As Life Evolves....

Regarding a trip to Puri temple

2012-02-10T22:06:00.001+05:30

I have been meaning to write this since a long time, but never got around to do so. I visited the Jagannath Puri temple in 2008. It is 4 years now, but the visit remains extremely fresh in my mind. I had heard of crowds at Puri from relatives and friends before. The rudeness, greed and filthy language used by pandas was also indicated at. The advice given to me or rather us(since we were

Mahabhoj

2012-02-10T21:46:00.000+05:30

मन्नू भंडारी द्वारा लिखित "महाभोज" पढ़ रहा हूँ। बहुत मोटी किताब नहीं है। कहानी का विषय है राजनीति। सारांश कुछ ऐसी है। किसी एक छोटे से गाँव में एक हरिजन समाजसेवक का लाश मिलने पर सरकार और विपक्षी नेता, दोनों इस "मौके" का फायदा उठाना चाहते हैं। कारण है कि इस घटना के कुछ ही दिनों बाद चुनाव है। वैसे तो है मामूली चुनाव लेकिन विपक्षी नेता इसी से अपना "नव निर्माण" करना चाहते हैं, और ये भी स्वाभाविक है

Regarding IPL and SL players

2012-02-05T17:23:00.001+05:30

The IPL 20-20 tamasha has started again and we will again have a sizeable proportion of the bubbling billion of humanity watching the proceedings. I am not interested in watching any game; I do not see the point of simulated excitement. However, the grouse here is not about the drooling millions in front of TV sets. I am more pained, though not surprised, by the utter lack of insensitivity

Sony Ericsson Elm quick review

2012-01-14T20:08:00.000+05:30

This is a quick review of the Sony Elm mobile cellphone. Motivation and Decision! The reason for the purchase was that I was looking for a cellphone within Rs. 8,000-10,000, with reasonable camera performance. I was tempted by LG and especially Samsung offerings. Since I have a very positive experience with Samsung E2232, I had decided upon Samsung Galaxy Y, which is a cheaper version of the

Samsung E2232 Mobile phone review

2011-10-30T22:14:00.001+05:30

This is the probably the second time I am writing a review for an electronic product. There were not a lot of reviews for this particular model when I was looking for reviews. I was looking for a phone <= 2500 INR, with dual SIM, Music player and FM radio. Camera was optional. I considered some equivalent Nokia models Nokia X1-01, I went to a shop and the body was was not very good. The

From the Statesman: Lankan navy and Tamil fishermen

2011-02-21T22:21:00.001+05:30

Original link hereRESPOND ROBUSTLYLanka can’t get away with itKILLINGS, assaults, abductions and arrests. Such has been the high-handed and hardly civilised manner in which the Sri Lankan authorities, its Navy in particular, have been dealing with long-standing disputes over fishing rights that Tamil Nadu is approaching foment and even the insular Bharatiya Janata Party has spoken in condemnatory

Apropos Tamil Fishermen killings by Sri Lankan Navy

2011-01-30T10:04:00.003+05:30

Here is an interesting article or rather an editorial from the well respected newspaper based in Calcutta, The Statesman.Unfortunately, the e-version of the newspaper does not redirect well to its archives.The URL is here and part of the editorial below. Maybe it is time to invoke the "son of the soil" theory in TN to regain its past(500+ years) back glory! SL was part of Chola empire and it was

Songs to listen ...

2011-01-20T22:50:00.005+05:30

Krishna ne begane baro by Higgins Enna paliso by B. Joshi Dasana madiko by MSS 2 Bhajans by D. V. Paluskar Krishna nee begane baro by Unnikrishna Arunokanti Tu Jo nahi hai S. B. John Ami chini go Mohamman Hussain Sarahang, this and many many many more of this genius. more as i get time.

NREGA

2011-01-05T12:58:00.003+05:30

I heard a curious comment regarding NREGA from s friend. His uncles are big farmers. The uncle was cribbing that NREGA enourages idleness amongst the less motivated people in the villages. The hardworking and more motivated people have already left villages to cities in search of better life. This has led to a labour problem. The ones who have not gone to cities and towns are mostly the less

Brouhaha about Obama

2010-11-17T20:53:00.002+05:30

I did not follow the recent visit by Barack Obama to India. In fact, he would have come and gone unnoticed by me entirely were it not for certain things like1. A good number of NRI Sardarjis feeling sad about Obama Saheb not being able to visit the Golden Temple because it would involve wearing a kind of head-dress which might make him look too Islamic. This feedback was from the land where we

ViSP

2010-11-14T11:34:00.001+05:30

Visual servoing platformLink

India passport portal disarray

2010-10-20T21:19:00.003+05:30

I recently applied for the renewal of my passport. The application process has been considerably revamped but there still exist some hiccups. Still considering the sorry state of affairs which existed as recent as 5 years ago, this is heaven sent. One must pay obeisance to the "babus" and ministers who could agree to the change. Considering the state of affairs in India, this seems like divine

I had a dream..

