India - The True India

I don’t believe in coincidences.
I believe that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we find the reason immediately, sometimes after few hours, few days or months. In fact, I have seen the reason after several years. Maybe it all involves Karma.

I was a big fan of Bhagavad Gita. I have 3 books, translations by different people, on Bhagavad Gita. I have also downloaded, bookmarked several sites in Internet translation by different people. I’ve read all these in bits and pieces. But never was I able to complete the whole of any version.
I always used to wonder why!

I used to convince myself that maybe it’s too long and I have to split it into several sessions but was never able to do so.

Maybe I just found an answer for that too.

Bhagavad Gita.
The sound you hear when you say the above, is by itself so powerful.

The Bible of the Hindus.

The Truth is…
The Bhagavad Gita that we have now is NOT the original Bhagavad Gita.
In fact the original, written by Sage Vyasa, was called simply ‘Gita’.


That was the shocking revelation that I had recently.

The present day Bhagavad Gita has 700 verses.
The original Gita has 84 verses.
Yes, you heard it right.
Just 84 verses.

So what happened?

Around 800 A.D. , the original Gita was interpolated and ended up having 700 verses. The name was changed from Gita to Bhagavad Gita. The concept of one single Almighty God, or Supreme, Bhagavan, was introduced to Indian society.

Till then, before 800 A.D., Indians believed in God. But they believed in polytheism. They were also nature worshippers. They worshipped earth, stone, trees, rain, wind, fire, sun, moon etc.

One of my friend mentioned that evidence suggested that the civilizations in Harappa and Mohenjadaro worshipped Gods in idol form. Yes, that’s right. What happened in 800 A.D. was something unique.
One God, One Supreme Being, was introduced to India. This idea was mainly borrowed from Christianity and Islam.

The Mahabharata that we have now is also not the original.
The original epic had only 8,800 verses and its name was 'Jaya' (Victory). It was expanded to 24,000 verses and its name was changed to Jaya Bharata and then to Bharatetihas. At a much later time, the epic was expanded to 100,000 verses and got its present name, Mahabharata.

Upanishads suffered the same fate.

India before 800 A.D. according to the author, the Real India was this.

“India prior to 800 A.D. produced philosophers and writers who accepted Man as the Supreme Being. They talked abut two main entities: Purusha (Man) and Prakriti (Nature). Change in these two entities occurs due to the ever-present and everlasting work of three Gunas-Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva. Ignorance, lack of proper knowledge and improper action cause dukha (sorrow or unhappiness). Man can liberate himself from dukha and attain sukha (happiness) by acquiring proper knowledge, mastering certain teachings, following certain practices, and by working according to the Samkhya-yoga theory of action.”

India was never conquered before 800 A.D.
Yes, there were some incursions at the border. Persian and Greek invaders came to India. But they were only able to conquer the borders. They were never able to make inroads into India and conquer it. They never crossed Sind, in present day Pakistan.

All this changed after 800 A.D.

The author adds…

“The story of how Brahmans helped the invading Arabs in their conquest of Sind is a treacherous history. We get a very vivid account of the Arabs' incursions and their subsequent conquest of Sind through a book entitles Chachnamah, written by Ali Kufi (of Kufah, Syria) in 1216 A.D. The book was first translated into Persian from Arabic, and was translated into English by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg in 1900.

According to Chachnamah, Buddhism was the dominant religion in Sind during the seventh century A.D. There were Buddhist temples and monasteries located all over Sind. The Buddhists and Brahmans lived in amity. The various principalities and their rulers were under the king of Sind, Rai Sahira, a Kshatriya. This kingdom fell into the hands of his chief, Chach, who ruled for many years. After the death of Chach, his son, Dahar (Dahir) became king. It was during his reign that the Arabs conquered Sind.

The Arabs began invading portions of Sind during the 640s. According to the Chachnamah, during the reign of Caliph Umar (634-643) "an army of Islam was first sent out to different parts of Hind and Sind, to carry on religious war there." But every attack of the Arabs was thwarted, their forces destroyed, and the leader killed. Their condition changed abruptly, however, when they began receiving support from the Brahmans. The Brahmans had always occupied the high administrative posts before and after Chach. They began helping the Arabs by acting as their informers, by preaching a philosophy of surrender; by predicting victory of Islam and defeat of the local ruler; and by working as an advance-party of the invading Arabs. Let me give an example of how a Brahman's support to Arabs at Debal (a small principality in Sind) provided them with their victory in Sind.

The Arabs had invaded Debal in 711 A.D. under the command of Muhammad Kasim (also called Muhammed Ibin Qasim). They had fought for eight days without making any gains. Since Debal was a fortified city, the Arabs had encamped nearby and were waging war from their camps, without success.

In the heart of the city of Debal, there was a Buddhist temple with a high dome. On that dome, there was a high pole from which a huge flag was hoisted. This flag worked as a talisman (symbol). It meant that as long as the flag continued to be displayed, the people would be victorious. Inspired by this flag, the people and the army fought bravely, and for eight days the Arabs were held in check. On the ninth day of the battle, while the Arab army was besieging Debal, a surprising event happened.

"All of a sudden, then, a Brahmin (Brahman) came forth from the garrison, and cried for mercy. He said, "May the just governor live long!" We have learnt from our science of the stars that the country of Sind will be conquered by the army of Islam, and the infidels will be put to flight. But be it known to you that the standard of the idol-house (temple) ,yonder, is a talisman. As long as that standard of that temple stands in its place, it is impossible for the fort to be taken by you. You must, therefore, try your best to blow off the dome of this temple, and break its flag-staff into pieces. Then only your success will be complete."

After hearing the secret of the temple, the commander of the Arab army, Muhammad Kasim, called his engineer, Jaubat Salmi, and offered him a reward for devising a means of blowing off the dome of the temple. The next day, the Arabs destroyed the dome and the flag of the temple. The fall of the flag meant the fall of the Debalese people.

After the dome was demolished, the Arab army entered the temple and the fort without a fight. The people surrendered, the idol in the temple was removed, and a mosque was established. The Arabs had won their first victory, and they now knew who their collaborators would be. As a result, when Muhammad Kasim marched from one place to another, he had easy victories. And finally, he was able to conquer all of Sind.

Though the Islamic invaders had been trying to expand their rule to other parts of India, they were vigorously resisted by rulers outside Sind. It took them about 200 years to finally expand into other parts of India. It took them another 300 years to capture the whole of northern and western India and a part of South India. The invaders, no doubt impressed by the strength of the resistance, looked to Indian culture and philosophy as the likely source of this strength. This power to resist sprang from the tradition of rational philosophy, which had taught Indians to act and fight for their rights. Unless a change was brought about which would weaken their resistance, Islamic faith and power could not subdue and defeat the Indians.”

Why did all this happen?
Why were the scriptures distorted?

According to the author, these happened for 2 reasons mainly.

The Brahmans wanted to maintain supremacy over the other castes and also have a major hold in the social and political front.
So they modified the scriptures, glorifying the caste system, increasing its rigidity in practice in the society.

They also wanted a concept of one single Almighty, one Supreme Being, to fight or resist the spread of other monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam. So Brahman, the Supreme Being was introduced. The concept of Heaven and Hell was also introduced.
Inaction was glorified. From Man being the Supreme Being, God became the Supreme Being. Man could only do what fate could dictate. This world was described as a place of suffering. Man’s only objective in life was just to be liberated from the cycles of birth and death and reach God in heaven.

So did they suceed in their effort?
Yes, sure they did.
The caste system is still followed in many parts of India rigidly.
The spread of Christianity and Islam was resisted successfully.

We saved our God, but we lost ourself.

This all happened after 800 A.D. .
The author points how Shankaracharya’s Advaita philosophy fueled this monotheistic phenomenon in the society.
India entered the Dark Age at that time.
For the next 1000 years, India was constantly under the attack/rule of foreigners. Indians did not have the attitude to fight the occupation.

The original teachings of Kapila, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira etc were distorted.

Our thought-pattern changed from philosophic and scientific one, towards more religious.

The True India was lost.

***

This concludes my Trilogy on India.

I have intentionally left out many facts which I learned from the book. It would definitely be not fair on my part, to say everything in the blog, when all the hard work of extensive research was put by the author.

I will be doing researches on a lot of things mentioned above.

I would strongly recommend my readers to read this book.
This may change your life, or it may not.
You may believe its contents or you may not.
But you sure will have lots of questions.
You sure will want to search for the facts yourself.

In my opinion, ‘The search for Truth begins with search for facts’.

The book :

The Gita As It Was - Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita
Phulgenda Sinha
ISBN : 0-8126-9024-9
ISBN : 0-8126-9025-7 (paperback)

Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi never believed in the originality of the present day Bhagavad Gita. Swami Vivekananda was in search of the original Gita (2 original copies are said to be in existence today, in Bali and Sri Lanka). Vivekananda was never able to find the original in his lifetime.

So what is the original Gita?
This is the original Gita.
(Translation by Phulgenda Sinha)

Where does this leave me?
I myself have critiqued many, who don’t believe in God but go to temple to pray.
Iam afraid I might become the one whom I feared.

