Never again like Haiti disaster – Ways to help Haiti

It is very unfortunate that such a disaster has occurred. More than 70,000  people perished within few minutes. Many are still trapped under the debris of the fallen structures. As soon as the news exploded, people  in large numbers came forward to lend their helping hand. Governments of different countries have announced their respective Haiti Fund packages. Plethora of social organizations reacted immediately and started rehabitation process of the survivors and the burial of the dead ones. Although the lack of proper logistics and infrastructure in Haiti initially made the rehabitation work difficult, help from all over the world is slowly surpassing that hassle and moving forward. But, among us, there are many people who are having helping heart but unsure about how to help the Haiti people from the consequences of this disaster. Uncertain if the funds would really reach affected Haiti people and help them, some of us are not taking that small step showing generosity which can make a huge difference.

So here is the list of few genuine and reliable organizations who are working relentlessly and helping Haiti people to restore normalcy. Please donate and make a difference.

• The American Redcross
• Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
• UNICEF
• Operation USA
• Save The Children
• United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
• Oxfam

Although there are more that can be added to this list, I listed organizations that are well-known for relief efforts.

– Shashi (the2transformers)

Hyderabad, my beloved city

With biriyani flavours simmering around the city and history of 400 yrs in its belly, Hyderabad is stunning , attractive as always  and still a place-to-be to real ‘Hyderabadis’.

Its been almost 3 yrs I left Hyderabad but still to-date I love the place not merely because it is my home but because of warmth and affection that I get from it. The mix of North Indians, Marathis, Gujrathis and South Indians makes the place unique and portrays a real India in my view. The place has gone through the tremendous transformations over a period of years. I remember my granny referring to the famous ‘Paradise’ restaurant as being in the outskirts of the city during their days. But now, the city limits has reached to those perimeters that MCH has to eventually include surrounding Muncipalities to form GHMC. Hyderabad’s population is almost reaching a crore . Shopping malls are now there literally on every popular street. There is nothing that you wont find in Hyderabad and import from other cities.  Places like Prasadz, Necklace Road and Durgam cheruvu are more crowded than ever. The new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, although far from the city, is serving  the needs and also working according to the expectations. Ringroad is ready. Now the mileage of the vehicle should only be a consideration to round Hyderabad.  A never been demand for rental cabs or cab system is in place. All these revamped changes is only making Hyderabad more preferable , desirable and suitable place to live. A perfect hang out place for friends.

Don’t you think a bike trip with friends like

Breakfast at Kamat –> Movie at Prasadz –> Lunch at Paradise –> Evening watching chicks at the Necklace RD –> Riding back to home via TankBund

in Hyderabad is what every Hyderabadi would crave for.

On the other side, hearing to my sister on the phone these days, she complaints the traffic becoming worse and my mother blaming on the increasing prices of the commodities and the standard of living of the people. But still, Hyderabad outplays any other city let it be real estate prices or auto rickshaw fares making the city friendly for a middle class family.

Today I happen to see a series of videos posted on youtube by some ardent ‘Hyderabadi’ picturing most places of Hyderabad through his video cam. I felt very nostalgic and was longing to plan a visit but realization of real time situation did not allow me to do so. Although I did not plan anything, I decided to make sure that I visit each and every place of Hyderabad and film  while I’m in the city next time so that I can bring back my memories and enjoy them.

Hope the separation with my beloved city ends soon.

– Shashi (the2transformers)

Pushpak – legendary movie still lives on

‘Silence speaks louder than words’ is the cliché saying but is the crux of this talkie-less movie.

Very rarely you come across the old movies which not only are timeless but also entertaining in its own way defying the current trend of fast paced movies which sometime lacks the central essence and other times , the purpose. The comedy is always stereotype, action movies lack adventure which makes them monotonously action and drama movies are either extremely emotional or filled with lackluster sentiments, in the current movies. But where are those movies which intricately weaves several instances in the movie to conclude a logical and sensible end making you appreciate the feeling that the director must have gone through a severe thought process during the film making. There is a school of Indian directors who believe script is the forte of the movie and screenplay is an asset that can make the script reachable to audience with music being a catalyst. All they believe in the movie-making are these three things. Veteran director Singeetam Srinivas is one among them. Although there is no evident reason why he has changed his trend according to the contemporary modern Indian movies, his old movies are just marvelous and intelligent.

Pushpak, one of his own, is a satirical talkie-less movie which is absolutely hilarious, intelligent and must watch for any movie buff. With Kamal Hasan in the lead role, he eloquently steals the show with his timely expressions and humor filled character in all the petty witty scenes of the movie.

