Mastering the gloomy feeling!

I read a motivational article on the web. But I could not trace the link, so here is a brief of the learning that I had for the day.

There are times when you feel gloomy. This dejected feeling can hover over your professional and/or personal life. It is not easy to glide past it, unless you do something constructive about it. I was trying to find out how one could grow beyond this feeling with a positive approach.

It is Motivation. Motivation could be the vital weapon to combat the feeling of ‘feeling miserable’. Motivation can be developed and deployed for one's own sucess. People who demonstrate excellence have identified their motivations and worked hard to develop them. It is indeed a revelation that, if we slog in areas where we have low motivation, we resign ourselves to mediocrity. Without motivation you could be a mediocre! The first step to unlock one’s excellence is to know what one does well - naturally. And motivation can come from many angles and might vary from person to person.

Recently my wife asked me if I remembered the significance of that day. Immediate possibilities that came to my mind was our first meeting, marriage, birth days of different people; but then I wanted to check the date first. I checked the date and got to know that it was 24 March. Immediately it struck me.

Three years back, I joined TATA after the entrepreneurial venture with Mindwear. Even though we were not married then, it was nice to note that she knew that it was a noteworthy day in my life. The Chennai connection has been a pleasant one for me.

I was talking with my brother sometime back and just like that ended up talking about the huge opportunities that exists in Chennai. I stated that Chennai is a nice place to live and would not mind moving to, if an interesting option was available there some time down the line. He was not interested though. He revealed that my attachment towards Chennai could be because I had happy memories at Chennai. Then, I got to reach milestones in the professional and personal front. He was right! And that is what success can do to your thinking.

I guess it's time for me to get motivated! Let me do some soul searching... :)

The Graphical Space...

For the past 3-4 years, we have seen too many emerging Indian News broadcasting channels. I am particularly attached to two of them for peculiar reasons. The most peculiar reason being the Graphics element in them.

One of these news channels emerged from the days of “The World This Week” (aired every Friday nights) on DoorDarshan. I see that as the program which instigated my interests in getting to know about the happenings around the world. At that age all (if not all, at least me) one would really love to do was to play cricket all day, have lots of food in the night, watch Oliyum Oliyum, Buniyaadh and to hit the bed. But it was nice to see the then middle aged man, Pranoy Roy getting us news of all kinds from around the world. I am sure he must be a lover of tablas as his programs title-music was tabla based and that continues to be the same even today with his channel NDTV 24x7. I loved the way he ended up his program then with some interesting bloopers from all around the world.

Then followed his association with Star Plus and Star News, wherein New Delhi Television produced the program for the Star group. And today we see the same guy being instrumental behind India’s top news channel NDTV 24x7. And talking about NDTV's initiative towards Graphics, it has invested in a complete graphical solution from Discreet: High-end visual effects systems with inferno® and flame®, editing and finishing with smoke® and background media management with backdraft™ after the initial stint with 2D graphics.

And which is the second channel that I am attached to? CNN-IBN. It was quite clear that many of the NDTV work forces had moved onto setup this broadcasting channel spear headed by Rajdeep Sardesai. I was really surprised with the quality and content, with which the channel was aired for the first time. I am sure the graphical content is far better than CNN itself.

I keenly follow the nitty-gritty graphic details in both these channels. I liked NDTV’s red (or should I say maroon>) flavored theme. Even though CNN-IBN started of well with great graphics, one could easily find that it was a ditto of NDTV graphic sense. Later I got to know that most of IBN’s graphic specialists were moved from NDTV and that made sense. So what? Were the templates also moved and modified minimally? Though such questions came to my mind, I liked the graphics. But it was odd to see even the transition effects of text being the same on both the channels.

I was eagerly looking forward to either of them changing their graphic presentation style. And my wish was answered by NDTV. Yesterday they shredded their usual graphic presentation style. Usually the text portion which sports the headlines, translation and scrollers occupies a decent amount of space on the screen and only 70% of the screen space would be used for the video.

I personally feel that the change that has been brought about is so cool. The scrolling text and ads are at the bottom most of the screen and still readable. The 3 lines of scrolling text has moved out and now it's just one line. The translation text has a soft black background which pops up and dies whenever necessary. That makes sense as the additional space is consumed only when necessary. It suddenly makes me feel that my 29’ TV screen has grown taller!! That is what space can do! And thanks to NDTV for considering a few other colors than red for the bullets and column blocks.

On the contrary, the content has also gone down. Instead of having all at one shot – i.e., Scrolling of news, ads, weather info, stock, time etc., each news comes on to the screen and moves out gracefully and in a nicely categorized manner as well.

