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ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಮಳೆ ಈ ಕಡೆ

2010-08-19T23:04:00.001-05:00

ಬಾ ಬಾ ಎಂದು ಬೇಡಿದೆ
ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಮಳೆ ಈ ಕಡೆ

ಎಂದೆ ನಾ ಬಾ ಬಾ ಮಳೆ
ಸೇರಿಹುದು ನನ್ನ ವಾಹನದ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೊಳೆ
ಬಂದು ನೀ ಅದರ ತೊಳೆ
ಎಂದಿತು ಅದು ಹುಡುಕಿಕೊ ಯಾವುದಾದರು ಹೊಳೆ

ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಮಳೆ ಈ ಕಡೆ

ಎಂದೆ ನಾ ಬಾ ಬಾ ಮಳೆ
ಬಂದು ತಂಪನ್ನು ಇತ್ತ ಸೆಳೆ
ಬೆಂದು ಒಣಗುತ್ತಿದೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ಬೆಳೆ
ಎಂದಿತು ಅದು ಸಾಕು ಮಾಡು ನಿನ್ನ ರಗಳೆ

ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಮಳೆ ಈ ಕಡೆ

ಎಂದೆ ನಾ ಬಾ ಬಾ ಮಳೆ
ಕಾಣು ಎಲ್ಲರ ಮೊಗದಿ ಕಳೆ
ತಟ್ಟುವೆ ನಿನಗೆ ನಾ ಚಪ್ಪಾಳೆ
ಎಂದಿತು ಅದು ಬಿಡಬೇಡ ನೀ ಬೊಗಳೆ

ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ ಮಳೆ ಈ ಕಡೆ

Mr. Brooks

2009-10-30T23:22:00.000-05:00

Just watched the movie on DVD. Don't know what made me order the movie on Netflix. A movie with Kevin Costner and Dane Cook in the lead!! But it turned out to be a surprisingly well made movie. Both the wife and I liked it a lot. It had been a long while since a movie on which we had very little expectations really kept us involved till the end. Mr. Brooks exceeded expectations by a mile.

The story is about a psychological killer, Mr. Brooks (Costner) who sees and talks to his imaginary friend/alter ego a la Nash in Beautiful Mind. A successful and rich businessman, Brooks is addicted to killing people. He is known to the cops, lead by the beautiful Demi Moore, only as the Thumbprint Killer.You can read the rest of the plot on IMDB at your leisure.

The real star of the movie is the plot, and its execution. You know WHAT is going to happen in the end... you can pretty much guess it. But what keeps you hooked is not knowing HOW it is gonna happen. Twists, turns, blind alleys, wild goose chases ... all the elements of a successful thriller, are in this one. Definitely recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a well thought-out killing spree.

Fire in the sky

2009-09-27T17:34:00.000-05:00

Taken on 25 September 2009, at the University Apartments, TAMU Campus, College Station, TX.

Reel/Real?

2009-09-27T16:32:00.001-05:00

Last week, my wife and I watched a movie titled "Dansh", starring Kay Kay Menon, Sonali Kulkarni and Aditya Srivastava, and directed by Kanika Verma. The movie was largely based on the Roman Polanski film "Death and the Maiden". Gist of the story - husband brings home a new friend, wife believes he is the person who raped her years ago and wants justice. Is he, or is he not the culprit? Was a decent movie with some good performances by Kay Kay and Sonali.

And then, this morning I read that acclaimed director Roman Polanski was arrested in Zurich in connection with a long standing case of sex with a minor. Couldn't help but wonder if this was another case of reel meets real life!

When the snow melts,...

2009-09-16T11:53:00.002-05:00

... where does the white go?

Taken at the University Apartments, Texas A&M, College Station, TX on 10 December 2008.

Camera: Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Exposure: 0.011 sec (1/90)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Off

Destruction...

2009-09-14T18:52:00.001-05:00

...can be beautiful.

Taken on Texas A&M Campus, College Station, TX on 2 September 2009.

Camera:	Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Exposure:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:	f/6.7
Focal Length:	300 mm
Exposure:	0.00
ISO Speed:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off

Loneliness...

2009-09-12T23:51:00.003-05:00

... is a single set of footprints in the sand.

Taken at Lake Somerville, Texas, on 31 December 2008.
Camera: Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 45 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Only in India?

2007-12-29T14:12:00.001-06:00

To all those people who crib about cattle on the Indian streets, here's proof that this happens in the US too...

A couple of years ago, I was in New Mexico on a research project. On 11th Jan, 2005, having pretty much nothing else to do, I thought I'd check out the Very Large Array antennae. On the way, on this very straight NM-52 highway, there was this herd of cattle peacefully crossing the road. I had to stop and let them cross before going ahead.

So all those who say no such things happen in the US of A, better quit now.

"Ideas worth spreading"

2007-12-24T18:08:00.001-06:00

Technology, Entertainment, Design.That's what TED stands for. Started in 1984 as a conference of people from these three fields, TED is now something much much bigger. I got attracted to the TEDTalks some time ago and have been a regular at the site. Just felt it would be a nice thing to put some talks that I like up on my blog and invite some discussions...

