Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Where & When does this End?

So recently, i came across this new article - "The Supreme Court has held that Scheduled Caste/Tribe students could not be expelled from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on the ground of poor performance."

I will leave the interpretation of this to the readers.. But just out of curiosity, what will be the quality of those students when they come out with a degree? Will that not affect the reputation of the institutes.

The Hindu : Front Page : Court: IITs can’t throw out SC/ST students for poor performance


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Sweet New Year for all those sweet tooth.....

I know its way too late for the new year wishes. Well, Just wanted to start my new year posting to be a sweet one. And here it goes, Recipe for making Badam Halwa

Ingredients:

> 1 cup whole almonds
> 1.5 cups of sugar.
> Some milk (probably couple of tbl spns)
> Ghee
> .5 - 1 cup of water

Method:

1. Boil 2 cups of water and soak the almonds for 1 hour. Alternatively, you can heat the almonds and water till the water comes to a boil and then let it cool.
2. Peel the skin off the almonds. They should just slip right out the skins when you press on them with your fingers.
3. Finely grind the almonds added very little milk . You can add a little bit more, if the blender blades absolutely refuse to move.
4. Met the sugar with the 1/2 cup of water in a bowl, till it comes to a rolling boil.
5. Add the ground almond paste and stir well to avoid any lumps.
6. Keep stirring this mixture so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
7. Add a few tsps of the ghee at regular intervals. The ghee will immediately get incorporated in the mixture.
8. Keep stirring and cooking till the mixture gets slightly thick.
9. Switch of the heat and let the halva cool. The halva will solidify by itself


Simple to make for all those bachelor people :-)

Well, forgot all abt valentine! Happy Valentine to All....

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

You are the lucky one.....

Just came across this article on Wikihow. Its pretty interesting read.


   1. Use Your Mind. Luck is tied to the power of your imagination. Someone said, "Luck is just probability taken personally". Improved luck will require a lot of personal dedication and hard work.
   2. Prepare. "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity", said Seneca, Roman dramatist, philosopher and politician, 5 BC - 65 AD.[1] If you have the groundwork in place you can take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.
   3. Network. Lucky people know people, lots of people. They don't have to be everyone's bosom buddy but it is the art of being open to many new people that counts. Practice feeling comfortable talking to strangers at events that you attend. And actively listen to them when you strike up a conversation because you will have a lot to learn and they will remember that you appreciated what they had to say. This can translate into opportunities; the more people you meet and the more people you display genuine interest in, the more likelihood of you meeting the right person at the right time who has an opportunity at hand that you want to be a part of.
   4. Trust your instincts. That little inner voice is often right and lucky people know this. You will also know when your "common sense" or "reason" are trying to override the lucky hunch. When this happens, take a moment aside to sit and think things through clearly and uninterrupted. Consider whose voices are speaking to you when you are faced with overriding intuition - is it your own trustworthy voice or is it the voices of others' expectations - a spouse, a boss, a friend?
   5. Take it easy. Anxiety and worry are enemies of luck. They introduce a factor that says "Be very risk averse" and "Whoa there! Hold back now!" You won't be stumbling across luck while you are too busy hiding out. When opportunities come, you need to notice them and you need to seize them. A lucky person believes in now as being as important as tomorrow and much more so than yesterday. Don't be held back by ghosts of failure - they were just learning experiences. And tomorrow will always come whatever happens, so do your best to enjoy today so that tomorrow has a standard to match!
   6. Be ready for new opportunities. The more open you are to novel ideas and new ways of doing things, the more likely it is that you will strike it lucky. Lucky people don't plod along methodically; while that guarantees a safe and secure path, lucky people take the path less known and meet all sorts of amazing opportunities along the way. Put your foot on that path now... try something you have never done before, try something you have convinced yourself you would hate, try something that someone else has suggested you try. Be bold.
   7. Be an eternal optimist. Expect the best. Yes, anyone can do this and why not? It isn't about living with the fairies. It is about being positive and creating the outcomes that you want most. Lucky people are optimistic and they expect that good things will happen to them. Heard the mantra "only good things happen to me"? Well, probably not, as most of us tend to whine "why do all the bad things happen to me?!" Stop it right now and start expecting the best.
   8. Turn sour milk into a smoothie. So the milk went off? Big deal. There are still a lot things you can do with it, so do it. Instead of choosing to wallow and feel rotten about things that go wrong, look for life's lessons in the experience and look for new solutions that grow out of the bad experience. Dwelling on horrible events in your life gives them great power over you, stifling your growth and stomping on your luck. And when you view the world in this manner, even if Lady Luck does call, you're likely to sabotage it because that suits your negative mindset. Avoid the wallowing and kick yourself back into action. Sure, there are times in life when some events really set us back, such as the loss of a loved one, but far better to honor that person's memory by doing things in remembrance of them than using that loss as an eternal unhappiness trigger. It is really important to learn and grow from sadness and hardship rather than to let it harden us and turn us bitter.
   9. Reframe your life. If you perceive yourself as a victim or a hapless flotsam of fate, it is time to reframe. You are a shaper of your destiny and one lucky person. You're lucky to be alive; that's the biggest blessing every single one of us gets. Honour that lucky chance and live your life to its fullest. You'll only be glad that you did.
  10. Never stop learning. This is related to staying open to new opportunities. Unlucky people think their learning stopped at school or university. Lucky people realize that that was just the beginning and that life is one huge university. Soak it all up; even the stuff you find hard, boring, or uncomfortable. It really makes your life a whole lot more exciting and helps you to understand where others are coming from. Aiming to understand a wide range of perspectives makes it easier for you to forgive people and to see their points of view. Knowing this enables you to weave others' motivations into how you approach life and treat them with respect. Which leads to the next point...
  11. Treat people with respect. Lucky people know that other people matter. Respect for others makes you automatically lucky because it stops you from expecting other people's behavior to conform to your own or to ease your way. Instead, you know to respect people for who they are rather than what you wish they would be. And you avoid the arrogance of placing your personality style and lifestyle beliefs above theirs.
  12. Treat the Earth with respect. The Earth gives us food, water, shelter, oxygen and for some people, spiritual fulfillment. Lucky people acknowledge this and care for the world around them as a mark of this respect. Involving yourself with nature by getting outdoors and enjoying it improves your sense of self-assurance as you don't fear its elements but embrace them. In so doing, you increase your luck as you broaden your knowledge and opportunities.
  13. Treat your body with respect As you hone your instincts by listening to your "inner voice", you can also become more in touch with your body awareness. Listen to it. Holistic health practitioners believe your physical, emotional, and spiritual health directly affects how you relate to the world around you.[2]
  14. Do no harm. Lucky people don't use or harm others to forward their own goals. Instead they invite others to accompany them on the journey. While networking, respecting self and others, and caring for the earth around them, lucky people nurture themselves as well as those with whom they come in contact.


