MAAYABAZAAR NEW AVATAR

seen maayabazaar in color.
The coloring is dull(may be there are technical reasons).
songs like bhalibhalideva ( by radha saradhi),vinnavatamma(about childhood ofkrishna),dance songs in maayabazar are removed.
music is remixed giving jarring notes.
the feeling of lively ness created by cameraman markus bartley with fantastic lighting effects is totally lost.
was seeing the film may be hundreth time.
but still enjoyed it . also srikanth representing new generation enjoyed it
one of the all time greats.

Pictues of the plot in Bangalore

Here are some of the pictures we clicked on our last visit to the plot.
http://picasaweb.google.com/poonamt/BanglorePlotPictures#

The lake next to the plot is luckily full of water. We spotted ducks there too! We met one of the neighbors and he mentioned that we can spot a variety of birds here. We ourselves saw a small beautiful bee-eater right in front of the plot, a brahminy kite and some cattle-egrets. Here is a pic of the bee-eater (from the internet).

iPad - A dud???

Not quite the game changing device like iPhone. No camera, no flash support and no multitasking. Plus, the name itself spawning multiple jokes about intimate feminine products......All in all not one of Apple's successes.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35109625/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/


I also feel that iPad is different from its previous successes of iPod and iPhone, they both revolutionized an existing market ( portable music players still existed before, Apple just made them better. Cellphones existed before, Apple just made them better). Apple did not make a better netbook, it is attempting to establish a new category and create a new market, something much harder to do.

But then again, never underestimate the Apple marketing machine.

Junnu - a spectacular failure

I found raw colostrum at a local grocery store and wanted to try Junnu. Well, it got "broken". Will try again tomorrow.

A creative reader

It is after all Republic Day, so here is another insight into Gandhiji's extraordinary persona. Reproducing all of this from Gandhi the Writer, just para-phrased by me.

In 1932, when Gandhiji was at London, the editor of Spectator asked him, "Did any book ever affect you supremely and was there any turning-point in your life?" Gandhi answered: "Yes, the book that affected me more than any other is Unto This Last by Ruskin...". He had read this book in 1904, 28 years earlier. Evidently, the book had made a remarkable impression on Gandhi, for him to give it such a special position even after so many years.

Other quotes from Gandhi about Unto This Last:

"There is no other word for it: Ruskin's words captivated me".

"Great Britain gave me Ruskin, whose Unto This Last transformed me overnight..."

"I discovered some of my deepest convictions reflected in this great book of Ruskin..."

How it changed him: So how did the book actually transform him? He was given the book casually to pass time on a long train journey between Jo'Burg and Durban. By the time he finished the journey, he had completed the book and resolved to model his life along the book's principles. As an immediate consequence, he, along with friends, set up the Phoenix Farm, where the residents made a living off the land, leading a simple life. He also moved the publishing of Indian Opinion to the farm.

So, overnight, he transformed "from a lawyer and city-dweller into a rustic living away from Durban...", to quote Gandhi himself. Quite a profound change!

What the book said: The book's principles:

1. The good of the individual is contained in the ultimate good of all. Gandhi termed this as Sarvodaya, which ubiquitous word was actually invented by him. (Personally, I find this principle to be a striking contrast to Keynesian economics: the ultimate good of all is contained in the good of the individual, also known as Laissez Fair!)

2. All men have the same right to make a living from their work and there is no difference between one profession and the other. This is reflected in Gandhi's lifelong struggle against untouchability.

3. A life of labour is the life worth living. Hence the farm.

Now, the interesting bit: Ruskin talked about these principles, but he didn't define how they be put to action, certainly not the dramatic way that Gandhiji adapted them.

Ruskin himself probably did not emulate those principles. Also, there were sections of the book that Gandhiji disagreed with. Ruskin was of the belief that the common man was not fit to rule and a class system is necessary for societal welfare, both of which Gandhi disputed.

In fact, to quote Louis Fischer, nothing that Gandhi read in Ruskin's work need have decided the drastic course taken by him. So why do Gandhi's words state otherwise?

Creative Reader: The answer lies in this insight by Louis Fischer: The plain fact was that Gandhi himself was ready at this point for a back-to-the-nature move and Ruskin pushed him, gently enough, towards the great decision. It was the catalyst of an impending change.

