Yet another new year resolution!

Happy new year guys! Wish you luck for yet another journey around the sun! 

This is that time of the year when people start making resolution. The best part of it is that we never really resolve to change. Just a week into the resolution and your mind starts to shout - "Come on, You are what you are." Don't blame yourself, your mind knows exactly what inspires you. 

It was 2010 new year's eve when I decided to eat less, exercise more, work hard and lot others which if i'd followed, world would have had a new Buddha by now. But one week into it, I realized I can't be anything but me! So I made a new resolution for 2011. Something that I could really follow. I resolved to not make a new resolution ever! 

This was simple but damn you, MG Road.

Here's the story. 

I wanted something different from this boolean life of  Work and home! MG Road was one place which was always on TV for every new year. These kannada channels would show guys and chicks grooving to the music with booze and disco lights, the news reader would read in the background with her most stern tone, "...yuvakaru yuvathiyaru kunidu kuppalisidaru...". That was quite tempting, so I went along with my friends to check out the whole fuss.  

From what they show on tv, I expected lot of lights, music, chicks, couples and a lot like it. As soon as I reached the place, I realized that it's so not going to be so fun. It was crowded. No wonder they complain about population explosion. I literally did not walk that day. I just stood and the crowd pulled me around. In between all the pulling and tug of wars, I noticed a few interesting or rather disgusting things!  

I noticed that there was no music other than the whining of drunkards. There were people everywhere making raucous around. They were only trying to pose to these tv cameras. 

Booze? Lot of it. On the road, lying all over with broken glass of beer bottles.  

Chicks? as rare as water in deserts. Just when you think you found water, it disappears! Oasis. Just when you think you saw a chick, you see her in someone's mouth! Oasis!  

After having seen so many weird things in one night and when I thought I'm done for the night, I started moving to my vehicle and that is when I realized that the eventful night was not yet done with me. I saw two guys walking behind me. I turned to see they were heavily drunk. So were their shirts and pants. They had arms over each other's shoulder. I said, "Crazy people" and walked my way. Two minutes later I turned around again to see if they're still behind me. They were still there. But now in each other's mouth. Yes. The same two guys. 

No further comments on that. 

And that's the story. I ended up making a new resolution that I will never go to MG Road for a new year's celebration whatsoever! I'm sure to keep this resolution forever! 

Finally a software engineer!

Finished engineering a few months ago but for all the time I was at home jobless and lazy, never once did I feel that I'm a software engineer. The reason is quite simple. Behind every successful engineer, there is always a neighbor aunty who at some point of time asks you, "computer haallagide anthe swalpa sari madtiya?"

The first time I was asked, I felt like a rocket scientist. But later that day I realized what people really think of a "Software Engineer". For all the four years we slog at the college studying how computers store bits in flipflops, how obsessed processes are to get into processor, we learn ALUs, memory, database, languages that are totally crap to normal people, we literally rip off a computer's brain and see what it does. But all aunties can think is - we are engineers. we repair computers. 

Never mind. There is nothing much anyone can do about it. There used to be this message I forwarded once long back - "throw a stone out of your window in bangalore. it will hit a street dog or a software engineer." Quite insulting to a software engineer (ya, me) but it really annoys you when people ask, "what are you insulting? the dog?"

Coming back to the aunties of India, I've noticed how differently they behave when they get to know some (poor) guy gets into some company. Go tell a aunty that you got placed in "Google!". Assuming we're talking about some of the 'dumb' aunties, the first and the very worst question you get to answer is, "Infosys siglilva?". Tough to answer? Isn't it? 

Last weekend was interesting. I was at my friend's sister's wedding. Lot of people introduced me to lot of people. I was with some of my friends. There came a point somewhere when we(me & my friends) were being introduced to one of the friend's dad. And that friend was telling where we're working. He pointed at the friend next to me and said, "ivn Infosys". Then he pointed out another friend standing with me and said, "ivn HCL". Then it was my turn. He pointed at me and said, "ivn webyog *antha*". I thought it is offending to add that extra word but without that, people will shoot me with questions like, you know, "Infosys siglilva?".

After a while I was talking to a old lecturer of mine. She asked me where I was working. All I could say was, "Webyog *antha*". 

So this is the pitiful story of me as a software engineer. 

But at the end of the day, I know what world would be without engineers like me. I see awesomeness in all I do. So what difference does anything else make!

PS: To those people who still did not get the joke, Webyog is my company and I love it! 

We miss you, Steve Jobs

Just got up from bed and happened to see that the Founder and former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, is no more alive. It is deeply saddening to know that one of the greatest innovator, visionary and above all, a wonderful human being is no more. 

Steve Jobs with his high school buddy, Steven Wozniak (later co founded apple) with their first creation.

