Y! Image search gets cool day by day… one feature at a time…
Y! Image Search
Go check out yahoo image search… search for taj mahal…
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=taj+mahal&ei=utf-8&iscqry=&fr=sfp
Update: I think this is in a bucket, here is the screen shot.
The left bar contains related topics and thumbnails, which can boost number of searches by the user and gives relevant images quickly with out much typing.
Or is this an old feature that I’m seeing today? :-p
Find yourself in the electoral rolls
I registered with the ERO of my constituency and I was eagerly searching for my name in the rolls. My name was in disguise in the list. If you face the same problem finding your name in the list, here is the reason (that I heard from Jaagore):
Names are transliterated from Kannada to English.
So your name might not have the spelling that you expect. Search for your name with different combination of first few letters. You may find it. If you do, go, vote.
Here is the site for Karnataka: http://stg1.kar.nic.in/searchfinalroll_2009/
Thanks Jaagore for waking me up.
The Political Clutter
I was out of home after 20, and I never voted in any election because I was moving from place to place. Now I registered with the Rolls Officer. I hope my name will be included in the list and if it is, I will definitely vote.
Came across this quote today:
The ultimate tragedy is not the brutality of the bad people, but the silence of the good people. -Martin Luther King
Yes, don’t be silent. I’ve seen many people criticizing politicians. I always ask them “Did you bother to vote in the last election?” Yes, it’s the silence of good people that’s bad. You may be good in your profession, earning good salary, paying taxes more than you really want to etc. but paying taxes is just not enough to run the country. We need good leaders, when there are no good leaders, there will be only “politicians”.
The current situation is bad. Parties have become family-run businesses. Vote has become a commodity. ECI is doing its best, but still this country is too diverse and too big to control each and every thing. And not to forget, the rift between ECs.
AP politics has become very interesting these days. With so many parties and “mergers”, they look like businesses. Have a look at what kind of people are going to rule the state. Coming into power at any cost seems to be the main aim, instead of serving people.
Some years back, the ‘Vision 2020′ was colorful to me. I appreciate each and everything that happened in the IT world of AP in his time. But now the ‘Television 2009′ looks awkward to me. Why should people be given color TVs? Everyone will get what they deserve. Try to raise income levels of people by creating good jobs and providing more opportunities. People will buy color TVs themselves. Why do you want to take away their dignity? This is just making people lazy. This practice is not good to the nation in the long run. No, I don’t want my tax money to go like that. Teach fishing guys. Don’t feed.
Then emerged a ray of hope for the people of Telangana. What’s the great man been doing? Separate state might be good for people, but what about the problem of Fluoride in hundreds of villages? Do you care to save people from “the poison”? Sir, will it be solved magically if you get Telangana? What’s your priority? Don’t worry, separate state will come along.
I thought “the star” would bring change in political scene. But doesn’t seem to be. For now, looks better than existing parties, but once they come into power, the real color will be exposed. After all, most people came from other parties.
And who wants to give mobile phones to below BPL people? Bring IT to people, it’s good. But, first create jobs for them, they will buy them on their own. You (I) need not give them. And don’t forget that India is not only Hindus. Only Hindutva will take you nowhere. I want to live in harmony, not amid hate and fear. Yes, I still remember who gave me nice roads to travel. Thanks for that. Promise and make such investments, I would me more than happy to support you.
We’re seeing the corrupt government in the papers daily. Sir, people are watching you. May be you should go to a top B-school and teach how to create companies and make them profitable. Many facilities brought by the govt. look good from outside, but how well it reached people is the question. But my mom cares only her groceries budget, and she knows which party is ruling the state. BTW, what did those European folks tell when they visited us?
In this big clutter, a ray of hope is JP. His 50 guarantees are sensible. And I believe he can bring change to the situation. Sir, my mom doesn’t know that your party even exists. You might be good, but you need to get into the masses. I think your priority should be to get a permanent symbol for elections. I know how difficult is it to do that amid vote bank rich and cash-rich parties. But, you will make it one day. I support you at the moment.
And what would I do? Donate my two cents to the party I support. And VOTE.
