Swades - We the people

                Just now, finished watching the movie Swades, including all the seven deleted scenes available in youtube :). I am not sure how many times i've already seen the movie. 

From the very first time i've seen this movie, I've become a big fan of the movie as well as Ashutosh Gowarikar. He is a marvellous Director who has done some excellent meaningful movies.


Coming to the movie:
    Shahrukh was perfect to the character, an NRI who came to india for his nanny. Not a bit of over acting any where[which he normally does :)]. Perfect in cute little romantic scenes as well as serious scenes crying or preaching the villagers. I would say this is his best performance till date(Sep 1st, 2010).


    Gayatri Joshi is also very natural and apt for the role. She might not've acted greatly in some scenes, but that makes it more natural.[No Human being gives perfect expressions in real life :)] I am really surprised why she couldn't act in many movies[atleast big movies] after that movie. 


    The director was able to properly everything in the movie:

• Romance/Love between the lead pair was shown in  a very cute and decent manner. 
• Emotions were perfectly brought in all the scenes showing various problems/people's sufferings,,etc. Never over the board. This is very difficult to achieve.
• Some simple solutions were shown in a nice way. Lets not debate on the possibilities of those solutions.
• The whole village environment was captured very well.

I feel/think, India needs many such Mohan Bhargavas for it to resolve all it's problems and become a properly developed country.

I will feel really happy/proud when ever I read about such people who fight/bring  change in the society and show solutions to the common/poor people's problems. Recently I've read about Bhagavatula Parameswara Rao, an indian who completed his PhD in US and returned to India in 1967 and since then been helping many people using his Bhagavatula Charitable trust.

More information can be found at http://www.bctindia.net/

Jai Hind

Easiest way to download images from picasa website [Other user accounts]

Hi,

 

Many times, our friends will upload the pics to picasa and send us the links.

 

But, how can we download all of them to our desktop?

Picasa doesn’t provide any such options. And we cannot waste all our time right click on each image and downloading.

 

We can use DownThemAll but with a slight twist.

If you directly use it to download all images, you will only download the thumbnail size images.

To download the actual full size images, open the RSS and use the tool from there.

 

1. Install the DownThemAll extension
2. Go to the picasa album url.
3. Click on the “RSS” on the right side bar and you’ll get album’s feed.
4. Right-click on the page, select DownThemAll/DownThemAll in the contextual menu, expand the Filters section and check "Images". Don't forget to enter the folder where you want to save the photos.

 

Cheers,
Santhosh

 

 

[Some time pass] Observations on Population & Population Density stats :-)

Today, I am getting damn bored in the office and hence wasted time doing R&D on Population and Population Density.

And here is some of the gyan I gained: (Thanks to Wikipedia J )

 

Total world population as of now: ~685 crores

• (2^nd) India’s contribution: 17.26%
• (1^st) China’s contribution: 19.52%
• (3^rd) USA’s contribution: 4.52 %        [See the huge difference from here J]
• (4^th) Indonesia’s contribution: 3.41%
• First 10 countries among the 223 countries in the list contribute to 58.65 % of the population

(China, India, US, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia and Japan)

• The 80-20 rule(Pareto principle) applies here also:

• 80% of world’s population live in less than 20% of the world’s countries(33 countries out of 223 countries)

 

 

Population Density:

• Among the top ten populous countries, again India is the second densely populous country after Bangladesh J

• (9^th rank in population density ) Bangladesh: 1126 humans/km2
• (9) Bangladesh: 1126
• (32) India: 360
• (36) Japan: 337
• (58) Pakistan: 211
• (72) Nigeria: 167
• (78) China: 139
• (91) Indonesia: 121
• (178) US: 32
• (192) Brazil: 22
• (221) Russia: 8

 

• This to some extent explains poverty in our countries and wealth in US and Russia,,

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density

 

Cheers,
Santhosh

 

 

**^H@ppy Sund@y^**

From the past 26+ years, except for the first 3 initial years, i think the ever sweetest thing is SUNDAY. And I am sure, each of you would surely say so. [If u do not think so, better u visit some doctor(not kidding :))].

