Happy New Year

At last, year 2008 passed by. This year has left many scars on people of the world and particularly on Indians. Global economic crisis made us less powerful to buy things and Mumbai attacks induced fear in the hearts.

Fortunately, some good things also happened this year, in the events of Barack Obama being elected as the President of United States, release of The Dark Knight etc,. helped us on emotional and entertainment fronts respectively..

Enough said about the year, I hope the coming year 2009 will bring cheers and happiness to the people of the World.

May the World economy settle and may Terrorism find its grave.

New Job, new Life & new world..

It's been a long time since my last post. I moved to Visakhapatnam (Vizag), in Andhra Pradesh for my new job. This is a real cool place on the shores of Bay of Bengal. I used to enjoy sunsets at Mumbai and it is time for enjoying sunrises now. Vizag also doubles up as a hill station as the eastern ghats are very nearby.

My prospective home is just 13kms near the city. It is placed right next to the Chennai-Kolkata highway. The area is completely free from pollution of all sorts and free from city buzz. The view also very picturesque.

Life moves on showing many new places and teaching new lessons. Anticipating the best out of everything in this new and beautiful city.

Crisis Explainer

The World economy is doing very bad these days and we are going through our worst times these days. The reason for this situation is credit crunch. The following video explains whats this credit crunch is and how exactly we are forced into this..



Sumith

సిపాయి

అమ్మలకు .... సర్వం
నాన్నలకు చిరు గర్వం
అమ్మమ్మలకు ప్రయాణ బడలిక
మామయ్యలకు "వెయిట్" చెయ్యాలన్న అలక

                  ఇదండి....

ముసి ముసి నవ్వుల సిపాయి
మా బుడి బుడి నడకల పాపాయి

కళ్ళలో కాంతులూ
చేతుల్లో గిలకలూ
మాటల్లో మకరందాలూ
ఆటల్లో అర్ధరాగాలూ

                 ఇందుకండీ....

ముసి ముసి నవ్వుల సిపాయి
మా బుడి బుడి నడకల పాపాయి

Jana gana mana

As Indians, we have one more reason to cheer.. UNESCO identified "Jana gana mana" as the best National Anthem of the World. The Tagore's creation is undoubtedly rich in lyrics and music.

For more information visit http://weeksupdate.com/2008/09/unesco-announces-indian-national-anthem.html

Indian Independence – A Dossier

Balavantuda nakemani
Paluvuritho nigrahinchi palukutamela
Balavanthamaina sarpamu
Chalicheemala chetachikkijavade sumati

Meaning: It is dangerous to show off your physical strength to others by being rude. Even the mightiest of the snake is killed by simple ants when they are united.

Indian Independence struggle almost followed this pattern throughout. The Portugal sailor Vasco da gama discovered sea route to India in the 15th century and ever since trade with India is a hot property in international trade unions because of its rich produces like silk and spices. The English, Dutch and other trading nations colonized India and ruled us for various reasons of commercial profits. British East India Company entered India in the year 1617 and made a strong foothold and thus allowing the English queen to go on to rule India for almost 200 years till 15th August 1947.

In 1617, British East India Company came to India and attained permission for trade from the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Since then, the company deployed "Divide & Rule" policy to turn the local rulers to turn against one another. The victory of Robert Clive against the Nawab of Bengal at the battle of Plassey in 1757 ensured commercial as well as military power in India for the company. On behalf of the queen, the company started to interfere in the politics of India. Also, the English treasury began to grow due to the exports of tea and sugar from the sub-continent. The farmers were forced to cultivate tea and they were even taken to Jamaican Islands to cultivate these crops. Thus, the West-Indies is almost all filled with Hindus whose origins are from India. Huge taxes are being levied on farmers and no farmers should keep a stock of the crop. This forced the farmers to sell the crop to the company and eventually resulted in a drought in 1770. Indians slowly but surely started to feel the pain but never thought of a revolution against East India Company till 1857.

As they say millions of drops come together to make an ocean, many reasons forced Indians for a revolution against the company. Firstly, Lord Dalhousie devised the Doctrine of Lapse, according to which any princely state or territory under the direct influence of the East India Company without a king or a direct competent heir will be annexed into the British raj. Rani of Jhansi revolted against the company's rule in protest to the doctrine. Secondly, the introduction of Enfield Pattern 1853 Rifle Musket(P53 Enfield) saw the dissatisfaction of the soldiers of Indian origin. The cartridges for this rifle are required to cut open with the mouth for loading. The cartridges are greased with either lard(pork fat), which according to Muslims is unclean, or tallow(beef fat), which according to the Hindus is very sacred. Ultimately, these reasons resulted in a mutiny against the Company's rule. This mutiny is known as India's first war of independence. Eventually the queen also was dissatisfied with the events and she decided to take direct control over India by dissolving the East India Company. India came under the rule of the crown in 1858.