Further, Fischer makes this incisive comment: "He frequently read into texts what he wanted them to say. A creative reader, he co-authored the impression the book played on him. He put things into it and took them back with interest.

So, it was in the course of a journey through that dark South African night that Gandhi happened to read and discover Gandhi into John Ruskin.

Perhaps the best proof of this is that his Gujarati translation of Unto This Last was re-translated back into English!

also here is asmall news.manas went to narasaraopet for a techno fest and her paper stood second among some 50to60 papers.some cheer to the girls.viswam babai

firstly,lakshmi krupa,you have done very patiently the children function and for that happy blessings amma.also to suddu and seenus. next krupps you are really aboy!congratulations.if possible pay a visit to kavali.

paragliding clips

Since that was the topic, here are a couple of videos of Tower Hill, from where I took off this time. It is about 1 KM above MSL.

Pendu: my instructor and ace flyer showing how it is done. Watch for his areal stunts.

More photos and videos from Bhogi

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbmuthya/Bhogi_2010#

Very noisy bhogipallu
http://www.youtube.com/sbmuthya#p/u/12/CyCyjbjoG-M

Sudha's song
http://www.youtube.com/sbmuthya#p/u/11/42b395F79a8

Serving dinner - round 1
http://www.youtube.com/sbmuthya#p/u/10/qsdtqQ5ZXxE
http://www.youtube.com/sbmuthya#p/u/8/URxyLv7KdC8

Serving dinner - round 2
http://www.youtube.com/sbmuthya#p/u/9/2iGW5K_C6O0

Re: LeT buys paragliders

Starting a new post here as my response is too long for a comment

I also read about this yesterday. Not a new idea in movies at least. James Bond uses it in Live and Let Die (both book and movie) and Amitabh uses a hang-glider one of his movies (Kalia?). Of course, in this case it is the bad guys who are using it, thus vitiating a nice sport.

Thinking from a LeT guy's point of view, the Pros:

-Undetectable by radar or sonar, and easier to navigate Himalayan border areas than by foot.

The cons: It requires a lot of skill and a good bot of help from the weather to navigate cross country in a glider. If spotted, you are a sitting duck. Night flying is extremely difficult as the temperatures are low and the glider won't have enough energy.

Defense:

-Track radio traffic, as pilots have to communicate with each other

- Do some satellite scouting for training grounds- group of large floppy kites can't be missed and keep tabs on them

-Call in expert pilots and anticipate potential flight plans across the border

-Allow no flying on the Indian side of the border by Indian pilots: clear sky policy

All in all, this may impact the sport in India- thanks to those single minded fanatics :-(

terrorists might use paragliders to attack India : Intelligence agencies

any comments ???

Books completed and in progress

WOLF HALL: Finished this latest Booker prize winner by Hilary Mantel last week. It is a historical novel set in the times of that controversial English King Henry VIII.

It dramatizes the real story of one Thomas Cromwell, the son of a blacksmith who at the peak of his career becomes the 1st advisor to the king- the most powerful man in court. This was highly unusual in those class society days. He, like others who ran the risk of being close to that king, was later tried and beheaded, although the book stops at the zenith of his career. Thomas was incidentally the great-great-great something of Oliver Cromwell, who ruled England several years later.

Although 650-odd pages long, the book is engaging enough for me to finish at a reasonably brisk pace. For instance, Thomas More (UTOPIA) is a character in the book, portrayed nicely as a ruthless and charismatic pursuer of his conservative Christian Utopia. The King is of course a fascinating central character as well.

Themes are: the struggle of Christianity to get back to simple Christian roots, power struggles between Church and King, between England and Rome, and an upsurge of commerce as a new power in the world.

The writing style is very good, eloquent in a non-obvious, sophisticated way.

GANDHI IN ANECDOTES: Gathered through conversations with people who have met with and interacted closely with Gandhiji, this book attempts to show the day-to-day Gandhi, not the politician-philosopher, but a practical everyman- except that he was not every man by any stretch.

More than anything, it gives a strong sense of his constant attempt at personal evolution- every situation is a test, with him as the examinee, examiner and teacher all in one. So he may fail the test, but he sure will learn a lesson from it.

Formatted as easy to read, 1-page stories, this book is a quick and enjoyable read.

