Happy Diwali

This has been a belated Diwali, but then everything is running late now a days. So are the wishes.

Times Higher Education – Top 100 Universities.

This year 2009’s top 100 universities has been listed.

India finds no mention in the list. Where are we? Why do we not feature in the top 100. Two of Singapore Universities find a place. For a small country like Singapore, this is a huge achievement. None of the other South Asian Countries have a mention.

National University of Singapore is at 30th place.

Nanyang Technological University is at 73. Great work Singapore.

See the full list here.

Floods in Andhra

The floods in Andhra have been massive. Reading news reports gives only a partial glimpse of the scene. I was trying to see some photos of places that I have seen 15-25 years ago. Those were calmer times. I had been in Vijayawada as a small kid during the massive cyclone of 1977.  After that I think this should be the big thing there.

I have posted some photos.

This is Prakasam Barrage. With all gates photos. This is an internet photo download. I am not sure from where.

Gandhi Jayanti

2nd Oct is the birth day of Gandhiji. He was born in the year 1869 in Porbandar. Gujarat has produced a wide array of brilliant people in India. Gandhiji wrote a book called My Experiments with Truth. It can be read from here. All should read it. Gandhiji lived truth. We all think truth as a verb. Something that has to be practiced. What happens when you practice something? Imagine 10+20 operation. We instantly know it is 30. We don't calculate. Because when you do something so many times over and over again, it starts to become natural. Gandhiji practiced truth so much that truth started to follow him. Instead of he telling the truth, what he told became the truth.

Operating Systems

Every time we think of operating systems, Windows, Linux and UNIX quickly come to mind. There are many more out there. I am talking about OS at the desktop level. Mostly home and small business users. Not about the enterprise.

There are two schools of thought. One are ok with Windows, others are not. Those who are not can also be classified to two groups. One who wants everything on Linux. They want the OS and applications all on Linux. This potentially means rewriting applications or finding equivalents. Getting accustomed to the user interface etc.

The other are those who like the windows interface, but are looking for alternative to windows OS. A new OS that looks like windows, can run all windows applications unchanged. ReactOS is one that addresses this category of people. There is FreeDOS as well but that tries to replace MS-DOS. Now some of you might think, MS-DOS? But let me tell you, lots of applications like Cash Registers, Inventory applications still run on MS-DOS. For these people FreeDOS is a boon. Not for the home users. No one will replace his/her XP with FreeDOS. But ReactOS is different. It is aiming to replace XP/2003. Just replace the OS. All applications will just run normally.

Do read more about ReactOS. As mentioned on the site, OS is still in alpha. (there is plenty of time).

Vijayadashmi or Dusserah

Vijayadashmi or Dusserah is a festival celebrated on the 10th day of Ashvin month of the Hindu calendar. There are three days in the Hindu calendar that are termed auspicious. One is Vijayadashmi, other is 1st day of Chaitra and 1st day of Kartika.

During this day large effigies of Ravan, Kumbhakarn and Meghnath are constructed in Ramlila grounds across India. Rama, Sita and Laxman arrive. Rama fires the arrow (with flames). The effigies get burnt. They are filled with crackers. In my childhood we used to wait for this day.

Happy Dusserah to everyone.

Navratri (19-27 Sept 2009)

Wishing all a happy Navratri. Last year at Jodhpur there was a tragedy. Hope this year it goes smooth. Hope the God's are happy. This year their need is more. Economic recession needs to end. Though people are talking of "green shoots", hope they become trees and are not plastic ones.

US Open 2009 - Women - Kim Clijsters

The Belgian as made a record of sorts. She retired, delivered a baby, got a Wild card and then won the tournament. She is humble and talented. Two things that usually don't go together. It is a great news that so many self claimed "Sports Specialists" could not predict this.

Salute you.

Babaji

Many years ago I read the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" written by Paramhansa Yogananda. I read both the English as well as the Hindi version. There is a mention in the book of Shri Mahavtar Babaji.

From the past few days I have got renewed interest in Babaji. So just to make people aware of this creation I am entering this blog.

Hindi Jokes

Thanks to Ayaz.

