Hiyyaaa....Howdy y'all?

It's been almost a month since I blogged.And I deserved a break.

Being in the country of Uncle Sam, thats so very new to me,
observing,adjusting and digesting facts!

Bump-less roads,Magical weather(atleast for a chennai-girl!) ,lush-green-litter-free road-sides, colored/color-void,strong/neutral accented people...
hmm...I guess its really.. really gonna take some time for this Alice to get used to this Wonderland!!

Lots lying in heaps to blog down.So...watch out for my write-ups. .. Pretty soon!

The Gnostic Factor.

Gnosticism. The word made popular by Dan Brown to the Layman crowd.
It was a year and a half back when this word was added to my vocabulary.
Since then I was curious to know more about that.
Why not google it?

Holy Cow!!! There is a lone, vast Gnostic world out there. There are people who do dedicated research on such a thing. There’s an online library with a vast collection of resources supporting their theories called THE GNOSTIC SOCIETY LIBRARY.
And I desperately wanted to know more and blog it down.

Gnosticism is getting enlightment on religious beliefs. Finding the truth behind religious facts. Seems that the term is strongly linked with Christianity. Gnosticism is considered heresy by Christian churches.

Gnostic issues keep surfacing now and then whenever some scrolls of papyrus from older times pop out .The very famous Gnostic finding was the issue of Mary Magdalene. The Magdalene factor was the prime highlight in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Surprisingly, the world of literature has contributed a lot to Mary Magdalene. As per the Gnostic theory, she’s considered the Holy Grail who carried the bloodline of Jesus Christ.

There are many other Gospels which are considered Gnostic other than the canonical ones that are accepted and included by the Church. Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Gospel of Thomas, and Gospel of Judas which has surfaced now are a few to mention.

Gnostic scholars who consider Mary Magdalene to be a devoted disciple and presumed wife of Jesus Christ also believe that the Church has masked her under the hood of the prostitute, whom Jesus Christ defends when she was about to be stoned to death. Surprisingly it’s nowhere referred in the Holy Bible that Magdalene is the prostitute.

Similar is the latest controversy of Gospel of Judas. Judas betraying Jesus Christ is considered to be the Ultimate treachery of all times. But a crumbling manuscript which is claimed to be the Gospel of Judas portrays him not as a villain but as a Mr. Nice Guy who helps the Lord in his mission.

Orthodox scholars say, ’None of the "extra" documents could rise to the level of the Scripture’. True, Gnostic findings are hard to believe and harder to accept, especially when they try to change the very basic lessons which have already been accepted as facts and that’s why the Gnostic ideas remains at a secret depth from the presumed truth of The Holy Bible. It’s not easily possible to change something that’s etched in the minds of the staunch and orthodox Christians.

Burning Bengalooru..

Still regaining from the last week’s shock of seeing the city burning.
Bengalooru was spewing flames of tears for the dead actor Dr.Rajkumar.

Agree, Bengalooru is certainly a city with a class. It stands apart from the rest of the Indian cities with its glossy exteriors and greener interiors.But something is terribly missing.

The City wants to be called a Metropolitan, but such incidents would certainly mar its own growth. Closing the bars before midnight and banning the mobile phones for college goers only is not a solution for bestowing discipline among the masses. Sensitivity to other’s feelings and self discipline will do wonders.

Never once did the fans of ‘Annavaru’ think about the legend’s family. The crowd was indifferent to the begging and pleadings of the sons to let their father rest in peace.Blaming the government for the lack of control measures is not very appropriate.

Unless people change their attitude, anything that any government attempts to do will go futile.The same attributes to the recent stampede episodes in Chennai during the distribution of flood relief supplies. When it happened for the first time the government was blamed for not taking proper control of the crowd. When the history repeated, the attention is on the attitude of people. Had people and been self controlled and sensitive to others feelings, such a disaster could have been abated.

Murders, violence, Divorces, etcetera, etcetera – Reason? – Insensitivity.All I feel is,the scenes of tragedies will continue to haunt unless people become sensitive to others’ feelings.

Bengalooru Naamakarana!!!

A couple of days back, I happened to watch a hot debate in the CNN IBN News channel on changing the name of Bangalore. Lot of differences in opinions.Obviously, this has become one of Bengalooru mahanagara’s hottest topics. (Of course, next only to Traffic and Pollution).

