Anniyan - Round 2 ... ting ting

naming an ocassion as a reason I set out to watch anniyan again ... it has been ages since I'v ever watch any regional movie in theatre twice ... this is probably the first :-? (MMKR of course the only regional movie I'v seen over a 100 times @ least) ... what pulled me back again ... sujatha's punch dialogue of course esp for vivek and otherwise ... there was so much I had missed last time ... n the sound effects as well ... the other theatre I saw it (which for long had the honour of opening all super star's movies) was pathetic ... even @ satyam @ times the movie went out of focus ... thankfully mostly during ad's so :) ...

so what did I observe new this time? as before I'd proly be biased to anniyan character so watch out ...

until lil before the intermission the movie was all fun and good ... gales of laughter flooded the theatre ... this time I was observing n njoi'n every one of viveks dialog ... sujatha has done marvels ... my fav if I shud quote was during the train journey to thiruvaiyaaru ... vivek say's express yourself by kissing her if u can ... n when ambi says "naanaaaa" viveks rebuttal "pinna yenna kamal sir'a ya vandhu kiss panna solla mudiyum" was witty ;) ...

well many ppl luk @ matrix freaks such as I n say ... well if Neo can fly n do amazin stunts u'd buy that but if Rajni does the same u mock ... well for those ppl here's my answer ...

its human nature to imagine (will substantiate that in the upcomming days) ... n protogonist who take shape of legendary characters always instill interest ... too brash a comparison ... nevertheless one cud associate anniyan with Neo tho the laters story is very profound ... n legendary characters show inhuman or to be precise super human traits ... a character defying logic is acceptable to me when a predicate even if a little weak substantiates so ... having answered those ... lets get back to the gud stuff ...

again @ the train ambi's appa saying "yennaku yaranum therinjurundha naane padirupen olyo" n vivek for that "naan odiruppen olyo" ... ha ha nice one ... n of course as he reads the love letter "ange paaru yedho puranam yezudhi mudicha vairamuthu madhiri nadai poodaraan par" ... n of course @ the nehru stadium before the showdown ... "as usual kottai vida veendiyadhu thaane" ... ha ha ... gud stuff ...

the script for anniyans speach is very well crafted ... salute's to sujatha for that ... the script reminded me something else ... long ago there was a dream I had (not during sleep) ... I am a piscean n I muse during the day :) ... proly as to what I'd do if I get lots of money ... reminds me of that ...

still somethings that I cud not digest is tracing to a phone from an IP which is hardly static here ... even today ppl dont have static IP's unless u get a router ...

but in the end the movie was fun for me ... n the scene when the personalities alter in quick succession ... that was another reason I went in for ... n audio ... yeah baby ... it rocked but ocassionally there was <1sec delay which was obvious to me ...

n just to make a point ... i'd say this is quite a balanced movie ... humor, love, imagination, diaplay of wealth, culture, values, whim, anguish, pensiveness, agression, masala, a message, entertainment all in gud proportions ...

enuf of anniyan ... time for something more ...

yellame pattern than

okie s'terday amma challenged me to solve it "SoDoKu" (the next big fad to blogging)... coz she got stuck somewhere ... she was making random picks ... appa right behind my back ... hi stature: never got anythin less that a centem in math ... a dream for me for a very very long time ... he said it was ez but didnt tise to do it ... tho he was observing me solve it :D ...

so I got my feet wet b4 chidhambara ragaseeyam ... more so finding out a fail proof way to do it than just solving it ... got some clues ... so off the C.R. ... as the plot unfolds the message comes out - "Yellame Cooduu that" a line, not a prgm ;)

so post dinner ... started cracking it ... just 6 boxed pendin n something was wrong ... so a more robust means ... finally BULLS EYE ... some IQ test branded me as a visual mathematician ... meaning I'm stronger when visuals assist me in finding solution ... rather I see the solution when I see the problem ... now I am really tempted to compare this with John Nash ... the way he sees patterns n solution ... I can only aspire to be such :) ... not with numbers tho but algorithms ...

my message of the day was "Yellame Patterns than" ... math and cs ... some give them wierdo jargons like design patterns to scare ppl like its sumthing great ... nuthin more than common sense ... rather a pattern to solve a problem ...

so finally I did manage to put up some means to reduce the randomness of the search to more decisive moves ... delivered it to amma just b4 hitting the shower n she was shouting over like ... is there a formula or what? .... ha ha ... so I gt tell her how its done ... simple process of eliminiation ... with some help from permutation and combinations ... just looking for a pattern while solving a problem can give way to so much ... that we now call an algorithm

the more constraints I can manifest out of a few sessions ... the more easier to write a solver :D ... time permitting ... ha ha ... yenna thiruthavee mudeeyadhu ... he he ;))

so if u havn't got ur feet wet n gt some time to kill n brain cells to burn ... this is it ... n those who r ... if u go interesting ways to get around it ... do get back

Ah Aah ... does it make u exclaim so?

hmm 2 many posts over the weekend ... so refrained from this one ... has ARR conjured it again ... not gonna go into the trite tracks ... but the soul raisers ... S ... proly one of the most talked about song 2day around here ... I'm not a ARR freak ... but ths time hes done some magic again ...

