Do's and Don'ts at Wild

I recently visited the Periyar Tiger Reserve and even though I wasn't exactly trekking, the boat service which I took was enough to mesmerize me. The dense forest, engulfed with mist the beautiful man-made lake at its heart. If you are seek peace, this is the place to be.

I will go on and on if I were talk about this place, but my intension of this blog is something else.  Hundreds visit the sanctuary every day, but how many of them truly are here to see the fauna found here ? Out of the people who seek the wild sighting, how many understand the do's and don’t of the place ? I would say, only very people who come to the place actually maintain the rules that is required within a forest.

There was this 5 member gang in the boat I took who were constantly chatting and laughing loud for the entire duration of the trip. The primary rules while visiting any wild or bird sanctuary is to maintain salience.  The forest is home to these animals who seek safety within its dense vegetation. Human voices alerts them and they will move away from the source of noise.

But not everyone understands it or bother to understand it. The above mentioned guys in boat were laughing so loudly that even humans would be scared off, let alone poor animals.  How I wish I had power to throw them off the boat. It wasn't just this group, there were others as well. Two women sharing their stories of latest episode of TV Serial, kids who were left to make noise by unconcerned parents and the list goes on.

Here is a small list of do's n don'ts I really wish people maintain during such trips.

Don’t expect to see animals  - Ironically that's the first rule.  Expectations can frustrate you and can lead to do things which you aren't supposed to do. You need to be extremely patient.

Maintain silence  - Avoid unnecessary chats . Its going to scare away the animals. Keep your mobiles in silient mode. Remember, Unnatural sound and natural wonders don't mix.

Leave kids at home - This might be cruel, but kids too young are better to be left at home.  They get too excited or scared at wild sightings which will again scare away the animals.

Don't wear flashy dresses & Don't wear anything that smells unnatural - Animals have a better  sense of smell than us. Anything unnatural and they would prefer to seek safety of wild.

Don't use Flash when taking photos - Avoid usage of flashes when shooting animals.

Don't feed animals - Animals know to look after themselves. Please don’t trouble  yourself to feed them, it might hurt them.

There are many websites in the internet which provides you detailed description of does and don'ts in wild. If you really enjoy the forest and want to see animals in their natural habitats, make sure you read them before go in.

Diwali in February

Coming weekend seems to be time for celebration of the famous trio of Shiv Sena-MNS-Ram Sena. So called Moral police has two reasons to showcase their so called moral responsibilities as SRK Starrer MINK releases in the same weekend on which Valentine’s Day Falls. I guess all activist of the 3 groups would have been training hard to repeat what they did during Valentines day preceding year. This year they even got a bonus. MINK. Early Diwali for the trio I guess.

Pun apart , it is high time we put such anti-elements behind bars. The atrocities they did last year are still fresh in every youths mind and it is no wonder that the GenX smiled in unison when Rama Sena supreme’s face was blackened recently. Who are they to say which movie to watch and which not to? Is India still a democratic secular country? So much for just gaining Marathi Votes ? The greed for votes made them even question the Mumbaiker who is whole of world is proud of, the man who answer to the name Sachin Tendulkar. Just because he said he belongs to whole of India ?

I guess if we were to follow the paths of the trio, especially MNS and Shiv Sena , we should remove the lessons of humanity, secularism and democracy for from the text school books from young children, because when they grow up, that is not what they are going to experience around them.

Time to sign off for the day, but not before saluting the spirit of common-man Mumbaikar who came out to theatres despite Sena threats.

Express IT - A Series of Technical Seminars

Cochin has always been hailed as the IT hub of Kerala for quite a long time. But sadly unlike the Technopark in Trivandrum, the Infopark has failed in conducting in IT related activities on a regular basis Of course there has been few events conducted by the KMUG , but having something on a regular basis was something that was still left desired of.

We, Tech Experts , a forum of like-minded developers and IT Specialists in Infopark are now driving an initiative to have a series of technical activities in the city, focusing primarily in Infopark companies. As a first step we are conducting technical seminars are two distinct topics , one based on Microsoft while other from the Free Software Foundation.