Have I become the very thing that I dreaded the most?
Have I fallen on the dark side?
Am I Anakin Skywalker?
Or have I become Darth Vader?

India - The India Today

I came across a book recently.

The book's preface had the following text from the author.

"...there is something basically wrong with the thinking and action of the Indian people."

The author adds...

"I pondered some of the basic facts and problems related to India. Its people are no less intelligent, strong, and healthy than those of other nations. Its climate and natural resources are ideal for national growth and prosperity. The country has the basic technological knowledge for industrial and agricultural excellence. But having all these, why does India remain an impoverished country in which millions cannot eat well, cannot afford shelter, and cannot get adequate education and health services?"

The book that I read was the result of the above question from the author. Since my question was also exactly the same, I was very interested in this book.

The answer the author found was shocking to me.

The concept of a single God as Almighty and Supreme was introduced to India in 800 A.D.
Not Man but God was held to be Supreme.
Man could do only what was predestined by God. There was Heaven and Hell. Man possessed a soul which did not die but was reincarnated according to past and present deeds. The Brahmans were superior to all castes and the word Brahman was synonymous with Brahma and all the divinities.
Christianity and Islam did not borrow concepts and teachings from Hinduism. It was the other way around.
India went through a dramatic change in 800 A.D.
India entered the Dark Ages.

According to the author...

"As is the level of thought in a nation, so is the level of its progress. The rate of progress is the same as is prevalence of thought. This holds true for a nation, a society, a community, a group, or a single individual. Where the level of thought does not rise, the society, the nation or the entity does not prosper."

According to the author...

"The national thought pattern of India can be summarized in the following words:

Work without caring for the results.
Act, but do not look for the fruits of action.
Desires cause dukha(sorrow); therefore, do not have them.
You get only what fate dictates.
Material wealth is inferior; spiritual life is superior.
You should strive to achieve unity with God for a happy life, to go to heaven, and to be reincarnated.
Man is predestined and cannot do anything unless it is willed by God.
Sorrow, pain, and misery can be removed only by God, not by human effort."

Looking at India now, with the above things in mind, you see that even today, in many places in India, this holds very true.

Lets take one example.
Sorrow, pain, and misery can be removed only by God, not by human effort.

If something like a Tsunami that stuck the nation on December 2004, had had happened few hundred years ago, where the communication between the different parts of the world was nowhere near where it is now, what would the people have thought?
They would have thought that the Gods are angry and the Gods sent waves and they would have done some poojas and rituals to calm down the angry Gods.
There is no way that people would have really tried to investigate and find out why such a thing happened.
There is no way they would have connected the earthquake which happened hundreds of miles away to a Tsunami. In fact they would have thought Gods were angry with Indonesia too!

Would India have behaved the same before 800 A.D.?
Probably not. The thought pattern of India was different before 800 A.D.

These are the few things that happened after 800 A.D.
Religion merged with politics. There was no separation of the church and the state.
The caste system was made more rigid and discriminatory.
Philosophical and practical teachings were completely distorted.
The pragmatic qualities of Yoga were completely replaced by religious, spiritual, and mystical preoccupations.

No foreign power was able to conquer India before 800 A.D.

So what happened around 800 A.D.?
What influenced the thought pattern of India eventually changing it?

The Indians derived this thought-pattern from scriptures and teachings based on those scriptures.
And the most important of them all, which influenced the people, is the scripture what we now call 'The Bhagavad Gita'.

India - The Question

Have I become the very thing that I dreaded the most?
Have I fallen on the dark side?
Am I Anakin Skywalker?
Or have I become Darth Vader?

It all begun with a question pondering me for so many years now.

Why does a nation like India, which is tens of thousands of years old and having civilizations for thousands of years at least(in the recorded history), is way behind its western counterparts when it comes to development in the society?

Let's just take an example.
Bullock/Horse carts and Cars.

India had carts for thousands of years. From the beginning till today, how many improvements have we made to those carts?
Honestly, I can think of none. We never improvised. We never strived for excellency. The people wanted to travel from one place to another. They wanted to transport goods. They built a cart. It took them to the places they wanted to go. People were happy, they were satisfied. Period. End of development.
Anyone traveled in a cart today will know how rough the ride is.
Why is that no one even thought of simple improvements like putting a layer of rubber, a tire like layer over the wooden wheels, to make the ride little bit more comfortable?
Only recently we can see few, very few carts, that too in cities, carts having tires, (probably borrowed from some other discarded motor vehicle) instead of wheels.

Take the west. They had carts too. Mainly horse driven.
Carts became wagons. Wagons became sophisticated. People could travel for months in wagons. They could live & sleep in wagons. They could increase the 'horse power' of wagons, literally, by adding more horses.

Later carts became cars.

India, with thousands of years of civilization, did not invent cars. The west, with few hundred years of civilization behind it, achieved it.

Even in cars, how many improvements, enhancements, developments have we seen here in India?
How many modifications have been made to improve an Ambassador or a Maruthi 800 over several decades?

Take the west. Every year there is a modification, an improvement over the previous year. Every 4-5 years there is a major modification , improvement over the old model making the car only better and safer every time, excelling in performance.

Why?

When I asked this question to myself, the only answer that I got was, well...the people in India were satisfied with that they had. They lived with it.
But I could never understand why?
Why were the people satisfied with what they had?
Why were they content with that they had?
Why did they not improve, enhance, excel what they were doing?

I found the answer to this question recently.

In the following days I will be posting a very important blog.
This has changed my life completely. This has changed my way of looking at lot of things with a completely different view.
I'm sure many of my readers life might be changed completely. If not, at least it will make them ask some very serious questions and rethink their entire life.
If nothing actually changes in their life, then probably they either knew the Truth, or they will be back.

So watch this column for the next couple of days.
As a note of caution, it's not for the faint-hearted or close-minded people.
So I strongly recommend those people to stay away.

Get ready for the most astonishing ride of your life. Buckle up Virginia.

"கடலுக்கு காதல் வந்தால் கரையேறி வந்தால் போதும்
கவிதைக்கு காதல் வந்தால் தாங்காதம்மா"

I ... I don't know why I sang that. I guess Iam just excited.mmmmmmm.

Today is my fourth day as a vegetarian.
Was a busy and interesting day at work. I programmed a very complex and intriguing business requirement which I discovered during my analysis of the requirements.

What else...
I went to gym and had a neat workout.
Came home and took a shower and made some lentils(paruppu) for tomorrow lunch.
Tomorrow the maid service is going to come to my house to do the monthly maintenance.
This weekend is a long weekend for me. Monday is a holiday(Labor Day). Labor day also marks official summer end in US. I don't have any plans for this long weekend. I guess I will just relax at home, go for a massage, and watch some movies.

Tomorrow is India Vs Zimbabwe at 330am. Haven't decided if I should get up early and watch it. Looking at the past performance (if I can say so) of Indian cricket team....ewwww...maybe it's not that good idea to wake up so early.

Today is my third day as a vegetarian, or maybe I should say ovo-lacto-vegetarian.
I didn'g go to gym tonight. I decided to stay at home and relax. I just made some egg masala curry for lunch tomorrow. hmmm maybe after sometime I should cut egg also and become lacto-vegetarian. Let me see what happens.

Today one good movie 'The Constant Gardener' starring one of my favorite actress 'Rachel Weisz' opened.Probably I will see the movie this weekend. Oh yes, coming weekend is a long weekend for me.

Why Indian cricket team loses?

The following are the comments I posed on my friend VJ's blog few weeks ago.

TimesofIndia reports something similar to that today.


COMMENT 1:
The reason for India's failure is...

In India, when someone gives an exceptional performance one time, then the media/public make them Demi-Gods. Endorsements pour in millions. People start thinking that this person is the 'Chosen One'.

This hero worshipping is very very bad. We have this in sports, movies, politics etc.

As long as we have this, there won't be any team work in India(sports, movies, politics) etc.

You all know so many cricketers who fell into this.So I won't go into that details.

Others include, Narain Karthikeyan, Sania Mirza, Kunja Rani, Abbas, Arvind samy, madhavan etc etc.

It's not that Narain doesn't want to win. He has the second worst car Jordan, just ahead Minardi. A Jordan is not going to kick the ass of a Ferrari or McLaren Mercedez. PERIOD.

It's like racing a BMW and a Maruthi 800. Maruthi 800 will not win such a race.Common sense. Duh !

Sania Mirza, she just won once, and she got like few millions in endorsements and she was in the media/magazine/public limelight and this ended up putting her in the spotlight :)

The only way Indian cricket team will be successful consistently is if they play as a team, and there is no hero worshipping. See the Aussies. There is not one hero there. All are average, and collectively as a team, they kick ass.

Recently Indian team has too many heroes. This results in ego clashes. this is also bad.

First, Chappel should send this message across strongly. If someone is not performing, be it Viru, Sachin, or Rahul or Sourav, drop (not sack) them for 1 match. and say to press openly, they were dropped as they din't perform. Don't give some super stupid silly execuses like injured, pulled a muscle and all such crappy reasons.

