I know that I am going get some very rude comments and draw flak for the following write-up,even from some of my family members itself,who too blindly follow certain things,without reasoning.I feel sorry for them and pity their ideologies.But then,I have no regrets in being against them,when I know for certain that somethings wrong with the way they think/follow.

This article -
Celebs throng Sai Baba's 80th birthday bash - Newindpress.com ,caught my attention today!
It was crazy to read that prominent politicians and top cricketers had attended the event!

I have always read about the deceptive tricks that Sai Baba has been doing all through the years1Even after being exposed so blatantly,he seems to command great respect from people all over the world!God knows,rather the Godman knows whats his secret.
But heres some very prominent exposing videos of yet another Premananda,who has unfortunately been successful in misleading the masses.



http://home.hetnet.nl/%7Ecomments_on/_the_secret_swami/_sai_baba.htm

Here is the detailed explanation about the 1993 murder episode at Sai Baba's Bedroom.
http://home.no.net/anir/Sai/MurderReview.htm
Amazing to realise that the whole issue was silently swept under the carpet,with no real outcome.


I think it would need a patient reading/listening/viewing of the following articles/videos to really understand the extent to which this man condescends to,to make a fool of the people of all walks of life,which ranges from the Prime minsiter,to cabinet ministers to prominent sports persons to prominent actors/actresses etc etc.

http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/frameset.html?page=movies

So,its been 80 years of deception.I wonder how long this is deemed to go on and if there would be a successor to this guy,namely Sai Baba -the junior.

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Thanksgiving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are many such holidays in the U.S,which so many don't understand the significance of.Even I didn't know much about what Thanksgiving stood for,but for the generally observed activity of people getting together with friends and eating Turkey!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

:: rogerebert.com :: Capote

Watched this movie yesterday,after rejecting some of my friends' coaxing to see 'Harry Potter'!For some reason,I didn't enjoy the previous Harry Potter movies,as I have never really liked unbelievable stories/supernatural acts in movies somehow feel it all appeals only to the kids who still believe that theres a guy called SantaClaus. Well,its my personal opinion and am sure its not the way the majority think,going by the crowds I saw in the theatres yesterday.

Coming to the movie "Capote",I just had a glimpse of the ratings that the movie had at IMDB.COM and the movie tab on the google personalized homepage. All the reviews painted a picture as if it was one of the greatest movies,American cinema were to produce!Few minutes into the movie,it did seem that it was a movie intended solely for the purpose of sending some entries to the Oscars.Phillip Seymore as Capote,threw a very vivid portrayal of the author Capote,which screamed every scene of his attempts to gain an Oscar this time.I have seen him act as a supporting actor in many movies,but this was the first time I saw him don a full length role.

It was really an uninspiring movie for me and my friend,who conveniently dozed off half way into the movie.The silent setting of the movie and the slow pace at which it went,made the theatre hall seem like a haunted place.At one point of time,I had to wake my friend from his deep sleep,as his snoring sound started attaining higher decibel than the movie's background sound.
Such was the eerie silence in the hall,partly due to the fact that there were only 15 or 20 people seated in a probably 200 seater hall.

After coming home,I did some googling and found out that Capote was one of the greatest American writers,widely acclaimed for his writing in the 1960's about his description of a chilling murder in his book "In cold blood".He is one such person,whose profession took a toll on his personal life,as his involvement with the murderers to gain insight into the gruesome killings,in order to recount in his book,filled him with remorse and helplessness in helping them out.

The movie would have been a masterpiece to someone who has already read the original book by Capote.But for someone like me who just heard that name - Capote, the first time when it was shown on the screen,it was a totally confusing 2 hours.There seemed to be no justification for the emotional drama that was depicted.Phillip Seymore's expressions and emotions seemed to convey as if the murderers were innocent,which was totally ridiculous.The main incident of the murder was totally masked and all that was shown was the irritating affectated speech of Seymore and his gayness.

The movie is like one of those "President award" winning movies shown in Doordarshan on Sunday afternoons!Worth watching once but not going to stick in one's mind for a long time.I wonder why I even took pains to write this much about a movie I disliked.I guess,its just to save a snapshot of my boredom.

