A True Hero

Meet Vidyakar, the founder of Udavum Karangal (Helping Hands). Vidyakar bears testament to what true grit and determination can achieve. Affectionately known as 'Pappa' , he is my hero.

Also, read http://specials.rediff.com/news/2006/aug/14india1.htm

Born in a village in Kollegal - Mysore - Karnataka in a poor family Mr.Vidyaakar was provided with shelter and a prolonged education culminating in Master degree in social work by Mr. Ramakrishnan of Chennai. His Mentor's words " Help others" became the guiding force for Vidyaakar in starting Udavum Karangal (Helping Hands) as a guidance centre way back in 1983, in the slums of NSK Nagar, Chennai.

"It all began when I carried an eleven month old baby which was found abandoned in a theatre counter in Chennai. It has nowhere else to go. It needed care and I felt a sudden urge in me to take care of the baby".

From that day onwards I came across many such unfortunate victims, including AIDS patients. With the dedicated help of about 75 volunteers, Udavum Karangal today has become a haven for 2000 socially under-privileged persons.

Umang

For the last few months, I have been actively working with Umang, a non-profit organization geared to improve the lives of the underprivileged people in India. There are myriads of similar organizations around. However, the thing that makes the Umang experience special is the fact that it was started by a few friends. At this moment, we have about 15 active volunteers and 10 part-timers. Working with friends affords a sense of camaraderie that's very hard to duplicate elsewhere. For the last few years, Umang has been organizing a food camp for the elderly and homeless in Goverdhan, Mathura. We have partnered with Harvard University based India School House fund to fund schools in rural India.

To raise awareness, we are organizing our first event in the washington DC area - an entertainment program to coincide with the Independence day festivities. It's been a fun and challenging experience so far in working out the logistics for the event. The event will take place at the Reston Community Center, Reston, Virginia on August 26th 2006. We have performances by talented singers and dancers, a fun anthakshari session and a raffle as well.

If you are interested in supporting this wonderful cause, please visit Umang at http:/www.umangonline.org

So It Begins

So It Begins
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-07-25-voa66.cfm

Happy Fool's day

No more Shaadi.com/BharatMatrimony/ other dating/matrimonial website wannabees.

Google Romance is here.
1. Upload your profile
2. Enter search criteria
3. Click the "I'm feeling LUCKY" button
4. Send him/her messages via Gmail
5. Buy her/him a teddybear/Xbox via Froogle
6. Get driving directions from Google Maps
7. First date followed by Dream song in Switzerland. Hire Yash Chopra and AR Rahman.
8. Fire Yash Chopra and AR Rahman (You cannot afford them for more than one dream song)
9........ Write your own story here and blog on blogspot.google.com
10. Profit (For Google, that is...)

Happy Ugaadi

Pathakulara, Mee andarikee Vyaya Naama Samvastsara Subhaakaankshalu

Google Finance

Check out finance.google.com

SPORE

For many days, I have been meaning to write about EA's next blockbuster, SPORE. Here are a few reasons why you should be excited about it.

1. Will Wright
2. Procedural Animation
3. RPG evolving into RTS into MMORTS/MMORPG

For the gaming neophytes, Will Wright is the creator of Simcity, The Sims and 'sim'ilar games. Procedural Animation is basically on-the-fly animation. In other words, built-in code within the game generates graphics and renders them on the fly. Pretty cool. The game starts as a Role Playing Game where you have control over one creature and slowly progressed into a Real Time Strategy game pitting you against other players.

The game starts with you controlling a spore or a single celled organism. You have to help your spore survive under hostile conditions and oversee its evolution. As the spore evolves, you get to play god by deciding what it evolves into. This is where procedural animation comes into play. Very soon, you would be controlling a whole city of your creatures and then a planet and then a solar system and so on.

Check out this super cool gameplay video on Google.

Google Mars

Not content with their plans of terrestrial domination, Google has launched a new front to their offensive. Just Kidding. If you are a space aficionado, Google has just the right thing for you. High resolution satellite imagery and AJAX wizardy have brought the Martian Planet right to your desktop. I couldn't see any tiny green men though.

Check out Google Mars

The greatest One-Day Ever

For avid cricket-fans around the globe, last night was a watershed moment. The South Africans successfully chased a target of 435 to beat Australia at the Wanderers Stadium. For the first time in cricketing history, a total of 892 runs were scored in a One-Day International. Here are a few adjectives to describe the match: Nail biting, Thrilling, Heart Stopping. In the morning session, Ricky Ponting scored a spectaular 164 off 105 deliveries to construct a seemingly unsurpassable target of 434. To make matters worse, the Springboks lost their first wicket at 3. Did the South Africans give up ? Hell No!!!. Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs set up the stage with some Spectacular hitting. Smith made 90 while Gibbs scored a match winning 175 off 111 deliveries.

Cut to the finish. The South Africans had to face 6 deliveries from Brett Lee to score 7 runs while having 2 wickets in hand. A 4 from Andrew Hall seemed to have done the trick but he gave an easy catch to Michael Clarke in the very next delivery. But Ntini and Boucher did not lose the plot and steered SA to a SENSATIONAL victory.