Indian National Congress (INC) was found in 1885 by Umesh Chandra Banerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Man Mohan Ghosh, Allan Octavian Hume, William Wedderburn, Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Wacha. This political party was instrumental in attaining independence to India. Mahatma Gandhi introduced the greatest weapons called Satyagraha and Non-voilence to the Indians in this era. India is the only country in the world till date which got independence without ever firing a single bullet.

British Government faced a lot of protest from the INC for independence. The huge popularity of Gandhiji was the main problem for the British to control the general public. People used to follow Gandhiji in everything he did and British found it very difficult to keep all those men in the jails as they are filled in always. Gandhiji, himself was jailed a numerous times for his non cooperation to the British rule.

In 1942, Gandhiji started Quit India movement under which he asked every one to stop cooperation to the British in World War II. By that time British Government was already into losses for battling in the bloodiest war of Mankind till date. It was becoming difficult day by day to control the agitations in India for the queen in England. So, Queen declared independence to India on 15th August 1947.

Today, on the 60th anniversary of our Independence Day, let us all take a pledge of leading India to a better future. Government of India took many initiatives to develop the country till date like construction of dams, fortifying the nation across the borders to secure the nation from outside attacks etc,. Now, it is our responsibility to secure the future of India as an economic super-power. India has a lot of potential in terms of agricultural land and industrial firms being in tandem. If all the youth in India act in unison with determination, India will surely rise to the super power status.

But, before leaving India, the British Government devised its Divide and Rule once again by starting communal feelings in certain class of people. Because of this, Hindu-Muslim riots had started and British Government successfully divided India into two nations: Pakistan and Hindustan; based on religion. Indians were not ready for such a step but Gandhiji had given his consent for the partition. Had he not accepted this, and today India and Pakistan were united. The riots may have lasted for four months or a maximum of four years..but, now we are parted forever now. The partition is one mistake that has happened that can never be corrected. But the decision taken is on that day, based on those circumstances. We cannot judge these events as we are parted by 60 years in time.

The second thing that went wrong after getting independence is that no one ever thought about post independence India. Because of this it became very difficult for the Government to curb internal problems like corruption and crime. Today India is the third most corrupted country. It is our duty to free India from these problems if we want to be proud of the rich history we are blessed with.

Why the World needs Mozillla firefox?

Internet has evolved from a collection of simple HTML pages into a complex version which are manipulating huge databases every day. It has become an integral part of our daily life that we can spend a day or two without food but we cannot actually survive without checking our emails.

The one most important tool to navigate through this web is a web browser.

A web browser is a typical software application which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network. The browsers navigate through the web by following links and opening the addresses called URLs. There are many browsers available in the market like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Epiphany and etc.

Mozilla Firefox was initially a sub-project of Mozilla Suite. Later, the suite was discontinued and Firefox became an individual entity. It is an open source project licensed under a tri license GPL/LGPL/MPL. As on date, it enjoys 19% of market share in the usage of web browsers world wide and stands in the second place only after Microsoft Internet Explorer. Though Internet Explorer is an inferior browser compared to Firefox, it holds the first place, thanks to its free integration into almost all Windows operating systems.

Firefox supports tabbed browsing, spell checker, find, bookmarking of web pages, and an integrated search system that uses the user's desired search engine. A huge number of third party add-ons are also readily available as the source code of the browser itself is open to everyone. Also, Firefox has an option to turn-off JavaScript if required. This is very helpful for the developer community. It also features a popup blocker which blocks the unwanted and annoying popups on web pages.

Firefox can run on Windows, Mac, Linux, and other Unix based operating systems. This way a Firefox user is never unprepared in the times of migration from one operating system to the other. By default most popular Linux flavours like Ubuntu, Red Hat, Suse come with Firefox. This way, it becomes very meaningful to browse the Internet with Firefox.

What is the point in using an opensource software without customising it according to our needs? Firefox is fully customisable according to individual preferences and this is unthinkable in Microsoft realm. Using about:config page, even a layman can change the browser behaviours according to his requirements. I promise you all, another article about customising Firefox as it is a different ball game all together.

