nothing is everything!!

2011-08-20T20:03:00.001+05:30

A group of youngsters celebrating the arrival of the New Year at Chennai's Besant Nagar beach

58, 60, 61, 63...... 96,95, 94, 93...????

2011-03-10T00:25:00.001+05:30

2004- Centre is short of numbers. DMK seizes opportunity, gets ministries of choice. Prabhakaran is alive.

2006- Support at Centre depends on support in TN. DMK gets Congress on its side (also becos of the Jaya factor), ditches them from power share, even though government in minority. Prabhakaran is alive.

2009- Coalition 'dharma' prevails. Now the current 'grand old man of Indian politics' (earlier it was Jyothi Basu)goes on a half-day 'fast' to save Tamils in Sri Lanka. Elections happen. Prabhakaran is killed 'after' elections results are announced. 2G scam surfaces earlier, but DMK insists A Raja has to continue.

2011- A Raja is still there- but this time in jail :P. 2G scam comes closer to the home of the chief minister and his family. Elections are nearby. Congress plays hardball. DMK threatens to quit but curiously waits for 2 days to quit, succumbs to seat demands of Congress.

Well, its probable but interesting. Till the time Prabhakaran was alive and the LTTE was taking on the Sri Lankan forces, the voices in the DMK seemed to be espousing the cause of Tamils in Sri Lanka, also in order to have a stranglehold on the Centre.With Prabhakaran gone and the 2G scam almost at his doorstep, it seems the DMK has lost its 'bargaining' power with the Congress. With no issue to threaten the Centre with and with everything to lose, the 'compromise' over seat sharing is quite interesting, but also baffling.

If the Congress was not willing to accept to its terms, why doesn't the DMK go it alone in the polls? Why not step down from the ministries, save its face among the public rather than stitch up an alliance, which is more likely to see partymen working against each other before and on April 13. May 13, will hold the answers!

The Gate

2011-02-01T01:33:00.003+05:30

As she opened the small black half-rusted gate, he stood there and watched. Everything was blank. Only the image of her opening the gate and passing through it remained. He backed up, slowly, still watching the gate, mind still blank. A flicker of hope- he thought- From the dark and deep crevices of her mind, a surge of emotion rushed through her and she ran back to the gate. He was still there. Only, she wasn't. She had passed through a few minutes earlier and he was still backing up. He retreated slowly, unsure of what was to come next.

And then, the gate was no longer in view. As he went ahead, it poured. He couldn't see ahead. It began pouring in sheets and sheets. Oh! Not the rain. The tears.

He clutched tightly at the bag she had given him. But he couldn't stop crying. Then a hand came and took his hand. The hand guided him ahead. Still crying. She smiled at him. He tried to look back at the gate, but it was no longer in view. She made him sit on a chair. In one minute, there was an unfamiliar ring- a ring that he thought destroyed three and half years of moments he had spent with the one person he loved in this world.

It was his first day at School !!!!

Aus'Trail' ya...! :)

2010-10-11T17:00:00.000+05:30

On October 13 (provided everything goes right for India), the Australian cricket team, will be relegated to the confines of the bottom rung of test cricket's worst teams- Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Only thing is - Australia will be leading this pack !!

For sometime now, cricket writers and commentators have written and spoken about how Australia's bowling attack is weak. How Warne, Mcgrath's retirements have taken the sheen out of the bowling. Well, come on! Isn't this the same Australian team that arrogantly pronounced to the world that their performance did not hinge on any particular individual? Arrogance then. Excuses now? I also cannot understand how and why the so called 'experts' can say that India is taking advantage of the lacklustre bowling strength of the Australian team. For heaven's sake people. Think. This was and is the only team in the world that can make Australia sweat. After all, we almost spoilt the 'mighty' Steve Waugh's retirement in Australia. Mind it. In Australia- Not on Indian soil. And please do not forget how Shane Warne was repeatedly THULPED by Indian batsmen on every tour.

Also, why the criticism that we have not won many series abroad unlike other countries? Isn't the same true for other countries as well- Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand....? They are all strong in their countries. They manage to win a series or two abroad. India has also managed to do that. Every country has a bad overseas tour. Not as bad as Australia in India though! Even if we go by the argument that Australia is a world champion, how come they havent won a test series in India for long unlike England and South Africa?

