Birth Certificate

United States law makes it illegal for a person to become its president if he/she is not born in the country. Makes sense, right ?

You do not need a Phd in Political Science to rationalize this law. It is just about national security.

Obama had to 'prove' that he was born in the USA. That is accountability to the voters. 

Sonia Gandhi :(

annam brahma

अन्नम् ब्रह्म - "annam brahma" is an old Hindu idea which roughly means "Food is God".

If that sounds too primitive, watch the movie "Food Inc" to learn why America is in deep trouble because it sees food as just a commodity. The movie will change forever the way you look at food. Here is the official trailer in Youtube.

Unless you are too busy to take care of your health, I highly recommend you to watch this movie.

India's Soft Power !

What a speech by the MP Shashi Tharoor on what India means to the world in 21st century ! Again, he proves that he is one of the best Indian politicians ever. See for yourself in this TED Video.

I wish he becomes India's Prime Minister in the near future, though I doubt it will happen with the Gandy family around.

Sick of Capitalism

I always had a sick feeling about capitalism since it considers money as God. (that is my understanding of it)

This week's "Week" magazine has Mahesh Dattani putting it in black and white in the last page article "A sickness called capitalism". I could not agree more !

Corporate Poison

"Only after the last tree has been cut down.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
- Native American Prophecy

The world's worst industrial disaster happened in India. Bhopal gas tragedy. The company responsible was US based Union Carbide, whose poorly designed safety system broke and let out tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas into the atmosphere causing hell like consequences in 1984. 500,000 people were exposed to the gas. Thousands died immediately. Tens of thousands were severely disabled and died in the years that followed. Today, children are still born with serious birth defects. The company also left behind a huge toxic waste dump in Bhopal before they left the country. The company was later acquired by Dow Chemical Company which manufactured 'Agent Orange' - the chemical used by the US in Vietnam war.

Globalization. Who cares about the poor Indian factory workers anyway ? Government of India too covered up the issue partially to avoid a bad name.

Bhopal's soil and water are poisoned forever. The children born there are cursed forever. I think of the cockroaches and mosquitoes we poison to death everyday.

Wow Tharoor !

ashi Tharoor is the only guy in the Congress camp whom I wished should win in the 2009 Lok Sabha Polls. He won from Thiruvananthapuram where I was born.

I know him through his articles in "The Hindu - Sunday Magazine". I like his sensible style of speech. I like him for his open and honest opinion about our nation. I like his optimism.

I have very high hopes from him as MP and whatever responsibility he shoulders. I even think his future performance as MP can easily catapult him to national politics. He is the kind of guy I would love to vote for. Even as PM.

I happened to read Shashi Tharoor's blog, where I saw an amazing level of reader participation. He even asks the readers to suggest ideas that he could use ! Do take a look at the blog to feel positive about the future of India.

Ur'bane' ?

Are we addicted to urban life ?
Are n't hours of daily commuting to office in hellish traffic reason enough to move back to small towns ?

Are n't cities killing the earth ? Is n't your city life killing your natural state of being ?
But town life is so slow moving... It lacks energy... The world looks so small there...

When the world 'outside' you becomes uncomplicated, the world 'inside' you gets a chance to bloom.

OK, let me go back to the world that I created a few minutes back... Listening to New Age music(from www.shoutcast.com) while reading about Ancient Religious Myths(links work in Internet Explorer).

Thanking Sanskrit

Sanskrit is one of the most important things that binds us as a nation. After millenia, Sanskrit continues to inspire us in many big and small ways.

For example, when you think of naming your child, you almost certainly look for Sanskrit names - beautiful ones. There is no other language in the world which has so many meaningful, yet beautiful names.

Another example - Most literary works in Indian languages are generously soaked with beautiful Sanskrit vocabulary. Even movie song lyrics are routinely enriched by words of Sanskrit origin.

Another example - A majority of Indian contribution to Science, Mathematics, Philosophy etc. has been in Sanskrit.

Another example - International impact. Words like yoga and karma are now in English dictionary. These are ideas that people all over the world are embracing in today's increasingly money-driven world. Unfortunately, we are unable to read and understand the original Sanskrit texts that explore these ideas.