2010-09-30T19:57:00.000+05:30

This sounds corny and too imitative. Still, I am a human being and I cannot help dreaming especially when the sleep was induced by that peculiar limb-stiffening tiredness due to sitting in a stationary office bus in traffic. What I could have avoided is writing down what I dreamt but I hope someone can interpret my dreams for me. I have read that Gods have sometimes appear in the dreams of the

Online book buy review

2010-09-17T15:41:00.004+05:30

I have been purchasing a fair amount of books online. This is not a comprehensive review of online sellers in India. Till now, I have tried 4: flipkart, infibeam, bookadda and nbcindia. Of these, Flipkart is undoubtedly best; it beats others hands down on terms of service. If they show that a book is available, you can be pretty much sure that it indeed is. Their price is generally below

A thought

2010-06-20T17:42:00.002+05:30

I have been following the news of the BP oil spill for quite some time now. I have been reading how Obama wanted to "kick ass", a most appropriate American term which suits the charisma of American leaders the most powerful of all men currently alive. On a side note, I wonder what will the Indian reaction if the Prime Minister or perhaps some other personality of power utter words like "pichwada

Google commandline services

2010-06-20T17:33:00.003+05:30

It seems to be a bit odd to be posting something in praise of Google on blogger; if anyone bothers to read this blog they might be forgiven if they accuse me of toadying up. Anyway, the big news is that Google has released Python based scripts to access and use a host of Google services. No wonder Google has consistently beaten the pants off its rivals.

OpenCV 2.1.0 and FFMPEG compilation solution

2010-06-11T21:39:00.002+05:30

I had been recently struggling to compile OpenCV 2.1.0 with FFMPEG support on GNU/Linux. The problem was that the OpenCV CMake script fails to detect the important component of ffmpeg it needs; like avcodec, swscale, avformat. The more idiotic thing is that if one uses ccmake, the log is not visible. It is only after building that one sees that ffmpeg support is not there. One has to use

Acer 5738G review

2010-05-30T14:00:00.004+05:30

I bought this laptop after doing a "literature survey" of the different models available in the market. I had considered Dell Studio as an alternative; however it was extremely expensive for nearly the same specifications. HP & Lenovo were way too expensive. My primary requirements were a good CPU( Core2Duo 2.0+), 4GB RAM, a low-end graphics card and a good HDD. 5738G fitted in admirably. My

Free MATLAB Substitute

2010-05-17T21:41:00.002+05:30

During my PhD days, I had looked around a lot for Matlab substitutes. While MATLAB is an excellent piece of software, it is prohibitively expensive. Two substitutes I can recall immediately are Octave and Scilab. While GNU has generally cut it well on the software it offers, somehow Octave has not made it. I definitely appreciate the time the community has put in; my comment is based on the

Python(x,y) software

2010-04-05T20:36:00.003+05:30

This is a superb software! This Python library/software packages OpenCV, ITK, VTK, Scipy, Numpy and plotting utilities all under one umbrella seamlessly. This is what I was looking for a looooong time. I have not really begun to explore it as I had problems with the Windows installer. I am eagerly looking forward to using this.

On Indian city roads

2010-04-05T20:35:00.000+05:30

I am one of the innumerable victims of the perennial traffic jams occurring daily in all Indian cities. Part of the problem is lack of rules governing the traffic flow. The major part of the problem is of course the complete lack of discipline in India. Does not matter if you own or drive a bike or a bus, the road IS yours; park anywhere, make a U turn, stop, pick up and drop passengers etc. It

BSpline Code

2010-02-12T14:08:00.002+05:30

Here is a small package which has the code I wrote during my PhD thesis. The code implements parametric curve evolution using B-Spline and a tangential redistribution term for curve point matching. This code uses OpenCV.

SCface database

2010-01-26T19:53:00.001+05:30

Here is the link to the SCFace database.

The hypocritical Indian

2010-01-05T21:10:00.002+05:30

The hypocrisy of Indians is stunning. As per the report here, a travel advisory has been issued by the Indian government.Now, how about all states of India issuing a travel advisory to its natives who travelling to other states?

Windows XP Performance boosting tips

2009-12-27T18:00:00.000+05:30

Here is the link.