Here's one by Juan Enriquez where he talks about growing energy much the same as growing grains.

What will they think of next?

2007-12-17T14:53:00.000-06:00

Well... after cotton, silk, nylon, rayon, polyester, and what not, we now have some new and interesting cloth materials. Bamboo and hemp!! These guys have hit on an idea to make t-shirts out of bamboo and hemp fibers. I think this is a cool idea, given that most of what they say about being environment-friendly is true. We definitely need more such "alternative" forms of everything we use.

But the one thing that really puts me off is the price. Why? If the cost of growing these plants is lesser than cotton, AND they provide more fiber per acre, AND they provide more harvests than cotton, AND you want to make them popular, why are the prices a wee bit in the higher segment? If you are really honest about popularizing these materials, wouldn't it make more sense to price them lower and make buying the shirts more attractive?

Am I back??

2006-11-25T00:37:00.000-06:00

Whoooooo...!!! Been a long long time since I had the inclination to blog. I see my last blog was on St. Valentine's Day this year. Seems an eon ago, what with so many events happening in between. A quick recap of what I had happen in my life since February 14th, 2006:

Found a girl (or rather, my elders did), talked with her & her family, chatted with her, liked her, loved her, got engaged to her, spoke & chatted with her even more, fixed a date for the wedding.... all this without ever setting eyes on her once. For those of you for whom arranged marriages are nothing new, you know the fun in this process. For those of you in the dark about this system of marriage, eat your hearts out!!! A week before the wedding was when I finally met my sweetheart. And then, BOY!!, was it tough to get that 1 week of separation out of the way.

That was the life-changing event in the past 9 months. Apart from that, things have been pretty normal... classes, semesters coming and going, meeting project deadlines, writing research papers, winning a NASA Fellowship (no joke, I did!!). But somehow, I just couldn't find the inspiration to write, my inspiration running in other directions, as it were. But now, like a few other things, I think I'll make it a point to be regular here too. So, as the song goes - "Hasta Manana until then"

Book Review

2006-02-14T23:51:00.000-06:00

Finished a book by Wilbur Smith yesterday. Have rarely had any time to read novels lately and this was a welcome break. The book was titled “The Leopard Hunts in Darkness”. It was a book with the racial and inter-tribal rivalries of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe as the backdrop. A synopsis can be found on Wilbur smith’s website (http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/books/leopard.html). Although the website has this book listed under his “Ballantynes” series, the only link to a Ballantyne is the central character, Craig Mellow, being a descendent of theirs on his mother’s side.

It was a book in Smith’s general style of writing. I am a big fan of his and just absolutely love his Egyptian novels – River God, The Seventh Scroll and Warlock. Almost all his books are Africa-centric, and this one is no different. However, what put me off was that towards the end, Smith seems to have heavily borrowed from “King Solomon’s Mines”. A search for diamonds, said diamonds being buried with an ancient king’s body, only a witch doctor knowing the location, good guys getting trapped in the cave where the body is, king’s body placed in seated position, - and this was just a tad too much to be a coincidence for me – king’s body placed directly under a water drip and being slowly encased in the calcium deposit!! What was Smith thinking?? Was he so sure that nobody reads the classics these days and so he could get away with it?

Overall, I felt a bit cheated as I was expecting something better… a lot better, in fact. I was thankful that I decided to borrow the book from our university library instead of buying it. This is one Wilbur Smith creation that I will not miss in my collection. But that does not take away from my love of his books. I still like his style and look forward to reading the ones I have missed so far.

The sun sets on the old year

2006-01-02T12:04:00.000-06:00

The old year is no more. Here are a few images of one of the last sunsets of 2005. They were shot at a place called Lake Somerville in Texas on the 28th of December, 2005. Lake Somerville is a 45 minute drive from College Station.

A frozen Bryan

2005-12-18T18:13:00.000-06:00

Updating fotografs of the freeze in Bryan-College Station.

My car... couldn't get in bcause the door handles were frozen over.

My bike... whooooooo!!

A tree in front... superbly frozen over.. looked like it was glass-encased.

Our balcony roof.. dripping icicles.

The railing outside the front door.

Frozen water from leaves of the bush out front.

The years I spent with you

2005-12-14T01:10:00.000-06:00

The years I spent with you
Went past like moments few
In a flash the time flew
Vanishing as does the morning dew.

But now that you are with me no longer
And the same time seems to stretch longer
For the glimpse of your face I hunger
Wishing on your beauty my eyes may linger.

Things everywhere remind my heart of you
And make my days so gloomy and blue
To see, to touch, to hold you
Other than these, my wishes are few.

In the arms of your betrothed happy you are
In a place from me away and far
In me living only memories are
Tears in the eyes my vision mar.

I wish you everlasting happiness my love
As I sail away from this protected cove
To be a nomad and this earth rove
In search of another to call my love.