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

EETimes.com - Survey: employees steal office supplies

As much as it sounds funny,it is really a disgusting truth.
The above survey is representative of all workers in the U.S,but I had a first hand experience on this issue with a guy who had come from India on an onsite assignment.
I was the chosen one for this guy(God knows how such people somehow magically emerge out of the blue calling themselves as some friend's sister's husband's coworker etc) to be dropped off at the airport during his return to India and happened to be at the baggage checking area at the airport,when the ugly truth emerged!As he was carrying stuff above the allowed weight,he was asked to discard some stuff and that is when I was shocked to find stationery of all kinds bearing his company logo!As I looked startled at him,he just let out a pathetic smile which seemed to say.."Yeah..I am stealing all those things..So what?Thats nothing when compared to what the company stole from me by paying 10$/hr for the same kind of job the white guy there was getting paid 30$/hr for"

Since I have embarked on this topic of 'short-term assignment desis' let me recount this too.
The same fellow involved in the incident above had a boss who had come to the U.S in a similar fashion as him.This guy went to the height of screwing U.S to the core.When he entered the U.S,he went straight to the walmart and bought a lot of things for his daily needs.He made sure he saved the receipt for every one of those products and when it was time for him return to india after 2 months,he promptly returned all those things and got a full refund,thanks to Walmart's policy of allowing returns upto 3 months from the date of purchase.

In another incident,I was accompanying a friend who was sendind off a friend of his at the airport on his way back to India for good.This guy had come for his masters in business administration at the Univ of Arlington,had got royally screwed in academics and had burnt his pockets due to the fees/living expenses.He had ably juggled his credit card balances to take of his expenses and was leaving the country without much worries with a cumulative balance of around 20000$ spread across 8 different credit cards.He was narrating hos successful he had been in buying 1500$ worth of electronics the previous night and the funny incidents when some of the cashiers tried several of his credit cards and found them all maxed out.At the airport,just minutes before his departure he threw 7 of those cards into the trashbin and held on to the last card,with which he bought several packs of cigarettes and even gifted some of them to his friends who had come to say Bye!

There are so many such things in the U.S,which could be nastily screwed around by those few cunning Desis,if given a chance.
-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

MurthyDotCom : MurthyChat Transcripts

Very useful website with chat transcripts with the lawyer - Sheela Murthy to get many of those confusing Green card related questions answered.
I attended a Greencard application info session conducted by my company in conjuction with a law firm and found it highly confusing and ridiculous,when I heard all those different kinda of numbers..the i-140 application..the i-485..the 1-94 and whatnot.Also,at the end of the long session,it felt so bad and irritating to realise how ridiculous the system is and how backlogged the applications are.
But then,there never seems to be a decrease in interest to gain greencards and people seem to go to any lengths to apply for one and are ready to even wait for almost a decade to get hold of one.Although many of my cousins and relatives have got Greencards/citizenship in the last decade,the real challenge,I feel is for people in this era when the competition is very high,the quotas are all maxed out and the laws are getting stricter.
I just can't imagine how a person would feel,at the end of the entire ordeal,when he gets his greencard approved.Now I understand the reason behind movies such as Greencard fever showing people going to great heights and taking desperate measures to get one.
Sometimes it makes me think..."Is it all really worth the ordeal?". A country that wants international citizens to work for it and develop it all their life,to call itself the greatest nation in the world ,but is hellbent on treating them like shit and not open to accepting them as their own?
-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Tech update: Semiconductor engineers stay on the cutting edge

Posted by rajesh |

Happened to watch the movie that the title reads...

It was surprisingly a very decent movie and yet again Danush seemed to show that he could handle heavy roles,requiring a seasoned actor-like image,with simple schoolboyish looks and not so hyped up antics!It was a very good performance from both Danush and Priya Mani.Balu Mahendra had brought the best out of them and as expected of him,had provided a documentary type setting and a slow pace to the movie!Delhi Ganesh acted very casually and effectively portrayed the role of a responsible father.

This was a movie,which most of my friends couldn't keep up with the pace and started abusing me for sitting through it till the end!I had been listening to the songs since a long time and hence seemed to appreciate them better in the movie!Ilayaraja's 'Kaatuvazhi Kaalnadayaa poara thambi' was just awesome,bringing me memories of similar songs - Elam Kaatru Veeesudhu from Pithaamagan and 'Thenpaandi cheemayilae' from Naayagan!'Andha Naal nyaabgam' sung by Shreya Ghosal was also a memorable number from the movie!

One of the songs,although blending with the story,seemed to have been unnecessarily thrust into the movie just to take care of the front benchers looking forward to any kind of sleazy act!The absense of a separate comedy track was very well compensated by the funny scenes involving the hero's friends' curiosity in knowing about their friend's affair!One thing which was very hard to believe was the body build of Danush which seemed to show a highly impoverished and diseased guy!It made us all onder again and again -'Is this guy the son-in-law of Rajnikanth!!!???'

