Aramane was disappointing. In the initial moments the crux of the story is revealed and I found it quite interesting and was expecting a good watch. Ganesh is a photographer who tries to get the separated family of Ananth Nag together again. But the screen play falters in presenting the story convincingly. Ganesh tries to shoulder the movie by his wit and timed dialogues. His quips most of the time are no doubt humorous, but that alone cannot engage the audience. Gurukiran’s score is average. Aramane can be watched only to get few genuine laughs, thanks to Ganesh’s witticism a la Tamil’s Parthiban. Otherwise it can safely be skipped.
Code is not ready for release until unit test cases are run and verified. It is always recommended that this rule is religiously followed no matter how little changes that the programmer might have done. Recently I had to relearn this rule the hard way. Confident that nothing would have got broken with the kind of changes that I did, I merged the changes to mainline with out complete testing. The code was released to the test team. And when I attend the office the next day and check my mail, there is a high severity bug reported. A bug so severe it had blocked a huge chunk of test cases of the test team. I had to resubmit the code with the fix sooner. The fix was trivial, thanks to Rational clearcase, I could diff the versions of code and find the cause for the issue. The lessons learnt are, always do complete analysis of the difference b/w the mainline code which has been thoroughly tested and the changed version before merging the codes. And do exhaustive testing before release of the code to avoid the test team report embarrassing issues. The time for testing might be greater than the time invested for writing code but still DO the testing. Lastly I would say that I have fallen in love with the Rational clearcase. I haven’t had experience on any other but I say any amount that might be quoted for the license of the tool is highly justifiable!
..the era of the free market has led to the most successful secessionist struggle ever waged in India the secession of the middle and upper classes to a country of their own, somewhere up in the stratosphere where they merge with the rest of the world's elite. This Kingdom in the Sky is a complete universe in itself, hermetically sealed from the rest of India. It has its own newspapers, films, television programmes, morality plays, transport systems, malls and intellectuals. its own class struggles. An organisation called Youth for Equality, for example, has taken up the issue of Reservations, because it feels Upper Castes are discriminated against by India's pulverised Lower Castes. It has its own People's Movements and candle-light vigils (Justice for Jessica, the model who was shot in a bar) and even its own People's Car (the Wagon for the Volks launched by the Tata Group recently). It even has its own dreams that take the form of TV advertisements in which Indian CEOs (smeared with Fair & Lovely Face Cream, Men's) buy over international corporations, including an imaginary East India Company. They are ushered into their plush new offices by fawning white women (who look as though they're longing to be laid, the final prize of conquest) and applauding white men, ready to make way for the new kings. Meanwhile, the crowd in the stadium roars to its feet (with credit cards in its pockets) chanting 'India! India!'
Roberts Kanigel's "The Man Who Knew Infinity" was an interesting read. The book is about Srinivasa Ramanujan’s incredible life and his Mathematics. The author details the life of the math genius in an accessible manner even for a reader who is remote to the kind of work Ramanujan excelled. The author succeeds in this because he does not dwell into the esoteric areas of Mathematics in which Ramanujan excelled but just makes a succinct reference to his works wherever necessary.
The story begins with an account of Ramanujan’s birthplace, Kumbakonam and his school education. Ramanujan faltered in all subjects but Mathematics. He stood apart from the rest in the way he worked out his favorite subject. After initial struggle in getting spotted as a boy with bundle of talent he does come to be recognized as a person with real mathematical skills. The significant recognition does not come from India but from England. Failing to find anyone in India who would properly understand him, he is advised to write to Cambridge and other places of repute. He writes to couple of distinguished Mathematicians in England for assistance only to be disappointed. But fate has it that he also writes to G. H Hardy. And Hardy responded with a keen interest in Ramanujan’s works. That was enough to spread the name of Ramanujan across the educated circle in South India. Hardy’s endorsement helps Ramanujan in getting rewarded with a scholarship. This enabled him to do his Mathematics at will not needing to care about his daily mores of his personal life, which had become a concern having been wedded at a young age. Hardy invites him to Cambridge and after initial apprehensions Ramanujan crosses seas against his caste traditions.
