AVI".

Having trimmed your movie you would like to compress it so that you can
send it to your Gmail account(I mention Gmail since it gives you the largest
attachment size - 20MB- as of today), or transfer it online quickly.

Earlier I used to use VLC(by using its wizard option)for converting avi to mpg,
but many a times the conversions were not foolproof. At times I got only the
audio part of the original. While some times the Youtube rejected the video
saying it was too long, even though it was well within its 100MB/10 minutes
limit.

Then I started using Super, which is free of the above-mentioned problems
till now.
Select the following options :

output container : mpg (Mpeg I)
output video codec : MPEG-I
output audio codec : mp3


Drag and drop the input file and click Encode(active files).
And that's it. happy uploading/emailing.
Btw, here are my videos : http://youtube.com/dharm0us

Unplanned Freefall? Some Survival Tips

http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/carkeet.html

Form ITR1 in Excel format - for filing tax returns in India

Here is the link.

Everonn IPO India

IPO of Everonn Systems India Limited, which opened on 5th July, has already been
subscribed 0.9 times in retail portion. Rather unusual, considering the fact that it will be
open to bids for 3 more days. Retail investors in India have been known to wait till the last
day of the bidding, even for the issues subscribed around 40 times. Very rarely
does the retail portion gets fully subscribed before the last day. So what's in store for
Everonn? A 100 times subscription in retail segment ;-)

On a different note, DLF got listed and is currently trading at 10% premium from its
issue price. Much better listing than GMR, which was panned prior to its IPO by analysts
who, I am sure, are yet to get their feet outta one of their natal holes. Or may be they
did it to distract everyone so that they can buy it in lumps?

Any sane mathematicians in Hollywood?

Just finished watching this movie, Proof.
This along with A Beautiful Mind and Good will hunting
constitutes a trilogy of insane Math-o-holics,
and makes me wonder if Hollywood would ever be
able to lay its hands upon a "Normal" mathematician's
tale.

BTW, here is the torrent and the english subtitles for Proof.

PS: Proof and the two other movies mentioned above are
indeed fantastic, and in no way do I mean to pan them.
I was just wondering about what I wrote above.

Renew your body

Of late I have come across these three interesting news concerned with
renewing the human body :

Baldness : Hair loss in humans might be reversible, suggest scientists who have helped create new hair cells on the skin of mice.

Artifical Limbs : Japanese firm unveils artificial hand with 'air muscles'.

Lasik Surgery : I don't have the hyperlink but read in yesterday's TOI that Lasik
surgery for eyes sans blade is available in India now.

Search engine for quotes/quotations

A search engine dedicated to quotes/quotations :
http://quotesearch.blogspot.com

DLF IPO as compared to GMR Infrastructure IPO

The biggest IPO in Indian history has failed to garner 100% subscription
in retail category, 97% is the number, whereas QIB quota has it around
500%. This reminds me of GMR Infra IPO in 2006. QIB quota around 10 times
whereas retail category was subscribed 0.5 times.

But in around 2 months' time it took off and was trading at 50% premium.
I expect the same to happen with DLF.

Two of the Best

Or The Two Best Romantic Movies ever :
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

This couplet has the stuff that the dreams are made of.
The magic only the celluloid can weave.
Must watches.

Do kids want to study?

My experiences @ AID Prayas(An NGO for tutoring underprivileged kids) :

1. Do kids want to study?


I guess yes. To me it's not simply the reward/punishment logic, at times
they genuinely enjoy two numbers being added. Exercising the faculty
of brain is indeed a pleasure for them. I don't think they really know that
it can get a job for them, so it's not a necessity for sure. Nor am I distributing
sweets to the better performing ones.

2. Boys vs. Girls

With boy students I can afford to be rude, casual and cursory. In fact if
I treat them too well, they offer me a suspecting glance. With girls, if I don't
smile often enough, they tend to withdraw themselves into a shell. A lot
of persuasion goes into making them learn new things.

Boys seem to pick up math skills faster for two reasons that I can think of:

(i) The kind of games they play require some sort of counting, cricket, kanche,
or any other game that I can think of, while girls are dressing up their dolls.