Shajean's Travelogues

Planning a trip ? well, here is a reference you can rely heavily on. A well written travelogues by Shajean Jaleel. http://shajeanstravelogues.blogspot.com/

This guy has been our unofficial guide for past 3 years. As a person who spends almost every weekend travelling, there is hardly any heard/unheard places in and around Kerala where he hasn't been to. His obsession with wild life sanctuaries has prompted a saying in our friend's circle that he spend more time in forest than at his home.

Finally he has decided to pen down his experience and his first entry looks really good. Well done man, Keep writing.

Prejudiced Mind

It is quite interesting how human mind can see a single thing in two different ways. This is quite similar to seeing a cup with 50% content as Half Full or Half Empty. In nearly all cases, this is result of a prejudiced mindset.

Friends become enemies in blink of an eye. Reason: Prejudiced Mind. An action done with all sincerity is suspected before one could even understand the logic behind suspicion, Reason , Yet again Prejudiced mind.

We humans tend to be so narrow minded at times that even normal things start looking weird. We cannot blame what is happening around us for it. The reason is how we make our mind think. Why are we so opinionated? What is that prevents us from putting our self in other persons shoes and think like them at least once before we form an opinion?

I have seen many people who take pride in saying that once they form an opinion, they never change it. They say that they will stick to it even if the opinions that were formed were against their own family members. They call it their mental strength or determination. But my dears, as much as I respect your statements, why don’t you try to see the world through other person’s eyes before making an opinion.

I have heard people say that even if a person do nice things whole day and makes a small mistake in the last second of the day, then they would like to see that mistake more than the good things. For them, a mistake is crime, but dears, what about good things that person has done till then? If that person is ready to apologize for the mistake, doesn’t the person concern need to think about it again?

All this is due to the prejudiced mindset of human beings. They want to see the world according to their wish. It is more a Reel World for them than Real World, a world they had orchestrated in their mind when reality is far from it. Strange principles , I must say.

Happy New Year

A movie to remember

Some movies are meant to be forgotten, while others leave a lasting impression on you. But there are some movies, which remembered for reasons other than what you saw on screen. "Wake up Sid" turned out to be one in the last category, sadly.

The idea of late night movie at Sridhar in Cochin is something we have enjoyed doing for ages, but this particular night turned out to be different. As soon as i stepped out of theatre i realized i had 3 flat tyres !!! and as if icing on cake, a couple of scratches on the side of my car. Fortunately or unfortunately, i wasn't the only one who were cursing the night, 2 other cars experienced the same.

Probably this is one of the sign of Cochin turning out to be a "chotta mumbai". Finally, by the time i reached back home , it was 3PM in night. A movie ticket worth 45 turned out to be worth more than 2000 :(

PDM Works Vault deletion error

I had uninstalled PDMWorks from my machine. Later, when i attempted to remove the vault from machine, it threw a "Conisio" dialog stating

1. "Could not delete view"

2. "Class not registered"

Fix was right there in registery. I removed following keys and that was it, i was all set .

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Applications

2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\Applications

Google Doodle Solved.

Google’s “Unexplained Phenomenon” doodle which appeared on site on September 5th had caused quite a flutter in the web (though I was surprised why in the first place it was made such big news). The company has finally clarified its stand on the issue, putting in rest innumerous theories which were floated around within a short span of time.

The doodle was in honor of the Zero Wing, the Japanese video game of 1980's, which incidentally was celebrating its 20th anniversary

Tips for buying Laptop

From the time you decide to buy a laptop to the time you actually get it in hand, there are a thousand thoughts that cross your mind. Over the last few years, a whole new generation of Notebooks has hit the market. The technological advances made by these notebooks are so much that an average user finds it scary even to understand the techno jargon let alone make up his mind. So is there an ultimate formula for choosing the right laptop, definitely not. Question of which is the best laptop that’s suits you is something that only you can answer. Once you figure out what you need from your machine depending on your usage, the choice of laptop would automatically appear before you.

Then what I am doing here writing this article? Obviously I am not trying to provide any sort of guidance, rather these are some of the thoughts I personally have based on my experiences with the new age notebooks.