After all, some of the double centuries and triple centuries for Australians have come against 'powerful' teams like Bangladesh!

It is time the world woke up to the fact that Australia is not invincible. Indians prove it again and again against the so called most dreaded team in the world. And please, do not question India's No.1 ranking. It is like trying to find fault with the simple fact that we are the best at this moment. What matters is just the simple fact- Winning when it matters most. And more often than not, this Indian team keeps doing it again and again.

Why give them money? Why not materials?

2010-08-13T23:41:00.000+05:30

Ya right, Mr S M Krishna... They will attack our cities, they will keep infiltrating into our borders, they will snub us, they will use US aid for fighting terror against our country and We, as the ever gracious country, are offering them Rs 23 crore for flood relief aid.

Isn't this stretching things a bit too far? I am not saying we shouldn't help the Pakistanis affected by flood. But why give the Pak establishment money to be used for 'flood relief' when there has been a history of the country apparently using up aid money to fund extremists and build up arsenal to be used against India? Has the Indian government completely lost it?

The most simplest way of providing relief aid to Pakistan at this juncture would be to collect, source and provide them with the necessary materials, rather than money as aid. If not the whole country, millions of Indians would come forward to donate whatever they can in terms of clothes, medicines and stuff to the Pakistanis. Wouldn't that be a collective effort of the whole of India to show solidarity with those affected in our neighbouring country, building up a sense of goodwill? Time to think, I guess...

GSLV-D3 The case of the 'Cry'o-genic engine

2010-04-18T00:44:00.003+05:30

Everything about it was quite nice right from the beginning. What was supposed to be a hot summer afternoon, turned out to be a pleasant one, the lift-off was perfect, the rocket going up, up and away was amazing. When the rocket emerged from behind the trees, lots of 'oohs' and 'wow's' were heard. "Amazing launch...one of the best I have seen," remarked some journalists. Some were heard saying that the noise levels were low this time around. Everyone then bundled down to the conference hall below, where the next progress of the rocket with India's 'indigenous cryogenic engine', could be seen on the large screen, in the form of a line and dots that would keep blinking indicating the location of the rocket on the line, which is supposed to be the actual path of the rocket.Everything seemed to be smooth.

Elsewhere, one man was sitting in front of a red button that would terminate the whole mission and blow up the rocket and 18 years of effort to build our own cryogenic engine, that would put India on the league of the biggies.

Minutes pass. His services are not required any more. The control room is full of activity. The blips on the line on the screen have disappeared after the rocket went away from its path. No data. Frantic phone calls are made from the control room. Lots of activity is seen. A few minutes later, the bad news arrives. The rocket did not make it to its orbit. The country's first attempt at making its own cryogenic engine had failed. The engine failed to ignite. The engine was expected to take the satellite to its exact orbit and release it. But then the engine had other plans and decided to plunge into the Bay of Bengal. 18 years of effort, after fighting off US sanctions, buying Russian engines for about Rs 90 crore each, went bust in a few minutes. Rs 336 crore spent on development of the indigenous machine went waste.

Nevertheless, the Bhagavad Gita was there for solace for the new chairman of ISRO, K Radhakrishnan, for whom it was the first launch as the head of the organisation. He sought refuge under ""Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana" (You have a right to perform your prescribed action,but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action). But then he was determined as well. "Team ISRO Will do it", he thundered as he promised to deliver the cryo engine next year, facing the large contingent of media all alone, taking responsibility for the failure.

Scrap IPL...play Ranji teams in IPL, let BCCI itself handle it

2010-04-18T00:30:00.001+05:30

Ok..Now that mud, slush, slosh, sweat and all that shit has been thrown around in the public, its time to just simplify the IPL. My suggestions are:
1) Scrap private players from having teams
2) Let BCCI deal with IPL from now on
3) Let each state Ranji Team play in the IPL instead of the so called city teams
4) Let the teams have the same number of foreign players
5) Even if we have 25 Ranji teams, each team can play two matches-one home and one away, on a round robin format, then can be eliminated
6) So instead of about 50 days, it might run upto 60 days

The logic here is by BCCI getting control and running the show, all the money and what not thats now been thrown around goes out of the game. We do not yet know if the matches are fixed as well. By having each state team play the IPL, you get a more wider base of audience. Imagine having 20-25 states rooting for their teams rather than what's happening now. Of course, the concept of having players from different states in one team goes out then. But so might all the shady deals, the twitter saga, the television news airtime, space in newspapers. Or run it like the English county cricket way.

