Christmas in Christopher Lake

We spent several days in Christipher Lake. Anglican community had organised this programme. We were taught Skiing skating etc. The food and fun were really great. I got good idea about Bible studies and we had bible discussion every evening.

A day before we left international food were served. We along with students from Nepal coocked Chana Masala and Chcicken Fried Rice.

We got an oppurtunity to present a slide show on India.

I made lot of friends. Warren, Rob, and the bear killer!(?)

Social Integration and Future of Canada

I would like to emphasize the need for cultural integration of the immigrants with the proactive initiatives from the local community. As immigrants increase, next 50 years will see an in creasing difference of opinions in Canada. To create hormony, community should take up social integration agressively by involving and educating the youth about the need for accomadating the immigrants. When the immigrants actively involve in local initiatives the become part of the nation and start to share the concerns. Social differences will eventually dissolve owing to mutual respect and knwoledge about each others culture.

Easier said than done. My understanding is that at present, cultural sensitivity is veryless. Open mindedness to different languages and traditionas will have to be highly emphasized before it becomes an important tool in social integration. For instance, wearing ethnic dress is seen as opposing local values. (An old Canadian lady toldt me "You are fine, you wear nice trousures.... but...why is that those people have long strange clothes...when in Canada the have to dress as Canadians do"). Speaking a different language is sometimes seen as being insensitive to local sentiments. Not that they do not have anything legitamate in their arguments, they lack a sense of openness. Being used to diversity is probably one of the gretest chalenges to soceity.

It appears that some universities such as in Regina are doing some research related to social integration. However the impact of social segragation has not been a topic of importance so far. Thinking in tha direction, if we concider the case of India where several socities exist with a huge cultural diversity, we can see that communal disturbances are an impact of alianation.

Canada needs serious political and social initiatives to stop communal disturbances from flaring up due to alianation. As immigrants from differents parts of the world arrive, there is a chnace that they will form small groups of segregated communities. It is natural for such communities to develop a feeling of insecurity when they start to think they are a minority. That may bring canada to a situation where India is today: full of communities which do not entertain marriages into communities other than their own and continue to maintain segragation in the name of diversity. To prevent precisely this, that I feel that extra efforts should be made by local community to bring all the communities together.

I am not in denail that there is reluctance from the immigrants to integrate into the Canadian soceity. This, I think is common with most of the immigrants irrespective of the place they immigrate to. Being repulsive and rationalizing our acts, come naturally to us. But moving away from such dangerous instincts by not only accepting the diversity but also by appriciating it will aid efforts to build more hormonious Canadian soceity.

~rAGU

Nothing...............

We can always be more mature than people of our age but we can only go as far as 15-20 years ahead of the rest. Yet we learn that it was not good enough. I have lost lots of ego yet whatever remains is more than required! Our thoughts get more realistic yet not realistic enough! We get better bigger yet not enough......

I had told you; last time I left Belgium I had two bags. I thought they were all I needed. Yesterday I picked up my cabin bag to check some back account information while keeping it back realised that just that bag, I repeat just the bag I was holding was all I needed to earn my living! It had my university certificates, passports etc.

Extending that philosophy we may recall what Indian philosophers had argued since long. (My favourite: when days were not worth counting!)

We need nothing to be happy! Things only create trouble!







At first, they said in RigVeda:

was neither Being nor Nonbeing.
There was not air nor yet sky beyond.
What was wrapping? Where? In whose protection?
Was Water there, unfathomable deep?

Some mystic thing ...............

~rAGU

Problem with intellectuals

In every country and almost everywhere intellectuals are against the government. Anarchism seems to be only solution acceptable to them. I talk about this because I was reading this, thttp://www.tehelka.com/story_main14.asp?filename=hub110505_In_India_CS.asp interview given by Aundhanti Roy, where she talks about oppression, morality, corruption etc.

The day I find an intellectual who offers a practical solution to real world problem, I shall appreciate their existence. All the time I see so called intellectuals opposing every solution that an authority comes up with, and almost everything that exists in society. That is the problem with the intellectuals. They highlight problems and aggravate it by halting some solutions that may work partially. They never offer a solution. It is all in bits and pieces. Do not like that, that is wrong, That is oppression blah blah.....
Solutions? No they have no idea.

~rAGU

Napoleon's March on Moscow

This photo might belong to somebody. Being used just beause it looks nice. All right belongs to authors.

Bengaluru - Fetch me a glass of milk!

The day Bengaluru will be called by its name and when the colours of colonialism have faded, I will be so much satisfied. A feudatory of the Vijayanagara Empire and called Bengluru by my ancestors is an international city that truly deserves its own name.

It pains me to read those who say that the city is being renamed. No. A common name is being officially declared to clear the confusion. It is called Bangalore in English, Bangalour in Hindi and Bengaluru in Kannada.

Locals have sovereign right to call their cities by their own name. Imposing the name liked by the immigrants to the city can at best be undemocratic. I did not know until I was 16 that the capital city of my province was also called Bangalore. It smacks of intolerance when immigrants from other parts of India hate local culture and disrespect the language. I have been humiliated in Bengaluru for speaking the language of my mother. A native can not be a sitting duck, when his own language is being disrespected in the capital of his province.

Today the name of my country to the English educated is India. There is no harm in calling us what others call us. We should not forget what we call ourselves. Germans always call themselves Deutsch. Dutch are from Nederland. Belgians are from Koninkrijk Belgie. The French call themselves Français. The sacred Sahyadri mountain ranges are a strange name! Western Ghats are a more familiar name.

It is for us to learn respecting freedom of the people. Respect everything that contributes to the identity as something of value. I do not want New Delhi to be Hosa Dehali (as in Kannada). But I would vociferously protest those who think that Bengaluru is not trendy and the city does not deserve to be called by the simple yet soothing name.

Eight years ago I was standing in one of the bus stops in Bengaluru. A smartly clad guy, who until now was talking in Kannada, asked me if the bus in front goes to the Bengaluru city centre. I said, "Yes, It does" and turned to my brother. I was wondering why he was asking me, a man who has just seen the city a day before. My brother pointed towards the rubber slipper I wore. He said, "Your rubber slipper told him that you can read Kannada"!

Fetch me a glass of milk, now my capital will be called in my mother's language.

Ragu Kattinakere

Deepavali: The Festival of Lights

(Image: Thanks to Sushruta Dodderi)

Deepavali is one of the festivals celebrated in the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the biggest festivals Indians celebrate. Sanskrit name Deepavali is a compound word made up of 'Deepa' (light) and 'Avali' (row). These two words are joined by most frequent of the Sanskrit compounds, 'Savarna Dheerga'. etymological meaning would then be 'row of lights'. [Most popular name however is the corrupted from which is 'Diwali']. Let us see how the festival is celebrated in my part of India.

This is a four day festival yet festivities go beyond. The festival starts on the 29th day of the 7th month (Ashwija) of traditional calendar and ends on the 1st day of 8th month (Kartika) [Note that months are divided into two groups of 15 days].
On 28th day (Krishna Paksha Trayodashi) it is time to clean and worship the water spring (water well). Kids go to every house in the village with bells and cymbals (Jaagate) and participate in spring worship performed by the women of the house. People believe that the water they use everyday as a symbolic representation of the Holy Ganges River (River Ganga). It is in fact called the Ganges worship (Gange Pooje). Kids leave for next house after munching the fresh coconut sugar mix. The lady of the house sprinkles the water freshly drawn from the well on everyone around.

Most interesting thing happens during the same night of the 28th day of Aswija month: The Steeling Night! It is called Boore Kalu Haayuvudu in Kannada language (Steeling for Boore Festival). People are free to steel from other's produces on that night. Normally the things that were traditionally required for the next day's festival are stolen! Mostly youngsters steel Coconuts, Beatle nuts, and some other agricultural produces. This probably stems from 'Charvakas' the atheist group of Hindus. They believe in life, not in GOD ("Borrow and eat but live happily").

29th day (14th day of Krishna Paksha) is Naraka Chaturdashi also called Boore Habba in Kannada. According to Indian mythology this day 'Naraka' a daemon was killed and hence is a day of victory. Almost everyone goes for an oil massage bath called Boore Meeyuvudu. Then wears a block bindi prepared by women of the house called Boore Kappu.
The last day of the festival is Bali Padyami, the day of Cow and Bali worship. Cow enjoys the day with nice starters (Turolge), main course (Rice) and desserts (Banana!). This is believed to be the day of King Bali, an honest and beloved king of the people as mentioned in the Bhagavata one of the ancient Indian chronicles. The 5th incarnation/Avatar of the GOD is named Vaamana. Vaamana steps on Bali and sends him to the world beneath the earth called Patala. But grants him a boon that he will be honoured with a day dedicated to him where it is believed he returns to earth. King Bali is thus remembered every year.

Evening that day is the time to party, a torch party. Folk songs galore. People sing songs while they march to the temple with torch in their hands. They shout, "Light Light Light So Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet". Climax comes when they set fire in front of the temple and start singing folk songs in rural dialect: "Mettilu mettilu chanda eemane mettilu chanda...."

Cotton immersed in vegetable oil glows with a blissfull light in earthen crucibles, rows of them as you see in the picture above. That is Deepavali Festival of Lights. The message festival carries is simple, "Asatoma Sadgamaya". From falsehood to truth, darkness to light, mortality to immortality.

To culminate, I should pray not in my own words but in the words of Tagore, "To that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake"

Waiting To Fall

I will, believe me! It is snowing you know, so early in the autumn. I am waiting I said, I am waiting to fall. Nobody hates snow. (I do!) But this ice that makes us float on the land is hmmm..... frustrating.
That is why I am going to fall. It is slippar everywhere. This should be last blog before y bones are broken.

¬rAGU

God of Nasty Things

Woh! 'God of Small Things' is an old title, other alternatives we may think of for titling God related articles are, 'God of Small Thugs', 'Beware of God', 'Gods are not allowed' etc etc.. I however choose a little indecent looking one 'God of Nasty things'.

