this is what i think ... i think!

Good artists borrow...

2011-11-29T12:23:00.001+05:30

Great artists steal - Pablo Picasso

Thinking about the meaning of the song Lemon Tree (by Fools garden Link), I looked to see if lemon tree has any special meaning. It was really interesting how an old C Ashwath favorite - Naa chikkavaniddaga appa heluttiddaru - also uses the lemon tree metaphor for love (Song, lyrics by B R Lakshman Rao).

T P Kailasam wrote Naanu kolike ranga and Nam tipparalli balu doora imitating Constantinople and It's a long way to Tipperary.
Turns out that Lakshmanarayara songu is in factu inspiredu. (Could it be the other way around?) A sixties folk song by Will Holt is the source of BRL's song. (Trini Lopez performing the song. Even Bob Marley released a version of this song).

I really admire B R Lakshmana Rao's poetry, his take on God is one of the classiest that I've come across (Link - Must write about this sometime); but felt cheated at how that old favorite now seems somehow less original. A consolation is that this version does offer a slightly more cynical view, especially towards the end. So it's not a blatant copy, after all.

Now I don't feel too bad about looking up that proof on Wikipedia.

On Shankaracharya and Tyler Durden

2011-05-02T05:20:00.002+05:30

The similarity between the thoughts of Shankaracharya and Tyler Durden (Fight Club) amused me for some time today, so I thought I would share it.

Tyler Durden:
"You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world." (Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo-wkv8gW6k)

Shankaracharya:
Backstory: When Shankaracharya was searching for a teacher to learn from, he heard of Govinda Bhagavatpada. Govinda Bhagavatpada was meditating in a cave whose entrance was so small that only his feet were visible from the outside. When Shankara reached the cave and bowed at the guru's feet and asked him to make him his shishya, Govinda Bhagavatpada asked him "Kastwam" (who are you?). To which Shankara is said to have replied (in verse, now known as Nirvana Shatkam):

Mano budhyahankara chithaa ninaham,
Na cha srothra jihwe na cha graana nethrer,
Na cha vyoma bhoomir na thejo na vayu,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

Neither am I mind, nor intelligence ,
Nor ego, nor thought,
Nor am I ears or the tongue or the nose or the eyes,
Nor am I earth or sky or air or the light,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss

Na cha praana sangno na vai pancha vaayuh,
Na vaa saptha dhathur na va pancha kosa,
Na vak pani padam na chopastha payu,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

Neither am I the movement due to life,
Nor am I the five airs, nor am I the seven elements,
Nor am I the five internal organs,
Nor am I voice or hands or feet or other organs,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss

Na me dwesha raghou na me lobha mohou,
Madho naiva me naiva matsarya bhava,
Na dharmo na cha artha na kamo na moksha,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

I never do have enmity or friendship,
Neither do I have vigour nor feeling of competition,
Neither do I have assets, or money or passion or salvation,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss

Na punyam na paapam na soukhyam na dukham,
Na manthro na theertham na veda na yagna,
Aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhoktha,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

Never do I have good deeds or sins or pleasure or sorrow,
Neither do I have holy chants or holy water or holy books or fire sacrifice,
I am neither food or the consumer who consumes food,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss

Na mruthyur na sankha na me jathi bhedha,
Pitha naiva me naiva matha na janma,
Na bhandhur na mithram gurur naiva sishyah,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

I do not have death or doubts or distinction of caste,
I do not have either father or mother or even birth,
And I do not have relations or friends or teacher or students,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss

Aham nirvi kalpo nirakara roopo,
Vibhuthwascha sarvathra sarvendriyanaam,
Na chaa sangatham naiva mukthir na meyah
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.

I am one without doubts , I am without form,
Due to knowledge I do not have any relation with my organs,
And I am always redeemed,
I am Shiva, I am Shiva, of nature knowledge and bliss
(Source: http://www.shankaracharya.org/nirvana_shatkam.php)

Just makes me wonder how similar trains of thought end up in such diverse conclusions.

Just one more...

2011-03-28T13:57:00.002+05:30

This post is a sort of a hat-tip to the scene below (starting at 2:14)

Scene: (Siddharth and Genelia go to that Sultan bazaar tea shop for the *second* time. This time- Siddharth orders)
S: Two theories of Relativi-"Tea". SPECIAL.
G: Make the second one, General.

ಬದುಕು ರಂಗೋಲಿ (baduku rangoli)

2011-02-28T02:49:00.003+05:30

Received this in the mail (Thank you):

i would have normally said it repesents a drawing on intricate designs on the floor by women in villages.However, it represents much more than that, it talks about intricatices of life and way one has to face trying circumstances in life :)
however, the missing piece is how symmetry in the muggu translates to complications in life. any ideas?

--source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHUzAY-tYvA&feature=related

I don't have any idea how the symmetry in muggu translates to complications in life. Maybe, it doesn't. Life probably has lesser dimensions than what we credit for. I really liked the idea that rangoli, a simple line drawing, could be a simile to life. Here's an attempt to capture the thought.

ಹಣೆಬರಹ ವಿಧಿಬರಹ ಸುಖ ದುಃಖ ರಾಗ ವಿರಹ
-ಗಳ್ ಬೆಸೆದ ರೇಖೆಗಳನ್ದದಿ ತೀಡಿ, ನಿಜ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ಮರ್ಮವನು
ತೆರನೆ ವರ್ಣದಿ ಮರೆಮಾಚಿ, ಹೊಸೆದ ಬದುಕು ರಂಗೋಲಿ
ಪೂರ್ಣತೆಯೇ ಮಂತ್ರವದನರಿಯೊ - junku(?)ತಿಂಮ

Translation:
Destiny/Fate, happiness, sorrow, love and hate (he wrote) as entwined lines, hid the true essence of reality in all its colours. (thus writ) life is this rangoli. Know that closure is its biggest secret.

Lingo Leela's Loveology Lessons

2011-02-11T12:34:00.009+05:30

Here's how the experts do it :)
(All sources, that I could find, have been attributed. The bad ones are mine but you knew that anyway. Didn't you?)
1. Evoluvtionists:

(link: http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/fj0n9/darwinian_valentine/)

2. The Che"misty" eyed
She loves me. Loves me not. She's my ambivalentine.
(Inspired by @diogeneb on twitter)

3. Love! It's a tesse(ns)llation
Your love fills my heart better than the Penrose Tiling (aperiodic, far fewer number of tiles but probably more expensive :P )

4. Novelists seeking to publish wish each other a Happy Ballantyne's day

5. The Medi-scene men (when they're not named after buildings or are actually pleasant to chat with )
You make my zygomatic muscles contract.
source: http://i.imgur.com/8CKRd.jpg

6. Grad students
To me you're like.... Um... Hey! Is that free food?

Cisne negro:

2011-01-30T14:44:00.002+05:30

In the process of watching a movie, we ever so often become the protagonist, finding a tinge of a similarity here or a common foe there and so on.
In this sense, movies act like manna from not-so-imaginary Gods amongst our midst. We nourish our own egos and gather strength from a guy, who we assume, is telling our story so that the "others" may gain their strength from it. I believe this is the reason theater is even more appealing. It removes a barrier between reality and, well, reality of another kind.

Each person imagines himself as Batman of his own city Gotham. (Is a Batman a metaphorical Black Swan, fighting manifestations of his own demons? Hmm. There must be a reason he never kills them.)

Maybe this whole hero-business gets too taxing. It's probably when we don those masks (some people prefer kissing butterflies, while some adore pseudo-intelligent birds and those that are hopelessly lost add gas mask and helmet combinations to their already waning taste in good clothes :) )

Black Swan definitely meets the standards required of an art cinema, in terms of total screen-time that the user is led to believe the lady is without clothes.
However, its merit lies in its entwining of art with the artist. The artist whom the mind resents to mirror. In this sense, there are strong similarities with Oscar Wilde's 'Picture of Dorian Gray'.

There are several elements to the movie that could have been changed. One major obection is to the portrayal of sex, in a way that's not-flattering to the characters involved.

On the plus side, the director+writers seem to respect the viewer's intellect and they don't rush to offer explanations nor justifications to what these characters do. It's this casual non-personal storytelling, probably, that wins you over and reconciles the viewer with the Black Swan.

Links:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_of_dorian_gray

I don't know what to say...

2011-01-22T01:15:00.003+05:30

Today I learned that, some of my favourite Bollywood songs are not original compositions :(
1. Kaisi paheli hai yeh - from Parineeta - is actually based on Louis Armstrong's 'Give me a kiss to build a dream on'

2. Chod aye hum - from Maachis - inspired by Nicola Piovani's Il campo di pallone

Also, glad to have come across Louis Armstrong's songs (especially the ones with Ella Fitzgerald) :)

So you think I can sing...