NEXT IN LINE:

-Gandhi as a Writer
-Small is Beautiful (Anti-Keynesian economic classic by EF Schumacher)
-Pirate Latitudes (posthumous novel from M Crichton)
-The Diffculty of Being Good (highly recommended book by Gurucharan Das)
-Hanging by a Tail (Indian novel that received rave reviews from the Hindu)

Whew! Busy days for reading.

Sankranthi 2010

We had a fun and successful Bhogi-Sankranthi with samuhika (communal) bhogi pallu, followed by a traditional Andhra Sankranthi dinner, complete with homemade ariselu following inspiration from SLN exhorting us to attempt making this incredibly challenging sweet, so demanding that no Andhra sweet shop in Bay Area dared to make them.

We had a group bhogipallu ceremony for 11 kids ranging in age from 1 to 12 followed by a traditonal dinner served in Aritakulu. The bhogipallu included a harathi song by Sudha and the dinner concluded with bottu-tamboolam.

The menu is as followes:
Laddu; Ariselu; Pongali; Pulihora; Garelu; Nuvvu Pachadi; Mudda Pappu; Neyyi; Dosakaya Pachadi; Potato vepudu; Gutti Vankaya; Gummadikaya Dhappalm; Appadam and Meegada perugu, followed by Paan and banana.

We also had various entertainment options including pekata, carroms and dartboard and an open garage for kids play. images below....
http://picasaweb.google.com/ksingampalli/Sankranthi2010#

Everyone got involved in the serving with gusto, with the women serving the first round, and the men taking charge of serving in the second round, frying extra appadams and making fresh lemon soda to aid in digestion after struggling to bend on "full stomachs."

All in all it was a successful dinner enjoyed by all and brought fond memories back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy long weekend in Mumbai and Pune

Flew: Bangalore-Mumbai-Bangalore

Drove: Mumbai-Pune-Simhagadh-Mumbai (350-400 KM)

Glided: 25 Min of flight time

Ran: 21 Km (2 Hrs 07 min) in the Mumbai Marathon

Gliding was a particularly rewarding experience, as I was not confident I could do it after a 2 year gap. But some practice on the ground showed that I had not forgotten the skills and I had a fantastic flight.

The running was great too, as they changed the route to include the Bandra-Worli Sea link, which is quite majestic in the misty morning seas, with just the sounds of the sea and of pounding feet. Snap of the bridge below:

Ammamma - Bakugan

Amma is now Aditya's favorite playmate to play Bakugan. It is funny hearing the "Gate Card Set" "Bakugan Brawwwwwwwwwwl" and "Ability Activate" being said in macho voices by Amma and Adi as they "brawl"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Always reminds me of "Guide to Guys"....... I would say a must read for all "guys" and us folk who have to suffer the "guys". In case any one is interested I am sending a copy to India through Amma.
Poonam and madhurima, you would love it!!!!!

Notion Ink

Was a big his at CES. Google it for coverage from Engadget and Gizmodo. Still figuring out my level of involvement there.

Birds, Lichens etc

Another outing, this time in Lalbagh, 730 AM Sunday. Tougher to spot birds, as the tree canopy quite high in the park. Still, saw a couple of nice birds. More interesting was how these experience amateurs read nature like a book- every tree, fruit, bird is another page in the tome, and boy, is it a page-turner!

For instance, a gentleman drew our attention to the lichens on a tree there. He told us that just a few years ago, several trees in Lalbagh were covered with lichens. He asked us to check how many trees have a similar covering- we found none, except for a couple of disappearing patches. Lichens wither away due to Sulphur Dioxide, a pollutant from vehicle emissions. So the effect of vehicular pollution on the garden could be read like a book.

He told us that Lichens perform an important function- they dissolve the fallen bark and convert it to the fertile top soil - this is the process by which the top soil of the Earth was gained originally.

So we denude the top soil, and simultaneously choke the lichens- How is that for comprehensive destruction!

Birds I saw today:

-White Browed Wagtail

-Rose ringed Parakeets

-Eurasian Golden Oriole

-Asian Koel (female)

-White breasted Water Hen

-Ashey Drongo

-Flower Peckers

-Small Green Barbets (also called White Cheek Barbet)

-Spotted Dove

-Jungle Myna

-Common Myna

-Pariah Kites (there was a nest)

Some photos of the birds I saw today, taken from the Web:

Lichens (what we saw was more sparse)

White breasted water hen

White browed Wagtail
Eurasian Golden Oriole

Earthquake

yester day i was in the kitchen with Naveela a nd she was telling that they had an earthquake yesterday and suddenly i heard and felt thud thud.I thought I srinu was making some sound upstairs and i joked see Naveela we are having a ROOF QUAKE.HE came down and said we had a minor quake.they were in the range of 3--4 on R scale.