May peace be upon you. God save gods. Now I am going to talk about them all. Before all that can happen we have to some analysis on the existence of god. Here we go! Science until now has not been successful in proving or disproving GOD. That makes agonistic beliefs more scientific than theistic or atheistic beliefs. However neither atheistic nor theistic belief can be branded unscientific.

Gödel’s incompleteness theorem: "...The implication is that all logical system of any complexity are, by definition, incomplete; each of them contains, at any given time, more true statements than it can possibly prove according to its own defining set of rules. ". It goes on..... "Perhaps doomed also, as a result, is the ideal of science - to devise a set of axioms from which all phenomena of the external world can be deduced.". "Gödel showed that provability is a weaker notion than truth, no matter what axiom system is involved ... " (I am not talking for Vatican! Believe me. I am not impressed.) (Source: http://www.miskatonic.org/godel.html)

So.... we do not know...... but there is GOD!, at least in heads of majority of human beings on earth. That unfortunately is not good news as we would have expected. My supervisor told me about the concept of "Meme". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme). How correct can the arguments that our ideas are right, be true?

In an attempt to claim superiority of our own ideas and imposing them on others, all religions have undermined divinity. "Difference in faith is a by difference in thought" said a thinker (Beremati bere mata Mankutimma -DVG). The business of divinity can not be proprietary of some group. Some have argued that faith is an indication of weak mind.

I have attributed atheism to refusal to accept the weakness of our minds. Psychological studies have shown that child needs a great amount of affection and care to feel safe. I shall argue that habitual trait is dormant in our minds and surfaces unconsciously (sometimes consciously). It is then that we see a support in at least the hypothetical entity, if not in a physical (parents) one.

My parents taught me to pray. I find it difficult today to pray standing in front of an entity whose existence is questionable. I have been an atheist for a while and now I have made a decision. Isn't there some ego involved in not believing GOD? Existence or non-existence of GOD is irrelevant. One can deny GOD but not the bliss in devotion.

I believe in GOD fully knowing that such an entity may not exist. I believe in GOD because it is useful to me.

Stolen Thoughts

Not that I have not stolen. I was caught stealing a bunch of beatle nuts from my neighbour's attic, when I was a kid (must be 5 or 6). No, I did not steal anything this time around.

What happened to my name?

I am Mr. Raghavendra! Note that dot after Mr. My full name, as it used to be in my mark sheet however is, Raghavendra dot K dot S.

Well you must ask me a question. What is my name?My name is Maximus Desimus Marideous! Commader of the depleted fleets of Hans, loyal servant to the true emperor whatever, not yet married and no known children!

Getting little serious, to be honest I do not know my name. Really believe me. My first name used to be that you see on top.Anyway, I was supposed to be named Sandesh (Literally 'message' may be an sms:)). Then I was named Raghavendra. (Supposed to mean charming one after a complex mythological survey). But all turned in to hell when my passport was to be ready.I had to choose First name Middle Name (which I did not have) and surname (Again I had none). After a careful thought I selected my middle name to be 'Seetharamaiah' which actually is one of my father’s name (Note the apostrophe and my father having N names is a different issue altogether (That is his name anyway!)). I made my last name 'Kattinakere' which actually is my village. That was a nice choice indeed. I just avoided being called by father's (I hate apostrophe but I do not want to mean something else you see) name if I was to make it my last name. So I became Raghavendra Seetharamaiah Kattinakere. Probably one of the longest names in the subcontinent.

Then I was called Raghu as well. I leave its pronouncement for heavens. I decided to be what they call me rather than insisting them to call my version of my nick name. Then I changed it to simplify. Avoid that South Indian 'H' pronounced 'hech' instead of 'yech'. I became Ragu. Then when I changed my employer my boss was also a Ragu. I had to find a way to distinguish. I made a e-trick. I became ~rAGU (Linux users would call it @home rAGU). Tilde Ragu was my nick for a while. I still use that to distinguish between the mushrooming Ragu`s in India.

I then left India. Nobody was ever able to call my first name after that. I always showed my passport when somebody asked my last name. Because nobody knew what my first name actually was, all mails addressed me as Ragu Kattinakere. Short form of my legal name then is Raghavendra S Kattinakere.

My last name I said is name of my village. Yes, I am called by my villages name in the west. It's like calling you Mr Bangalore or Mr Amsterdam after you city. I am formally Mt Kattinakere!

My colleague asked me "what name to put in the labs` website". Your full name please?My full name as in passport would consume whole row, as it does in Department’s grad students list. I asked him to write 'Ragu'. I told him, "It does not matter. None of them are my names anyway ".

~rAGU :))

Why big governaments are bad.

I was reading a poem that nicely put forward the thought: "too much is too bad", in an interesting way. (Forgive my puctuation. I am still learning!) . ...

An Algorithm for Segmenting Elements in an Image

-Write-up defending a hypothetical algorithm

Segmenting patterns and objects in an image is a challenging problem. Several segmentation algorithms are in use, offering distinct advantages of their own. We propose an algorithm that segments elements in an image taking a totally different approach.

The algorithm that we have developed needs more computation and memory compared to the existing algorithms. Segmentation efficiency however is no better. Yet the algorithm has its place in the research as it opens a new paradigm in approaching the segmentation problem. Instead of seeing segmentation from image processing stand point, we choose to look at it in human interaction stand point. The result is that the segmentation reduces to, focused element identification problem. Humans focus on certain portion of the image where the element is concentrated and try to recognise it. Segmented element then need not precisely be an object corresponding to real word but can be the portion of the image that contains it.

The algorithm that implements this change in approach opens a new avenue for research. We hope that, the shift in approach that the algorithm introduces will result in more practical and efficient solutions to the problem.

~rAGU

Sriram, My Nephew. 5 Months old.

The help and the Hell

Before you start wondering let me tell you there is a huge relation between these two. Some people who have helping instincts directly go to hell! Hold on! When the help is extended volunterly, I mean when you help somebody before they asking for it, help will not be considered a help. I tried to help a guy the otherday. When he got into trouble he told me "why did you drag me into the scene?".

I have had several experiences where I found myself in an emberasing shape trying to help somebody. Trouble with such a help is that it is not considered a help. So I have a thumb rule which I never follow. Do not give anything before it is asked for.

Help is a help only when it is asked for! Otherwise, no mater how guenine, the world takes it for the itch in the ass.

~r

The Beauty is Back

One of the higest waterfalls in the world and the highest in Asia, Jog Falls in India is back to its beauty of olden days with the Heavy rain in the region.

~r

To School Again

I recall that dusk, full of memories. We went to our high school one evening, some 6-7 years after we finished our schooling. I and Subba were visiting a place where we made deafening noise, when it was getting ready to sleep! Silence was unwilling to part ways with the shadow of the universe: night. We broke it here and there with our humming and memories.

As we entered through the gate, watchman asked unassumingly, “What do you want?” “Nothing we suppose!” was our answer. The watchman we knew had probably retired. The plants we planted were now trees. We sat bellow one of them, next to the rusted fence wires, where some of us used to piss during leisure! We talked about how our teachers used characteristic phrases like, “Whatever it may be”.

It was in that place I had missed all three attempts of disc throws! I had managed to make fouls in all the attempts religiously, in a selection throw event. It was here that I had broken my little finger trying to catch a shot-put ball. “Piles problem madam” was an answer I had given when I was asked to say why I was sitting like a monkey. It was here that this had happened and that had happened.

We would have taken as much time we spent in the school to talk about our memories! But. Personal perspective of the future has an end. So should the memories be. Subba pressed starter button of his newly bought motor horse. Stars giggled. Darkness sent us home.

~r

Stupid Fanatic? (:

/~O0o. rAGU .o0O~\

Sense of place in a tune

I just realised that this music arouses a strong sense of place. I was humming tune that I used to listen an year ago. Suddenly the details of the place and events around when I first listened to that song flashed infront of my eyes.

Whenever I listen to James Blunt`s ''You are beautiful' I remember winterdays in Brugge. One of friends liked the song very much, and played it many times. It was in december, snow fall was very light. It even rained outside. I was sipping a juice that I brought from a Pakistani shop.

The other one I remember is the classical song, "Saloni sss, Laagi lagan mori shyam". This reminds me of Eindhoven public library. There are many that remid me of places whenever they are played. "O sathi re sab kuch buladiya" reminds me of our trip to Praksh`s brothers marriage. Also the song "Yeh shehar hai aman ka..".

The oldest tune that I can recall is the folk song that my mother sung for me. I listened carefully leaning to a pillor in the front yard of my home. "Govina haadu" (The song of a cow). The tiger that was supposed to eat the cow dies in shame, seeing the honesty of the cow. I wept in the end each time my mother sung the song for me. I have not been able to figure out, even to this day, whether it was for cow or for tiger, I was crying. But I remember the song, the scene where my mother sung it for me.

~rAGU

My English Teacher

A tribute to Mr.Sridhar Hanagibailu, my beloved English teacher.
-------------------------------------------------------------------


Yours Obedient
Raghavendra Kattinakere

Average Muslim wants room to survive

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/04inter.htm

In Reaction to Dr Arjun Appadurai, anthropologist`s interview to Rediff:

It is not true that an average Muslim wants room to survive. There is less discrimination on an average Muslim. There has always been opposition to radical Muslim ideas and that has consistently been mistaken to be anti-minority stance. (Similillar views from minority is mistaken to be anti-majority stance!)

What worries is the inability of Muslim society to control intolerance, distinguish between reformist aspirations and oppression and avoiding indirect support to radicals. There is a minority in minorities that indirectly represent hidden passions of the majority in minority. It is with this group that the majority is scared. It is not a hidden fact that they would not survive if their own people are determined to eradicate them.

The author’s claims are far from reality. When Imam of Delhi Mosque the religious head of Muslims can proclaim that "Insha Allah we will rule India again", there is reason for Hindus in India to be worried about. Political or otherwise, concern is a concern. When it comes to rights, I do not think Indians want to be ruled by religions, most of which are inherently undemocratic. The reverse-bias in deploring unacceptable aspects of minorities still continues. It is the time when we should call a spade, spade and try to resolve problems reasonably. One can not arrive at a solution without understanding the reality and showing a remarkable willingness to accept it.

