Phew...

What a life it has been - such a shame that i could not maintain my commitment to blogging...very hectic work and family life...too many happenings...Feb 24th 2007 Priya (my wife) and I were blessed with a Baby Girl...we have named the baby Padma Malini...she keeping us (Priya) more occupied.

Cheers
Haridas

i am back

Hello,

Life has been pretty hectic for me for the last 6 months. I know that I have not blogged frequently. Sorry to my friends’ who were visiting a static page. I would sure try my efforts in trying to bring life back to this page.

Cheers,
Haridas

a new mobile for me

Narsi my brother-in-law has cut short his UK trip and returned to india yesterday. he has brought me a Sony Ericsson V800. it is absolutely fantabulous. the images on the screen displayed (left) are dizzy work by my - copy paste in 'Paint'. V800 has a much better resolution. this Mobile was a real surprise to me. i have started falling in love with this new gizmo. to know more about V800 visit this URL http://www.sonyericsson.com and view products>V800

Thanks Narsi. i was actually eyeing to buy a Nokia-6600 or something on those lines to upgrade from my Nokia - 2100 by this August. Narsi has surprised me with this V800 :-)

Rang de basanti

I had written this piece as a mail reply, sent to Aishwariya’s (my CTS-colleague) review of rang de basanti (movie) on her blog http://crashwithash.rediffblogs.com .


My view:

You always have the right and left wing way of expressing things. Just think about it, would it have been possible for people even to imagine leave alone sitting thorough a movie where Amir khan and others would have wore those kathar (Khadi) shirts and caps and gave a road roko or a silent protest march etc. those things are not working any more – try plying more buses or trains across the border still, what we get back is only treachery and Bullets! But the revolutionist is always revered after a point of time – take for instance the case of IRA/LTTE/Hamas/ULFA/PWG/Maoists and scores of other such rebels (or may be Terrorists in their respective locality – for Bhagat singh and others were also called as Extremists and Terrorists during the British Raj). All these so called blood-bath organizations, when they have a huge regional support, have been invited for Talks and forming coalition governments. There are even cases of giving public freedom to the rebels and their files destroyed!!!

But then how many Mehta pathekars or the like have survived and their cases won – both regionally and internationally – we are still begging behind Union Carbide and others to give us money. And NBA has been washed off in the Narmada waters.

Think about the Media – do they give attention to the Ahimsa process unless it becomes a real powerful movement! We have forgotten and forgiven (may be) Harshad Mehta, Telgi and so many other multi millionaire scammers. And we all believed in our Judiciary! A simple case how many Tamilians were compensated for the Cauvery violence of the 1990’s in Karnataka. We are still begging for water from the state where, a Cauvery River Tribunal, River authorities and even Supreme Court verdict and advices are neglected.

Our country is proud to have a UP minister for Haj and other related affairs who has announced a 51crore prize to the person who gets him the Head of the Danish cartoonist and also gold equivalent to the weight of the victorious and people in the current govt. defending him, saying it was announced against somebody who is in a distant land.

Who knows! all this might be the way Elections are fought right from a councilor seat to the Central seat across countries!!! Peace with neighboring country, state etc. and we like fools are left with no other option than to choose one of the political parties! There must be a button in the electronic voting machine to register null vote and another to call for President’s rule. If there are too many null votes then things must begin afresh under the president’s rule---but who knows 10 to 15 years down the lane even that system might get corrupted – that’s why weeding out the bad elements is an essential process. The way we do it is a subject for discussion!!!


The bottom line is:
When we are fighting against our own clans who have turned cannibalistic, no amount of Ahimsha will help to tame these beasts and ‘they’ have always loop-holes in law to escape across boundaries. So maybe this is one of the ways the current scenario in our country could be tackled.
By the way I am no big advocate of extremism but going by Abahaynker of ‘Hey Ram’ “you have to be a Wolf to say whether killing a deer for self and its family is a mistake or not”.

My Brother-in-law

Today I had my alarm ring by 02:15 am. I got ready and left to my in-laws’ house at Adambakkam. I had left Priya yesterday morning at her parents house, so that she could spend sometime with her only Sibling – Narasimhan. I had been to the airport this morning to send him off to the United Kingdom.

Narsi (aka Kutty) is 6 yrs junior to Priya. He is an avid cricketer. He has left for Sussex – England to play for a County cricket club. He took the BA 8am flight this morning. He is also mid-way in his training for the commercial pilot license. He would be back by September this year. He is a final year student in Comp. Sci at Vivekanada College, Chennai.