Internet Explorer has also many features which are in Firefox. But, Firefox features tabbed browsing since its initial days and these are initial days of the same feature in Internet Explorer. The same case is with integrated search engines. Mozilla Firefox may not win the argument in a debate about the best browser around, but it is leaving no option for others except getting better to stay in the competition. It won the hearts of millions and serving billions by standing in a healthy opposition's shoes.

Ruthless ruler of our time..

George W Bush is the current president of the United States of America. He started his regime on January 20 2001. Since then the face of America changed a lot and unfortunately the change is for bad. As soon as Bush succeeded Bill Clinton, as the 43rd President, he resumed his father,George H W Bush's war on Iraq. This way, he wanted to make a military base of USA in Asia and wanted to control the oil prices.

With the resumption of the Gulf war, he placed the United States in direct line of attack of the Muslim community's hatred and wrath. Osama Bin Laden pledged revenge on the United States and he master planned the September 11 attacks. He used the Kamikaze style of attacks as modus operandi for these attacks. There were 2974 causalities in this incident, excluding the 19 hijackers, 246 on the four planes (from which there were no survivors), 2,603 in New York City in the towers and on the ground, and 125 at the Pentagon. An additional 24 people remain listed as missing. All of the fatalities in the attacks were civilians except for 55 military personnel killed at the Pentagon. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Since the 9/11 attacks, Bush was under pressure from various international organizations against his war against terrorism. Albeit all of these things under his regeme, he invaded Iraq and Afghanistan under the pretext of the War against Terrorism. Though the United Nations declared that there are no bio-chemical weapons under the procession of Saddam Hussein, Bush invaded Iraq and captured him and eventually executed him.

Even American people are so pissed off with the rule of the government that they started looking for a change of rule. On January 20 2009, the regime of George W Bush will come to an end officially. People all over the world are looking forward for this day, as the most ruthless ruler of our time is going to complete his regime. May the world be bestowed with peace and prosperity from this date on...

Hero

We all know that the word Hero is used in English to describe a person who shows some extraordinary character/will/skill in doing things.

Hero (n):A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

But, the origin of this word is very interesting. A man named Herostratus wanted his name to remain forever in this world. The lust for fame made him burn the Temple of Artemis on July 21st 356BC. This temple was one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world. Herostratus was executed for this deed and was condemned to the legacy of obscurity by forbidding mention of his name under the penalty of death.

The evolution of the human civilization is so strange that we actually granted Herostratus's wish and made him eternal by deriving the word HERO from his name.

Heights of Testing

I found this funny video on another blog. This is the funniest way one can test their laptops for durability. The audio in Tamil.



Courtesy :Shri Phani's Blog

Gandhi Vs Che Guevara

Vs
I was going through a community on Che Guevara and there was a hot discussion on Che's ideology Vs Ghandhi's ideology.

With all due respects to those who participated in this discussion, Gandhi and Che are two different personalities with different ideologies all together. One can not compare their ideologies as such.

Che was the greatest humanitarian who fought for the welfare of people and unification of South America. His weapon was brute force on those who posed a potential threat for his goals. The society he belonged to demands that force. people there might not understand the Satyagraha. By profession, Che was a doctor and he saved lives. But, to bring a change in the society, he has to change. Demand of the Day.

Gandhi was from a country which taught us love and compassion. As an Indian, he believed in non-violence and followed it through out his life. He is the only person who led a nation to independence without firing a single gunshot. But whatever he did after independence is ridiculous. The Hindu-Muslim riots that lead to the partition would have lasted for four months or a maximum of four years. But the partition left a sour taste even after this long time. May be India and Pakistan will fight till eternity. This is all because of one man's fault. He thought the riots can be put off by simply dividing the nation. I personally love Gandhi for is pre-independence efforts and hate him to the core for his post-independence efforts.

At the end of the day, we are not equipped with enough knowledge to take a side when talking about two great personalities of History. They did whatever they did and they are the only people who can justify their actions.

Love them, Hate them but can't ignore them.

Hyderabadi Biryani

What's the fun in talking about Hyderabad and its culture without the taste of Biryani. Biryani was brought to Hyderabad by the invading Mughal army of Aurangazeb under the command of Khaja Abid, the father of the first Nizam of Hyderabad. The time taken for the preparation of Biryani is less compared to that of traditional food like Rotis and /or Rice cooked in steam. This became an excuse to use Biryani as the food for the soldiers in times of war. The rich ingredients like all the masalas(Spices) and meats along with Basmati Rice cooked in Ghee were perfect for energizing the soldiers in comparatively less amount of time.

The Nizams of Hyderabad perfected the recipe with the spices available in South India, placing the Hyderabadi Biryani in the top of the list. Biryani made in Hyderabad is far better than its variants available through the corners of the world as it is more spicy and rich in taste.