One can think of more such examples... Sanskrit lives on. In the background of our lives. In subtle ways. It is not our Lingua Franca any more, but it is still very much alive in the fabric of our life and culture.

Unfortunately, many modern Indians identify Sanskrit with just religion This mindset needs to change. What can we do to keep alive such an important aspect of our culture that took millenia to evolve ?

1. Realize that our lives are still enriched by Sanskrit, whether we are conscious of it or not.

2. Sanskrit needs our support to survive. If we ignore our cultural aspects like Sanskrit, our descendants might curse us for having lost our identity for the sake of materialistic pursuits. Like the people of some unfortunate African nations - Western in names and outlook but still poor and backward - the sad price of losing one's identity.

4. We are all busy. As a small step, we can associate ourselves with Samskrita Bharati - an organization that has done wonderful things to spread awareness about Sanskrit. We can support them financially and with our time.
5. We can also take up spoken/written Sanskrit courses from Samskrita Bharati and participate in the events they organize. It would be great if our youngster community can produce Sanskrit teachers.

If you wish to contribute something to Sanskrit for the good things that it has given us, please contact me at coolkrishnan at gmail dot com / 98800 46941. I live in Bangalore.

Keep rocking, Tamil !

When Tamil Nadu Government announced tax exemption for Tamil movies with Tamil titles, I did not feel bad. This act was different from the usual Tamil-fanatic acts that the ruling party is known for.

I was never amused by titles like 'Jeans', 'New', 'Run' etc. in the past. An occasional English name that is relevant to the movie's theme was ok, but a sudden surge of English names for Tamil movies was a plain marketing gimmick. After the announcement, this trend has almost disappeared ! I like innovative Tamil names like 'vETTayADu viLayADu', 'Ayutha ezhuththu', 'kAkka kAkka' etc.

These small acts will go a long way in saving the language from getting wiped out by socio-political environment of the country. I might sound backward, but I really marvel at Chennai that has been in the forefront of development while laughing at 'Hindi-only' speakers of the country.

Go to Mumbai - you cannot hear Marathi. Go to Bangalooru - you can survive without knowing Kannada. Go to Chennai - In one year, you WILL learn Tamil ! I don't find this to be rude. I equate it to Japan where you cannot live without knowing Japanese.

I agree that patriotism takes priority over one's language, but neglecting a 2000+ year old language for the sake of a 50 year old nation is stupidity, mildly put. A language cannot live on its own. It needs great poets and poetry lovers. It needs great personalities who speak it proudly. It needs native speakers who are proud of it. It needs the socio-political conditions to be favorable too.

Christianity would never have survived more than a couple of centuries without the political support of Rome. English is all over the world not because of just Shakespeare, but mainly because of the gun power of Britain in the last few centuries and the power of the US today.

Tamil lives on, thanks to its passionate native speakers.

Ordinary Life

Most of us try hard to remain ordinary throughout our lives.

Every facet of our lives is plagued by ordinariness. We often fear that we might become different during the course of life. We try everything to prevent it from happening.

We make sure that we wear the leading brand of Jeans (If we can afford it).

We listen to the top 20 songs in the music channel. And believe that they are the best songs and try hard to 'like' them.

We eat Rasam Rice with a spoon in the office cafeteria so that others do n't think that we are not modern enough. Others too eat it with spoon and they too are thinking the same !

We yearn to buy that cool car the moment we know we might be able to afford it. What if somebody asks us : "Hey, you are a software professional for so many years. No car yet ?" So we buy the car partly to kill that question.

We read business magazines to make sure we don't lag behind our colleagues and friends.

We go to Adyar Anand Bhavan because everybody else goes there. How can we miss something that everyone else thinks to be good ? Long waiting time at the counter, no place to sit. So what ?

We go to Shabari Mala because everybody else thinks it is a good way to earn Positive Karma in 41 days. We too think so because we are afraid to think differently.

A certain amount of uniformity in our thoughts is required to keep the society from collapsing, but sometimes we go overboard - like a set of computer game characters with programmed lives.