Nothing else seems to stand out from this movie.Apart from the typical tamil filmic ending,which was hard to believe,everything else looked normal in the movie.It is indeed worth a watch,especially for people like me who like watching believable real life happenings in a movie than the typical masala flick with 50 yr olds romancing 20 year olds and doing unbelievable stunts!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

I used to wonder how can companies afford those million dollar ad slots during super bowl and still stay profitable.I guess,they do stay profitable and thats why year after year they come up with stupidity in the name of ads and still have the masses glued to them.
As for buying something based on the ads,I seriously doubt if ads influence that much to a sane thinker!

My skepticism definitely reeks of the novice in me about the advertising world ,but personally when it comes to choosing a product of substantial monetary value,I go by the real potential of the commodity rather than trying hard to think who endorsed the brand or what part of the program in doordarshan did they sponsor.Was it Tendulkar or Aishwarya Rai or Shahrukh who endorsed it?.-who the hell cares! Infact at times,I end up choosing products that don't get advertised much, just for the sake of it and to prove a silly but pleasing point to myself that I didn't buy a brand which resorted to advertising somewhat pathetically time and again on all kinds of media using the topmost tennis star or the film star!What are they trying to say?-That tendulkar uses a certain brand of hair-oil and thats why he plays well or the Bachans use a certain brand of watch and thats why they are on schedule?

From the decisions that my family made based on TV ads,I feel the most influencial of them were the FMCG -fast moving consumer goods' ads which directly showed the effect of using the product in the family,using pretty mundane advertising ideas and unknown actors in the demonstration of the process - something which every common man can relate too.Eg:The surf ad or the eureka forbes vacuum cleaner ads.
Something which gets on my nerves is the condescension of the ad makers to sell their product at any cost!I remember seeing an Indian ad where a mother is shown to panic and scream to such an extent as if her daughter is heading towards the jaws of death,only to find in the next few seconds that all that commotion was because she din't want her daughter to use anything other than a particular brand of shampoo!Those cheap tricks are something which stay in the mind for long and make sure that that brand never gets into my shopping list,even it were to be my elixir of life!

Sometimes I feel the companies are wasting a lot of time and money trying to advertise their products to the TV watching junta.Its akin to advertising medicines to the people,when the real decision is being taken by the doctor.I don't remember a single time when my dad or I have ever asking for a particular type of paracetamol advertised on TV to be prescribed to us.Similarly,with the good old way things are bought in Indian homes,where its the product that is needed that is being specified in the grocery list(say mosquito coil/mats) given to the shopkeeper and not the brand of the product,I think companies need to spend more on marketing their products and give kickbacks to the local Murugan stores or BHS hospital rather trying to target their catchy memorable ads to the general subbu n kuppu who don't really give a damn as to whether it was the 'Goodknight mats' or the 'tortoise mats' that kept the mosquitoes away the previous night!

As long as it is cheap and it works,nobody gives a damn to the advertising or the brand,atleast in India!This is just my perception and as I said earlier,this might really reek explicitly of my being a novice in the world of advertising!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Majaa was good in the first half,with Pasupathy hogging the limelight with simple subtle comedy!The old fashioned music that accompanied everytime Pasupathy romanced,was quite funny!

Asin...just...aaah sceneu...
Nothing great abt her..shes tried hard to mouth those tamil phrases masking her malayalam!che.che.che.che.cheee... ;) took my mind back to those sin/cos/ac/dc sinusoidal waves ,as I watched the wavy motion of her hips!

God knows why Vadivelu is still shown in every other film screaming and trying too hard to come up with his version of so-called caamedi..!With Pasupathy in there,Vadivelu was not really needed!

Vikram...good enuff..cud have avoided the half-hearted atempts at displaying a baabaa like hand gesture and mouthing the word 'Majaa' unnecessarily!

Manivannan...It udn't surprise me to see the headlines one day,where it says 'Manivannan dies due to intoxication while shooting'
But he carried himself pretty well throughout the movie..cud have avoided some of those too much sentii scenes and drinking scenes!

Vijaykumar..someone shud ban this guy from acting.No variation at all in any of his expressions..Its as if hes acting as himself all his life..from what ive seen in the last 10 or 15 yrs,hes that no-nonsense good-natured father guy who emotes too much and finally joins the family album picture in the last scene!

The songs were very good in the movie,but seemed to have been thrust in just for the sake of having them,Ofcourse thats the way it is in every other movie nowadays!
The attention given to Vikram's affair was lacking when compared to what was devoted to his brother - Pasupathy!Vikram and Asin were not shown to have any kind of chemistry!I can't remember any basis for them to fall in love,while Pasupathy's romance still stays fresh in memory!