At least, I would send the best of the worst to the Parliament, if I don’t get to choose a good one.
Rangula Ratnam
I was in Chennai last weekend. Merina beach is one place I love to go every time I go to Chennai. The place is vibrant with lot of people, kids, girls 
etc. etc. I can just sit there on the beach and spend the whole evening alone.
I was crazy about this “Rangula Ratnam” in childhood. But it was very difficult to get pocket money from dad to spend on this. Only time we get to ride on this is the day after Kanuma, when we go to the river bank and spend the evening there with friends and family.
I was given only 10 or 20 paise per day when I was in primary school. My sister was given only half of what I get… gender bias. So, getting 50 paise to enjoy a ride was very difficult. Still remember those days. It’s very refreshing to see kids enjoying a ride. How ever small, that joy can never be forgotten.
A’Satyam’
All that has been said and heard about Satyam reveals one satyam: Indian promoters still have more influence than they should actually have on the company. When a company grows beyond the size promoters can run it, it should be run by professional team and if the promoters are not professional enough, they should just remain non-executive or move on to other ventures. Satyam may reveal more ugly facts on the transperency of Indian corporate sector.
While my head says Ramalinga Raju is a 420, but by heart I still respect him as one of the brave entrepreneurs that took on the IT challenge. Apart from Satyam, the other charitable activities he does are of great help to common people. Generating 53,000 jobs is not an easy task in this country, and he is one of those tough guys who did it.
To my knowledge, all this can’t happen with out the knowledge of bada netas. Only time answers everything.
‘Satyam’eva jayate, for the sake of 53000 employees.
Happy new year 2009!
2008 was a mix of good and bad. There were good moments that we could cherish – the Olympics, the good cricket, IPL, Chandrayaan etc. And many bad things like recession, terrorist attacks, bad cricket, etc. A mix of many things, another passing year in our lives.
“The Moguls come, the Moguls go
The British come, the British go
We take the best and leave the rest
But we still eat curry, our women still wear saris
And we still live in tightly bound extended family units”-Thomas Friedman
That’s India’s strength – we take the best and leave the rest. We need to learn from our mistakes, be strong and have hope in our hearts for the future, continue to do what we are best at. We gotta overcome many unique problems. We will, definitely.
Happy new year!
Good dose of movies – end of 2008
It feels good to watch good movies back to back with in days. Watched four movies last week – Blade Babji, Vinayakudu, King and Nachavule.
First about King – Srinu Vaitla did a good job. But the movie is too long. After watching good movies like Happy Days, Bommarillu and KBL, we are used to most songs being mixed in the story line. But in King, of course due to Nag, most songs were in a separate location, disconnected from the movie, so was boring to me. And the plot is too long, mix/spoof of many movies. Some I felt were – Chandramukhi, Ready, Chandralekha, Dhee, Race. The film will be a hit due to Nag’s stardom, may be not otherwise. Nagarjuna takes a new title with the movie – “King”. Chiranjeevi and Bala Krishna are actively in to politics. So, next big stars are Nag and Venky. And may be, he realized he is too old (old by age, nothing else definitely) to have the title Yuvasamrat. And what might be the best title? May be he felt like Shahrukh Khan and selected this title. And the last song says it all, a mini Om Shanthi Om. The earlier title probably would go to his son, Naga Chaitanya. The movie is a proper masala, no message, no take away. It’s just an entertainer. I give it a 3/5.
Blade Babji – Old movie, but I watched it just a few days back during the vacation. Naresh seems to have understood very well what he is best at, hence the comedy movies. Another fun filled movie, pure entertainment, no logic etc. etc. I give it a 2.5/5.
Vinayakudu – I watched the first movie of the banner on a DVD – Aa Naluguru. Though the film is philosophical for young people, it portrays middle class life very well. It carries many good points: a fifteen paise post card and a bit of good intention in your heart can save someones life; obscenity in news papers; etc. And the second movie dint disappoint either. Now, it’s not a philosophical movie, it’s a love story. Vinayakudu is a well written film. The concept is good, a small town obese guy comes to the city and falls in love with a city girl. Performances of all artists are good. Timely comedy steals the show – a girl asking the hero to sell the scooter and buy a second hand bicycle; auto driver talking about fly-overs etc. The director tried to explain what true love is in a very novel way. And in between, the dark lives of some corporate citizens etc. A good movie. Producer proved a point – a movie need not have a huge budget to be good. It should be an inspiration for other producers. I give it a 3.5/5.