Ingredients

• 1 kg: Meat
• 750 gm: Semi cooked rice
• Sautéed brown onions to taste
• 1 tbsp: Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp: Red chilli paste
• 1 tbsp: Green chilli paste
• ½ tbsp: Cardamom powder
• 3-4 sticks:
• Cinnamon
• 1 tbsp: Cumin seeds
• 4-5: Cloves
• 2 tbsp: Lemon juice
• 250 gm: Curd
• 4 tbsp: Clarified butter
• A pinch: Mace
• Mint leaves to taste
• 1 tsp: Saffron
• ½ cup: Water
• 1 tbsp: Salt
• ½ cup: Oil

Preparation

Hyderabadi biryani is of two types, the Kacchi(raw) Biryani and the Pakki biryani. Kacchi biryani is prepared with raw meat, which is marinated in curd and then cooked along with the rice by sealing the handi (vessel) with a layer of dough, and is cooked on dum - steaming over coals. This is a challenging process as it requires meticulous attention to time and temperature to avoid overcooking or under-cooking the meat.

In Pakki biryani, the meat marinating time is shorter, and the meat is cooked before being layered with the rice and cooked in a dough-sealed vessel. In Pakki Yakhni (with cooked gravy), the ingredients are already cooked before baking. The gravy is redolent of mace, ittar and kewra. Saffron and cardamom are also used.
There is also a vegetarian version of the biryani, which is made from vegetables such as carrots, peas, cauliflower and potato.

Biryani is best served along with Mirchi Ka Salan and Raita. A soda like coke or Pepsi will add to the taste of Biryani.

Hyderabad features many restaurants which are famous all over the world. Some of them are Bawarchi, located at RTC ‘X’ roads, Paradise Hotel in Paradise circle, Secunderabad, Bahar in Bashirbagh. If you are looking for a late night Biryani, Al-hum-Dulillah in Mallepally is the place. Personally, I like Hyderabad House’s Biryani.

Enjoy your Biryani.

Guinness World Record for Firefox 3.

We have done it. Mozilla Firefox 3 now has a Guinness World Record for the software most downloaded in a single day. On June 18 2008, the browser was downloaded by 8,002,530 users worldwide.

First Impression on Firefox 3.

I have been using the latest version of the best browser in the world today Mozilla Firefox 3.

Some of its features are very good but I am very much disappointed about the way it manages the saved passwords. The browser remembers the passwords like any other web browser available as on date but, it also shows them all "UNENCRYPTED" upon request. This can prove to be a big loop hole to the browser's credibility.

Movies

I was watching "Cars" and wondered how much movies inspire us in our daily lives..

I always loved movies more than any other channel of entertainment. They made me laugh, cry and for that matter, any emotion that is possible to a 25 year young heart. They made me propose a girl during my college, fight with my friends and reunite with them again etc...

If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that movies actually are all around. (In the lines of a famous quote from "Love Actually.")

Environment and US

Gaia philosophy states that Earth is a living organism and is based on Gaia(Greek name of goddess Earth). If this theory is to be believed Humans become perfect parasites depending on Earth.

I don't know whether Earth is a living thing or not, but humans definitely have the qualities of a virus. We not only are using up the resources that are allocated for us, but also consuming the reserves of our future generations and making this planet non-livable. In search of money, man is inventing some very dangerous technologies which eventually are destroying the environment. From a simple electric shaver to a nuclear plant, today everything creates electro magnetic fields which are dangerous to the human himself. We are filling our environment with carbon monoxide(CO) by the increasing usage of vehicles on the roads. Even a refrigerator or a television set emits carbo-floro gases which damage the ozone layer. If the cellular network can penetrate through the concrete walls, why can't it penetrate through the human tissue and create a cancer?? Yet, we all need those gadgets instead of the classical environment friendly tools just because they give us some extra time!!

I request everyone to please give it a thought and try to change your lifestyles as far as it allows you to do so and give a better life to our future generations.


Some basic definitions

Virus: A virus (from the Latin virus meaning "toxin" or "poison"), is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect cellular life forms and are grouped into animal, plant and bacterial types, according to the type of host infected.
Host: A host is an organism that harbors a virus or parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter. In botany, a host plant is one that supplies food resources and substrate for certain insects or other fauna.


"We didn't inherit the planet from our ancestors, we are borrowing it from our children.."