"Anbe Aaruyire" - "Ararai Koodi Peergalil Oruvan ... Aadiyen Thamilzan Nan Undhan Thondan" ... fantastic lyrics ... blends superbly with the score ... ARR has pulled it with his own sweet voice yet again :) ... @ 1st hearing it sounded like a Yet Another hip-hop song ... but then wait ... no it ain't ... this is probably one of the best songs from ARR (with the techno motif) ... recent posts in arvind blog ... Ko.Pa.Se of ARR :p ... reminded me of "Chandralekha" which was all around me on saturday... radio then my PC and then TV ... u name it ... this does come close to those chart busters .... now I'v listened to this song like god knows how many times in the past three days ... my body inadvertently moves as the music beckons ...

this is one track I wudn't compare with any before (that I can remember of) ... it stand to its self ... the rumbling drums r to my exact taste *slurp* ... ur heart beats to the rhythm of the drums ... n the techno style ... waah ... I'd give it close to Linkin' Park's ;)) he he ... tho therz more western with LP ... the interspersing of "trrrrrrrrrat tat" (in varieties) and the drum's was the most attrrrrrrractive part of the song ... impressed me a lot ...

since "Arabic Kadal" I'v always been penchant to ARR techno goodies above all other ... including those from his album "Vande Mataram" ... this song's gt top the charts ... even above "Putril Vaazh Aravum Anjen" which stands on top this week ...

"Thazhuvudu" - shreya goshal!!! ... O M G now how dyu describe this damsel's voice ... just exotic ... a perfect voice ... not many can sing kozanjufying n yet contemporary ... @ first I disliked this song ... then I did succumb to her voice ... SBB's didn't fit in with the initial build up ... the old mans voice is too sweet for shreya's ... n yet the song lived up ...

"Oru thadham moodal oru thadham kaadal" ... yooooo ... shez impossible the way she builds it here ... sundi izukkum voice to be honest :"> ... her singing with deliberate breaks was flabbergasting ... those "ahh ahh ahh aaahhh" ... he he .. splendid !!! ...

but the moment the duo sing together ... the above clause ... its amazin ... disappointment was the unfitting bam bam baam which starts @ 3:30 yuk (copied for sure ... dun know from where ... blatantly) ... n SBB's mukkals following that was BAAAAAD ... his signature laugh's as in "Panivizhum Malarvanam" is his pinnacle ...

those "thazuvudhu nazuvudhu" sequences by shreya are really laudable ... the motif is not original ... plenty of sensuous track have come before ... but this one will stand out for now but fade soon ...

"Mayilirage" - okie compared to the others ... was not that impressive ... by nice to listen ... NOT great ... a mellow type ... starts good but then becomes very trite ... the way the 1st para builds is gud ... thats what pulled me in ... then a let down ...

other track ... not commendable IMHO ... time 2crash ... gt a long day ahead ... yet another smashing episode of "Chidhambara Ragaseeyam" \:D/ awaits ... hopefully my incumbency shudn't abstain me from it ... [-O< ... gud day ;) ... adios

its a CAR ... itz a CPU ... noo its Car.PU

check these out ...


and it gets better ...


n of course the beautiful rears ;)


now thats what I call gud stuff ... wud luv to have one of these but for the green colour ... done by a guy who goes by the name "Anthony Winn" ... this somehow stood out compared to other guddies :) ... guess like graffiti this wud become an art ... it already is to some ends ...

there r so many such mod's available ... I'd luv to have these for my darling Dinku ... wud make her one helluva gorgeous damsel ... shez already hot (2hot a few month back) having been retrofited with FX ... just that I hav't pushed her hard enuf yet ... hope to get her some lovely outfit someday ... n make her gleam ;) *ting* ...

ha ha ... now thats a gud estimate ... :)

"There's a rule of thumb about estimating how long a project will take to complete. Take the time you think it will take, multiply it by two, add 10% and then change the unit of measurement to the next largest unit"

Perfection / Performance Oriented

quite often I brag but being a good programmer (sometimes much more than that) ... n I am gonna do that again :D ... in my sophomore days u could wake me up mid-sleep n give a programming problem and I cud crack it ... well mostly ;) ... n I am in love with C language (and its successors C++ / C#) n all ... in fact it was common in our clique for each person to proclaim a language as standing only next to his mother tounge ... @ Synergy my boss was obsessed with the C language ... me of course I embraced C++ as part of the very 1st project since learning C ... n I became known for my tricky stuff that I get along with in C ... I still bump into more today ... my code in recent project got accolades from colleagues ... I dun claim it to be bug free ... but well designed, modular n intutive for most part ... yet I feet at times that concepts have outlived C language ... certain stuff r still cumbersome ... C was just not designed for that ... yet my love for C proved to be shackles ... enough of beating around the bush

now commin to the point ... I just bumped into a lovely paper by Prof. Richard J. Fateman (check out the Software Engineering section for the paper) ... n the following qualification in the text which really enchanted me ... this is an extract from the same ...

"The people in the category perfection-oriented have a natural intellectual curiosity. They are constantly searching for better ways of doing things, new methods, new tools. They search for perfection, but they take pleasure in the search itself, knowing perfectly well that perfection can not be accomplished. To the people in this category, failure is a normal part of the strive for perfection. In fact, failure gives a deeper understanding of why a particular path was unsuccessful, making it possible to avoid similar paths in the future."

in contra to this ...

