12/28/2004 

Tsunami relief - An Appeal from AID

Usually, mother nature provides comfortable nurturing. However, from time to time the elements seem to lose control and disaster follows often unexpected and of unimaginable magnitude. As you probably already know, starting with the worst affected state, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orisaa, Kerala have all been hit severly by a tidal wave, the so called Tsunami. Although the full magnitude of the disaster is still being assessed, unquestionably thousands of some of the poorest of our fellow Indians have been rendered helpless.

AID (www.aidindia.org) volunteers in India are involved in providing immediate succour. AID-Chennai office has begun relief efforts on a war footing. We in the Diaspora here should do everything that we can to help out. We seek financial help from you for this cause. Let us all come together to show our loved ones that, no matter where we are, we care deeply for their welfare. Please help and help generously.

Contributions to AID can be made through secure on-line credit-card deductions from AID's website: http://survivors.aidindia.org

where further details and updates will also be made available.

AID is working with our partners to support various relief proposals including prompt approvals up to the $10,000. AID has already committed. AID estimates the amount already committed willonly cover a fraction of the relief effort. Therefore, AID is
appealing to all members of the community, including its volunteers, and many supporters to contribute generously toward this effort.

For additional information
call: 1-888-TALK-2-AID /
Email: info[at]aidindia[dot]org
Web: http://survivors.aidindia.org

AID Volunteers.

12/27/2004 

The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami - Help!!!!

12/25/2004 





What can ONE do?

Just ONE dollar a day: has built 20 watershed structures for soil conservation
Just ONE day’s salary a month: has supported a village school for 200 children for 6 months
Just ONE percent of salary per year: has supported an AIDS health care clinic for 3 months
Just ONE day of volunteering per week: has direct connection to development work in India Posted by Hello

12/24/2004 

Swades... saw it finally

Finally, I saw Swades last night. A movie that depicted reality sans the frills of Bollywood. A very idealistic movie. It was quite a long narration and this might probably work against the movie when it comes to mass appeal. As many of you had read numerous reviews, let me also give my take..

The movie is clearly inspired or I should say the screen version of "Bilgaon Microhydel project" whose pictures I have posted below this post. Anil and Madhu, the two engineers who designed the project belonged to People's School of Energy in Kanur, Kerala, brought electricty to the vilage in the foothills of the Satpura ranges. Mohan Bhargav, a NASA scientist, brings electricity to the village of his foster mother Kauveriamma. The technique used in the movie is exactly the same used by Anil and Madhu in Bilgaon.

Shahrukh Khan: A good underplayed performance but I have a feeling that his superstar image has actually worked against him in this role. I found it extremely hard to imagine the King Khan singing and dancing in the villages as I am more accustomed to seeing him dancing with gorgeous woman in phroein locales. Nevertheless, a clean performance..

Gayathri Joshi: I think she was commendable for a newcomer. She is tall and she has a very infectious and inviting smile. She is too glamorous for a village teacher...

Kauveriamma: I think her chracter was neatly defined wothout oo much melodrama that plagues Indian movies...

Postmaster( Gurran in Lagaan): Yet another good performance. I enjoyed his characterization in Lagaan as the magician and he has turned in a good performance here as well..

Mela Ram: He wants to open a Dhaba in one of the freeway exits.... A great idea indeed given the lousy Denny's and Burger Kings that spot the freeway exits. In the end, he foregoes his dream and decides to stay back in Charanpur...

Ashuthosh Gowariker: He is the true hero of the movie... He has guts to present such a movie to the Hindi audience who feast on triangular love stories, sex and sleaze...

The scenes that gave me goose-pimples:
1. The scene were the bulb glows and old villager claims "bijli". A true moment of epiphany- here we are in the United States rarely used to power cuts but in villages in India, electricty that lights up even a small bulb is welcomed with celebration...

2. The scene where Shahrukh decides to rink the water from mud pot: yet another moment of epiphany....

Bottom Line:
I think it is a must see for everyone. A vivid and comprehensive presentation of the problems at the grassroots. We, Indians take a lot of pride in the Bangalore tech boom and we assume that India is shining. But the reality is quite different. There isn't even an electric bulb glowing in most places.