Achivement

Define!!!There are people who dedicated or rather sacrificed their lives in achiving something for the good of mankind .They never did it either to have a few billions behind them or to have their face on the front page of a news paper.Every day atleast a couple of tender innocent lives are lost as they failed to achive something which the PARENTS wanted them to.Many a people who could not ACHIVE(so called) withdraw them selves into a shell and become non communicative with the near and dear,Asimple man who lived an honest life and helped the people around them'could he not be called an achiver.

Nice set of funny cartoons on US Business 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34227635/ns/business-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1

Going to CES

Heading out to Las Vegas today to attend Consumer Electronics Show. Will get to see all kinds of cool new gadgets. Report back on arrival at Newark on the 9th.

I am going there to help out an Indian start-up with of a bunch of fresh IIT grads that has done some pretty amazing work. They got a lot of good press from the media here.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc2010013_141192.htm

Search "Notion Ink" for more info on them.

Amatuer Ornithology

There is an initiative called MigrationWatch, which mobilizes bird watchers around the country to track the migratory patterns of certain birds. The group uses the data to figure out if there are changes in the migratory patterns due to global warming. I read about this in The Hindu a couple of months ago, and joined a Bangalore based Bird watchers yahoogroups which was mentioned in the article.

Obviously, I was quite lost at the flurry of bird species names that fly around on the forum. Apparently, all of these birds are sighted within Bangalore- but whenever I look up in the sky, I didn't seem to see any!

This Sunday, I finally had the opportunity to join an outing of this group at Hebbal Kere ('Kere' is 'lake' in Kannada). So come Sunday 615 AM, I huffed and puffed my way some 30 KM on my cycle to this lake (so that I don't miss my morning practice for the marathon coming up in Mumbai...yes, I am showing off now :-)) and spent 2 hours with the bird-watching pros, as they went about their job.

It was an eye-opening experience. In that hour, I saw many beautiful birds at close quarters and learnt interesting things about them. For instance, there are no parrots in India, apparently. What we call a Ramachiluka or Totha is actually a rose ringed parakeet. The lake border abounded with them, and they are not shy birds either. I made my acquaintance with the Greenish Warbler, a diminutive bird that weighs less than 10 grams but flies all the way from the Himalayas to Bangalore, often covering the distance with hardly any breaks. I saw truly majestic birds, graceful and large: Brahminy Kites, Giant Cormorants, Spot-billed Pelicans and Purple Herons.

Before I knew it, I had recorded sightings of 15 different species of birds in my notebook, and knew that I can identify them easily any other day. That is a very satisfying feeling! Poonam came over to pick me and my bike up, and I showed off my new found knowledge to her. She also enjoyed the experience.

The best part: this morning, as I was sipping my coffee in Infosys, I heard a chirp in the tree behind me- a greenish warbler again! Not too bad that I can detect a bird by its chirp, after just one outing, even if I do say so myself.

Here is the list of birds and some snaps from the web of some of the more grand ones. I can hardly wait for the next Sunday, when I meet these chaps again.

Birds I sighted that day:

Large Cormorants

Tickle Flower Pecker

Greenish Warbler

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Purple Heron

Marsh Harrier

Egret

Spot Billed Pelican

Purple Moorhen

Brown Coucal or Greater Coucal

Purple Sunbird (female)

Red Wattled Lapwing

Spot Billed Duck

Grey Heron

Asian Koel (male)

Brahminy Kite

Pariah Kite/Black Kite

Some pics:

Greater Coucal
Pelican
Warbler
Purple Heron

vinnapama vilapama (విన్నపమా విలాపమా?)