"The people in the category performance-oriented on the contrary, do not at all strive for perfection. Instead they have a need to achieve performance immediately. Such performance leaves no time for intellectual curiosity. Instead, techniques already known to them must be applied to solve problems. To these people, failure is a disaster whose sole feature is to harm instant performance. Similarly, learning represents the possibility of failure and must thus be avoided if possible. To the people in this category, knowledge in other people also represents a threat. As long as everybody around them use tools, techniques, and methods that they themselves know, they can count on outperforming these other people. But when the people around them start learning different, perhaps better, ways, they must defend themselves. Other people having other knowledge might require learning to keep up with performance, and learning, as we pointed out, increases the risk of failure. One possibility for these people is to discredit other people’s knowledge. If done well, it would eliminate the need for the extra effort to learn, which would fit very well with their objectives."

and then the disclaimer:

"Of course this is a simplification, and individuals normally contain aspects of each category; as an example, a perfectionist mathematician may be performance-oriented when it comes to computing."

ha ha ... I couldn't agree with the prof any less ... some philosophical rambling in a technical article ... it the delineates where the road goes in the accademia and where it ends in the industry more often than not ... n reminds me of the say "God achieves perfection while man strives for excellence" :)

Feigning in S/W Industry

this is kinda in continuation with my ramblings bout the indian s/w industry experience ... not that any industry is perfect ... nevertheless some more stuff that I witnesses this week ...

it was time so this so called AS9100 standard for the aerospace industry ... now ... our current project is a good piece of work ... in fact the design had some amazing stuff ... during our initial architecture discussions ... on a casual note with Rob n Al we realized that the time provided was quite impractical n their simulation on various models said the same ... doubling the work force does not double the output ... yet it was to be ...

project went on fine n ez ... I shud say that artifacts that I produced were some of the best ... other hav got into trouble coz of me :D ... all until the dev phase ... when we realized that we did not have the technical knowledge ... in 5 days I had to learn the new technology + get the feature rolling ... it happened ...

as the schedule always remained an impasse ... all our process adherence dwindled ... no peer-review (not even had time for self reviews) ... not enough documentations over changes in design ... no adherence to coding standards ... inadequate testing and sanity checking down here ... a CMM 5 company not even keeping up with these ... now what do I call that ...

reason ... lack of time n schedule ... the schedule did not provide engineers with time over fixing bugs ... they have to get the nxt thing rolling on time + get the old stuff fixed ... nice to imagine ... interesting the 1st few days ... practical?? NO ... it just wudn't happen ... so many times I tell my seniors ... its a nice plan but it wudn't happen ... time n again it doesn't ... yet they remain persistent ... why??

if we tell our managers something is not possible within the stipulated time ... then the immediate response is "maybe we can work in shift ... put in more resource" ... anything that would put a persons lifestyle in jeopardy ... if this were a more mature company the 1st question is ... y is there such an over shoot ... this means out estimation are inaccurate ... that where the problem is ...

to quote an e.g. philips bangalore ... ppl are not to stay @ office more than 7 ... the access is restricted n the security has to escort @ such times ... more that a week an emp works such ... his manager is called in by the top most guy and questioned ... I wud mind stretching myself for such companies coz they care ...

unfortunately most indian companies this is not the case ... the managers r responsible for the account making money ... so that works out from getting the contract to billing the employees for their work ... their quote (timeline) just never seem to work well ... n the scapegoats ... the engineers ... invariably always having to cushion this ...

now from the customer perspective ... most of his deliveries are delayed ... the products quality is poor ... so he invariably lands up taking another contract to get the bugs fixed ... not that they are perfect ... I'v known them to be the reason for so many of the above ...

now lets go full circle ... in a race to satisfy the customer, the company shed all its convictions (processes) just to stay in business ... n yet they wud still preach n bluster over having got certified ...

our project never has such thing as peer review for the production code ... n yet the auditors get review records for all of em ... all fabricated over the two days before the audit ... as for metrics ... it was all made up ... y ... coz they were never emphasized (in fact I never knew) ... n secondly the infrastructure was not there ... which is mandated by the process ... to be able to backdate the project n get pertinent information ...

I'n knows that Game Development in most places suffer the same fate ... but fortunately they do no aim to or brag bout such ... their goal is their final product n their only penchant toward such is to improve their means of work and the engineers personal life ... which untimately ensures quality of the work product ...

what have I done about it ... evey time I initiate something it gets overruled of I am responsible for all the effort ... n mind em they r extract effort never accounted for ... yet these would be forgotted in no more than 3-6 months ... back to square one ...

my principle in life n work is simple ... practice what you preach ... the retort I get when I advertise this ... "thats not how it works in business" ... I do agree with that ... this aint a perfect world ... "God achieves perfection ... man achieves excellence" ... it the attitude of rationalizing it that upsets me the most ...

my manager empathizes with these very thoughts ... n his comments as a private note to me ... I have projected these to the management n all u get is a mockery or disregard at the meetings ... all they ultimately care bout is how much the company makes ...

the companies stand ... if u can make any improvements upon this ... thats left to you ... no extra time ... n the employees stand ... this is all you get in the time u'v given me ... a catch 22 situation ... nah ... one problem that I see is that ... Indian companies rarely give an estimate for any outsourced work ... rather they plan ... which does explain a quite lot ... or is ther yet another explanation ...

got a dab of Priyasakhi :-"

okie another hope for sada? .. let c how this score ... just loaded up the music (courtesy:tamilmp3world) ... not impressive but two of them are nice pieces

Anbu Alaipaiuthae - the lyrics by self gives way to it being akin to Enna Thavam Seidhanai song ... or is it? nice song but its a putpouri of 2 many things ... heavy mix n match ... "ta ta taaada ta taadaa da da" ... n the classical sequence "Inbathan uruvakki" ... hmm

Mudhal Mudhal - by chitra is a pleasant listening song ... liked it a lot quite a bit ... the interim drumming reminds of the song from boys movie ...

