Thursday, December 20, 2007

BSNL Broadband modem drivers

The good part of BSNL Broadband modems is that they work well. The bad part is that the modem drivers are NOT available HUAWEI's website nor anywhere else, except of course with the CD-pack that comes with the modem. If you are one of those who tend to misplace your CDs more often than your keys, then this link is for you

Dataone modem drivers - Calcutta Telephones

They have all the drivers for all the types of modems BSNL has ever released for Broadband modems.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Email blog

Now that i did a direct mobile blog, am tempted to do an email blog.
And this is that. Sending it now, ...

Blog on the go

Too bored waiting for my people to complete shopping, just trying to kick off mobile clogging er ... Blogging. (damn this t9, doesnt have the word blog.)

Friday, October 12, 2007

Decency is the virtue of Idiots

I have seen people advice that good education turns you into a more social, sensible being. India, Chennai to be more specific, is one place where these sayings are put to the toss on a daily basis. The government has a cleanly built MRTS Railway Station right in front of Tidel Park with a nicely built walk-over bridge nearby. Today, many of all those "well educated" people (with a sick attitutude to the road rules and the general laws), both men and women were crossing the road , jumped the high and wide median, crossed the other 3 lanes of road with full oncoming traffic and reached tidel park/elnet so that they can continue their work culture under the pretext of decency.

These people look decent. Push them a teeny weeny bit, out comes the a$*-#*!# eagerly waiting in them. These attitudes are the ones which maketh for most of the traffic snarls and senselessness in our city. The police and the guides are trying their best to make this a nice city to live in. But, these S#*!!y mongrels are making sure that their job is not done that easily giving madras its (I HATE to use this word) trade mark life-style.

Everytime I see one of this beings, I really wish I had to magic power to do something painful to them. Like,when in a traffic signal and this "clever" f***-o## barges through every single vehicle to lick at the edge of the traffic-constable's patience, I'd love to make his tyre burst. After all, he is trying to move his way ahead of all "poor fear-covered beings" to show-off his "bravery" and talent; and what better way than to make sure he sinks into the s#*t hole of shame in front of all the "poor beings". Similarly, when I see a person reaches for the median, I'd love to pass 12KV supply in the median so that he/she is thrown off the road onto his starting point.

Oh, How I wish I had a magic wand now

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Direct link to mp3 files through Google

Paste the following text into google search bar replacing the "artist/song" with either the name of the artist or the song title, but leave the quotes on. Hope this helps.




-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory”
+description +size +(wma|mp3) “artist/song”

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Mokkai Podathey

The cast read like this.
Movie : Satham Podathey
Director : Vasanth
Hero : Prithviraj
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja

So, here I was waiting for the show to begin. The theatre is almost full (mainly becos, there is a India-Pakistan Twenty20 Match going on right now). I must iterate here that I am a big fan of Yuvan, and so was expecting a good output in the background score.

The gist goes something like this; Nitin is such a seasoned drinker that he has become a "senior citizen" in his 20s. So, he shouldnt be getting married. But, driven by the "manly" powers, he cheats Navya's family into marrying him. And later, the family finds out. Divorce happens. By this time, major part of first half is over. Now, comes Prithviraj and they love and marry. But, the villain is not to be left alone. So, what happens forms the second part.

The moment the movie started with Nitin Sathya approaching the heroine's family and getting married to Padma Priya. The first 5 minutes were engrossing, but after that I wished I was home watching the match. I was not able to judge the winner of the "most painful feature" in the movie. The contestants were the cinematography, screenplay and choreography.

I couldnt decipher the idea of projecting prithviraj as the hero of the movie. The director could have as well put him in the "guest performance" role and put Nitin as the hero/anti-hero. I heard Padma Priya got dehydrated most of the days during shooting becos of the amount of crying and shouting she had to do. Anyways, the one point I wanted to enjoy was the background score. It was awful. The score was ok. But, coupled with the horrific screenplay, it rarely matched the on-screen proceedings. I think yuvan must have had simliar pains when he saw the movie for background score.