We would then not have stupid celebrities jumping around, whining, twittering, crying,have no fake IPL players, no blogs and the focus might just be on the game.

But the current scandal has just made the IPL- Insanity in Public Life...

All thanks to Twitter and the hopelessly jobless Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor and the Indian media! Not to leave out myself!! :P

IPL- The Indian 'Partition' League??

2010-03-25T00:08:00.003+05:30

Ok...It doesn't matter that I loathe Lalit Modi....doesn't matter either to him or to me! The IPL, at this point of time, is just absolute crap. 45 days of random teams playing 'hit the ball out of the ground' for all silly reasons- read mainly money. Fan loyalties be damned. How does one explain the crowd in Bangalore 'booing' Kris Srikkanth when he's shown on the screen, while Vijay Mallya got the cheers? For one, personally there is no real emotional connect watching these teams play, though I might cheer or jeer some of the teams. The emotional connect of watching the Indian team play against other teams-that's what has made what cricket and cricketers are in this country.

It was really sad to see Srikkanth being booed. The oft repeated statement in India 'Cricket is a religion' is becoming true. Becos, in India we believe in discriminating people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Lalit Modi is slowly getting there. Remember the first India Pak tour in 1998, when India lost the match by 12 runs? The whole Chepauk gave a standing ovation to the Pakistan team, that decided to courageously take a victory lap. That was sportsmanship from the crowd and that's what we are known for, except a few incidents here and there- mainly in Kolkata! :P

Now, no one cares if the team that is playing opposite the one they are supporting plays good cricket or not.. No standing ovation, no cheering them. Soon, it will probably come to a stage, where, (hopefully not), fans will come to blows- typical of what happens in England during the football season. And Bangaloreans gave a typical example of that, in words and chants during their match against the Chennai Super Kings. As much as they claim they are forward looking, well educated, the Kannadiga emotions over language seem to come to the fore often, even though chief ministers of both the states might put up statues of poets. Statues are just symbols, they do not reflect the actual situation that exists on the ground. I shudder to think what would have happened if Deccan Chargers matches were played in AP this time around.

On the positive side, there arent many- I was there watching Chennai throw away a quite simple game against the Punjab team at the Chepauk last Sunday. Seated next to me were a couple of senior citizens who had come with their son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I am not sure if their son celebrated every four, every wicket. But the grandmother and the grandson were in full spirit. What amazed me was the way the elderly lady jumped with joy for every possible reason that CSK gave in the match. And that, to me, is probably the only success of the IPL. It has brought senior citizens to the grounds. A simple matter of spending just about 4 hours at the ground, rather than being confined indoors.

The shutterbugs

2010-03-18T00:06:00.003+05:30

Scene 1: Trident Hilton opp Meenambakkam airport
5.20 p.m- We make our entry... people are lingering around the conference hall. To be specific, reporters and photographers. Some are inside the hall setting up their cameras and checking their equipment for their 'OB Live'telecast
5.35- A group of executives make their way through the corridor...everyone rushes into the hall. In a moment, the corridor outside is deserted.
5.38-5.40(approx)- Everyone's seated. "He ll be here in a minute," says one of the 'coated'men.
A few minutes later- Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan CEO walks in and takes his seat at the table to address the press conference, on the eve of launching their plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.

He talks for a few minutes. And then deafening silence followed by a splash of sounds. The silence lasts for may be 5 seconds. It's deafening cos everyone was listening and the sounds that followed was more overpowering than anyone trying to talk.

If a picture could speak a thousand words, that moment defined it for me. The 5 seconds of silence, rather a pause by the speaker, accentuated by a movement of his hand, had about 30-40 cameras go 'Click, click, click, click.......' each one clicking away a minimum of 10 pics, in single moment.

In another age and another decade earlier,when film rolls were used as the only way of taking pictures and camera's had to be rolled to rotate the film to next empty film and shutter speeds were way way below what's available now, the clicks might have been sparsely and scarcely distributed. That single moment, in a way symbolised how much technology has grown over the years. At the end of the day, just about one picture might have been published by each photographer's respective newspapers. But then, this is what technology is all about. The more number of frames per second probably gives a photographer a wonderful opportunity to showcase his skills and gives him/her a shot a capturing a better moment within just a second later.