1. बॉस ग़ुस्से में: तुमने कभी उल्लू देखा है?

कर्मचारी (सर झुकाते हुए): नहीं सर .

बॉस: नीचे क्या देख रहे हो ? मेरी तरफ देखो.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. संताः डाक्टर साहब, मैं चश्मा लगाकर पढ़ तो सकुंगा न??

डाक्टरः हां, हां बिल्कुल...

संताः तब तो ठीक है, वर्ना अनपढ़ आदमी की जिंदगी भी कोई जिंदगी है...!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.  एक आदमी लायब्रेरियन के पास पंहुचा : "भाई साहब आप मुझे आत्महत्या पर कोई किताब दे सकते है ।

लायब्रेरियन : नहीं दे सकता । आप लौटायेंगे नहीं !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. तुनकमिजाज बीवी का मूड अच्छा करने के लिए पति को एक आइडिया सूझा।

उसने अपने बर्थ-डे पर पत्नी के गिफ्ट की गई दो शर्ट में से एक चुनी।

उसने एक शर्ट पहना और अपनी वाइफ के सामने जाकर खड़ा हो गया।

पत्नी जोर से बोली- अच्छा तो वो रेड कलर का शर्ट तुम्हें पसंद नहीं आया, इसलिए नहीं पहना ना...!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. संताः क्या तुम बिना खाना खाए जीवित रह सकते हो?

बंताः नहीं।

संताः लेकिन मैं रह सकता हूं।

बंताः कमाल है यार, मगर कैसे?

संताः नाश्ता करके और कैसे!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Force India Mercedes - First Points

It has been the greatest news for Force India and all Indians in 2009 related to F1. The team gained the pole position and then went on to be at second place in the Belgian GP held today. The pole position itself would have been an achievement, the points today have given double reason to enjoy.

Congrats Force India Mercedes. Hope to see you with more and more points.

See the list of Belgian GP Results here.

Winner : Giancarlo Fisichella

Force India - Mercedes.

The force behind Force India.

Vijay Mallaya.

Happy Indian Independence Day

Flag
National Flower
National Animal
National Bird
National Game
Father of Nation
Current President
Current PM

Wishing a happy Janmashthami.

Happy Birthday Singapore

It is a belated birthday. But then sometimes we are late.

Flag
Size	700 Sq Km
Population	4.86 Million (48.6 lakhs)
Merlion
Esplanade

 

PS.

Mumbai has an area of 640 Sq Km and a Population of 19 Million.

Rajmata Gayatri Devi Passes at 90

Rajmata has been one of the most beautiful women in her times. None of the Indian Bollywood starlets could come anywhere close to her.

In her later years she looked like this.

Read more here.

Passing of a Legend. Gangubai Hangal.

At the age of 97, today morning, Gangubai Hangal left for the heavenly abode. I remember her seeing on Doordarshan National channel during my school days. It was after 9 pm there used to be Classical Sangeet program.

We will surely miss you.

Hasya Kavi.

Hope you enjoy it. It is in Hindi.

Synchronizing

With too much of data, we all have USB storage. So there is a need to synchronize this data. One way is to copy the data. But with sizes increasing to GB, it is not meaningful to do full copy every week.

I found two products on the web. Both have both a free version and a paid version. I want to share this information. Please do use them. Save time and use the saved time to watch you tube videos. :)

1. GoodSync.
2. Allway Sync.

Ghost of MJ

I read this story in the Straits times.

Went to the youtube to search. And yes it shows something. A faint black figure moving. God only know what is it. Is it MJ's ghost or something else.

See the video here and if you are in a hurry move to 8:20 place.

Google OS

Google announced yesterday that it is serious on launching an OS by the middle of next year. It will be called Chrome OS. By the way some facts.

- Chrome is a browser from Google. Available since feb this year.

- Google already has Android, an OS running on Handhelds. But they claim there will no overlapping.

In my opinion, though it looks like a small piece of IT news, but there will be lot of shake up. Seeing GMail, Google Earth, we all know that Google is capable of delivering lightweight, efficient piece of software. To be honest, I am waiting for the OS.

Read more here.