This morning, I caught a glimpse of the BTM Layout Bus depot's name board. They had changed it to Kuvempu Nagara Bus Stand. Heard that, BTM Layout had already been renamed officially (long back) by the BMP to be called Kuvempu Nagara, but not many call it as yet by that name! Hmmm....Guess the Palike is in a killing spree to change all non-kannda names now.

Changing a name will never change everything. All lies in the mindset of people.There are people who still call their beloved Chennai Metro in the same ol' name of Madras. And I could guess a similar thing could happen with 'Bengalooru' also. Most of the kannadigas, even though they like the name 'Bangalore' more (hot n spicy!!) reluctantly agree and argue defending The name-change-mission for the sake of saving their language, identity and preserve their pride. The recent demonstrations of political parties against corporate giants to recruit more kannadigas were also for the same reason.It's true Bangalore is slowly losing it's regional identity just 'coz it has become cosmopolitan.

So, say ‘Welcome Bengalooru’...and that does not mean a ‘Goodbye Bangalore’. Its not that easy to forget such a hip'n happen’n name!!

Need a Coffee Break?

I have always been fascinated by Java. A vast and interesting programming language.When in college, never did I like it once. I cursed my fate when I started my career as a junior developer in Java. I wonder how I failed to realize the simplicity and depth of the language earlier.

Now I am so much obsessed with the language that I would love to just learn and learn and learn the technology all through my life…

Two months back I completed the first level of certification in Java (SCJP), and now planning to do the next level- SCBCD Sun Certification for Business Component Developer- for which I have started preparing.

Visit http://www.freewebs.com/youandjava for shared Java notes.
I just released the first chapter of my notes for SCBCD exam.If you have any queries, send a mail to scbcd_info@yahoo.com

Go on, If u too wanna sip the Coffee!!

'Broadband' Booms!!

Haah….After a long time…

Past few weeks were a bit hectic with some amount of personal work been done.Hmm…now am back to finger-down the past week’s adventures. hi...hi…of course not about scuba-diving or funky jumps!!

A couple of weeks back, my everyday buzzword was Broadband... for a simple wish of getting a broadband connection at home. Making a wish was as simple as rubbing aladdin's magic lamp.But getting it done was really an uphill task.My fairy Godmother took a long time to wave her wand!!

All I thought was being in the IT capital of India will help me get my broadband connection easily. And it did not take much time for me to realize that I was wrong.

I live in a very busy area which is a concrete jungle of Govt Organisation, Call centers and Small IT industries and needless to say, Bangalore's sky scrapers (Apartments!!) also. Certainly not remote.Still the Broadband service providers would not give me a broadband connection that easily.

The first one I chose was BSNL DataOne for the hype that has been created by the media. But calling a BSNL customer care is not that easy. And getting an answer from them was even tougher.

Next from the bunch is Airtel.The Customer service was good and prompt and the guy got back to me within 10 hours. I was happy at last ,that its so simple to get the connection. But the answer was bit different. He apologized for not able to give me a broadband connection. Saying, maximum number of connections possible in our area has been reached so, they cannot provide me a connection. Petrified…coz I was not expecting such a response.

Reliance was not operating in our area and Tata Indicom said they will call me in 72 hours with the feasibility check and they are still getting back. Meanwhile I checked with the Cable TV Service providers like Hathway,In2 Cable, Zee next were nearly as good as the others in refusing me the connection. Sify too, ignored me. I knew their answer before they could tell me...'Sorry ma'm, Currently we are not operating in your area'.

After nearly 2 weeks of hearing the same 'B' word and thinking of the same 'B' word…I got bored. I thought I will stick with my reliance dial-up which got disconnected every 10 mins.This known devil was really better than that unknown 'B'- angel.

Then finally I decided to apply for BSNL wait for the stipulated 1 month and get my connection. Two days after applying for the BSNL, an Airtel guy called me up, and said he could give me the connection in 2 days. (Thats what they call Life!!). As told, he sent the installation team on the 2nd day and now is enjoying the broadband Internet.

Dear blog-reader,

If you or any of your friends need a broadband connection, and don't have time to do an R&D on the different service providers,their tarrifs,Customer care numbers and feasibility in your area, I am here to help you out!.(hi hi hi). I have really become a Broadband repository in just 2 weeks.