Most of the buyers I have seen give so much importance on brand. But which brand is better ? If I say Sony, there would be hundreds who would argue for Dell. It is one of those questions which will never have an agreeable answer. Each person would answer it depending on his/her experience.

So I would prefer to keep my answer deceptively simple: Choose a well known brand that you believe in. Probably only point you need to keep in mind choosing a brand is the post sale services. If you are a frequent traveler, it would be always advisable to stick to a global brand to be on the safer side. Of course it goes without saying that you need to keep an eye on your budget when going for higher brands.

With first hurdle of brand crossed, palpable focus should be on the features. I would personally prefer to give priority on features in following order.

1. Intel Vs AMD.

I am not huge fan of AMD Processors and would be any day, recommend the Intel based processors. This is true despite fact the AMD processors being much cheaper and consequently bring down the laptop cost when compared to its Intel rivals. The sole reason for my loyalty to Intel is due to the fact the Intel chips consume less power when compared to AMD leading to more battery life and less overheating issues.

2. RAM, L2 Cache, Bus Speed

Have a good eye on this before you choose your machine especially RAM. The higher this number is, the better it is for you. Similarly L2 Cache and Bus Speed also hold high priority as these parameters would largely affect your performance.

3. Graphic Chipset.

One common mistake that should be avoided is overlooking this important factor. Quite often consumers are happy with the Integrated Shared memory rather than having a dedicated Graphics card and end up having their CPU power eaten when running a movie.

I am not asking everyone to go for a high end graphics card. A average user could well settle for a entry level graphics card while a graphics developer for whom 3D Max and Maya forms bread and butter should definitely opt for a higher end graphics card NVedia or any other competitor.

4. HDD Capacity.

Keep your eyes closed on this one. No matter what the size of HDD is, you will always run short. Remember this rule and don’t even bother about whether to buy a 100Gigs or 200 Gigs laptop.

5. Operating System Support.

Another key feature you need to look at is the support for different operating system. Sometime, your desired OS will not be the default one accompanying the OS, in that case make sure the platform you desire to work is supported by the Laptop. Also ensure that the drivers are readily available.

6. Screen Size.

If you are a traveler, the common sense smaller the screen, the better you are with portability.Personally, I find 15” laptops quite a hindrance when I move around or even to use it while sitting in a comfortable sofa. If you are a developer or a person who uses laptop quite often better stick to 14” widescreens laptops, but in case you are a multimedia designer you could well be comfortable with the 15” or 17” machines.

7. Wireless , Bluetooth Capability.

In this fast moving world, you just can’t afford to too far away from the internet. Whether you are in a Hotel or Airport, you would prefer to be connected to the internet. Support for wireless connectivity becomes more important under such situations.

8. Extra USB , network ports.

Gone are the days you would be happy with 2 USB ports. More ports you have, more equipped you are. This holds true in case of network ports.

9. Data Security.

If you are a person for data security holds primary importance, you should opt for higher end models. This of course would come with higher price tags.

Despite all this, always remember the Golden Rule : Read review on the model before you buy it.

Software Craftsman Vs Industrial Programmer

Who do you want in your team ? A Software Craftsman or a Industrial Programmer ? This is question that has provoked strong reactions on both sides.

Question 1 would be who is a Software Craftsman and who is a Industrial Programmer. Let us tackle that first.

Software Craftsman is some one who thinks that software development is not just about put some dear code together, but instead strives to believe and make other believe that it is a craft. He takes pride in his code and strives to bring best of each line of code. He is in love with the code, rather than his task on hand.

Industrial Programmer, on other hand, is someone who understand the nuances of his task. His aim is to build a software that the customer would love. They take pride in delivering value to the customer rather the best.

Neither is better than other; the IT industry needs both.

Where would I put my money on, whom who would I love to have in my team : a Craftsman or Industrial Programmer ? A tricky question.

Although I do admit that it is the later who the business units prefer as they keep mouth shut and focus on "getting things done" rather than "doing it the right way", I do have my affinity more to the Software Craftsman.

For me , a Industrial Programmer may be producing "more" business , but a craftsman would produce "valuable" business. This is because the output is a program that is more complete and optimized.

