Frustration of a Lazy Coder

Let me put this right away, I am a very lazy coder, slow learner and procrastinator. I am a Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) graduate and working in a multinational software services company with 3.5years of experience.

I have to add more to the introduction and background information, bear with me. People of my age with state syllabus background were introduced to computer programming in our Engineering and like many, I was a bit petrified and I still do get scared, but I have evolved differently in the last 10 years which includes my 4 years of computer engineering, 3.5+ years of software job and 1.5+ years of downloading and watching movies. This is a long post – but have some patience because I am trying to raise important questions here.

"If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." ~ Albert Einstein

It all started with C

In the 1st year of Computer engineering we were introduced to C language. I forgot to mention that I have a bad habit of leaving things in the middle when I don’t comprehend them after reading it 3-4 times and this habit has hit me very hard and almost snatched away my career.

During his visit to Chile, Barack Obama said, "I think it’s important, though, for us, even as we understand our history and gain clarity about our history, that we’re not trapped by our history". NO is a film about the historic plebiscite of 1988 on whether General Pinochet should stay in power for another 8 years and the role played by Television Advertising.

The important things which grew in the last 2 decades are Television and Internet. Both have shown enormous penetration and its influence. In India, both have taken a different path in the course of time. News has important place in both these areas and they have dramatically changed in the past 2 decades. From Arun Shourie's crusade against corruption by coming with a front page headline of "Good Morning Prime Minister" to a news channel doing a fake interview with a Bollywood star in his car asking about his political inclinations and on who is the best Prime Minister candidate in 2009.

Chile is a thin strip country on the west coast of South America. The plebiscite of 1988 is a divided into two groups, YES of General Augusto Pinochet who came to power by a coup and the NO camp who are a formation of several opposition parties who want to bring back democracy. The YES and NO camp would be provided with 15 minutes on Television for 27 days to come with their advertisements. The NO camp approaches a brilliant advertisement creator Rene Saavedra played by Gael García Bernal. Gael García Bernal is one of the very few young actors who travels continents with his talent. Be it with the Mexican film about dogs 'Amores perros', to act like a transgender in Pedro Almodóvar's 'Bad Education' and as a Chilean in 'NO'.

The first scene of the film made me feel that there was something wrong with my eyes but later realized that the whole film was shot with Sony U-matic magnetic tape to get the feel of late 80's. The decision to shoot the film with magnetic tapes had divided the critics but i felt that it was a smart decision and it added the impact which the filmmaker was intending for.

గంగా తాండవం

ఉరికింది ఉరికింది ఆకాశగంగ,
హరుడు హరించమని అడుగంగ,
అడుగులో అడుగై నేలంతా మడుగై,
పాపం పుణ్యం అన్నీ మరిచి,
పిన్నలు పెద్దలు భేధం విడిచి,
నింగినుండి నేలకు జారి, ఆ రెండింటిని ఏకం చేస్తూ,
శివుడే నేల చేరి నాట్యమాడేనా అనేట్టుగా,
ఆ హరునే హరిస్తుందేమో అనేంతగా,
ఉరికింది ఉరికింది ఆకాశగంగ.

గంగమ్మను ఇన్నాళ్ళు మోసిన శివయ్య, ఇక చాలనుకుని,
ఇంతమందిని పొట్టనపెట్టుకోమని ఆఙాపించావా?
నీ ఆఙ లేనిదే చీమైనా చలించదు కదా,
నిన్ను చూడ వచ్చినవారిని నీలో చేర్చుకున్నవా?
అందుకే అందర్నీ ముంచిన ఆ హిమగంగ,
నిన్ను తాకే ధైర్యం చేయలేదుగా,
ఆఙా నీదీ,ఆది అంతం నీదీ,ఐక్యం అయ్యే శివ తాండవం నీది!!


-- మీ సాయి కార్తీక్

Narendra Modi, Bigots and Non Bigots

The recent intellectual commentary of Mukulji on Narendra Modi is one of the best example of Desi Left Liberalism. In his first sentence he terms millions of Indians as bigots. Yes, millions of people who have voted for BJP for so many years are bigots according to Mukulji. Few days back, Pratap Bhanu Mehta came with a column which trashes the 9 years governance of Congress and he ends with this sentence.

After all we do have the vote. 

Mukulji’s bile for Narendra Modi comes with his Left Liberal hyperbole camouflaged under the generic word ‘Liberals’. He starts with…

Liberals fear and loathe Narendra Modi not because he is loved by voters who are bigots but because he appeals to some voters who aren’t.

So, let us assume for argument sake that millions of Indians are bigots and the rest who are attracted to them are non-bigots. Few questions which comes to my mind are:

• Who are these non-bigots?
• Why are they attracted to Narendra Modi?
• Which category does these Non-bigots belong?

James M. Cain on his masterpiece "Double Indemnity"

I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try to write as the character would write, and I never forget that the average man, from the fields, the streets, the bars, the offices, and even the gutters of his country, has acquired a vividness of speech that goes beyond anything I could invent, and that if I stick to this heritage, this logos of the American countryside, I shall attain a maximum of effectiveness with very little effort.

Tony Soprano on Gary Cooper

Let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody's gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on "Sally Jessy Raphael" and talk about their problems. What happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn't know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn't be able to shut him up! And then it's dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!