Kangalinal - startup beats copy of ummmm :-? gotcha spice girls "Tell me what u want" hit flavour in the beginning ... n the music more like "Ooo Ooo kiku yerudhe" from padayappa ;) ...

Chinna Maharani - definite copy from a hindi movie song ... I'v heard it but I just done recollect ...

Priyasakhi - this song didn't appeal a bit ... I started yarning listening to it ...

I had some expectations but :( ... heavy copying from just about everywhere ... nuthin commendable but for the few listenable songs ...

Indian Software Industry - a dissection

The upsurge in indian economy is buttressed by the buzz word - BPO ... to be more precise "OutSourcing" ... not just the software industry ... even pharma, bio-tech, and so many other are joining the band wagon ... whats become of the software industry moulded by moorthy's and preemji's ? what has becomes of those in association with them? ...

The Bright Side of the Coin

The economy is booooming today more ever and more ppl are inclined to just earn @ the least 6/7 lpa and lead a happy life ... no more taking hassle of travelling abroad to study ... the companies right here are gonna keep people on rotation ... so I get all that I want ... amazing deal isn't it ... it truely is ... company sponsors everything and you are well taken care of ... pay during onsite visit is on par with (more often more than) the entry level candidates ... n they get their ticket back home ...

one thing most people cannot stand is doing the same stuff all the while ... people want change and at their work as well ... they want to keep doin different things ... different technologies ... learning new stuff all the while ... n slowly without having to do an MBA they enter the manegerial cadre ... all you'v got to do is slog for the organization and your reap is scad ...

the best part of todays industry is the number of product and RnD based companies springing up ... Google is the chartbuster in this list with their India Code Jam being their lure for the great minds ... plenty of such companies esp many startup harbour the great minds ... the opportunities are so voluminous that the ppl dictate terms more than the firms now a days ... a switch to a better offer is right around the corner ... gone are the days of long association with an organization ...

India today pretty much stands amoung the top countries in everything ... no one can disregard us if @ all and like they used to ... the brain power in india is unsurpassed ...

Or Is It? Does that catch phrase still hold true?

The Flip Side of the Coin

These arguments are from my personal experience and hence only reflects a part of the industry proceedings ... this is not meant to deprecate any body or any organization ... the negative connotations are meant to instigate thought amoung us as to what we truely are ...

What the software professional want dictates much of what is happening in the industry ... all that most people care is money, facility and good work ... @ the beginning of career we take up the more lucre path ... only after reaching 30 you begin looking back and think "What have I been doing all these years?" ... this is a very common apprehension I'v noticed ... n others "WOW!!! people have aspirations in life, I'd rather like to keep things simple" ...

well lets get to the 1st downside of the industry

1) People are counted / numbered / accounted for just as poultry animals -

This activity starts right ar recruitment ... if u havn't heard of the recruitment spree then u better check a recent record that appeared in tabaloids ... unscrupulous recruitment is the order of the day ... the industry badly needs MAN POWER ... gone are the days when BRAIN POWER was valued ... my alarms rang when I underwent the same ... I am in constant pursuit of an idealistic world ... my latest recruitment was a disappointment ... the bad feelin then did manifest into much larger apprehensions ... brashly said most of the candidates are taken into the company if they are OKIE ... i.e. they are not blatantly DUMB ... this can be attributed to yet another revolution which goes by the name of process and standards which is detailed later ...

once the guy is into his dream job ... the 1st one year is spent by most candidates in getting acclimatized to the corporate world ... n most people get rusted here ... n then their name goes up the auction boards based on their rankings ... the managers pitch-in n say ... hey I need these many heads for this activity (as in so many masons for this construction job) ... then the shepard says alright ... u ... u ... u ... go there ... ur fate is decided @ random with least regards to ur skill ... n it continues ... later more jargons spring up ... u get to be known as a 'resource' (to be sapped) ... complete 3 years and ur tagged for "Body Shopping" ...

the company advertises - "Software Professionals no Sale!!!" ... n the rebates hold all through the year ...

n some people undergoing it rationalize the whole thing by saying "U'v got to be flexible" ... n slowly the truth unfolds ... "the client is paying for every hour of yours so ur r liable to any activity that they assign you to" ... does this ring anything in your mind?

n during this entire exercise I'v witnessed many talented individuals giving up all they'v learned for money ... n the companies take advatage of this ... not that they let u free if you choose not to ... either you dance to the tunes of the company or ur done for either way (some wud even consider not providing future opportunities) ... for many they just cannot advertise their capabilities and the company becomes their agent n its mutual benefit ... for those who want to live out a life ... indian s/w industry is a haven ... n I truely revere those who accept this ... the
sad part is most people would deny it outright for they are not ready to hear this ... n proclaim me as the inane and a qioxotic misfit

2) The repercusions of the CMM flavour -

The process defined by various organizations are known under various flavours ISO, CMM, CMM-I, PCMM so on and so forth. This is where indian software companies score in the international market. Let me highlight the crux of each CMM level -

1. Initial (processes are ad-hoc, chaotic, or actually few processes are defined)
2. Repeatable (basic processes are established and there is a level of discipline to stick to these processes)
3. Defined (all processes are defined, documented, standardized and integrated into each other)
4. Managed (processes are measured by collecting detailed data on the processes and their quality)
5. Optimizing (continuous process improvement is adopted and in place by quantitative feedback and from piloting new ideas ands technologies)
(courtesy: valuebasedmanagement.net)

no wonder companies looking to oursource choose indian firms ... but how effective is it ... most people would counter argue to my comments that having something in place leaves us in better shape ... but my point is the complacency that seeps in ...