~rAGU

Away from the small world

I sometimes get a feeling that I am a member of the family but not counted as such. I am not complaining. But it is the way of the world. World tends to forget people who are away for long. Relations become more formal.

It’s like meeting a primary school friend. We would have played with him, nude :). But a distance would develop over time. We say "hi", badly lacking that surprise or curiosity to know, what happened to each other after we last met.

I no longer come in the list of people who are informed about important events. I am no longer a man to be bestowed some responsibility with.

I have grown up in a surrounding where everybody thought I am incompetent but good in studies guy. Every time I managed things it was a surprise, even finding an address in Bangalore. People went out looking for me, when I safely reached the address, thinking I was lost!

Feeling proud is to some extent, selfish. It’s more important to evaluate how attentive, useful and helpful we have been, to persons we feel proud about. Mercy should not accompany affection. Otherwise it will be difficult to identify if it was mercy or affection that prompted actions that look like caring. I am referring to all people who feel proud that their kid has been successful. Lots of people have gone away. Some just ignored other feelings. Some, like me are little more conscious.

Very less communication with the loved ones rather increases the chance of miscommunication, for a lot has to be interpreted form just what we convey in a moment, in trying to understand our feelings and standings. You guessed it right; I want the world to defer judgment. We are never what we seem to be. Neither are we what others want us to be.

You may dismiss it as an emotional outburst. But, it’s an experience and hence deserves no label. It does not feel good, you see. Away and when so for very long, we feel less part of things we are away from. So do things.

I am less part of everything I used to be a part, in that small world: my place, my people, and my world.

~rAGU

ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡ೦ ಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ!

ಹೌದು. ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡ೦ ಯೆಲ್ಲಿಗೆ? ಸ್ವಾಮೀ, ಅಷ್ಟೂಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ವಾ, ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡ೦ ಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ! ಅದ್ಯಾಕೆ ಇಷ್ಟುಸಿಟ್ಟು ಯೆನ್ನುತ್ತೀರೇನು? ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವು ಜಾತಿಗಳಿವೆ ನೋಡಿ. ಶುದ್ಧ ಕನ್ನಡ, ಬಿದ್ದ ಕನ್ನಡ, ಕುಲಗೆಟ್ಟ ಕನ್ನಡ, ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ.. ಶುದ್ದಕನ್ನಡ ತವರುಮನೆಯಿ೦ದ ಮರಳಿಬ೦ದೇ ಇಲ್ಲವ೦ತೆ. ಈ ಬಿದ್ದಕನ್ನಡ ಯೆದ್ದು ತನ್ನಗೆಳೆಯರೊ೦ದಿಗೆ ಓಡಾಡಿಕೊ೦ಡಿದೆ, ಪೆಡ್ಡೇಹುಡುಗರ೦ತೆ!

ಬೆ೦ಗಳೂರಿನ ಹಲವೆಡೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಸ್ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣಗಳ ಹಣೇಬರಹವನ್ನೇ ನೋಡಿ. ಅಲಸೂರಿನ ಹೊಯ್ಸಸಳ(! ಹೊಯ್ಸಳರ ಶಾ೦ತಲ ಸಿಟ್ಟುಬ೦ದು ಕುಣಿದು ಬಿಟ್ಟಾಳು) ಬಸ್ ತ೦ಗುದಾಣ, ಮಡಿವಾಳದ ವಟರ್ ಟ್ಯಾ೦ಕ್(ವಾಟರ್ ಅಥವಾ ನೀರಿನ ತೊಟ್ಟಿ ಯೆನ್ನಲಾಗದೇ?). ಹುಡುಕುತ್ತಾ ಹೋದರೆ ಕನಿಷ್ಟ ಕೆಲ ದಿನಗಳೇ ಬೇಕು. ಇನ್ನು ಹೆಸರುಗಳ ಗೋಳು. ಅಲಸೂರೋ ಅಥವಾ ಹಲಸರೋ? ಅಲ್ಲೇಹುಟ್ಟಿ ನೆಗೆದು ಬಿದ್ದವರಿಗೂ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ ಪಾಪ. ಹೊಲಸೂರು ಯೆ೦ದಿದ್ದರೆ ಒಳ್ಳೇ ಅನ್ವರ್ಥವಾದರೂ ಆಗುತಿತ್ತು! ಹಾಗಾಗಿ, ಈಗೀಗ ಬೆ೦ಗಳೂರಿಗೆ ಬ೦ದವರು ಇ೦ಗ್ಲಿಪಿಶ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆದ೦ತೆ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ:ಉಲ್ಸೂರ್! ಕೋರಮ೦ಗಲಕ್ಕೆ ಮ೦ಗಳಾರತಿಮಾಡಿ ಕೋರಮ೦ಗಳ ಆಗಿದೆ.

ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಸಾಲದೇನೋಯೆ೦ಬ೦ತೆ, ಮೇಲಿ೦ದ ಇ೦ಗ್ಲಿಷ್ ಸಿ೦ಚನ. ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಕಣ್ವರ ವೃತ್ತ ಯೆಲ್ಲಿದೆಗೊತ್ತೇ? ಬಿ ಯೆ೦ ಯೆಸ್ ಸರ್ಕಲ್: ಚಿನ್ಮಯ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ರಸ್ತೆ ನೂರಡಿ ರಸ್ತೆ ಕೂಡುವಲ್ಲಿ. ಸಿ ಯೆ೦ ಯೆಚ್ ಯೆ೦ದರೆ ಸುಲಭವಾಗಿ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಹಳ್ಳೀಹುಡುಗ ಹುಡುಗಿಯರಿಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಗೊತ್ತು, ಪಟ್ಟಣದಲ್ಲಿರುವವರದ್ದೇ ಸಮಸ್ಯೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ಶ್ರೀಕ೦ಠಯ್ಯನವರ ವೃತ್ತ, ಯೆಲ್ಲಾದರೂ ಹೇಳಿಬಿಟ್ಟೀರಾ, ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗಲಿಕ್ಕಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೆ೦ಗಲ್ ಹನುಮ೦ತಯ್ಯ ರಸ್ತೆ ಕೆ. ಯೆಚ್ ರೋಡ್, ಪ್ರಥಮ ಸೇನಾನಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಪ್ಪಾ ರಸ್ತೆ, ರೆಸಿಡೆನ್ಸಿ ರೋಡ್. ಸ೦ತೋಷದ ಸ೦ಗತಿಯೆ೦ದರೆ ರಾಜ್ಕುಮಾರ್ ರಸ್ತೆ ಇನ್ನು ಅರ್ ಕೆ ರೋಡ್ ಆಗಿಲ್ಲ.

ಬೆ೦ಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಿಮಗೆ ಈರುಳ್ಳಿದೊಸೆ ಸಿಗುವುದೇಇಲ್ಲ. ಯೆನಿದ್ದರೂ ಉತ್ತಪ್ಪ೦. ಹುಗ್ಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲ ಪೊ೦ಗಲ್, ಗುಳ್ಳೇಯೆರಿಯಪ್ಪಾ ಅಥವಾ ಪಡ್ದು ಇಲ್ಲ ಅದೇನೋ ಅಪ್ಪ ಅಮ್ಮ ಅಮ್ಮಮ್ಮ. ಬಟ್ಟೆ ನ್ಯಾಲೆ ಮೇಲಿದೆ ಯೆ೦ದರೆ, ಇವಯಾವನಲೇ ಯೆನ್ನುವ ಕಾಲ. ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಸರು ಹೇಳಿ ಕಿರಾಣಿವಸ್ತು ಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಕಾಲ ಹೊಯಿತು ನೋಡಿ. ಬೇಗ ಇ೦ಗ್ಲಿಪಿಶ್ ಕಲಿತುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ. ಕನಿಷ್ಟ ತಮಿಳಾದರೂ ಕಲಿತುಕೊಳ್ಳಿ!

ಅಮರಕೋಶ ಓದಿ ನಾಲಗೆ ಸ್ವಛ್ಚಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಾಲಹೋಯಿತು. "ಆಡು ಯೇಳಿ", "ಹೂಟ ಮಾಡಿ", "ಹೊ೦ದು ವಿಚಾರ" ಅಪಭ್ರ೦ಶದ ಕೇಕೆಯಲ್ಲವೇ ಸ್ವಾಮೀ ಇದು? 'ಸ' 'ಶ', ಮತ್ತು 'ಷ' ಗಳವ್ಯತ್ಯಾಸವ೦ತಿರಲಿ, ಸಾಮಾನ್ಯ ಸುಲಭ ಧ್ವನಿಗಳೇ ಸ್ಪಷ್ಟವಾಗಿ ಉಚ್ಛರಿಸಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಬೆ೦ಗಳೂರು ಪುರಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲೊ೦ದುದಿನ, ಯುವರಾಜಕೀಯನಾಯಕರೊಬ್ಬರ ಅಬ್ಬರ ಕೇಳಿ ಸಾಯುವಷ್ಟು ನಗುಬ೦ದಿತ್ತು. ಕಾಳಿದಾಸನ ನಾಲಗೆಯಮೇಲೆ ಅಕ್ಷರ ಭೀಜಬಿತ್ತಿದ ಆ ಭುವನೇಶ್ವರೀದೇವಿ ನಮ್ಮ೦ತ ಪಾಮರರ ನಾಲಗೆಯನ್ನಾದರು ಕೆರೆಯಬಾರದಿತ್ತೇ?

ಅದಕ್ಕೆ೦ದೇ ಹೆಳಿದ್ದು. ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡ೦ ಯೆಲ್ಲಿಗೆ? ಸಿರಿಗನ್ನಡ೦ ಗಲ್ಲಿಗೆ!
ರಾಗು ಕಟ್ಟಿನಕೆರೆ

Murphy Laws

Not that I have stopped being creative. (Was I ever......creee...) But better things deserve respect, you see!
So I have copied some from Wikipedia here :)


A slice of buttered bread, when dropped, will always land butter-side down. Also known by kids as "Jellybread always falls jellyside down". Based on the fact that such bread usually has just enough added torque to spin halfway before hitting the floor (if knocked from an eight-foot ladder, for example, it will tend to land buttered side up).