Bhel Puri Wisdom

When I was a kid, I used to love spicy food. I did not like too much of sweet stuff then. It wonders me that these days I have developed a better liking for sweet food and am slowly moving away from spicy food.

I do not know the exact reason, but I like to believe that I have had too much of spicy food and hence nature is asking me to change my ways before I cause damage to my body. I like the idea of 'going with the flow of nature'. The trees sway in the direction of the wind. They never rationalize. And I guess they are pretty fine too.

Adyar Anand Bhavan Bhel Puri is usually a bit spicy for me. The first few spoonfuls are really exciting, but it soon turns out to be too spicy for the tongue to truly savor. I wondered if it is only me or the Bhel Puri is really spicy.

Recently, I went for a walk on a beautiful Sunday evening. Rain had just stopped. The air was pure. Bangalore was at its best. I visited the Deenabandhu Temple in CMH Road. The Vedic chanting and the serenity of the place relaxed me very much. I continued walking in CMH road with Norah Jones crooning through the earphones of my MP3 player.

I reached Adyar Anand Bhavan and decided to stop for a snack. I bought a plate of Bhel Puri. Norah's Voice was shielding me from the noisy restaurant environment. I took the first spoonful. What a shock it was ! It felt like a spoonful of needles. I tried to ignore the feeling, but stopped after taking a few more spoonfuls.

Realization dawned. A highly relaxed mood was in great contrast with the spicy Bhel Puri. I still like Bhel Puri, but realize that most people fail to notice that it is sometimes too spicy to relish - because they are in a rush. The mad rush of modern life.

Tongue-burning Spicy food. Deafening music. Aggressive corporate culture. Dil maange more ?

Sundaram Samskritam

"The Sanskrit language is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either"
- Sir William Jones, Third Address to the Asiatick Society of Bengal

It is very unfortunate that most Indians lack the knowledge of Sanskrit - That means we have a big chest of treasure, but do not have the key to open it :(
A huge amount of literature full of wisdom, exquisite poetry and science is inaccessible to us.

Though my knowledge of Sanskrit is just the tip of the iceberg, typing in Sanskrit, printing out verses of wisdom, etc have been my wishes for quite a long time.

Like Kuralsoft quenched my thirst of Tamil computing, Baraha was the end of my search for a good Sanskrit software, This was created by a gentleman called Sheshadrivasu Chandrasekharan. He started with Kannada - with an aim of sending emails to his mother who did not read English. It was then extended to other Indian languages too. Though some Sanskrit experts say that certain complex consonant combinations are not supported well by Baraha, it suits most of my Sanskrit typing needs.

Baraha integrates nicely with standard Windows Apps like MS Office. It has a transliteration scheme that allows you to type using the standard English keyboard.


Baraha can be downloaded for free here.

Unusual Week

My energy has been unusually high this week. Some unusual things I did:

• Tried (and succeeded partly) to stay consciously relaxed throughout my day - be it at office or home.
• Walked from office to home on 4 days of the week (more than 3 kms distance). My legs did not ache a bit. On Friday, I became more walk-hungry and hence did a round each inside 2 nearby parks before going home. I was a bit baffled when I found myself enjoying the process !
• Got a caprice to try out an interesting idea that sprung in my head, at work in the morning. Finished implementing it on the same evening, which I had thought would take longer.
• Cracked a couple of data structure problems with unusual ease, thanks to the new fresher in our team.

Contrastingly, today(Saturday) was different, still unusual though.

• Got up in the morning and decided to do something serious that I had n't planned at all. Anxiety shot up.
• During the day, I was involved in something that kept me anxious.
• What I had always thought to be my strength - let me down totally.
• Used auto rickshaw and walked very little. Now, its time to go to bed, my legs are aching !

Do I see a pattern ? The first point in each of the above scenarios tells me something...

Loving your Job

SWill I ever truly love my job ? Should I ?

Five years in the IT industry have made me realize that work is just work.
The fire that burned in my belly when I was a fresher is no more.
There was a time when I admired mere source code. Now that illusion has dissolved.

I get thoughts about making my favorite hobby my profession - Composing music, which is the most satisfying thing I have done in my life.