I am ashamed to say that the weakest of indian attitudes is that we PROCLAIM THAT WHICH WE ARE NOT more often ... basically sham ... but how does it work? ... here is how it goes -

the company takes few projects on audit n gets the certification ... when bidding for projects our gentlemen bid for at impractical schedules to secure the project ... once the project is in the pressure is mounted on the so called valued engineers of the company (to whome every project is a nightmare) ... the engineer hardly having enough time to practice the process yields to getting the job done ... after all "Client is GOD" ... so the team ships the product with plenty of known issues ...

meanwhile the management having shown prospect of competence secures firm ground with the client ... who is not dependent on this company ... voila now the outsource'e starts dictating terms nicely now that hes in control ... having delivered the product with plenty of bugs the client gets back asking for a project towards bug fixing ... voila more $money$ for the indian firm ... okie now we need our engineers here to get it done ... n the circle continues ...

Is this Good Work Ethics? the process that they preached once holds no longer true ...

well n what has happened to the people ... the valued engineers? ... the CMM mantra w.r.t. the engineers is that "There are no Hero's in an organization" ... i.e. the organization is not dependent on any single engineer's talent (which by far does not hold as such) ... every engineer is replaceable ... the spirit of CMM is to ensure that the process can enable another person of similar skills to catch up and get things done with minimal impact ... but how it works is any available engineer is pulled in ... no specific criteria ... n of course availability and possesing a valid VISA does rule ... this again gets back to point number 1 ...

I highly value process ... unfortunately not following them in full spirit is tarnishing the reputation ... the client are having apprehensions with the companies and so are the employees who are liable to do any god damn job ...

Where we go from here?

What am I trying to say ... are the companies evil n treat people as cows n sheeps ... NO ... this is something brought about by the people themselves ... as a matter of fact there are so many incompetent people to whome these companies are providing work and salaries ... yet at the end of the day believe it or not the competent and the incompetent are railed and commended to the same extent ... the incompetent railed for what they are and the competent for not having worked more (the company is never satisfied not matter how much you work) ... in incompetent gets away and has a happy life ... the competent who tries to live up by slogging messes up his personal life ... fails to njoi life as much as he should have ... n finally looks back and says "I missed those day which I should have enjoyed" ... life suddenly seems unfair ... money seems to have less value now ... NO life is NOT unfair ... the choices u made have paved way for it ... so demand for a brighter today and not just a brighter tomorrow ...

having said all this ... something more to think about ... has the industry really slowed the BRAIN DRAIN?? I'll buy the fact that not many people choose to go abroad today but for business cum jaunt kinda trips ... but whats happening to the people here ...

many of the top companies have loads of talent on bench ... which is good for the economy and the country coz this means excess resource and more business ... imagine the scores of people put through this ... during this many people tend to belive that this is the very nature of the industry and they become sloths ... so that's a percentage of people lost ... many get rusted by the time they are into some solid work ... they are incapacitated ... that's another percentage lost ... n a good amount outa an idle mind begin to settle down in life ... never again in a position to think as much as needed ...

n yet there are those such as I in endless pursuit of the ideal company ... so many offers from bangalore we get everyday ... most of them from big MNC and the feedback I get from the junta there... menial tasks or no work at all for prolonged periods ... but the pay works ... only until u guys turn 30 ... when taking another path is 2 late ...

now lets get to the traditional BRAIN DRAIN argument ... our junta abroad is making scores of success in all fields ... now is that good or having excess of people right here and turning them into a rut (sounds like an exageration??) better?

as for the companies ... better ethics should prevail ... we as professional should emphasize it and demand for it ... in a recent survey I heard about in a company some people said this company is not a fun place to work while few other say itz amazin ... on querying the difference the happy camp says people who leave his company are terribly unhappy ... quite frankly many people are happy for the fact that their current job does not entail much ... n yet pays ... this is the generation that is grooming up in india ...

the above 2 points were just 2 conspicuous items that caught my attention ... n I presume therz much more to this ...

think people think!!! ...

now thatz picturesqe

therez a whale in the backdrop of mildly circular horizon ... now thatz a lovely sight

(picture courtesy: Aditya)

Anniyan - as it stands

yahoo!!! ... the movie was not a disappointment after all :) ... I'v been goin thru so many movie reviews lampooning the movie for its progression from sankar's previous work ... n plenty of ppl misunderstanding the movie n deriding it ... over-emphasized proly ... it does sound quixotic ... but is not far from the truth in my personal experience ...

as for the movie being worth 23+ crores for the making ... well much of it i'd say was for that lavish R-E-M-O character and the locations ... who supposed'ly live'd that life by just mortgaging his house ... huh ... weak rational :( ...

these is not a ramification of the movie ... but my opinion as 2 what made the movie a let down and where it stood up ...

lemme get rid of the negatives in the movie ... u gt be able to filter em out to njoi the movie ...