Majaa..watchable once for those songs/Pasupathy's comedy!

Posted by rajesh |

"Online...Yada'yada' hi dharmasya gla'nirbhavati bha'rata Ca'bhyuttha'namadharmasya tada'tma'nam' srjamya'ham!"

"Online...Whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness raises its ugly head, I incarnate myself."

Google Print!!

Searching the full text from the books featured in the search is an awesome tool!
I am pretty sure this is going to bring a huge change in the way books are bought!
Within the first few minutes of dabbling with the webpage with random topics of interest to me,I was able to take a sneak peak into so many interesting books and the relevant pages containing the 'word/phrases' I searched for!
Well,if thats a great feature to be happy about,theres something more in store(pun unintended)-It shows the online stores having those books and the cheapest portal to buy it from!
They also have plans of linking Library records into their database,which would indicate if a book featured in the search is available in any library in the vicinity of the searcher's area code!
Awesome....!What more can Google do to help the masses?
I am beginning to think of other areas that they could very well dabble into and break the stereotyped way things have been made to work..

One such are is 'Online stock news/trading' websites.While there are a number of websites which give insight into the company tickers and their performance,I don't find them very useful to gain a complete picture of the company's performance.How about a comprehensive webpage with vivid charts and solid predictions about the company based on previous day/week's data and some input from the experts/business analysts?Also,a handy tool for day-trading should be a great effort!

Another area that Google could get into is something like WebMD.A Dr.Google website which becomes the elixir of all ailments!Linking pharmaceutical companies and their products and their availability(non-prescription drugs) in online stores,should take the whole world of buying medicines to a different level!

As I begin to think of it,Google can very well try to get integrated into anything and everything in a common man's life!There are around 150 to 200 channels in cable television nowadays.They could give some rest to the poor remote control gizmos,by coming up with a search/webpage featuring the programs that all those channels would be airing.May be categorise them as 'reality TV'/Soaps/Comedy/Sports etc.A simple search before every bout of TV watching should be able to provide us with the 3 or 4 channels,that could provide solid entertainment for the next whole hour!Linking Google video of the unwatchable programs would really be a really neat feature!

Shall try to think of other things and jot down later.At the pace at which Google is introducing things,it would be a tight race between our wishes/thoughts and Google introduing them online!
-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |

Listened to the songs from Thavamaay Thavam irundhu..A pretty decent effort by Sabesh Murali!All the songs were worth a listen!
This song stood out for its wonderful slowness and thought-provoking lyrics,coupled with Unni Menon's soothing voice!It kind of revealed the central crux of the movie,which I guess... must be about how the hero takes us through the grief that his parents encounter due to his falling in love and the implications it has on their lives!You could download the mp3 of the song here!

The lyrics of the song is as follows...



I always used to wonder why all the directors came up with stories eulogising the so-called 'love'!May be this movie is the trendsetter which brings out reality,similar to the simple yet memorable movie - autograph by Cheran!I sometimes feel it is the Indian movies which give out too much of outlandish ideas to the college goers,who otherwise would have spent their time towards other useful stuff for the betterment of their lives and people dependant on them!

The process of falling in love and triumphing at any cost has been the crux of almost 80% of the tamil,telugu and hindi movies till date,starting from the 1950s to the latest movie that I saw.Even the movies which fall under the 'thriller' or 'comedy' category ,somehow are forced to include a couple struggling to cope up with their youth and being forced to fall in love!But its not a coincidence when we realise that almost everyone of those movies support the process,even when the whole concept of 'love marraige' is considered taboo across all families.May be its the fact that it is taboo among the masses that lends the thrust to the theme to have been used repeatedly and quite successfully for almost 6 decades now!

Some of the movies portray a very unrealistic rosy picture completely masking the reality that the couples have to encounter after eloping!Life in the movies is reduced to just falling in love;encountering the struggles and finally getting married successfully!The aftermath where the whole life starts is conveniently forgotten.It is this part of life that one really needs the support of parents and relatives,with whom the movies show the hero and heroin even go to the extent of killing them just to get married!

With the way things are going in Indian movies,I don't think its ever going to change!It wouldn't be surprising in the year 2020 to see Vikram's son or Vijay's daughter running around trees,Rajnikanth(yeah..even then he'd be a hero) bunking college and romancing aishwarya's daughter(his grand-daughter) and kamal indulging in unnecessary lip locks just for the sake of it!

-Raapi

Posted by rajesh |