India - Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence in India is really a serious problem which no one even wanted to acknowledge, forget about addressing it. When the law is made and implemented by Men, you cannot expect the problem to be taken seriously. With more and more women getting good education as a result of 33% reservations in education and women becoming politically active at local governing bodies (the actual number of women in local administration is 42% now) this is slowly changing. The new Domestic Violence law is another step forward in wiping off the gender discrimination in the country.
With the negative press the Law is attracting, the answer Renuka Chowdary (Central Minister responsible for bringing out the law) gave is right on spot.
These guys don't want to talk about the Violence, but are ready to question about the effectiveness when something is actually being done about it.


Q ) With the chances of compromise coming down as a result of easy recourse to law, will the institution of marriage in India be affected?

A ) I want to know what is the institution of marriage. That we beat our women, burn them, ask for dowry, have forced sex, drink and slap them around, deny them property rights, don't include them in decision-making, force them to have abortions under amniocentesis, indulge in female infanticide, female foeticide...is this our home? Is this why we get our girls married? Is this her lot in life? I don't agree with any of it. It's because homes have failed, because individuals are able to perpetuate this horror on other individuals that I am forced to step in. And I am not saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing - I am saying this is the way forward - respecting partners, understanding each other.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/347817.cms

Google Master Stroke

A number of Google products are hyped beyond the practical utility that particular product brings in. And there are way too many products to list, which are there just because Google can develop them.
But this one has far reaching effects on the Big Picture, like their search does.

From the advertisers point of view it is plain simple, the tools Google provides are so simple to use , it makes it very easy to run an ad campaign. Even for the smallest of the companies with out spending big bucks. Probably all they need to come up with is a block of text, unlike other advertising platforms, where they have to come up with a strategy, slogan, a banner or potential time slots and potential locations on a web page etc... Its not too complex, but there is work to be done. and we do not even know if some one is looking a you ad in case of ads in other media outlets. Here is where Google ads work, its so easy to place an advertisement, change the text, analyze the results... you don not even need to talk to a soul.

Now that Google has this huge client base who already established relations with them, what can they do with the good will. Well, you have the answers now. It's in print now, Then it would be radio and of course on the television not too far from now. Google has this audio and video capabilities, that the customers can just upload the stuff and probably select the time slots based on the price and the location, pick the one that suits you most and Voila, its ON. It is all automated.

It's same principles that work with customers, that work with the advertisers too. Travel agents are extinct species, because you can search and find the right flights and hotels yourselves instead of relying on what some one else sees on their database. You do it all yourself with out need to worry about explaining some one where you want to go and how flexible you are etc... You have the information then and there..

It probably makes it easier for the small publishers and radio networks and local television channels who are not part of any big chains, even pod casters and video unloaders to generate revenues.

Google, It's the future of advertising. And the money in advertising is unlimited.

Technology -

Technology can make the far feel near. But it can also make the near feel very far.
- Thomas Friedman Nov 1st '06

Chandrababu Naidu - The Visionary

What about Babu? While NTR was the supremo of the TeluguDesam Party, he is one of the two son-in-laws, who used to take care of the party matters, while NTR is busy with the government.

While it's undeniable fact that it was largely, NTR and his charisma that is responsible for the dramatic victory in the 1982 election with in six months of starting the party with no structure and no grass root workers. Once the party is in power, Babu contributed largely for building up the party and developing a political organization from the grass roots level.

Once he is in the power for various reasons, he changed the politics of the nation, at least part of it. It's not about caste equations any more. It is about development. It is about progress. He might be the first politician in Indian politics, who won the elections with 'progress' as the slogan. He won the elections with out populist schemes like 2Rs/Kg rice and free electricity for farmers OR emotional issues like 'Telugvadi Atma Gourvam/ Pride of Andhra', 'Mandal' or 'Ram Janmabhoomi' OR on a sympathy wave.

Did any one imagine competition between 'Bangalore' and 'Hyderabad' to woo foreign investment? Chief ministers like Digvijay of MP, Naveen Patnaik of Orissa, Krishna from Karnataka, Jaya from TN were fiercely competing against each other, working hard to improve the image of their respective states and prove that they are the best.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Hyderabad was nothing before Babu. In fact they used to get the supplies, right from Medicines to Groceries to Clothes from the Business Capital of the State, Vijayawada. Any one from the city would vouch for the turn around that Babu brought to the capital city. His efforts to make Hyderabad, the next singapore were there for all to see. In addition to all the IT companies it was his conscious efforts to bring the biotechnology companies, Institutes of higher education like IIIT and ISB, to the sports, to the tourism, the infrastructure. His efforts to bring F1 to hyderabad, make it a shopping destination like Dubai, efforts to make it a air transportation hub with Sahara, bring in world class sports center IMG Bharata to prepare Indian youngsters to compete at the global level.

