Random Reflections

2006-12-25T05:46:00.000-08:00

2006-12-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

2006-12-10T06:10:00.000-08:00

The Simple Blog

2006-12-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Check out the amazing new blog, The Simple Blog. It is a web development/SEO blog that caters to the needs of the people of the blogosphere. The blog is an experiment of sorts and the author is trying to prove a point in the blogosphere that it is possible to make money off of the internet. Wish all the best to him...

2006-11-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

2006-10-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

2005-07-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

Latest on Iraq

According to the UK-based Iraq Body Count, more than 24,860 civillians have been killed since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Of those killed, 82% were adult males and 18% were women and children.

I don't know about you but to me those come across as some pretty startling facts. I mean just look at the number of women and children killed - 18% of 24,860. That equates upto 4,475 women and children killed for something they knew nothing about. All this bloodshed for revenge against crimes they didn't commit?

You don't have to be an engineer to realize that something is wrong with the whole Iraq equation...

2005-07-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Nanotechnology! Wha' the .... ?

Imagine the earth. Imagine a soccer-ball lying on the earth. Now imagine shrinking the size of the earth (along with the ball) to that of a grape. Now, imagine the size of the shrunken ball. That is how small a nano-particle is!!

The 21st century is the slated to be called "Century of the Nanotechnology". Nanotechnology is the manipulation of nano(atomic) particles to help people to perform a wide array of different functions that are today considered impossible. Nanometre means 10 to the power of -9 metres. That is how small this technology is. But its applications are as varied as that of curing cancer to speeding up computers.

Nanobots
Imagine creating machines with atomic precision and almost zero power consumption. One such device would be a nanobot. A 'nanobot' is a sort of robot made to about the size of a single atom. These are constructed to perform a predefined task. Thousands of such nanobots can perform tasks (like getting rid of pollution from the air or getting the ocean surface clean after an oil spill particle by particle) together. Thus simultaneously making the task easier as well as faster. In addition these bots could be self-replicating, eliminating the need for creating newer ones each time these bots fails.

Nanomedicine & Nanobiology
Now medically, thousands of such 'nanobots' could be assigned to each person to take care of his medical needs. For example, these 'nanobots' could act as 'dust clouds' around a person. When a medical emergency arises, this 'dust cloud' will act accordingly. And since they act at the atomic or sub-micron levels, the repairing of tissues and destruction of infection causing organisms is made possible.
Consider a patient inflicted with cancer. These bots could be inserted into the patient and then could be used to search and destroy the cancerous cells thus getting rid of the patient's cancer!! Many companies are already in clinical trials for drug delivery mechanisms based on nanotechnology!

Nanocomputing
In computing terms, nanotechnology has already made somewhat huge strides. As computing power increases rapidly, manufactures are finding that it is increasingly becoming difficult to follow Moore's Law(which stated that the number of transistors on a chip will double every 18 months) which has been holding true for a very long time. But a point will be reached when following Moore's Law would simply not be practical.
This is where nanotechnology steps in. By manipulating atomic and sub-atomic particles, their charges can be used to mimic the binary 1s and binary 0s used in today's digital computing. This will increase the transistor count significantly. It is estimated that using nanotechnology, the computing speed would increase 1000 times!!! Now that's a lot of power. In 1989 when one scientist used a Scanning Probe Microscope)SPM to spell out the letters IBM using xenon atoms.

Some other uses of nanotechnology i found interesting were machines tiny gears and cogs made from atoms, miniature or atomic submarines in the bloodstreams controlling the presence of micro-organisms, carbon nanotubes, etc.

These are just some of the areas that will be affected by nanotechnology. Once the impeding problems and wrinkles are sorted out and nanotechnology takes off, life will become more easier and healthier. Can't wait!

2005-07-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

Thinking Aloud...

Hey guys, thanx for your comments. Sorry if i offended anyone. I didn't mean to. I was just thinking aloud whatever stupidity that comes to my mind...

But about this 'military objective' thing... one has to wonder if the objective was purely military, since the so called search for 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' appeared to be nothing but an amazingly wild goose chase.

Ooops.... there i go thinking aloud again....

2005-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Real Terrorists?

Think abou the following statement carefully : "When 1000's of innocent people are murdered in London and America it is called terrorism and when 1000's of innocent people are murdered in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is called the war 'on' terrorism!". Be impartial and rational and give that statement a serious thought.

2005-07-12T23:21:00.000-07:00

Sports and India

Indian sports is in a state of complete disorder. Despite the growing billion+ population, Indian sports just hasn't clicked together. Atleast not yet.
But the bright side is the whole Indian sports presence is increasing globally, albeit slowly. Lets look at some of the Indian sports people who have made it globally.