Second, strategy is key. Sending batsmen in a specific order is a super stupid strategy. Send batsmen in according to the situation. Dont send Rahul before first 15 overs. He is best for 15-40 overs. Don't send Kaif before 15 or after 45 overs. Pair him up with Rahul at 15-45 where they can work the ball and take singles. Don't send Yuvraj at 15-45. He shud be before 15 or after 40/45. He hits the ball.

I have lots of such super awesome strategies.

If BCCI is willing to hire me,I can reveal all.

COMMENT 2:
It's nothing to do with Sourav. People who bash Sourav, neither know what they are talking about nor they haven't watched Indian cricket for the last 3-4 years.

In addition to what I suggested the following also needs to be implemented.

1. Instead of giving huge salaries, give a low basic salary and give huge performace incentives. You win a mathc you get somuch bonus (all players). You win finals you get even more bonus.

2. From the time a player debuts in Indian cricket team, for 24 months he should not be in any commercials/endorsements. He can only sign for commercials/endorsements after proving himself for 24 months.

Thats what I would do if I was managing BCCI.

Vimal Natarajan

This is me and this is my blog.

31 August (3108) = Blog Day

The concept behind it is this... :
With a bit of l33tifying, you can read "3108" as "Blog", so 31/08 is officially declared "Blog Day"



(Thanks to Preethi. Dammit I hate to thank her, but if I don't, she is gonna sue me with copyright violation)

What am I?

Today was my second day as a vegetarian.
I had made some Rajma Curry last night and had it today for lunch with basmati rice. It was very tasty.
I am also planning on skipping heavy dinners. Tonight I just had 'SPITU-TEIN' , a soy protein shake.

I also checked my pin-mails and found lots of coupons which I usually trash. Of all day, today I decided to check them out and dammit, every page I turn had coupons for burgers, and sandwiches, and chicken, and fish and beef and hot dogs and ....huh...

Over the weekend I had been to one of my favorite restaurant 'Outback Steakhouse'. It's an Australian restaurant(check out their menu). I love the 'Bloomin Onion' & 'Kookaburra Wings'. They make excellent grilled fish too. But the best one is their Lamb Chops. It's so juicy and tasty. As I couldn't finish all 4 chops, I had them packed home 'To Go'. I found that lamb chops today in my refrigerator and after a looong thought process I had to throw it away.

Converting to vegetarian is not an easy thing. For all those folks who is considering to convert to vegetarian, here's a piece of advice from me "Don't".

Fruitarian : Eats only fruits and non-processed vegetarian food
Vegetarian/Vegan : Fruitarian + Eats processed vegetarian food
Lacto-Vegetarian : Vegitarian + Eats dairy products like milk, yogurt (not yoghurt)
Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarian: Lacto-Vegetarian + Eats eggs

Apparently , right now actually Iam not a vegetarian. Iam a 'Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarian' (Ewww I don't like the name itself)

Following is the list of vegetarian celebrities.

Tobey Maguire(Spider-Man)
Joaquin Phoenix
Alicia Silverstone(mmmmmm :-))
Richard Gere
Shania Twain
David Duchovny(Fox Mulder, The X-Files)
Pamela Anderson(What the !@#$)
Gwyneth Paltrow
Josh Hartnett
Kim Basinger
Natalie Portman(mmm....Princess Padme Amidala, Star Wars)
Clint Eastwood(Kick Ass)
Orlando Bloom
Martina Navratilova
Princess Diana
Brad Pitt(Whaaaaaaaat???)
Chelsea Clinton
Lisa Kudrow(Phoebe, Friends)
Sir Issac Newton
Mahatma Gandhi
George Bernard Shaw
Mark Twain
H.G. Wells
Leonardo Da Vinci
Charles Darwin
Thomas Edison
Pythagorus
Socrates
Vimal

Lastnight Dixita, Abhishek, and a friend of theirs and I went to Byrd theater to see 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'.

I thought the movie will be an ok action movie.But to my disappointment it turned out to be stupid action movie. In the end, the movie reminded me of another movie 'Desperado'.

We had earlier decided to go to a restaurant for dinner after the movie. But one person in the group(no name) broke the deal. Now Iam also going to break a deal that I had made earlier with that person.

Yesterday was also my first day as a vegetarian. Now I don't know if milk, yogurt, and egg are considered vegetarian. But I will consider them as vegetarian until unless I feel otherwise.

Bond Kills India

http://imsports.rediff.com/score/in_match1098.html


FACT : This is Ganguly second run as a captain.
Bond says "You only Live Twice".

FACT : Venugopal clean bowled on a yorker, first ball.
Bond says "Live And Let Die"

FACT : Bond takes six wickets
Bond says "License To Kill"

FACT : India plays New Zealand again on September 2
Bond says "Tomorrow Never Dies" so "Die Another Day"

FACT : India is losing everywhere
Bond says "The World Is Not Enough"

FACT : India's scorecard looks pathetic
Bond Says "For Your Eyes Only"

FACT : What Bond thinks about bowling to India
Bond Says "A View To A Kill"

Finally Bond says to Indian Cricketers "Diamonds Are Forever"

Taiku

புன்னகை இருக்க
'பொன்' நகை எதற்க்கு, பெண்ணே !


For beginners : What is Taiku?

Taiku, like Haiku, is one of the most important modes of Tamil Poetry. It's origins can be traced back to as early as 21st century. Legend says that after a long and tiring day at work, Vimal, a Super Awesome guy, decided to take a break and do something different. While in deep meditation he found Taiku.

Saturday. Always a nice to have day.

Today I went to the post office and mailed my broken Sidekick phone to TMobile. Also I went to the local TMobile store to return the loaner phone that they gave me.

Then for lunch, I had mutton curry and rice which I made last evening. It was so delicious.

Then Dixita called me and asked if I wanted to go to the new hindi movie 'Parineeta'. I had heard that this movie was a big hit. So I said ok and we went to the movie in Byrd Theater, Cary town.

We had some time to kill before the movie started, so we went to some local stores and was checking them out. We also went to a chocolate store nearby and tried some dark chocolates. These are chocolates with real cocoa. It tasted little bitter, but that did not stop me from eating it :-)

The theater was not crowded. Probably around 30-40 people.
Nevertheless, the movie was good. We both liked it. The heroine Vidya Balan was very pretty and homely. This was a good love story , based on a book.

Then after the movie we did our grocery at Ellwood Thompson. It was a very relaxing day.

Here's your moment of Zen

Anna University, In Tamilnadu has enforced new regulations in campus.

1. Students cannot wear T-Shirts
2. Students cannot wear Jeans
3. During cultural events, students cannot dance for movie songs

hmmmm...did we not celebrate our 59th Independence Day, 2 days ago....hmmmm...Freedom...

Rising gas prices & Water & Starbucks coffee

I see a lot of people complaining about rising gas prices here in US ($2.50 per gallon).

You see... I don't understand it :)

The average price of bottled water per gallon is around $4.
Yes. Water is expensive than gas. Can you believe it!

And people spend $5 for a cup of coffee in Starbucks.

And yet they complain about the rise in gas price !

Rahul Dravid says ..."Sri Lanka is the number two side in the world in one-day form so they have been winning consistently which we have been not been doing over the last 14 to 16 months. When you get yourself in the position to win sometimes you just need that extra bit of confidence to win."


...mmmmm...which by the way we only have during our TV commercials...and when we drink Boost. "Where's my Boost, Mommyyyyyy, where's my Boost?"


"One keeps hearing that this Indian team needs more time to turn around the corner. They would surely not be able to do so if the legs and spirits are as tardy as that of the present lot."-Arjuna Ranatunga

Here's your moment of Zen.

"We have not won many finals. It is just a question of going back and working on it, getting ourselves in good position, getting ourselves in more finals and trying to win them. We have to learn from and get better at."

-Rahul Dravid after losing the finals to Sri Lanka (as well as the preliminary matches) in Indian Oil Cup 2005

Code Breakers III

அ ஆ இ ஈ உ ஊ எ ஏ ஐ ஒ ஓ ஔ

Pick the odd man out.

ஓம் & Brain

I came across this particular question which put me in deep thinking.
A devotee of Adhiparasakthi, Melmaruvathur, ADVAITH, had asked this question in their forum.

He asked if anyone else noticed the resemblance between the Tamil Om Symbol and the image of brain.
I see a lot of resemblance.

I wonder if there is any connection.

Skeptics may argue that the picture of brain we see is sideways and not front. But hey, why do we always see it in sideways, and not front. Because I guess it represents all the important parts of the brain. When you google for brain, and go to images, this is what you see.

கவிதை

This weekend I read a கவிதை in Ananda Vikatan.

This is one damn good one. It's so very sexy and hot.
I believe it's a song in an upcoming movie.

யாம் பெற்ற இன்பம் பெறுக இவ் வையகம்

Code Breakers II

Did Saravanan invent a new language?
Looks like that.

This is the text of the email that he sent me today.