During different stages of life, I was enjoying them in a variety of ways:

L.K.G to 5th Class: Full of playing inside n outside home.

6th Class to 10th Class: Some games outside, movies with friends and very importantly IDIOT BOX[TV]

+1 and +2(Intermediate two years): BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS[all others r negligible :(]

B.Tech 4 years: Nothing special[same enjoy as other days of week ;)]

Of late, probably after I am little grown up, following three are really helping me in enjoying my Sunday.

Eenadu: 

Like many people in Andhra, my brain has now got completely programmed to such an extent that, reading any news paper other than eenadu, I will not feel like I read a news paper. Hence, first thing I do once I get up is to get this.

Why do I need the news paper?

I will not claim to be a responsible citizen just by reading a news paper. The imp. reason to read it is, probably it provides me what I am interested in(movies, sports, politics, happenings). Easiest way to know about the world u r leaving in is reading the news paper. It tells u about the real-time meanings of all the following words including their counter words. 

Good, bad, ugly, great, faith, bold,  generous, secure, sensitive, responsible, honorable, creative, humility, ignorant, tolerance, determine, loyal, truthful.

Swathi:

Ahhhhh,,,, "I almost enjoy each and every letter printed in Swathi weekly."

I know it's little exaggerating. But it's not completely false. I really love each and everything in swathi: serials, stories, nannu adagandi, kothi kommochchi, ee sheershike meedhe, all the cartoons and drawings from Baapu, editorial by balaram sir, film reviews and news, articles about various things, articles about god, health tips, that, this,, etc and everything.

FULL TIMEPASS. I cannot say this, as I make the time for it and again pass it ;)

Some people think, it is for ladies. But, I am proud to say I am a fan of Swathi. I am not at all ashamed of reading it.

Bru Coffe:

Start the day with a bru coffe. Even though u've it daily, but having it so leasurely on a Sunday morning, is a completely different experience.[Again aaahhhhhh],,May be caffeine is little poisonous to health. But it is worth the joy it provides :D,,

Apart from the above, movies(inside and outside, men only parties :(,  :), friends, internet, and of course, IDIOT BOX complete my Sundays.

Another sunday is almost finished,,,,Waiting for one more [:)],,,

Cheers

Santhosh 

""Little philosophy""

I have been thinking from a lot of days or probably months to write about this, but but but, it took a little while for this lazy bugger to put it on paper(mail).

 

Lord vinayaka is my favorite god for reasons I can never think of. But, I even worship all the other hindu gods my parents worship. I really like stories about each god. They will all be really fascinating, captivating, gripping, charming, etc etc *ing.

 

I don’t know from when, but suddenly I started getting convinced that all those gods and all their stories ARE ALL COMPLETE FICTION created by some great great writers for what ever reasons GOOD or BAD.

 

But, even after that I still pray in front of their idols in the morning, occasionally go to their temples, actively participate in all the pujas my family does, go all pilgrimages with them all without any complaints.

 

I again started thinking why am I doing all those if I am fully convinced that it is all fiction. Following are the answers I could get:

 

• My mother will not leave me if I do not follow them J

 

• But, to my surprise, the main reasons I was doing all those as I was enjoying them.

• Every day after finishing the bath, go and stand in front of those beautiful/peaceful/ever-smiling/ever-blessing idols:

• I feel real cool.
• Close your eyes and pray for some time. You will feel relieved. And your whole heart feels light.

• Okay, then why do I enjoy pilgrimages and pujas:

• Above reasons still hold good.
• Other main reason is due to the family I think. It’s normally little difficult to get all ur family together doing the same without any external thoughts(not even TV J ). But these are the times, I think we all sit and get a feel of togetherness. I really like that feeling and hence enjoy these also.
• Other reasons for liking pujas is the whole environment is made so delightful, devotional, divine that I again feel happy.
• And new places and picnics are always enjoyable ;-)

 

 

• Some other philosophical thoughts I’ve:

• Even though, the story about that particular god may not be true, but when I pray him, it means that I am praying someone powerful who is definitely responsible for the existence of everything/anything and even nothing. No way I can compete with him and I have to pray him for all reasons.
• When ever I succeed, it’s all because of me J. But when I fail, I need someone else to blame(actually we sometimes give our 200% and still fail. The only logical reason I find for that is him. This is world works on too many random happenings that we can’t always plan ur success.) [at least I think so]

 

 

• Other very interesting question, I many times think of is “Does GOD exist?”

