Durga Puja

Yesterday, I successfully completed my Navratri fasting (fasting for

9 days).

Maa Durga has been a revelation in my life as her blessings have

always been on me.

I was happy that my dedication towards the goddess was increasing.

At the same time, I was sad that I could not go to my native place

and enjoy the fun during "DURGA PUJA". It's been five long years

and I still miss it.

The crowd of devotees, the hustle and bustle of the Puja pandals,

the cuisines.

Why is it that the Puja is not celebrated in the same manner

in Bangalore as in the eastern part of India?

I know this question doesn't make much sense as every place

is different with its variegated culture and tradition.

Still, this question unconditionally hovers my mind.

In Hindi, we have a saying, "Jaisa Desh waisa Bhesh"

which means "As the country, so is you guise."

So that's how it is.

Nevertheless, I pray that the goddess usher her blessings

over all the beings of the World.

Ever wondered, how alone is a tree!

Some time back I thought of posting this one but did not post it.

I think it is not very well written. May be I'll improve it.

So here it is,

Solitude of the tree, an inkling of 'life',

Is so unknown, night and day;

We enjoy the shade and its halcyon ambience,

Instantaneously, our worries get blown away.

The tree bears the 'ruthless' Sun,

Stubborn life is the stubborn tree,

It stands the deluge of 'time'

Strong foundation is the key.

Wrath of nature impounded on the body,

Loses leaves, loses magnificence, loses tenacity,

Still it stands tall against the odds;

Its solitary life is full of acerbity.

Onset of spring - the greenery flutters;

Cheers, joys, happiness

Inside it discovers, it is still alone,

Lies are more and truth is less.

The feelings - underneath the bark,

Oozing droplets of sap - one, two, three;

Life and tree are essentially analogous,

Ever wondered, how alone is a tree!

Anand Bora

Creativity Unleashed

I have been a reader of a blog called Damn Cool Pics.

In a recent post called Creative Work of Art from Ordinary Things, they have shown some extraordinary stuff. The reason I am writing about this post is that I had done some creative work of such kinds in the past. It is unfortunate that I don't have any pics coz most of such things I gifted to others who are important to me. Nevertheless, the mentioned blog has become a photo gallery. Hope you enjoy it.

In the next post, I will post something for which I have kept my readers waiting for a long time.

Two new EMOTICONS

*>-] A CHAMPAGNE (My creation)
G>-] An Ice Cream ( A friend's creation)

Splendid Referer, splendid content - SAW-ed the Youtube

I have been very fortunate to get some reliable, intelligent and cool friends during the course of my life. One among them is Amit Saurav. He is a brilliant programmer, a computer science freak and a crispy cool personality. Currently pursuing his MS in Stony Brook, he has an aim of stamping his authority in the field of Computer Science. Someday, he will definately do this.

He referred me this link last week as he has seen me doing such kinda things earlier. I can definately make this one but it will take me another 10 years of practise to match the speed.Do visit Amit's blog and Amit's googlepages for his thoughts, insights and achievements.

Digital Dialogues - The MATRIX

I was going through Wiki Quote and found some interesting stuff on the movie Matrix.
It's dialogues.

Thought of listing a few of them.

THE MATRIX

• I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're
  afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't
  come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you
  how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm
  going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to
  show them a world ... without you. A world without rules or controls,
  without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where
  we go from there is a choice I leave to you. [NEO]
• I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing. I know why you hardly
  sleep, why you live alone and why night after night, you sit at your computer.
  You're looking for him. I know, because I was once looking for the same
  thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I
  was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the
  question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
  [TRINITY]
• Dodge this. [TRINITY]
• Don't think you are, know you are. [MORPHEUS]
• Unfortunately, no one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for
  yourself. [MORPHEUS]
• It means buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye. [CYPHER]
• I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the
  Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine
  years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss. [CYPHER]
• 'd like to share a revelation I've had during my time here. It came to me when I
  tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually
  mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural
  equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You
  move to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural
  resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another
  area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern.
  Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of
  this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure. [SMITH]
• Never send a human to do a machine's job. [SMITH]
• Maybe the machines didn't know what chicken tasted like, so that's why chicken
  tastes like everything. [MOUSE]
• Do not try and bend the spoon... that's impossible. Instead only try to realize
  the truth... There is no spoon. [SPOON BOY]