Not just that, the way he worked on the infrastructure with the improved quality of roads every where in the state, making sure the state is a front runner in the early adoption of mobile phones, His efforts to empower the woman with self serving working groups 'DWCRA', And involving the people in the development process with visionary programs like JanmaBhoomi encouraging the citizens to contribute for the infrastructure and making matching grants, SramaDanam with citizens actually providing physical labour cleaning up the water streams and lakes, building roads etc... Raitu Bazaars to cut the middle men looting the farmers and providing them a platform to sell their own goods and make it cheaper for the consumers.. His contribution to Law and Order and Admnistration by giving powers to the Police Commisioners and District Collectors to work with freedom shielding them from political pressures. His unannounced visits to any government office at any time catching them off guard alerted all the government offices to work in a disciplined environment.

His efforts to bring in IT into every government wing computerizing records to decrease corruption and delays. His reforms in production and distribution of electricity are unparalleled. His efforts to bring higher education to the masses changed the lives of many.

Being a post graduate in Economics, most of his initiatives have long term objectives. His principals are right out the Economics text books. Don't give the fish to the poor, give the net. In India 75% people live in villages and work in agriculture related industries and contribute only 25% of the GDP. He tried to move people from lesser productive agriculture related industries to newer industries like Biotech and IT related industries. There are many more things he tried to make impact like drip irrigation, inkudugunthalu to rise the underground water level and SEZs for other industries.

Not all good things last for ever, you have a drought for 3 consecutive years and you know what happens. Crops get effected people get effected, and people need solutions now. Not tomorrow. And then 'populist' schemes work. Congress leader walked 1600 km across and promised free electricity to the farmers. People want Food and Water and NOW and can not care about the progress we are making over all. We can not fault any one. Things happen. It's a pity how the current government is working. And look at Babu, he has put on the politician Mask and is all out for a dirty war or mud slinging.

He might have been corrupt and might have stole a lot of money for himself. But he is also a visionary and have a great vision for the future of Andhra Pradesh. Swarnandhra as he called it in Vision 2020 document, may be the first by an Indian government to set such long term goals instead of populist measures to hang on to the power. I hope he would come back to power, and when he is back, he stops talking politics and continue his great work.

Ram Gopal Varma

I would say Ram Gopal Varma is the catalyst for changing the face of Bollywood. Not just in the creative aspects, but also in the business sense. Before Ramu, there were many acclaimed directors, many acclaimed producers, many acclaimed writers. But story telling was not what used to drive the industry. It was all what the industry calls as 'proposal making'. The producer will go around to find who is the IN hero, IN director, IN music director etc... and it's about stars and making money. Then ascended Ramu for the south. Successful or unsuccessful, his movies are about telling a story than about star value or music or gloss. And that set the wheel in motion with other willing to do movies that are not bound by commercial constraints. The came the big push, that put the industry on a race car. Ramu, the producer. Probably the first time in India, movies are being produced by a 'Creative' person who understands cinema and not by deal makers. He started giving directing opportunities to his assistants who are also driven by story telling. Though he is not highly successful overall, that opened the gates. Yash Chopra's yashraj, Yash Johar's Dharma productions, Ghai's Mukta, Bhatt's Visesh films, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Shankar and Maniratnam (wow, that was a list) also got into production. They are the best and they are the most successful directors. They know the talent of their assistants, they drive the projects and the change in the quality of cinema is for all to see. Indian Cinema has made a big leap.
I think with out the fearless Ramu, taking the big stride to become a producer, Indian Cinema would not have come this far.

Two telugu personalities

I was checking the blog of Janus Friis (creator of Kazaa and skype) and came across this term 'disruptive technology', technolgy that is responsible for a paradigm shift making the existing technology obselete. Good.

May not be totally related, but that reminded me of two telugu personalities who brought change that was 'disruptive' in India.
Ram Gopal Varma and Chandrababu Naidu.

I'd follow up on why I think they are important.

Web based apps vs Desktop apps (Take Two)

Wow!!
I was talking about this earlier on which of the two is better.
And i said i think there is a middle ground i believe is the way to go.
And you've got it.

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Apollo

This new run time (??) would do exactly that.

The developers need to develop flash based or html based (and more) applications and they can be run on this Apollo run time. (like java run time).
The good about this platform is the interface is not constrained by the web browser, you have access to desktop resources, its cross platform.

It sounds like it is the future of apps.
Can't wait to see the beta and the products.

USA - Then and Now

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/09/emails.1967/index.html

What is so right about Google??

What is it that makes people love Google so blindly. Why do people lose objectivity when Google or even Apple is in the picture.

Apple and Google are great companies with a lot of innovation and marketing and most importantly some great products. But that doesn't make them invincible. Are they?

Though Google is churning out a number of unsuccessful products like a factory that are supposed to change the world, no one mentioned the lack of integration of all these features and lack of a common thread that connects these dots, every one gives it to Google and assumes that Google knows something that other mortals doesn't even comprehend and would surprise every one, until the CEO himself came out and said they are going in a wrong direction and mentioned the need to have features, not the products.

Until yesterday, when google bought You Tube, for a crazy 1.65 billion dollars. No one in the world said or though, that a company with 67 employees and no business model to generate revenues is worth even a fraction of that. Now once this unthinkable happened, people assume google knows what it is doing and even comment that news corp got myspace for a paltry 600mil??