The only hightlight of the movie was the audience. We had a good percentage of young guys in the cinema hall. Their comments and feedback over the course of the movie was what pulled us through till the end. I however started having a headache as soon as the second half started, and my wife and I had to rush out at the fag end of the movie to save our lives. Choreography was done in such a way that even prabhu deva would have looked like a bad dancer.

This movie taught me a lesson NOT to go to a movie just based on technicians' skillset. And for giving such a good lesson, I give it ONE star.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Eagles Vs Plaza

I took a diversion from the already diverted route from Old Mahabalipuram Road to go to my home. While passing through the backyard of perungudi, the normally darkness covered government compound was buzzing with high voltage flood lights. More out of curiosity than interest, I went in. A cricket tournament in full flood lights was going on. It was a match between "Plaza" and the "Eagles" team. I got these names from a local commentator struggling to give a pure tamil commentary. Each team had their own t-shirts, one team in red and the other in blue.

Six separate teakwood flood light stands with about 15 flood light in each surrounded the ground. A stage, a stage audience (!!!) a generator to feed the lights, a commentator to feed the 99% youth audience with the details of the match. It was a tennis ball match. I was expecting to see more fireworks from the batsmen. But, apart from the fireworks from the commentator's mouth, the game was pretty decent. Batsmen were placing the ball better than some of our international stars. Local ballooning did happen from time to time with two of them ending up in fielders' hands. At the time of my leaving, the batting team had scored around 20 runs in 4 overs for the loss of 3 wickets.

The crowd mostly consisted of guys supporting their team. Some even had the team's shirt on. While crossing some of the guys, the smell of liquor flavoured the place. In all, the whole place was lit like one giant fair. I was able to see the lights in the sky from my home.

World cup winners or not, cricket fever hasn't yet slowed down in our country.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Has modernization spoilt Indian culture

This was an article I wrote for an article competition in our office.



I once heard a definition of Change. It went thus: "A change is something which we hoped not to happen." And when it eventually happens, it can have one of the two effects. It can either be accepted by the majority and renamed as "Growth" or opposed by the majority and termed ... well, some people are good at feeding the hungry negatives like "social evil", "anti-human","anti-social", etc. English language dwells on such creativity.

Modernization is one such "change" happening right now in our country. Its not that "modernization" hasn't been happening, its just that its happening at a faster rate now. This "Change" has been termed as "growth" by some, "westernization" by some, "anti-Indian" by some, and what not. This "change" has impregnated our day to day life. But, how do we view it? How do we feel it? How do we accept it?

If modernization includes changes in the way the younger generation approaches the educational learning cycle, it is "Growth". We see kids nowadays with a higher IQ than the current generation of youth during their time. It is "Growth".

If modernization includes changes in the way people communicate, it is "Growth". Wherever your dad is in the world, he has become reachable right inside your mobile. The other end of the sword here is the loss of one's privacy. Mobiles and telephones are for the phone user's convenience, and not for the caller's convenience. But, this concept doesn't seem to have reached the Indian people. Whatever the situation you are, be it at the temple offering prayers or at office attending a meeting, when a phone rings, people go for it. The people who have graced the "modernized" mobile phones did not grace the concept of proper "phone sense". Is this OK?

If modernization includes changes in the way people see marriage, it is "anti-Indian". Indian style of life has seen marriage as the single binding force to close-knit families. With the "modernization" seeping in (rather pouring in), we see more divorces and more "live-in" relationships. Is this good? From the context of Indian culture - A big NO. Families have moved apart from each other. A feel of "togetherness" normally seen in our families is becoming more of a movie scene. But, this sword of "change" has its other end too. It has shown independence to people, the power of choosing the person to live and love. The power to "Choose". Is this good?