THE MATRIX RELOADED

• Choice, the problem is choice. [NEO]
• This night did not happen by chance. I do not believe in chance. When I see
  three objectives, three captains, three ships I do not see coincidence. I
  see providence. I see purpose. I believe this night holds for each and
  every one of us, the very meaning of our lives. [MORPHEUS]
• I killed you Mr. Anderson, I watched you die. With a certain satisfaction, I
  might add. And then something happened, something that I knew was
  impossible, but it happened anyway. You destroyed me, Mr. Anderson. Afterwards,
  I knew the rules, I understood what I was supposed to do, but I didn't. I
  couldn't. I was compelled to stay. Compelled to disobey. And now here I
  stand because of you, Mr Anderson. Because of you, I'm no longer an agent
  of this system. Because of you, I've changed, I'm unplugged, a new man, so
  to speak, like you, apparently free. [SMITH]
• Choice is an illusion, created between those with power, and those without.
  [MEROVINGIAN]
• Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the
  programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which
  despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is
  otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden
  so assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a
  measure of control, which has led you, inexorably, here. [THE ARCHITECT]

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

• Everything that has a beginning has an end. I see the end coming, I see the darkness
  spreading. I see death... and you are all that stands in his way. [THE
  ORACLE]
• He is you. Your opposite; your negative. The result of the equation trying to
  balance itself out. [THE ORACLE]
• Cookies need love like everything does. [THE ORACLE]
• Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep
  fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your
  survival? Can you tell me what it is, do you even know? Is it freedom, or
  truth, perhaps peace, could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson,
  vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect
  trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or
  purpose! And all of them as artificial as the matrix itself, although only
  a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able
  to see it Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now. You can't win, it's
  pointless to keep fighting! Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why do you persist?
• What do you think I am? Human? [THE ARCHITECT]

lesser KNOWNS - Douglas Engelbart

They say that for software engineers, console is the best.
But how did the computing technology got an easy interface
for the common public.

Clearly, the human interface tools have played a major part
in bringing the computer closer to the end users.

One such Human Computer Interface device is the MOUSE.
So who invented the mouse?
I think the title of the post explains it all.

Read more about Douglas Engelbart who invented the
mouse with Bill English at Stanford Research Institute.

Powered by ScribeFire.

JUVENILE EXODUS

A 3 minute creation exulting feelings on
Graduation Day.

Exodus from the childhood
The day has come
The alma mater bidding goodbye
Good are the feelings, bad are some.

The period of study has been a struggle
Deeds reflect the truth, reflections are lies
The sunflower must face the sun
Success is at the doorsteps, failure dies.

Expectations are high from 'them'
The 'battle' is yet to begin
I am well armed with my knowledge
Declination will be an offence.

Confidence and determination
The broth of 'studs'
The teachings will be your guidelines
Our knowledge - your 'bloods'.

Anand Bora aka Nandi

Powered by ScribeFire.

lesser KNOWNS - Almon Brown Strowger

Continuing with my series of lesser knowns.

It's so amazing that we can communicate with anybody in
this world at any point of time with just click of a button
of our cell phones.

How has this been possible?
Obviously, there has been contributions from numerous people
from all round the globe. But there has to be some technology
which revolutionised the way we communicate, which automatised
the most important part of the communication.

Here, I would like to mention Almon Brown Strowger.
So, who was he? An engineer or a scientist. To anyone's
surprise he was an undertaker and he was responsible for
automatising a very important part called switching in
telecommunications.

Read more about him on the Wiki page and this another page.

Powered by ScribeFire.

lesser KNOWNS - Larry Tesler

I will be starting a series where I will
talk about some people whom we don't know,
but they have contributed a lot to our lives.

Have you ever wondered about the CCP thing?
I mean the Cut, Copy & Paste. You would be
using it 'n' times a day, but did you ever
care about finding about the creator of the
technology which has drastically eased the
lives of the people.

I think that no one hardly cares.

Out of curiosity, I found this man on wiki
and I was pleased to see his profile too.

Good work LARRY TESLER!!

Powered by ScribeFire.

PSBEA

Wondering? What does it mean?

It means -
Physiological
Safety
Belonging
Esteem
Acquisition

Yesterday, I attended DCampBangalore at Yahoo! campus
in Bangalore. I must say, it was a very different experience
to listen to UI heads of Google, Yahoo, Oracle and Sun
Microsystems. Apart from them, there were other guys who
talked about User Experience & User Interface Design.