T shirthesithi Jeans thodigithin mahaa jakettule mosithin
Burgarlun Pizzalu mesavithin swethangi vaddinpaga
soupul beerulu thravithin ruchulu dosambanchu ponadithin
thandree mahagrajaa dayaraada mrudupanya nirvyapaaripy
THandree it is fatherland in west
mahaagrajaa ---big brother
mrudupanya nirvyaparipy---software unemployed
i request my personal steno (sln) to edit and rewrite this along with the original పోఎం


HENCE

personal steno (sln) edited and rewrote as well as wrote as follows:---

టీ షర్టేసితి జీన్స్ తొడిగితిన్ మహా జాకెట్టులే మోసితిన్
బర్గర్లున్ పిజ్జాలు మెసవితిన్ శ్వేతాంగి వడ్డింపగా
సూపుల్ బీరులు త్రావితిన్ రుచులు దోసంబనుచు పోనాడితిన్
తండ్రీ మహాగ్రజ దయరాదా మృదుపణ్య నిర్వ్యాపారిపై?
శ్వేతాంగి= white limbed (white woman)
తండ్రీ =father (land)
మహాగ్రజ = big brother
మృదు= soft
పణ్య= something that can be sold(ware)
నిర్వ్యాపారిపై= on the unemployed (nir vyapari pi)

The above is a parody on what poet Sreenadha (An egotistical Megalomaniac great poet) had written when he visited the backward Karnataka (those days!).
Now we see a software guy-- out west, out of a job-- praying in the same vein.
here is the original for yr reading pleasure--

కుళ్ళాయుంచితి కోకచుట్టితిని మహాకూర్పాసమున్ దాల్చితిన్
వెల్లుల్లిన్ తిలపిష్టమున్ మెసవితిన్ విశ్వస్త వడ్డింపగా
చల్లా యంబలి త్రావితిన్ రుచులు దోసంబంచు పోనాడితిన్
తల్లీ కన్నడరాజ్యలక్ష్మి దయ లేదా ఏను శ్రీనాధుడన్

I wore a headdress (pagdi), wore a saree and had that piece of cloth draped over my body ( the traditional kannada dress being made fun of by Sreenadha)

I ate garlic and the til cake (sesame cake after oil extraction)--{was that a traditional Kannada breakfast?} --that too when served by a widow! (widows were looked down upon in those days-particularly in Andhra Brahmin families)

drank buttermilk with ragi ambali (sangati)--{even today in Bangalore hotels you can get Ragi mudda ( these were dry crops looked down upon by the rice eating delta poets)} and gave up on thinking about tasty food-in fact I felt that it is a sin to think of Tastes.

O kannada rajyalakshmi! my mother! please show mercy on me, Sreenadha!


and to finish it off, let me tell you that he died a pauper, owing taxes and punished by the king.
Pride always goes before a fall! But he was a great poet and enjoyed a lavish life.

Overdue

Bandwagon? Dailies? Next is what? Gopal babai, don't let those daughters be like Bharavi's father- express away!

Kindle review

After test driving it for a week, I give it a rating 4/5 for what it is trying to do, be a replacement to a plain and simple book.

Positives:
Easy on eyes for reading -- did not feel any extra tiring than a regular book
Decent page size - about the size of a small paperback
Excellent battery life
Easy to add clippings, comments and bookmarks - a nice feature consolidates all your highlights for a quick recollection of key points
Instant gratification - Buy a book and start reading it in seconds, better than a bookstore or waiting for the book to ship
In-built dictionary - no more searching for meanings
Books backed up to your Amazon account

Negatives:
Monochrome screen
Not all books supported
Not very easy to "flip" to a page
Having to be careful, especially in the "throne room"
Having to shut off during takeoff and landing -- No electronic devices
Expensive books - Can't buy books for 25c at the local library, $1 at the used bookstore and no eBay
Easy to overspend - impulsive buys
Bad text-to-speech : very monotonous
Supports only audible.com audiobooks
Books backed up to your Amazon account

This is my quick assessment based on the two books I read so far. I like the fact that I can easily change books and go from some serious reading to some pulp fiction with a click. I also like the amount of luggage space saved when I travel. I just don't like having to buy books at $10 a pop:-(

A new year and a new blog

A new blog iAditya has been launched today. It is a private, invite only blog. Check your emails for the invite.
The blog is being narrated by Aditya and typed by me for the time being, although I hope that state of affairs does not continue for long.

Sankranthi

Happy new year.There is a good chunk of Singampallis here representing 3 generations.2 born in Singampalli family (Krupa, SSV), 1 born to Singampalli(Aditya), 3 brought into Singampallis( myself, Srinivas and Sudha).On behalf east and west parts of the family we invite the KOTHA DAMPATHULU(madhava along with vidya) for sankranthi here to the Bay Area.