Dai Vimal,

Enna nadka tha ....
Enjoy panriya .....
Varkiya allya pola namala athan mala ....


ehh...I think it rougly translates to

டெய் விமல்,

என்ன நடக்குது ....
என்ஞாய் பன்ரியா .....
வாழ்க்கயே அலை போல நாமெல்லம் அதன் மேல ....

Do you think he will be pissed off at me after reading this blog...

no....he can't read Tamil.

உதவும் கரங்கல்

Well...Shit happens.

Creation or Are we a genetic experiment in a large scale. hehe.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
-Genesis 1:26-27

He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, first with a thought created the waters, and placed his seed in them.
That (seed) became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun; in that (egg) he himself was born as Brahman, the progenitor of the whole world.
-Laws of Manu 1:8-9

Scientists in South Korea have produced the first dog clone.Snuppy, whose name stands for Seoul National University puppy, was made from a cell taken from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound.
Scientists took the genetic material from the ear cell and placed it into an empty egg cell. This egg was then stimulated to start dividing and develop into an embryo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4742453.stm

Am I seeing a parallel here. I wonder !!!

52nd South Filmfare awards Function 2004 - 2005

Kiran Rathod ...remember the Tamil actress...she has become so lean, probably some diet inspired by her western counterparts, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie.

Sri Kanth ... A telugu actor was speaking in Tamil when asked how he felt when he got the award.

Few tamil actors and actress ...speaking in English when asked what they feel about the awards.

Reka from bollywood...looked beautiful, with lots of makeup, even though she is old.

Ramya ...(Tamil movie Giri, Kuththu)was dressed funnily for her dance sequences.

Rahasya ...(sirichu sirichu vantha seena thana) received good cheers from the crowd for her dance.

Jo ...(thika) was thanked by Surya when he got the best actor award for Perazhagan.

Keerti Reddy ...(Best supporting actress telugu) I've seen her in person at Bangalore airport.

Go here for a detailed list of the award recipients

http://www.filmchamber.com/tmpl.asp?it=nwjul24a#1

Code Breakers

I was reading an article in BBC website. It was a debate on whether Pluto should be considered a planet or not.
In the comments section, I saw some weird comments.
Initially, I got suspicious, wondering if this was some sort of code-word used by some miscreants!
Because most of the comments were from UK and you know, taking into account the recent events happening there I got kinda suspicious.

Then within few seconds, I realized, yes, that is a code, and successfully broke the code, but it was nothing like what I had imagined. Thank God.

You guys, wanna try. Its actually very very easy. You should be able to identify and break the code within few seconds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4737647.stm

Monsoon rain in and around Mumbai

"Heavy monsoon rain in and around India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay), is estimated to have caused damage worth 30bn rupees ($690m)."

For those who would like to do something about it...http://aidindia.org/FloodRelief/

West Africa food crisis - Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

"Severe drought, together with an invasion of locusts, have devastated crops and plunged huge parts of West Africa into crisis, particularly Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

In Niger alone, more than three million people are facing starvation - 800,000 of them are children. Drought is also beginning to affect huge areas of Southern Africa as well."

For those who would like to do something...Oxfam

Gallery urges visitors to strip

"A prestigious Vienna art gallery has encouraged art-lovers to strip off, letting naked or scantily-clad visitors in for free."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

What...When...Why...How...Dammit.
When I went to Vienna there was no offer like this.

The advantages of living in a big city & being a celebrity

Denise Richards.
Probably you all know this Bond girl.

Denise,34,the ex of Charlie Sheen, just delivered a baby. And she , waw, you must look at her latest pictures. She has lost all the extra weight that she gained during pregnancy and looks so beautiful. The secret of her is this diet from Fresh Dining. These guys deliver fresh, organic if you want, food daily at your door steps. This service is only available in Los Angeles, I guess. Very healthy food too. But it comes at a huge price. That's like $50 a day. $1500 a month. Kick ass.

This weekend was a needed break for me. I didn't do anything on this weekend.
I had ordered the Indian Oil Cup Cricket matches featuring India, Sri Lanka and West Indies. This was not broadcast on satellite. So I had to order on the Internet. It cost me $80 bucks. Which was basically a rip-off for the quality of broadcast. Even though it was ok and better than last time I ordered over the Internet, it was no way near the satellite quality. Every now and then it loses the stream and attempts to reconnect. And in-between it starts to buffer. So it was not really interesting to watch it.
Internet has a loooooong way to go when it comes to streaming media.

On Saturday I went for my massage and later did my groceries. Also returned my Panasonic DVD recorder at Circuit City. I love this 'try and if you don't want return' policy in US. It's so customer-friendly. Iam not sure if in India you can do this now.
It's cool.

On Sunday I again saw the match little bit. It was another boring match to be honest.
You can read about both matches on my friend VJs blog.

Then on Sunday afternoon I made 'Chettinadu Chicken Curry'. Well, now I can proclaim myself as a super awesome cook. I rock when it comes to cooking.

Then I sat down to watch 52nd Filmfare awards for South Indian Movies.
It's still going on. hehehe. DVD recorder kicks ass. I can record and watch at my comfort.

Right now watching 'Adhu Mattum Ragasiyam' on Sun TV. This series has been so well directed and it's so interesting. Iam a big fan of it now. Every now and then I wonder why I didn't get into the movie industry. hmmm...something to think about.

Natural Disasters & India & The Mystery of 26

January 26, 2001 - Bhuj earthquake (Loss of lives : Thousands)
December 26, 2004 - Indian Ocean Tsunami (Loss of lives : Hundreds of Thousands)
July 26, 2005 - Heaviest rainfall in Mumbai (Loss of lives : Hundreds)

Where is Bollywood?

At least now the people should stop God worshipping the Bollywood heroes and start doing something for the development of Mumbai.




CNN.com Pictures

So where is Bollywood?
Well....they must be relaxing at home until the water recedes completely and the Mumbai mess is cleaned up.
Iam sure after that they will have a 'fund raising concert'.

Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie : A Love Triangle

Well… we all know what the problem is.
Brad Pitt,42, wants to have babies but Jennifer Aniston,36, has other plans.

Jennifer feels that she still has lots of time to settle down and raise kids.
She believes that she can make it big in Hollywood and she wants to focus on her career.
Whereas Brad, he has seen the heights of Hollywood and he thinks its time to settle down and raise a family also.

Bang Bang.
We have a conflict of interest.

Now, Angelina Jolie,30, enters the scene. Angelina is fond of kids. She in fact has adopted kids. She also does lots of charity work. She is also a good will ambassador for the UN.

Brad and Angie got the sparks going between them on the sets of Mr and Mrs Smith (Which by the way I still haven’t seen. Dammit).

I wonder what will happen to this love triangle.

Sometimes, I think Brad and Jennifer should separate as they both have their own interests which conflict.

And Brad and Angie have common interests at least when it comes to kids.

Sometimes, I think that Brad and Jennifer should work things out between them. But that means one has to compromise or sacrifice or adjust or whatever you call that thing. But then, one of them will be either unhappy or living for the other.

I donno.

What’s best in a married life?

Should one give up their own interests and ambitions(in a conflict-of-interest situation) and live for the partner or just go ahead and do what they actually want to do in life?

I think east falls into the former category and west falls into the later.

Dude, Where’s my Beer ?

I have started to wonder what's going on with my life these days.
Life has become so fast and busy for me in the last few months. It's like as if I don't have enough time. I feel that I need more than 24 hours a day. I don't know if it's true that time is really running fast. I've been doing some research on this particular phenomenon called 'Schumann Resonance' and this is what I came across.

"Time is actually speeding up (or collapsing). For thousands of years the Schumann Resonance or pulse (heartbeat) of Earth has been 7.83 cycles per second, The military have used this as a very reliable reference. However, since 1980 this resonance has been slowly rising. It is now over 12 cycles per second! This means there is the equivalent of less than 16 hours per day instead of the old 24 hours. Another interpretation is - we, or rather Consciousness have been down this same road seven times before over the last 16 billion years. Each of these cycles of Creation runs 20 times faster than the last one. The same amount of Creation is paced 20 times tighter. This is why time seems to be going so fast. It is not "time" but Creation itself that is accelerating."

Is the above true or is it just that Iam managing my time badly and having an illusion that time is running fast!!! I wonder.

Everything is so fast today. Right from the time I wake up in the morning till I get ready to work, have breakfast, reach office, work, lunch, work, drive back home, gym, dinner, TV, everything seems to be happening so fast.

There is actually no time to sit and really turn myself inwards-
Shut down the outside world distractions and meditate and look inwards.

When our ancestors and some enlightened souls say, "Know yourself, you will know the world" what exactly do they mean. How many of us have even tried to know ourselves. Who are we? Why are we here? What are we doing here? What are we supposed to do here?

Has anyone else felt the same or is it just me?
What the hell is gowin on?

Yeah...what the heck. Its like 112°F outside.
Dude, Where's my Beer ?

Atlantic City, NJ

I went to Atlantic City last weekend. One of my friend booked ticket on James River Bus Lines, a local tour operator. The bus started at 6.00 am on Saturday morning and reached Atlantic City around 1.00 pm, an hour late, thanks to super heavy traffic. Huh.