The movie kicks off with Kamal, an unemployed graduate, getting ready for the day ,which usually goes in job search, and the morning ‘hustle and bustle’ going around in the extremely crowded neighborhood market setting the tone of the movie to that of early 1980’s where the jobless and poverty rates were at peak height in India. With all the wit and humor, kamal fights the stigma attached to the joblessness with all the charisma he can throw with his style and a single pair of decent apparel he has through out the movie. His desire to take a short cut for going ‘rags to riches’ takes dramatic turns and ends up being at the same position as he was at the start of the movie. The romantic instances between the Amala and kamal are smooth and to say, really romantic. One would agree, at the end of the movie, that no-dialogue factor of the movie is justified .
Pushpak, packed with Kamal’s applaudable acting, did win accolades and admirations cutting across the regions and borders including the appreciation from Cannes Jury although it is relatively unpopular among the general Indian audience. But, over the years, many people have come to know about this wonderful movie and lauded it.

In sum, Pushpak is unmissable, admirable and classical with the finest piece of acting. You really wouldn’t want to miss watching this movie on a relatively boring Sunday afternoon with a bowl of popcorn and legs stretched on to the near by tea table and you relaxing on a comfortable couch.

Believe me, its worth watching this movie in that posture.

For your temptation, a scene from Pushpak

and here is the romantic one

– Shashi (the2transformers)

Guest Blog : Santosh and his trials with love……..

Santosh better known as Santu in his friend cricles came up with the below to express his creativity….hmm..I wonder why he chose love as the subject for his first post……..read on…..

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I was stuck up with a knife, to end my life, had issues with my wife, now am done with the strife, and i love katrina kaif 😀

OK! Jokes aside….

Just today, I happened to come across a community of Poets on Orkut called “Poetry in Motion”. They had awesome poets there. They were playing some game in one of their threads…’writing poetic lines’ (of course that is what the community is meant for), but they’re supposed to use a word or two from the previous post. Why I mentioned all this is- the poetry I saw in that ‘just-for-fun’ thread was totally superb! And that made me WANT to write something too.

And this is what I came up with-

Oh! Love….

At last, You, I have found;

For You, I will be there, when things go in a circle, round;

Melt Me, you can, with your voice, with just one sound;

Come near You, I will not let, any darn! hound;

My heart is lighter now, and You are the culprit, behind every pound;

To submit to your Grace, is every mortal bound;

I cannot fly, I will stay on the ground;

Neither should You fly, tell me, you always will be around;

Just so that, as my Angel, You can be Crowned!….

NOTE: All those people imagining me having a girl friend to whom i might be dedicating this poem, and looking forward to asking me who that girl is…..I don’t just have one girlfriend to do that. Chill Maro!

-Santosh

8 secrets of success | Video on TED.com

Why do people succeed? Is it because they’re smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.(Source: TED | Ideas worth spreading)

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The Credit Crisis Visualized

Jonathan Jarvis (http://jonathanjarvis.com/) made this very nice presentation to describe the credit crisis. It is worth a watch.

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The Future of PCs – Netbook

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was planning to have a nice evening, but wait, I am in US not in Canada or European countries. I cannot even dare to think to go out until I start earning and buy a car. In US, depending on a Public transportation is a mere dream. Frequency of buses at my place is such that I often miss APSRTC (local transportation system in AP) buses back home. Well then I thought this is one of the bad feelings I am having about US from recent times. Curious to know my bro’s plan for the weekend and also since it was more than a week that we had a chat, I called him. We had the regular conversation for some time and then he told about what he was recently browsing about-Netbooks. It reminds me of my egyptian classmate ‘Samer’of Algorithms class. He used to have an Acer Net book with him which he usually hides behind the backs of the people sitting in the front row trying to avoid Professor from seeing it. I did not really like my first impression on it for it is flawed and me being ignorant and making preconceived opinion that it might be having a custom OS and software as many PDAs have. Actually, it almost does all the things what our notebooks do. It can not only run the mobile OS such as Google Android but also the conventional and ineffective OS….I mean Windows OS. I came to know about this and more when I saw Samer’s Net book.

Asustek Eee PC Netbook - First Netbook to be in market

Net Book, for sure, is one of the mostly searched words on amazon.com and on top of that many Netbooks are in the ‘best selling computers’ list of the same site. The popularity of the Net Books has gained so much that the annually held Consumer Electronics Show of 2009 was full of Net books in showcase from almost all major PC manufacturing companies  in the market. That itself leads to some kind of curiosity whether the Netbooks make a separate market or share the one with Notebooks. Initially some companies like Dell were scared about the latter situation becoming the consequence as they were only having their Notebooks and PC in the market, but later launched their own Net Books. Such is the growth for the demand of Net Books since 2007. I also feel it is ‘Good for economy’ as it is at least the potential and capable product which can cope up the slack demand PC market is facing.

Although Net books don’t offer the capabilities what the Note books offer, they offer what they are intended to. Low cost (costing around 400$) and high portability (weighing less than 1.5kgs) of Net Books are the factors in making the market of consumers who use Computers for simple tasks mostly browsing. Back in the history of Net Books, Asustek introduced them in to the market. Asustek again shines at CES 2009 showing the flashy innovations in the Net Books. Major partner to Asustek in sharing the market for netbooks is Acer. But the presence of big players such as Dell, HP and Sony are making the market more competitive.