Or is it just abuse of technology? Has technology given even people without enough talent to just go and make use of it, to eke out a living? A cameraman once told me that the real cinematographers were the ones who lived and worked in the age of 'black and white' films where lighting was the most important aspect of cinematography. While the new age hi-def cameras are boons of technology, may be the cameraman had a point. Probably, some of them survived on sheer talent, some by pulling others down...but nevertheless had to have a basic idea.

However, the age of 'crouching tehelka...hidden camera'and the camera mobile has changed everything. Tehelka was ahead of the times. But a few years down the line from now on, they might not have had to spend whatever they spent on buying spy cams and setting them up. May be the camera might move from a mobile phone to the pen in your pocket...or to even your shirt buttons. Anything is possible! But the 'click,click, click, click...' of the shutterbugs will go on... 'A second's pause might be deafening to the ears in the presence of a few tens of cameramen'!!

Random thoughts....

2009-08-31T17:34:00.002+05:30

*** "Life is sometimes like archery...U shoot hoping to hit the bulls eye, only to see the arrow not even hit the board, sometimes its also like rock climbing, u keep climbing hoping to reach the top only to realise that the last step is out of reach no matter how hard u try!"

** Never put off till tomorrow what you can put off today! :-P

My own original Mokkais!!-- More to follow...

2009-04-24T19:58:00.008+05:30

** Do u know why it doesn't rain during Chennai Super Kings matches?? Becos CSK already has Suresh 'Rain'a in their team!!! :-P

** Why do they say 'kiss and make up'? Why not 'make up and kiss?'

** If u appoint someone it is called 'appointed', but when someone is sacked or resigns from a job, why isn't it called 'disappointed'..sumthing like 'he has been appointed by the company. He has been 'disappointed' by the company?!!

** Why is a rocket called a 'rocket' if its not made of rocks?!!

**U can only drive as fast as the vehicle in front of u.

** The inevitable is inevitable!

"Will This Rocket burst"??

2009-04-21T23:41:00.003+05:30

Guess, it takes a satellite launch for me to start blogging again. This time, its 'Risat-2', India's own digital 'spy sat' in space, meant to keep a tab on our borders and infiltrators. Of course, ISRO did its best to assert that it was not a 'spy sat'.
But then as Arun Ram told me, all sats are spy sats, except this time around we will get digital images of almost everything. This one can image a number plate on a vehicle, it is believed.

But what got me writing this is the first place was this:

Ok..I dint get such a good picture of these two kids. They were there opposite the spaceport near the Pulicat Lake where a few of us media ppl were, to watch the launch. 6 am for any kid is too early...but then they decided to come there and watch a live rocket take off for real. They will remember this for the rest of their lives. Wonder what will happen when they return to school and tell their friends. 'Whoaaaa....the rocket went like this, like that...fire came from below....and stuff'

Children are children and questions they ask will dumbfound anyone(Mom tells me I used to keep asking questions non stop about anything and everything when I was a kid!!). The innocence in the question struck everyone standing on the solitary bird watch tower opposite the spaceport.

As the rocket took off, we were busy taking pictures, while the Times Now crew went live from there as they were told OB vans will not be allowed inside to cover the launch (spy sat...see?)! As the rocket went up, one of the kids said 'it's like a flower pot'!!

Then the other one asked her father, who was busy watching the rocket..."Appa, appa...inda rocket vedikuma, vedikada?" (will this rocket burst or not?"). For a country that celebrates Diwali in a grand manner, I believe this one question summed it all up. For a child, it was equivalent to just an ordinary firecracker going up.

I am sure she would have gone back home and asked her dad who lit the wire on the rocket for so much fire to come out of the bottom? May be, once she grows up, she ll come to know of the significance of the launch and may be proud of the fact that it was meant to help Indians keep their country a little more safer from enemies.

But that one question... I will remember for my lifetime!! More than covering the launch, that single question made it worthwhile that I did not go inside the spaceport and watch the launch from the reporters gallery!!

'He who must not be named'!! :-P

2009-02-18T23:46:00.005+05:30

Remember the famous line from the movie The Village- 'Those we do not speak of'? Or 'He who must not be named' from Harry Potter if I am right!?