I'm now sorry to have had some expectation from sada ... the nandy character was just filling up a blank ... no importance what so ever n that naive expression when getting to know bout MPD ... yuk ... the only contemporary outfit in which she luk'd personable was the white formal wear ... n she does luk gud in traditional dress I shud admit ... her dance luk'd lacking something ...

commin 2 the so called graphics / special effects for the stunts ... jeeeeez ... paathetic ... ppl compare this with the matrix ... a gud attempt *pat on the back* ... but way off mark ... the graphics was so damn conspicuous ... luks like cardboard posters shirled around ... not done with fast moving camera ... in the matrix the camera's wud literally move @ lightning speeds for the bullet time photography ... n when therz fire on the scene they shud have taken 'SwordFish' blast scene for a target ... I was extremely disappointed :( ... maybe this is all his budget wud permit ...

n its was a disgrace to martial arts ... they are never so unorchestrated ... let john woo pitch in n see him conjure magic ... even if someone is to loose it wudn't be this humiliating ... n tryin to copy the background score of morpheus-neo fight for a sequence in the school ... ha ha nice try guys ... didn't live up ... the gravity defying stunts were actually much better ... it can enthrall audience ... but can't a more realistic situation be potrayed ...

the plot was gud ... but prakash raaj character raveling it all just after the 1st murder spoiled the show ... hav't they seen seven (bradd pitt n morgan freeman) ... its got to carry through the movie ... itd wud have been well placed @ after the 3rd murder ... wud have been nice if a version had come out with the gory bodies shown ...

okie now comming to where the movie scored well :) ... and where it cud have been done much better to have scored ... postmortem ... ha ha

thiruvaiyaru festival with all the top heads of the carnatic world ... kunnakudi, n yippie sudha, kanyakumari, unni n so many other big artists ... dun remember their names tho but recognized em ... omg that was splendid ... 1st thing that impressed me only next to sukumari song picturization @ the tulip gardens ... very picturesque ...

the ambi character was a lil overdone ... it lacked genuiness ... the deliberation was obvious ... but definitely nice work by vikram ... esp after the split personality funda gets revealed ... R-E-M-O ... omg quintesence of libidos ... it was overdone and it didn't live up 2 ... the song kaadal yaanai is a perfect dance track ... guess vikram is no gud @ dance ... but the track beakons for one ... ur body moves 2 the moment u hear the music ... the picturization just didn't live up ... and the attempt to speak flamboyantly tarnished the character "nAndy ... yets do the yo-yo" ... jeez what was that? ... there was definite scope for improvement ...

anniyan character just rocked ... the rational of the man is similar to those of anakin skywalker n such ... very well picturized ... shud give it to the director n the visionaries ... n the scene with prakash n viki @ the torture room ... classic ... wonderfully done ... as prakash's character says ... i'v seen so many ppl act ... yeah this was some performance ...

btw in garudapuranam what punishment goes for those who interrupt the movie when it @ the pinnacle ?? alatcheeyam X-( ... ha ha ... just kidding ...

ooooohhhh yeah ... lately so many aspects of our culture is being highlighted ... TiS by illu lately ... as for anniyan I have to give it to sujatha ... he's done a fabulous job ... I quaff his writings for the intended puns and the way he puts it so acceptably ... vivek rocked ... n I'm happy he stop making mockery of ppl to make ppl laugh ... this was healthier comedy ... luv'd

many logical flaws ... but conspicuous ones - the railway contractor in that chatti ... his body just wudn't fit in ... top view made it luk more wider n deeper ... n if I'm not mistaken the writting was on the inner side of the lid ... hmm :-? ... finding out the telephone number from the ip address ... thats a tchnology unheard of ... rather it was not precise ... intelligence ppl can do that with much deliberation ... guess he made it easy for people ... and secondly it seem to dial up connection ... when the ip is never same twice ... for that matter even my BB does not give that ... n I dun remember any dial-up connection showing flash / animation content that fast (tho this is acceptable for the purpose of a movie) ... when thousands of ppl complaint how can they track it to who is the host?? not an easy task tho plausible ...

okie now for those social nuances ... many ppl comment itz too much complain'n ... these r my personal experiences ...

Trains r really bad as said ... when I used to travel b/w chennai n bangalore for weekend ... which is one of the most well maintained train ... I pray every time that my birth is @ least 2 housings away from the loo ... it stinks on the outside ... inside ... u can enter until u enter karnataka n cold sets in to numb u smell buds ... imagine the other trains

fud in trains ... I'v not had a bad experience ... but I'v always picked items which @ any cost are harmless ... but I'v heard horrow stories ...

I'd say in this case if u can afford 1st class A/C one wudn't fret ... but if ur a middle class ur gonna havta live with the rut ...

the electric wire cut out incident ... It did happen @ my street last winter ... rain water stagnating in plenty ... the wire outside my house (cut from one of the posts beside my house) was on the water ... a small kid saw it n frooze in horrow ... luckily some gentleman helped the kid out ... my thatha was about to leave the house knowing the situation ... my dads refrained him from doin so ... it was attended too soon tho ...

but in other case during election while puttin up the banners ... the dig holes in the ground ... invariably everytime they his an electric wire n ... the EB just wudn't repair ... once we had a voltage problem for 3 days ... excuse - ppl on strike ... despite govt strict policy against strike by essential services ...

as for customer service ... my BB service is working on 50% downtime lately ... I even railed @ em but response "technical problem" ... QoS in india has to improve ...

verdict: the movie stood apart to say the ppl r responsible for all this ... s ... changing ppl minds is the most difficult of all ... my own dad does not follow many traffic rules despite my requests ... as for me ... I try my very best ... but when lorries n bus's honk behind u @ intersection n they go to top speed when the see the yellow light ... I have to be more practical :( ... if I have to see another dawn ...

vikram was magnificent ... prakaash raaj complemented to the store well ... sada was a weak link ... very well made ... scene where ambi delivers the love letter to nandy's parents were surprising ... broke the beaten track ...

the best part of the movie ... anniyan lives ... age morality tales where the fugutive is pinned down for gud are gone ... I welcome such movies more ... reflects more of the real situation ...