I must admit that we have made rapid strides in IT sector but the real economy is from agriculture. 70% of the economy is from agriculture and India still lives in her villages. Any development that neglects the villagers and it is going to sabotage their interests is going to be shortlived.

It is high time we get our priorities straight.....

 


The Smiles say it all.... Posted by Hello

 


Electricity.... FINALLY...Thanks to 2000 person-days of voluntary labour (shramdaan) put in by the villagers, support by the school (Rs.50,000) and AID (Rs.12,00,000), they now have tube-lights in every house and school. Day time electricity will be used for pumping drinking water, creating a grain bank through community agriculture, nursery for afforestation and livelihood generation through small-scale enterprises. The projects was designed by People’s School of Energy, approved by the Chikali Gram Panchayat and implemented by Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Centre.  Posted by Hello

 


Completed Check dam Posted by Hello

 


the 15Kw Turbine Posted by Hello

 


Shramdaan in full swing to clear the canal Posted by Hello

 


2000 person-days of voluntary labour (shramdaan) put in by the villagers Posted by Hello

 


Anil , the conceiver of the project and winner of the MIT Technovator award, with a 80 year old village volunteer Posted by Hello

 


The people in the village formed a committee, where every household is a member, and decided to tap the energy of the waterfall through a micro-hydel system and light up their entire village. Posted by Hello

 


Like all tribal villages, Bilgaon is rich in natural resources. There is a 9m high waterfall at Bilgaon, on River Udai, before it meets the Narmada river. Posted by Hello

 


Yet Another picture of Bilgaon Posted by Hello

 


Bilgaon a tribal village in the Narmada valley consists of 12 hamlets(i.e. about 180 households) strewn around different ranges of the Satpuda mountains. These villages have never seen electricity even 55 years after independence. The nearest point on the national grid, Dhadgaon, is about 12 kms away. Posted by Hello

12/19/2004 

Foot on the Pedal, Lights for the house

We have all pedalled long distances at one point or another. Villagers in crtain parts of India pedal to light up their homes. Find out how

Pedal Power

12/18/2004 

DCUBED has me stumped

The Art of writing is something difficult to master. It gives you the freedom of expression- a freedom to express your thoughts, convince people and sometimes even conquer the world. One such journalist is Dilip D Souza. He blogs at Death ends fun and his langauge/choice of words recreate reality right in front of your eyes....

Dilip D Souza was a computer scientist and I had met him in a AID conference at Austin. He was having a media workshop and for an aspiring journalist like me, it was inspiring and very useful. As I had blogged before, he is one of my role models to emulate.

12/16/2004 

I went late to work and my manger wanted to know why...

**********************************************************************************

We met Einstien yesterday and we started talking about One For India.
We told him that we were running this campaign from November 19 to Jan
26, 2005 and this year we have relatively higher targets than last
year. Being a father of relativity, he said

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour.
Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S
relativity."

I told him One For India is a realtively simple and easier way to make
donations for a cause. He retorted by saying

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."

Einstein was feeling upset about the tax he had to pay and he said
"The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.".

When he was told that, all contributions to One For India are
tax-exemptible, he was already getting ready to make a donation.

Having made a donation, we told him that he was one of the many who
fell in love with One For India, Einstien replied

"Gravitation doesn't explain people falling in love "

When asked why people should be making a donation, Einstien said

"Only a life lived for others is a life worth while ."

Einstein made a stronger push for everyone to make a contribution
irrespection of the denomination by saying

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that
counts can be counted."

Einstien realized that the One For India team keep sending emails
about the camapign when everyone knows it is there and he prescribed a
new formula for success

Einstein disappeared and this explains why I was late to work this morning....
************************************************************************************

1+1=101

For more Einstien and his wit -Albert Einstein Quotes

12/15/2004 

This is the column that inspired Swades says Rediff.com .

The Bilgaon model said Frontline a few years back.