2010-11-02T03:16:00.005+05:30

Ruthachinmaya (Rutha= Truth, Chinmaya=Manifestation of Knowledge) is a poem written by KuVemPu. The poet invokes Shakti to manifest in his conscience as the eternal embodiment of knowledge, her true form.
The poem has been taken from the anthology Agnihamsa.
There are several interesting motifs that appear in the poem. One of the most interesting bits is where he chides the deity that even though she has created and embodied the cosmos she has acquired a state of inaction.

Here's wishing all of you a "Kannada Rajyothsavada ShubhashayagaLu" via this song (http://www.zshare.net/audio/82234341b67e6bd1/ In case it is not clear, that's me singing):

Lessons learnt:
1. Never attempt singing again.

2. If I do, never post it publicly.

3. There are two aspects to singing, that I noticed: a) Maintaining a constant note b) High dynamic range.
While it is pretty easy to maintain a note (not really, but can be done in any decent audio editing program :) which is what I did ), modulating the amplitude is pretty difficult. I tried doing this using Audacity but the results appear contrived.

4. It's a bit easier to sing after downing a cup of coffee. For the sake of music, I should try other beverages and their effect on the song quality. ;)

Finally, in case you are offended by this attempt please listen to this excellent rendition of the same song by Raju Ananthaswamy.

If wishes were horses…

2010-10-02T07:48:00.001+05:30

‘t was the year 1203 AD. Ye Olde Britain was under the rule of King John. Robin Hood had no clue he would be the hero of countless ballads and multiple motion pictures. If only he knew how he could woo women, like in those movies…

It was a time when the typical conversation had been one where the men discussed the day’s weather and the more loquacious free thinking types debated the English climate and if it was getting any hotter in Spofforth. Spofforth was a peaceful town. Not the kind of idyllic towns that the movies about idyllic towns are set in, no!. No self-respecting story would ever be set in Spofforth. Oh! wait.

When Amit Kumar, the time- traveling salesman, landed in Spofforth he is said to have exclaimed “Abeyaar, this is like that Shire only naa. From that Lord of the Rings movie”. But nobody understood him because it was Ye Olde Britain, you see. Amit had not intended to leave the twentieth century for the 12th but there’s only so many Amits that a mid-size Universe can accommodate before the space-time continuum gives way.

A month before Amit Kumar had traveled to Spofforth, it was when he had finished watching the LotR movies, in 12th century Spofforth any happenstance historians would have recorded the following conversation.

Farmer 1 (F1): Say, hasn’t the weather been wandering all over the place; rain, sun and snow in the same week.

F2: Yeah, it’s gotten boaring, if you know what I mean?

F1 (sigh, at the joke): If wishes were horses…

Anaphylaxis, a passing angel with a propensity to rashly grant wishes, heard this and smiled.

So it was that when Amit Kumar landed in Spofforth, the townsfolk were always wondering as to why there had been so many horses in the countryside, of late.

Amit saw a bunch of Black horses galloping across a field and thought to himself: “Abeyyy, sahi hai. Yeh to same to same LOTR hi hai. Wish I had brought Mala with me”.

Just then a horse materialized out of nowhere and started stomping towards Amit, who thought was already thinking about what his Tam-bram manager, whom he had nicknamed Saar-uman, might say when he found that Amit had reached the office late. “ What saaar, coming to office oll-ways late?”. He wished his leave for a week had been approved. “Saaar, if wishes were aaarses…”, Saaruman had said. Amit wondered what he had meant.

In all this while, Amit observed, about half a dozen horses had materialized out of nowhere. “Oh shiiiiiit!”, he realised what Saaruman had meant and frantically wished that wishes were not horses.

A prancing pony appeared where his head had been a few moments ago, had he not dived sideways. “Abbaeyyyaaaar”, he said.

Credits:

The Idea: http://chroniclesofdementia.blogspot.com/2010/09/when-beatles-met-amits.html

Visualising Music - 2

2010-08-08T22:45:00.001+05:30

Given a set of musical notes (sheet music or swaras), how can they be visualised?

Stephen Malinowski at musanim has a set of pretty interesting videos. His solution takes the MIDI score for the composition and animates each MIDI channel as a new color. It can be observed that each channel corresponds to a voice in the composition. In each channel, the notes are placed vertically in space corresponding to their pitch (the bar notation).

I always had the greatest difficulty visualizing the textual descriptions by Dr. Hofstadter in his GEB book. Listening to the music didn't quite help me as i couldn't identify each individual note, much less imagining their counterpoint, diminution or augmentation. Now, I feel a little more comfortable.

Here are a few of my favorite videos:

1. Illustration of Bach's Contrapunctus 9 (Art of Fugue) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY_GMnQvj6E

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvF8XWr17nw

3. Vivaldi's Four Season's allegro- Winter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqe0GdUpJHs

Visualising music - 1

2010-08-08T09:05:00.003+05:30

Remember I had once written how gravitational disturbances were mapped to auditory frequencies (here) ?

When I was writing about that, the thought that how i visualised music had bugged me a lot. I could never recall if there's any reason to like some instrument combinations and not the others. So, I tried to come up with a cogent visualisation system where I could say, for sure, if there was a characteristic to the kind of music that pleases me. Here's a brief account of what I believe is my theory of how I see music..

A. To me each voice starts out at a spatial location and has a particular color. The voice can be human or an instance of an instrument e.g. two pianos. The problem with human voice is that it's hard to distinguish the notes that they are singing without proper musical training. So let's consider just instruments.

B. We now have blobs at different spatial locations. Each blob can be sectioned along the circumference into the 12 standard notes. (My perception of the notes is a bit woozy so we can safely say i don't see clear sections of the circle).

C. The blob explodes at the section corresponding to the note when it is played. The rate of explosion is proportional to the pitch of the note i.e. a note at a higher octave spreads faster than the corresponding note at a lower one.

Based on these ideas,

1. I like music where there is a strong correlation in the actions at the locations of different blobs. This is why I like Jugalbandis in Classical Indian music. Although, I couldn't detect the occurence of uncorrelation on my own since i couldn't exactly locate the swara, I like the parts where one player challenges the other by mimicking him or playing the same tune either slowly or at a faster pace.

2. I like music that evolves and reaches a crescendo (sorta like one blob splashing color all over the map). A most vivid example for this is that beautiful piano piece which occurs in the beginning of the song Yeh haseen wadiyan from Roja.

Maybe, I haven't clearly looked into all the aspects of this or haven't taxed myself with a lot of examples so that there are exceptions that could invalidate this hypothesis... Anyway this is my perspective? What's yours?

A river runs through it

2010-08-05T15:44:00.004+05:30

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

Never having read the book (A river runs through it), I had always interpreted this enigmatic line as a cynical summation of the futility of human endeavor, the illusion of every man’s uniqueness and the inevitability of Death. Sadly, this thought never depressed me and I was impressed by the wit that put it so succinctly.

Actually, the concluding paragraph of the book goes:

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

Watching Robert Redford’s adaptation of the novella, hearing Redford narrate those lines (wonderfully, I must say), I realized that it had never been about any of those things that I had thought it had.

The river here, is a metaphor for life. And life isn’t just a chronicle of a single person but the entwinement of every facet of each individual’s tale. It is a sum of all our experiences, a pool from which each of us draw from ceaselessly and yet would never empty. It is in this sense, a river. A river replenished cyclically by each of its rivulets.

There probably isn’t a more fitting tribute to life.

On a related note, this poem by Chandrashekhar Patil (titled aptly, Guptagamini) seems to me the perfect echo of Norman Mclean’s words.

Inception: Movie

2010-07-20T04:10:00.002+05:30

Watching a movie at a late hour has always been a special experience. For me it has been a feeling associated with freedom. A time when the crowd doesn't regulate the way you move. Add to this a feeling that borders on fear and the small pulses of courage that we comfort ourselves with.
The first “midnight movie” I watched was a Kannada tearjerker called 'Maduve'. The horribleness of it all, causing the viewer to be crushed by so much self-pity that he couldn't even feel for the heroine being tortured by a psychotic husband.

After college, having a job meant that one needn't worry about the money nor the excuses at home to watch a movie at midnight (paapa, IT/BT-nalli eshtu kelsa madistare!!).
Of all my bailout contributions to the movie industry, probably the only one that I certainly won't regret was Anurag Kashyap's 'Gulaal'. I can still recall how the tone of the movie (dark) and the songs (haunting) affected our (Me, Prasanna & Praveen, as usual) walk through the perceivedly shady alleys of Tavarekere.