Wishing Narsi the very best in his cricketing stint in the UK.

Madbull???

Before you get it wrong, let me clear this I have named this page with my name and suffixed it with the word ‘Madbull’. Madbull refers to me being part of Madras Bulls motor cycling club (MBMC) you could read more about this club @ http://www.madrasbulls.com/ . We guys ride Royal Enfield Bullets and are passionate about it.

Here is a copy of my account on http://www.royalenfield.com/ (virtual numberplate section).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I work as an Instructional designer. I am with an IT company based out at Chennai. I am 26yrs old. Riding has been fun for me right from the day, I learnt to ride a cycle on my own without any support from friends. The very act of balancing against gravity was like WOW. This was in my 10 years.

When I touched 15, I was determined to give a slip to the stern curfew my dad had imposed on motorized vehicles for me. I pleaded a good friend of mine to teach me to ride a bike, he had his dad’s Ind-Suzuki and it was now a bigger WWOOWW. Entered Loyola college, Chennai. Did my UG Botany there, that’s when I tried the Bullet from a classmate and good friend, it was a STD-350 and I was kinda struggling with the unusual Left and Right control change, the ride was hardly for 250 meters or so—but the impact was deep, this time the feeling was WWWOOOOWW.

Entered PG in Centre for Advance Studies in Botany University of Madras, and I fought hard with my Father to keep up his promise – buying me a two wheeler if I maintained my Medal spree in Loyola (passed out of Loyola with 9 medals – 4 for academic and 5 for extra curricular activities like Rotoract and NSS). Finaly I had to settle with a Bajaj Calibre – good one but still that emptiness in the heart was there.

After 4yrs and 40K kms on my Bajaj Caliber (I had done some memorable trips to pondy, Chidambaram etc.) I decided I could handle ‘It’. I strongly fought my basic plan of buying a Gypsy (seconds) with my earnings. I searched the RE forum and did some 16hrs of soft copy reading and comparing. I went ahead and bought a Bullet Machismo 350cc, Alberto Green (on September 27, 2004). I did not go for any major changes in the bullet, I have not changed the silencer. In fact I believe in ‘silent performance’, and my Machismo is just that ;-) may be another 3 yrs or so once all the chrome is lost, I would love to paint it full ‘Alberto green’.

My dad couldn’t say much but his tone and his eyes says it all now that he is proud to have a son who tames the beast called bullet. I immediately joined (October 2004) a great pack called Madras Bullet Motorcycling Club (MBMC) (aka) ‘madbulls’. I have done short trips with the MB guys and the longest being the ride to Connoor from Chennai (1200kms Chennai-Connoor-Chennai) to celebrate the MBMC 4th Anniversary on April 29, 30 and May 1st of 2006. I have clocked 24K on my bullet so far (15th May 2006). I would love to do the Mekka of bullet rider’s A trip to khar-dung-la, I just started doing the ‘saving’ part for the Ladak trip. If all goes well would like to see myself on the Himalayas with my Bullet-Simbha. I am happy that I got a Beast whom I could hand over to my kids 15-16yrs down the lane, and then spoil myself with a new bullet again ;-) ‘I just can’t stop falling in love with you - my Bullet’.

Thanks to all the guys (and gals) for their support in building the rider in me. And a big thanx to my wife Priya for being supportive towards my Machismo. Priya and I got married in Nov'2005 after a 5yr courtship. Priya has been (and is still) a great emotional support towards owning my Bullet, she loves riding pillion with me in our Bullet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Cheers
H

Committed to blogging

Dear Friends,

To keep up with the changing trends and to practice the new vibes we need to constantly unwind and rewind. IMHO learning never ceases. I have decided to Blog!

Last year, to post a comment on an instructional design blog I created a blog and left it like that for more than a year. Back then, I felt I am not good enough to be a regular blogger. I felt (and still feel) that blogging needs lots of dedication and commitment. To set aside time and space + resources to do that as a routine is by itself a discipline. I forgot this (old) login Id.

Today, I had to create a new blog again!!! to comment on a different blog. Blame my memory – I forgot the login ID of this new blog also!!! After a few tries I almost gave up, and that’s when the ‘inner me’ woke me up and said (as always it tells me during trying times) ‘never give up’ there is a famous quote used in GYMs, Martial Arts schools etc.