Starting with a simple circuit built in a garage, Steve Jobs has given some of the most successful products including iMac, Mac OS X, iPod and iPhone. His passion & determination believed in a better world and here we have. The world would have been much less productive without him. 

Steve Jobs inspirational speech to the Students of Stanford has inspired millions of people through its youtube video. This speech can inspire a stone to start swimming the pacific. The video brings me goosebumps every time I hear him saying - 

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason no to follow your heart. 

If you haven't already seen this video then here it is - 

Steve Jobs may be dead but his impressions, ideas and ingenious creativity are here to stay forever. His brilliance is unmatched. 

Salute you, Steve Jobs! We miss you.

Apple.com - 

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

President of America, Barrack Obama - 

Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. 

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg -

Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.

Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates - 

Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives. The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor.

Bangalore Eat out - Maiya's

Branded with MTR, covered with crowd - thats MTR's Maiya's. A restaurant doing best at what it does. One of the best places to eat out in Bangalore. 

This ain't a review as such, but my experience, a personal opinion, something for me to read to make myself hungry. I remember the last two times I tried to eat here. Once the plan did not really materialize, and the next time I went to find a bad crowd flowing out of the small door of the building. Not to misunderstand, it ain't a small building, its a three storey building. South Indian on first floor while North Indian is served on second floor. A coffee bar and a bakery on the ground floor. On weekends this place is a total chaos, the waiting rooms fill up, the lobby, the stairs, the road, there are just people everywhere that you suddenly realize "1 billion is our population and they are all hungry". The last time I came here, I came on a weekend and I was way too hungry to hear their "please wait for one hour sir". I couldn't help but eat at a near by darshini. If you are planning a weekend, then book your place before you go. 

So I went into this totally air conditioned South Indian section of  Maiya's. Was well greeted by the waiters and staff. The waiter came and asked, "Regular or Special?". That is all the menu you get here, straight and simple. Well, from my past experience I know the pain it takes for one to get into Maiya's. It goes without saying what I ordered, "Special Meals!". The Unlimited! 

(The menu, as simple as it is, the orders are still taken on iPod touch. They run their own application that syncs the table orders and probably manages billing too. Plus one to technology there!)

The serving began.

Starts with a sharbat (juice) served in silver tumbler. Just when you start feeling royal and you drink little at a time, the cleaner comes and takes away your silver not giving much thought on whether it is half empty or half full. Immediately follows a small cup of tomato soup. And then the real thing begins. The food is truly great, totally upholds the name and fame of MTR. BELE palya, Pooris with Aloogadde palya (potato curry), something made of Ladies fingers (I may be a foodie, and I eat. I don't care what they are named), Beetroot palya, and then comes some vegetable bath (may be palak rice) with Raitha. Rice, Rasam, Sambar, Curd makes the next course. Carrot halwa and Ice cream comes to end the saga! 

All of it, UNLIMITED!

"I'm loving it!" or "Finger Lickin' Good" may not be the tag line but that is exactly what you end up doing here! 

Politics | Media | Karnataka

Karnataka Politics and the media has reached heights of filthiness. The propaganda seems to be on degrading the Yeddyurappa govt. rather than fighting for real justice. I am not justifying Yeddyurappa or his corruption, he earned whatever happened to him. But I somewhere feel that there hasn't been a fair call. The media on other side which is supposed to put facts on to the screen seems to be totally biased. Here's an interesting read, an article I found on facebook's Tejas Krishna's wall.

The article presents few facts, backs it up with proofs and poses questions to the leaders, the media and the people. Here it goes -

Yeddyurappa The Most Corrupt CM...! Ha Ha Ha.. LOL...! Spare time for reading this analysis...!

A huge hype was given about Santhosh Hegde's Report On Mining indicting Yeddyurappa...!
Everyone started talking that " Yeddyurappa is most corrupt..." ...!
Few supposrters of BJP also felt that " Yes Yeddyurappa maligned the image of The Party..!
Entire nation looked at Yeddyurappa as a looter of the nation...!
The Media highlighted on The Report more inorder to make it much popular than the ongoing
2G saga and CWG etc...!
The facts are here...! These facts are not highlighted by any Media House....!

B.S.Yeddyurappa, in short BSY, has built BJP and its earlier avatars, meticulously in Karnataka from ground up for nearly 4 decades. He achieved something impossible to even imagine just 25 years back.. a majority government headed by a 'north Indian' BJP, in a south Indian state! Kudos to him as well as the marvelous list of achievements his government has pulled off over the past three years.
You can listen to a very long list of achievements of Yedyurappa government, from the horse's mouth itself here: http://yeddyurappa.in/news​-and-events/three-years-of​-bountiful-development/

Since, I am not writing this to present Global Investor's meet, or 20-point implementation or the dozens of awards the state won on development efforts, lets get back to the mining part. If you followed Delhi based 'national' media, you might have only heard of 3 things: a) land scams. b) illegal mining. c) why isn't he resigning. :)
Here we go with some thought provoking questions, not in any particular order, while leaving the conclusion to you...