Oh did I just digress? Perhaps I did. Perhaps, it's because an Idea is such a potent parasite. The most memorable midnight movie shall ever be Christopher Nolan's Inception. What a movie!

As TR would put it: Inception is an exception to routine film-making which is a deception of audiences aiding the conception of even more stupid films leading to corrrruption of the society. Oh! and he would put in "blaaaady bawsterd" and "Tamizh values" somewhere.

Much has already been said and much more will be said about the movie's writing, screenplay, editing and the performances. I'll just congratulate the genius that is Christopher Nolan and talk about what I liked about the movie and what I didn't. Ever since I came to know that Nolan is the writer for the movie, he’s all that I’ve wanted to talk about.

The glimpses:

The trailers released for the movie (sometime in December) just emphasized the tagline that the mind is the scene of the crime. Even, IMDB’s plot synopsis was off the mark about what the movie truly is. NYT tells me that it was upon Nolan’s insistence that only a few details about the movie were revealed.

Ahhh! Saaar \m/

The Idea:

As I watched the movie, I kept thinking that the idea for the movie is truly original. Yet, it can be appreciated that this concept has been toyed with before. The idea that mind is a ball of clay waiting to be moulded is not entirely new. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dealt with how the mind would react if a person’s memories were to be modified. The concept of dreams interfering with reality, taking forms and coming alive was key to the Japanese movie Paprika (Wiki).

Yet, Nolan’s Inception stands out on its own for the simple fact that it takes the whole concept of weaving a dream to new levels ( multiple and in fact, 5). This is what I liked most about the movie. The portrayal that the mind is an environment that processes inputs subject to certain constraints (possibly guided by the needs of evolution). It is a subtle metaphor for the Strong vs. Weak AI debate.

If Paprika were to be contrasted with Inception, it could be said that: while Paprika spans out (horizontally, so to say) the space between reality and dreams and melds one person’s dream with another’s reality, meanwhile Inception ascends vertically as a dream within a dream which potentially affects the person’s base reality.

Hat-tip to Mr. Nolan.

Mal’s character:

What transforms a good writer-director going “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to an extremely good one (doing a Nolan) is the alternate plotline for Mr. Cobb. In one fell move it shows us the scary side of extraction and Inception, all the while gently tapping the fourth wall.

A woman who believes that reality is yet another dream. Not a rarity, perhaps :P

Take a bow, Saaar.

Doubts:

I shall resort to calling the scapes the folks are in by level numbers e.g. Reality/Plane –> 0, Kidnapping/Fall from bridge –> 1 etc.

1. It is said that, what happens in one level transcends to a higher level i.e free fall in level 1 => floating bodies in level 2. Doesn’t this mean that in subsequent levels they should still be floating?

2. Escape from levels: The movie tells us that to escape from a higher level to a lower one you need to get a jolt. While, the movie convinced me that they could escape from a few levels there were a few levels from which escape seemed impossible/difficult.

a. From level 5: Saito is in level 5 and in limbo. How does Cobb reach him and why hasn’t he aged? Still the user can make an assumption that Cobb himself is the totem for Saito and that he can make an arrangement with his goons for both of them. Or Cobb kills Saito, thereby ending his limbo, and is jolted by Saito’s henchmen.

b. Cobb’s escape from level 1: Perhaps the most baffling thing (surely for me) was Cobb’s escape from the level 1. As Cobb himself explains, the fall into water was the last “kick” they were supposed to receive. So how does he get out of this one?

Yet, considering that not once had a movie got me thinking this much, I must say:
SashtanganamaskaragaLu.

Ending:

That moment when everyone is expecting the spinning totem to fall and the screen mercilessly blacks out. Memorable. The entire theater went “Awwww!”.

Chatussagaraparyantam … Nagaravinda sharman ahambho abhivadaye.

Additional Links:

http://screencrave.com/2010-07-13/christopher-nolans-obsession-with-obsession/

Pascal's wager:

2010-04-13T08:43:00.003+05:30

Notes for a detailed blog post:

1. http://abstrusegoose.com/258

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_wager. Also, Vararuchi had written about this (atleast 4th century AD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_wager#Variations)

3. Must watch this movie: My night at Maud's.

Agar Man

2010-01-10T11:10:00.002+05:30

(Hopefully, man sounds like the hindi word main)

Once a divan rang me
and a-raving said "Love,
My avian, grand!
Of dreams of ecstasy and 'Gad! Nirvana!'".
And I replied, "Ha! Leaking canard! ravel'd
(I ain't yo' Va**na, Darn!")
I ain't yo' "Aha Knave! Calendar-girl" ".

And then I thought, "Who am I? "
Clueless, and yet, pondered "why?"
Maybe the truth had come home calling,
Am I my own maker?
Perhaps a player in a grand vain

To answer the question, if I must,
a spark'd speck of Cosmic dust?

For those who thought "Really?/ Why, oh God, why?": I was "inspired" to write this post after reading the twitter posts of two of my icons...
@udupendra: If poets wrote poems whose titles were anagrams of their names - http://tinyurl.com/ygjv9ce Likeable Wilma, Hen Gonads, nice smug me.
@shenoyn: Duly Raping Dirk http://narendrashenoy.tumblr.com/ RT @udupendra: If poets wrote poems whose titles were anagrams of their names

A Storm in Heaven

2009-12-07T06:17:00.003+05:30

You've truly read this blog iff on a test your answer to the Question "Which is Nagaravind's favorite space mission?" you shout "Voyager", without even looking at the options. There are space missions that true to the term Rocket science flies off at a tangent when being talked about. Then there are the Voyager missions. Each so original and captivating that I can almost feel the sense of involvement which the people of those times must have felt as they spread their daily newspapers to read about the Voyager missions.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram (1,592 lb) robotic space probe of the outer Solar System and beyond, launched September 5, 1977.

Current activities
Voyager 1 is currently the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling away from both the Earth and the Sun at a speed that corresponds to a greater specific energy than any other probe.

As of August 28, 2009, Voyager 1 was about 110.94 AU (16.596 billion km, or 10.312 billion miles) from the Sun, and has passed the termination shock, entering the heliosheath, with the current goal of reaching and studying the heliopause, which is the known boundary of the solar system.

If Voyager 1 is still functioning when it finally completes the passage through the heliopause (effectively becoming the first human-made object to leave the solar system), scientists will get their first direct measurements of the conditions in the interstellar medium, which may provide clues relevant to the origin and overall nature of the Universe.

At this distance, signals from Voyager 1 have a Round Trip Light Time of 30:53:20 (hh:mm:ss) -- versus 24:56:14 for Voyager 2 (as of 2009-09-25).

Voyager 1 is on a hyperbolic trajectory and has achieved escape velocity, meaning that its orbit will not return to the inner solar system.

Along with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 2, and the New Horizons, Voyager 1 is an interstellar probe. If Voyager 1 were traveling in the direction of the nearest star, it would arrive in about 75,000 years.

Both of the Voyager space probes have long outlasted their originally planned lifespan. Each space probe gets its electrical power from three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which are expected to continue to generate enough electric power to let the probes keep communicating with Earth at least until the year 2025.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1

There's so much trivia around the Voyager mission that you would need something as vast as another Voyager mission to find it all out ( PJ of the Day)!

Here's a few:
1. Voyager Golden record:
You're sending a space probe right? Beyond the boundaries crossed by any man-made object ever, right? What if it's intercepted by an alien civilization? So thought the scientists of the day and included what is known as the "Voyager Golden Record", an LP containing samplings of music from all over the world.
Here's what India sent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek7NKH5mTgs

2. Symphonies of Planets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdYMPk_DXow
I had read, as a child, how the Rishis deciphered the sound for the purest sound in Hindu mythology: 'Om'. It is said that Omkara is the basic sound that pervades all of 'Aakasha' (space).
This formed a clear contradiction for me who grew up to learn Space is vacuum and incapable of sound propagation (remeber the gaffe aboard Apollo due to which only two men aboard the mission walked on Moon)
Here NASA has deciphered some of the weak EM radiation that Voyager probes picked up when they were drifting near the planets Jupiter and Saturn which was otherwise unobserved. Somehow, this trivia fascinates me. Just to think, somehow, our previous generations possibly had access to technology comparable to the current one which could perhaps be attributed to the "Great Contact".
These might just be implausible considering the number of mappings of EM radiation to Auditory frequencies, the measurement noise that might have crept in and so on.
It sounds interesting and worthy of further exploration. I plan to post a detailed analysis if and when I get to it.

awgn thoughts

2009-11-06T09:13:00.004+05:30

This post was started with the intention of recording my ramblings on a philosophical nature, before i realised that the entire post could be summarised in two words: "why me?".