Definitions Courtesy :Wikipedia

Firefox Download Day

Mozilla is launching its web browser Firefox 3 on June 17 2008. They also planned for a creating a world record for the most downloaded software in a single day. The day coincides with Microsoft Day and Mozilla is all set to ruin the day for Microsoft.

By the way, I forgot to say that Mozilla Firefox is far better than Microsoft Internet Explorer in many ways. So any one interested to download can visit Mozilla Firefox Download Page

Balancing Work and Other things..

Every one of us in this world are different from each other. We make different and take different from life. But we all are having one thing in common. That is 24 hours a day. Yet, almost all of us feel that others are enjoying more time than us as we don't know how to manage our time properly.

The tool below will probably help most of us in managing our time properly.

Time Management Tool

Courtesy: www.cnn.com

Mumbai Monsoon

After a long and energy sapping summer, first rain poured from the heavens on 5th of june in Mumbai. I rushed out of home and roamed around on foot to enjoy the first rains. A hot chai,bhajia and surprisingly ice cream were on the menu that day and they were very much enjoyable in the scenario.

As this is my first monsoon in Mumbai, I took the rain so lightly. Today (12th June) is seventh day and it is still raining. No sun all these days and I already feel so depressed with the environment. Hopefully the sun comes out fast and shine all the day. But, friends say that this is only a HOPE for next 3 months at least...

Going out to office drenched in rain and waiting a long time for getting an auto rickshaw is very tiring experience, believe me.

Presidential Pose

One picture talks a million words.

President Pratibha Patil poses with an AK-47 that is recovered from the militants in Jammu & Kashmir. She clearly forgot that she is the first person of the nation and her actions will draw a huge attention from all parts of the world. It seems she is enjoying the company of the killing machine as she is all smiles with the gun in her hands.

Hope a day will come soon that our politicians learn how to behave at least when the world is watching them...

Evolution

Look at the funny side of the EVOLUTION of man kind. I got this pic from another blog sometime back (Weird Musings).

Too good of a comparison...

Roses and their Significance..

Today, one of my friend asked me to send some roses to one of his friends as he is cut off from the world(INTERNET). Just before I sent them, he asked me to send Orchids instead of roses. I did the job and was amused why he didn't order roses. Did some research and found some amazing things about roses....

Roses and numbers

Every denomination of roses serves a unique meaning in itself. So if you are seeking to send roses with a message in mind, this list should help you make a decision:

1 Rose - Love at first sight; you are the one
2 Roses - Mutual feelings, especially if they are red in color speak of two people who are deeply in love and together form their own happy little world.
3 Roses - I love you
5 Roses - I love you very much
6 Roses - I love you & I miss you.
7 Roses - I'm infatuated with you
9 Roses - Together as long as we live
10 Roses - You are pretty
11 Roses - You're my treasured one. ( To assure someone that he or she is truly and deeply loved. )
12 Roses - There are a dozen ways I care about you
18 Roses - I am sorry
24 Roses - Can't stop thinking of you - 24 hours a day
36 Roses - A romantic attachment unlike any other
48 Roses - An unchanging and unconditional love
99 Roses - I will love you for as long as I live
100 Roses - Devoted to you until we are at a ripe-old age
108 Roses - Please Marry Me!
999 Roses - Everlasting and eternal love

Roses and colors

Here's a brief mention about the significance of rose colors and combinations:

Red: An expression of love; a symbol of courage and respect.
Dark Red: Deep passion, Readiness for a commitment, Unconscious beauty.
Light Pink: Gentleness, Joy & Grace, Admiration, Sympathy & Gentleness, Harmony & Warmth.
Pink: Admiration; a new love that has yet to bloom, appreciation, motherly love.
Lavender: Love/Enchantment at first sight, Regal majesty and splendor, Wonder & Impossibility.
White: Innocence, purity, secrecy, marriage, loyalty, reverence and humility
Yellow: Joy and deep friendship or platonic love. It could also denote jealousy, infidelity, a dying love and farewell.
Blue: Mystery, the impossible and the unattainable.
Turquoise: Calm, Fertility, Abundance and Bounty, Constant rejuvenation of spirit, Self-respect and Well being.
Purple: Love at first sight, enchantment and all things magical.
Peach: Modesty, Closing of a new deal, Great cheer, Sincerity & Genuineness, Sympathy, Gratitude and Thankfulness.
Orange: Fascination, Passion & Desire, Enthusiasm & Energy, Pride, "I am so proud of you".
Black: Farewell & Sorrow, Loss & Mortality, Death of Old habits, Beginning of new things or journey, Courage & Resistance, Halloween.

Courtesy: Roses and Meaning