Not... Yet... the parody is not over yet. Its has already been a month and am now pleading BSNL to return my Security deposit.

HDK's 'Mission Bengalooru'

A week of mock exams, java books, exam simulators, threatening mock exam results and am a Sun Certified Java Programmer now. Ooof…what a relief!! My dreams were filled not with flowers, rainbows and stars and seas…but flower brackets, for-loops, if-else and Compilation errors!! And now am back blogging.

One thing that I noticed past week in the 'Bengalooru mahanagara’ was the faster pace in the road maintenance work. I could see bus-stops shifting to lessen traffic congestion, narrows roads getting extended...Great to see the City under busy maintenance! The young Chief Minister of the state with ‘inexperience‘ as his only asset is all in a blastin action.Eventhough the way he acquired power was a bit confusing and frustrating to many people, it’s good to see him in action. Rather than waiting for his turn to come he just created himself a chance for being in the seat of power.

As per the words of our president Dr. APJ Abdul kalam, he has used political politics to attain power and developmental politics after that. Hope he continues to use his strategies to add values to the state. Lets wait 'n watch!

See u Later!!

A bit busy this week..meet you all next week!

Ek Choti si baath...

Some simple incidents in life sometimes seem very interesting. This is one such for me.

Yesterday, I felt very sleepy and kind of boring at office. Being in bench and out of project has its own merits too… ;) Hope my boss doesn’t catch me dozing off!!

Just kidding boss!! I never sleep at Office. He..He..He..

I thought of going home a bit earlier. So I took a BMTC bus(Bangalore Metro ) back to my home.I got a seat in the bus and it was the only seat that was free. And many of the Ladies seats were occupied by some gentlemen. In one of the bus’ stops an older woman boarded the bus with a heavy luggage. She stood near me with her baggage hoping she could somehow find a place to sit. The gentlemen averted their eyes from her and pretended to gaze through the window, too reluctant to offer her a seat. First I thought they would not have noticed the old lady. People are more selfish than I thought. Nobody wanted to provide a place for her to sit. Something pushed me to offer the seat to the lady. And I did. People were still minding their own business of gazing through the window or pretending to do so. One guy saw me standing through the corner of his eyes and quickly averted again. The way the guy acted seemed so silly and stupid to me. I could not keep from smiling.Being selfish is one’s own wish and I am really not here to justify anything…From a Politician to a BMTC commuter,a place to sit means a lot na?

Million Dollar Colleague…

People working for a public and noble cause are very rare..and seeing someone in action really really good.

Pradeep Sudarshan,one of my colleagues is one of such rare kind. He spends some of his precious time in spreading awarness on Eye Pledging and Donation among people.A few days back he was on air for this noble cause.Radio City, Bangalore's popular FM Station featured his interview in a segment called Bangalore Inspires.

He was splendid and really inspiring and I am sure many would have made up their minds to pledge their eyes.I really appreciate him for being enthusiastic for a good cause.

I know what is running on your mind.You too wanna pledge your eyes. right?
Then,for more information visit: http://giftyoursight.blogspot.com OR http://www.freewebs.com/giftyoursight
or you can mail Pradeep Sudarshan at giftyoursight@gmail.com.

Flying Coffins?

The weekend was great and back at office on a boring yet bright Monday morning! The morning is bright coz’ it’s sunny and not that cold and boring coz’ the traffic was slow moving on the way to office. ha!! typical Bangalore. cannot do much about it.

There is one particular thing that always itches the back of my mind, does a ‘knock knock’ and goes off…And It knocked once during this weekend also.Mig 21 fighter planes. Ever since these planes came in to Indian Air force, They make news for two reasons. One - During the Republic day or Independence day Defense displays . Two – Crash due to a Technical snag or pilot errors.

But I always wonder…why Mig 21 alone??

The MiGs have been dubbed "flying coffins" for registering over 100 crashes from 1993 till date. Indian air force says 2005 proved a safer year for them recording very lesser Mig 21 Crashes.

According to Financial Express, from the beginning of the 1990s Russia stopped operating the MiG-21 and producing spare parts for it, and for this reason India has to buy low-quality spare parts in the East-European countries.

The official statistics claim that 283 crashes occurred from 1991 to 2000, in which the Air Force of India lost 221 aircraft, and 100 pilots perished. As many as 62 per cent of the cases involved the MiG-21 fighters made by the HAL in the 1960s. The "human factor" caused 42 per cent of the crashes, technical malfunctions - 44 per cent, and collisions with birds - 7 per cent. Hmm.. Statistics are always scary!