Instead, I will use this space to announce the launch of a new blog. "awgnthoughts". I intend to record "my two-samples on signal processing" with an inevitable dose of my attempt at humor through comics and jokes and maybe a couple of poems or two with the same theme. Let's see how it goes...

Things on selfs head.

2009-10-23T12:01:00.001+05:30

Was inspired by this for the title of the post. Really a funny blog. Really.
Anyway, here are the lyrics of a really beautiful, simple song. I think my room is resonating to this tune.

ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಮಳೆಯಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ತಂಗಾಳಿಯು ಹೇಳುತಿದೆ...
ಇಲ್ಲೇ ಒಲವಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ಕನಸೊಂದು ಬೀಳುತಿದೆ...
ವ್ಯಾಮೋಹವ ಕೇವಲ ಮಾತಿನಲಿ... ಹೇಳಲು ಬರಬಹುದೇ?
ನಿನ್ನ ನೋಡಿದ ಮೇಲೆಯೂ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯಲೀ... ಬೀಳದೆ ಇರಬಹುದೆ?

ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಮಳೆಯಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ತಂಗಾಳಿಯು ಹೇಳುತಿದೆ...

ಕಣ್ಣಲಿ ಮೂಡಿದೆ ಹನಿಗವನ... ಕಾಯಿಸಿ ನೀ ಕಾಡಿದರೆ...
ನೂತನ ಭಾವದ ಆಗಮನ... ನೀ ಬಿಡದೇ... ನೋಡಿದರೇ...
ನಿನ್ನ ಧ್ಯಾನದಿ ನಿನ್ನದೆ ತೋಳಿನಲಿ ಹೀಗೆಯೇ ಇರಬಹುದೇ?
ಈ ಧ್ಯಾನವ ಕಂಡರೆ ದೇವರಿಗೂ ಕೊಪವು ಬರಬಹುದೇ?

ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಮಳೆಯಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ತಂಗಾಳಿಯು ಹೇಳುತಿದೆ...
ಇಲ್ಲೇ ಒಲವಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ಕನಸೊಂದು ಬೀಳುತಿದೆ...

ನೆನಪಿನ ಹೂಗಳ ಬೀಸಣಿಕೆ ನೀ ಬರುವ ದಾರಿಯಲಿ...
ಓಡಿದೆ ದೂರಕೆ ಬೀಸಲಿಕೆ ನೀನಿರುವ ಊರಿನಲಿ...
ಅನುಮಾನವೇ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಕನಸಿನಲಿ ಮೆಲ್ಲಗೆ ಬರಬಹುದೇ?
ಅಲೆಮಾರಿಯ ಹೃದಯದ ಡೇರೆಯಲಿ ನೀನು ಇರಬಹುದೇ?

ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಮಳೆಯಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ತಂಗಾಳಿಯು ಹೇಳುತಿದೆ...
ಇಲ್ಲೇ ಒಲವಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ಕನಸೊಂದು ಬೀಳುತಿದೆ...
ವ್ಯಾಮೋಹವ ಕೇವಲ ಮಾತಿನಲಿ... ಹೇಳಲು ಬರಬಹುದೇ?
ನಿನ್ನ ನೋಡಿದ ಮೇಲೆಯೂ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯಲೀ... ಬೀಳದೆ ಇರಬಹುದೆ?

ಎಲ್ಲೋ ಮಳೆಯಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು ತಂಗಾಳಿಯು ಹೇಳುತಿದೆ...

There it is. A post that was so not mine right from the title to the content....

My first Haiku

2009-09-28T10:40:00.002+05:30

picture's worth thousand words
worth thousand pictures are two
a beautiful girl in summer and my haiku :)

and i'm happy :)

HIMYM

2009-09-04T02:23:00.003+05:30

The story of How I Met Your Mormon:

Weeellllll kiiiids, you remember the old hindi movie saying: "Don't worry betaaa!! Acche logon ke saath acchhha hi hota hai".

I don't know if that's true, yet! For now, thanks to all the people who've made my days (the last few months) bright, sunny and beautiful.

Now for a recitation of my most recent goof-up.
Prologue:
Recently, we got an invitation to attend a house-party at our apartment. Eric, the gracious host who likes to be called Pa, said that we were all welcome to an evening of crazy of games and snacks.
STM irde, i told that we should carry along something to drink. We racked that archealogical site that some cleaner homes call the refrigerator and found two bottles of Corona and a large unopened Coke. Nithin, latched on to the Coronas immediately, reducing our options.
Comedy in two acts:
Act I:
Scene 1: Outisde the door of apartment 1, 15 mins late.
Me: Should we really go in?
Vipin: If you ditch me now....
Me (Entering, pointing to the bottle and grinning) : Sorry guys, we were out of beer.
A few feeble laughs and a few gasps from the audience.
Act II:
Me (About to leave, pinting to the unused bottle of coke): You guys don't drink coke!!! What kind of americans are you?
Somebody in the group (Muttering): Mormons...

*at this point I'm expecting a few rounds of applause and one or two Bravo from y'all...*

Awesome

2009-05-24T21:53:00.000+05:30

(to borrow a quote from Abstruse Goose): This is awesome served with a side dish of awesome.
Even for those who tried out Mathematica, this is a whole new world. Check it out!!!
I never believed it that most of Computer Programming was Magic but after checking out Wolfram Alpha I'm a convert.
Here's an engine that can churn out formula for n-th term of the series in seconds when it took me a while just to phrase the question. Amazing!

The Girl Who Rode Too Fast

2009-05-24T12:02:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer:
Despite the suggestive title there are very few similarities between this post and a Bond movie. The only amount of nudity you get to see are the ones on the "raunchy" posters of movies that were playing in Sandhya during the supposed occurence of this story, if you look closely that is.
Despite various protests by the author KA 05 HA 1616 is not fictitious, nor does she ride a Marvel.

It was ON!!! Like never before...
The wind that rushed past seemed to be pushing him forwards. "Some aerodynamics", he wondered. He estimated the the wind to be blowing into him at 2-3 kmph at the very least, he was riding at an easy 60. He thought about the contour patterns of the wind as it passed over him, freeze-framed. "Matlab", he suddenly thought as he let go of the throttle for a second, "Can I simulate the contours in Matlab?". "You can simulate anything in Matlab", he cursed himself as he gained speed. "Maybe the world is a Matlab simulation . Now that could be the subject of an XKCD panel. Come to think of it, it should be the subject of an XKCD panel; unless the person who scripted the simulation is behind it all" ...

About 40 mtrs more.
The pearl gray Mahindra Scorpio shifted to the right lane right behind the Pulsar 150 cc. "He's a smart fellow. He hasn't gone for the 180 cc. What's 30 cc more but extra engine repairs and maintenance! And he rides smart too!" The way he foresaw that I might be edging him out and slowed down and came back from behind the Honda City did deserve some credit. I can now see that the road bends to the left and then to the right. And after about 200 mts ahead the traffic thickens. Then, a Pulsar is no match for his bike that can twist and turn and slice through the inane jumble of those dumb cars.
<HahahahahahahahaHahahahahahahahaHahahahahaha>
He moved for the kill...
As he came out of the bend he looked back to see his would-be nemesis still behind the pearl gray Mahindra Scorpio. "Quite an EGO these big guys have!!". Beside him, or trailing by a few metres actually, a Tata Safari played 'Yuun hi chala chal rahi'. "How many people know the number of singers that have sung the playback for this song? How many people actually care to listen if I were to tell them? Once a quiz-freak..." He blew a whistle. A girl on her neon-pink Pep, who wore as much perfume to wash the blood off Macbeth's hands, smiled.

Monday Monde :
It was a normal Monday morning. You know, even weekdays are more or less anthropomorphic. A Wednesday starts bright and is the most unctously obedient and punctual. It's always there. And talk about consistency. There might be a Tuesday that in some weeks might brighten up all of a sudden or there might be a Friday that actually says "slow down, relax! What's the hurry? Stay late, hang out in there an extra hour" but can there ever be a Wednesday that holds a surprise? Or a Monday that's sunny, bright and inviting?
He wiped only the topmost layer of the previous week's grime that had settled over his bike.A memento of that bond. "Nanotechnology", he thought but the smile didn't come to him easily. Maybe it picked a cue from Monday.
He was on his favorite stretch of the commute, now. The Apache guy just somehow didn't show the will to start a chase. What a disappointment it had been? And his number plate read KA 24 PR 6174. When he saw that number embossed in Dark Red colors, he had been full of anticipation. You wouldn't sight THE Constant everyday. As he pictured the numbers re-arranging themselves every so often and finally reaching the same conclusion, he couldn't resist drawing a comparison. He wasn't sure he didn't get goosebumps even in that scorching summer heat. But then when the guy didn't show the slightest hint of competition he felt cheated out of a fair game.