If you put two cords together, or even if it's a single cord, you can be certain you'll end up with a tangle that'll trouble your mind intensely. Perfect example is earphones and the way they'll always tangle beyond belief even if you put them down in a tidy order.

When you need an item that is in a heap, it will always be the one at the bottom.

Buses take ages to arrive, but when they do they always arrive in sets of three (in Britain "you wait ages for a bus, then two come along at once!"). There actually is a logical explanation for this: the first bus is slowed down because of the time needed to let passengers get on and off. The subsequent buses are (typically) not allowed to pass the first bus, so you tend to end up with a full bus followed by a line of empty ones.

The day you forget your umbrella, it pours with rain.

When graphing, the graph paper is always one square too small for the perfect scale

When caught in a traffic jam, the lane that you are in will always be the slowest to move. (This joke was played out in the opening sequence of the film Office Space, where one of the main characters changed lanes multiple times, all in vain as the traffic around him moved.) This also has a logical explanation. In general, the lane with the fewest cars in it is most likely to move the fastest. Therefore, since you're statistically more likely to be one of the members of the lane with the most cars, your lane will more often than not be the slow one.

Nothing is as easy as it looks.

Everything takes longer than you think. Or, everything takes twice as long as it should; excepting that which appears easy, taking three times as long.

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

If something simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.

Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

Every solution breeds new problems.

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

A Smith & Wesson beats four aces.

Junk will grow to fill the available cupboard space.

Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity (usually in reference to fileservers; see also Parkinson's law).

All small objects of value will disappear when set down.

Magellan's Allegory: If you stop and ask someone for directions, and they tell you "You can't miss it"... then be assured that you will.

If you make it idiot-proof, someone will make a better idiot.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that of an oncoming train.

When you put your pants on without looking — they will always be on backwards.

A series of events will go wrong in the most negative sequence.

Airline Travel Variation: The time you have to catch a flight is inversely proportional to the distance to the gate.
50/50/90-If there is a 50/50 chance to get it right, there is a 90% chance that you will get it wrong.

Nothing ever gets built to budget or to deadline (also known as Cheop's Law).

Good/Fast/Cheap - If you need something good fast, it won't be cheap. If you need something cheap fast, it won't be good. If you need something good cheap, it won't be fast.

The day you wash your car is the day it will rain

1. If something can go wrong, it will. 2. If nothing can go wrong it will. 3. When things can't get any worse, they do. John Emsley

Do not worry. It will get worse. If it does not, is because you are not worrying anymore (Songo's conclusion).

Tolerances add up unidirectionally to cause the maximum difficulty in assembly (Klipstein's Law).

Road Taken

Societies just move ahead without a direction. They do not seem to know where they are headed. Even if they did, I am sure, what societies do may not take them to where they want to be. Although actions of societies are catalysts, its hard to predict the direction! All I want to convey is, it is less worth !(though not worthless) to try to do right things beliving they would contribute to a better society.

While we contribute to a chaos we can hope that order will emerge. Hope does not cost anything :)
Now that you have a reson to err , do not go ransacking the world. I am still living in it :)
~r

Light A Candle For Mumbaikers

Mumbai came to a shocking standstill on July 11 when serial blasts ripped through its local trains, killing and wounding hundreds. But the city of dreams stood fearless and fighting fit. Salute Mumbai's never-say-die spirit and Light a Candle for those who succumbed to the blasts or got injured. For every candle you light, CNN-IBN and Channel 7 will donate Re 1 for the relief of the victims.
Anyone interested can visit the site and can light one candle
http://clients.ibnlive.com/features/mumatt/index.php

Way to insult those who act smart

Imagine you genuinly respected somebody. He in turn thinks that you are apeeasing him and you are mean. What would you tell a man, the day when he openly express such thinking which has been clear, without him telling you about it?

I will tell him,
"I shall ask the most sickest dog on this earth, if it will obey my orders, not even to piss on the heap where your dead body would be burried. Forget about me asking a favour from ya. Ya have raped the respect I had on ya.

"wow! Bad things are easy to find :) Think about a good thing for the day.

~r

The Trafalgar Pub

Battle of Trafalgar was one of the significant events in history although it was not large, in scale. Result of the battle greatly influenced the course of the political situation in soth asia where both Frech and British had colonies. French had a Napoleon on land but none on sea! Eventually British overpowered French. South Asia came in to the hands of the British.

I am no general! But a Dutch coleague`s favorite place to hang out was a pub close to the central(Station): Trafalgar Pub. He had what people have in pubs and I had my favorite drink ((:). Along with some Pindas, (ground nuts) ofcourse. There we talked about how people trespass and extend their fences in to neighbour`s property and how bad the people in Europian Universities were since they were not admitting me!

He had asked me once, "what do you think about British?". I had given a strange answer: "I think they were (!) great administrators!". Great!! he had raised his brows!
"Yes otherwise they could not have ruled much of the world".
Where was I appriciating it by the way! They were the most hated people at least in South Asia. People do not have time to hate them now, that is a different matter.

I had even expressed my desire to see them(British) in their own place. He had promised me that I will not like it :)

Battles are on empires have gone. We were to finish our battle in the trafalgar pub and head back home. Then I would not have known Dutch were the most progressive peoples. He walked me to a restaurant run by lesbians. He had planned to offer a dinner. Thus ended the the Battle of Trafalgar.

Email Ettiquettes

We are in a world where emails are as common as saying hi to another fellow human being. It has become increasingly important to design a policy in handling email communication. There are some well accepted email manners. I have tried to point some of the things that I find annoying in email communication. Hence this just a list of things which I think, form what many call, email etiquettes.

* Reply all emails! Not replying is as bad as not saying hi even after somebody has greeted you.

* Always use the same email chain as long as you do not talk about something totally different.
For eg. all communication related to, say a subject line 'Alumni meet' should use the latest email in the thread to reply.

* Include previous message while replying.

* Note all the questions in an email and try to answer them all.

* Always send a 'Thanks' email when ever somebody is doing a favour. More importantly, mean it.

* Keep the subject line polite. For eg 'Move!', 'Does not mater' are rude.

* People in CC should either be up in the hierarchy or a friend. Subordinates should be CCed, only when it is a specific requirement.

* Never forward a BCC email to people in CC.

* Delete any personal remarks or history when forwarding an email, especially so if the history contains personal information and comments of another person.

* Do not be informal with formal emails.

* Do not assume emotions! Have them clarified.

*Always include greetings in an email. This sounds formal but remember one email without proper greeting can make that your last email to that person!

*Promptly reply if there is delay acknowledge it.

*Do not use email for something that needs to be orally communicated!

~rAGU

A Sister

My father was dissapointed when I was born. He had expected me to be a baby girl! It was in 1970s, my father knew I would be the last child for he knew he would not be able bring up more than two kids comfortably. My father could not have a daughter. He always mentions it: wish I had a daughter!

Neither me nor my elder brother has a sister. We in the family have been very happy but a sister would have added a lot of leg pulling! I shall always regret for not having a sis. I realise that there is lot of pleasure in fullfilling wishes of a sister. I have yarned to see that blissfull smile on my own sisters face.

But may be in next life. You are blessed if you have a sister.

~rAGU

Drawing Custom Cursor in Java Swing

Use ArtCursors software Trail version to draw an image and put that in say multimedia\test.gif in your Eclipse project folder.
Use the code:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Toolkit CursorTk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
CursorImage = CursorTk.getImage(".\\multimedia\\test.gif");
int Width = CursorImage.getWidth(null);
if (Width >= 0)
{
System.out.println("Image Loaded");
} else {
System.out.println("Image Loading Failed");
}

Cursor TunnelCursor = CursorTk.createCustomCursor(CursorImage,new Point(0,0),"cursor");

Object.setCursor(TunnelCursor);
------------------------------------------------
Object is a your Farme/Panel object.

I will post a complete code that does all these in a while....

~rAGU

Aisle Seat?

"Aisle (Ill) seat or the window sir?”, asked the man at the counter. I stood like a student in front of an English teacher. I gathered my senses. Asked him, "What does it mean?"! He invested all is patience in telling me that in an airplane there is seat next to window and the other one next to passenger way.

Which one sir?
Does not matter!

I got the boarding pass. It was not my first flight. Neither was it the second one! But the executives' look at me was elegant. It was as if a dog was trying to fly to London.

Language unfortunately is taken as a measure of status in some parts of the world. Our own languages continue to be lower class languages.

The other day I over heard a kid say, "We speak English at home, maid who cleans our house speaks Telugu". Thankfully Allasani Peddana is not with us. Long live revolution. Inglish(!) still rules India.~r

Grand Father

Everyone contributes to the scoeity just by living.

The Priest and The God

Priests have no business in when there is no GOD. Brahmin, Yajnopavita, Racism

My Height

I am 0.00000175 Kms heigh! If you wonder why this has to be in Kms: to make it funny. Measures have changed, especially in India. I shall write about all units that I have come across. This would be a good reading for those who want to know, how things were measured in India.

I am 5' 9'' high. Guys in US and UK would agree, others may not I am 175 cm high for them. That is units play an important role in percieving the magnitude. I do not how Harappans measured things but let us start with a time that is worth considering.

In ancient India distance was measured in Yojanas. You may find details elsewhere but the people in Karnataka measured distance in "Rahadaari" till recently. Length of things were meaured in 'Genu' the distance between tip of thumb to tip of small finger in our hands. 'Mola'distance between elbow to tip of the middle finger in our hands. 'Maaru' stretch of two hands.'Hejje' span of legs on a normal walk.

Measure of distance between places have changed but the distance has not!

Holly Cow

Why is cow holly for Hindus?

Conventions

Every civilisation has conventions to make desicion making easy and to make consequences of decisions pleasant.

To be continued

Happiness and Compromise

(Skip to Para 4 for actual content if you are not used to O Henry’s short stories!)