an njoiable movie ... but 4 the theatre where I saw it ... albert >:P ... in all respects ... I think I carried back some itch home :( ... visit to a doctor entails ... hat will havta hold until nxt sat ...

in luv with TiS

luks like the world is in love with Thiruvasagam in Symphony ... the term was not heard of by the masses ... now thanks to this great man its the talk of town ... siva naamam getting into ppl's ears is an honour ... now ppl r getting that bhagyam (as my mom sees it) inadvertently ... thanks to him ... n the fact that western musicians have performed with full heart, goes to him as well ... to display to em is different ... but to get em work along n perform ... thats the apex of his achievements ...

wondering how wud it be if yanni and illu sit together ... highly unlikely ... but if they can conjure magic ... aaahhh ...

amma's circle seem to have enjoyed it immensely ... as for my circle ... they seem to njoi it much 2 ...

my sincere request to all who read this ... there is nothing wrong it getting these from friends and circle ... but if U like it (and I'm sure most music lovers will) ...

plz plz plz plz BUY a personal copy ... whenever u get a chance to ... illu's put in a lota sweat n heart into this ...

listening to pooeru koonam ... so mellow ... makes me feel so light ... :) ... this is the - quintessence of music by illu

Thiruvasagam in Symphony :-"

here it comes ... finally!!! ... my pockets were filled so decided to meenjufi @ landmark ... spent a fortune on the usual ... 2 of sudha's and one mandolin-srini's ... lovely ones ... but those reserved for later perusal ...

the 1st reaction on hearing to this was beatitude ... and the 1st exchange of words with amma ... well this is to be heard with lights turned off ... no disturbance ... nobody around ... in absolute silence & darkness ... close your eyes and feel the music ... that's the way to listen to it ... not too often dyu get such music to listen ... just fantastic ... oh yeah "Nothing Else Matters" by metallica ... another track which required the same aura ...

n guess what ... after listening to it amma was reading out an article on one of the tamil tabloids where writer sujatha (liked by many including me for his chinna theerai chitheeram "Yen Ineeya Iyendhira") says ... "indhe eesaiyey kannai mudi kondru manadhal unnare vendum" ...

on one hand there is plenty of excitement and accolades whilst there are those who feel that rendering The Thiruvasakam this way is *unacceptable* ... and that Illayaraaja is trying to live his glory days again ... and this is a bit of a commercial project ... hze got every bit of the nerve to live it again folks ... and its well deserved ... besides The Thiruvasakam has become the talk of the tamil community throughout the world ...

@ times even I feel that some of the fusion music is embellishing tradition to realms of conventional interest of the public ... musicians / composers from the trimoorthy's to vivaldi, beethoven, sebastian bach, mozart and the contemporaries ... I don't believe they did what they did to please anyone ... the primal purpose being their self-realization of the beauty in music ... are they not entitled to it ... and as Illu speaks in the last track ... what if our trimoorthy's and such composers were aware of Symphony and such ... dyu think they wudn't have embraced it?

during her concert, sudha (ACE as I like to call her) sang the "Thaye Yeshodha" in Katanakudhukalam against the age old tradition of rendering it in tOdi ... improvisation by artists of such stature is accepted whilst deprecated by many musicians ... I do not expect any less for an indubitably brilliant composers as Ilayaraaja ...

all musicians @ some point (including those who deprecate such off-the-track creativity) admit that ultimately if it sounds good then it is right (mostly when it comes down to self) ... guess thats what music is about and which is universally accepted ...

as for Illu ... my salutations to him ... not just for providing such good music ... but for his courage to achieve his dreams ... when asked in an interview why he choose to sing himself ... he replied - "I cannot expect another person to produce it exactly the way I have it in my mind ... thiruvasakathai athamaathamage sollapadavendum" ... being his dream project I guess its most befitting ...

ever since "How to Name It?", illayaraaja fans have been much in anticipation of another magnificent work from him ... THIS IS IT ... very few of my friends can appreciate "How to Name It?" and I expect nothing less with this either ... but just one soul to share the same joy can provide voluptuous bliss ...

Ilayaraaja's brilliance is infamous (I was sarcastic there) here for his film music ... in fact a piece in this work gave feeling to my mom like it was film music based ... such is the standard that the man has set ... his music is a way to identify TFM ... he owns the word ... of course now the baton goes to ARR (his apprentice) and lately Harris Jayaraj (ARR's adjutant) ... I think :-?

there is something people have skipped to notice ... with much gravity I should admit that people know him more as as Tamil Film Music Director than one of the most brilliant composers of the age ... his composition skills are revered by many western contemporaries as well ... do I see more indian composers for whome the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra or the Budapest Symphony Orchestra would dance to with reverence and reverberations ?? nahh ... this man has made history ... and yet his simlicity and humility is unsurpassed ...

if M.S.Subbalakshmi stood beacon to the carnatic world ... Ilayaraaja stand beacon for the musical genius that beholds ... he is as much a National Treasure just as M.S. lives ...

okie ... enuf of ramblings ... now getting to the good stuff ... what follows is my opinion, *MY* personal ranking of the pieces and the mood they give ... I probably am a zero when it comes to music ... I wish I had a pint of swara nyanam :( ... well with all that I have this is what my mind says ...