MIT- Global Indus Technovators Awards were given to Anil and Madhu, the men behind the project ,in 2003.

Bilgaon MicroHydel Project was supported by AID as well. Five AID Chapters - four of them based in the Universities around United States did it.

Indian students in the United States made a difference to the lives of villagers living thousands of miles across the globe . You can make a difference too... Rush to the the AID -Chapter near you...


12/12/2004 

M.S. Subbulakshmi, the epitome of bhakti kissed the lotus feet this morning. It is indeed a huge loss for the Carnatic music fraternity in Chennai. I am neither a student nor an ardent love for Carnatic music but you gain a great respect and admiration for M.S if you listen to her Vishnu Sahasarnamam. In times of distress and confusion, nothing calms you down better than the M.S's rendition of the thousand names of Lord Vishnu. It is soulful and it evokes passion for the Lord. May her soul rest in peace.....

12/10/2004 

I have a great obsession for Albert Einstein brand of humor. He once said "If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut". Isn't it true that most of us get our foot in the shit by opening our mouth at the wrong time. That is precisely what is going to happen now....

I am going to come up with my own real "what-if" story. All acknowledgements to me and all brickbats to The 'What-if' make-your-own-movie formula!- as this post is really the sole inspiration behind this biopic

Shot 1 Take 1
Action

"Innimae Late ah vandha Archana Sweetoda than varanum" said an angry but happy wife to her husband on Monday morning radio. It was already 8:30 and I was still in bed not wanting to get up and face the world on a cruel Monday morning. Like always, my Biology record was pending and I had been attempting to draw a cockroach brain but with little success. My mom had already left for work and I showered quickly, played with my little cousin and quickly grabbed something to eat and was on my way. The cockroach's brain was still playing inside my brain.

As I had blogged before, my school had an unique way of finding people to lead the school assembly. The PT Sir usually picked an innocent soul and asked him to lead the assembly. Most people took up the challenge ,with much hesitation and of course with very little preparation, just to save their face in front of the girls in the class. Some misogynists ( After 12 years, I would call them 'losers') evaded the responsibility by feigning to be sick. In retrospect, I think they would make great politicians in future as the politicians are the only folks who shirk away from responsibility citing medical reasons.

Thank God!!! I wasn't picked that day. Monday morning prayers were usually long with the principal giving her words of wisdom. As we assembled in line, my eyes were looking around for the Biology teacher. I always looked for her every day as she was goodlooking and she brightened my dull mornings. But today was special as she was playing in my cockroach brain. There were no signs of her and I started the prayer with a smile on my lips and thanked THEE for his act of kindness.

The Biology class wasn't until late in the day and I had initially planned to draw the cockroach brain during the curse of the day. Since the biology maam wasn't there, I decided to call it quits and postpone the brain for one more day. Biology class did come. Just like me, everyone had noticed that Biology maam was absent. We were happily talking and needless to say ,about some girls in school .Then someone dared me to throw a chalk at the one and only goodlooking girl in class. At a time when I fed on Ganth and Sarath Kumar movies, this came as the greatest challenge to my masculinity. ("Indha Ettipatti Gramathla Enna Edhirika yaaru le irrukkka"(it is best, if left untranslated) was echoing in my ears). I picked up the chalk in grand style and flung it on her and it traveled like that bullet in Gaanth starrer "Pulan Visaranai" . The trajectory of the chalk was not lowering and it zoomed past the target and it hit someone else's legs. The someone else was none but the Biology maam who came onto the scene from nowhere. She caught me in the act. (the act of throwing the chalk piece). Rest as the cliche goes is not history. It was infact misery. I was taken to who else but the jobless Principal who was surprised ( the school foolishly thought that I will get a state rank that year) and she gave me truckloads of advice as to how I could easily become a misguided missile blah blah blah.The biology maam, for her part, made me draw all the diagrams from cockroach's brain to a rat's ass with my own right hand and made a mockery of my creations by commenting out loud about how the cockroach brain and the rat ass could be interchanged and no one could tell that they had changed places. That was the day I made the first big decision in life - to care a rat's ass for biology. Thus, I became an Engineer.......

