Wish you a Happy Sankranthi and what exactly do I wish

This blog post got triggered when my friend Satya sent our Middle Earth group a Happy Pongal e-mail.

I must thank him for the wishes and at the same time for triggering some thoughts in me. I am missing the Bhogi celebrations but I guess I can participate in the Lohri celebrations. But I would like to say something about this "wishing" business. While there is nothing wrong and in fact good that we use this opportunity to say hi (actually saying that I am alive and I remember you all), I have never experienced this wishing business till I moved to Hyderabad, a urban city. Similar to what famous poet Sri Sri says in the "Saapatu etu ledu paataina paadu brother" song of Aakali Raajyam movie, there is no difference between Sankranti or Dasara or Christmas in the Urban City, for the common man it is a day when he forcibly takes a day off and spend some his savings on food, clothes and other little luxuries.

And people like us with incomes in the 70 percentile and above range keep wishing each other - Happy Pongal, Happy Sankranthi etc etc, and take a day off to spend time in front of TV or watch a movie and spend time with family, which are our little luxuries. I think it is time for us to research into the roots of these festivals apart from the mythologies attached and understand the social aspect and we should try to reconstruct our culture in these urban jungles and make the festivals alive. Thanks to internet, we have all the information at our finger tips these days

It is time for us to take time off and indulge in activities like kite flying, making rangolis (men too can help), distribute some vegetables and rice (as is a custom in villages even today), have the pongali (a sweet dish made of late harvested rice and freshly made jaggery and milk) and other home made dishes, wear new clothes and meet friends and relatives and pray to god.

I would also like take this opportunity to mention that despite the fact that politicians are fighting over Telangana and Samikhya Andhra, this festival unites all the telugu speaking people in a unique way.

సంక్రాంతి బాగా జరుపుకోండి, ముగ్గులు బాగా వెయ్యండి వెయ్యలేకపొతే పక్క వారి గొబ్బెమ్మలు తోక్కండి, అరిసెలు, బూరెలు, చక్కిడాలు బాగా తినండి (వండటం రాక పొతే స్వగృహ స్వీట్స్ లో కొనుక్కోండి), పతంగులు లేదా గాలి పటాలు ఎగుర వెయ్యండి, ఉన్నదాంట్లో కొద్దిగా లేని వాడికి పంచండి, అందరూ సుఖంగా ఉండండి :)

Photo Courtesy: Chittaranjan's Photostream, Manavata.org

Who is the Third Idiot?

Media is all gung-ho that the Amir starrer is a mega mega grosser. But novelist Chetan Bhagat is crying that he has not been given enough credit and Amir is supposedly blasting him for asking more than what is agreed in the contract. If these two are thinking that people are idiots, they are two of the idiots in the title and the third would be those who believe these media nonsense.

Though I liked the novel and I'm sure that the movie would be gud, the hype is nothing but nonsense. I was originally planning to watch in a theater, now I have decided to watch in DTH. Even the previous Amir's movie Ghajini, which was a remake, was not as good as the first version in tamil and it no where is close to Memento. Memento is a puzzle from the beginning to the end, Ghajini managed to popularize the almost-forgotten Polaroid camera.

I have read all the four novels of Chetan Bhagat and two of them are based on his own life, which are the better of the lot. One night @ call center was a big flop while 3 mistakes of my life is ok. One can sympathize with his Mother that she couldn't find her son's name but Chetan trying to use it in media is a proof that he is trying to live up to the title.

All those who read his book would know that the movie is based on his novel and if it has really sold so many millions then there is no necessity for Vidhu or Amir to acknowledge it. But if Chetan and/or his Mother is feeling bad about not being able to see Chetan's name right after the movie title, then no one can help it.

Hope 2010 will not be full of such celebrity idiots and that they become sensible over time.

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year once again.

Adios 2009 --> Welcome 2010

Happy New Year Everyone

Avatar - My take

These days almost all the movie, novels, articles seem to be directed in the same direction - selfishness of human beings, how they have/are destroying Earth, and different kinds of possible endings and how forces of nature would stand united etc etc.

Right from Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Matrix, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012 and now Avatar. More or less all of them are saying that life will not be as what we are experiencing in future and the continuous digging into nature's resources and breaking the energy chain is gonna lead to some kind of disaster.

James Cameron, with Avatar, took this game to a different planet. So there is nothing great about the storyline. I can see so many parallels from which he must taken inspiration. What is more awe inspiring is the way he made the movie, it is amazing. I have watched in 2D and now decided to watch it again on 3D. I would say it is a must watch.



Every one of us, given a chance, would say will behave like the main character of the film. He made the hero so simple and relatable and he convinces that skills of a human can come handy in a distant planet.