My Blog writings, which are little more sacred than The Vedas themselves, as no one reads them, are getting more philosophical day after day, night after night, for those who prefer to live in nights. They use a word 'night life', which, an evangelist from their clan told me, is a close cousin of 'life after death'. Friends, this is not the topic of our discussion. Did I say discussion? I would expect those who have been forced to this 'discussion', will forgive me as, It’s my habit to take readers for granted. I sometimes test reader’s concentration by intentionally deviating from the topic. But readers have assured me that I did them no harm, by not reading it!

So it was about getting philosophical. Churning abstract concepts is what philosophy is. I would take an excuse of my ignorance, in the history and fundamentals of philosophy, to not to elaborate any further in showing my complete ignorance! You would soon get to know that this write up indeed discusses some things like happiness and compromises, as if Bertrand Russell and other British saints only lived a worthless life, failing to explain properly, what they wanted to explain. That is no sin, I shall declare, as even they did their bit towards showing their ignorance in what Indian philosophers had done in the same field when days and years were considered not worth counting!

Now that I am qualified as any other writer should be. We can talk about happiness. I am not so happy about it, you see. If I were, why would I sit down to write this? Fun aside; we have some serious business today. (As if we had nothing until today!)

Happiness is, many a times a byproduct of compromise. Assume that, you do not want to compromise. You would be left with little or no happiness. Compromise, put in another way is
the cost of happiness. This is outrageously costly, isn’t it? How do we define happiness then? I do not do what many people have tried unsuccessfully. I would rather try something new and let others try after I fail! Is compromise a bad guy altogether? Definitely, not. It is a good thing if used in its own place and time. Significant question is compromising on what? This can make a major difference. Petty things in life can always be compromised, as they should be. Lo, we will be happy. Foundations of our personality should never be compromised (I do not use the highly abused words principle and integrity). As many of us do not know, what the foundation of our personality is, we will end up compromising on those things as well. That would lead to unhappiness, contrary to our expectation. Happiness is, many a times the byproduct of compromise. Sometimes it is not!

~r

How much actually is mine, in what I think is mine?

My village, my country, my what not? Are they really mine? Even if they are, how much? We would like to be associated with all that is good. Good things do not need association. Association needs good things. (This opinion will be rfined, little later)

I remember, I grew up thinking, only the parts that are prosperous are actually my part of my native place. I explained all my friends how green the road side trees were to the right of my village. How thick the forest was. Even, how close the greatest things were. I never associated dry and less privileged villages and places with myself or my place. My palce always meant only good part of what is supposed to be my palce!

If I would like to be objective, I must agree that I belong to place where there is both misery and prosperity. I always believed it to prosperous. It is not. I know it, but I never admitted.

How much actually is mine, in all I think is mine? A little less in good things and a little more in not so good things. We could contribute if we associate ourselves with 'not so good' things. To put it in a more interesting way; Things that are already good, need less association than others associations that are 'not so good'.

~r

Beyond Policies

Everybody in an organisation adheres to to its policies. My question is, is nobody supposed to be above it? Life has to be managed by lively components. Not by lifeless abstractions, which we call policies, principles, rule and law.

Just for Profile

Kick in the Ass you know :)

You might wonder what has caught this boy. Definitly not the north American culture! But I felt good at this: an anecdote.

I got into a small plane in Vancuver to fly to Saskatoon. I was supposed to join Msc the next day. A man in his forties had arrived already at the seat. We exchanged remaks as any other American to any other stranger would. But we continued as well with the weather, as it should. He told me a lot about his town and that now he lives away. Canadians are out going. He told me he was a technical engineer in the Canadian Railways.

My father is sick. He is very old you know, he told me, "I may not see him again". He explained where the mountains were high and where the lands were flat. Where are you from? You speak a little british acsent, from Newziland? was question a little later. I thought his acsent knowladge should be quite poorer but what he told me made me aware that I had picked up a little "How a ye", Im fane, british stuff from few of my colegues. I said I was from India. Woh ya these British did there bit there as well was his reply!

"Best of luck" he said, in a typical acsent. I did my bit.
"Have a nice time with your father"

Yeah he said, "Kick in the Ass you know!".
I wish he will see his father again. I found a good son in him. He should get to see his father again for long time to come. Sentiments aside. It feels good.
In a very colloquial way, Kick in the Ass you know!

~r

Subtle Facts and Decisions

Most of the decisions, collective or otherwise, are taken based on certain perspectives, to atain an expected result.

To be continued.
~rAGU

ಸಾ೦ಬಾರು

ಹಳೇ ಅಡುಗೆಭಟ್ಟ ತೆರೆದ ಹೊಸ ಬಾರು
ಇಟ್ಟ ಹೆಸರು ಸಾ೦ಬಾರು.

ರಾಗು ಕಟ್ಟಿನಕೆರೆ.

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರೋಗ್ರಾಮು ಬರೆಯಿರಿ.

ವಿಶ್ವಕನ್ನಡದ ಕರ್ತ್ರ ಪವನಜರವರು ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಕನ್ನಡಕೊ೦ದು ಕೋಡು ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕನ್ನಡ ಲೋಗೋ ಪ್ರೋಗ್ರಮಿ೦ಗ್ ಬಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರೋಗ್ರಮ್ ಬರೆಯಬಹುದು.ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಕನ್ನಡದಯೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅಭಿಯ೦ತರುಗಳು ಇದನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸಿ ಪೀಡ್ಬ್ಯಾಕ್ ಕೊಡಬೇಕೆ೦ದು ವಿನ೦ತಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ.
ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಕೊ೦ಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನವಿವರಗಳಿವೆ.

http://www.vishvakannada.com/KannadaLogo

ನಾನು ಈಗಾಗಲೇ ಅದನ್ನು ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಮಾದುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ.
ನಿಮ್ಮವ.
ರಾಗು ಕಟ್ಟಿನಕೆರೆ.

DNA?

It may sound little crazy. I got a plot that looks like one of the projections of the DNA helix. I did not give much though about it. I superimposed sin(x) and its first order difference, diff(sin(x)) and I have a shape that looks pretty close to the projection of the DNA helical model (or just an overkill!). I am not sure though, there could be some connection. I call upon the mathematicians out there to take this up. The Empire is calling you for its service :) Do somethin :)). Common its not really that! But there is something in there...
You will now this is far from being anywhere near a helix! Still It looks interesting :)

~rAGU

Mera Joota hai Japani

Globalisation sometimes takes an interesting position in our lives. I was biking back from a grocery shop and suddenly realised that there was an interesting point about things I wore! I started to think about each thing I had or wore and the place they were bought. That gives the topic for this blog write up.

I bought the shirt I wore from a shop in Piccadilly street(I think), London for exactly a pound(GBP). That was the cheapest I could find! The trouser was bought in Leuven, Belgium, where I had to live for few months. I had bought my shoe in Brussels North (Brussels Noord!), Belgium. The socks was from the Saturday market in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The USB stick I carry is the one I bought in Berlin, Germany in a sale, for 19.99 EUros.(512 MB !)


That was it. I was on bicycle riding from Wal-Mart back to my nest in Canada. You might be feeling sick about all these. This guy after all an Indian, Does he not have a thing, a thing at least, that can be called Indian. I do not know if I can say my heart is Indian. (Mera dil hai Hindustani :)). I have a Hindustan Machine Tools(hmt) watch, which my Appa bought me when I had to enter the college. But it has run out of battery.

Disappointing you may. I wore something very important that is Indian: the underwear I bought in Bengaluru.

~rAGU

Hapless Language Abilities

I have been meeting a lot of people. Most of them happen to be what media calls, urbanely or even cosmopolitan. What are conspicuous are their language abilities. I have seen them struggling to say what they exactly wanted to say.

To my dismay it is increasingly so! The phrases "you know what I mean", "I mean", "that means", are abundant in their conversation. Most of them either educated in English there by deprived of an opportunity to master their mother tongue or studied in mother tongue but spoke in some other language most of the time.

They neither know their mother tongue properly nor English. It sometimes makes me sick. In spite of having thousands of languages why is our generationX is being pushed to linguistic poverty? Partly responsible though, individuals do not seem to realise that they have been traped in some kind of mess.

As usual, they believe that is not a great thing! What is so big about it by the way! Grapes high in the sky are sour! I have been accused of regionalism whenever I have tried to convince that its important to know one language completely and comprehensively. What we are taught in India is not English. It’s Binglish (Bengali), Kinglish (Kannada), Tinglish (Tamil, Telugu) or Hinglish. Are`t we very proud about whatever [X]inglish we speak?

It looks as if we have chosen to live how society of our time lives. Can’t we make efforts to learn one language properly. I get disheartened whenever a young Bangalorian speaks in Kannada, a mumbaikar speaks in Marathi, or Hindi (Unless he is a UP Bayya). They struggle. Some know that they struggle. Many do not even know that their language is poor. Why people are neglecting it, when most of our life is spent on learning programming languages? (If you are a software engineerJ)

The issue is not just of a language. It’s also about an identity. Those who belong to everything belong to nothing. While it is scientifically accepted that mastering mother language is the key to strengthen language skills, society may not accept it as long as it is seen to be an inconvenience. What an ingenious creations are these languages! They are treasures of societies. Don’t they deserve more regard?
~r

Using C++ Libraries in C#

Using C++ Libraries in C#
-----------------------------
I am told it’s quite a task! Considering Microsoft claims, "Power of C++ and flexibility of Visual Basic!" I thought there is
something Kala in Daal (fihsy). Now it turns out lot of wrapping that this stuff. Well I would put how I managed to do that
after a few days. Yeas, will let you know if I scrapped it as well. What a day :)

I finally came up with this incomlete stuff:

(This only tells how to call member functions, if you plan using Types or classes, you are in a wrong place)

Using VC++ Dlls in C#
---------------------------
Once you have chosen C# scratch your head before you start. You must if you are a beginner like me. Last thing you should do is to look in to that sacred Microsoft bible: MSDN. Search in Google groups instead.

Assume you have a dll VCDll.dll. Copy the dll to your project folder or to C:\windows\system32, or any other folder tell your .NET IDE that it is in X folder using build->Options.