Cricket is a sport where India is well established. When talking about Indian Cricket, the name that jumps into everyone's mind is :- Sachin Tendulkar. He is truly a global Cricket superstar. He is widely considered the best batsman in the world. But this isnt a one man army type thing. There are others : Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag, Kumble, etc... And there are many amazingly contested matches between India and its political rival Pakistan. But this is well known in the world and so lets move on without much ado to other sports.

Tennis. In tennis, we have always had a representative. The Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi doubles partners have been ranked the number 1 on many occasions. Thats number one in the world. Now they have split. Paes is with Navratilova and Bhupathi with Mary Pierce. But currently the hot news is Sania Mirza. She is a young and energetic player who has won over many an Indian praise and heart. The recently concluded Wimbeldon(her first appearance) saw her breeze past the first round with ease. But she was defeated in the second round. But that was not a bad thing because she put up a fight with the more fancied Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. This spirited performance made one BBC commentator say "Sania Mirza, remember that name cause we are going to see a lot of her." Although she isn't in the league of a Maria Sharapova, she still has an unbeleivably large fan following here in India.

F1. One name : Narain Karthikeyan. Yup, an indian in the eighteen elite drivers from around the world. He is dubbed 'the fastest Indian'. In such a high profile sport like the Formula 1, the presence of an Indian is really meritorious. He drives a Jordan car. This explains why he hasn't accumulated any points(except on one occasion he finished 4th). But he has finished in front of his teammate Monteiro on most occasions. He too isn't in the league of a Montoya or Schumaker, but this could do wonders for Indians aspiring to be F1 drivers.
Hockey. India is a well known and established name in Hockey. But hockey in India is marred in politics and no steps are taken to improve its standards. Lets leave it at that.

Chess. Vishwanathan Anand. He was the first Asian to win the World Chess Championship. He has defeated Kasparov on numerous occasions. He is truly India's intellectual sport brand ambassador.

Soccer. Nothing of significance has ever been achieved by India in football. Personally, i would love for India to excell in football more than any other sport. But like hockey, this too is marred in political controversies and a chronic dose of doing nothing.

Athletics. Except for a few tiny blips on the radar screen(like Anju Bobby George) nothing of much significance.

2005-07-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

:->

2005-07-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

Indian Film Industry - Bollywood

Did you know that the indian film industry churns out more films than any other industry in the world?? Well, its true considering the different umm.. 'woods' in India :- Bollywood(Hindi), Mollywood(Malayalam), Kollywood(Kannada), Tollywood(Tamil), etc.. Besides these there are cross-over movies - in English mainly - taking the Indian culture to the world (Movies like 'Bend It Like Bekham', 'Bride and Prejudice'). So just imagine the number of movies that are made a year. Still in doubt?? Well then you are not an Indian. You have to be Indian to understand the scale of movie production here...

Like all things Indian, i used to think that Bollywood was pathetic for all the Hollywood movies it copied and all the dumb action and more often than not equally dumb storylines(although there were some exceptions, they were too far apart to be of significance)that was produced there. But again like all things Indian, i began changing that view. Nowadays, a spate of good and original movies are being thrown at the audience and this is restoring the public's faith in Bollywood.

Some such movies are Black, Dil Chahta Hai, D, Parineeta, Sarkar, etc...
But what i can't understand is why some amazing actors are rated beneath not so good ones. For example i think Saif Ali Khan is one of the best actors(along with Aamir Khan, Nana Patekar, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, etc...) but he is also the most underrated actor. I don't feel too strongly for Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and the likes. But if there is one actor i despise the most, it has to be Rajnikanth.

Rajnikanth(shown in picture) to me is one of the biggest mysteries of India. He is a Superstar in the biggest sense! He is worshipped by thousands of people. To many Tamilians, he is a God!!! Ok, forget his looks, but could he at least act???? Not even if his life depended on it. His recent movie 'Chandramukhi' collected 60 Crore in the box office. I had the bad luck of being able to watch it and i almost cried at the clear destruction and killing of movies as an art form. What made it a SuperHit is beyond me. One of the mysteries of this mysterious land....

2005-07-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

Indian Industry

The indian IT industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. This single statement doesn't come even close to the actual implications of the fact. India and IT are like internet and information. Neither would be what it is today without the help of the other. Hard to believe that a country only 20 years ago was considered the black spot in asia is today the driver of growth in the region, isn't it?

What's more is that this emergence is not restricted to IT and IT enabled services alone. It can be seen in Telecom, Automotive and most recently Aviation sectors. The telecom sector is the fastest growing sector in the country. Ever since the telecom industry was opened to private players, it has seen a sharp rise in revenues and investments. Phone charges here are among the lowest in the world. The private players like Airtel, Escotel, Hutch, BPL, etc. have forced the public sector telecom giant BSNL to improve itself and unlike in most other sectors, this PSU actually leads the private players. All the latest techno advances are seen in this sector and it is growing furiously. A sign of this spurt in growth is the proliferations of the mobile into the daily life of rural India where even low-key farmers have mobiles.

