A view to a view

Ignorance is bliss?...NOT! ...atleast in the case of music. Its heartening to see someone write so highly of a true genius... Read Richard Corliss on the all-time best-selling recording artist who can't get a break in the States ... A R Rahman!

I was listening to songs from Mani Ratnam's Roja ( which was in the Time's all time list of Best 10 Soundtracks ), when I thought of searching for the movie on YouTube... enjoy till the copyright cops catch up... Kaadhal website from Dheena New York Nagaram from Sillunu Oru Kaadal Paartha Mudal Naalil Uyirin uyire from Kaaka kaaka sutrum vizhi Dhalapathi roja roja Mazhai Mazhai Kaathlagi Chinna Chinna Aasai..(Roja) Kadhal Rojave - Roja Minnale Nee - May Madham Munbe Vaa - Sillunu Oru Kadhal Unnai Kandane - Parijatham

A windows explorer crash...One moment of inspiration...One creative mind...A master piece is born...

Someone's taken the pain to compile a list of free software available for download from the Microsoft site. I use many of them. Very useful for any windows user, although some of the stuff linked are for windows developers. Get the list here .

Sand animation is the name given to a style of live performance art in which the performer creates a series of images using sand; a process which is achieved by applying sand to a surface and then rendering images by drawing lines and figures in the sand with one's hands. To increase visibility and to add further artistic aesthetic, a sand animation performer will often use the aid of an overhead projector or lightboard. Watch this Sand Animation by Ilana Yahav ...and this one by Ferenc Cakó . It is a video of his live performance at SICAF 2003, in Seoul, South Korea.

While stumbling across the web, I came across this web site which lets you create faces - familiar or just imagination by bringing together many features in a nice pencil sketch. Check it out here . Also lets you save the face you have created on to the server and to print it.

Thanks to Martin's weekly newsletter , I have come across a great tool called Rasterbator . The Rasterbator is a web service which creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. The rasterized images can be printed and assembled into extremely cool looking posters up to 20 meters in size. I can now go about decorating my flat !) The best part is there is a standalone version that you can download and run from your machine. (Needs .NET framework 1.1 installed, though)

This is one of my favourite flash based games. Check out 3D Curve Ball! I have played it many times before and never passed level 4; but guess what; tried it just before adding this blog and got to Level 7. My score 21410. See if you can better it. Add your scores to the comments. Copyright: Curveball by Paragon Digital Media

I solved this puzzle some time back. I don't remember how long it took me to figure this out, but it was time well spent. Very engaging...try it! Objective: Everybody has to cross the river. Game rules: Only 2 persons on the raft at a time The father cannot stay with any of the daughters without their mother's presence The mother cannot stay with any of the sons without their father's presence The thief (striped shirt) cannot stay with any family member if the policeman is not there Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft. Game help: To start click on the big blue circle on the right. To move the people click on them. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

The annual street festival in London's Regent Street this year had a spanish theme. Apparently close to 400,000 people came to find out what it was all about. We (me & a friend - Dinesh) had been interested in the festival following some pretty good marketing from few other friends, when we met on Friday for the London - Caracus: Caracus - Londres event in Trafalgar square . The festival ran from 12 till 8, so we made plans to be there at 12 and have a good time. But on the day, which was a sunday, the Onam sadya in Borehamwood also came up and we had to now juggle both. We did not want to miss either events. So, I called up Andres and told him we are going to be late and to expect us around 4pm. Soon after the sadya, Dinesh & me headed back to Central London. By the time we got there it was around 4:30pm. Regents street from Oxford Circus till Piccadilly Circus was where the festival was taking place. We went about from the Oxford Circus end, slowly working our way t

While I was reading the news from Kerala on the Malayala Manorama web site ( about the antics of a particular minister ), I came across their travel pages. They seem to have tried to put together a set of videos on various important ("touristy") places in Kerala, listed by the district they are in. I haven't seen any such collection anywhere else on the web, so thought, it might be good to link it in this blog. Hope they will add some sound to the videos going forward, perhaps some commentary to go with the pictures. So, if you are thinking about visiting Kerala or would like to know what Kerala is all about, this could be a good site to visit: Glimpses of Kerala

"A Tear Shed, For Those Who Have Lost." Steve Irwin - the original crocodile hunter - has been killed by a stingray during a diving expedition off the Australian coast . He died after being struck in the chest by the stingray's barb . More... Obituary: Steve Irwin

I am too lazy to write anything at this moment other than say we had a short taste of Onam outside of Kerala in the distant land of Borehamwood in the outskirts of London, UK. Perhaps, Hilal will have a moment of inspiration and will write a big essay; I will then link to it ;) It was the first for all of us in our small group in the UK, even though most of us have been here for quite sometime now. Surprisingly, the event was well organised, much better than my expectations, especially the Onam sadya . The taste of the payasam still lingers in my mouth. It was also a pleasant surprise to see so many malayalee's in this little town. Without much ado, here are some photos -

Listen to some Onam music while you read: O nam, the principal festival of Kerala, is celebrated against a setting of lush green vegetation. This picturesque harvest festival brings with it ten days of colour, feasting, boat races, song and dance to the state. According to legend, Onam celebrates the golden age of King Mahabali, the mythical ruler of Kerala. The festival is celebrated to welcome the spirit of King Mahabali, and to assure him that his people are happy and wish him well. The myth goes like this: The Devas or gods were worried over the wise and good rule of Mahabali, the Asura king, thinking that he might become too powerful. They sought the help of Vishnu (the preserver in the Hindu trinity) to curb Mahabali's power. Vishnu, in the form of a dwarf called Vamana, approached him and was offered a boon by the king. Vamana asked for three paces of land and the king agreed to it. Soon the dwarf began to expand and with the first step, he covered the sky, blottin