Anyway, the bus ticket was $45 and they gave $27 coupon to play in Bally’s Casino.
So technically, the ticket cost me only $18. Damn cheap :)

I had lunch at Pickles, with few of my friends. Had Philly Chicken Cheesesteak. Then went for the boardwalk and spent some amazing time on the beach. WAW. So many girls in bikinis and some topless, on a perfect sunny day afternoon….what else can you ask more ;)
hmmm….may be a beer :)


mmmmm.....what's going on here...

Anyway, then I later went to the casino and played the slot machines, which is the only one I know how to play in casino. I used the $27 coupon. I won around $20 but kept on playing and finally I ended up losing all that money. Then I used another $15 from my pocket and lost them too. Then I realized Mr. Luck and I are not good friends and quit playing in casino.

Meanwhile Saravanan also joined driving all way from Wilmington, Delaware. We then hanged out on the boardwalk for the rest of the day before we finally decided it was time to get some dinner. We went to ‘Country Kitchen’ and had our dinner.
It was almost 10.00 pm and I had to leave to the bus as it was scheduled to start at 10.30 pm.

I was little exhausted and I guess I slept well on the bus during our return trip. We reached Richmond on Sunday morning around 5.00 am.
The return ride was little bumpy. Old bus. I realized that the buses in India were excellent. Far superior in quality and comfort than this bus.

Anyway, but I did enjoy my whole trip otherwise. It was fun.

Trip pictures are being developed in my lab. Will post it when it's ready.

An email letter to the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Dr Abdul Kalam

Dear Mr. Prime Minister/Mr. President,

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for all that you have done to our Great India, so far.

I’ll keep this email short and simple as I do not want to take much of your precious time.

I’m aware of the fact that many government schools in Tamilnadu, have ‘Sathunavu Thittam’ (free meal), introduced by the late Chief Minister MGR, where kids are given free meal everyday during lunch hour.

I was wondering if it will be a good idea, to provide children with Multivitamin tablets or Nutrition supplements everyday they come to the school.

I’m not sure if the meal given in the ‘Sathunavu Thittam’ is a complete meal. Multivitamin tablets or Nutrition supplements though may not take care of the hunger, at least it is guaranteed to provide our children with the daily minimum necessary nutrition. And I guess mass production of this Multivitamin tablets or Nutrition supplements will ensure that the costs of these are very low.

Probably it would be ideal to provide our children with a meal and Multivitamin tablets or Nutrition supplements.

I’m not sure if this has already been implemented or not. If so, please ignore this email.

Thanks for doing an excellent job.

Jai Hind,
Vimal Natarajan

23 million men may not get wives in 2011!

"Not many will react if you told them that the 1981-91 census showed that there were one crore 37 lakh more boys than girls in India. However, tell them that if the trend continued, 23 million men would not get their life partners in 2011 and you would have a lot of eyebrows being raised."

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jul/19ncw.htm

"You reap what you sow."
"தன் வினை தன்னை சுடும்."
"To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
"Karma."
"Time for us girls to Kick Ass."

What the hell am I talking about?

Well...when the demand for girls go high in 2012 (Whaaaaaaaat 2012? So this is what is going to happen in 2012...eh...when the Mayan Calendar ends)

oh.k...when the demand for girls go high in 2012 they will start asking dowry from the guys.

hmmm....If I have lots of baby girls...then I can retire comfortably...hmmm....

think about this, seriously, I will....

Latest addition to UNESCO’s World Heritage List

Latest additions : http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/134

Indian Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List: http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/in

I have a way to see the referers of my blog. And once in a while, when I get bored, I go and check that out.

One of the referers was a URL, from the search results of Google.

Man, look at the search keyword.

I think by far this is the most funniest search keyword I've come across.

Funniest search keyword

My blog is listed 8th I guess.

Muslim charity claims Taj Mahal

"An Indian Muslim organization has declared that it owns the world's most famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal.

The Sunni Waqf Board says it owns over 100,000 properties in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the spectacular marble mausoleum is located.

It says since the Taj Mahal houses several Muslim graves it falls under its jurisdiction."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4348663.stm

eh....mmm...all the land in India (including graves), falls under the jurisdiction of the Indian government.
So by their(Sunni Waqf Board) own logic, the Taj Mahal falls back under the jurisdiction of the Indian government.

So what is the problem here???

Do you know that pilots of fighter planes and long range bombers wear diapers?

This is in case they need to 'relieve' in flight.

Women pilots and most men pilots use diapers and few men pilots use urinal-type bag.

"Not sure about pilots but if its raining then it isn't necessary to stop a motorcycle to urinate."
-Anonymous

Read the title of this article in Times Of India.

http://cricket.indiatimes.com/quickies/1167134.cms

And people talk about me using the word Kick Ass. huh.

I was first to report Aish becoming fat. Then the news later came in Times Of India.
Now this one. Iam wondering if Times of India is copying content ideas from my blog.

hmm.. Wondering Iam....
copyright my work I will.

Disclaimer : Iam not responsible if you are totally pissed off when you open the above link and have no pop-up blocker in your browser.

Oopsie

I got a call today evening from the insurance company of the Honda Accord guy. She told me that the guy had canceled his insurance this May. She said she will contact his agent and see if he has a new insurance with someone else or not and let me know.
If he doesn't have insurance, she said I can claim the damages from my insurance company and my insurance guys will go after that Honda Accord guy and even sue him if necessary :-O

I just got off the phone talking to the father of the lady who was involved in the accident. He told that her neck was bothering little bit yesterday and also her ankles. So she was in hospital for a day and returned home last night. He told that she is feeling better now, just a little sore neck. Iam glad that she is ok. Thank God.

Other than the Saturday accident that I had, this weekend was a normal weekend.

Manjunath, who was supposed to come to Richmond this weekend, couldn't come at the last minute as he was unable to rendezvous with his brother-in-law at Baltimore on Saturday. So I just ended up going to some local clubs to do some Page 3 stuff.

Since almost every software company is doing good these days, I too decided to join the rat race. I registered a software company in the name KASC.
KASC literally stands for Kick Ass Software Corporation. The slogan of my company will be 'We Kick Ass'.

Then I cooked Sri Lankan fish curry and chicken curry on Sunday. Then...Oh my God, I got to do my Laundry. C'ya guys later.

How it feels to be 'kicked' from behind? It hurts.

Somebody kicked my ass on Saturday, sorta !
Well, actually it was my car's.

I was waiting on Three Chopt Road merge ramp to get onto N Parham road on a beautiful sunny Saturday noon (around 1230pm).



Suddenly I had a big shock, I knew immediately someone hit my car from behind.
I parked my car right there on the road and got down to see what happened.
A 2002 Mercury Mountaineer had hit me from behind.

This is the same SUV that I've been talking about where Jill Wagner comes in the TV Ad.

Then when my eyes went to the rear bumper of my car, I noticed few minor damages. I had few scratches and a little chip.
The Mountaineer too didn't have much damage on its front. The damages were actually less than what I anticipated based on the shock I had.

Then I walked around and saw and realized that I only had a secondary impact.

What actually happened was a Honda Accord had come fast and hit the rear of the Mercury Mountaineer and the Mountaineer had reacted to it and hit my car.

The reason I believe that the Accord had come fast was because of the damage to the Accord. It was very bad.
The airbags were deployed, and the windshield had cracked because of that and engine hood of the car had crumpled. There is no way all that could have happened, in my opinion, unless the driver had been driving fast.

That driver was a guy around 30s.He had some sore scratches on his face, due to the impact of the airbag.

But the lady in the Mountaineer, she was injured the most. She had a strange feeling around her throat. She said that she felt like someone is squeezing her throat and the back of the throat felt like was pushing at the front.

The Accord guy called 911. 911 is the emergency number here in US. You can call that number for virtually any kind of emergency. Road accidents, Fire accidents, Medical emergency, robbery, theft, almost everything.

This is one of the things that I admire in this country. After calling 911 within 3 minutes we had a Fire truck at the spot. The next minute a rescue squad ambulance was at the spot. Then they all helped the lady to lay her on a stretcher and took her to the hospital of her choice in the ambulance. The cops were on the scene on the 7th minute.

Anyone remember the scene from Anniyan movie, where a guy was left to die on the streets of Chennai?

Even though many in India may not like what Iam going to say now, well... lets be honest, that's the truth.

Seeing such things, sometimes I wonder if the value of life in India, in many occasions, is less than the value of life here in America.

Whenever someone says India is becoming more westernized...I feel sad. Being westernized is not just copying their Friday nights and Saturday nights. It's not all about the way you dress or talk. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong in copying , but what you copy makes the difference. Instead of following good things, we only follow the not-so-necessary things. Or in other words, Page 3 kinda things.

There are so many good things that India can learn from the west and be westernized in that sense, not just Page 3 stuff.

Anyway, the cop helped all 3 of us to exchange our car/driver/insurance information. The lady's father had arrived at the scene by that time. The lady had earlier called her father.