• How many channels screaming Karnataka,Karnataka, told you that Sonia Gandhi won from the same mine district Ballary? Has anyone bothered to investigate who supported on the ground with manpower and finances?After all mining in Ballary didn't start yesterday.... even in 1999, Ballary had nearly 25% of India's iron ore deposit and all political parties had close mine connections.
• Did NDTV or Times Now inform that Karnataka Lokayukta might be indicting Anil Lad, based on leaked portions of the reports? Anil became a RS MP with Sonia's blessing. If never heard of Lad family, please check this out (Ref:http://www.congress4india.​com/story/2008/6/17/14311/​5295).
• Amazing NDTV,CNN IBN and all media talk about politicians mining bellary(http://www.ndtv.com/articl​e/india/bellary-mined-over​-and-over-by-karnataka-pol​iticians-121063 - But Sonia Gandhi, who became an MP from the same Ballary, isn't even mentioned :) How 'Biased'!
• It's so funny that media channels talk about BJP's double standards on corruption, while they ignore Delhi Lokayukta's damning reports against a sitting CM and her government. We will cover that a bit later right here.
• What Times Now or NDTV wouldn't tell is that, Hegde's report might show Rs.20000 crores of loss (per leaked reports) since the year 2000. In that Yedyurappa government's tally during the past 14 months might be Rs.1827 crores. Simple maths tells me that Congress and Janata Dal Secular's portions might be as high as 90% in that case. Why aren't they being slammed on national channels? You guess..

• If Yeddyurappa resigned, don't you bet that he should take Deve Gowda family MPs, Congress MP Dharam Singh, UPA minister SM Krishna? By the way where is that Rameshwar Thakur who allowed plenty of mining licenses as a governor during president's rule? Hmn... I don't know if any other 'Presidents' rule ever allocated so many licenses, so 'urgently' :)

• Now you want some numbers? Here we are: Mining licenses recommend by CMs versus granted by Government of India: Dharam Singh (CON): 43/33; HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) 47/22; UPA government headed by Sonia Gandhi (during President's Rule) 22/14; and Yedyurappa (BJP) 22/2. What? So Yedyurappa, the big bad boy, only got two mining licenses in the entire decades of super busy mining industry of Karnataka?

• Numbers are making a bit more interesting now.Now to some very thorough & hard reading exercise:
• The same Karnataka Lokayukta, Santosh Hegde, had published his first report in Dec 2008(Ref:http://www.scribd.com/doc/​46850946/Part-1-Report-of-​Lokayukta-Santosh-Hegde-on​-Karnataka-Mining?in_colle​ction=3055282)See Page 161 from that very detailed original report copy, for which the link was just provided. Congress CM Dharam Singh was held responsible for causing a big loss of Rs.23,22,11,850 to the exchequer. Nice... I didn't see any 'national' TV channels going ballistic on Dharam Singh even today, while he is prettily sitting as a Lok Sabha MP in the parliament!



• Getting unnerved by numbers? Don't worry, here's is a short, but very factual summary of what Karnataka mining is all about..(Ref: http://vickynanjappa.blogs​pot.com/2010/07/what-is-ka​rnataka-mining-row-all-abo​ut.html). Must read if you didn't get a full flow of what's happening till now - by a self professed 'vertebrate' journalist, Vicky Nanjappa.
• Are we missing a big fish over here, while focusing too much on the 'evil' BJP government? Let's see.. In May 2008, BJP came to power on its own. Right after 3 months, in August of 2008, Karnataka High Court quashes 36 mine licenses sanctioned by a “former CM from 2003..”(http://www.hindu.com/2008/​08/12/stories/200808125061​0100.htm). So who could that 'former' CM be? Even Mr. Hegde skipped the one and only one, Mr. S.M. Krishna :)
How could Hegde not have ONE mention of SM Krishna's name in 2008 or 2011 mining reports (per leaked info), when High Court quashed 36 Krishna sanctioned licenses? Aha.. now you are asking the questions..
• I wanted to ask at this point: Dear Mr. Hegde,128 out of 152 Karnataka Mining lease recommendations(http://m.timesofindia.com/​PDATOI/articleshow/8209914​.cms)were sent by SM Krishna, HD Kumaraswamy, Dharam Singh and Governor Thakur. Were they all 100% "pristine" & law-abiding in terms of execution? We know you might name one or two of them, but why not ALL?
• Are we forgetting someone else? Let's see.. Oh yeah, in fact, it was then mining minister V.Muniyappa under SM Krishna’s Govt in 2003(Ref:http://www.hindu.com/2003/​10/15/stories/200310150741​0400.htm), who allowed quarryingeven in forest areas! Jairam Ramesh would have tore his hair in the public if it was in 2010:)
• You thought that was extreme? You have more fun, just in Karnataka: It's not just in 2003, but much earlier in 2000, the same Muniyappa and SM Krishna combo had allowed private paties(Ref:http://www.thehindubusines​sline.in/2000/07/31/storie​s/143160l1.htm)mine in forest areas! Hello Mr.Jairam Ramesh :)
• Now that you have heard about some 'partners in crime', how many told you that Yedyurappa was the first CM of India who banned iron ore exports? (Incidentally, it was the congress rajya sabha MP & Spokesperson ,Abhishek Manu Singhvi,(Ref:http://barandbench.com/bri​ef/2/1237/karnataka-mining​-matter-salve-singhvi-sora​bjee-venugopal-argue-along​-with-poovayya-parekh-amp-​cos)
who was the lawyer for anti-ban teams!) Also, it was him, who ordered the Lokayukta investigation to go beyond the year 2008 duration? I guess not many.. Oh.. did you at least know, that when Karnataka banned ore export from 9 ports under its control, Manmohan Singh's UPA government didn't bother to ban the 10th port, under central control, even after repeated pleading?