What did you Google see in YouTube that is worth 1.65 billion dollars. Definitely not the technology, since they have their own video site, which is pretty good, if not great. Users? I don't know. I don't know what it is.. Nobody does, every one speculates what can be the reason.

Many are trying to guess something that would make sense out of this deal. I don't see anything that is worth 1.65 bil, unless it starts generating revenue 'yesterday' . I don't even want to go into the copyrights issue. Is it just because they have money that is lying there unused, they just fell like spending so much? In good intentions for the share holders, I wish they really have something up their sleeve, that works like magic.

I Like this Video... Innovative

India Shining???

We see the articles every day on how Indian economy is booming like there is no tomorrow. And how great a super power we are going to be in all the news papers and web sites. But we all know the reality that hides behind this.
It is quite cotrasting that you can get a 15Rs aquafina (pepsi co) and kinley (cocacola co) and other branded mineral water in every nook and corner of the country, but how difficult it is to get some clean water in the pipes even in the most affluent areas...
When would India be a great place for every one to live happily with all the basic amenities like water, shelter, food, clothing, hygeine, education and self respect.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/world/asia/29water.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=0059effdd12b7233&ex=1317182400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

EDIT:
Another article from nytimes on india water crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/asia/30water2.html?hp&ex=1159675200&en=d2aae862bcec6ce9&ei=5094&partner=homepage

You are being watched

It has to happen, it happened.
AOL accidentally released the searches performed by it's users on the web. And it pulled them out quickly. It was enough time for people to download that info and mirror it everywhere. And if you look into those searches you'd really get scared.
the identity of the user is not revealed. But each user goes by an ID. I guess they track these users based on browser cookies.
You can understand why the Govt. is requesting this kind of information, there are people out there who doesn't have right intentions.
Most of the big companies submitted their saved searches but Google complains that it is unethical and Govt is crossing the line in doing that. And google has become sort of hero in every ones eyes. Good for us.
But why in the first place should these companies store these search queries with out any warning, with out informing the users. Is it ethical for these companies to store such information? How is it different from recording all your phone conversations? How is it different from taking your photographs or video with out telling you? Is it not Un ethical?? It is a blatant abuse on privacy.

But what is ethical and what is not decided by us. It is decided by the big guys :)

Web based apps vs Desktop apps

While google is trying to move apps from desktop to the web. Microsoft is attempting to bring some of them right back on to the desktop. At least one of them, that is online blogging with a desktop publishing - Live Writer

I think there is middle ground for this 'every thing on the web' vs 'everything on the desktop'. That is, to have light weight zero foot print clients on the desktop and have the information on the server. In that way you could use both the power of processing and rich user interface at the desktop and have your preferences and data at the server. You can have nice interfaces with out getting into the limitations of web based technologies like flash and AJAX standards. And you can have access your data every where.

British rule in India

I have seen a discussion in one of the forums about what are the +ves and -ves from british rule-- there are people who think that british rule has done good to the country by giving railways, administration etc...

Only thing that came out of British Rule is INDIA.
The Identity of an Indian. The Unity of Indians under one flag.
There were 565 princely states that were put together by Sardarji.

the misconception the british gave us railways, postal system and electricity are bullshit. they would have come to India anyways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_past_GDP_(PPP)

%share of India in world gdp
1 AD 32.9 rank1
1000 AD 28.9 rank1
1500 AD 24.5 rank2
1600 AD 22.9 rank2
1700 AD 24.4 rank1
1820 AD 16.0 rank2
1870 AD 12.2 rank2
1950 AD 4.2 rank?
1973 AD 3.1
current 6.3

It is in the 1700s that the colonial rule started...
SO.. what do you think??
they just looted us.. we missed the industrialization bus because of them...
********************
And some intelligentsia say that the british gave us English, which is the most precious thing ever... and we are on our feet only because of english...
Hmmm....


chinese can't speak english..
German can't speak english
japanese can't speak english
french can't speak english

And they are in the top 5 economies.
english is offical lang only in 5 countries.. with less than 5% of world population
*********************

MS partners got Zunk'd

MS announced zune. And what is the response from the blog community??
All the web is resonating with articles and opinions on how the MS partners are zunk'd.

Strange, no body knows for sure what this zune is about. What constitutes zune?
And these kids are already writing swan songs for the microsoft partners and their players.
Saying that Microsoft would stop supporting them.. (MS stop supporting Windows Media Player?? Can any one think about that happening? -play for Sure' is nothing more than a marketing campaign)

Stranger thing is that people claim, MS can gain the market share only from their partners and not from apple. Or at least they say zune would have to step over the MS partner players before it can challenge ipods.

There is not word yet from MS on what kind of players they would be releasing. flash or hard disk?? what is the price range. 100 or 400?? What kind of service they would be providing?

Above all, not even a single partner complained about the Zune yet. So what is the problem for these bloggers? Why do they care so much for the small time mp3 players? Or are they afraid that MS would be a strong competitor for their favourite Ipod. Why is the rush to write off MS. Let's wait for the MS to announce the details of ZUNE.