Bottomline : South Africans , Chokers no more. !!!!

Read more reviews of this game here:
CricInfo
Rediff
BBC

Google vs Microsoft

Informed sources report that Google is developing a Calendar Program to be integrated with Gmail at some unspecified date in the not so distant future. As of now, the Calendar is still in BETA and not open for outside testing. There goes MS Outlook. This site is supposed to have screenshots of this new calendar thingy but it's been down for a while. Google's plan seems to be to take over the world, one Microsoft Program at a time.

In other news, Google acquired a company that developed a collaborative Web Processor called WRITELY. New Registrations are temporarily closed.

There have also been rumours circulating on the WWW about the Gdrive service that would allow users to store all their data on Google's servers.

Quo Vadis

I am back from my self-imposed exile. I couldn't stay away from my blog for too long. After some careful deliberations, I have decided to rechristen my blog. Instead of a generic "Musings, Ravings, ...Dozings..", it will be simply known as "Quo Vadis". Latin for "Whither goest thou", it is a true reflection of my current mental state. A la Robert Frost, I am at a cross-roads and will soon have to choose a path that could change everything. So while I sit here thinking, I just have one question running through my mind.

"Quo Vadis"

The Winter Olympics

Said Caesar, "Let the games begin!!!"

The new Kids on the Search Block

Meet Kosmix, the new kid on the Search block. Founders Venky and Anand have raised 7.4 mil$ in VC to work on their dream of taking search to a new place. For a long time, I have dreamt about Google adding a meta search feature to their engine. Dogpile and other meta search engines offered some relief but I felt that there was something missing. Apparently, the Kosmix team have been working on this problem for the last 1 year. As of now, you can perform searches that fall under 3 categories : health, travel and politics. After a few trial searches I felt that Google seemed to capture more content but Kosmix seemed to be doing a better job in organizing their results.

Interestingly, Venky and Anand are also the founders of Junglee which was later acquired by Amazon. Oh BTW, they also went to school with Larry and Segei at Stanford. Here is an interesting story about that.

Happy new Year

To all my friends and readers of this blog, may you be blessed with a happy, peaceful, prosperous and fun-filled 2006.

Lance Armstrong - Hollywood Ishtyle

Click me

My first 55 word story

As our lives become faster, our entertainment has to keep up. Flash-fiction is the answer. Write a story. A short one. 55 words to be precise. Bingo. Here's my first piece of FF.

Cramped office. Stale air. Blurry monitor. Impending deadlines. Need to get out. Run around the block. Once more. Crisp air. Soft pavement. Pitter Patter. Laces tight. Can't bend. Pick up the pace. Thumping heart. Pitter Patter. Trickling sweat. Too fast. Slow down. Whatz the time ? Oh Shit. Gotta get back. Cross the street. Screeeeeech!!!!.

Eat a Burrito to fight cancer

If you are a resident of the Washington DC metro area, please continue reading. Baja Fresh has decided to donate 15% of its December 15th sales to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society (LLS). LLS is a non-profit organization dedicated to find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin's disease. So, whether you are visiting DC or it is home for you, please take some time off your busy schedules and enjoy a wonderful lunch/dinner at Baja Fresh.

I know I am going to have a bare burrito for lunch. How about you ?

Here is a list of partcipating locations:

WASHINGTON DC

Dupont Circle

1333 New Hampshire Avenue NW

202-835-0570

"Eye" Street

1990 K Street NW

202-293-0110

VIRGINIA

Fairfax

12150 Fairfax Towne Center

703-352-1792

Herndon

2405 Centreville Road

703-793-0878

Cascades

20968 Southbank Street

571-434-7230

Reston

11690 Plaza America Drive

703-689-0993

Pan Am Center

3011 A Nutley Street

703-280-5400

Chantilly

13940 Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway

703-378-3804

Springfield

7003 A Manchester Boulevard

703-924-1313

Alexandria

3231 Duke Street

703-823-2888

Pentagon Row

1101 Joyce Street B-5

703-414-8211

Clarendon

2815 Clarendon Boulevard

703-528-7010

Manassas

8099 Sudley Road

703-365-2077

Rosslyn

1100 Wilson Boulevard

703-516-2101

Falls Church

1116 West Broad Street

703-237-0020

MARYLAND

Rockville

1607 Rockville Pike

301-770-4339

Kentlands

622 Center Point Way

301-330-0889

King Farm

302 King Farm Boulevard

240-683-3907

Westlake

10321 Westlake Drive

301-469-9773

Bethesda Row

4930 Elm Street

240-497-0660

Germantown

19810 Century Boulevard

301-528-1630

Silver Spring

8515 Fenton Street

301-587-6542

Wheaton

2800 West University Boulevard S-116

301-962-6002

Yet another hike in Interest Rates ?

The Federal Reserve is expected to hike interest rates another quarter point today. But after 18 months in which the Fed has been pushing rates higher to keep inflation under control, the central bank appears to be getting close to the end of its rate increase campaign.

Continue reading

Sukhasana

The new brain drain

CNN reports...

Two government biologists heavily recruited by Stanford University have decided to work in Singapore instead, saying they will face fewer restrictions on stem cell research overseas.

Read on more here