But today, as I sit here in front of the computer at 9:00 on a Friday night like a loser- with my girlfriend 850.6 miles away, I wonder "What If that chalk had hit that chicken 65(the nickname of the girl for whom the chalk was sent as a messenger)"....

I picked up the chalk in grand style and flung it on her and it travelled like that bullet in Gaanth starrer "Pulan Visaranai" .The trajectory of the chalk lowers and hits her justborn twins. She looks me up in the eye , gives me a smile and returns to the cokraoch's brain. The Biology maam does not come for the day and everyone pack their bags to leave home. The school bell rings and the room is empty except for the chicken and me. I walk up to her and like a true adolescent say "I am sorry. I was dared to do it by my friends". She replies " I know you did it as a joke, so never mind". I immediately use the situation and thrust my record book in front of her and say "Can you draw these diagrams for me". "What do I get in return" she bargains. "What do you want", I offer. "I need a favor from you. I am not good at it and my father is busy with work." she asks. "Why not? " I say with a smirk. " Then consider the diagrams done." she replies with a smile. "The work will be done tomorrow morning" I reply triumphantly.

I finish the work as promised. Her father learns about the incident and awards me for my creativity. And a few years later, I am working in fun places likethis and writing stories for this newspaper....( check the authors of the linked story) :-):-)

So what was the work you may ask that won me the job,

She wanted me to write a story for her younger brother's story writing competition. This is what happened after that.....

I go home and think long and hard and write up a science fiction. I call her up and narrate the whole story to her. She just hatesss it... Her brother is in 2nd standard and who would believe that he can write a science fiction. She gives me a mouthful( I mean obscenities, please don't run imaginations wild) and hangs up. I think all night and finally conjure up a story which is nothing but an adaptation from the age old "paati-kaakha-vaaada" story. Her brother wins the prize for my efforts because the judge was my friend.

Cut back to reality

I am happy that the chalk did not hit the chicken or else I would have been working on a newspaper -whose articles and authors, people would deconstruct and criticize according to their whims and fancies. I think journalism is difficult because the reader gives you just thirty seconds and you need to be captivating. You need oodles of creativity. In the numerous things that I wanted to do with my life, journalism was next to doing nothing and before Engineering. But, I jumped on the bandwagon and decided to become an Engineer but I would love to be a journalist in the years to come and also if I am born again and I am not Steve Waugh or Andre Agassi.

Title of the story ; "Chalk, Chaos and Circuits: The snoring of a sleeping giant"

P.S: What does Murphy's Law say about circuits - "Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable and three parts which are still under development. "

12/09/2004 

I was watching Sports List on Fox Sports Net last evening. The show was presented by the always smiling and ever elegant Summer Sanders. The list was about sportsmen who decided to hang their boots while they were at the peak of their powers. The list included some big names like Michael Jordan , Magic Johnson etc...

I decided to write about a sports list of my own

[Random Note: Lists remind me of MMKR. No, this is not a hindi movie.( folks these days tend to believe all four letter acronyms are hindi movies) MMKR= Michael Madhana Kamarajan. Maliga Kada List that Kamal gets from Crazy Mohan. Adhan ippo Kudumbame +2 aayiduthae :-) Kaapi podi rendu kilova irruke angavastharathila jariga madhiri.....]

0. If you were a fan, you don't want to be irritating: the only answer to this is Artest of Indiana Pacers. Wasn't it some kind of a brawl.

1.Most Dramatic Sports Moment: Javed Miandad doing his monkey jumps in Sydney in front of the wicketkeeper who wanted "more". In one moment, he put all monkeys out of fashion.

2. Most Passive sportsman: Ivan Lendl. He can easily beat our ex-PM Narasimha Rao for the most wodden face all time.

3.Hawtest Sportswoman: I am tempted to say Anna Kournikova but for some reason I have searched the internet for "Mary Pierce" more times than Anna. There is something about Mary

4. Heartbreaking Sports Moment: It has to be when Javed Miandad hit that ball from T.Rajendar (sorry Chetan Sharma) over the stands in Sharjah. There were tears flowing down my cheeks as a 7 seven year old.