(ii) Some of them work in the shops in the daytime(it's a night class), so even there
they have to count stuff, at least the money that they get.

Marriages

"...a random allocation might be better than selecting a partner on the grounds of smarts, common interests, attractiveness, how good he or she makes us feel, and so on."
Source.

Movie Reviews

There are two ways of disliking art. One is to dislike it. The other is to like it rationally. -- Oscar Wilde

I am a voracious movie watcher. So when I created
my first blog I had an intense urge to review the movies
I swam through. And I did it. But after may be 5 to 6
reviews I had to give it up.

In my grad school I had "Introduction to English Literature"
as one of my optionals. The teacher always preached and
practiced her motto of "Never classify a piece of literature
as good or bad. Analyze it." That's what she wanted us to
do in exams. I did that too. And though I always enjoyed
the class, I still classify a work of literature as good or bad.

I am yet to learn how to dissect a piece of art. Art is either
enjoyed or left aside. Analyzing art is analyzing a woman.
Both of them are mysterious in nature, and versatile.
Analysis can be applied to objects or rules which are
static in some way.

Now don't analyze this post, alright?

HIndi Post - Fundooquotes

मैं फकत इस नए फीचर को ट्राई करना चाहता हूँ जिसमें मैं हिंदी में भी पोस्ट कर सकता हूँ । आखिरकार हिंदी हिंदी है और अंग्रेजी अंग्रेजी । मेरा नाम धर्मेंद्र तोलानी है और ब्लॉगर ने काफी आसानी से इसे रोमन लिपि से देवनागरी में रूपांतरित कर दिया । चलिये अब ज्यादा बोर न करते हुए मैं आपको कबीर का एक दोहा पेश करता हूँ ।
सौजन्य से : फंडू कोट्स डॉट कॉम

बुरा जो देखन मैं चला,
बुरा ना मिल्या कोये
जो मन खोजा आपना,
तो मुझसे बुरा ना कोये

फंडू कोट्स डॉट कॉम
पर आप भी क्वोट्स सबमिट कर सकते हैं । वे कोट्स किसी मशहूर व्यक्ति के हों चाहे आपके खुद के ।

Staying on top of Indian IPOs

Here is all you need to know to make money in Indian IPOs.

1. IPO Analysis By ICICIDirect.
2. Daily update on oversubscription figures.
3. Allotment status.
4. Basis of Allotments by CapitalMarket.com.
5. Listing date alert by ipoplus. (Best option though is a Google Alert).

The Lives of Others

A Great movie which has gone almost unnoticed :

The Lives of Others

Here is a good review.




















It's a German language movie. Torrents are available on isohunt and english subtitles are available here.

Provoked

Jagmohan Mudhra is back with his latest flick
Provoked starring Aishwarya Rai and
Nandita Das among others. The last film I saw
from him was Bawandar, which was specially
screened at IITBombay in Mood Indigo'2001.
Jagmohan, who was present there, had given
a pre-screening talk.

Those who don't know, he has a Bachelors'
degree in Electrical engineering from IIT
Bombay.

To begin with he made movies which could sell,
with titles such as Irresistible Impulses, Tainted
Love,Wild Cactus etc. But now, he seems to have
created another niche for himself. Something he
deserves to be applauded for.














In Bawandar and in Provoked he has raised the
issues of atrocities against Indian women.
While Bawandar tells the story of Bhanwari Devi,
a social worker in Rajasthan,who was gangraped
by members of a higher caste in her village,













Provoked is the story of Kiranjt Ahluwalia , who
was the victim of her NRI husband in London. Kiranjit
suffered and kept quiet for the sake of her family honor
for a long time, but eventually gave in and burnt her
husband alive.

Indian film industry is not very well known for tackling
such dark and real-life stories, which makes creators like
Mundhra so much more important.

Cool Ergonomic Products

All those who use computers or are doing sedentary jobs, will find these products cool and useful:

1. GentleMouse - Never click a mouse again.
2. Lumbar Support - available from many companies, for e.g. Ergoworks.
3. Wristease - Patented Portable Ergonomic Wrist Support

We will miss you Bob !