Well, I do not understand what its with government officials, who throw such a fuss just to tell their names. In the last two weeks, I encountered two officials who gave their designations to me but not their names. Strange, since being a journo and on official duty, it wouldn't have taken an additional minute to figure out their names from someone in their own office!

Having had to check on a couple of cases (thanks to all the bloody fraudulent companies coming out of India Inc.'s closet :( )at the Department of Corporate Affairs (DCA) and SEBI offices in Chennai, I was reminded of the two lines above.

At SEBI, the person at the office refused to give his name after telling us that the regional manager was not available. At the DCA, I had gone to meet the director since i was asked to come and meet him. But the director was held up in a meeting. So the deputy regional director came out and asked the purpose of the visit. So when I wanted to know who he was, he said "I am the deputy director" and when asked for his name, he said "No, no...you don't need to know my name. I cant tell you my name!" Bad luck ppl..I got your names as immediately from someone as your refused to tell them! And ya, if you had thought I would write something bad about you in the papers, you were wrong! I am writing about you and your stupidity on the internet..all thanks to your refusal just to give your name. Cos, if you had told me your names, this post would not have been possible!! :-P

I ask- afterall, 'Whats in a name, mate?'

Back yet again

2009-02-18T23:33:00.005+05:30

I have been wanting to blog in the last few days, but never got around to doing it, thanks to eye problem. Now, am looking at the world through a pair of glasses :( and since its about 3 hours since I got the glasses, I am trying to get used to it by blogging! :-P . Well, I think I wanted to write about a lot of things..but I have forgotten them. So, no point. But yeah..oh well...three things have changed on my face front(not that it matters a great deal but anyways since I am writing something, I might as well write this!!)..one is that my long time companion---the lion tooth got plucked one and half months back...then I got a 'mottai'and then last week I realised my eye wasnt in great shape as well--so the glasses...so there...thats about it...I will write something in the next few minutes if I can think of something good or bad or mokkai to write about!! :-P

Pulicat Lake

2009-02-18T23:19:00.004+05:30

How the weather changes in a matter of minutes at the Pulicat Lake...

Chandrayaan Launch Pics

2008-10-24T00:34:00.008+05:30

These pictures were taken from outside the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. Even ISRO officials did not get a full glimpse of the rocket, as within the first few seconds it went into a thick pall of cloud and reemerged at a higher distance.

Chandrayaan-The Launch

2008-10-24T00:27:00.003+05:30

This story has been published, but only half. So here goes the whole story with pics taken by me

T.K.Rohit|Tnn

Sriharikota: The solitary tower on a non-descript road by the side of the Pulicat Lake overlooking the second launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) was calm and quiet at 4.30 a.m. The stillness of the chilly morning was disturbed by a few lights on the road. Exactly one hour and 50 minutes later, there was a huge rumble, a ball of fire and a pall of smoke which finally disappeared into the infinite skies. Chandrayaan-I, India's first moon mission spacecraft had successfully taken off, carrying with it a billion Indian dreams to the moon!

About eight kms away from the launchpad stood the solitary tower, old and shaky, separated by the Pulicat Lake teeming with painted storks and a few other birds which were blissfully unaware of what was to come at 6.20 a.m. The two lights appearing on the deserted road was a van. Its progress was slow, courtesy terribly bad roads. When the vehicle came to a halt, out hopped a smart guy sporting a beard.

He proceeded with enthusiasm to climb the tower only to be told by one photographer that it was only for the media which had assembled there. So the young man went back to the bus and out came about 30 students, boys and girls. "We are students of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai. We came here to watch the launch," G Philip told The Times of India. Abhinav Saket, a research student in physics at the institute said, "I will never have another opportunity to watch a rocket launch live, because this is my final year at the institute and I will be relocating elsewhere. It will be difficult to come back and watch another one." By 6 a.m there was a sizeable number of people at the spot, locals and people who had come from afar to watch the historical moment.

Chandrayaan being launched

But no one would have complained. All the large contingent of electronic and print media and ISRO officials inside the space centrw could be satisfied with was a just about two seconds of the rocket taking off, before it entered behind a huge pall of rain clouds and disappeared. But the people who had gathered at the spot near the Pulicat lake, had a glimpse of the rocket taking off from the launchpad, disappearing behind the rain clouds and reappearing at a higher level in the sky enroute its orbital direction. As the rocket reappeared from behind the clouds, people shouted, "Look, look...there it is," like children watching with glee a Diwali rocket light up the sky.