Automobile is another huge emerging industry. Where only 10 years ago, the only cars seen on the roads were the humble Maruti 800 and the antique Ambassador, today we see cars ranging from the Hyundai Santro(4 Lakh Rupees or $9,500) to the Bentley Continental Flying Spur(2 Crore Rupees or $500,000). Coincidently, Maruti Suzuki's(previously Maruti) has released a new car the Swift. Now this car is making waves not only for its looks but also for its high-end specs at low-end prices. But the shocker is that these waves are created in better developed countries like England. Way to go Maruti!!!

The recent opening up of the Aviation sector has caused a lot of industry Big-Weights to launch private Airlines to compete for the Indian aviation pie. These airlines (like SpiceJet, IndiGo, Kingfisher, etc.) are causing a shortage of trained pilots. The shortage currently amounts upto more than 3000 pilots. This has increased poaching among them and the salaries of pilots have gone up almost 100%. A good time to be a pilot, huh?

2005-07-08T23:07:00.000-07:00

Indian Economy
Hmmm... India. India is a mystery that can't be solved. It is too complex and so devoid of convention that no great thinker can even scratch the surface to unravel its mysteries.
I used to think of India as another loser in the great war against poverty and development in general. It was a dark and dirty land of snake charmers and rich maharajas where there was little or no roads and small huts were the rage among the non-maharajah masses. I used to despise the thought of returning to my homeland from Dubai, the city of Gold and spend another two month vacation which i could have spent with more productivity in the constantly developing city-state called Dubai.
But my parents made it compulsory for me to return. And it was during one of these visits that my eyes opened to the amazing marvel that is India. India didn't have beautiful roads and streetlights and steel and glass high-rises. It didn't have all the latest cars and gadgets. It didn't have shopping malls and multiplexes and supermarkets. It didn't have a public Transport system using the latest Volvos and Mercedes-Benzs.
But what it did have was a heart. This was so lacking in Dubai which was a monarchy and people didn't have a say in anything of consequence. Not that the peaople were suffering in Dubai. But it just seemed cunning and cold-hearted and villanous in comparison with India.
India is a thriving democracy(one of the largest in the world). It was home to some of the greatest personalities of the world(Mahatma Ghandi, Sachin Tendulkar, etc.). It has one of the most vibrant and involved press in the world. It was the land of the individual achievers. That is people like Sabir Bhattia(Hotmail whiz kid) where scattered all over the country. But no significant achievements of large scales were seen.
Before the 90s, India was almost a waste land. The roads were a joke. Businesses were closing down. It was considered akin to a barren wasteland. But then in 1991, when the congress was in power, the new financial team of Manmohan Singh(Current PM) and Palaniyappan Chidambaram(Current FM) was introduced. This well educated (Manmohan from Oxford and Chidambaram from Harvard) team would single handedly change the coutry into what it is today : a growing Super Power! They opened up the economy and cautiously yet surely allowed private investors to enter the economy.
Then in 1997 again Manmohan Singh presented the "Dream Budget". This opened up the economy further and catered to the extreme variations in needs of the growing indian population. Thus slowly but surely, India started off on its journey to being a Super Power. It is predicted that by 2015, India will be the 4th greates economic power in the world behind US, EU and China.
India's race to being a Major Power was overshadowed by the Great Chinese Gallop. Where India was Growing at a rate of 6-6.5% of GDP, China was Growing at about 10%.
India's gallop was marred by the beurocratic government and an anti-development themed Marxist party. But inspite of all this, India still continues to generate a growing world presence. Ask any US software techie about outsourcing and you will get the idea!!

2005-07-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

ME

Hi Again! Let me tell a bit about myself. I am a 19 yr old boy of indian origin brought up in the highly developed and urbanised Dubai(in the United Arab Emirates). I am a native of Kerala a southern state in India.

As you can see, I have had two extreme standards of living: The highly modern and well facilitated Dubai and the grossly underdeveloped(yet scenic) hill range(Wayanad, Kerala) of India. And let me tell you, these two places are as different as can be. Most of my posts will reflect these dual standards of life.

I am currently doing my B.tech(Bachelor of Technology) in Electronics and Telecommunications in Ernakulam(Industrial Capital of Kerala). I am the only son of two very orthodox yet understanding parents.

2005-07-08T11:51:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Hi. This is a blog about ... welll... everythin'. Yup everythin'. I know this sounds boring but hey, this is only my first blog. This blog will contain everything from cars to politics to education to technology to society to blah to blah to .... U know; everything. But only difference is it will have an indian point of view thanks to my indian origin. Just bear with me....k?