Practical difficulties aside, will a hobby remain enjoyable when it becomes a job ? Will it not change to an exhauster from being a rejuvenater ? Will creativity survive when deadlines loom ? In such a case, I will have to ensure that my creations are liked by others too, which is not necessary when it is just a hobby.

Similar thoughts have been blogged by Anjana.

But then, there are people like A R Rahman, who are like creativity-factories - delivering with a punch every time. Touching the fan's heart every time.

Probably, I should make living a hobby.

How to name it ?

SModern Indian society is going through an interesting phase in the area of child-naming.
Suddenly realizing his/her global identity, the young Indian parent is breaking traditional conventions while naming his/her kid. Trying to find that perfect balance between modernity and tradition, he/she hopes to build a great brand for the offspring in the society.

Some seem to exercise creativity at dangerous levels when synthesising new names. Some seem to be fascinated by uncommon Sanskrit names. Some want to make sure that the name sounds cool in school, college, corporate, parties, international airports and the other side of the globe. Should I mention the numerology craze that garnishes the confusion ?

While taking too many factors into consideration, the cultural/geographic identity of the kid is sometimes lost in the process of naming. For example, the craze for chic Bollywood style names among some South Indians robs the Southern identity totally.

Anirudhdh. Beautiful name. Krishna's grandson in Mahabharata. But, who would imagine that this is the name of a Tamil kid ? Well, it is.

It is debatable whether we need to preserve regional identities within a nation. I think India's richness is largely its diversity. Each region has undergone cultural evolution over millenia. Trying to crudely mix them all in a big culture pot to create uniformity is outrageous.

An easy way to retain the Tamil/Mallu identity while picking up fascinating Sanskrit names is to suffix it with 'an'. Anirudhdhan ! Well that looks definiely Tamil/Mallu ! Does it sound old fashioned ? I pity those who consider their ancestors an inferior lot. For girl names, we don't have such an easy suffix algorithm, but there are plenty of Sanskrit names used predominantly by South Indians. Pure Tamil names are on a decline these days. A former colleague of mine was very thoughtful and mature when he was particular in giving a pure Tamil name to his daughter.

I am talking more about South Indian names because I am a South Indian who knows more about South India. I believe these things can be easily applied to other regions to India too.

I can't help but wonder at the name of my close friend - 'Devanathan Varadarajan'.
What A Punch !

Masala Chai

A new flavour is spreading across the continents. A poor third world country is slowly emerging out of the globe. An over populated, over polluted land in South Asia is starting to make an impact in the global society.

Many things Indian are entering the lives of the world citizen in a big way.

Yoga is changing the way a person thinks of health and wellness. Indian food is probabily the next big exotic cuisine. Indian music is a breath of fresh air in the world of grooves and loops. Indian spirituality is giving refuge to people injured by the tsunami of materialism.

My return trip to India after a month's stay in Chicago made me experience this new India phenomenon in subtle ways.

I was heading to the O'Hare International Airport, Chicago in a cab. The cab driver started a chat with me which went like this:

Cab Driver(CD) : Are you going to india ?
I : Yes, to Bangalore.
CD : Are you into computer business ?
I : Yeah.
CD : Your country has got the best school for that in the world !
(I was on the floor now)
CD : I saw that in a special TV program. I don't remember the name of the school.
I : Are you talking about IIT ? (I knew he was)
CD : Yes, now I remember !
I : Thats the Indian Institute of Technology (I was flying now)
CD : They said everyone who comes out of that school is really smart.

After reaching the Airport, I headed towards the Lufthansa counter, already thinking about blogging this incident...

Later, after a long sleepy flight to Frankfurt, I boarded the connecting flight to Bangalore. Around half the passengers if not more were Indian. Quasi-Indian food was served as expected. Then came the surprise - A flight attendent was serving 'Masala Chai', trying his best to pronounce it correctly ! I was delighted to the core.

A European airline was operating a flight to India and was offering an Indian beverage to please the Indian passengers. This thought made me fly in flight. This is no act of plain courtesy - it is business.

Every big company wants to do business in this 'poor' country. A natural consequence of this is the global recognition and acceptance of things Indian.