The author dedicates a chapter on Hardy, which gives a very good insight to the stuff that he is made of. The author does well in bringing out his love of Mathematics, penchant for Cricket, his atheism and much more. Then begins the engrossing passage of the book, Ramanujan’s life in Cambridge. Ramanujan finds in Hardy much-needed companion. Their ‘friendship’ and the work together would become a stuff of legend later. Though Hardy helped Ramanujan in finding his true self by enabling him to do his Mathematics, he failed to be friend at personal social level. The seven years that Ramanujan spends in Cambridge wrecks havoc to Ramanujan’s personal life. He remains totally unaware of most of the happenings back home. The straining of relationship between his mother and wife and many such painful events occur in India These and his staunch vegetarianism has him afflicted with Tuberculosis. But the work he does in Cambridge earns him a Fellow of Royal Society [FRS].
He returns to India as a FRS only to be pulled into the struggle of social life. His mathematical contribution remains at a minimal. Unable to cope up with pressures of life and unyielding health problems he passes away at a young age of thirty-two. The passage of his life towards the end makes for a sad reading. One can only wonder what could have been if only Ramanujan was healthy and lived for many more years.
I appreciate the author’s skill in writing the biography of one of enigmatic figures of India in a lucid manner. A very good read and I highly recommend it.
Sivaji saw an unprecedented pre release media attention. And the movie fails to deliver in a manner, which would justify the hype. A bad screenplay fails the movie big-time. The movie is devoid of common sense even at microscopic level and is surprising given the fact that Sujatha has penned the dialogues. Rajinikanth might satisfy his die-hard fans to some extent with his screen presence, but if one was expecting another Baasha, it’s a big letdown. The comedy for most part is naïve and at times crass. The conflict between the hero and villain isn’t presented effectively. Money has been spent lavishly on songs, which are mediocre, by ARR standards.
The more I listen to the FM radio stations, the greater my distaste for them becomes. Even after I had vented my frustration in one of my earlier post, I am not at peace. I find myself arguing with those who listen to FM radio regularly.
What have the 24 /7 news channels become these days? They would give entertainment channels run for their money. These channels when watched do nothing but add noise to my understanding of what’s happening around me. There are many channels but too little to offer worth while. I would be better off with just my daily newspaper.
All shows in which you are given advice as to how to improve your life by means of numerology, gemology, tarot reading and such nonsense. These kinds of shows hog the air time of most of the Tamil channels. There is one show in which a crackpot called Satyamurthy claims that he has cures for AIDS and tumors. Wonder why there has not been any PIL filed against the flourish of pseudoscience in society? May be I should.
The Tamil film music scene. Is there one song which has come in recent time which would stand the test of time? Which has moved you? Which had you in rapture? Sadly none and gems of IR and ARR loaded in my iPod have not been replaced for quite a long time.
I cannot stand theBangalore traffic. It’s getting worse.
The Editorials written in the New Scientist magazine never fail to impress me. When commenting on science that has wider social implications like global warming, its opinions are always honest. One should read magazines like New Scientist to form an opinion on matters like science and religion, impact of science on society at large and so on. And Feedback is another column which I enjoy reading in this science and technology magazine of repute.
Now some humour from Feedback:
Computer rage
FROM the department of computer rage: Peter Brennan was working with the latest version of Adobe's Dreamweaver. When he tried to use the "recent files" list to open a file not available on his network, a box popped up saying, "No error occurred". The only other thing on the box was a button saying "OK". He pressed it and the box disappeared, but the file he wanted didn't open. He tried to open the file again and the same thing happened. Whereupon he took out a gun and shot his computer.
No, he didn't - but we wouldn't blame him if he had.