MS Haters

I see a lot of people don't like Microsoft, for the trouble they had gone through using windows. Windows is a very good OS for sure in terms of functionality and usability. The problem is with the security. With spyware, viruses and popups. It is perfectly alright not to like MS.

But people call MS evil for a lot of things. Which doesn't make sense.
One major complaint every one has is that MS killed Netscape by providing IE for free. That is ridiculous. MS is in business and not in charity. If some one introduces a new application, it doesn't mean MS has no right to build a competitor?
If Netscape is that great, people would still have used Netscape as it is also a free software for most of the users. People simply didn't bother because Netscape doesn't give them any thing great.
What has stopped Microsoft from killing firefox. They couldn't. Simply because firefox is simply a better application and had a better marketing strategy to outfox MS. The same people have introduced thunderbird mail application and a calendar. They didn't take off, since they didn't have much for users to move from their outlook applications. Simply MS has a better product here and is providing what the users wanted.
May be if google comes up with a better online office suite, atleast consumer market would go for it even if MS provides office with Vista for free. If openoffice is as good as they claim it to be, what is stopping the users from using it, at least in the consumer market if not in the corporations. I've used it a while ago, when openoffice is not upto the mark. I cannot comment on th quality now. If they really have a great product rivaling MS, they simply lack proper marketing skills. If they don't have money, they can go viral, just like firefox did. Same with Linux machines. You cannot put the blame on MS, for their own failure.

bigamy illegal

based on indian religious personal laws
a muslim can marry more than one woman. And a Hindu cannot. If a hindu guy marries twice, he would be put in jail.

where in the scriptures that bigamy is prohibited for hindus. most of the gods have atleast 2 wives. so why this discrimination against hindus. marriage is a personal choice and if all the parties agree, a guy should be allowed to marry two woman and vice versa.

genuine doubt.
What say??

EDIT: This is to point out the stupidity of Indian SICKular (i.e. pseudo secular) politics. Even the islamic countries like pak, iraq, turkey etc. are reforming their laws and doing awy with such stupid clauses. But India, cannot dare touch the muslim law.

Why blame Pakistan, when we have people like Mulayam

"I feel that considering the opposition of the local people, the police station should be built in a cosmopolitan area where there is a mix of Hindus and Muslims. The present location has 100 percent Muslim population," - Samazwadi Party MP Abu Azmi

Look at the argument, so now we can't even open up a police station where we want??? Is it a bar or prostitution house?? This statements is given after Two policemen were allegedly lynched by a mob after two persons died in police firing in his textile town during a violent protest against construction of a police station next to a mosque.

************
"SIMI is not a terrorist organisation. Some of its members may be involved in terrorist activities and action should be taken against them," Samajwadi Party state general secretary and state PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav


SIMI is a terrorist organization banned for last 5yrs by the central government. Both by BJP led and Congress led governments. SIMI is widely believed to be against secularism, democracy and nationalism, keystones of the Indian Constitution. SIMI maintains that these concepts are antithetical to Islam. Its slogan is "Allah is our Lord, Qur’an is our constitution, Muhammad is our leader, Jihad is our way and Shahadah is our desire". SIMI believes that Osama bin Laden is an outstanding example of a true Mujahid, who has undertaken Jihad on behalf of the 'ummah'. They also blame the 9/11 attacks on Israel's Mossad.

***********
The Kerala Assembly, meeting at a special session on Holi, passed a unanimous resolution calling for setting free the same Islamist extremist on parole. We are speaking about Abdul Nasser Madani, the alleged mastermind of serial blasts in Coimbatore on February 14, 1998, in which 58 people lost their lives. "Had the Assembly claimed that Madani was innocent and wrongly incarcerated, it would have been understandable. But calling for the parole of a person charged with terrorism is nothing but crass opportunism and amounts to - however leery we may be about the term - minority appeasement."

************

Sorry state of Indian politics in the name of secularism

Second Green Revolution in India

60% percent of Indian work force rely on agriculture and related industries.
And yet they contribute to 20% of the Gross Domestic Product.

There is clearly skewed. A lot of Indian farmers are committing suicides unable to pay their debts as the crops are failing. Crops fail not just because of lack of rain, but many other reasons contribute to it. Even the crops are good, they won't get the right price for it as the indian agriculture industry is segmented and unorganised and the sellers (the farmers) have a little say on what they get for their yields.

So there is a definitive need for an organized agriculture sector, putting right crops in right reason in right places, get higher yields with proper use of technology , proper distribution channel. small farmers do not have the knowledge or have enough resources available, even if they have te knowledge, they would ntot be able to affor them. Corporations should come into agriculture.

Increase the productivity and then make fewer people rely on agriculture. Develop alternate industries that require man power and make use of the people displaced from agriculture.

Looks like Mukesh Ambani is stepping in the direction. Hopefully he leads the coutry all the way to successful results.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1740294,0002.htm

Da Vinci Code banned

in Punjab, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Andhra after being cleared by the Censor board and the union government.

It may hurt religious sentiments of Christians.

Rome doesn't have a problem showing this movie and it became biggest block buster in Italy's history.
But the great secular Indian states with less than 1% Christian population ban the movie.