• U should be really stupid, if you say there is no one powerful than man and everything got created on it’s own. Everything definitely can’t come out of nothing. Come on,,

• Yes. 2H2 + O2 = 2H20. Man has found this equation and that’s how water is formed.

• But, why the hell should the result be 2H20???????(unless someone had made it so)

• I think, man is just discovering the rules which are written by someone(something or somesome) . He has never invented(I mean created) anything.

 

• But then who created that powerful someone/something/somesome??????????????????????????????[I get mad here. Hope u 2 get mad L]

 

• Okay, now I agree that GOD exists, but still I am not sure if that GOD is same as the religions promise(At least the religions I’ve been seeing):

• Will he fulfill our wishes if we go and ask him? [But, if god has created us, then why should he wait for us to ask him. He should definitely be generous enough to grant all our wishes directly. Waiting till the devotee asks is not a good attribute for god!!!(at least I think so)
• Why are some people lucky and some not?
• Does everyone’s life will be balanced with both good and bad?

 

• WHY THE HECK SHOULD GOD CREATE US AND WATCH US SUFFER OR ENJOY? WHAT IS THE NEED MAN??

 

• If I am a creator, would I really care about things we create and their feelings ,,etc [ do we feel sorry for our programs if they go and crash customer machines? Everyone would’ve definitely broken their toys(need not be beautiful one. Any thing we play with in childhood). Do we feel anything for those toys?

 

 

With all these, I am sure I am not conclusive!!!!!!

 

Just thought of putting it to written(typed J) form once. Finished it. That’s it. Cool.

 

Best way to lead the life is to lead the way u want.

• U find happiness in praying the god. Go ahead do it.
• U find happiness in blaming the god. Go ahead do it.
• U find happiness in dying for the nation. Go ahead do it.
• U find happiness in violence. Go ahead do it. (But, there will be many others who will find happiness in giving it back 2 u. Be prepared for it then. J)
• U find happiness in not doing anything. Go ahead do it J
• Go ahead do it. Go ahead do it.
• Go ahead do it. Go ahead do it.

 

I am now going ahead doing it, but what makes me happy???[Again a thousand answersJ ]

 

Cheers,

Santhosh

 

testing mail update.

Hi,

Testing mail update.

-Santhosh :)

Attended Friend's Sis marraige(Giddaluru)

Last week we went to attend Ranga's sister marraige to Giddaluru(Prakasham Dist). Generally i really enjoy all the trips i go with friends,,,and particularly this trip was really coool,,,,,

May be as this was the first time I went to attend a friend's or friend's sis marraige other than local in Kurnool,,,,it was really thrilling for me,,,,,,

OK let me try to put everything over here now,,,,

Friday 21 March 2008:
In the evening we started from our room to Majestic(b'lore bus station). The bus was at 5 or 6 PM,,,,but we reached there well b4 the time and that lead us to do something really worst, but it was really another cool experience ;-). We got into the bus and started our journey chatting, listening the songs, sleeping,,,,,,

Saturday 22 March 2008:
We should go through some ghat section(Nallamala Forest) to reach Giddaluru. The forest would've been really beautiful but i was fully asleep to enjoy it :( and suddenly one of our friend(Dhara) who took the responsibility of taking us to Giddaluru asked us to get down at a stop,,,Trusting him fully we got down and landed in Giddaluru,,,
The village was surrounded by lots of hills and forest,,,,,actually it was little bit like a hill-station :-D. There was a bus-stop over there which was really old but looked strong with lots of Film posters on it,,,the roads were much better than I had expected(probably better than b'lore),,,,that area(shops, walls,,,etc) was in an old style, probably that may be the older part of that village. As expected there were lots of people in their dhothis and lungees travelling around.
We called our friend to ask where to come and found that we got down little earlier and got the correct landmark to go from him. Just hearing that, the guy beside us explained us how 2 go in a very strange but easiest way "Goto the Third Current Pole from this Current pole and u'll be in front of that Lodge" :-)(gr8 intelligence).
The lodge was also very good and clean(again exceeded my exp.) and he has booked the SUITE room in that lodge,,,it was in the top floor,,,We took some rest and quickly got ready as we had planned to go to Mahanandi which was near to that place,,,,