Amidst all this reverie, he couldn't help but notice the shade of silver that streaked past him, almost throwing him at the mercy of the pearl white Indica. As he jolted himself out of the Matrix, he saw the numbers 1616 on the tailplate. Was it the number that killed the Bard? There was a sinister feel to it. He felt himself swaying to the tunes of that Undulating number. (Pun intended?)
Now, this was an offer he couldn't refuse, eva.

Tandava Danse Celeste:
And so it had begun. Day after day. Silver streaks passing by would begin the chase. It had been a hundred and one days since the chase had begun. They would square four bikes and forty cars and at the end she would still come even. But today he thought he had it all factored. "Trick 16", he thought. And so it began...
He approached his favorite double-bend. The road suddenly curved left and then right. "Finally a solution that would sum over all paths", he had been waiting for this. The first one was easier. She had been to his right while the road curved leftwards. "Ahead (Nero)", he smiled. Score "1-0". Now came the tricky part. If everything went as per the plan she would have to slow down behind the Mitsubishi Lancer. It had always been his dream-car and now it would make one of his dreams come true.
BUT!!! she showed no signs of slowing down. He raised the throttle just a bit and he moved to the right lane. She shifted right, too. Judging by the speed she went she would soon be occupying the same space as the Lancer, an impossibilty which Nature would eventually resolve. His moment of triumph.
BUT!!! He heard the sound of full-throttle. CRRASSSSSSHHHHH!!!
He couldn't any longer look at it....
Honk! Honk!! Honk!!!
...back to reality. He lowered the throttle and moved leftwards to see the familiar Silver streak passing by. She let out a small whistle. A denim-clad, closet "Salman Khan fan", on his FZ-16 smiled as she whizzed past him.

Thank you, Guys!!

2009-05-01T23:17:00.000+05:30

PS: Don't forget to pick your presents.
Links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramis
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porthos
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athos_(fictional_character)

- From Athos
(Sometimes "Jaatre" works)

Kis ne bana di movie???

2008-12-20T01:28:00.003+05:30

Warning: This movie is not for a teacher who asked us to make micro-controllers instead of using them, PK and Akshaye Kumar. The same applies to YOU, the reader, (pssst!!! don't turn around and look back!!!) and read further only if you really need an explanation.

The actual storyline of the movie is actually very simple. Ask a good looking girl to choose between a guy she thinks is hot n cutesie (?? well, perspective; my perspective of her perspective) and an absolute crasshole(creep+asshole) who gives Count Dracula the shivers of coldness; the good-looking-girl, let's call her PIT (pretty indian thing), will always choose the creep but she shall do so just before the end of the movie. Now add to it some, well let me put it this way, seasoned storyline and a sidekick who acts slightly better than the hero and you have "Rab ne bana di jodi".

Apart from that, the movie is full of so much trivia that a lesser soul than yours humbly wouldn't have understood, contemplated and written this blog..

1. Action sequences: In one of the crescendo-breaking moments of the movie Shaaa....-ruk does what no actor ever dared to before on Indian Cinema. *Akshaye Kumar please don't read this part* He not only poses to be riding a bike in one of the earlier scenes but also pillions the PIT in a path-breaking action chase.

While everybody was busy looking at the PIT's pit as she swerves the bike around, i was not only able to hear the background music, a la Thomas cheta, but was also able to decode this easter-egg correctly.. It is obviously a dekko to Dhoom-3 rumored to star Shaaa...-ruk !!

*Akshaye Kumar you can read from this part on*

2. While everybody is under the impression that Shaaa...ruk has acted the role of Surinder Sahni to planck-length perfection and described it as the only saving grace of the film, it is not true. The actual funda is that the make-up artists tried really hard to stick the moustache on Shaaaa...'s face (even used Gorilla glue) but the bloody thing wouldn't stay. So they had to use a grey-colored plastic mannequin with a moustache attached to shoot teh scenes with Surinder Sahni.

I wouldn't have noticed it if not for the gaffe in the scene where Shaaaa... is seen talking to Surinder in Bobby's saloon...

Makes perfect sense!!! Reasons: a. Shaaaa can never have a moustache, b. SS talks in barely audible whispers that are easily synthed digitally and c. Shaaaaa can never even have a fake moustache.

3. Shiamak Davar is Govinda's pseudonym, proof . Check out the dresses and the pelvic grooves. Also, Raj calling Taani "Partner" was an obvious giveaway.

4. The movie is a competitor to Aamir's Ghajini releasing on the same date and borrows heavily from the movie. Also, this movie, like TZP, is based on the learning problems of people. It portrays the circs of Taani who is autistic. This savant cannot differentiate between a moustached mannequin and Raj; but she can recollect and correctly connect the similarities of the way they ate a paani-puri from paranthe-waali gali and home-made biriyani. I think she would have made a great quizzer.

Be that as it may all be, the movie did still leave a few open-ended, unanswered questions:

1. Who is the guy seen bathing beneath the tap in SS's house? (this occurs twice in the movie)

2. Who is the drummer in the movie "KHKN"?

3. Which is the Qn. that Udupa's shaaa can't answer? and why?

I think the last 3 qns would make a nice Supertheme...

The Times they are a changin'

2008-12-12T16:42:00.009+05:30

Like the ipod price index of Standard of Living,

Sometimes even the status of ur friends on g-chat too gives a clue...

As they say in bad westerns and on bad blogs that copy bad westerns: 'nuff said.... (with a twist: in Morgan Freeman's voice)

Dylan fans, sorry for using such a gr8 song for a crappy blog....

Messed missages

2008-11-13T23:31:00.004+05:30

Seems like it's the norm these days for everybody to complain about their "lost innocence" and how growing has made them somewhat different and, as they say it, not in a good sort of way. As i see it the only difference is that they wouldn't have been so grumpy and crabby when they were kids, or probably were :P .

I think we are and will be kids always; maybe we don't exactly covet the same things anymore and maybe kids are mentally programmed in the same way as we are. It mayn't be who gets most sweets or wins more number of times in a make-believe-game versus something equally stupid and irrelevant or who has the most laughs (as a kid) versus who gets to be grumpiest, now - including present company, ofcourse.

Be that as it may I know I am going to be branded a cynic or something like that for this...

Well, the actual purpose of this blog is to tell this "funny" incident at work. Guess one of the managers had brought his kid ( a toddler about a year old) to offfice and had literally let him loose in the office. A couple of us guys were going to get our afternoon coffee shots. A female colleague who found the kid crying in the hallway had picked him up and was soothing him.

Me: Whose kid?
Girl: I don't know!!

All hell broke loose in the hallway and the coffee session was very eventful.

Well, guys how's that for a reality bite?

An Off/On relationship

2008-11-10T16:56:00.008+05:30

Back in the days when people switched their televisions off the moment the Master was given out, he stepped into our imagination: not as a force but more of a mere symbol of a wild spirit. His arrogance it was perhaps, but some felt he was rightly punished. If the Master was, will always be, the God's chosen one, then he was surely the Prince. How ironic it is then that he answered (shall I say silenced?) that mighty smiter, at his first chance, at the Lord's own home?

Back in those days one would talk family with a relative only after all details of Kumble's ten-wicket haul or even Jadeja taking an awesome catch were exhausted. Back then I always thought of Ganguly as my idol, more out of a sense of a contest with those cousins that hung Sachin's posters in their rooms than anything else. He was the gutsy southpaw to Sachin's dexterous glory. But to be honest, once that moment of indecision gave way absolute fandom I must say there was no regret. Those flourishing shots on the off, those sixers hit off Muttaiah straight to the pavilion.... The 183-run knock at Old Trafford with Muttaiah crushed absolutely.The wining knock at Dhaka against Pakistan in the finals of the Independence cup. Absolute showdown at Toronto winning MoM in 4 out of 5 matches. Those countless, mindblowing partnerships with the Master himself... Leading India to the finals of the 2003 World Cup (PU exams on the cards but who cared?). And oh yes! the Natwest final. Ah, bliss....

I remember trading Center-fresh cards with his picture on it with money "stolen" from my "Hundi", getting that autographed bat they gave with a pack or two of Milo. In all honesty I would have traded god-knows-what for THE "rare" flip book showing Sourav hitting a six over long-off in the finals of the Independence cup, that they gave away with a Coca-cola party pack (then sold at Rs.35 i think and the flip-book was a combi-pack which when flipped from the other end showed Srinath rattling the middle stumps with a dazed bangladeshi batsman looking on).