I came home and reported the accident to my insurance company. I took my car to my dealer and Matt who is my dealer told that Monday he will give the contact details of a person who does touch-up work.

I hope I can get all the repair charges from the insurance company.
Anyway, now my Bimmer is not new any more and it's not perfect any more.

I will have to call the lady's family on Monday and check how she is doing.
I hope she is ok. Car's can be bought and sold.But life. Thank God. Hope she is not injured much and recovers fast.

What happened in Virginia Beach?

Though no outsider knows what exactly happened at Virginia Beach, some documents which were earlier declared 'Classified' have been released for the public.
These documents does not tell the story completely.

Unconfirmed reports say that the other highly classified documents will never be made public due to their highly sensitive content.

Released documents

More protests over Ayodhya attack

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has criticised the protests, saying they were being used to score "cheap political points".

Opposition leader LK Advani has said people had a right to "express their anger over the attack".

Advani has clearly proven this time that he is an opportunistic.

I agree with our PM Manmohan Singh.

I don't know if Advani has Alzheimer's or not.
Did he forget that one of the country's worst terrorist attack, attack on our parliament happened when BJP was in power?

At that time, I think Sonia Gandhi and the whole nation stood by and supported the government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4655639.stm

My white water rafting trip pictures

At last I managed to configure 'Gallery' software in my server.
I have uploaded the pictures of my White Water Rafting trip here.

http://www.planetvimal.com/gallery

I think it's super slow.

Iam sorry for that folks. I'll talk to the server guys and see why it's slow.

White Water Rafting at New River , WV

WAW. What A Weekend.

What a long weekend!
This was one of the best adventurous weekends I had so far.

I went White Water Rafting in West Virginia (WV) on the New River Gorge.
It all started on Thursday when I decided to change plans from relaxing at the Nags Head beach to rafting. Saravanan, was cool with the change of plans.

I decided to book a cabin this time, as I love staying in the woods. A welcoming break from the hustle bustle city crowd.

I booked my cabin at Rifrafters Campground

This was so cheap. Only $15 per person, per night. The cabin pictured in the website is the same cabin where we stayed. More pictures in trip album.

I also reserved a trip with ACE Adventure Center.
I decided to do the Lower New River Whitewater rafting.

Saravanan drove all the way from Delaware on Friday evening and reached home around midnight. We then started the next day afternoon to Fayetteville, West Virginia. It was almost 4 hours drive from Richmond, VA.


Our Cabin in the Woods

We checked-in our cabin that evening and started out to see the New River Gorge Bridge, which is the largest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. It was just 2 miles from our cabin.

We went to the bridge, took lots of pictures. We also went hiking near the bridge. Got some super awesome pictures from the top of the mountain.


New River Gorge


New River Gorge Bridge


New River Gorge and the Bridge


Rafters

Then we drove all the way down to the river and spend some time there. The drive through the gorge was adventurous.

Then we came to our cabin and settled for the night.

The next day we got up early and went to ACE to start our adventure.
The rafting trip was 16 miles with around 30+ rapids.
2 of them were Class V rapids. The remaining 70% of them were Class IV and the rest Class III and Class II. Class VI rapids are the most dangerous, Class V following it.
Very few have survived a fall in Class VI rapids.
It’s that dangerous.

It was a full day trip. The trip started at 1030.
Our guide was a super awesome girl called Erin. She was really good and funny.
Morning we came across few Class II, III and IV rapids.
We did all rapids perfectly. There were 7 including Erin, in our raft. One Chinese guy called Peter kept falling off the raft so often. Wherever there was a chance of falling, he fell in the river.
He was very funny.

After a while there was a huge rock, besides the river. It was like 20-25 feet high. People were allowed to jump from the rock into the river. I was so nervous at first attempt. Standing at the cliff and looking down the river, I backed off.
On my next attempt, I just took a deep breath and jumped. This time I only looked down at the river after jumping. Even though I’m not a good swimmer, I had a PFD. So I did a pretty good job after I jumped into the river. I surfaced and was enjoying my swim in the river. That was amazing experience.

Then after some time, we were allowed to swim at a different place where the river was little calm. Then we banked on the river to have lunch. Lunch was some sandwich, got by ACE.

After lunch we started the second part of our journey. This segment had 2 Class V rapids and lots of Class IV rapids. We managed to get through all of them. Peter, as usual kept falling in the rapids. We also did surfing in the rapid holes.

Man , surfing was one hell of a wild adventure. Tons of water pouring over us and the raft and the raft tossing and turning in all directions, sometimes about to flip-over, WOW, white water rafting kicks ass dude.
Even though the surf lasts only few seconds, those few seconds can be very wild. Trust me.

Then it was like almost 6 in the evening. Our adventurous white water rafting came to an end. We all deflated the raft and boarded the bus to base camp. It was so good to taste some refreshing beer on the bus.

Then later at the base camp, we went to the bar with Erin. I bought her a drink and was hanging out for a while in the bar. It was lot of fun. Erin was very funny and very excited, even though she had done this so many times. Then after a long day I called it a night and drove back to the cabin for some good sleep.

The next day we got up and packed our stuff and started our journey back to Richmond.

Overall, it was a wild adventurous weekend. Lots of fun.
Gonna do it again

Men are promiscuous - Yana Gupta

Yana Gupta on men, movies and more...

Happy To Be An Item Bomb : I enjoy the item girl tag and am not hankering after full-fledged roles. In fact in place of doing roles like that of Madhuri's in 'Devdas' or Rani Mukherji's in 'Black' I would prefer doing the roles of smart, tough women like Jennifer Garner in 'Alien' and Angelina Jolie in 'Tomb Raider'.

If You Have Seen One, You Have Seen 'Em All : There is one word which describes all men - promiscuous. All they care about is looks. I see so many of them going out with beautiful women who are shallow and driven by self interest. Well, to each his own.

At Home In India : I have travelled all over the world but feel at home only in India. You cannot compare India with any other country in the world.

http://people.indiatimes.com/tabloid/1157513.cms

For all those non-stick cookware lovers...

The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a cautious approach to a scientific panel's conclusion that a chemical used by DuPont Co. to make the nonstick substance Teflon is a likely human carcinogen.

CNN Article

My earlier blog

A slap in the face of Hurriyat

"I admire your talk on the essence of universal human values, but this is not what is needed in Kashmir. You please tell India to remove its 10 lakh security forces and peace in real sense will return to the lives of the people in Kashmir."

--Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani

"Now the people and nations need more of interdependence rather than independence to live peacefully."

--Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/30sri.htm

War of the Worlds

Last night I went to the movie 'War of the Worlds' . The movie was based on the original works of the great H.G. Wells (1898). This was like 107 years ago. WAW.

I have the seen the older version of the same movie, 'The War of the Worlds (1953)' .

Spielberg's version actually doesn't revolve around the aliens. This movie actually revolves around Tom Cruise, a 'not so successful in married life' guy, and a father of 2 kids. The story is actually about how such a father tries to protect his kids, amidst a situation where aliens go on a total annihilation spree.

The best scene of the movie was the probe of the alien craft , snooping in the basement of a house. That scene was thrilling, in fact it was thrilling in the old version too. In my opinion ,that scene is the highlight of the movie.

I like the way, the movie ended. I am not going to reveal that as it will be the ultimate spoiler :-)

But the way the movie started and ended, it was excellent.

Whew.
This weekend turned out to be a damn expensive weekend. It pretty much fucked up my bank balance.

It all started with me deciding to buy a DVD Recorder. So many good programs airs late night and I was missing most of them. Most of the programs are super awesome programs like South Park, Reno 911, Crank Yankers and the likes.

My uncle got a Panasonic DVD Recorder and inspired me to get one too. But I wanted to buy a DVD Recorder with a Hard Disk. Without a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), the maximum you can record on a DVD(4.7 GB) is 8 hours (low quality) or 1.5 hours (DVD movie quality).
I was zeroing in on a Panasonic with a HDD, but my friend Michael Morse suggested to get a Toshiba RD-XS34, with 160 GB HDD and TV Guide support.

After doing some research I found out that, that particular model was the near perfect one for my requirements. I say near perfect because, a perfect one would have also carried a VHS player with VHS to DVD dubbing feature.
But , hey it's ok...we don't live in a perfect world ;)

I also decided to re-wire my entertainment system completely.
Till today, I was using RCA composite video cables, and stereo jack cables.

For video, I would have preferred to take the component video route, but as my TV doesn't support component video, I had to settle for S-Video.

I went to circuit city and bought the following:

(1) Monster Video® 2/Interlink® 250 A/V Connection Kit (S-Video)
(2) Monster Video® 2 High Resolution S-Video Cable
(3) Monster Satellite® Fiber Optic Audio/S-Video Hookup Kit

For video, I connected the 3 S-Video cables between, the DISH Satellite Receiver and DVD Recorder, DVD Recorder and my BOSE 3-2-1 DVD Home Entertainment System & between Bose 3-2-1 and my Sharp TV.