Once the dreaded dll is in place, suppose that you would like to call a function,
bool KillGates()

You may use it as follows;

[DllImport("VCDll.dll", EntryPoint="?KillGates@CPDIdev@@QAEHXZ")]
//Note you have to use appropriate entry point above is just an example.
static extern bool KillGates(); // Returns TRUE if run successfully

If you wonder where is this "?KillGates@CPDIdev@@QAEHXZ" coming from, that directly comes from Bill Gates' godown. The one you see is an example for the mangled name of the function. You may get the mangled names as follows;

1 Type dumpbin.exe in the command prompt.
2 You will get an error! If you do, not go to step 4.
3 Copy dumpbin.exe in Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Vc7\bin to
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE
4 Type;
dumpbin.exe /EXPORTS > FunctionNames.txt
5 Use FunctionNames.txt to identify EntryPoint and use it in the DllImport section explained above.

Hold on. Not everything is over. REBUILD you application. Otherwise you will get an error depending on what you have coded!
For e.g., if you specify no or wrong Entrypoint you will get EntryPoinNotFound failed to find KillGates(); in VCDll.dll.

Now you are done. Note VCDll.dll is an example replace the name of your dll there when you write your program.

Not successful?
You ought to be. I could not get it to work! :) What about types? You can not use the types like Class etc directly. I gave up and started using Java ! I am not good in both so I had no roblem in switching.
It is insane guys. Do not try this stuff. If you have source with you recompile it with some changes to make it Managed code. Otherwise hire Osama to kill your dll vender.

Send me an email, I took an oath this dooms day! I will kill anyone who asks me about this problem again.

A friend of mine did a nice work around. He created a dilogbox that displays data using C++ and MFC. He uses the data in his C# program to get the job done. THis is useful if you are using your program for an experiment. Even otherwise you may hide the dilog box and get the job done.

Saskatoon
06/06/06
~rAGU

Intersection of Contents in Two Files

#!/usr/bin/perl
#/*Author : ~rAGU (ragu dot ks at gmail dot com) */
#/*Descripation: A script to find the intersection set of the lines in two text files */
#/* when one of the file is a subset of the other */
#/* finsec.pl */

open (SET, @ARGV[0]);
$isInSubset = 0;
$count = 0;

while ($lineInSet = ) {
chop($lineInSet);
#$lineInSet =~ s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;
$count++;
$counts = 0;
open (SUBSET, @ARGV[1]);

while ($lineInSubset = ) {
$counts++;
chop($lineInSubset);
#$lineInSubset =~ s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;

if ($lineInSet eq $lineInSubset) {
$isInSubset = 1;
}

} #End subset loop

close (SUBSET);
if ($isInSubset == 0){
#chop($lineInSet);
print "$lineInSet";
}
$isInSubset =0;

} #End of set loop

close (SET);

#/* End of the program */

Personal Gratitude

The Republic of India is the words largest democracy. Its Home Minister is a nominated member of parliament! He lost in the election to House of the People (Lok Sabha) before being nominated by people he was loyal to.

The Republic of India is the words largest democracy. Its prime Minister is again a nominated member of parliament! He has tried his luck too in election to House of the People (Lok Sabha). He seems to be obssced with a load of personal gratitude to the person who made him Prime Minister. This also seems to give him all justification on earth to not to consider the case on merit.

India is a democracy! The central governament is alive because of Communists. Seetharam Yechuri is Karl Marx`s best friend. He has initiated to communism by Marx himself in Oude Markt ,Brussels before Yechuri was born.

There is not even a single Member to represent 250 million people bellow poverty line. Those who do not represent their people are after supporting THEIR PEOPLE by introducing reservation.

To crown them all, India has an opposition who run out of issues. Most of its time and energy gets wasted in keeping itself alive and when some of it is left they spend it in disturbing parliament session. While one can not expect an ideal situation, people of India have the right to demand better, if not the best repsentative governance.

~rAGU

My Address

My Address:
Raghavendra Kattinakere (Ragu)
Assiniboine Hall 907-101,
Cumberland Avenue,
University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatoon, SK S7N1L5,
Canada

Tel: 0013064772714

Beautiful Mind

Very few things on earth have the ability to be themselves and an on looker, both at the same time. Very few, I siad, but in fact I know only one such a thing: mind. Reader might now few other such things, I suppose.

"Sound mind in a sound body", is a neccesity, obviously insufficient. Oh, that was out of the context remark. I was talking about and you were reading about, being both at the same time. We fine tune our mind, some consiously and others, which I belive is more significant, by inadvertant conditioning. Inadvertant conditioning? This I think is called "Living", in plain English.

What I intend to discus is, the fact that our mind knows about most of the conditionng it undergoes. It also has the ability to be objective observer capable of determining, if not the right conditioning, at least a better conditioning. What is more pleasing is, it can go further and create a complex state of mind which can either be highly volatile or remarkbly stable.

What is the element of mind that plays a pivotal role in directing it to stability or an irratiobal volatility, has been a mystery to me. However I have strong reasons to belive that conditioning, based on consistant thought and action can lead to a pure mind. I fear I will have to use all the good adjectives known to me, to describe such a conditioning. That would give us sufficient reassons to belive that there won`t be be a perfectly pure mind. Such a thing would probably equal non existant idealistic imaginations in science like an 'Ideal Gas' or 'Block Body'!

Efforts are made in Geeta: one of the Indian sciptures to explain 'stablest of the minds'. It calls the man with such a mind 'sTiTa prajnYa'. One of the defnitions of Yoga apears commenting on the stability of mind. "SamaTwam YogamucHyate", Evenness is called Yoga.

~r
Written on:
18th May 2006, Toronto Airport
Thanks to Flight Cansellation.

Edited at:
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

Barbarian System

I am not an anarchist. Even if I were, let me tell you, I am not going to talk about coersive powers of state. There are many species of animals on this earth and barbers, I tell you, belong to a special one: Homo Barbarians! I do not know if this true but what I am sure is the barbers in Europe are strange.
After scaning many price lists, I choose a barber's shop (13 Eur!). It was in Leuevn, a town in Belgium where I lived. I waited there for about 2 hours for my turn to come. When, finally, my turn came, I remembered banks in Leuven close early and yes, exactly at 4 PM. I said to the barber, I will be back in a while. Barber seemed to agree.

I then ran, with all energy I could muster, to a bank to collect some Canadian dollers that I had ordered. And now, only 15 minutes to four. Well, time is important because I was to fly early next day and the queue was long. When I heard from the clerk that the CADs were ready I rushed to the nearest cash machine to get some EURs. Again queue was long. I requested a girl infront of the queue to execuse me, only to be reminded that there was a queue and I was to stand there like all fellow gentlemen and wait for my turn! I had 13 minutes! Finally when all the people ahead of me took money, as in any other civilised country, as British may put it, I realised that there was a limit on how much I can withdraw. That it was insufficient for my purpose! But I managed getting the papers of Banque Du Canada (Bank of Canada: in French ).

But we were talking about barbers and not about banks and dollers. That is where we go at around 4.20 PM. You have to come to barber shop because you are reading, I am to have my head cut there. But it is not so easy as you may have guessed. The barber's shop was full again. What a good business to be in, I thought. Guy behind me in the queue just I got beheaded! I requested, well my barber will you look in to my hair for a while? He told me in his Iranian acsented Dutch English, "well ya, ye thook en haar". I said, what now, I had some work in the bank, please put the pieces of lenthy hairs where they belong. He was not ready, "we hab a sistem heer", came a haughty reply, "Ye hab to take a appointment" (24 Euro)! My head waited for 2 hours and now you tell me I have to wait for few more hours? Have some consideration, put me next at least. He was not ready for that either. He said again "we hab a sistem heer, Ye hab to take a appointment". That was all. I ran out of all patience. I came out not before shouting those english words people utter when they are frustrated, "This is pathetic and disgusting". The barber promptly said, "Yaa yaa it is".

An old couple were having an afternoon chat. One said "it is from 5 PM that I start chapping heads". When I stood infront of the another coiffure (Barber Shop) at 4.55 another old man was waiting. When we got in , the old barber started his job as he would in any other day. The old client of his spoke all along in dutch about something very important! When I wanted ask the client about something, he turned to me and said, "You see number 14 building? dat waz destroyed not, when Germans bombed". In the second or the first I asked. First ofcourse was the answer. He then said please (Ausublieft which means execuse me in that context).

My head was neatly cut. Barber said he had never been to India but his nephew did. He also told me she (nephew) was in Bombay contesting an international marine competition or something of the sort. She stood 10th. We both agreed that it was not bad concidering that it was an international competion.

May 13th 2006, Leuven, Belgium
~r

Web Dev

http://philip.greenspun.com/seia/?=

Seems to be a good link for Web application development. Ishwar gave me this.

Centre For Development Research

Centre For Development Research
http://www.pmmtrust.blogspot.com/

Civic Responsibilities Part -1

http://www.karnatakastatepolice.org/First.htm
This link gives information about police duties and responsibilities in Karnakata, India.

My New Address For Correspondence

Raghavendra K S
C/o Gopalakrishna.
N#865, Perody Garden,
Flat F3, 5th 'A' Cross,
11th MainVijaya Bank Layout
Bannerghatta Road
Bangalore - 76, India

A Tribute To Dr Rajkumar

Dear Tom,
Your comments are not justified.
First of all, personally he was a very good man. He was an example to the youth. His movies had a positive effect and carried messages. Although I do not vouch for the politics of fanaticism, I must point out your Ganesh Rao`s case is a classic *Reverse Bias* case.

His 3 sons acted not because of him but because of his wife who is a producer. Though other two sons are not very good actors, Shivraj Kumar is an actor in his own right. Watch Aum directed by Upendra, where he acted as a central character.

Rajkumar practiced Yoga everyday and very few know that he was a Yoga Master.He participated in Kannada Gokak Movement. He refused the post of a minister and refused to get into politics unlike MGR and NTR. Though his family members were not impressive he is known for infinite humility.