If cricket were a lady, Ganguly would probably try to woo her than worship. He wasn't ordinary by any measure. His ruthless punishment of anyhting pitched outside off alone would merit his title of a master craftsman. And it wasn't always the brutal blow, many a times being a gentle push or a delicate nudge would reach the ropes no matter what the number of men standing between slip and gully ( only Ganguly could slip the ball to the fence through the ganged-gully, would that be atleast a bad pun?). One has to admit though that he was blind to anything that moved behind his thighs or above his chest. Despite such shortfalls ... I think Browning sums it up best for me:

Ah, but a man's reach must exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?

TotalTrivia:

Dhoni asked Ganguly to captain the side for the last 8 overs bowled today ( 7 overs and 2 balls, to be precise) as a farewell gesture. Incidentally, exactly 8 years ago Ganguly had assumed the captaincy of the Indian Test side.

This, That and the Other

2008-10-06T20:01:00.005+05:30

On the eve of HH Thay Nhat Hanh’s impending visit to India...
Any resemblance to any sentient being is not so co-incidental. Remember 42?

This

"What should I do?", asked the disciple.
The Guru (Ateevonmeelithanethra) asked of him, "Do you think you ought to do something?"
"Do you think I ought to do something?" he asked humbly.
"I suppose you think that I ought to think that you ought to think about doing something", said the Sage.
"Oh, Master I now realise that you think I ought to have done something some time ago. I'm so sorry."
"Time is an illusion"
"But you still think that I ought to have thought that you would have thought that I must have thought of doing something? Now that I haven't done so do you think that I ought to do something or ought I think that as I ought to have thought that you would have thought that I must have thought of doing something and as I didn't do so, should I still think of the whole thing?"
"No!!"
"No, I should. Or Yes, I shouldn't. What is it?"
"Yes" said he and walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tat ? Or That ?

"Which is the path?" asked the student.
"Every way is a path", said the learned one.
"Surely every way can't be a path!" thought the disciple.
"Have you taken all the paths?" he asked.
"But still every path can't be the correct path", the student argued.
"If it was so, it might be", said the Sage.
"If it were so, it would be", said the Disciple.
"But as it isn't it ain't."
"That's Logic?", "Is that the wisdom I should wish to seek?"
"That's Carrol" he said and closed his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Other

"O wisest of the wise!What is the means of attaining Nirvana?", the disciple humbly asked.
He opened his eyes, for as many moments as it took Kungfu Panda to find a steamed Momu in the perfume bazaars of Arabia, and said, "Try Blogging!!".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above piece does not reflect my true emotions that I really appreciate and love Zen, the automobile

Rory's First Kiss

2008-08-04T23:15:00.011+05:30

"It" happens in the case of every writer who suspects he's going to create a multi-billion dollar franchise (which happens to be almost every author, except yours humbly; whose jottings are read by a humongous readership of about three and a half people - half being the accounting number for his grandmother who can't read or write English but still grudgingly stares at the computer screen for exactly three and a half seconds).
"It" being - the author adds a few discordant linestrokes to the magnificent glory of the protagonist's otherwise airbrushed greatness. A Rama standing in front the "Jade and Crystal" fountain thinking about sending Sita to "vanvaas" in her chiffon sari, the Krishna thinking about his relatives, who've been belittling him and marking him the asassin of Prasena, and hence conditions being so should he attend the next Saturday's Costume Ball wearing his favourite green shirt with the non-hindu Swastika emblazoned on the armplates?. And that should give us a picture.

For a Batman movie, I must say - "The Dark Knight" does stand out and differ from all the others - 'coz here "the Batsuit doesn't have nipples on them" (George Clooney, anyone?). If you didn't get the stratospheric implications of this historic fact then this movie isn't for you, dude. (Read the rest of the review, though :) )

For probably the first time in a Batman movie the dark knight has had to share his screen-time with so many other characters. That combined with Christopher Nolan's magic gives such an ample exposure to the lot of supporting roles which is what makes the movie truly different. Even two whole shiploads of people are turned Super-heroes in the final few moments. Forget the timeless cliches : a lone honest officer (Gordon) in a "force" otherwise trenched in deep-dark turpitude, spineless mafioso bosses and a few logical uncertainties and you have a neat, glued-to-the-edge-of your-seat entertainer.

This isn't probably the first ever attempt at portraying the protagonists' bravado as a mask to hide their insecurities and weaknesses. And yet I must say the action sequences are pretty awesome!! (to borrow the quote from Ileana's T). Especially the one in which Wayne rides his Batpod to topple the Joker's "Slaughter" truck to choreographed perfection.

Quizfrats and brats can finally frame a Connect question that goes: MYB 3047, Nefertiti , a decrepit water tank, Rs. 2,36,45,00,000 vs $544 Mn, Danny Denzongpa = Hugh Jackman, Ghajini (the movie), and The Phantom of the Opera.
A little imagination and you'll recognise Harvey Dent/ Two-face. Again a well etched character who might just return from the dead in yet another sequel. To paraphrase, flipping a coin is totally symbolic of Harvey's character. The coin too gets defaced on one side as what happens to Harvey. The irony being that the coin almost always lands on the good face but Two-face flips his mind too and acts any which way that suits his evil side. Other symbolic references include his ambiguity over everything, Rachel's ambiguity in choosing between him and Bruce Wayne and lastly Wayne's own inner demons. Thinking about it, I feel The Joker is probably the only guy devoid of any ambiguous thoughts and choices. Another interesting motif the coin presents is "duality" that ocurs as a theme throughout. Harvey Dent being Gotham's white knight to Batman's Dark Knight, Batman as a savior contrasted with Batman the hunted (towards the end), and the Joker's vibrant interludes even as the city is engulfed in an aura of darkness and fear.

And yet, the movie does leave one desiring a bit of rationality.
- Cops of a Metropolis are awestruck/scared by a man firing a bazooka that they forget they have guns. Chrissake!! Isn't it America?Or is India responsible in some contorted way even for this?
- People of Gotham city dumbly board escape boats which are laden (no pun) with bombs at the Joker's threats. Update: Ever since I wrote this I had a chance to listen to a sampling of Customer Queries at a Call-center and I'm of changed opinion.
- The Police somehow miraculously don't evacuate Harvey Dent from the hospital making way for the Joker's rendezvous with him.
- The Bank Manager wields a gun the size of Bruce Wayne's ego, gives his two-bit about American honor and takes a bullet before you can even say Shreevenkatamadhavan.

As I said earlier, the movie is a bit racy. Add to it, Nolan's direction (Remember Memento? - the one-way ride to confusion street). The viewer does feel at times lost and also losing out on some of the finer emotions that the plot could've evoked, buried in the din.
Another interesing addition could've been a face-off between Michael Caine (Alfred) or Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) with the Joker. Maybe in a sequel.

The Joker:
The Joker is one character who deserves much much more than can be captured in my writing here. The portrayal of a cold-blooded menace is so absolute that it alone makes the movie a worthwhile watch. He also justifies the plotline where Batman stakes all combating him. Complimenting his persona is the music score which shifts to a monotonic note of ever-increasing pitch that also sets a great backdrop for the macabre settings. Here's an attempt to collect some of his aphorisms:

- I thought my jokes were bad. (and I thought mine were...)
- Y'see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little...push.
- If you're good at something, never do it for free.
- This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object (Harsha Bhogle moment!!).
- You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

In case I've come across as irreverent of the movie and you particularly liked it, consider this my tribute to "the Joker". Most of what he said is anyway true...

Total Trivia:
I confess that this tidbit of a trivia was "inspired" from imdb's trivia page.
I confess that I really regretted not having learnt Guitar basics so that I could even think of it by myself that I smacked my alter-ego with the day's TOI. Luckily, it was a weekday and low on ads; I'm alive and writing this piece.
The music score when The Joker makes a screen appearance is based only on the two notes D & C. DC comics publish the Comics and have also produced the movie.