• After 15 questions, your head might be spinning.. So we were told that Yedyurappa was the 'baddest' guy occupying a CM's seat in India by the English media. Let's see how does the same media treat others?

• First, our dearest Sheila Dikshit. The other side of Indian media immediately pops up. Four months after theShunglu Report, protests arrests (Ref:http://www.newsnetindia.co​m/index.php?option=com_con​tent&view=article&id=72846​%3Asheila-dikshit-responsi​ble-for-games-bungling-mus​t-resign-vijender-gupta&ca​tid=8%3Anational&Itemid=41)this Delhi Congress CM is 'Surf Excel' clean :)
• Not just that, do you know that even an ordinary minister of this Congress CM has guts to hit back at hapless Lokayukta?(Ref:http://www.dnaindia.com/in​dia/report_pwd-minister-at​tacks-lokayukta-on-sheila-​dikshit-censure_1567436)You must be wondering by now, why is Karnataka Lokayukta is 'special' for media, while that hapless Delhi Lokayukta never comes to prime time TV shows to hit at his state's CM?
• Not just corruption, but do read Kanchan Gupta's blog on how the same Sheila Dikshit & her MP son, shamefully washed hands off 66 deaths
(Ref: http://kanchangupta.blogsp​ot.com/2010/11/corrupt-sys​tem-corrupt-society.html)

• Aha.. is it dawning to you by now that if you are in the good book of 'some' dynasty, even thePresident of India will give you a clean chit herself, no matter what the Lokayukta screams!
• That's enough on Delhi's CM and that state's Lokayukta. How about a couple of other cases, specifically focusing on illegal mining? It has been one year since the late Congress CM YSR’s son-in-law&brother-in-law’​s(Ref:http://www.indianexpress.c​om/news/andhra-oppn-demand​s-probe-into-illegal-minin​g-by-ysr-kin/645316/)huge illegal mining issue in AP came up in the state assembly. Has the 'national' media done even one prime time show on this?

• If I have to start writing on the *famous* Reddy brothers of Ballary, where they came from in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh, what was their connection for a long number of years with the then Congress strongman YSR, I might need another blog for itself.. For this blog, its enough to mention that, Karnataka politics knew for long time who might have shielded brothers(Ref:http://www.hindu.com/2009/​04/29/stories/200904295414​0400.htm)from the other side of the border!
• Even as late as 2008 ,large scale illegal mining was happening in Haryana(Ref:http://www.indianexpress.c​om/news/illegal-mining-in-​aravalis-continues-despite​/367041/),despite the ban. Did the media bother to do any investigation by itself?
• Here's the most notable thing: While a big portion of Indian media's efforts were to lose sleep on why Yedyurappa hasn't resigned, Time magazine published a list of the worst abuse of power in the entire world, cutting across generations. Surprise.. surprise.. Sonia Gandhi's greatest achievement as the chairperson of UPA, just happened to be 'crowned' the all time 2nd WORST abuse of power in the world!- TIME: Top 10 Abuses of Power : India’s Telecom Scandal-By Ishaan Tharoor Tuesday ,May 17,2011 .(Ref:http://www.time.com/time/s​pecials/packages/article/0​,28804,2071839_2071844_207​1866,00.html)Ironically, that page was written by none other than Kerala Congress MP's Shashi Tharoor's son, Ishaan :)

Have you heard any of these things in ANY MEDIA..?
So now you still feel yeddyurappa should have resigned..?
So now you still feel He is the most corrupt..?
So now you still feel that he should be prosecuted..?
Lot more questions of yours might have got answers by now...!
If you feel like sharing it... Please do share it..


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