Track #1: Poovaar Senni Mannan - this is the most brilliant / majestic of tracks in this magnificent piece of art ... rumbling to be more precise ... this song seem to resonate with the mind and body amazingly ... my body was pulsating to hymn "Poovaaaaaar" in such unison ... the feelin ... similar to the feeling of a low rumbling Om - "The Hymn of the Universe" ... blessed are those souls who got to play n listen to such waves in the air ... it can't be anything short of ecstatic ... it felt like my inner voice was being awakened :) ... and its by no means an exageration ... u have to listen to it to feel it ... words can explain elation ...
Illu may not be having a lovely voice ... but his voice spells his command as a composer ... the most befitting voice for for this track (and other pieces he's sung ... nice choice) ... loved every pico-second of this ...

the way to listen to this piece - get into place with no distraction, turn off the lights, DON'T SPEAK ... DON'T THINK ... close your eyes and just feeeeeeel it - "balls to bones" as the oracle would say in "The Matrix" ;) ... the higher the volume the more intense the goose bumps ... YES ... the first time I heard this piece ... the cadence put me in beatitude ...

the song "Jananni Jananni" sung by him comes to mind after listening to this song ... gives the same feeling ... but this is much more potent ...

Ranking: #2 (yes therz another piece thatz fantastic)
Mood : spritual elation


Track #2: Pollaa Vinayen - this work of art's idea is not to make it pleasing for listening but to bring to life a classical cross-over ... the operatic singing'g in b/w is something I can't digest yet ... just doesn't fit in seemlessly ... tho it becomes more bearable after the transition to our folks singing ... maybe I need to dwell a little more on this track to be more just ...

Ranking: #6
Mood : dissatisfaction

Track #3: Pooerukonum Purantharanum - violin play is amazing ... groups of violin / kin instruments playing interlaced (a powerful arsenal under isai nyanee) ... bhavatharini (female voice) has sung lovely ... justice to the oppportunity ... crystal clear ... illu ... I'll refrain from commenting ... a stature is require to do such ... this is quite typical composition from illu ... can't quite explain it tho :( ... they play of instruments in turns is done quite well ... therz a retro (more closer to our traditional way of rendering these) touch to this song but much stronger than the 1st track ... I think this song can be felt much the way Resonance (By the chennai quartet) uses western note to render classical compositions ...

Ranking: #4
Mood : puts in balance ... quite mellow

Track #4: Umbarkatkarasaey - the symphonies style is retained in the background score well compared to some of the other tracks ... the operatic "aaaah"'s add a lot to this feeling I presume ... the song is quite long for its mellow nature ... listening to this would require composure comparable to listening to RTPs of our classical carnatic ... sounds similar to the background scores of "Lord of The Rings" @ some parts ... the song gets nice as it builds up ... it was amazing to hear the orchestra playing it our style ... wonder how much touble all these musicians went through ...

Ranking: #5
Mood : not sure actually :">


Track #5: Muthu Natramam - okie yahooooo ... festive track ... the symphony goes on top to start with it ... reminds me of one of illu's old movies ... not sure which one ... the operatic singing in this track blends with out traditional singing beautiful ... a fast paced track ... it almost like a thalattu to me ... puts my body to the same rythm ... the pallavi is rendered waaaaaaay 2 gud ... the closure "Aaada porkannam eedithu naame" set me in awe ... the score potraying a celebrating thiruvizah aura ... happy piece ... with huge potent to appease any one esp music paitheeyams ...

the gang ... unnikrishnan, madhu balakrishnan, vijay jesudas, manjari, asha, gayathri & chorus (courtesy: The Album covers) ... must have had n amazing time performing this song ... I envy them ...

Ranking: #3 (staunch contender for the top positions)
Mood : dance dance dance ... heart is set ablaze

Track #6: Puttril Vazh Aravum Anjen - O m g!!! ... scintillating ... it might sound more like a filmy track @ first ... but I believe IR's composition's have set such standard's in the TFM industry that when U listen to his music ... it sounds filmy ... amma felt it that way ... music is universal ... trancends genere / locale / history / populus ... its the feeling that it induces that matters ...

"adade yenna idhu ... idhu than symphony orchestra'va ... huuummm addeee appa" :-" "sssss Aaaha romba nalla iruke ... idhe nambo manikkavasagar padeena yeppadi irukum ..." :-" ... "yeppadi indhe tune'ee..." ... :-" ... "thanana na naa na naaa na naaa"

and whence it goes ... the best piece in this collection I should say ... flabbergasting ... wud compare it with how "Don't Compare" stands apart in "How To Name It?" ... set in sootha thamiz the lyrics r just amaaaaaaazzzzzzing ... amma sat down with me to explain the meaning of the song to me ... just *lovely* ;) ... will be posting the same here for self and others benefit ... I'm in ABSOLUTE love with this song ... hope to sing it someday :D ... he he ... a nice dream ... maybe in the bathroom ;))

Ranking: #1 (THE BEST)
Mood : peace @ heart ... virtue in the mind ... a faint smile adding to ones countenance

the journey was amazing ... having spent the weekend with this work has left me with clear a mind ... all set to take on what commin ... mood: bring it on ...

Remodelling the blog

the templates that accompany blogger are I believe optimised for viewing by clients with a 800x600 screen ... my stats ... most users are on the 1024x768 zone @ the least ... n being a coder @ heart (and by profession) I prefer being able to view more in a single page to avoid scrolling ... thats asking for MORE SPEACE!!! (yeh ankhen maange more) ... not that I can do anything bout other blogs ...

so I started redesigning this blog on an experimental basis ... its turning out quite well as yet (space wise) but for it color combo's ... I know its not yet matching, to be precise quite detestable ... will work on that ... just thought I'd address the space crunch first ... glamour later ... gt try out how the feeds work as well ...