Perspective

2008-07-22T17:36:00.006+05:30

Despite the fact that I'm not the kind of person who has a strong (or otherwise) political opinion I'm writing this post. Despite the fact that the title of this blog means something pseudo-comical to me and a few friends, it is the title for this post. Because despite the fact that we are all individuals capable of rational thought, the world is a sorry place.
This post is an excerpt of a non-fiction work I received in a mail (courtesy: Delanceyplace)

An excerpt from a 1999 Zimbabwean high school textbook which presumably captures that government's propaganda on the UnitedStates--and supports the storyline that Mugabe stands up for African independence in the face of U.S. and British neo-colonialism.
The excerpt is a discussion of the international pressure on South Africa to end the practice of apartheid: "South Africa responded to international pressure and to the crisis at home by tightening the screws and by exporting terror and genocide to neighboring African countries. At home, the press was gagged. African activists were incarcerated or murdered and new laws to deprive the masses of any form of freedom ofexpression were promulgated. Reactionary groupswere sponsored by the regime to fight wars of destabilization in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,Botswana, Lesotho and periodically Jonas Savimbi's UNITA in Angola and Alfonso Dhlakama's bandits in Mozambique wreaked havoc in those countries. In this, South Africa was supported by the USA administration which had publicly admitted giving aid to Jonas Savimbi."The unholy alliance between South Africa and Reaganism in America gained strength during the early 1980s when the Reagan era began. The Black American Republican, Jeane Kirk Patrick [sic],believed that rightest authoritarian regimes, no matter how oppressive, were natural allies of the USA as they were useful in combating the spread of communism. ..."
Ronald Reagan once asked of South Africa: 'Can we abandon a country that has stood by us in every war we have ever fought, a country that is essentially strategic to the free world?' One might ask, 'how free a world was that of the South African blacks?' The point being made was clear. Thereafter, the USA vetoed every resolution that was intended to bring down apartheid at the UN."
[Note: Jeanne Kirkpatrick served as U.S. Ambassadorto the U.N. under President Reagan from 1981 to1985. She was part of a Republican administration, but not black.]
M. Sibanda and H. Moyana, The Africa Heritage:History for O level Secondary students, Book 3

It might be that there might a shred of truth in the theories promulgated by Mugabe and his regime. It might be that the perceived threat of British-American Neo-colonialism might turn out to be real. It might be that Democracies soon give way to dictatorial regimes - masked or bare; as "vox populi" fades probably because of hunger and death (uncared, unnoticed). Equally probable might be that what is perceived as truth many a times is brewed concoction.
It sounds strange that we call the worlds created by G K Chesterton ( The Napoleon of Notting Hill) or Joseph Heller (Catch-22) or even Douglas Adams - fictional; while reality sneers at our "Intelligence".

I guess my cocoon is again ready with the pore that let in some voices, sealed. I'll take care to put it in a labyrinth of sopranos, tenors and falsettos of case and counterarguments.
As George Carlin put it (When will Jesus bring the Pork Chops?):

I'm an outsider by choice, but not truly. It's the unpleasantness of the
system that keeps me out. I'd rather be in, in a good system. That's where my discontent comes from: being forced to choose to stay outside.

And finally, every argument starts and ends with: Perspective.

Update:
Since, I wrote this piece a few other jolts have shook the Cocoon : the serial blasts of Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Surat, the fiasco of "trust-vote" at our parliament (please note the missing definitive article and non-capitalised word - I guess it's best this when there are more heady issues), parties vying for political one-upmanship at this hour of grave security concerns and introspection, and finally an inane media that has orgasmed a decadent collective psyche; to such a scale that makes even the plot of a novel on dark humor pallid by comparision.

What's this?

2008-07-06T00:03:00.031+05:30

(Ans: Paean to love, bollywood and Airports!!)

The wait for Aamir's latest presentation "Jaane tu ya jaane na" is over. Rehman's peppy scores had so tantalised listeners that it's a relief that the movie lives upto the hype. :)

It's a thorough entertainer, that is so trenched in all of bollywod's oldest and arcane motifs (hero never realising the use of a cellphone can reduce the risk of losing his love forever, climax at the airport!! etc.) while at the same time catering to an urban, hipper audience with adapted sensibilities.

Jaane tu ya jaane na... traces the story of a group of collegers, their search for love, insecurities and the haunting theme of people not knowing what they've got. This occurs in many parts of the movie- Rotlu and Bombs falling in love, Savitri (Jai's mother) hoping to find her son a mellow anti-ego of his father, Aditi (and her parents) about her brother, Aditi and Jai themselves and finally Naseruddin Shah's cameo as the person waiting for a Mr. Godot (Read the last section, Total Trivia).

Abbas Tyrewalla who's scripted and directed the movie truly deserves appreciation for bringing a new sense into film-making. All his character's are strongly backed. Not only do they have their own space but the director makes sure their emotions and insecurities are voiced as well (when was the last time you saw the hero's sidekick falling for the heroine in a bolly movie?).

It's also good to see some situational humor in Indian films of late - as in AB Sr. searching his pockets for hundred rupees and borrowing it from Chandru in Sarkaar Raj , JTYJN certainly has loads of such scenes (the Inspector at the airport embarassedly singing the Jane tu ya jaane na.. song etc).

The events are narrated to Jiggy's air-hostess girlfriend. Though the technique itself is not so innovative the way the story is narrated adds life to the movie and takes a sub-plot of its own. (Hofstadter or his tortoise will kill me for such loose sentences).

Some of the themes in the movie are really impressive such as Savitri (Ratna Pathak Shah) talking to her husband Ajey Singh Rathore's portrait, Jai's dreams of the rider mounted on a black horse, the tonga in the background (which i think symbolises the characters moving either closer or farther from each other) etc.

Genelia has done her role a fair bit (I felt she was more exceptional in Bommarillu, though she played the role of a gauche there too). Manjiri Phadnis dazles as Meghna, yet another nicely contrasted character in the writer's scheme of things. Imran Khan will have a tough time shedding the "chocolate" tag off his name.

Total Trivia: In the final scene of the movie when all the friends are leaving the airport, the person with a billboard for a Mr. Godot is seen. I was told this was Naseruddin Shah in a cameo.
The reference to Mr. Godot is interesting though. The reference here is to the play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. The play was voted the best english language play of twentieth century. In the play the protagonists Estragen and Vladimir are waiting for a Mr. Godot. They ramble, amble and rant throughout the play waiting for Mr. Godot who never arrives. The funniest part is neither has any idea what Godot looks like and they admit that they may not recognise him if he were to appear before them. So, the allusion is probably to people waiting for a special somebody or someone or something, never sure of what they are on a quest for.

ನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ ?

2008-07-05T11:14:00.003+05:30

ಬಾನೊಡಲ ತಾರೆಗಳ

ಮಿಣುಕ ನೋಡಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿ ಬರುವ

ನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ

ಸಾಗರದ ಅಲೆಯಲೆಯ

ಬೆಡಗ ನೋಡಿ ಬೆಳೆದು ನಿಲುವ

ನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ

ಚಂದಿರನ ನೇಸರನ

ಮತ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಬಾನಿಗೆಳೆವ

ಸಿಹಿನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ

ಗಾಳಿಗೊಂದು ಗುಟ್ಟು ಹೇಳಿ

ದೂರತೀರಕೆಲ್ಲೋ ಕಳುಹಿ

ಗಾಳಿ-ಮರದ

ಸರಸ ವಿರಸ ನೋಡಿ ನಗುವ

ಮುಗುದ ಮೊಗದ ಮಗುವ

ನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ

ಬಾನಿಗೊ೦ದು ಬಿಲ್ಲ ಬರೆದು

ಭಾವ ಬಣ್ಣ ಧಾರೆ ಎರೆದು

ಮನವ ಮನವ ಮೀಟಿ ಹೊಸೆವ

ಮಧುರ ನಾದ ಸೂಸಿ ಕರೆವ

ಜಗದ ಭಾವ-ಭೇದ-ನೋವ

ಜಗಕು ಕೂಡ ಮರೆಸಿ ಬಿಡುವ

ಕೆಳೆಯನೆಳೆಯ ನಗೆಯೊಳೇನಿದೆ

Dynamic Architecture- Indeed!

2008-07-01T08:52:00.004+05:30

I was once fascinated so much by the profession of architecture [at about the time I had read Fountainhead, I suppose :) ]. This one's a fitting tribute to Man. Amazing!!

Who am I ?? (Rig-ma-Role)

2008-06-16T09:28:00.004+05:30

P.S: This being a first post of sorts and I've said this blog is about reviews etc., I'll start with the looking glass and go right through it. Hoping, at the end of it or somewhere in between I meet someone who happens to look at me. I think I'll see him wink.

Am I confused?
I am politically incorrect and incorrectly political. Would I be correct if I were to be apolitical? Is it apolitical if I never want to be correct?
Isn't atheism a belief?
Do I know that I'm an agnostic? Will I be completely aware of it, if were to be a gnostic?

I have shrinking under-utilised feet but a growing carbon footprint. Global warming sends a chill down my spine; I still deo anyway.
I am cynical of sentimentality and skeptical of my cynicism.

I live in 'reality' because living in a make-believe world is so passe.

I am a liar!