http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Your-Luck

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Squeezing the Blood.

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Tomato price up, buyer feels squeezed

The above link is to an article in Hindu. The cost of tomato in chennai as of today is around Rs60 per KG.  Last weekend, when i purchased tomato in my neighborhood, it was $.59 per Lb. Upon conversion it comes to Rs62 per KG. Wow, that seems to be pretty cool. Next time when i travel to india, i have add vegetables in my list of things to buy. You never know, it might get cheaper here over a period of time !

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Photo Identifier

Recently, while logging in and managing my picasa web albums, found a new feature calling tagging.

Its an interesting feature which identifies the human faces. It groups all the Photos based on the tags we give.It just took me 20 minutes to tag around 1000 photos.
The face recognition technology used, seems to cater the basic needs, but do not expect too much out of it.

Try it out....

Revamped Google Picasa site identifies photo faces | Business Tech - CNET News

Friday, August 15, 2008

Thread Exchange Mela

Once again, we are back this year to perform our traditional Thread Exchange Ceremony. To sound as a proper TamBram - "Avani Avittam". The Function is named so due to the fact that it fall on the tamil month Avani and the start being avittam. Kudos to the Naming conventions that our ancestors had. It falls on August 16th. Every year, this day all the brahmin junta renew their thread(Poonal).



For some, it is the day, when they devotionally do all the upaakarma and exchange the holy thread. These prime people, get ready for the d-day and boast about how they have upkept their holy traditions till date.
For some it is the time of the year which reminds them that there is some thread hanging around across their shoulders, which is dirty to the core and needs a new one to scrub their back.
And then there are some, who search for the thread that they misplaced the very next day last year!.

Okay, for me, i do not fall into the latter two, nor the first one. I pretty much try to do the nithyakarmas, but that does have some exceptions based on my mood and the project deadlines :-) Now i know that there are lots of such software nerds who want to join my group, in order to give the same excuse! My father being in the first category, promptly conducted my first upakarma function when i was 10. And ofcourse, he expected me to do all the nithyakarma's and follow his footsteps. Dad, Java & .Net was not ur way of life :-(

Now more to the ceremony. Its conducted in two parts
1. Avani Avittam
2. Gayathri Japam.

Day 1.
All the Pattars get up early in the mornig take bath and do their Pratha-Sandyavandanam. Followed by Kamokarisheeth Japam. Its a small verse that you should be reciting for 1008/108 time as per your convenience. Cmon people, no marks for guessing which option most of them would take.

Before going further, let me explain one more aspect of it. There are two types of people, one who invite their family vadhyar (who told that there are only family doctors!) to their house and get the upakarma done at home.

There is another set of people, who go to the temple and get it done. I advice people to come over to West-Mambalam. On all the street, you will the pattars with dhoti and anga vasthram (Yup, its all free show ladies) walking with a cup (Panchapathram) towards the nearest temple.

As someone nicely pointed in their blogs, its a celebration day for the vadhyars. They get their bounty on this day. Most of the vadhyars, have deals with the temples or some kalyana mandapam to conduct the yajur-upakarma in the temple.


We have gone both ways. The advantage of going to temple mean, you get to eat early berakfast at home (after the kamokarishit japam).

For the past 3 years its been kinda different experience. I am here all alone by myself and had to figure out ways of doing it. Did it twice at home (as it was on working days) and once i went to the temple in camarillo. This time, since its falling on a saturday, am planning to go to the temple. Hope it works out fine.

After the upaakarma, we used to have hefty lunch.

Day 2. - Gayathri Japam

The very next day, we have to get up early and start reciting gayathri manthra for 1008 times. No excuses on this. I do it 1008 as a compensation for those days of the year when i skip doing sandyavandanam.



Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Thalaivar in Kuselan....

August 1st, 2008 - Kuselan is releasing worldwide.