IF modernization includes the spread of the "web", it is "modernization" literally. Any information you need is in front of you within a few clicks. The spread of knowledge and information has reached speeds synonymous to the speed of sound. A gun shot in Iowa is heard by an Indian in Andaman in a matter of few minutes. Sports actions reach people in seconds. Businesses are being handled entirely through the "web". The world has shrunk into a 17 inch monitor. But, what does the "web"-coin's other face look like? Human interaction has come down. Students were so drugged with the web that the management of a particular institution had to restrict use of Internet inside their campus because of poor inter-personal communication. People have more friends "online" than in the real world. The world of "friendships" is seen more through e-cards and forwards than in face-to-face chats and sharing. Is this "acceptable"?

If modernization includes the financial state of people, it is "social change". More and more people are able to buy their own house, have their own cars, go more "site-seeing" trips, take the airlines more. With the growth in the power to spend, the variety in the ways to spend has also increased. People have more choices. The idlis and dosais are now competing with food ranges from the dish of the "Continental" to the "Kentucky friend specials", from "Szechwan" style to the "pasta" dishes. The once monopoly of "Maruti" has given way to the Fords, Hondas, Fiats and Opels. The other side of this sword is the increase in the amount of health issues. More and more people have diseases not known a few decades ago. Diseases occurring only to old age people have shifted ages to more younger age groups. Air pollution has increased to alarming proportions. With lackadaisical government policies in respect to the environment, this is already having its effect on the country and its people. How "good" is this?

I leave the decision to the reader.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Japanese kids dancing for Gilli Song

Must say they did a very VERY good job in choreography. I have seen many live programs, but what puts this apart is the varitey and the originality in steps, and the liveliness given the dancers (espcially the main dancer). Kudos to all of them

Friday, March 09, 2007

FIR - Chennai 600 028 - Movie Songs

I am a big fan of Yuvan Shanker Raja. Mainly because of his success although he is not as proficient in the techicalities of western music as his father or his brother. He has come to define the taste and the style of the current generation of youth and music.

A total youth force has come into the team of Chennai 600028. And Yuvan Shanker Raja has done it again here. He has lived upto his reputation of ringing in peppy numbers. With generously interspersed rap-style interludes, most of the song are bound to reach the Nxt-Gen.

Am taking the order of songs listed in the movie's website.

Ulle Vaa - A Hip-hop beat, a rap kick-off and yuvan's voice. Do you need anything more to give a dance song? Instead of musical interludes, a Yogi-B style tamil rap fills the song.


Un Parvaimele - Sung by Vijay Yesudas. Its a bit hard to term this song as a melody, what with the rhythm section making the otherwise melodious tune a funky one. Vijay Yesudas' voice loses its distinctiveness in this song, mainly because of the pitch of the song (pitch compared to vijay's default voice scale). Another good song.

Yaaro (love) - SPB , Chitra. The voice pair which once ruled the tamil industry with innumerable hits come together for this melody tune, again with a peppy beat, though not as peppy as the previous song.

Vazhkaiye yosingada - Ranjith, Tippu, Premji Amaran, Haricharan, Karthik. A fun song with again a peppy rhythm with the harmonium (or is it an accordion) piece the highlight. I guess this to be a song sung by friends.

Oh Oh Ennamo - Sung by anushka, the only song without peppy rhythm. This comes in the category of "vaseegara", "Onra Renda" type of songs. Anushka's voice kneads the lyrics nicely to give the desired "hot" effect. I dont know if this will reach the tamil mass as "vaseegara" or "onra renda" due to its westernized feel. Definitely NOT a "family" song ;-)

Natpukulle - YSR. A full blown YSR song. Lyrics, orchestration and sung by YSR. A typical music director song. A pure melody and like a jingle, the song closes before it ends.

Here, I have to tell; all the songs composed and sung by music directors are ALWAYS a super hit. And most of these songs almost always rely on guitars to enhance the beauty of the song. Here are some of the examples.
ARR - Mustafa in Kadhal Desam, Vellai Pookal in Kannathil Muthamittal, New York in Sillunu Oru Kadhal, etc etc
YSR - Oru Naalil in Pudhupettai, Yeno Kangal in Kalvanyn Kadhali, Kannai vittu in Pattiyal, Yen Kannodu in Arinthum Ariyamalum, etc, etc.
Jassie Gift - Lajjavathiye in 4 students
Baradwaj - Roja Kootam in Roja Kootam

Vazhkaiye yosingada (remix) - As of the original was a melody, this had to be done. Nowadays, remix songs are being done for the sake of remixing. With a heavier rhythm and more synth sound to fill the background, there is nothing more special to update on this song other than being a pub song.