5. Heartstopping sports moment: As a lover of Aussie cricket, it has to be the moment that Lance Klusener hit ball to Mark Waugh at mid-on and sprinted for a single. When you thought it was all over, Allan Donald runs like a duck and gets run out at the other end.

6. Unbelievable Sports town: Has to be Boston. Where else would you find a city not giving up on its baseball team for 86 long years. What makes the love affair even more special is the fact that the city of Boston has had some illustrious teams in basketball and football, yet Bostoners are always associated with the Red Sox.

Notable mention: Tempe, AZ. The one small town that has hosted the super bowl. Every year hosts the fiesta bowl. Week in and week out every fall, hosts the Arizona State Sun Devils and Arizona Cardinals.

7. Biggest Sports Rivalry: OSU-Micihigan, Auburn-Alabama, Yankees- Sox, Lakers-Kings, Giants-Dodgers, brazil-Argentina are all great rivalries, but nothing beats the perfervid "India-Pakistan" clashes.

8. Most audacious sportsman to watch: Terrel Ownes[T.O]... He is attrocious. A few weeks back, he was giving an interview on TV and what was he wearing - a T shirt that boldly proclaimed "I Love T.O"

9. If I was born again as a sportsman, I want to be : Most folks who know me expect me to stay "Steve Waugh" but I am saying Andre Agassi. I would do anything for Steffi Graf :-).

10. If I am born again and if I cannot be me, I would want to be: Steve Waugh.

12/07/2004 

Today something unusual happend at work. There was a power cut. Power cuts in America as are rare as India winning the cricket world cup. Those 10 minutes of cheap thrill can never be matched.

I have always loved power cuts even when I was in India. It provided a great opportunity for the entire apartment to come out and enjoy the moonlight. It is amazing in today's fast world that we don't find time even to look at moon most times, leave aside enjoying it. These power cuts provided such opportunities. You get a chance to meet some folks whom you have not met in a long time in the apartments. For kids whose parents enforeced strict study time, power cuts would be a welcome break from the boring books. Even love birds used this time to sneak to the apartment terrace escaping their parents hawk eyes. There will always be one person in the apartment complex, who would call up his/her friend some 25 kms away and find out whether they have power, just to ascertain whether it is a all Chennai power loss. When it did happen to be a all city power loss, Hindu would run a story in the next day's paper headlined "Darkness engulfs city".

Remember the power cut in North Eastern United States( it is quite ironical that parts of North Eastern India don't even have electricity) last year, I cannot imagine New York City in darkness. I am sure driving home would have been the toughest on that day.

[Randon Thought: North Eastern India is beautiful and unexplored. My ex-roomie's wife serves the Indian Army in the North East and he had brought back some pics. God must have been really happy when he created the North East. The cities are picturesque and overflow with natural beauty. You can use One For India website to send E-Cards with pictures from the North East.]

 

Hollywood plans to take Bhopal to the screen read a Indian Express headline much to the chagrin of some[ read the comments to the article]. It is commendable that the feature film will create awareness amongst a lot of people. I know friends who are completely unaware of Bhopal Gas Tragedy and the glamor quotient broght by Aishwarya Rai will draw these folks to the theatres. But, certain things need to be considered before going overboard with the launch of the film.

1. When it comes to translation to celluloid, the first casulaty would be the truth. In an effort to keep the cash regsiters ringing, the issues of the people of Bhopal shouldn't be misintreprted. For folks, who want to know about Bhopal and the reality at ground zero, do watch one of these moviesbefore watching the Rai starrer. It is like reading the Bible before watching The Passion of the Christ.

2. Also, the movie might never see the light od the day. Given Dow Chemical company's political mileage and money power, they will do everything in their power to sabotage the movie in the United States. But there are also other independent groups which will fund and distribute the movie if its good just like what happend with Farenheit -9/11.

Whatever may be the case - The Bhopalis need complete justice and a right to a dignified , disease free life. Lets hope we can work towards it.

