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She’s the One

She's the one

After nearly a month I watched a movie yesterday, when in the afternoon today while browsing TV channels aimlessly I caught this movie in Star Movies . It was a 1996 Romantic Comedy movie "She’s the One" starring Edward Burns & Jennifer Aniston. The story is about two Brothers, Mickey and Francis their tribulations of love, betrayal, and family. John Mahoney appears as the brothers father, who I have seen and enjoyed in his performance as the Dad in the popular TV Comedy sitcom Frasier – as usual he was brilliant. 

Overall, I will rate the movie as a "Okay" to watch movie.

இருள் என்றால் என்ன?

இந்த வாரம் ஆனந்த விகடன் பத்திரிகையில் சத்குரு ஜக்கி வாசுதேவ் அவர்கள் ஒரு பெரிய விஷயத்தைப் பற்றி மிக அழகாகவும் அதே சமயம் மிக சுலபமாகவும் எழுதியுள்ளதைப் படித்தேன். அந்த விஷயம் – இருள். என்ன ஒரு பொருத்தம், இன்று காலை தான் எங்கள் யோகா வகுப்பில் எங்கள் ஆசிரியர் இருளுக்குள் கவனம் செலுத்திச் செய்யும் ஒரு தியானத்தை கற்றுக் கொடுக்க துவங்கினார்.

சத்குரு ஜக்கி வாசுதேவ் கட்டுரையில் கூறுகிறார்:

  • உயிரற்ற இருள் சவம் … உயிருள்ள இருள் சிவம்
  • இருள் தான் எல்லாவற்றுக்கும் மூலம்”. இருள் என்பது இயற்கை, வெளிச்சம் தான் செயற்கை. Coincidentally modern day science also talks high about the significance of Black Hole & Dark Energy in Big Bang theory.
  • என்னை மிகவும் சிந்திக்க வைத்த வரி: “குரு என்பவர் இருளை விலக்க வந்தவர் அல்ல, இருளை விளக்க வந்தவர்!

Automated Exam management system

Anna University Coimbatore

Recently in Television news I saw a news about Anna University Coimbatore implementing a complete automated Exam Management system. They seem to have implemented online solutions to manage all the phases of examinations in an university. This includes Question Paper Authoring, Hall Ticket printing, Secure Question Paper delivery and Evaluation of answer sheets.

In all this, what caught my attention was the Answer sheet evaluation process.  Normally when you think of automation, you tend to think of students taking the test in a computer (CBT like model). But here, the tests are taken by students with traditional paper/pen; after which the answer sheets are scanned by a back office operation; then each examiner sitting in their own college/university can login online, see the answer sheets and evaluate. This saves lot of costs incurred by each of the examiner travelling, lodging, venue and more.

Good luck to the university for success of this scheme.

TechEd India 2009 and my session

After a gap of few years, I am happy that Microsoft premier event “TechEd” is happening again in India. For many of the regular speakers in the event, TechEd India is an annual ritual that we enjoy and look forward to eagerly. It gives a rare opportunity to meet, interact and network with brilliant participants, to hear what they are working on currently and how they are using Microsoft technologies in real life.

When the organizers told me the venue is Hyderabad I was at a loss – why on earth anyone will hold an event in Hyderabad at the middle of peak summer?. After few minutes of reaching the venue “Hyderabad International Convention Centre” I understood why. The Convention Centre was great, with world class infrastructure and I guess the best in India for years to come. And commuting to and from the new Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport was not bad either. Though it is far from city, the roads are not that crowded like in Bangalore. I reached from Airport to City in about an hour and while returning from Hi-Tec city to Airport through the new ring road it took less than 45 minutes. The ring road named after Rajiv Gandhi (like many other things in Congress  ruled AP) was good, they allow only four wheelers (cars and vans), trucks and two-wheelers are not allowed to ply in the road to prevent accidents. I couldn’t say the same pleasant things about Paramount Airways – which delayed my return flight by some 4 hours (8:30PM flight took off at 12:30AM).

Tech Ed India 2009 Cloud Track Hyderabad International Airport

 

This year, I presented on Windows Azure – an overview session where I covered the need for Azure, Azure fundamentals and few demos on using Windows Azure.

What IT industry can learn from Politicians?

This is election time in India so politicians are in limelight, let us talk about them too. Before this global economic melt-down it was fashionable for Indian IT Czars to give suggestions and advice to our politicians and ministers on how to run the country. Recently in an IT event in Chennai I heard about what the IT industry can learn from Politicians. After all, Indian Democracy is older than the IT industry and Politics is as old as the time the second human (or women) was born in the world.

  1. Politicians always play to their galleries. Politicians are the greatest social people, they ensure they constantly appear in the media – good or bad doesn’t matter. Keeping in touch with your audience is very important.
  2. Politicians ensure they get themselves to the most advantageous position.
  3. Politicians have no un-necessary historic baggage – No EGO & No Emotional attachments. This helps them to undo and redo ideologies/alliances on an ongoing basis.
  4. Politicians always maximize their value. Look at what an MLA/MP/Minister earns during his tenure compared to what he/she invested during the campaigns. Politicians are also the biggest risk takers in that sense, because Elections are events where winner takes all.
  5. Politicians realize and understand their weakness.

பழமொழிகளின் உண்மையான அர்த்தங்கள்

நேற்று எங்கள் யோகசன வகுப்பில் பேச்சுவாக்கில் நான் ஒரு பழமொழிச் சொல்லப் போக அது இந்த வலைப்பதிக்கு காரணமாகிவிட்டது. நடைமுறையில் இது போலச் சொல்லப்படும் பல பழமொழிகள் திரிந்து அவையின் உண்மையான அர்த்தங்கள் தொலைந்துவிட்டது என கீழுயுள்ள உதாரணங்கள் மூலம் எங்கள் யோக ஆசிரியர் கௌதம் சந்த் தெளிவாக்கினார்.

 

தவறு: களவும் கற்று மற (Learn Theft as well and then forget it)

சரி: களவு கற்க மற (Forget to learn Theft)

 

தவறு: ஆயிரம் பேரைக் கொன்றவன் அரை வைத்தியன் (One who has killed 1000 people is a half-doctor)

சரி: ஆயிரம் வேரைக் கொண்டவன் அரை வைத்தியன் (One who has 1000 herbs with him is a half-doctor)