There are many traits that you could find in a Craftsman's work, particularly his irresistible desire to stick to the Kiss Principle. Keep it Simple Stupid, or the KISS principle is very special for a craftsman.

There is a famous line in "The best software designs look simple, but it takes a lot of hard work to design a simple architecture."

The power of simplicity cannot be underestimated at any field, let alone coding. One could actually feel a touch of genius every time you see most baffling problems being solved with most simplest solution. This happens only because they are so strong in their basics and understanding of the language, that it helps them get best out of each line they write.

As they say, A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away. The craftsman chips away their code until there is nothing to improve further.

He also understands the benefits of polygot programming and does make it a note to take the best out of each programming language. For instance, even when developing in .Net, he could go for doing bulk of coding in C# but could extract the advantages of functional programming using F#.

Now why would I would prefer a Craftsman ? Because I do believe when someone fell in love with his code, you can be ensured that each he line he writes would invaluable asset.

As the Great Albert Einstein said, "Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction "

Strategic Commercialized BREAK

The Indian Premier League was , is and will be always going to be all about fast-paced cricked and lots of money. The franchises who had pooled in monstrous amount of money to get the best in world in their team, did make sure they get it back by various marketing methods.

But how could the organizers be left behind ? We saw that in the last season as well, but this time round, they took it to all new level.

The so called cleverly devised "strategic break" seems to have a sole intention - get the commercial in and fill in your purses. Lalit Modi's explanation about the breaks makes him looks absolutely idiot and he seems to think the general public would buy that.

For the sake all those who are not quite following IPL, let me just explain what it is all about. The strategy break is a 7 and half minute break, that happens at the end of 10 overs. Modi's explanation is this would allow teams to get their thoughts together and avoid 12th man running in every now and then carrying message from the dug out.

The organizers are licking their lips on the money that is going on roll out in form of TV Commercials, but what it has done is it has taken the momentum out of the game. 20 20 is all about massacre and innovative cricket, but all 5 matches I have seen so far in this edition of IPL, saw the breaks causing disaster for the batting side.

CSK was coasting at 100 in 10 overs when they break came in and next two balls on other side of break saw two settled batsman falling and along with it the momentum CSK had.

So Mr. Modi, your brain child IPL is definitely a treat to watch, but please don't kill the goose that lay golden eggs with ideas such this.

Being Infamous is NOT Famous.

Earlier in the day I was severely criticized by friends for not casting my vote in general election, but my answer to them was simple, name a single a candidate who is worthy of being voted ?

My approach stood vindicated later in the day when a senior advocate of Indian judiciary thought of earning some fame for himself. The advocate, who answers to the name Sudhir Kumar Ojha, seems to have forgot that "Being Infamous is NOT Famous". Wonder when people would understand this simple rule of universe.

Advocate has filed "criminal case" against M S Dhoni and Harbhajan for not attending the award function. The cricketers are charged under IPC 499 ( defamation ), 503 ( criminal intimidation ) and 504 ( intentional insult with intend to provoke breach of the peace).

I agree this is one of the highest award for any indian sportsman and respect the sanctity of the award, but dude, you got to respect the cricketers who get to spend only 2-3 days with their families in months. And for that if you are going to file criminal charges, Mr.Sudhir Kumar, you are making a mockery of Indian Judiciary.

My Message for Sudhir Kumar would be simple , MSD and Bhajji has done far more for the nation than you could do with all your service. If you really are hungry for fame, better try out some other profession mate.

Elections: Is there anyone worthy to be Voted for ?

"Vote for XYZ" posters seems covered every inch of walls as I drive down toward my office. Yes, the election in worlds biggest democracy is fast approaching and no political party is leaving any stone unturned to promote their candidate.

I am 25 years of age but I don’t regret when I say I haven't voted in my country's election yet. The reason is simple, I just don’t believe in the so called leaders of the state.

If you look at the Indian Cricket Team, a captain like MS Dhoni is someone we adore because he leads by example. He is someone the team believes in and he is made the entire indian fans believe in him. But that’s not the scenario in Indian Politics. It is pretty to sad to say this, but there is not a single political party or individual who makes you feel that here is a person who you can trust.