UnReview

2008-06-09T23:48:00.001+05:30

I lay blinking my eyes a gazillion times, I must have caused at least a few tornadoes (frikkin hypothesis from Chaos theory), knowing that I didn't have a clue what to do. I was bored. The movie Speedracer I'd whipped off a torrent was in Spanish!! Ever since I came to know about his law I've cursed Murphy so much that, if metaphors were to come true the Earth's magnetic field has probably peaked by the poor soul turning in his grave.
Add to it the preposterous reality that it's easier to come across pondy on the internet than zany, irrereverent humour.
But even in the wast wilderness of the internet where many a souls have lost not just themselves but even their shadows, there is always a scintillating beacon of delusive hope. [ If that doesn't get me the Bulwer-Lytton what will?]. Well in this case it happened to be the alluringly brazen Uncyclopedia, that ever annoying pre-teen sister of Wikipedia.
It's a wonder how a place that offers such ungoverned freedom of speech can ever produce anything sensible. Well as rational probability took a toss, I read about the discovery of o-trons ( or.. are they O-trons ?), dishwashers and Gandhi committing a mass homicide (great read).

Since I've been reading Kafka's Metamorphosis for about a year or two now and never gotten to a double figure page number, the UnBook on My_New_Life_as_a_T-Rex was a bit inviting. For one the opening lines are cannily similar. Then again, this is a page-long "book"; probably for dummies.
In any case it's a great read for people who like this kind of humour. In case you missed out on all the irony and the satire/parody of pseudo-victimising the protagonist ( who inhabits a strange dark world - confused, in need of attention and mostly loveless) for art's sake, you can still enjoy
the barb in the tail.

P.S: In case you are having one of those days follow the links on the sidebar for some of the greatest humor on the net.

Oscar Wilde said:

2008-02-01T20:00:00.001+05:30

The artist is the creator of beautiful things.

To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.

The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming.

This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.

They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.

That is all.

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.

The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.

The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.

No artist has ethical sympathies.

An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.

Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.

Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.

From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician.

From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type.

All art is at once surface and symbol.

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

From The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

ಇರಲಿ ಮನದಿ ನಿನ್ನ ನಗೆಯ ಬಿಂಬ ...

2007-12-06T17:21:00.002+05:30

ಹೊಳೆವ ಸ್ಫಟಿಕ ಕನಕ ಮಹಾಮಣಿಮಾಲೆಗೂ
ಮೇಲು ಅವ ಬೆಳಗುವ ಕಿಗ್ಮರುಚಿ
ಆದರೂ ಮುಚ್ಚಂಜೆಯಲಿ ಉರಿವ ಪಣತೆ
ಪುಟ್ಟದಾದರೂ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಉತ್ತರಾಧಿಕಾರಿ...

ಕವಲುದಾರಿಗಳ ಒಂಟಿ ಪಯಣಿಗರಿಗೆ
ನೆನಪುಗಳ ಮಾಯಾವಿ ಚಿತ್ತದಿ ಕಾಡುವಂದು
ಕಂಪ ಸೂಸುತ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಬರುತಿರಲೆಂದು
ಇರಲಿ ಮನದಿ ನಿನ್ನ ನಗೆಯ ಬಿಂಬ ...

How does Buddha become Buddha

2007-12-01T19:04:00.001+05:30

ಕರಗುವ ಮೇಣದ ಪಿಸುಮಾತುಗಳು

2007-11-23T10:34:00.004+05:30

ಬೆಳಕು ನಂದದಿರಲೆಂದು

ಕೈ ಅಡ್ಡ ಹಿಡಿದಾಗ

ಧಗೆಯಲಿ ಬೆಂದ ಮೃದು ಮೇಣ

ಬಿಳಿಯ ಹೊಗೆಯಲಿ

ನಿಟ್ಟುಸಿರಿಟ್ಟಿತು...

~~~

ಜಗವ ತಿರುಗಿ ಬಳಿದು ಬಂದ ಗಾಳಿಯಲೆಯು

ಬಿಗುವ ಮರೆತು ಮಾತನಾಡೆ

ನಗುತ ಜಗವ ಕಂಡ ಬಗೆಯಲರಳಿ ,

ಹಗಲು ಬರಲು ಮೇಣ ಮೌನದಲ್ಲಿ ಲೀನವಾಯಿತು.

ನಿರ್ಜನ ರಸ್ತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸೋಡಿಯಮ್ ದೀಪ

2007-11-21T15:42:00.004+05:30

ಆಗಸದ ತುಂಬೆಲ್ಲ
ತುಂಬಿರುವ ಚುಕ್ಕಿಗಳ
ಎಣಿಸಿ ನೋಡುವರಿಹರು
ಜಲಧಿಯೊಡಲಲಿ ಹರಿವರಿವ
ನೀರ ಕಣಗಳ ಮೀನ ಕಣ್ಗಳ
ಆಳಕಿಳಿಯದೆ
ಅಳೆದು ನೋಡುವರು
~
ಬಾನಹಬ್ಬಕೆ ರಂಗು ಬಳಿದು
ಬಳಿಯೆ ಬೆಳಕ ಬೀರುತ ನಿಂದ
ರವಿಯ ಕಿರಣಗಳ
ಕಣ್ಮುಚ್ಚಿ ನೋಡುತಲೆ
ದೇವನವನಾರೆನ್ದು
ತಿಳಿಯದಲೆ ಕೇಳುವರು
~
ಚನ್ದಿರನು ಚೆಲ್ಲಿರುವ
ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳ ತುಂಬಿರುವ
ಬೆಳದಿಂಗಳನು ಸವಿಯಲು
ಸಮಯವೆಲ್ಲಿ?
~
ಭಾವಗಳು ನಲುಗಿರಲು
ಬೆಳಕು ಇಂಗಿದೆಯೆಂದು
ಹೃದಯದಾ ಬಾಗಿಲನು ತೆರೆದು
ಬೆಚ್ಚನುಸಿರಿನ ಕನ್ದೀಲಿನಲಿ
ಚೆಂಬೆಳಕ ಸೂಸ ಹೊರಟರೆ
ಕಂಡದ್ದು
ನಿರ್ಜನ ರಸ್ತೆ
ಮತ್ತು
ಸೋಡಿಯಮ್ ದೀಪ

ಮಾನವ

2007-11-17T22:51:00.001+05:30

ಶೂನ್ಯದಲಿ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯನು
ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಯಲಿ ಸಮತೆಯನು
ಸಮತೆಯಲಿ ಮಮತೆಯನು
ಕಾಣುವ ಕವಿ ಭಾವಜೀವಿ

ಕತ್ತಲಲಿ ಬೆಳಕನ್ನು
ಬೆಳಕಲ್ಲಿ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯನು
ದೃಷ್ಟಿಯಿಂದಲೇ ಸತ್ಯ -ಮಿಥ್ಯಗಳನರಿವ
ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಪಥಿಕನವ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿ

ಆದಿಯಲಿ ಅಂತ್ಯವನು
ಅಂತ್ಯದಲಿ ಉಗಮವನು
ಚಕ್ರಗತಿಯಲೆ ಪಯಣಗಳೆಷ್ಟೋ
ಕಳೆದರೂ ಬಿಡದೆ ಹಟದಲಿ
ಪ್ರಾಣದಲೆ ಪ್ರಣವನನು ಅರಿವವ ತತ್ವಜ್ಞಾನಿ

ಎದೆಯಲಿದ್ದರೂ ಗುಡಿಯಲೆಲ್ಲೋ ಹುಡುಕುತ
ಪೂರ್ಣಬ್ರಹ್ಮನನು ಕಂಡು ಕಾಣದೆ
ಕಣದಷ್ಟೆ ಜ್ಞಾನದೆ ಕಾಣದುದ ವರ್ಣಿಸುತ
ತ್ರುಣದಿ ತೃಣವಾಗಿ ಕ್ಷಣದ ಜೀವನದೆ
ಕ್ಶಣಿಸಿ ಕಳೆವ ಕಳೆಯುತಲೆ ಪಡೆವ
ನಾನ್ಯಾರೊ "ಮಾನವ " ?

The Catamaran

2007-10-01T17:22:00.001+05:30

Amidst the virgin lake,

where ev'ry soul its birth betakes,

his journeys begin ,

towards death and his kin.

He sails and sails in his punt so torn,

determined, for his heart's stilborn.

nature's verse and verdant woods,

soothing waves or serpents' hoods

though in hearts thro' the world can reign,

illusions perhaps; imagined gain.

Nor torrents nor gales,

can pull him back and break his might,

to deprive him of determined sight.

And his ventures continue and remain,

sailor the same yet souls refrain.

Then,still the lake is left unseen,

hidden with secrets is life serene,

and stays incomplete but we do dream,

of days and nights and the sights unseen.

~.~

In solitude does truth beckon,

and unveil

the shimmer of illusions: of home and Sin

Guided by life, one does plow

Who's to judge and who's to know?