Optimism - need of the hour

A new year comes, and we all need to be optimistic. A catastrophe is behind us. And now we need to focus on the relief efforts, prove that the world stands united against any calamity. Reassert the fact that we are all brothers, and the camaderie will be the strongest when the times are the most testing.

Our fellow bloggers have been doing yeoman's service. Dilip D'Souza and Amit Verma have left for Chennai to help with the relief efforts and I wish them the very best and god speed. (Thanks Jahnvi for pointing this out) Association for India's Development (AID), which has been spearheading relief work now says that we should donate any more old clothes since even the poor and the devastated don't like given-away clothes, esp. if they have not worn anything like that before. If you can, help with food, medicines and utensils. Chirayu has given a lot of links. One which I really liked is Amazon.com's Donate page; hit Refresh and see the sum rising. A silver lining. (Had put the link up on my links blog earlier). For information on tsunami relief work, visit the South-East Asia Earthquake And Tsunami (SEA-EAT) site.

Please do all you can.
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Well, I do have a new year resolution. But will not write about it here. Though everytime I break it, I promise to mention it on my blog. I hope the ignominy of writing about breaking my resolution will make me keep it.


Current Mood: Sombre
Current Music: yeh lamha, filhaal jee lene de from the movie Filhaal

Friends Forever

As we go on

We remember

All the time we

Had together

As our lives change

Come whatever

We will still be

Friends Forever


Thanks, Buddy !

Current Mood: Awesome
Current Music: A strange punjabi song which I can't even make out

Merry Christmas, eh?

Finally got a Christmas gift. I have got a chance to intern at an eminent European Research Lab. So, come May, and I am off !!! Two months near the Alps promises to be fun :)

Happy Holidays

Been to Google lately? Or using the text box in your browser? I would suggest go have a look. The new holiday logos are out. You can also see them here.

Russian Circus

Saw a Russian Circus in Kolkata on Sunday, 19th. To say the least, it was AWESOME. The acrobatics of all those artists was simply mind boggling. Half the time, I was wondering if they were using some sort of an illusion.

The best part was the floor was made of ice, and all the artists used skates. The control these people have on their bodies is simply out-of-this-worldly. The trapeze act was also very good. The clown did a very good job. It was a very interactive thing, not the usual baffoonery.

Probably one of the reasons I liked it all the more was that I can never even think of doing anything like that. I mean, cummon, I wouldn't even be able to walk on ice, let alone all those dare acts. I was more like spell-bound.

Anyway, we got a pretty decent view. The ticket prices were from 50 to 700 bucks apiece, and we chose the 150 one. Although we got a side view, it was still a pretty commendable show. A very different experience. Try to catch it if it ever comes to your city.

Some Respite

Me Too An IIT : OutLookIndia.com

Amidst all the bad press, finally some good news about IITs. Despite several demands from various states and other countries as well, the Ministry of HRD wants to go slow on increasing the number of IITs for fear of diluting its brand name.

MSN Spaces: A Review

I had been wondering for quite sometime now why Microsoft, which has started its employees blogs so much, did not come out with a blogging service of its own. It has now, and the Redmond badshah has done a really good job at it. It is called MSN spaces, and is a one stop shop for all your online needs, from a blog, photo album, blog roll, book list, music list, comments, track back, blog it (I think something like blogThis) extra custom lists, and more.

Let me start with the writing of the posts. It gives a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) style editor, which will be good for people who do not want to mess with html while writing their posts. You have an option to add photos, emoticons, along with the regular formatting options. You can optionally specify the trackback URL. It also has the option of specifying the category of your post.

The blog looks very simple and elegant. At least mine does :D. There is an option to change to default layout, and the themes but I decided to stick to the default. I did not like the themes all that much, and well, I guess I like the simplicity of the display.

I liked the idea of being able to add a book list and music list. You can add the books to the list very simply. For the music, you could even let it synchronize it with your Windows Media Player. A nice idea actually. Wonder why the blogger guys never thought of allowing us to synchronize it with Winamp or something. The blogroll is also pretty decent.

You can add any number of new Custom lists. Again haven't tried it out completely but the idea looks good to me. This makes it very easy to add lists such as frequently visited websites, or maybe something like SEO Links (as in Chirayu's blog) on another list.

It has an inbuild photo album to which you can add pictures, and then include them in your posts.

The comments are almost like those of haloscan. It has gmail like scripts which open a haloscan type add-comment box and it is really easy to use it. However, it is finally Microsoft, and it expects users to have a .NET Passport for even signing the comments. Guess, you can never change some people. Mr. Gates will never renunciate his obsession with controlling his customers lives.

Perhaps the only thing missing is a Shoutbox. Would love to see that there as well. Thankfully, a site feed is present. RSS, not atom.