For a Business executive who needs a device to easily browse and store documents before giving his presentation, for a journalist who may need immediate access to the internet at any time and for the similar type of consumers, Net Books finds its best market. But I may get my Net Book to gift, for it is the perfect one for any occasion.

– Shashi (the2transformers)

It’s Indians and Brits all the way at the Oscars

Best Picture Oscar - Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire Child Artists at the Kodak Theatre - Oscars 2009 - Red Carpet, Feb 22, 2009

It is a great day for talent and the Oscar nite just proved that. Slumdog Millionaire (SM) won 8 Oscars and it proved that underdogs can WIN. And ofcourse, it was a nite where global talent got the due recognition it richly deserves. Artists from the India and Britain swept the awards…Indian artists got  3 Oscars –  A.R.Rahman for Best Music, and Best Song, Rasool Pookutty for Best Sound Mixing and the Brits, I think got more than 7/8  including Best Actress for Kate Winslet, Best Director for Danny Boyle and Best Movie for Christian Colson along with Best Editing, Best  Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. I hope all the critics out there who rarely appreciated the nominations SM received, atleast do so now, esp. after the recognitions the movie and its crew received at the Oscars. Here are some pictures from the Kodak Theatre….

SM's Freida Pinto at the Oscars red carpet

SM's kids at the Oscars

SM's Dev Patel and Freida Pinto at the Oscars

A.R. Rahman performing O' Saya at the kodak theatre-Oscar nite

A.R. Rahman singing 'Jai Ho' at the Oscars

Rasool Pookutty for SM - Best Sound Mixing

Danny Boyle - Oscar for Best Director, Slumdog Millionaire

Kate Winslet - Best Actress, The Reader

The Cast and Crew of SM after winning the Best Picture Oscar

Sean Penn - Best Actor, Milk

SM's Cast and Crew after winning the Best Picture Oscar

(Pictures Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/)

– Shravan (the2transformers)

‘Delhi-6’ disappoints, so does ‘He is just not that into you’

Can JK Rowling write another book like ‘Harry Potter’? Prof. Thaleb  in his book ‘The Black Swan’ thinks tremendous successes are black swans, they are outliers, which cannot be repeated easily. Similary, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra couldn’t even come close to making ‘Delhi-6‘ a good movie in comparision to his previous outstanding success  – Rang-De-Basanti (RDB), RDB was an extraordinary movie which was not only unique in its story but very well directed too. After successfully creating pre-release hype and interest in a wide-section of the audience with teasing promos and titillating song bits, Mr. Mehra surely disappoints you in Delhi-6, his story-telling was not only weak but boring, he simply failed to connect with the audience. ‘Delhi-6’, as the title seems to suggest is not about Delhi or Chandini Chowk, it is more about a character who follows his grand-mother back to Delhi and how he gets interested in other characters who live next door. It could have been easily titled something else and I guess the director chose ‘Delhi-6’ only  to create interest in the average movie goer. The only highlight of the movie is A.R.Rahman’s scintillating music and the rest – inlcuding the plot, editing, and screen-play fall flat.  I hope his next movie venture will be better, and by the way if you liked/watched SRK’s ‘Rab ne bana di Jodi’, this movie will not disappoint you. However, if you are expecting pure cinematic magic like RDB, then the best thing you can do is choose to watch the Oscars this Sunday night instead.

‘He is just not that into you‘ – the new multi-starrer movie with beautiful lead actresses fails to keep you awake for the entire duration of the movie. This is a movie with too many characters, complex inter-connected plots and when you bring romance into the storyline with soooo many people involved, it surely becomes helluva task to create interest in the audience. The director (Ken Kwapis) tried hard to do his best at making this movie work, but certainly failed to create the spark in me to watch this movie without falling asleep.

– Shravan (the2transformers)

Toronto Ice Fest 2009

Ice Fest 2009 - Toronto

I had the opportunity to visit the 2 day Ice Festival that was taking place right in my neighbourhood of Toronto and it surely was an amazing experience. I never knew that ice sculptors can create pure magic with their hands. Yes, it was a sight to behold at the Bloor-Yorkville exhibhition of Ice sculptures. I happened to read a quote once which said , “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist”  and I believe this is what happened to me, the talented artists whose creativity was on display certainly made my day. And I managed to take some nice shots with my Canon  inspite of the terribly cold weather and I am uploading some of them for you all to see and comment on. I hope you too get a chance to visit and enjoy an Ice Festival in the near future, for it is a delightful experience.

The Western Hemisphere nicely carved in an apple shaped ice sculpture

TORONTO on Ice with maple leafs supporting the name

CN Tower

Eiffel Tower

A long shot view of the attractions on display

An Inukshuk

– Shravan (the2transformers)