Nachavule – What should I say about this movie? Ravi babu does it again – a different film. The posters of the movie were just innovative and the movie dint disappoint either. The first half of the movie is just different and refreshing. Good comedy, the one-line flirts were superb. The heart attack scene should have been dealt better. The movie deals with a lot of problems young people face and the burning problem of inappropriate leakage of MMS. The performances were natural. Paavu Takkuva Tommidi song is excellent. And the black theme song is amazing, and the movie has a good colour theme through out. The movie could have been done better in the last half an hour. But, it’s a good movie overall, trying to say what love is all about. I give it a 3/5.
And bye bye 2008, Happy new year to all!
Vaaranam Ayiram
I’m not sure if that’s the best title for the movie. But, the title looks apt only at the climax of the movie. Leaving that, the movie is another good one from Goutam Menon. The second half is a little dragged and boring, but the movie is watchable on a whole.
I love the first half of the movie very much. Especially, the scenes between Surya and Sameera Reddy. I’m addicted to the Nenjukkul… song and the train scene where both meet for the first time. The ultimate thing is the style Surya says “I’ll come in to your life and sweep you off your feet”; it’s just awesome. Only Gautam can get these kind of scenes right.
And the Nenjukkul song is ultimate. I’m loving it. I don’t know how many times I viewed it on youtube. Each and every scene between Surya and Sameera is ultimate. Thanks Gautam for a good half-movie.
To Gautam: The Telugu version of the lyrics suck big time. Next time, please make movies jointly for both Tollywood and Kollywood. I guess it would pay off and you are an awesome director. Lyrics just can’t be written for the tune and exact translation wont work many a time. I would never go to theatre to listen to this kind of lyrics. Otherwise, find someone who can write good lyrics.
Someone lost his orkut account to me
Should I say someone lost his account to me or should I say someone tried to impersonate me? I don’t know. I created a new ymail account some time back and I don’t check that email frequently. One evening I checked that account and to my surprise, a mail from orkut was in my inbox asking to verify email address of the google account. Some one created an orkut account with my email address.
I was eager to know if the person was trying to impersonate me (WT*! I’m not a celebrity) or he was lazy to create an email account or it was a typo. I just confirmed clicking on the link in the mail and end of the story. The email is verified for the orkut (google) account. And the next thing, I want to log onto orkut and see if the person was trying to impersonate (rare chance). And now I need the password of the account, which obviously is an easy task. Just went to the forgot password link and the nice guys (software) at google sent me a reset password link just after verifying a captcha. This shows how sucky our current password recovery mechanisms are. Gotcha! I got the new password and the account is mine now. Logged on to the orkut account and saw the profile information. WT*! The guy has his complete postal address, phone numbers etc. on his profile.
How can people just make such stupid mistakes? It was a nice week’s time since the creation of the account. So, next time you are creating any account and your email address is your user name, be careful, don’t do such stupid mistakes. This could have been worse if google actually sends the password instead of the reset link. Most people would have same password for multiple accounts. And if I can find the person’s other email address or any other account with the same password, then it’s a complete mess of his online presence.
Had I waited with out resetting the password for some time, that would have been worse. The guy would have used the account and built his network, after which I can take control of it. Now I’m going to call him on his mobile and tell him this!
Nandi Hills
Went to Nandi Hills last weekend. It was a cloudy day, riding on the highway was a pleasure. Easily exceeded 110 kmph on my bike on the wonderful (some traffic signals though) highway. The climate was awesome in Nandi Hills, fog all over in the morning. Fog began clearing towards the afternoon, and on the way back, the view was awesome.
I love the colour of sky and clouds there, which we hardly can see in cities. I enjoyed the trip. Clicked few photos, see them on flickr.