I just love it! IBN, it’s your turn now. Can I expect such simple innovations in the graphical space? Looking forward to such healthy competitions.

The Golden Touch...

Worked on couple of snaps taken during my house-warming cermemony in May 2005. I like the concept of projecting a unique color engrossed in a black and white background.

New Roads at Bangalore ...

I cannot digest the fact that IndraNagar roads are getting a face lift (literally) while other path ways (wouldn't call roads as there are no signs of it) which desperately requires a proper road, are being neglected.

It is nice to see the newly elected CM Kumarasamy, personally inspecting the quality of roads and projects executed. But the apathy of the administration to take notice of areas which very badly requires some roads is sad. I personally feel that another layer of tar on top of a well-laid road in IndraNagar was unnecessary while thousands of people suffer immensely due to the ordeal that they have to go through in commuting through rough terrains and dust. I wonder why I should be paying TAX when there is no development work scheduled for the area where I dwell. Though that should not be the mentality of a tax payer, you are forced to such thoughts because of the pain of sufferings day in and day out.

Take for instance the area where I live - Kaggadaspura II Phase. This road connects Kaggadaspura Phase I road with Vignan Nagar. This stretch has plenty of apartments, schools, hospitals, commercial spaces and a college run by the Shanti Charitable Trust (SCT College of Engineering). In spite of all these establishments and a heavy traffic flow, the road has been neglected.

The road is quite muddy and sports thousands of holes. Your body is painted with a layer of dust when you traverse through this road. Even a small stint of rain makes the road a highway to heaven. Apart from this there are drainage problems with sewage flowing onto the road.

It is pathetic to see old people and young school and college going kids who commute by foot, holding their lives in their hands. There is no platform for them to walk. And they are not given the space, as the bikers don't take the road fearing the holes and travel only on the edges of the road.

It is only a pity that these kinds of roads go unnoticed as they can no way compete with the roads of posh areas like IndraNagar. We even think that we can serve ourselves better if each house in that stretch contributes an amount for the road. But why the heck we pay taxes? Aren’t we eligible even for the basic and very minimal facilities that are due from the Government? Many of us feel that it is high time that the Governemtn re-prioritizes the latest initiative by first identifying and deploying roads that are in ICU (Inferiorly cared units) list.

We are not asking for a formula one racing tracks. All we are asking for is a road which would sustain rains and which would enable safe commuting. Hello, is anybody listening?

TN politics ... turning dirty!

This time around, Vaiko's MDMK is supposed to play a vital role in the elections in Tamil Nadu. No one might have thought that Vaiko would join hands with AIADMK.

DMK's supremo - M Karunanidhi sarcastically commented that had Vaiko stayed with them then it would have favoured Vaiko and he moving out of the alliance would infact favour DMK. But his supporters are already playing dirty politics with some back biting... Check out the poster on the left.

Video Highlights: SA beats Oz (Cricket / World Record)

South Africa beat Australia in the recently concluded one day series 3-2. The final match was upto every ones' expectation with the series levelled 2-2. Result: Almost 900 runs scored on a day which tumbled many-a-records. SA emerged as the side to have chased the most number of runs in an one day international cricket match.

Watch the highlights (video) of the match via Google...

Holi and its correlations…

Just like Holi, which is a colorful festival celebrated in India, the story behind celebrating a particular day of the year by hurling color powders and color water balloons at each other are a plenty. Holi is predominantly celebrated in North India. It brings home the lesson of spiritual and social harmony. Though it signifies the happy and colorful spring times ahead, people celebrate the same festival for many different reasons.

One version is that there was a bad guy (King) who got a boon from Lord Brahma that would restrict anybody to kill him. After getting the boon, the bad guy started advocating that he was the one and only Lord of the earth and pressed everyone to worship him. He had a son, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. When the King of the three worlds could not stop his son from praying Vishnu, he decided to kill him. And as the saying goes, God does not let go his true devotees. He comes to the help of the young boy and saves him.

The story ends like this … “Lord Vishnu incarnated himself as Narasimha (half-man, half-lion) to destroy Hiranyakashyap. The legend has it, that he used his nails to destroy Hiranyakashyap, at dusk (neither the day nor night), and at the front porch of the house (neither indoors not outdoors). Thus, he satisfied the conditions of Brahma's boon and destroyed the evil.”