Nothing in the movie comes out of the blue but the imagination and being able to bring it live on-screen is what Cameron managed to do successfully and he has done it in a fantastic way. One worrying thing that occurs to me from all the above message movies, books etc is that while the human species seem to be a harmonius one by nature but the kind of needs we have developed are building a artificial barrier.




I really don't know if I need this blog but I am using it and will keep using it as long as it is available. And that's the concern - I am doing something, which I am not really sure if I need it and at the same without understanding what is price I am paying for it.

Conscious Action

As a living being, we all keep doing so many things at a sun-conscious level. But as a species endowed with the advanced faculty of thinking, analysing and assimilating, we can further ourselves only through conscious action.

In so many situation we keep belittling ourselves and end up in a state of disappointment and distress. If you remember Newton's third law - Each action has an equal and opposite reaction; and if you understand that your action requires certain amount of energy and therefore it will have to result in another re-action equaling in energy to that of yours, you will understand the power of your conscious action. One should also keep in mind that focusing the energy on a specific action is critical as directionless energy gets scattered and one cannot see a visible re-action. Instead focus your energy on whatever action you decide to take and you would be able to clearly see the re-action. The re-action could be the result that you desire or something else but then if you direct your action correctly you can expect a correct re-action.

So next time you want a certain outcome, don't just sit there and think in scattered directions, think in a clear direction and focus your energy and action in that direction. That's the first step to achieve a successful result.

I have not discriminated good or bad here as energy has no such distinction, however I believe that life itself is a positive force and therefore trying to do something that one believes is bad would be against our nature and therefore will result in negative energy on us.

Do we need Telangana?

As a guy born in Warangal and bought up in Hyderabad, I keep wondering who will get benefited from the new state of Telangana, if formed. Only the politicians, bureaucrats and lawyers come to my mind. In India, we as the subjects always want to catch up and join the ruling class as we believe that leading a normal life is impossible. So we keep searching for opportunities that can give us an opportunity to be the leader. In our view, leader is the one who gets all the privileges without having to do anything.

Surely our thinking needs to refreshed. We have an excellent country well balanced in everything. The biggest problem we seem to be having is that of population (nothing wrong with this, India has the most conducive climate for reproduction, I suppose) and lack of general direction except if difficulties.

In case Andhra Pradesh gets divided, all I can visualize is the amount of infighting that will get started, which in turn will drive away all the investments from the state. Rather if Telangana people believe that they are not being treated fairly, they should demand for specific things rather than fight for a state. Where were all the so-called Telangana intellectuals all these years. Why couldn't they bring out the problems people are facing till now. Where were they hiding. Why were they not ready to fight for issues of downtrodden. When farmers were committing suicides, where were these students, politicians and intellectuals hiding. Why couldn't they conduct the agitation that they are conducting now, where was the unity and social responsibility hiding then.

Similarly, the so-called Samaikhya Andhra supporters, were sleeping till the time the Telangana issue became hot? If they were sympathetic to issues being raised by the Telangana leaders, why couldn't they bring out the issues and create a platform to discuss and create action plans for elimination of the same.

Personally, I feel that this is an attempt to bring down Rosaiah from the CM post. One plausible solution is to make a Telangana guy the CM and appoint two Deputy CMs - one from Rayalaseema and one from Andhra. Let this apex political team identify the regional issues and how it can balanced in favor of all. As a larger state, AP has greater possibility to balance out the differences, Andhra region will continue to be the agricultural belt, Telangana can be made the Industrial belt and Rayalaseema can be developed as the mining area, legal and not the illegal Reddy types. Focus on creating education opportunities and distribute the funds in proportion to the population and not by any other measure.

End of the day, Hyderabad is a central city. Despite the fact that it has some water problems, it is geographically well connected by Air, Road and Railways. Trying to create three states out of one will be a major disaster. Let the so-called intellectuals sit across the table and come up with a solution that has no incremental cost and is pareto efficient. Jai Telugu Talli, Jai Andhra, Jai Ratanalaseema. Manamandaram Telugu vaallam, manalo tedalu undavachu kanee mana bashe mananu kalipi unchagalugutundhi. Mana rashtram lone manam ila tannukunte, bayata deshallo unnavalla paristhithi emito alochinchandi, ippatidaka telugu vallam ani cheppukunna vaallu, repatinunchi, memu teluge kani maadi telangana, maadi andhra, maadi rayalaseema ani cheppu kovalsi vastundi. Baagupadedhi Raajakeeya Naayakulu mathrame. sorry for getting into Telugu but the matter can be better expressed only in mother tongue.

Visit to Hyderabad

I am traveling to Hyderabad tomorrow and would be there for 3-4 days. It would be good to catch up with all my friends.

Cheers