Way to Go!!!

Apple and Google

IPod and Google Search are great products to start with.
They created these markets and are the leaders.
But now we have other players who offers better products.
But the market share of these products keep growing.
the notion is that their simplicity is the key selling point.
But I say it is all marketing. Free publicity. First mover advantage.

Ipod shuffle is a BULL product, but it sells better than other cheaper flash players with a display, FM transmitters and SD slots to upgrade memory.
Yahoo Music and Napster gives you a better music download plans for the real music buffs.

And coming to search, Yahoo gives you better functionality, fewer clicks, social networking in search, great shortcuts,
and wonderful 'also try' feature and many more. But google is growing bigger and eating up yahoo search's mkt share. (firefox and DELL are also major influencers by bundling ;))

That is because these names have become synonyms for what they do.
People plan to buy IPods, they don't plan to buy 'MP3 Players'
People don't search, they google.

Most of them I believe don't even explore further. They just go straight to them!!!

Greatest Leader of Modern India

Mahatma Gandhi is a great leader and so is Nehru. People say Bose is also a great leader. But after reading few articles on Unification of India post independence, it's got to be Sardar Vallabhai Patel the most important person and the greatest leader of modern India.

Sure, Gandhi has brought the entire nation to fight against the British with the most powerful weapon, non violance that is. Nehru had a great role in building India after hundreds of years under the foreign rule. Bose is a great freedom fighter who wants to settle with nothing but independence. But there were some loose ends, and British might have given us the independence sooner or later with or with out Gandhiji. And many of the freedom fighters might have filled in the place of Nehru with out any problems. Bose anyways couldn't contribute much to Nation in the end.

But Patel, is the one who is responsible for the boundaries of what we call india now. He was the person responsible for the political integration of india from a staggering 565 princely states. Imagine having an independent states of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Travancore (kerala) and having jodhpur indore and jaisalmer as a part of Pakistan. I could imagine what could have happened in such a scenario. Another Africa??
Thanks to the great Iron Man of India. We all are Indians. We are ONE.

Boot Camp

So the fizz is gone - 10% increase in AAPL share price in one session. What were they thinking??

It is easy to get lost in this Apple euphoria and forget the reality.

For the business desktops, the IT guys are not even ready to install a patch fast enough fearing compatibility. Moving to Macs is very very far away.
And as for the business servers, forget it. With Vista looking to provide virtual Linux on their servers, even independent Linux vendors should watch out. Mac Servers, only in dreams.

And for the home users, the reality is simple, Mac is way too expensive. They can increase their mkt share by a couple of percentage points slowly. Nothing more than that. You cannot expect Ipod phenomenon to happen with Mac. Dell offers a lot of value for this market. You can get a Dell PC with large flat screen for just $399. And when it comes to the number of applications available and the things you can do with these systems, it is not even a contest.

Letting people run Win on a Mac is like 1 step. Virtualization with leopard enabling Mac/Win run in parallel would be a leap. But the real stroke would be to let Mac OS run on PCs.

నేను సైతం

తెలుగు తల్లికి సమిఠనొక్కటి ఆహుతిస్తాను

One Laptop Per Child

MIT is working on a laptop that would cost a $100 and it plans to sell it to 3rd world govts in bundles of 1 million., which they expect the govts. to distribute to the poor kids and aid them in learning and being creative. And it charges by a crank shaft. You need to rotate the crank for 1min to get a 10min charge. And they can do everything a regular laptop can do. It doesn't have storage space. And it creates an adhoc wireless n/w with the other machines in the vicinity. If one of them is connected to the internet, every one can access the web.

Hmmm.. They don't know the 1st thing about the "3rd world". Thier intentions might be good, but this is just an expensive idea that is going to fail. The reason, nobody cares. There is nothing that this poor third world kids would learn from the web, that would help them in their lives. In anycase, who is going to teach them, who is going to support the networks, what do they use it for, is there any curriculum that is developed to make use of these new equipment, how long would some one hold to their laptop. there are too many questions.

its making wide publicity that google is supporting this project. They gave a $2 million to the research. that's like pocket money to buy candies for google. It's good, but its not something we can say that google is backing the project. to me it looks like, giving money because you can, not because u believe.

Any day, this top down approach wouldn't work. As google says, we should create solutions to the problems. In this case they are creating a solution and then mapping it to an imaginary problem that do not exist. You need to go into the interiors to know what these kids need, giving them something that don't even care about creates an overtime job for the spiders in the warehouses.

Google buys writely!!

That's a great news. Google bringing more and more stuff to the web. Google seems to have the grandest plans.
It's not just looking to compete with office products.
But they might be work to some extent. If it is doing all this for the online advertising revenue, it would work for sure.
If they are out to kill office, then forget it - it would not happen.

I see a problem in having such grand plans, it takes time. A lot of time. And god only knows what would be the state of the technology in five yrs time. It would work. But it can not become the market leader.

Pity us Indians!!

Andhra Pradesh State legislative body passed a resolution in the state Assembly, condemning the cartoons published on the prophet in Denmark.