Even though politics is something I hate talking about,A recent event in the Indian politics has made me write this..I had written in a blog entry earlier about the insensitiveness of a Delhi CM following death of a lady journalist and politicians supported "Moral Police Goons" taking law into their hands.

Just as when I thought politicians would try to keep their image clean during Elections to woe hearts of voters, came the thunderbolt named Varun Ghandhi.

This guy seems to have either few nuts loose or seems to born & bought up in Taliban. It was pathetic to hear this guy thrashing the secular image of india by swearing to send Muslims to Pakistan or cut their heads off.

India has been a state that has a diverse collection of people speaking different languages, following different religions and principles living a peaceful life. Kids has been taught from school days about the secularism in India. Now here comes a young politicians who is breathing fire on Muslims and spreading communal hatred.

And what’s more ?? Day he is arrested , his mom Maneka Ghandhi comes out with a statement that a Muslim Police officer had ordered firing on the mob that were trying to create a riot following Varuns arrest.

I have always respected Maneka Ghandhi for her contribution towards the wildlife and animal protection activities she has been involved. Probably that respect would no longer exist following her statement today which could well ignite a major communal riot in the country.

At first I thought Mrs Ghandhi had spend so much time with animals that she bought her son up in same lines, but now it seems she herself too had picked up a trait or two from them.

Probably Varun is following his dad's footprints.Who can forget Sanjay Ghandhi's role in imposing emergency in 1975 and his misuse of power held by mother Indira.Following wrong footsteps is not a new in Indian politics, after all,not much time has passed after Raj Thackeray tried to emulate his uncle in Maharastra.

Man, how can anyone wish such people to lead the nation ? Worst part of story is the man who is said to be the lead runner for the post of Prime Minister is the same person who was leading the charge in a rally which lead to biggest bloodshed India has ever seen. The riots following the Babri Masjid demolitions and unholy alliance of Advani & rioters is something which would have many groaning in disgust if he becomes the Indian PM.

Probably the last individual to have donned a political cap and yet won respect of free-thinkers (ones who are not attached to any political party) is APJ Abdul Kalam. He was one person who could be looked upto and one who could be a hero or role model.

Chadni Chawk to China : Movie Review

Finally after such a long break I am writing a movie review. But really, I just couldn’t wait to start writing about this wonderful movie.

Never in my dreams did I think that such a hyped movie can turn out to be such horrifying disaster !!!! I think audience should sue Nikhil Advani and co for torturing us for such a long time. Being a action comedy, the only way you could laugh in this movie is by laughing at yourself to be in a theatre to watch a disaster.

By the time the movie reach its intermission, you would banging your head asking "Oh God, what have I done wrong to see this !!". I would suggest Indian Govt should give captured Terrorist Ajmal Kasab a copy of this movie to watch as a punishment for the cruelty in Mumbai.

Gals and guys, if you have an enemy, please do them the favor of buying tickets for this movie. They will never trouble you again.

But you get the RUDEST SHOCK in the last sequence of the movie, when the Sequel of the movie is announced. That's one movie i am surely NOT looking forward to see.

Politicians or Thrash cans !!

Way to go India !! Today you have political party acting moral police and beating up youths !!! and guess what ?? the Idiots we have elected and put in the ministry to guard us says "well done" !!!!

To be really frank, the words that come to my mouth on seeing what happent in Manglore and hearing the politicians react, are so "sweat" that I cannt put it up in my blog !!!!

Instead of shutting the Goodaisim in the name of moral police, the super genius politicians are saying that pubs should be banned !! What a twist in tale to cover that they did !!

I absolutely loved the way Raghu Ram from MTV reacted to the interview in Headlines today. If woman is said to have equal rights in this country , why should they be banned from doing all that men do ? If , as per, the very wise moral security guard who was in the show with Raghu, the problem is that when men drink, they loose theier senses and misbehave. Then my answer is exactly what Raghu said, men should be banned from pub not woman. It is like, since men will do wrong, lets ban woman. What a beautiful piece of equality in the great country !!!

and remember this is same country where just about same day , another politician's "second" wife created a drama of kidnapping her hubby, same country where politicians son's are indulged in drugs, driving after consuming alcohol and roam scott free, a land where some brainless politician in mumabi say that north indian should be ousted from the state and the question the role of NSG commandoes who laid down thier life battleing in Taj, a place where terrorists acts are said to be not terrosims because they are done by hindu ??