For audio, I junked the old RCA A/V stereo cables and used the Monster Interlink 250 A/V cable between my DISH Satellite Receiver and DVD Recorder. I also replaced the RCA A/V Stereo cables connecting my DVD Recorder with BOSE 3-2-1 with Monster Interlink Lightspeed 100 Fiber Optic cable.

This completed the re-wiring of my home entertainment system.

When I turned on the systems, WAW...everything worked perfect and the quality of the video and audio was super awesome.

The whole process took me about 15 minutes.

I recorded some clippings from Sun TV to my HDD and viewed it later. The playback quality was as good as the original. No loss of quality.

When I went to circuit city, I also ended up buying 3 more DVDs for my DVD library.

I got the following DVDs.

(1) Not Another Teen Movie
(2) Once Upon a Time in the West
(3) Titanic

Even though this whole operation was a successful one, it cost me a lot.
When HDTV(High-Definition Television) and BD(Blu-Ray Disk) comes out sometime next year, I may have to get ready to re-wire everything. I better start saving some money.

Today evening I decided to just watch a movie and relax. I went to 'Batman Begins'

This movies was a real good one. This movie shows how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.

Iam glad I saw this movie.

Is Pakistan, part of India ?

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accused Pakistan of violating travel agreements during a recent visit to Pakistan by Kashmiri separatists.

India had issued passports to the separatist leaders but reports say they were permitted by Pakistan to travel across the country without visas or the use of their Indian passports.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4114746.stm

If the separatist leaders have Indian passport, and they traveled to Pakistan without a Pakistan visa or without the use of their Indian passports, does it not make Pakistan, part of India?

Cool. Not only Kashmir, we now have Pakistan also as part of India :-)

Jill Wagner is the Mercury Montego , Mountaineer TV commercial girl

Remember...

I'm genius !

I just came up with this thought.

Lot of things happened this weekend. I had booked tickets for Anniyan, which was playing at Falls Church, Northern Virginia. Saravanan also drove down from Delaware to Richmond Friday night. Saturday, Saravanan, Prabakar and I drove to Falls Church to see the movie. We went like 2 hours early to get some good seats. To our surprise we found that nobody was there in the theater. So we went and had some lunch and went to the theater. We managed to get good seats. The theater became full house later and in fact some of them were sitting down reminding the 'Tharai tickets' back home. haha.
Anniyan Review (with no spoilers)

After the movie we went to Starbucks and had some coffee and drove back to Richmond the same evening.
Later ...{censored}

On Sunday, we didn't do much. We rented two movies, 'Meet the Fockers' and 'In Good Company'.

Hello Tamilnadu

Entrance Exams
It looks like Tamilnadu government has passed a new law that there will be no more entrance exams for medical and engineering. A lot of students were pissed off and have filed a case against the state government.

Interesting!

I wonder why the government passed such a law. Does anyone have any insights or insiders information?

I was watching Sun TV news and one of the students was saying...

"I did not score good marks first time so I was preparing for the entrance exams for the last 2 years and now I have a cutoff around 192 and this new law will bar me from getting admission in a good college"

If this guy did not score good marks the first time and spent 2 years preparing for entrance exams alone, is it fair that this guy is treated same as another guy who scored more or less same cutoff marks in his first attempt?

On the other hand, it is a good thing to give another chance to someone who failed in their first attempt and want to succeed.

When did life get so complicated?

This was another relaxing weekend for me. Did some groceries at Ellwood Thompson’s, a local health food store. I never do my groceries at the Wal-Mart.

Even though the idea of Wal-Mart is cool, having almost everything under one roof, I do not like their expansion strategy. Wherever a Wal-Mart opens, it becomes very tough for the local small guys running their stores. Most of them go out of business. If every place has a Wal-Mart and if we always do shop at Wal-Mart only, well it sucks. We will never get a complete taste of the local culture and tradition.

Imagine this. What if Wal-Mart opens at 10 different locations in Chennai, India and kicks, just say, Saravana stores and Nilgiris and the likes out of business?
When someone from US, visits Chennai as a tourist and if he ends up shopping at Wal-Mart, eeww, doesn’t make much sense to me.

The only good thing about Wal-Mart is that they are open 24 hours (that too I found not all locations). In case of an emergency, it’s ok to go ahead and buy there.

The only thing I do when I go to Wal-Mart is watch some super awesome ‘gummus’.
Yeah…Wal-Mart kicks ass.

Ok…coming back to my weekend…
I watched ‘Conan – The Barbarian’ on Sun TV Sunday afternoon (Tamil dubbing).
Then I did my weekly laundry.

It was 630pm. I realized that I had time to catch some movie on theater. I checked out the timings for 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'. There was one show at 655pm. I booked my ticket in Fandango and took a quick shower and went to the theater. I found out that the whole computer system of Regal Cinemas was down. No ticket purchase or pickups. Then I had to stand in a long queue for a manual ticket pickup. When I got my turn the movie had already started. So I requested a ticket for ‘Madagascar’ which was about to start.
The guy said ok and we were cool. Customer service in US kicks ass.

The movie was hilarious. I enjoyed it. The graphics and animation was good too. I guess they might come up with a sequel too.

On my way back, I picked up some Fried Chicken from KFC.
Then I saw ‘Athu Mattum Ragasiyam’, a suspense thriller in Sun TV.

Science and Religion - Part II

Response to the comments posted by my friend on my previous blog.

NOTE : When I say religion, I don't mean any specific religion. So in that sense, I mean spiritual. So think of religion and spirituality as same while reading.

What source and destination are you talking about?

I thought your cut and paste itself had the answer for your question.
TRUTH.
People call it by different names, Truth, God, Enlightenment.
And your question is exactly like what I had mentioned, how a pro-science only person would ask the question.

Now, you will ask what is God, or Truth or enlightenment.

In Tamil there is a saying 'Kandavar Vindilar Vindavar Kandilar'.
It means, those who have seen it has not explained it and those who have explained it has not seen it.

Now you might ask what the heck does that mean.

Let me try to explain with examples.
You go and ask a person if he loves his parents. He will say yes. Ask him how much he loves his parents and if he can prove his love towards his parents.
I don't think he will be able to tell or explain how much he loves his parents.
I don't think he will be able to prove that the love exists.
He would most likely say "I can't talk about it, you will have to experience it for yourself"

Ask a person who just went to a cemetery on a moonless night and saw a ghost like figure or a person who just survived a catastrophe, how scary it was. I don't think he would be able to explain it to you. Even if he explains , probably you won't understand. You will have to experience it yourself.

There are so many things in this world, just like that. Things that can't be said and explained. They have to be experienced.

"Are you implying religion is not in its infancy and is mature and found answers for everything?"

Yes.
The answers are always there. You just have to find it. Some people try to find it through religion some try to find it through science and some both ways.

"Oh. So looks like you have solved the classic debate between creationists and evolutionists. I think this is a fleeting statement and oversimplifying things."

Probably you did not read carefully what I said.
I said "Is that African ancestor Adam & Eve?"
I basically asked a question, did not make a statement.
Iam not asserting that mankind started only 60,000 years ago. If that is the case, Ramayana is supposed to have happened in Treta Yuga, millions of years ago. How do you fit that in here?
Iam just trying to keep my mind open, and see the truth. I don't have a narrow mind and shut down avenues.

In my opinion, one can live happy fruitful life without bothering about the WHYs, but its pretty hard to survive without knowing the HOWs.

If your car stops on highway, do you ask 'Why the heck did my car stop in the middle of highway?' or 'How the heck did my car stop in the middle of highway"
Honestly I think you will not even bother to ask how did your car stop. You will ask why it stopped and examine why it stopped and try to fix it.

Next time when something does not work in your lab, observe yourself and see what question you ask first. It will be 'Why is it not working?'

As for as I can see, science doesn't even try to answer the WHYs and religion doesn't bother with the HOWs.

When a space shuttle blows up scientists don't watch the video and see 'How the shuttle blew?'
Instead they ask "why that happened ?"
So saying that science doesn't even try to answer the WHYs is a very generic statement.Or in your words content free empty statement.

Saying that religion doesn't bother with the HOWs shows lack of understanding of the scriptures.
Bhagavad Gita for instance not only talks about the Supreme but also talks about HOW you can reach or realize the Supreme.
The Bhagavata Purana's description of the cosmology is a sophisticated system, with multiple levels of meaning that encode at least four different astronomical, geographical, and spiritual world models.Many of these were written by ancient scientists. They did not separate science and religion. It's all interconnected.

So religion talks about both WHYs and HOWs.

You are saying that "science doesn't even try to answer the WHYs "

So science doesn't have all the answers. Because it does not even try to find out the answers to some of the questions? (WHYs)
So in that sense isn't science having a narrow mind and shutting down things not trying to find out answers? So is science complete?

Religion inspires science.

Empty statement. Doesn't further any point.