The vagaries of weather

2005-12-08T15:16:00.000-06:00

This year has been a strange one… weather-wise. We had a torrid summer which just refused to let go. Just a few days ago, during the first week of December, temperatures here were as high as 86 F (30 C). I had never experienced such a long summer in my four years at Bryan-College Station. We had even taken to joking that Texas has officially been handed over to the Australians.

And then, this week, winter kicked in with a bang! Last night, College Station froze over. The thermometer crashed to 25 F (~ -4 C) and to add to the fun, it was raining. The result?? Sheets of ice – on the roads, on the stairs… everywhere. When I got up this morning and looked out the window, I see that my car is covered with a layer of ice… with icicles hanging down the bottom. I come out of my room and look towards the balcony. More icicles!! This was again a new experience for me in B-CS. Talk about extremes!

People were slipping on the roads and stairs … falling… hurting. All because they were unaccustomed to this. The trees and plants had a coating of ice on them that crinkled whenever they swayed in the wind.

And then, when the sun started to peek out a bit, the ice began to melt and slide off the roofs and plants. The sound that made was something else again. “A continuous sliding, tinkling sound” doesn’t do it justice but those are the only words I can think of that even come close.

While I did take some pictures of a frozen B-CS, it’ll be a while before I can put them up here. I am yet to transition from a film SLR camera to a digital one. As of now, I have to get the film processed and the photos printed. I promise that I’ll put them up ASAP.

Hasta mañana.

The end is near...

2005-11-29T23:40:00.000-06:00

The end is near… very near!!! Before you cast me as another one of those semi-crazed dorks forewarning you about how the “End Times” are upon us, let me clarify… I mean the end of the Fall semester. It is just 2 weeks away. But with the end in sight, things are threatening to get out of control. Too many deadlines to meet and too little time in a day to do it all. Just thinking of the things due makes me want to cry…

a proposal evaluation/review due tomorrow for the Theory of Research course

a term paper for the Statistics in Hydrology class (yet to finish the experimental work.. let alone the writing part)

an assignment for the same class due this coming Monday

7 assignments (mostly all back-log) from the GIS programming course due in 2 weeks (how in hell did I fall so far behind?!?!)

a journal paper on the application of Neural Networks to develop Pedo-Transfer Functions for soil hydraulic properties

Add to these the general house-keeping tasks, talking to friends, chatting, watching movies, blogging, (MS Word just told me that “blogging” is not a word… how typical!!) … and looks like I’ll hardly have time for oo ma hey (that’s code for eating, sleeping, and er… washing).

Mixed feelings on missing out on a trip to San Francisco to attend the AGU Conference. Was almost sure of going but prof says no funds right now… so no go. Sad. But that means I have that whole week not going away from the 2 weeks left to finish all my academic dues in. Happy. With almost the entire last week going away without any meaningful work done (thanks to my jaunt to Phoenix, helping DB move… maybe I’ll write about that trip someday), this next week also not slipping away means a lot.

So, after spending the last whatever minutes gainfully employed in writing this blog (another non-word according to MS), let me sign off for the duration… NO MORE!!! Until the end has come and gone. Wish me luck.

oorina maatu

2005-11-20T19:34:00.000-06:00

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Just looking in

2005-11-18T00:33:00.000-06:00

Long time no see... I meant that to the blogspot... hadn't run my eyes over a blog for a long long while... but then, I read 1 which made me chuckle...manadalada mathu....: RAM BaTra magaLu......

On the email side of things, Hari sent a link to the TAMU Kannadigaru group... a site dedicated to, of all things in this God's creation, the umpteen potholes on the roads(?) of Bangalore!! For all u curious cats out there, here's the url: www.bangalorepothole.com

My first impressions:

Adopt a pothole??? are they afraid that potholes may become extinct in the near future?? i had no idea that potholes have been added to the list of endangered species... i mean.. aren't they a-thriving in the land of maNNina maga Devve Gowda??

also, the "adoption" raises some bureaucracy-like querries... what would you do if (God forbid!!) the BMP takes it upon itself to wipe the pothole u just adopted off the face of the earth?? would that be tantamount to infanticide? can u get compensated for the loss of a beloved adopted one?? how about if a mechanic or a doctor adopted one and it was flattened?? would they be compensated for loss of income from the family's main bread earner??

and what are u expected to do once u adopt a pothole?? ensure its healthy growth?? feed it with motorists??

and what about those fotos they have up there??? what if some1 has adopted one of those potholes already?? does he/she get a compensation for the use of their loved one's likeness?? & if the age of the pothole is less than 18 yrs, did they take the permission of the legal guardians to put up these fotos on the net???

Thought of winding up there, but......couldn't resist 1 more....

Is BMP planning to do a "virtual"cover up of these potholes?? Might be easier doing it on photoshop than actually filling it up!!

Moments of Joblessness

2005-04-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

In a few moments of joblessness, this blogspot came into existence. It is now up to the Gods that watch over the internet to take it someplace. So, as they say, "Watch this spot".

~~| Jobless*Moments |~~