And 2006 should have started with a sour note for IAF with MIG 21 Crash earlier this month on 4th near NAL airbase ,Bikaner fortunately with no casualty.

But according to Air Chief Marshal H Moolgavkar (Retd), PVSM, MVC , If a pilot is competent, there would not be so many crashes. However, just like no two human beings are the same, no two pilots are the same, and the significant number of accidents is due to pilot errors as proved in the courts of inquiry which are meticulously held by the competent authorities directly concerned. So, it is unfair to conclude MiG-21 aircraft as flying coffins.

He also accepts that Mig 21’s are indeed a difficult aircraft to fly and there are technical failures for which heavy price is paid in terms of loss of both precious lives and investment.He also says it is difficult to provide a clear cut answer. If the situation permits, a pilot ejects from the aircraft and generally he lands safe.

In 2003 the then Defense Minster George Fernandes tested for
Mig 21’s ‘airworthiness’ by flying for nearly half-an-hour in a 20-year-old two-seater trainer version in overcast conditions.Obviously he must have chosen a very experienced pilot!!

Acceptable, Life of a fighter plane pilot is not easy. Still Its Indian Air force’s duties to make sure that at least technical snags are minimized. And this is what IAF has promised. After all the one who is flying the plane somehow could eject himself … a fighter plane falling straight on your head when u just took three days off from work to spend time with your wife and children in your farm house is really scary enough…!

Faces of India??!!!

This Bangalorean morning started with a hot air of political news.
Kumarasamy Gowda son of the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda dumps his father for the chair to rule the South Indian state of Karnataka coalition with the Opposition BJP
But what I am going to write is really not on the political side but on the media.

Last evening, after a tiring day, off from work, I switched on my TV to browse the channels as usual. When I started to hear some crackers around my house, I was left with no clue and turned to TV news channels to figure out what was happening around.

A State’s government tumbling overnight is really hot and breaking news and only the regional news channels were telecasting this news. I switched to the Other English news channels which portray themselves as they are the faces of India and they are the representatives of India. To talk about a few, NDTV did have a little coverage with only the news text running at the bottom and CNN-IBN nothing at all.

This morning on my way to office in the city of Bangalore, I saw a big banner for an ad of CNN-IBN. That seemed so funny to me. . I wondered, if these people cannot cover their news of a particular region then what’s the point in advertising their news channel in that region? These channels always tend to feel that the political capital and the financial capital of India are the only places in India. When they claim that they represent India, ridiculously, they do mean that they represent these two cities only.


Among the Educated - News reading - News Channel watching population on India Considerable amount is in South. And this is not just for the sake of words. But I really do not find any reason for the News Channels to just focus more North and dump the south. Being a south Indian I had always felt the kind of apathy, Central Government and Ministers show on south. Does it have to be the same kind of behavior with News Channels also?

Meanwhile the Regional Media in South focuses on the spreading its tentacles to the other states and other foreign countries but not on the quality of the news they provide the people. Regional news channels focus more on the local news –Which-actress-married-which-director-and-Which-leader-cursed-which-leader – kind of news. They don’t really care on what’s going on in the nation. When we look at the amount of depth given to news related to important happenings in the central government it’s very shallow... and the same junk news is telecast in foreign countries also. This is really not the level of Quality in News NRIs expect from the very popular- wide spread media networks.

These Regional channels focus on improving the Quality of the picture and video they provide and the Quality of new they give people. And Other English news channels which focus more on North Indian News turn more towards south only when Bill Gates tasted a chutney with appam or some foreign delegates visit Infosys,Bangalore.

There's lot to be done by the media to the south...Didn't they see the potholes in the Bangalorean Main roads? Don’t they see newer Industries coming up in Chennai? Do any of us know what the headlines in Andhrapradesh and Kerala are?

Can News Channels take a New Year’s resolution at least the next year...if your sights are too tightly tied to a single thing for this year!!!.

Its' Priscilla's World!!

Hi!
Welcome to my world...
It was a long forgotten idea in me to create a blog and pour my thoughts in..
And its high time to let myself go!
It was a great comeback to my long lost idea...and lo..lemme start blogging!!!...