All that comes to my mind after reading the story’s ending lines is the karrupu thangam (read ‘black pearl’), hero from the south: Vijayakanth. Have you ever seen him playing Narasimha and vociferously shouting ‘Narasimhaaaa…’? Amazing! :p

But in the Southern part of India, the story is different. The most commonly believed one is that, Lord Shiva was meditating and without knowing that he was meditating, the daughter of Himalayas wanted to strike cupids arrow at him. Shiva was enraged and destroyed Kama, reducing him to a heap of ashes. Who is Kama? She is the God of love. Later Shiva resurrects Kama on the request of Rati (Kama's wife) and Parvati.

When you correlate this story with Tamil Cinema, the one who comes to my mind is again, Vijayakanth. Only the hero of ‘Vanathaipola’ can have such a kind heart in undoing his vengeance on an enemy.

And guys, what is happening to his new political party? Election related politics is peak in Tamil Nadu and there is not much of news about Vijayakanth’s party; at least not in the Bangalore news papers. How about there?
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What a coincidence? I got a Captain's movie clip (funny stunt) from one of my friends...

Can you read this?

Another interesting forward....

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

Mirage!!

The picture released on NatGeo is an opticall illusion. You must have guessed the black spots on the image as Camels. They are not Camels, but their shadows.

Check them out by clicking here. This picture was taken from the top angle and therefore the camel is lean and the shadows are huge, resembling the actual animal. Logical!

Time Pass...

Tried illustrating Ganesha idol on my office desk using MS Paint. Ended it up with some simple rendering effects using PhotoShop. I thought it has been long since I touched base with some art work. Ofcourse, digital art. Here is the outcome of that. Left one is the original snap...

Divine Proportion and Life (via Phi)

I came to know about Phi and it's related contribution towards the divine proportion, from a friend. It is the harmony and glue that holds the unity of the universe.

The Divine Proportion was closely studied by the Greek sculptor, Phidias, and as a result, it took on the name of Phi. Also referred to as the Golden Mean, the Magic Ratio, the Fibonacci Series, etc., Phi can be found throughout the universe; from the spirals of galaxies to the spiral of a Nautilus seashell; from the harmony of music to the beauty in art. A botanist will find it in the growth patterns of flowers and plants, while the zoologist sees it in the breeding of rabbits. The entomologist views it in the genealogy of a bee, and the physicist observes it in the behavior of light and atoms. A Wall Street analyst finds it in the rising and falling patterns of a market, the mathematician in the examination of the pentagram.

Phi ... The only possible creative duality within Unity. It is the most intimate relationship, one might say, that proportional existence – the universe – can have with Unity, the primal or first division of One. For this reason the ancients called it ‘golden’, the perfect division, and the Christians have related this proportional symbol to the Son of God.

Just as pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, phi is simply the ratio of the line segments that result when a line is divided in one very special and unique way. i.e., Only when a line is cut into two sections at one significant and "magical" point!

Phi with an upper case "P" is 1.6180339887..., while phi with a lower case "p" is 0.6180339887.

Golden Links:

@ What is Phi? A quick learning.
@ The Golden number and the human body
@ The Golden Mean
@ The Fibonacci Series
@ The Golden Section in Art, Architecture and Music
@ The Golden Rule

Long time no see...

It has been long since I wrote something here. I went into hibernation because I was in no mood to write something. My father has not been doing well, my mom is managing with her magical strength to control things, my relatives are into lot of problems, nothing much happening at office but politics and not to forget my attempts at taking on certifications… all these have been holding me up from writing. Well not literally!

Let me test my memory. What was happening all this while?? Thinking hard...

- India beat Pakistan convincingly in the one day series.
- Bird flu caught up with India.
- Followed by the anti-Bush fever on his visit to India. The nuke deal went through!
- India struggled against England in the opening test.
- Narrowly missed from getting hit by a car.
- Summer has begun and water levels has gone down in my apartment.
- Gan moved to Seattle.
- Kavi scored 4.3/5 in her rating.
- Giri resigns from Wipro; to take up an offer from Cap Gemini.
- Prady celebrated his first anniversary.
- Bobby got married.
- Chella gets married and is off to UK.
- Shri got married (on mom's birthday).
- Uma's hunt has slowly started to gather mass.
- Brought home a couple of paintings for the living room.
- Myself: On and off on the fitness objectives.
- Wife lost her hand bag in a bizarre manner.
- Wife's sis reported about a possible rhematology problem.
- Didn’t sleep last night because of a power cut.
- Had Idlis for lunch.
- Getting sick of typing something, just for the sake of typing something.
- Gone are the days when I maintained a daily dairy.

Huh! F$%k my memory!!