We went to the Railway station and got the tickets and started waiting for the train. It was a passenger train and it was supposed to come at 9:30 AM. After lots of lots of lots of waiting it finally came at 11:30,,,,But the train journey was very nice,,,,It was fully through forest, but actually we couldn't see much of the trees as they were all cut :-(,,,,The train went through a tunnel(Bogada Tunnel),,,It was around 2 to 3 KMs and inside the tunnel it was nice,,,but all the lights were turned on we couldn't enjoy it much,,,,,,Though the train was late, it was very fast,,,we reached Gajulapalli by just one hour. In Gajulapalli we got into a Diesel Auto to reach Mahanandi. It was 5 KMs from there. The Auto driver has filled the whole auto with people. He has definitely filled it with double or triple its capacity b4 starting,,,,I just don't know how much risky that will be,,,but I think it is very common picture in India which cannot be avoided at all,,,

Mahanandi was a very small village,,,Except the temple nothing was there. We had our lunch->just roamed here and there and finally after the temple was opened we entered the temple. Mahanandi is very famous for its Koneru which will be very clear. We can see the bottom of the Koneru with lots of clarity. We got down into it and started enjoying the water. I really enjoy water but I don't know swimming :-(,,,,Finally i swam on that day with help of my friends. But I don't know why I was not at all moving FW while I swim :-),,,,,,,After enjoying the water for one hour we went to the temple and took the blessings of Mahanandeeshwarudu,,,,,

While going back as we couldn't find many buses back 2 giddaluru we got into a LORRY. Journey inside the lorry was really cool. I don't remember when was the last time i travelled in a lorry. I was sitting just beside the driver and enjoying the GHAT,,,There were many and many dangerous spots all over the journey. We also saw a lorry and van which had a small accident lying on the road. But due to god's grace we reached giddaluru safely,,,,

We had a nice party in the night :-D and also a nice happy sleep,,,,

Sunday 23 March 2008 :
We got up early at 8:30 AM and went to the marraiage,,,The marraige was in front of their house it self and the environment was really nice,,,,Our friend's father received us and also gave some nice advices(which we always try to follow, but never possible :-)),,,,
We had the breakfast->gave the gift to the newly married couple->took some photographs with them->came back 2 room->again went and had the lunch.
After the marraige our friend took us to his village "PodalaKuntaPalli" [I guess i spelt it correct :-)] We went from there again in a diesel auto. But here suddenly some guys jumped and sat on the top of AUTO. I never saw such a scene or never even expected that people can travel sitting over an auto :-),,,,
PodalaKuntapalli was very beautiful. There was some Thiranaallu going on then in their village. And as part of that some competition was going on. We went there. First time I saw an OX which was taller than me. But my friend said they were ki normal ones and there will be OX which will be still bigger and giant. The event was like "A big Stone was tied to the OX and they should drag them around. Which ever pair drags it more, they r the winners". Many men were around the animals controlling them. They were hitting them like anything and poor animals were dragging them in intervals,,,,But the whole envi was gr8. There was a small hill over there and people had climbed it to watch the events clearly and we joined them. The scene over there was something similar to to the LAGAAN scene(lots of people standing on the hills to watch the match)...After enjoying there for some time we started going into the village to wards their home,,,
Passing through all the major areas in their village we went to their home, had some rest and then started back,,,,while coming back he took us to a common place where everyone will sit and chat,,,but as it was raining no one was there. We saw their KUNTA(small lake) and a monkey's tombstone and finally came back 2 giddaluru and started back 2 b'lore

Monday 24 March 2008 :
By early morning 6:00 AM we were in b'lore. Got up at 9:00, got ready to office->had breakfast->came back 2 room->took a leave->And watched TV :-)