And then silence follows when muslim terrorists planted bombs in the holiest of holy hindu city, inside a hindu temple packed with devotees killing more than 15 innocent piligrims and seriously injuring many more.

Does this happen any where in the world, or any time in the history??
Is this Secularism??
How low can politicans stoop??

Damn Minority Appeasement.

Every True Indian should be ashamed, including muslims.

R U excited about Origami??

You bet I am!!

There is definetely scope for another PC form factor. This is going to be huge hit with business users.

It can play music, It can take pictures and above all it runs a full featured OS with all the productivity applications and also your favorite web browser. Exactly what is prescribed for the enterprise customer!! Best solution when you are on the road.

As clearly stated by microsoft, it is not an ipod killer (there are many ipod killers on the way - check with me same time next year), it is not a replacement of the smart phones or the laptops (with a wireless connection it could very well blow them off).

3 things if taken care of would make it a blockbuster.
price tag around $500-$600
seamless connectivity with dummy proof setup (wifi AND wirelesss n/w, aided with bluetooth)
atleast 8 hrs battery life.

Bush Visits India - SO WHAT????

Ok agreed! Bush is a very powerful person. But why the is that so important for everyone India.

Its disgusting to see some of the articles that are being published. He is every where in the newspaper. And even if he farts, that becomes a headline.

Some of the NEWS
>> Bush eager to eat indian mangoes
>> Aishwarya Rai misses the luncheon in honor of Bush
>> 10 people get the rare oppurtuniy to talk to the president bush at ISB
>> Laura Bush distribute pens in a TV show set. (some one said to a newspaper that it is very touching :o)
>> Bush to visit indian village and watch the farmers milking the cows.

It sucks when people in india treats him like he is from another world. He doesn't have respect in his own country. he is no Abdul Kalam. he is just another politician like laloo prasad yadav. he doesn't have a charming personality for the least to admire him. he is not a great leader promoting world peace.

I don't understand why the are making so much about his visit. And I pity those people who refer to him as 'the president' and laura as 'the first lady'. India is a soveriegn country and Bush is not our president. We should show theese people the kind of recpetion Manmohan Singh would get if he goes to USA.

Bird Flu in India

Bird Flu arrived in India. First cases were found in chickens in maharashtra. Looks like govt. has taken the issue seriously and a lot of action is going on and rightfully so. 500000 chicken in 1.5 km radius would be killed immediately.

Bird Flu is not just a regular flu. It is deadly, it can spread to humans and can spread very rapidly. There is no medicene for now.
It is dangerous than AIDS. It has more potential to clear out nations more than any act of terrorism or war. Like plague in the middle ages. If it starts spreading there is no stopping atleast for now.

Hope it wouldn't happen.


UPDATE:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/15/birdflu.cost/index.html

Prophet's Cartoons!

The cartoons published by the denmark newspaper offended the muslims all over the world. They are offensive 'TO' muslims and they have every reason to get offended.

But Reaction???
It's ridiculous. Their reaction is wayyy tooo excessive and stupid.

Who drew the cartoons? who published the cartoons?
It's a small time news paper in Denmark.

Who are you blaming??
The entire western community!

Does it make any sense??
Protesting all over the world?? Burning Embassies?? Banning Western Products??
Warning of another holocaust and ethnic cleansing??

Where do we go from here?? THere is so much hatred filled in their minds, NO reason can stand this hatred.

We're DOOMED for sure.

NOTE: There were cases where images of Hindu gods printed on the underwear, sandals, toilets etc.. And we're offended. We got angry. And there were protests against the companies. But what was the response. Indian government moved the concerned companies and made them withdrew the products and made them apologize. Makes sense??

By the way did they ever watch SOUTH PARK?? Did they ever see how Jesus Christ was made fun off? It would start the WWIII in a second, going by this reaction, if it was Prophet in Jesus place.

Sonia Amma

Most disugsting things are happening in Andhra politics, and no one complains.

I am talking about telangana. Whether there is a need for telangana or not is a different issue.
But the way the politicans are behaving, both Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Congress, is really amazing.
Every congress leader with out shame, proudly says that the decision on Telangana is left entirely to their amma SONIA.
WTF, what does she know about telangana. Does she even know any thing about India in the first place. Forget andhra and telangana, can she even tell the difference between andhra and tamil nadu in the firstplace?? Did she ever spoke out a single word on the issue. And the KCR of telangana rashtra samithi has no problems with that. Even they with out shame says that SONIA is great and she would give them Telangana. Again, WTF, who is she to give telangana?? Is there any word called self esteem? He can bad mouth every telugu leader from the current chief minister to the ex chief minister at the drop of the hat. But he doesn't have guts to even raise his voice against Sonia Amma??
If you think you really deserve telangana, be strong, with head high, fight for it and get it. Why the hell do one bow before some one to beg for or wait for a single persons decision on millions of people?

And who is sonia? Not the president, not the prime minister, not even a representative of the state?? I don't blame her. I have my sympathies with her, she might be even trying hard to be an Indian and understand India. We never know because she never speaks. When did she last expressed her opinion on any issue, how ever small it can be. But our *******ing leaders.. hmmm.. don't even go there!!