"It's spectacular!" remarked a girl in the group with happiness writ all over her face. A group of five young boys studying at the Sri Kalahastishwara Institute of Technology woke up at 2 am to ride on their bikes in the rain to see the launch. "We rode 50 kms from Kalahasti just for this moment. This is such a wonderful achievement. India will surely become a great
space power. Watching this was a great experience and such an inspiring moment,"N Vinay Kumar said.

Even as India took another giant leap towards becoming a technological superpower, it was the age old technology, the radio, that kept almost everyone at the spot keep tab with the launch for almost one and half hours till the rocket took off, giving intricate details about the launch and the countdown. A middle aged man kept the small FM radio glued to his ear all the time till the commentary said, "PSLV has now completed PS-II", and then he smiled!

A scientist with the National Geographical Research Institute said, "Now we will be on par with super powers of the world. Every Indian should be proud of this achievement," he said before helping a media personnel identify a species of birds at the Pulicat Lake, which was quite oblivious to India's leap into the international bandwagon of 'moon chasers!'.

My First time....!!!!

2008-10-14T23:55:00.004+05:30

It is my first time and I am all excited. As the bus reaches the place, dark clouds hover above. We are worried. Once the bus reaches the destination, we are herded into breakfast. One hour later, we are on the bus again. This time, lesser space for seating in the bus. This bus is almost like a school bus. It goes through a lone road, a one way with greenery on both sides. Two more buses are ahead of us. I'm reminded of a scene from Kamal Hasan's 'Kuruthipunal'. I jokingly say "It looks right out of the movie. Somebody is going to kidnap us and the police will come!!" Laughter all around. Now trees appear on the right side. Then,a brief gap between trees that are not so densely populated as before. Ah! Water...it's blue, Wow!! It looks like it would have been a extremely popular global tourist destination.

Almost nine kilometers later, we reach! Finally. Yes!! This was what I was waiting for, for more than a week. It materialised only the previous night amidst anger, frustration and confusion. After all, this was to have been properly finalised three days before, which it was but finally had to be changed.

And when the second launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota loomed large in front of our bus, my camera tried to photograph from inside the bus. After all, not everyone gets an opportunity to see a launchpad of the Indian Space Research Organisation nor the rocket that will carry India's first ever moon mission satellite 'Chandrayaan-I'. Notwithstanding the fact that I was able to sleep only for two hours since the pick up for the media was slated at 5 a.m. Ultimately, the media pickup left only at 6.30 am and almost everyone of us caught up on the previous night's sleep on the Volvo bus. However, a couple of rather irritating tv media personnel, apparently from a local channel were listening to music with their cell phone speakers blaring out fully loudly, disturbing our sleep. This is the fourth time I am at Sriharikota, but the first time being taken to the launchpad. Journos are taken to the launchpad very rarely because its a high security area and only when some very important event happens.

The launchpad is huge. Never seen anything like it before. It's beautifully coloured.It has grey, blue, red and yellow all around. An ISRO official leads us to a board that has pictures and description of how the rocket launch takes place. I hang around for sometime. It gets too technical and the heat gets to me. I would rather go and take some pictures of the launchpad. I mite not get another opportunity for all I know. Slowly, the number of journalists surrounding the ISRO official dwindle and they move towards the launchpad. Photos are clicked furiously. I frantically keep looking for our photographer. He is not to be seen around. "Must have gone to get some unique pictures. He will return..."I tell myself. I open my camera. The batteries are almost empty and the camera keeps switching off. "Damn!" I fumble around in the camera bag and find four more batteries. "Hope this works" It does. I take a few pictures. A few journos are now standing near the pit from where the rocket will take off and are listening to what Guruprasad is saying. Guruprasad is the ISRO PRO. I go and try to get some 'gyan'. He is explaining something, then a few questions are thrown at him. I click a picture of the group. I m tired of so many questions being asked. The heat again! "Damn...and we all thought it was going to rain when the bus entered the complex..." I move out again. A few more pics are taken.