We should be proud that we have a set of genius politicians who instead of focusing on the issues like terrorism or recession that is hitting the state so badly now, is focusing on making mountain out of a hole.

Please stop the hindu-muslim thing, every act against humanity is terrorism. Kill them from roots. We youth doesnt care if i am a Keralite or Kasmiri, South Indian or North Indian, Please put that your stupid ideologies in thrash, not in our minds. We the youth is far matured than the fossiled mind of the rotten heads that rule our state. If you have no other work to do, go home and sit at your home. Dont eat our head.

As Raghu said, probably the next thing they should ban is education because, what is use of filling in brains if we the youth are supposed to do only what our genious leaders thing. And please yaar, can any one bring a retirement age for politicians, seems once someone get old, their minds starting working in opposite way.

Golden Globe for Rehman.

A Golden Day for Indian Fim Industry, as A R Rehman became the first Indian to receive the prestigious Golden Globe. I wouldn't say India should call the movie itself Indian since it's basically Danny Boyle's baby and he truely made a story based in India, International.

But for Rehman, every Indian can be proud of this day. This mozart from madras has given innumorous soul stiring melodies over the past 16 years. Most people in India remember 1992 Roja as the start of the Rehman era, but we Keralaties had the oppurtunity of listening to his midas touch same year in another album, his first and only Malayalam movie, Yodha.

If you were asked to pick his best till date, i would bet you would scratch your head. Who would be able to pick soul stiring of Puthu velai manam from Roja, or the haunting Bombay theme or Naheen saamne from Taal or and list goes on. These songs were just the melodies from the maestro, how about the foot tapping numbers ?? So what did i say , dont even dream of picking best of Rehman, you just simply cant pick the best from the best !!!

2008 and India.

As the world prepares itself for the final dawn of 2008, I was recollecting the major events which I myself would remember.

On the darker side, 2008 was a year when the Indian were rocked by a series of bloodshed. Whether it was the serial blasts that rocked Banglore and Ahmedabad, or the inhuman act of insane terrorism in Mumbai, the entire nation were shaken. While the bomb blasts put the common man on guard, the Mumbai shooting bought him to the streets. Angered, but united, the common man had decided enough was enough and decided to show its emotions.

On the high side, 2008 saw India achieving greater highs in Technology and Sports. While the Chandrayan would enrich in memory as a historic milestone in Indian Space programs, Tata’s Nano bought colors to common mans dreams of owning a car. The Indian Sports too touched its peak when India return with its best ever Olympic collection. The cricket maniac country had more to cheers as the Dhoni’s devils challenged and conquered the mighty Aussies. With South Africa also winning the Test Series in Australia, it wouldn’t be too long before we see a change of world order. Come 2009, and South Africa might just even perform the last rites by winning the third and final test in Australia.

Gadgets of 2008

What was the Top 10 Gadget of 2008? Well, this is the TIME’s poll had to say.

1. Peek E-Mail Device
2. T-Mobile G1
3. Macbook
4. iPod Touch
5. Eye Fi SD Card
6. Wii Fit
7. Flip Mino
8. Sanyo Xacti HD 1010
9. Dash Express
10. Cannon PowerShot A590IS

3 wise men

They traversed the silvery snow
And trekked the emerald forest
But they found their greatest treasure
Only when they conquered the scorching desert

With the star as their guiding light
The 3 wise men came from the east
Bowing on their knees, they found the greatest joy
At the feet of The savior, the Lord.

As we walk down aisle of life
Doesn’t life hold the same for us ?
Don’t we go through the same
As did the 3 wise men ?

Weathering the chilling winter
Smiling through the falling autumn
We find the joys of serene spring
Only after basking the searing summer

With knowledge as our guiding light
And selflessness as our trait
We find the greatest joy, when we join hands
In love, respect and friendship.