After centuries of slumber, India is waking up. And making an impact.

Soft Tamil

A Tamilian, I did schooling in English medium in Kerala, learnt Hindi and Malayalam as additional languages. I read and write these three languages better than my mother tongue - Tamil.

But, I feel truly at home only when I speak Tamil !

I sometimes feel sad that I have not given my mother tongue its due importance in my life. That I have almost entirely ignored it while running the rat race of survival. That I cannot read a Tamil newspaper as comfortably as English ones. That I do not know even a dozen verses from the great Thirukural. That I have to send emails to my relatives in the language of the British.

This feeling has lingered inside me for quite sometime. That is when I came across Kural Software, which helps one to use Tamil seamlessly for common tasks with a PC. Using the Standard English keyboard and with very basic knowledge of the Tamil script, I send mails, chat and even type down song lyrics in Tamil, all this with the same ease and speed as with English, after Kural blessed me! The experience was like a wish getting magically fulfilled in our folk tales.

Emailing in is a pleasure when you can type down your thoughts without any translation !

Chatting in Tamil is almost like real Mokkai !

Tamil gives word processing a new meaning !

Next on my wish list is getting such a good software for Sanskrit. There are a few that I came across, but I did not feel comfortable enough with any of them.

Mummy Tongue

Indians are the best non native speakers of English in the world.
This has had a role to play in Indians grabbing a large piece of the technology cake.

Every Indian parent dreams of his/her child speaking flamboyant English. This has resulted in people like me, who can read, write and in some scenarios speak better in English that my mother tongue ! Once an exception, this is slowly becoming the norm in the urban Indian middle class, atleast in the south.

Language is one of those aspects of culture that are highly resistant to change. With the right pressure, it may take only a couple of generations to significantly change the food habits or dressing style of a culture. But language will largely persist in more or less the same form.

300 years of political and economic dependence on the British has left the Indians obsessed with English. People from my grandpa's generation take pride in their English speaking capabilities even though they are the ones who witnessed the freedom struggle India went through.

Our language has changed.
Many of us have stopped writing in our mother tongues altogether. Many of us don't read much either after school. We try our best to speak in English where ever possible in the society. Personal communication like letters and email is almost totally in English.

All the above hold good for the urban middle class and above. Don't worry, the lower classes and the village folks are trying their best to imitate the so-called educated people.

We should be grateful to English for helping us earn our bread and butter, oops! sorry, rice and sambar. But should we not stop there ? Why are we crazy about English ? Why do we yearn that our children's first spoken word be 'Mummy' ?

Joy of walking

Walking is a joy.

Ever tried to enjoy walking in the roads of so called Silicon Valley of India - Bangalore ?

Walking on roads of this city is a nightmare for people like me who believe that walking a while everyday can offset health problems later in life.

Pedestrians are considered outcast here. They are not even allowed to walk on footpaths which are utilized generously by two wheelers. You know, they even sound horns ordering you to give way while you walk on footpaths !

Traffic signals ?
Well, the traffic signal near my office is pathetic. It is switched off very often during evenings.
And a traffic police with a big belly stands there and controls the traffic. Damn it. He never gives time for pedestrians to cross. Even the signals are set not to show green for pedestrians at times.

Does that encourage people to use signals to cross the road ?
No, jay walking is the joy of walking.

Techies of India ! Wake up. Are you really enjoying the technology that you are creating ?
Realize that life is to be lived with simplicity. Else chaos will consume this mad world.

Let there be peace again.
Let walking become a joy again.

Mother 'Tongue'

Everybody is born with a tongue.

Our tongues tell us at some point in our lives that the type of food that we got used to eating in our childhood is the best in the world.

Why does my tongue tell me that Curd Rice with Sambar is next only to 'devamritam' (divine nectar) ?

Why does my tongue frown when it tastes the sambar of a state that neighbors my home state ?
"After all, sambar is sambar", I tell my tongue.
"No", it says furiously.

I wonder at this yet another funny trait of the funny being that inhabits the piece of rock that wanders in space around a hot ball of fire - human being !

Man is a slave of his habits.