‘on a day when you feel that you could not do your exercises or training, that’s the day you have to do it! That’s when you are really training’.

So with renewed energy and neurons I tried a few combinations of Login ID’s that I ‘might’ have used and voila I got both my blog ID’s back. Yeah! Perseverance, did I say;-)

Looking at both my old and new blog pages, I felt kind of sad for them…I had created them and left them like that in the virtual space for eons to come. Today through this write up I make a commitment that I will strive hard to keep both my blogs active.

Requesting my friends to keep visiting my blogs

Formal:
http://mynotesonid.blogspot.com/
This blog will have my posts pertaining to eLearning filed and my notes regarding it. At least one article on an average will be contributed in a month to this blog.

Informal:
http://madbullharidas.blogspot.com/
This blog will have my posts on, Bosnia conflict to the Penguins of Antarctica. I will blog on anything and everything here. Current affairs, history, mystery, philosophy, Biking on my bullet etc. I would also recall my childhood memoirs here. No, this would not be a chronological biography kind of thing but certainly will have interesting snippets about a young naughty boy who grew up to be a Man what he is today. Oh, yeah I was naughty certainly not notorious. In such articles, some of you might find traces of ‘Dennis’ some others ‘Tom Sawyer’ and for some the events might remind an episode out of ‘Calvin and Hobbes’. I will sure try my best to keep such pages on a lighter vein. While yes at the same time as you could see, when I draw my Sword over certain issues (refer the ‘quota’ article) I would be pretty brutal with my attack and scathe such social menaces mercilessly. At least one article on an average will be contributed in a week to this blog.

Henceforth with all my human limitations I shall not let go of these blogs and would devout some time, space and energy for these two blogs. Requesting my dear friends to visits these sites frequently and leave your comments (if that is not possible due to account restrictions, feel free to mail me your comments to haridasraghavan@yahoo.co.uk). I being an amateur all your valuable comments would help me grow as a great blogger.

This piece is a common write up to both my blogs.

Cheers
H

Quota thingy

this is in response to a post from Vijay @ http://vijayshriram.blogspot.com/ i have supplied here my response to his article on 'quota'.
Just my thoughts,
How comfy would the political guys be if,
1. The Doctor they visit has come up entirely on quota – education, job, and promotion. Why even the schedule for treatment or operation on a particular day is rotated on quota basis?
2. The pilot navigating the politicians’ plane has come through quota – education, job, and promotion?
3. The commando the political person is being protected by, say, the SPG (Special Protection Group) has been privileged by quota – education, job, and promotion? Is it Ok if the commando misses the Mark (say Terrorist) by 30% accuracy?

See somewhere the quota thing has to stop, to confirm excellence standards – education –ok, fair enough. Then at least while recruiting and promoting people let them go by merit list.

Let these parties first implement 27% quota in their political parties and governments, add to it a 33% reservation bill for women – they lose 60% here! Did I hear somebody faint;-)

I would say if one generation of children whose parents have not cleared beyond 5th grade of schooling could avail Quota and then it ceases with it. The person has to be smart to find a job in the market. Even if one of the parents has cleared 10+ years of study quota should not be given.

Scholarships – only economically weak sections…immaterial of their religion or community or families’ educational history.
Free education till degree and beyond for first generation ‘quota’ learners’ government should take the brunt – and yes of course ensure through bonds that these guys should work in India at least for say 5yrs from completion of education .

This way in a case where we have a first generation learner – he/she will find quota and also scholarship if he/she is smart enough.
If we have a 2nd or 3rd generation learner from an economically weak section, he/she will find, that the scholarship will help them realize their goal and that is education.
Further the government has to create and ensure sustenance of employment opportunities so that after 25 to 40 years both the quota and scholarship things can done away with – this way the financial burden on the exchequer would be only for 25 to 40 years.

No quota or reservation in IITS and IIMS let the management take a call on that, best left for Merit to decide as it has been all this while.

Similarly No Quota in Civil services, Defense and Police forces + private sector.

If the government is hell bent on going the quota way, let it have ‘quota’ educational institutions, ‘quota’ work places, ‘quota’ living places etc. and let the customer decide if he/she wants to study/work/live/buy services from such ‘quota’ places.

Peace
H

my first post

ha...

me too in the blog world! I am surprised, that's because I never thought I would have the time and patience to maintain a blog...let me see if I could commit this blog.

cheers
H