In the acting front, he was one of the remarkable figures in India. You must know the First National Award For Best Acting was conferred him in 1967 not to MGR or NTR! Number of Filmfare awards he received is only next to Kamalahasan(18). He got 10 Filmfare awards for best acting. He is probably only personality to get award of Best actor and Best Singer. He got the Best Singer National award. Dadasaheb Palke award the heighest award for contribution was given in 1996. Amitabacchan is yet to get get! His contribution to stage art is remarkable. He was from Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company. The cosmopolitan culture or the south bashing attitude can in no way diminish his credibility. He was a man in his own right.

Many people do not know that he was awarded Kentucky Colonel Award (USA). The award conferred to people like Winston Churchill. The governor of the state of Kentucky flew to Bangalore to present the award. He was awarded the Padmaboshan by Gov of India. This link gives more details http://www.chitraranga.com/EN/RAJ/raj_milestones_film.asp

Every white dog has a block mark somewhere. Every public figure is criticised. But this was a case of a poor boy a dropout from the school. Mysore University confferred Doctrate upon him, rightfully. He was picked up from a bus stop while he was waiting for a bus, to act for Bedara Kannappa (Kannappa of Hunter Clan). His support for poor is also well known and as infamous is his wife’s Cinema Mafia. He was a good man. My sense of history and Mythology has been strengthened by his movies.

India lost a statesman with his demise. I am saddened by his death.
~r

Dr Rajkumar

Rajkumars Acting and Bismilla Khans Shanai..... what a combination. He is no more.

Company Of Great Men.........

To show or to get attention is probably an instinct. It has come to be accepted that being identified great is an achievement. Just being good is not. This has pushed most of us in to what we do. Consciously or otherwise we do show off.

We see people walk holding cover of the book visible, probably to show that they read. Lying to portray us honest is another! May it be a latest mobile phone or a new ring tone, the news will reach the audience: our neighbors. Are we trying to build images? Are we trying to feel great? Or is it that most of us are not modest and do not believe that we are the beasts of same nature like every other!

The desire to show off is so intense that our entire attempt to keep ourselves modest fails sometimes. I myself have found it very hard to contain certain actions of mine that are so impulsive and instinct driven that they can not be controlled. They are so embarrassing that they can not be printed here!

Weaknesses are so easy to identify yet very hard to rectify. We seem to learn with every mistake, not but to make the mistake of another kind! I live with the belief that I am growing beyond those silly attitudes and whims that we make other to put up with. Yet when I am part of another behavior of the same kind, get disillusioned.

I have told myself often that errors have been an exception and that I have been good otherwise. I am what I want to be. So far that, lo I told myself the other day, I am the best creature that the nature never wanted to make but made it by mistake. Again that those errors were anomalies. In reality we are what we are. We are not we want to be. Very because (excuse me) we want to be that! What we say and do reflects not we are but again what we want to be. In effect we are a complex mixture of what we are and what we want to be!

Is it so hard to accept ourselves as we are? Yes indeed, that often is the case dear :). Our desire to be in the company of the great men and women we read in history unconsciously drives us. Some for good and some for bad.
~r

Company Of Great Men.....

Company Of Great Men.....
To show or to get attention is probably an instinct. It has come to be accepted that being identified great is an achivement. Just being good is not. This has pushed most of us in to what we do. Consiously or otherwise we do show off.

We see people walk holding cover of the book visible. Probably to show that they read. Lying to protray ouselves honest is another! May it be a latest mobile phone or a new ring tone,the news will reach the audience: our neighbours. Are we trying to build images? Are we trying to feel great? Or is it that most of us are not modest and do not belive that we are the beasts of same nature like every other!

The desire to show off is so intense that all our attempt to keep ourselves modest fails sometimes. I myself have found it very hard to contain certain actions of mine that are so impulsive and instict driven that they can not be controlled. They are so emberrasing that they can not be printed here!

Weeknesses are so easy to identify yet very hard to rectify. We seem to learn with every mistake, not but to make the mistake of another kind! I live with the belief that I am growing beyond those silly attitudes and whims, that we make other to put up with. Yet when I am part of another behavior of the same kind, get dissillusioned.

I have told myself often that errors have been an exception and that I have been good otherwise. I am what I want to be. So far that, lo I told myself the other day, I am the best creature that the nature never wanted to make but made it by mistake. Again that those errors were anomalies. In reality we are what we are. We are not we want to be. Very because (execuse me) we want to be that! What we say and do reflects not we are but again what we want to be. In effect we are a complex mixture of what we are and what we want to be!

Is it so hard to accept ourselves as we are? Yes indeed, that often is the case dear :). Our desire to be in the company of the great men and women we read in history unconsiously drives us. Some for good and some for bad.
~r

HOld on

Hold on I am coming!

The baby is born! My brother a litle elder one is now a father. And happy new year. Its Yugadi Tomorrow in India.

The Error Correcting Codes (ECC) Page

The Error Correcting Codes (ECC) Page

A nice link to fundas of Error Codes.

"Time To Modernise Congress Party" says BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4838504.stm

What is Capital Account Convertibility

Capital Account Convertibility
---------------------------------------
Many countries regulate the inflow and outflow of the capital in to its market. This basically means that the central regulatory body decides the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as the amount of Foreign Disinvestments (selling of assets). This process obviously involves currency conversion. That is, foreign currency to local currency while investing and local currency to foreign currency (selling local currency). As the conversion is regulated this can be called Regulated Account Convertibility.
If the regulation of the currency conversion for investment is removed or in other words a full conversion of the local currency from and to other currency is allowed then the country is said to practice Capital Account Convertibility (CAC).
Under current rules, India's rupee is only partially convertible to foreign currencies. The central bank (RBI) allows a free flow of foreign exchange for trade in goods and services, but it regulates who may exchange rupees for other currencies for investment purposes and the circumstances under which they may do so. The current rules regulate currency conversion for foreign entities that want to invest in India and Indians who want to invest overseas.Although FDI in certain market is allowed without cap, disinvestments (Selling invested Rupee and converting it to foreign currency) at the moment is regulated by RBI, in India. The problem India may face is when rumours, calamities etc hamper investor confidence, they may sell all assets in Rupee and convert it to say Euro or Dollar. This forces the forex value of the Rupee down. (Such depreciation against major currencies increases the cost of imports).
Analysts worry that India is not yet ready for such a system. Many counties suffered during 'East Asian crisis of 1980s'. India did not face the problem as Account Convertibility was regulated.

Raghavendra Kattinakere S

A Rough Language Family Tree

This is my understanding of the Family Tree of Languages.

Thinking Dirt

Nobody is perfect. It s for us to control our thoughts and direct it to result in right action. Brain is a green room. Its ought to be dirty. If its clean nothing much comes out of it!

one has the right to think dirt, but not to act dirty. Remember anything pure is an extreme.

Improve rural sanittaion Kalam

Chennai Online News Service - View News

Why should we vote UPA out

I would vote against the UPA Government in the next elections. Subverting democratic institutions and ideals to serve its cause and destroying all opposition parties using all possible arms of government seems to be the only motto of this autocratic government.

1) I do not want a Naturalized citizen to rule my country. Definitely not directly let alone indirectly. When my own countrymen are corrupt how can we trust a naturalised citizen?

2) I do not want this country to be ruled by an intelligent person lacking leadership qualities and a support from his ministers directly to him. There is IAS cadre to do the intelligent job. Leaders have to delegate it. We want a wise leader.

3) Congress upon forming government dismissed several governors many of them from states ruled by a party other than UPA allies. It is easy for them to play a political game which they did in Goa in removing BJP government, Jharkhand in calling Sibu Soren a criminal convicted by court, and finally to cap them all in Bihar, Boota Singh, even though the apex court ruled against him in a humiliating manner, UPA let him hoist the flag and had to resign after an uproar thought the country. Where was mister sincere Dr Singh then?

4) Law minister who is supposed to protect law humiliated judiciary by taking a unilateral decision to let O Quatrochhi Defreeze his bank accounts in UK. Or simply he killed the Bofors kickback case.

5) Carried out a vendetta on Jaya Bachhan while most of the members are enjoying one or the other office of profit.

6) Now Sonia Gandhi resigns falling pray congress’s own design. And this when they realise that there is uproar against an ordinance. This government will not hesitate to change the rule of the game to win it.

7) We want a strong opposition so that people can have a choice. It’s about changing governments. We should change governments so that the entire nasty thing a government does comes out in the next term. To do that we need a party that can provide a stable government. Congress is killing all opposition there by harming Indian democracy.

8) It’s not that BJP or any other party will do a great job. We can elect Congress again to check any problem that other government may create.

9) UPA government is wooing minorities to get votes. They wanted to divide Armed forces by a census. Who is communal now?

10) People have risen above the old standards. No one will care for Yatras Advani might take. Strong credible actions will be appreciated, not the dramas.

11) People come and go to develop and remain prosperous we need to protect out system and institutions.

12) I appreciate Dr Sing’s economic initiatives, but I am sure his service will be available to the nation even while he sits in the opposition benches. We cannot afford help less prime Minster.

I would vote against the UPA Government in the next elections and wait for it to come sooner.

My New Bangalore Address

Address :
#60, II Floor,
Ist Cross (Opposite to SBI), Ist Stage
Givinayakanahalli, Kumaraswamilayout
Bangalore
India - 5600078

Paradoxes in special theory of reletivity

Paradoxes in special theory of reletivity

A Tribute To Hegde

A Tribute To Hegde

A note on Labour Laws

A comparative look at Indian and German labour laws.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Normally, a set of Acts constitute the labour laws in a country. The common features are.

-Health and Safety
-Minimum Wage
-Payment of Bonus
-Maternity and paternity and vacations
-Insurance and Pension fund.
- et al

There are three legal entities: Employer, Employee and the Company. Most of the times the laws apply irrespective of the nature of the company. For example any firm/individual employing more than 20 employees is considered a factory according to Factories Act 1948, India. The Companies Act 1956 regulates different aspects of a company. (http://www.laws4india.com/corporatelaws/comp_act/ica_idx.asp, http://www.dgfasli.nic.in/html/dockact/rule1.htm). It is the responsibility of the employer to provide a safe and healthy working environment in any factory. This includes rest rooms and other facilities as may be required depending on the nature of the job. There is also a maximum working hour limit. In India it is 10.5 hours with 30 minutes of break after every 5 hours of continuous work and the total for the week may not exceed 56 hours. In Germany it is around 38 ours a week but the daily working hours may go up to 10.5 hours. There should also be an extra payment for every extra hour worked. The wage differs in different countries. In India any work done after 9 hours of work is considered a over duty.