Gopu is around. "Hey take a pic man". The sun is beating down. He clicks a few. "I can't see anything on the monitor. The sun is glaring down on it," he says. He's taken a few good pics. Now it's his turn. I try to get a good pic of him. Comes out well. And after sometime, a few more journos want me to click pics of them. I oblige.

Finally, my photographer! Ah! There he is with another photographer. "Went to get some different shots," they tell me. Competition can force people to think differently! They take more pics and finally a few pics of me are taken by them professionally. By this time, all of us are asked to get onto the bus again.

"We are going to see the rocket..." Guru says. "We are going near the rocket? You are taking us there?" I ask. "Yes yes...let's go" Once more herded back into the bus. Two more kilometers later, the rocket building. Then the rocket in view. Everyone's excited to see the rocket from such close quarters.Water! A few hands stretch out for water.

TV journos make sure they have the rocket in the background when they deliver their PTC's. So what are we poor print people supposed to do? So we take pics.

Heavy security around. Chandra asks one security personnel in Hindi "How do u feel about Chandrayaan?" "We are very proud". "Why?".."Arrey...we are Indians. We are employed by the Indian government. You are an Indian. You also feel proud about this, so do we," he says. "Who are you people?" he asks apparently not seeing so many cameras around. "We are from the press in Chennai..." "You are from Chennai and you speak shudh Hindi?" he asks. "Ya...we do....," comes her reply and I lose the rest of the conversation as by this point, I lose interest again. Another angle, more pics.

We leave after sometime. There's some discussion about some orbit the satellite would be going through. "Ya Ya..it's all going over my head...the heat...the physics of the orbit....grrr" I think. The way back to the hall is not that scenic, am disappointed. We reach the hall...press conference in a few mins...nothing great is discussed. It's all routine stuff. I get my story on the way back and the story is...

Indian flag on the moon!! :)

2008-10-14T23:49:00.003+05:30

T.K.Rohit| tnn

Sriharikota : On November 10 or 11, the Indian flag will crashland on the moon, kicking up dust, literally! When the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) is ejected from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft onto the lunar surface, it will mark the country's leap into the bandwagon of countries aiming for the moon.

"A small Indian flag has been painted on the MIP. This is a matter of great pride and honour and when the MIP lands on the moon, it will signal India's entry into one of the intriguing aspects of the universe. The Indian tricolour has been painted of a size about 4 inches by 6 inches," ISRO officials told The Times of India on Saturday.

Courtesy:ISRO (This pic was not available for the story..So its now blogged" )

The 29 kg Moon Impact Probe which was originally not a part of the initial plans, was inducted into the payload at the insistence of former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. The payload developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram will help identify future landing sites on the moon and will also aid scientific explora-tion of the lunar surface. When ejected from the Chandrayaan-I spacecraft, it will crashland on the moon, which will kick up dust. The Mass Spectrometer on the MIP will gather scientific details from the dust and send it back.

The MIP is one of the 11 payloads on India's first moon mission, Chandrayaan-I, taken on board the PSLV-C-11 and is one of the five instruments fully designed and developed in India.

On October 22, the PSLV-C11, also called as the PSLV-XL because of the increased weight of the six strap on motors, will soar the skies at 6.20 am from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It will travel to the vicin-ity of the moon by following a path called Lunar Transfer Trajectory (LTT).

When the spacecraft reaches the vicinity of the moon, the spacecraft is slowed down through a process to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical or-bit. When the orbital height of Chandrayaan-I is lowered to its intended 100 km height from the lunar surface, the MIP will be ejected from Chandrayaan-I at the earliest opportunity on to the lunar surface in a chosen area.

"About 20 days from the date of launch, Chandrayaan-I will be in the required moon orbit. So we are looking at November 8, around noon," M C Dathan, Director, SDSC told the media on Saturday.

The spacecraft, which is being readied at another building will be moved to the vehicle building by October 14, following which another four days work will be carried out to marry the spacecraft with the launch vehicle. On October 18, the vehicle with the payloads will be moved to the launchpad. The 50 hour countdown for the October 22 launch will begin at 4 am on October 20, he said.

When the media reached Sriharikota on Saturday morning, signs of the monsoon setting in showed up. Dark clouds hovered around the SDSC. However, Dathan allayed any fears of the launch not taking place on October 22. "Considering that the North East monsoon setting in on the same day as the launch, met experts will reach here six days before the launch and will monitor the situation," he said.