Intel Inside

Apple is working hard to improve its products. It is trying to increase its market share in the PCs. And it now got a powerful intel processor inside.
So what??? Who buys a Mac machine for speed?? Who is going to move from buying a dell machine to buy these new imacs and macbooks??
I'd say NONE.
People buy Macs, because they are cool. People buy Macs, because they are easy to use. People buy Macs, because they have the money to buy it.
So having an intel processor, does it effect any of these. NO.
Nobody cares if it has an intel inside or powerpc inside. No one bothered when the Mac gets heated up.
The only way to get into the Mass market is to make them inexpensive. Make them compete with PCs in the price.

All the marketing hoopla starting from the announcement in Developer's conference last year on moving from IBM to Intel, right to the release at the Macworld last week, it'd result in nothing. Absolutely Nothing!!!!

Top 10 Telugu Music CDs to own - 2005

Telugu Music seems to be faring much better when compared to the movies. There are atleast 10 more movies which have good songs like Jai Chiranjeeva, Bhadra, Bhageeratha, Athanokkade, Subash Chandra bose, bunny, allari pidugu, chakram, relax, radha gopalam, Andarivadu.

10 Manasu Mata Vinadu (Kalyani Malik)
Kalyani Malik is yet to make his mark. He definetely would. His music is also in the lines of RP. No nonsense. Tunes go with the mood of the lyrics.
Picks: Nuvvu Nijam, Nuvvu Maro Sari Anu

9 Good Boy (Vandemataram Sreenivas)
You got what you asked for. Any one who likes the songs of 6teens and Girlfriend would instantly love this youthful album. Dappu music at its best. Album is funny and silly. And draw smiles when you listen to some of the lines.
Picks: Yellow Maruthi, Namo Namo

8 Naa Alludu (Devi Sri Prasad)
Mass Mass Mass. These songs are what we can call Mass songs. Definetely would have become a rage with the masses had this movie hit the bulls eye. Kandi Chenu Kaada, Pattuko Pattuko Nannu Pattuko are what you need to give NTR to show off his dancing skills. All the songs are catchy. If not for the choice of the subject which makes you feel awkward you'll sure want to have this album.
Picks: Kandi Chenu Kada

7 Sada Mee Sevalo (Vandemataram Sreenivas)
When you think Vandemataram is gone and out, he shows he still has something left in him. May be it's the director's responsibility to get some good tunes out of him. Neelakanta does exactly that. And we got some hummbale songs. Who wouldn't want to say hello hello or sing Em navvulivile to stunningly beautiful Shreya in those sexy sarees.
Picks: Hello Hello, Lub Dub, Em Navvulivile

6 Athadu (Mani Sharma)
How come Mani gives best of the introductory songs to Mahesh. After Takkari Donga, this one is a great introduction song for Mahesh. The song sounds fresh and elevates the hero's character to new hights. Though "fighter" bit is a ripoff and makes you curse for marking the great song with a black spot.
Picks: Pilichina Ranantava, Adharaku

5 Balu (Mani Sharma)
Is it Mani or is it Pawan. How come all the movies of Pawan have absolutely fantastic music. And he definetely has a gift of choosing the right tune and lyrics. If the song is supposed to romantic it would be romantic. Neelo Jarige tantu ne choostune vunna - how romantic is that!! Hut Hut Ja - definetely make you wanna sing it aloud with some kind of aggression.
Picks: Hut Hut Ja, Neelo Jarige Tanthu.

4 Anukokunda Oka Roju (MM Keeravani)
How many kinds of music can Keeravani create. If sounds in one way in the Raghavendra Rao's movies. His music in movies like Okariki Okaru and Anukokunda Oka Roju sounds in a totally different way. Are MM Kreem and Keeravani one and the same. They definetely do not sound same. Without a doubt, he is a Master.
Pick: Needalle Tarumutu Vundi

3 Super (Sandeep Chouta)
Hip and trendy. Sandeep is a gifted music director. I am not sure why he is not being given many chances in the Bollywood. But for telugu he has given some great songs. Who can forget Ninne Pelladatha and Prema Katha. Mudduletti with techno punjabi beat is definetely fresh for telugu music lovers. All songs in the movie are good.
Picks: All songs, Mudduletti in specific.

2 Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (Devi Sri Prasad)
A flaw less album from Devi. Sirivennela give some extremely beautiful lyrics. How can he write such romantic lyrics at his age?? He is definitely a gift to the telugu films. I am yet to find a song written by him that has bad lyrics. Get me one if you can. Niluvaddamu ninu epudaina, nuvvu evvaru ani adigenaa?? Or Chandrullo vunde kundelu kindikochinda?? Or even Something Something.
Picks: Niluvaddamu, Something

1 Avunanna Kadanna (RP Patnaik)
R. P. Patnaik - Telugu industry misses you. RP is not a path breaking music director. He is not very innovative either. Nor does he brings new sounds to the board. But his Music has soul. You can feel the music. You can sing along. You can play them in your car and you can listen to them while you are busy doing something else with out getting disturbed. I keep going back to his old hits like Nee Sneham once in a while when I am in a romantic mood ;). Avunanna Kadanna falls into the same category. You never geet bored of the music.
Picks: Each and Every Song. Play it again and again.