There is no minimum wage specified in several countries, like in Germany. In India The Minimum Wages Act 1948 stipulates a minimum wage. However there is a minimum wage specified for immigrant high skill workers to avoid import of cheap labour. It is around 50,000 Euro per year in Germany.

There are 24 paid leaves per year in Germany and 21 in India excluding other holidays. In Germany there is also a 6 weeks of paid leave in case of illness. It’s around 15 days in India. There is no paternity leave in India as in Germany. Women get a 3-month maternity paid leave in India.

Payment of Bonus is compulsory in India according to Payment of Bonus Act 1965. There is also a compulsory Gratuity payment. More information is elsewhere (http://www.laws4india.com/labourlaws.asp). In Germany there seems to be no such mandate.

Pension fund must be through equal contribution by employer and employee to the Employee Provident Fund in India and to Social Security Organisation in Germany. This sum is around 12% of the gross salary. However Employee may choose to set an additional amount aside through a fund formed by the company for the purpose of pension. This is completely exempt from income Tax.
This amount is deposited in an account. Called EPF account in India and Social Security Number in Germany. In Germany this amount can be withdrawn, three years after the leaving the country if the employee is an immigrant worker. However only employee’s contribution shall be returned and the rest will lapse. The money will be immediately returned if the employee has not stayed in Germany for more than three months.

More information can be found on all Indian Acts here (Searchable by key words)
http://indiacode.nic.in/sht.asp

After receiving all these its the duty of the employee to work honestly for the betterment of the enterprise!

As part of Electronic Initiative on "civic responsibility and rights campaign"

Mr. Raghavendra S Kattinakere
Executive Trustee
Centre For Development Research
PMM Trust (R), Kattinakere
India, 577434
www.geocities.com/pmm.trust
cfd.research@gmail.com

Dr Kurian The White Man

Dr. Verghese Kurien Father of the White Revolution in India quit as the head of GCMMF. He is credited with architecting Operation Flood -- the largest dairy development program in the world. Verghese Kurien, set up the cooperative dairy development, engineered the White Revolution in India, and made India the largest milk producer in the world. Born on 26th November 1921, Dr.Kurien graduated with Physics from Loyola College, Madras in 1940 and then did B.E.(Mech) from the Madras University. After passing out of the University, he joined the Tata Steel Technical Institute, Jamshedpur from where he graduated in 1946. He then went to USA on a government scholarship to do his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. When he came back to India, he was posted as a Dairy Engineer at the government creamery, Anand, in May 1949. Around the same time, the infant cooperative dairy, Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited (KDCMPUL), -- now famous as AMUL -- was fighting a battle with the Polson Dairy which was privately owned. Young Kurien, fed up with being at the government creamery which held no challenge, volunteered to help Shri Tribhuvandas Patel, the Chairman of KDCMPUL, to set up a processing plant. This marked the birth of AMUL and the rest is history.
Tribhuvandas Patel was assigned by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel the task of "making the Kaira farmers happy and organize them into a cooperative unit".
Dr. Kurien has since then built this organization into one of the largest and most successful institutions in India. The Amul pattern of cooperatives had been so successful that Dr. Kurien setup NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) to replicate it across India.
He also set up GCMMF (Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation) in 1973 to sell the products produced by the dairies. Today GCMMF sells AMUL brand products not only in India but also overseas.
Dr. Kurien's credits his success to the farmers of Gujarat. Says Kurien, "I was a 'foreigner' a Keralite if I had tried to do something on my own, I wouldn't have been able to do it. I merely provided the managerial component."
For his contribution to the dairy industry Dr. Kurien has received top awards not only in India but also overseas. Padmashri (1965) Padmabhushan (1966) Krishi Ratna Award (1986) by the President of India. Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership (1963) Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation (1986) World Food Prize Award (1989) International Person of the Year(1993) by the World Dairy Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Padma Vibhushan (1999)

--This is an edited excerpt

White Man

Dear Dr Kurien,The rural poor in India will remember you fondly for bringing what can be called the silverlining in their lives. Poor people make their living by selling milk to the nearest dairy. Rediff has done injustice by not even bothering to mention that you are the father of white revolution.Wish you a happy retired life. May your achivement inspire the youngsters and help develop the rural India whre 70% of Indians live.
Thank you Sir for your contribution.
RegardsRaghavendra K S

What Is Democracy?

What Is Democracy?
----------------------
Democracy, most of the time means elitist middle class governance imposed on the poor non-participant masses that unknowingly and with no choice, choose an elitist to rule them.Their own fellow humans look inferior to them, not by character but by what I call "The Middle Class Unconscious Design'. The blessings of middle class and the rich are just enough to suppress the desire of the poor to take their rightful share in the opportunity; it kills the sense of humiliation as warmth overwhelms. If not in the later days all democracies without any exception are elitist in the beginning; history shall prove it.
Having set the tone for what I may discuss and elaborate further, it is quite a necessary to note that this is not the second part of the 'Communist Manifesto'. Neither is this anything to do with the communist ideology of revolution. But is it not true that majority on this earth are poor? Are we (read, all of us) not, in anyway responsible for their plight?
The poor and the unprivilaged have lost the battle that they never knew, they were fighting; the previlaged won it subconsciously.

to continue...........

Family Planing

Should family planning be banned?
Composition of the population in a country is more serious an issue than we think it is. It is very important for the government to have a clear population management policy.
Banning abortion is not at all debatable. We must accept it and proceed further to look at the population control issue. Having only one child is out of the question. Having two children is what is being done these days even in the villages to some extent. Having three children as a policy is something that needs a bit of thinking.
Keeping in mind that an average family can not afford good education and food for more than two children, it is good to educate different members of the soceity especially the Muslims community about the importance of family planning to help improve their economic status. May be after 50 years we should think of having 3 children in a family. This would help us avoid the problem faced in Europe; aging.
Its not a constant decision that is necessary but a policy which does a scientific assessment on the population composition of our country and gives a suggestion accordingly time to time as may be appropriate.

Living Alone

I was ten when I had to stay away from my parents. Sixteen long years have passed, nothing has changed. I stay alone. When we are students, staying alone is not really a problem, as we do not have time to get bored. Once we are into a job, a sad routine begins. We either do not have time or we do not know what to do when we have time!
I used to read a lot. I kept telling myself "Oh, I can not get bored as long as I have something to read". You can not read when you have nothing else to do!
Over the years I have learnt that having good friends makes our lives easy. A genuine friendship has the ability, to replace lot of things in our life that we often lack. If your friend is a good cook, it can even replace home-cooked meal. Cooking can be fun a lot of times. Though It's demanding, I realised that cooking is all about mixing vegetables with salt and chilli! And lo I ended up adding a new cuisine to the list! I have often told a friend of mine, in Europe not to mistake my cuisine with any of Indian cuisines. I could not really go anywhere near any of Indian cuisines, but I could eat a very good food.
Planning what to do on holidays, setting a target to do something other than we usually do, are probably the best things, both to be occupied all the time and to be happy about it.
Sense of loneliness is more about how we take it. Memories have a great ability to take us out of boredom. I always keep few albums with me, wherever I go. Nothing can substantiate the power memories than these words of William Wordsworth;For often, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

Hindu View on Christianity

Hindu View on Christianity: Hindu View on Christianity

Dear Patrick,

Like all the followers of the different religions Hindus adore theirs. But characteristically also respect other religions. Some even worship gods of other religions as theirs. However they also do not like their fellow Hindus getting converted to some other religion. This is a feature prevalent in all the religions. For instance Catholics do not like their fellows becoming protestant.

This sort of dislike is manifest by what can be called semi learneds. Hindus religious organizations do not make (by nature) attempts to convert others. They believe that all prayers reach the same god. However they like other respecting and following their traditions and culture, even though they do not convert to Hinduism. India a predominantly Hindu country has had some bad experiences with Christians and Christian rule. The native Indian Christians; Nasrani Christians were forcibly converted to Catholicism by Portuguese in 16th century. The Portuguese inquisition in Goa was a worst episode for Hindus.

All these have prompted to make Hindus think about Christians with some caution. However except for some fanatics, all others respect and treat Jesus as a Yogi or a Saint. Praying Jesus is not considered a blasphemy like in Christianity for idol worship. Hindus adore many sages and hermits almost as much as GOD. As Hinduism claims that we are all part of god and the sons of god; everything good is god.

It is also true that Christians have contributed to India and Hinduism by helping reform Hinduism and by bringing the western education system and establishing so strongly that it became a major force in India's freedom struggle and now in rapid development. This is either not known to an average Hindu or thought to be of less significance. It is also true with the conversion of low caste Hindus. Many low caste Hindus have benefited from it by coming out of discrimination by the upper caste Hindus. Note also that this very fact makes Christians untouchables to a Conservative Orthodox Brahmin (read upper class people). Although it has dawned upon these upper caste Brahmins recently, it still is in practice. I am sure this discrimination will fade away in a generation's time.

An average Hindu does not know much about Christianity. But most of them know about Jesus. To summarize, Hindus take everything western to be Christian and do not like the culture. Look at conversion, and do not like Christian organizations. Look at Jesus and his deeds and miracles they hear about him and respect him. Some do not like respecting him. But it’s hard to say that a right thing is wrong. Divinity overwhelms and the bias fades away; Find something in scripture to support their following.

Yekam Sat wiprah Bahuda vadanti (There is one GOD and clerics call it by different names). They pray Jesus with closed palms. I do it whether I like it or not. Truth alone triumphs.

Regards

Raghavendra S Kattinakere
Executive Trustee
Centre For Development Research
PMM Trust (R), Kattinakere
India 577434
cfd.research@gmail.com