Yaaro (friendship) - This version of the song fares far better than the SPB, chitra starrer, with a more pumpy rhythm and a good tune. Till I see the movie, am going to maintain that YSR just lost interest to compose a new tune for the movie and stuck to the other tune. Atleast he used his own compositions rather than using the xerox machine.


Saroja Saman Nikalo - THE audience song. Its "adra adra adra adra" right from the start. A nice mix of raw tamil rhythm and heavy rock instrumentation. I dont whats with the voice of Shanker Mahadevan, but it just blends into the song and adds to the tempo nicely.

In all, a definite success among youth anywhere. Hats off to YSR.

Joe

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Sillunu Oru Movie

I'd really love a home-theatre room full with a 20K Lumin projector and a 7.1 surround effect in my house. Given the rates at which these stuff come nowadays, and to avoid getting murdered by my wife (for just thinking of it), I am contented with a 1000 sq. ft entry in the CMDA to my credit. Now, comes the good part. Coupled with the 250 odd houses in our community is an open air theatre which saw the light of a film projector on 4th Feb, 2007.

The TVH Builders management decided to host an evening party along with screening of a tamil movie. They decided on "Sillunu Oru Kadhal" with Jyothika and Surya in their last movie as lovers in real life before they tied the knot in what was seen as a much awaited and talked about wedding attended by almost all cine personalities including the CM/ex-CM of tamil nadu.

Coming to the matter at hand, the screening was scheduled at 1800 hours. True to the "fresh" culture of TVH Park Villa, many of the residents started gathering at the open air theatre at around 1800 hours and kinda completed gathering by around 1830 hours. Now, it so happened that the audience was ready for the movie, but the projecter wasnt. It decided to be snobbish about running with 25 high pitched power packed kids around it.

After fixing the technical snob with the projector, the movie finally started by 1900 hours. Since, I had seen that movie enough number of times to actually recite the scenes and dialogues, I went in a bit late. The management had arranged for good speakers, and in spite of the open air system, the sound quality was better than the drive-in theatres around the city. I saw some "balcony" seat viewers from the neighboring houses. Lucky for them, they get to see free movies for which we need to pay.

The food arranged was a buffet system and had both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, although only 2 dishes were there to support the non-veg team. Arranged from good caterers, the quality of the food was decent and enjoyable. The whole community had a gala mood that evening. The movie ended at exactly 2200 hours. Most of the crowd had stayed on despite the cold climate to complete the reels before returning home. All in all, a good evening. I wish this community feeling goes longer than I hope it will.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Pay and buy mp3

In another step to be a "honest" music lover, I decided to purchase songs online and use them, rather than scrapping around the net for hours (sometimes days) for a dismal 64kbps audio dump.

http://gomusic.ru is a russian site for pay and download english songs in mp3 format.

It works out something like this. You first deposit some money into your "account" in the website (using your credit card). Now, you have money in your "wallet". Most songs cost between $0.10 to $0.15. If purchased as a full album, then you get a 10% discount.

I was very skeptical about the usage of credit cards, as the internet-word was that most russian sites were fraudulant and misuse the credit card details submitted online. But, so far nothing untoward dip in balance has happened to the credit card. I initially deposited $20 to my wallet, in may last year (2006). So far, I am able to download all songs, the account is properly getting debited and my credit card is safe.

You get most songs in 192kbps bit rate and the download speed is pretty good (approx 70kbps). One thing though is that you cannot use any download accelerator with the site (with that speed, it shouldnt be much of an issue).

But, if you still feel that I can live with a ripped-off 64kbps stuff, check out this link for a step-by-step tutorial to becoming a unassuming heartless brain-challenged nitwit. (hehehehahaha...)