12/03/2004 

20 years and Counting.....

TORTURE ME
by a Bhopal survivor

torture me.
aim a blowtorch at my eyes
pour acid down my throat
strip the tissue from my lungs.
drown me in my own blood.
choke my baby to death in front of me.
make me watch her struggles as she dies.
cripple my children.
let pain be their daily and their only playmate.
spare me nothing. wreck my health
so I can no longer feed my family.
watch us starve. say it's nothing to do with you.
don’t ever say sorry.
poison our water. cause monsters
to be born among us. make us curse God.
stunt our living children’s growth.
for seventeen years ignore our cries.
teach me that my rage is as useless as my tears.
prove to me beyond all doubt
that there is no justice in the world.
you are a wealthy american corporation
and I am a gas victim of bhopal.

12/02/2004 

Public Speaking

"Inga va paa, lead the assembly today" said my PT Sir. I started shivering in my spine and there was liquid wetting my shorts. I was in Eighth Standard, new school and everything. The school had an unique way of deciding who was going to lead the assembly- quite a dictatorial way as well. The PT(Periya Thollai- Big Trouble in English) Sir basically decided to make a scapegoat of one harmless innocent soul every morning. You cannot say "no" because of the image problem in front of the "figures" in class :-)

So, I walked up first time and the last thing I wanted to do was to piss in fear. So, I adjusted my pants like Sachin Tendulkar does everytime he faces a ball and exchanged a few smiles with the shorties of each class( they stand at the head of the line). The Principal arrived and said "start". I shouted out "School, Attention" , "School Stand At Ease", "Attention and "Stand At Ease". Ouch!!! there was a slight murmur. No I dint piss!! It was because at the four command the school should have been in attention and not stand -at-ease. Instead of calling one more attention and then saying "school prayer", I chose to reinvent the wheel. I went again and called "School Stand -At Ease" "School-Attention", "SAE" "Attention" and then the prayer started. It was the first time I realized how nice it was to pray and thank God for all his favors. At most of the other times during prayer at school,you look at the goodlooking senior girls in 12th standard or kick the guy before you or look whether the teacher handling Chemistry was absent for the day as you haven't finished her homework.

My ordeals for the day did not end. Even before the headmistress could make an annoucement that he had to make, I said "School Disperse". After that incident, I thought I would never be invited but then after a while, I was invited every day to do the honors. I guess the girls would have complained that my eyes were wandering too much and they would rather see my leading the school than behind their back.

Public speaking is really an art. Its like your girl next door- looks easy but it is very difficult to get :-) . Over the years, I have attended talks on this topic and they have always emphasized that to enthrall audience, you have to present an enjoyable cocktail of humor and message. The one man who got the proportion wrong and the cocktail became too heady was Mr. Jeppiar.

Jeppiar has over the years gone from worse to worstest. Age doesn't really catch up with him. He is like wine- the older it gets, more valuable it becomes. The first time I heard Jeppiar, I was in splits. I never knew that Her Majesty's Language could be murdered so effortlessly in front of 1000 people. You would tend to beleive that Mr.Jeppiar might be the sole reason behind India's independence. An absolutely audacious delivery with no care or concern for grammar , a miserable and conspicuous lack of diction in jugalbandhi with an abject slaughter of logic and reason. How else would you term a man who says "No ragging. If ragging, we arrest police" :-)

An equally embarassing incident happend in my life while I was presenting at a fundraiser a few months back. I was talking about an initative called
"Guria" . The lights were on me - bright and shining. It was so luminous that it clouded my eyes and brain. At that point, I said "This project aims to promote second generation population" . There was a huge uproar in the room. In one moment, I almost changed the focus of the organization, I bit my tongue, blamed the lights, corrected myself and proclaimed in Caesaresque fashion "WE aim to end second generation prostitution". I might have corrected myself and done justice but my friends remind me from time to time about that day under the lights.

I agree with Seinfeld when he says" The greatest fear of people is 1. Public Speaking and 2. Death. So it means, people would be happy to be in the coffin than reading an eulogy" :-)