Bob woolmer(left) with Younis Khan(right) after
Pakistan's famous victory against Sri Lanka in
ICC Champions' Trophy 2006. Woolmer passed
away in suspicious circumstances on 18 Mar'07.

Red is Back in Vogue

The civil war in India has reached a new high. 50 policemen
were killed by Naxalites in Dantewada on 15th March,
while an unofficial estimate yields the same number of deaths in
Nandigram on 14th March, of the villagers protesting against
WB government adamant on takig away their land.

This comes barely 10 days after a Member of Parliament from
Jharkhand, Sunil Mahto, known for his strong anti-naxalite
stance, was shot dead.

Choice of Dantewada for the killings is not very surprising
either, since it is where the government started its Salwa
Judum campaign which pitches residents of the same village
against one another(Naxalites vs. non-Naxalites).

And, it's in the vicinity of Dantewada where TATA and ESSAR,
two of India's richest corporate houses, have been accused
of grabbing the land forcefully from the villagers for a
peanut compensation, as can be read in the memorandums against
TATA and ESSAR.

Why should a state be so powerful that it can evict its people from
their lands for negligible compensation and without any proper
rehabilitation? In the case of Nandigram and Singur, villagers
are being asked to give up a lush green land, for money and
some menial job which the proposed plants may or may not generate
for them.

Ironically, it's Bangladesh, West Bengal's eastern neighbor, which, only
a few months ago, produced a Nobel laureate for his successful efforts
at alleviating poverty.

Comparison of Images->Slideshow generator softwares

If you have a bunch of pictures, and wondering if you could create
one of those fancy slideshows, which you see everywhere nowadays,
with some background music, some text and yeah, some cool transition
effects, here is a list of softwares which could help you do that.
Of course, you can do it with Macromedia Flash, but the
following softwares are way simpler since they are specifically
built for this particular task, that is, making slideshows out of
images.
(I don't know why does this table appear so much down the page?)

Software Name(rightwards>/Features(downwards)	MemoriesOnWeb 3.1.7	PhotoStory 3	Flash Slideshow Generator Trial Version
OS	Windows	Windows	Windows
Music Embedding	Yes	Yes	Yes
License	Freeware	Free for customers running genuine Microsoft Windows.	Shareware
Ouput Formats	avi/mpeg-1	wmv	flash,exe
Video Quality	Poorer	Better	Better
Adding Text to Images	Yes	No	Yes
Adding Text Slides	Yes	No	No
Random Transition effects for all images	Yes	No	Yes
Applying same transition duration/picture duration to all pictures	Yes	Yes	No
Special Mention	..	1. Music fades gently in the end, irrespective of the source music file's length. 2. Capability for adding narration.	..

Here is a video from my Goa trip with Mentor colleagues,made with MemoriesOnWeb.

Rediffmail launches unlimited email storage - But Why?

Would it be of any use really?
No, I would say.
Why?
Because :
1. The maximum attachment size is still 10MB, so hard
luck for those who would like to store their multimedia
or other huge files in rediffmail in a simple hasslefree
manner.

2. It doesn't have any feature which can force gmail
to even blink an eye-lid, let alone the other bunch
of integrated services that come with a google account.

3. Its spam filter is almost non-existent and add to
it the amount of promotional mail that rediff itself
sends to its users and you know how would the unlimited
space be utilized.

Difficult Downloads

This post is an attempt to list down free softwares which are supposed to
be found in a jiffy on the web, but took me an eon.

1. CVS for linux
finally got from: http://march-hare.com.au/archive/cvsnt-2.5.03.2382-rh9-rpm.tar.gz
And it installed without slightest of troubles.

2. DVD to avi converter:
Haven't found yet.

The Next Evolution

What do you think is going to be the next step in the evolution of humans(assuming for a while that the theory of Intelligent Design
is, umm, incorrect)? According to me, it has to be our eyes and our
back. As more and more people take to studies, computers and sedentary jobs, there will soon be a day when no one will need glasses/lenses/laser surgery and the word backache will disappear from the dictionaries.