Top 10 Telugu Movies 2005

I started of with the idea of compiling a the top 10 movies that his the silver screens for the year 2005. There are defintely more than 10 movies that have made good money at the Box Office. But qualitatively the list is much smaller. And I have not seen many of the movies people like to be innovative or good. So here we go...

I have not seen these movies which I rank in the top 10 based on what I heard. 10. Chakram for its intent, 9. A film by Aravind by going off the beaten path and 8. Premisthe for its emotional content. Also special appreciation for Mogudu Pellam of Dongodu, Sada mee Sevalo, Naa Oopiri and Danger. I wish they were released in Tamil first and dubbed into Telugu later on. I'm sure people would have liked those movies. ;)

7. Aparichitudu
Shankar's movie. All the hype about Vikram's action. There is nothing great about the acting. All three roles are overplayed. I do not find him convincing at all in any of the roles. Rules Ramanujam and the overblown brahmin backdrop gets on to your nerves. But it is still a Shankar's movie. The concept is excellent and the way the scenes are picturised is good. But this movie stumbles because of some unnecessary sequences.

6. Jai Chiranjeeva!!
Being at the TOP definetely has its price. People do not accept anything less than a flaw less non stop entertainment from Chiru. Jai Chiranjeeva falls short of that. Forget about the negative reviews or expectations. This one is pure entertainment, with good music, nice songs with trendy picturisation and great comic punches from the entire cast. But trying to cook a spicy biryani, the director has put one too many so called "commercial" elements. Also missing is a defined characterization for Chiru which is typical of Vijay Bhaskar's movies. The intent of showing an innocent villager who knew nothing about how the world works going across the world to take his revenge is not translated onto the screen. If you are not too critical about the missing things, this one is sure to entertain you for 3 Hrs. But it is time for Chiru to move on and stop doing movies with younger heroines. Chiru should pass on the responsibility to give mass masala movies to the younger lot and experiment with new characters.

5. Athanokkade!!
This movie once again proves, all you need to make a good movie is a passion for the craft. Combinations and Formulas are not the way to go. May be trailers revealed much of it. But for me who went into the movie with nothing to expect. This one is refreshing. Right from the peaceful dream like opening to the scene where the hero's mission is revealed. This one has freshness all over. The music is good. Kalyan Ram has to improve but looks like he has his head on his shoulders and has a passion to prove himself. This one too is not spared of some unnecessary scenes to elevate heroism.

4. Nuvvostanante Nenoddantaana??
Siddarth is the guy to watch out for!! He gives his all to bring the character to life. His energy made this movie a good one. Trisha is more hype than substance. Her exoressions are repetitve and she is only cute for a while. Music - is the movies best asset. Devi Sri is the guy with some talent. The best thing about his music, inspite of being high on beat and rich in orchestra, his songs always flow with the lyrics. That makes his music hummable and at the same time shake your leg. PrabhuDeva's direction and Venu's photography are poetic. Prabhu is the most modest film personality I have seen. He is sure going to go places. I have one complaint though. THis movie is a rip off, first half is Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam with the interval twist from Maine Pyar Kiya and the second half is Pyar kiya to darna kya.

3. Athadu
Mahesh's action, Trivikram's craft and Mani's background make the first half of the movie a dream. Mahesh has the charm and talent to portray this larger than life character. The way trivikram chose the dusty tinge for the action part of the movie is absolutely beautiful. Mani is brilliant with the back ground score. Especially when he walks toward Tanikella Bharani's men in the farm. Sure to pump up ur adrenaline. The other half of the movie with the family has nothing new and the romance is also not upto the mark. But the movie is good overall.

2. Ghajini
Full marks to the director to the director for succeeding in bringing the Memento to indian screens completely commercialized to get it work with our sensibilities. Surya is magnificient and teaches the rest of the younger lot a thing or two. Asin is fabulous. The movie has a very cute love story brought to life by the lead characters with charm. Asin's naughty attitude and surya's simple smile are enough to watch this movie. Music is great, picturisation of songs is great. The concept of short term memory loss is not utilized well and the climax is stale. With a little more care, this movie could have been a master piece.

1. Anukokunda Oka Roju
The news that this movie is not commercially successful even in the Urban areas tells one thing. This movie is ahead of times for telugu audience. This is a very very rare movie to hit telugu screens that really requires the audiences to use their brains. I was told that the audiences felt cheated with the way the movie ended. But they should have felt elated by the way the director has taken them for a ride. The director has intelligently incorporated the hints in the early part of the movie. The action part is also very well picturised in the busy streets. The movie has a ver natural look and doesn't give into any commercial constraints. Yeleti is the next Varma for telugu industry. Charmme is absolutely stunning and stole the limelight, but I thing Jagapati Babu is the USP of the film. After Anthapuram, this is one movie he would treasure. Oops!! I'm a sinner. This movies has so many good things, that I nearly forgot one important part. Music, Salutes to Keeravani.