Do you know how many Hollywood movies were inspired by eastern religions?
Star Wars. You definitely must have heard about that movie. One of the best science fiction movies ever made.
The concept of Force is noting but what has been described as Prana (India), Qi (Chinese) or Ki (Japanese).
Do you know how many scientific inventions were inspired by such science fiction movies?
Do you know how many researches on the activity or functioning of brain were inspired by the transcendental state or enlightened state of meditators, mostly Buddhist monks?
Dr Satwant Pasricha, additional professor at the Department of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, has researched over two decades 500 cases of reincarnation. (BOOK : Claims of Reincarnation: An Empirical Study of Cases in India)
Reincarnation definitely came from eastern religions.

These are just few examples.

Imagine this.
What if I say "What if Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution was inspired by our own Dasavatharam" ?
Think about it.

Science and Religion

Even today, many believe that science and religion are against each other. They argue science is based on facts and religion is based on faith and you cannot mix fact and faith...blah…blah…blah.

I feel that those people are either ignorant on this matter or lack the intuition to see the Truth.

I believe that science and religion are not against each other.

This is my take on this subject.

1. Anyone who believes that science and religion are at odds...don't know much about what they are talking. It's just a perception that they are at odds. It's not the truth.

2. Science and Religion are two different paths to the same destination. TRUTH. Religion is like..."there is a source, it's also the destination. You came from source...and these are the different ways to go back to the source (or destination)". Whereas science is like..."what is the source...is there a source...what is the destination...is there a destination...how did we come from source...how we can go to destination".

3. Religion inspires science.

4. Science is at its infancy. It makes mistakes. It corrects them. It makes mistakes again. It corrects them again. This goes on.

5. DNA studies (science) say that all humans descended from an African ancestor who lived only 60,000 years ago. Is that African ancestor Adam & Eve?(Religion). This is a classic example of my Point (2). Science and Religion tries to take humanity to same place, in different ways.

Is it science or religion that has made our lives better?

It depends.

If you are talking about the physical body, or anything to do with materialistic world, then YES, science has made our lives better.

But if you are talking about the spiritual, or anything to do with spiritualistic world, then religion has made our lives better.

Has science done anything for spirituality?
So far not much. Most of them indirect. In future this might change. The closer the two paths (science and religion) are to the source, the more they will converge.

In my opinion, we should have an open mind and not say religion is crap or science is crap.

A person should fall under only one of the 3 categories.

1. Spiritual,

2. Scientific,

3. One who believes that both are different paths to the same.

One of my friends is so pro-science. He says all things said in religion are more or less crap, as there is no proof. He asks has anyone seen God. Yet, he goes to temple & prays to God. When asked, he says not to mix faith and fact.

Holy Crap.

What in the world is that supposed to mean???

Jesus said "One can serve only one master".

I said earlier that science hasn’t done much for spirituality and that even whatever it has done has been indirect.

But looks like this is going to change soon. Or is it?

Scientology

I have been hearing this word for quite few months now.
Thanks to Tom Cruise, who has converted to Scientology and trying to talk to his super awesome fiancée Katie Holmes to adopt Scientology.

What is this Scientology? I decided to check it out myself.

After spending about half a day in their website I understood the following:

1. Scientology is a system of beliefs, teachings and rituals, originally established as a secular philosophy in 1952 by author L. Ron Hubbard, then re-characterized by him in 1953 as an "applied religious philosophy".

2. Scientology is defined as a controversial belief system developed by L. Ron Hubbard, based on a person being an immortal spiritual being whose survival depends on him/herself and his/her attainment of brotherhood with others and the universe .

3. Scientology literally means ‘knowing how to know’ .

4. It sounds more abstract initially and more like a religion for the elite few.

For more, I think it would be better for you to get it straight from the horse's mouth.

It took some time for me to comprehend what they were trying to say. But I think that’s because Iam neither intelligent nor one among the elites.

Honestly I think it is old wine in new bottle.
Scientology is nothing but the knowledge from our age old Hindu philosophies, Vedic literatures, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavada Purana, Bhavishya Purana and all such works, presented in a modern way to a modern world, applying scientific principles wherever possible.

Have a look at this: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/80/story_8057_1.html

So is Scientology the way to go?
Maybe.

Maybe not.

I don’t know as of now.

It looks promising.
But I know almost nothing about it. Have to research and understand more about it.

When I Google for Scientology I see a lot of Anti-Scientology websites too.

In my opinion, if Scientology is trying to bridge the gap between science and religion, and trying to say that both are 2 different ways to the same Truth, and if science can be applied to religious philosophies and if it makes the world a better place to live, then that’s the way to go.
That will be cool.

But if it turns out to be another evil cult…

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

Bhagavad-gita Chapter 4, Verse 7 & 8

Anniyan songs

I have been listening to Anniyan songs lately. Almost all the songs are super good.
Not sure which song will have Yana Gupta. Will have to watch the trailer in Sun TV carefully.

The funniest song which I like is 'Oh Sukumari'. It's a damn good teaser

Wad di 'ell iz gowin on ?

If Advani is ‘most wanted’ in Pakistan, for involving in a conspiracy to do away the founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and an FIR to that effect still existed, why was Advani not arrested when he went to Pakistan?

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/07advpak8.htm

Did he praise the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, because he was not arrested when he went to Pakistan or to prevent an arrest?

Mercury Montego girl in TV commercial

Has anyone see the recent Mercury Montego TV commercial girl?

She looks so hot and mesmerizing. Iam trying to find her name and few pictures. So far the only name that I have come across is Jill Wagner. Not sure if it's her. She is also now featuring in a second commercial, Mercury Mountaineer.

UPDATE : Yes, It's Jill Wagner.

Another Spin-Off from Vimal Incorporation. hehehe.

http://etymology-linguistics.blogspot.com/

A new blog from the labs of Vimal

BHOPAL NEEDS YOU NOW

WAKE UP WORLD:
BHOPAL NEEDS YOU NOW!!!!!

Police beat women who asked politicians to obey Indian Supreme Court order

List of injured includes 3 year old child, with pictures http://www.bhopal.net/neend-injuries.html


Join in on the fax action: Act now and send a free fax to Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh here:
http://ga4.org/campaign/_bhopalwater

Give the politicians a real "Wake Up!" call, and ask them

a) to obey the Supreme Court's order of May 2004 http://www.bhopal.net/SC-order-May2004.html
b) to condemn the police brutality and take action against those responsible; and
c) to drop trumped up charges against peaceful demonstrators

Their home numbers are given here http://www.bhopal.net/neendudao.html, together with a useful clock showing the current time in Bhopal. Please make good use of it.

Pictures from the Neend Udao protest and the brutal repression by the police are at http://www.bhopal.net/neendpictures.html.

Background

Toxic chemicals abandoned at its factory by Union Carbide have poisoned the drinking water of 20,000 people. In May 2004 the Indian Supreme Court ordered local politicians to provide the communities with clean, safe drinking water. The politicians ignored the order.

On Tuesday 17 May, 300 people, overwhelmingly women, many with children and babies in arms, went to government offices to protest. They banged spoons on tin plates in a "Wake Up" (in Hindi "Neend Udao") protest. The politicians' response was to send in the riot police.

Pictures of police kicking and punching women and children have shocked the world. Amnesty International has expressed concern and asked the Bhopal authorities to bring those accused of violence to book.


The survivors of Bhopal have suffered enough. We need the help of every decent person whose sense of justice is as outraged as that of the women who dared to raise their voices against the politicial bullies.

/Disclaimer:/ The "Wake Up!" call is an independent Bhopal.Net initiative to support the "Neend Udao" protest. Pissed-off sleep-deprived politicians should note that the people in Bhopal have not asked us to do it. We are doing it because it seems right and proper. Bhopal.Net is a project of the UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, which is a member of the ICJB. If you are a politician who has been woken up by a phone call from a supporter on the far side of the world, you may complain to editor_at_bhopal dot net.
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Bhopal@aidindia.org
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Anniyan - Shankar, Vikram, Yana Gupta, Sada

My friend Vijay, who is also my class/lab mate during my college days, came to Richmond last week, to visit Virginia Beach. The first day when he came to my home, he wanted to see Sun TV. So we switched on Sun and we saw the trailer of Shankar/Viram’s ‘Anniyan’. We both were really excited about this movie. We had lots of expectations.

After seeing the trailer, we both were like “What the heck was that???”




Yeah, we saw some scenes in the trailer, which were like…”Whaaaaaat!!!”

Vikram was doing some unbelievable ‘Matrix’ kinda stuff.

Hmm. Hope the movie turns out to be a good one and not a blooper.

Going by the title and stills, I think it looks like Vikram is acting in dual role or he is a split personality (Batman, Spiderman, Superman). An innocent guy and a ‘Robin Hood’ kind guy.



But didn’t Shankar already do a movie like that with Arjun. Remember Gentleman?

"HE WHO COMES FROM HELL
IS NOT AFRAID OF HOT ASHES"


Looks like the movie will be kinda violent with lots of

Whatever...Yana Gupta is there

Iam seeing 'The Yana Gupta'. Oops... sorry, the movie.

Photo courtesy : IndiaGlitz

Is this only me or...

Is this only me or...

I think Vijay's younger brother Vikranth (Karka Kasadara) looks like a hybrid of Vijay and Ajith.