Now, coming back to where I started. The PSBEA thing.
Talking about User Motivation, Navneet from Google
explained things on the Basis of Abraham Maslow's Principles.
These Maslow's principles were characterised in the
above format (I took the liberty of forming an acronym
of the same for this post ;)

Another interesting topic was Enterprise 2.0.
After the presentation by Amit Pande, I was just wondering,
how effective can it be to any enterprise. It can
remove a lot of problems of any corporation. For instance,
most of the companies, today are experiencing ATTRITION
problem. I guess, this is more because of Crap Work & Work
Culture, rather than employee satisfaction. A social approach
in an organisation would definately help cut down employee
dissatisfaction as employees would be interacting more and
in turn, would generate some good work and ideas among
themselves consequently benefiting the company.

There were lots of other interesting speakers whom you can find
on the Wiki page of DCampBangalore.

Apart from this, I was impressed with the demo of Microsoft's
product called Silverlight. Additionally, another product
called Expression was also featured which I think, I will
definately use in the future.

Overall, the experience was really fruitful and gave an
insight into the vast emerging dimensions of User Experience.

Powered by ScribeFire.

You might like this :(|)

Two days back, I added a widget called Minekey to my blog.
I thought of adding it long back, but couldn't do it.
Minekey is a widget which gives recommendations to the
readers who come to your blog to read. The blog owner
can add feeds of different blogs to his widget. The
recommendations are given on the basis of the feeds
added.

The company was a startup of KK and his two friends
at IIT KGP.

It's a good addon to your blog.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Death - you are a poem

This small poem is the part of the movie Anand.
This movie is among the top three favourite movies
I have ever seen.
So here goes the poem (in Hindi) -

maut tu ek kavitaa hai .
mujhse ek kavitaa kaa vaadaa hai milegii mujhko...

Duubatii nabzon mein jab dard ko neend aane lage
zard(yellow/pale) saa chehra liye chaaNd ufak(horizon/zenith) tak pahunche
din abhii paanii mein ho raat kinaare ke kariib
na abhii andheraa ho na ujaalaa ho
na raat na din
jism jab khatm ho aur ruuh ko saa.Ns aaye

mujhse ek kavitaa kaa vaadaa hai milegii mujhko..

Here goes the English Version

Death - you are a poem,
I have been promised by a poem; She'll come to me.

When pain starts to sleep in the dying pulses,
The moon reaches the horizon possessing a pale yellow face;
At this instant, the day is in the waters; the night near the bank,
It's neither dark nor light,
Neither day nor night;
When the body begins to die and the soul starts to breathe.

I have been promised by a poem; She'll come to me.

I found some interesting posts on this poem.
Braveheart
Ananthakrishnan Narayanan

Another Blogger's Meet

I attended yet another meet of Bangalore Bloggers on Saturday.
This time, the meet was heavily influenced with discussions which
I guess, were not very relevant in the context.

I know, that people would be against me.
But my point is, as a blogger we should be more open
and should support feelings like freedom of expression, which
in itself is self explanatory.

Nobody wants to be tied down. The issue of the discussion was
- Flooding the Blogaloreans mailing list with unnecessary mails.

The question was - "How to decide the demarkation line between
necessary and unnecessary?" I guess this question has only one
answer which can be decided by the individual himself.
Belonging to a community, the individual is responsible for what
he/she does.

The debate may go on...

Anyways, on my part, I never found any issue with what happened.
This may be because, I am a very strong supporter of Freedom of
Expressions & Thoughts. I am never bothered about the way it is
done.

Apart from this, I enjoyed a lot during the meet.
Played a game called KODA which was taught by Vinu
on the spot. Also, had some nice chat with Prayank.

Overall, the meet was productive and sensible.

Working Anniversary

I have been suffering from illness since last 20 days or so.
Hence, I wasn't even able to update my blog.

Anyways, I completed one year in the company on 4th of September.
To be true, I do not feel anything. It's because whatever projects
I have been involved in, have been very boring but for a conceptualization
project (obviously a futuristic one). Overall, a monotonous experience.
But I did learn a lot, though I did it myself both on telecommunications
and web domain.

There have been two persons (both top Technology persons from IITs) in the company
who have been most impressive. The sad part is I could not learn under them for
long time as I had to move to Bangalore from New Delhi. So I thought
of mailing to one of them and also show him some of my recent works.

I got a reply -

"You are incredible ... as always ... "

and lots of such stuff and suggestions.

I was also once appreciated by the CEO of one company as

"You can be an asset to any company."

But all this does not mean much to me.
After  all, I am doing uninteresting work which I am
trying to make into an interesting one. More so, I think
my knowledge and my skills, both reside only in the alcoves
of my mind.

When would I get the chance to unleash my ideas?
May be sometime.

Anand Bora