The best thing I liked about MSN Spaces is the customize page. It is completely drag-and-drop. You can change the positions of everything using simple mouse clicks. No eye-problems due to concentrating on the HTML. You can change the layout by simply selecting it from a drop down menu. The theme can be changed equally easily. You can the move around your lists by simple mouse clicks, re arrange them on your page, and satiate your own aesthetic desires. In fact, it is a boon for people who do no know too much of coding, html etc. and want to use a blog just to vent to their feelings. They do not have to wonder about making their blog look good, they can just concentrate on their writing, MSN does everything else for them.

However, as with most other Microsoft products, it does not have an option for viewing your html, let alone change it. People like me, who feel thrilled on being able to change the template slightly to support haloscan like commenting system, will find it a little boring. My fingers did itch to be able to do something more, some other changes, but sadly did not have any options there.

Final word: Great for people who want to blog, not for people who want to mess around with their blog. And blogger, you have some serious competition.

PS: Visit my MSN Space at http://spaces.msn.com/members/kpowerinfinity/

Who needs Haloscan?

Check out the new commenting system on this blog. Thanks to BloggerHacks, I have reproduced Haloscan functionality with the age-old blogger commenting system. It required some work with the template code, but then I am proud of the result. A pat on the back ;)

And the best part is that I get a mail whenever someone leaves a comment !

Move over haloscan, I take over !

Current Mood: Jubilant

A Whole New World

I love theme music of movies... esp the Disney ones. Here's one from Alladin:

(Aladdin:) I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
you last let your heart decide

(Aladdin:)I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways, and under
On a magic carpet ride

(Aladdin:)A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

(Jasmine:)A whole new world
A dazzling place i never knew
But now from way up here
It's crystal clear
That now i'm in a whole new world
With you
(Aladdin:)Now i'm in a whole new world with you

(Jasmine:)Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

(Jasmine:) A whole new world
(Aladdin:) Don't you dare close your eyes
(Jasmine:) A hundred thousand things to see
(Aladdin:) Hold your breath- it gets better
(Jasmine:)I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far I can't go back to where i used to be

(Aladdin:) A whole new world
(Aladdin:) With new horrizons to pursue

(both:) I'll chase them anywhere, there's time to spare, let me share this whole new world with you

(Aladdin:) A whole new world
(Jasmine:) A whole new world
(Aladdin:) A new fantastic point of view
(Jasmine:) A new fantastic point of view
(Both:) No one to tell us no or where to go
(Jasmine:) Or say we're only dreaming
(Aladdin:)a whole new world
(Jasmine:)Every turn a surprise
(Aladdin:) With new horizons to pursue
(Jasmine:) Every moment gets better
(Both:) I'll chase them anywhere theres time to spare
(Jasmine:) Anywhere
(Aladdin:) Theres time to spare
(Jasmine:) Let me share
(Aladdin:) This whole new world
(Both:) With you

(Jasmine:) A whole new world
(Aladdin:) A whole new world
(Jasmine:) Thats where we'll be
(Aladdin:) Where we will be
(Jasmine:) A thrilling change
(Aladdin:) A wonderous place
(Both:) For you and me

Bees Saal Baad

(Twenty years later)

December 3rd, 1984, the Union Carbide plant spewed the poisonous Methyl Isocyanate which changed the history of Bhopal forever. The immediate holocaust was obviously unprecedented, at least in India. 2,000 innocent people died instantly, many thousands died in these twenty years. Uncountable numbers suffered from ailments due to the toxic waste.

Twenty years have passed. What has been done?

The perpetrators of this inhuman crime are still out large. Union Carbide India was renamed Eveready Industries India, who now claims it is not responsible for the mess. Union Carbide in the US merged with Dow Chemicals which agian refuses to accept any liability for a plant it did not operate. In fact, the official statement of Union Carbide states:

The Bhopal plant was owned and operated by Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL), an Indian company in which Union Carbide Corporation held just over half the stock. The other stockholders included Indian financial institutions and thousands of private investors in India. The plant was designed, built, and managed by UCIL using Indian consultants and workers. (sic)

It is disheartening to see UC pass the blame to Indian consultants and workers.

With the passage of time, it becomes more and more difficult to pin down the prime accused such as Warren Anderson, the Chairman of UC at the time.

The RBI states that it has over Rs. 1,500 crore in the compensation fund. This would translate to around Rs.25,000 per family. Would that be enough for the likes of Jyoti, who can no longer get married? Or even Bano Bi's two daughters who have no suitors even though they do not have any physical deformities, only because of the stigma attached with living in affected areas? Would it be a replacement for the bread winner who died in the accident? Would it cover the cost of medicine for the thousands affected directly, leave aside the indirect? Union Carbide has been directed by the courts to construct a 500 bed hospital in Bhopal but I doubt if that will be enough.

I guess nothing will be enough, at least for the orphans who lost everything, for the aged who lost their only support, for the new bride. We could only pray for them and take steps so that we do not have another Bhopal. The water in the region is still contaminated, affecting more people everyday. We should probably start with that.

To read more about the tragedy, visit Rediff. A slide show with some horrifying pictures is available at Greenpeace. Tell Dow to clean up Bhopal. See Time Magazine's cover on Bhopal.