"Only if a cyclone occurs or extreme bad weather conditions prevail, will there be a problem with the launch. Otherwise, even under rains, the launch will take place," he added.

Last Diwali... :)

2008-10-09T23:30:00.001+05:30

Will our politicians have the guts to take on each other in a public debate like the US presidential candidates?

2008-10-09T23:26:00.000+05:30

In the second such debate that was televised live across the world, two opponents met on a common turf to thrash out issues and prove who the stronger candidate was, to become the President of the United States of America, something that will shape global policies and decisions of governments worldwide. Both the candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain had their opportunity to talk on various issues, something that tested their skill and knowledge of world affairs, matters of the economy and other such issues. It was 'civilised', to be to the point.

And to be a part of the debate needs 'guts'. These debates tests the skills and seeks to bring out the real person. This sort of also helps people make up their minds if the person they are going to vote for in the November elections has the stuff to be a good leader, a leader who can take tough decisions.

Now, think...Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa on a platform like this. Or Sonia Gandhi and Vajpayee, Advani...Amar Singh and Mayawati, Buddhadeb Bhattarcharya and Mamta Banerjee on one platform debating. Hehe...even hard to fathom what I have written, right? These are leaders who during press conferences and public meetings dare their political opponents for a public debate knowing fully well that it will never happen. They are so courageous to dare their opponents because they know that the political system in India is so entrenched with regionalism, language, casteism, corruption that the people will not be able to accept such a debate. In case such a debate does take place and one loses, then all the theories that the debate was a political conspiracy, against a particular caste, will crop up. These are just a few options that I can think of. The politicians will easily come up with the most ridiculous ideas.

Probably the day our politicians come onto a common forum and start debating and discussing issues, is the day India will move forward. But that day, atleast to me, seems far far far far away.

Real life Calvin!!

2008-10-06T00:28:00.000+05:30

My Six year old neighbour, Aakash is one bundle of energy and extremely naughty. If he can, he will sell the whole world!! Three days back, he was chatting away with my mother, when he was telling her that his mother had gone off to some relatives place and his brother had gone missing leaving him all alone at home. "I do not know where he disappeared. He just vanished," he said. So my mom asked him who was cooking food or if they bought it from the hotel. The kid retorted back..."Why...My dad cooks" So my mom teased him that he should invite her to his house for lunch. He said "NO" and ran away. A few minutes later, Aakash's mother appeared from within the house. My mom was confused. After they had discussed what the little boy said, his mother asked "When did I go to my relatives' place?" Presently his brother appeared from within the house with a notebook in hand and asked "When did I disappear? You come inside..." he threatened. Aakash looked around, shrugged and walked off coolly with his hands in his pockets. And on Saturday, he tried to play the same trick again!! Another Calvin in the making!!

The Sun and the Moon

2008-10-05T23:50:00.006+05:30

The Sun...

The sun rises slowly on the horizon, while we were en route Sivaganga early in the morning.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWlSjqNR-qVk2Tv9hbYBGv22pnSKZezMqr0gDchDcxp4WtckoRgSw2-VUhG-8sN4JlinnRRNgEtG4hW4Uj3DxxLj_imHL02VWfId6GBn-P0OfxtqFlcBqaj92qOdni_nUCA-f0yKD7MJ8/s1600-h/sunrise2.JPG"> A little higher

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXWkCYVJ9_9HW_ZTdcOfCkHz9iFAr1fklOMmcPRERmUDmQz7CwlyvEMrCppPRNIH2xhfZZVirXCawqz1l2LhusZn8fMWWbiPzWS2O0ZFvoyppDyCPmak5MwC8fyZ6mhjpnfefETlypFbE/s1600-h/sunrise3.JPG">It's hidden behind the trees as the road gets closer to the field.. Hence unable to see the sun rise a little more higher

The Moon...
The moon tries to break out of the clouds...

Still is trying...moves towards the left..

goes a little higher up on the sky and towards the left, yet does not manage to break free from behind the clouds...

Panick'ers'?? Would u want to get on this bus?

2008-10-05T23:40:00.000+05:30

Early morning at a resort

2008-10-05T23:30:00.000+05:30