I am going to speak on the topic of Blogging 2.0 at barCampMumbai2 today ... With this we also will open the registration for the beta of our web Application bloozler .... you too can check it out here . I have been working on this concept since more than 1.5 year now, since I made this blog post. Hope you all find it an interesting and useful webApp .... Here is the presentation I will make.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोsयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे “What dies is the body, the soul is neither born nor dead” - The Bhagwat Gita This line from the Gita provides succour to many of those who loose their loved ones. One likes to believe the theory – more so because it is from the Gita – the epitome of human experience from over the centuries. But there are times when one wonders about its authenticity – if the soul is indeed all powerful, why does it succumb to the illness of the body? So many physically challenged people find their self-confidence diminished throughout their lives. There are some who are mentally strong - but (1) they are more exceptions than a rule (2) most of them have had to go through rough times before they (re)gain their confidence. One feels even more compelled to question this belief when death comes by. Death – a biological phenomenon; manifestation of the simple fact that just like any other machine, org

When Manmohan Singh took over from Atalji as the Prime Minister of the country, there was widespread euphoria of speedier economic reforms and speedy economic growth. After all Singh was the very pioneer of the liberalization. However, the political naiveté and rubber stamp status of the PM has only been re-confirmed in the past few months. While the nuclear deal and the Left holding the Govt. ransom is the recent most manifestation of the PM’s weakness, this government has been an underperformer from the beginning of its tenure. Arjun Singh pursuing his own casteist agenda through reservations, the repeat of Mandal days at AIIMS (where the meritorious students had to face water cannons), the back track on privatisation of Navratna PSU’s, the slowing down of Golden Quadrangle Project, and inaction towards the teething lack of infrastructure – the UPA’s track record is filled with inaction and ineptitude. There are a few streaks of positive one of them being year's budget which laid

We started the next day by visiting the St. Francis Church and Basilica – both facing each other. It was interesting to know that Velha Goa (means Old Goa) – an abandoned town today was a popular commercial hub in the medieval times with a population of 200,000. At St Francis Church Sabya and Shubham at the Basilica Church One thing that irked me about my visits to the church was that none of the artefacts were accompanied by plaques or notices detailing their significance. Let’s accept that none in the world today understands Latin (except historians and linguists) and if you want tourists to know more about historical places, you need to put descriptions around. I think this is something that the clergy need to be more concerned about rather than protesting against movies. Puratatva Vibhaag ke pathhar We moved to Palolem beach from Velha Goa – the breathtaking journey through the Ghats of Goa. And Paloelem is heavenly!! I think we would have planned spending more time there had we kn

We reached Goa and contacted S. Dutta (our batchmate @ NITIE now with P&G) and he helped us arrange a Santro for our travel for the next two days. The next day started with a visit to the Chapora fort – where we had our DCH moment! We sat there for some time contemplating (while Shubham was busy cracking his PJs) and enjoying the scenery around. Dil Chahta Hai! The Trio! Humsafar! The next destination were beaches in north Goa – starting with Vagator and moving to Calungute and ending the day in the Panaji City at Miramar beach. First steps into water And its all into the ocean! The handsome hunk prefers to stay out! Miramar!! Came back to the Guest house, freshened up and then left to meet the Tapaswis (my friend M’s folks who stay nearby). I had Gilki pe pakode after a long long time, thanks to the hospitality of M’s Mom. Dusk on the beach ...

I am in Goa with Shubham and Sabyasachi for a 3 day tour. Technically this is my fourth visit to Goa - I visited Goa first when I was 5, then when I was 12 and then last year (for a company offsite). This is my first visit with friends - and frankly, I have been planning this getaway for almost 6 years now. I first planned a Goa trip when I was in 2nd year of my enginnering (2001) when DCH was released. But for some reason or the other it never worked out. My plan was rejuvenated when some friends planned a similar trip at the end of our NITIE tenure - but again the plan didn't work out. Finally, as a consolation I managed to go to Uttaranchal , last year. But the original plan for Goa was still in hibernation, and finally got activated this year. So here I am - in Goa for 3 days. Shubham and Sabya flew to Mumbai yesterday and we took the Janshatabdi from Mumbai to Madgaon today 5.30 AM; reached here about 4 PM - are staying in Dona Paola - almost half a Kilometre from the coast.

With all the talks of opening a branch of IIM outside India .... here is the link of the IIT outside India - an institute 120 years old.

If you are a regular reader of newspaper editorials – you would have noticed columnists who write on matters of Indian politics, policy research, mythology, pop-culture etc. Of late, so many scholars of ‘Indian studies’ have come from foreign (mainly US) universities. Is this because there are no Indian institutes where ‘India’ is being researched? Not quite – we have the JNU, the BHU, the AMU, and numerous departments of social studies in all universities from Ashok University (Gwalior) to Delhi University. Then why this dearth of scholars in Indian matters, who practice their profession in India? Not being from the academic circles – I can only make an informed guess based upon limited knowledge that I have of the culture in academic institutes (which I studied in) and internet research (the links are strewn in the text below). Due to heavy politicization of student community following the Janta Party movement of the 1970s-80s[ 1 ][ 2 ], the academia in our universities too have got

India is Orkut's largest market after Brazil, so it makes perfect sense for them to embrace Indian languages .... and they have started with Hindi Makes sense - after all US is almost sold out to Facebook and MySpace and China is a different world - so better concentrate on India which will be among the 3 largest economies of the world in the coming years.

Yes ... its true - after 13 years of expectations for a second world cup - WE HAVE WON the first ever Twenty 20 cup!! Don't worry I am not going to get into the same loop of 'we worked as team' blah blah .. there are better reviews of the match around. So better go read them ! I just want to point out one thing that irked me. My heart sank every time Sreesanth and Joginder Sharma bowled those beamers off the wicket which were either going to go as 'wide' or deserved the hardest hits!! And yet, at the end Dhoni said - "... I decided to give the last over to Joginder, who wanted to make a name for himself in international cricket - it did not matter if we won or lost!" Did it not really matter??? A billion people watching the match, sacrificing their precious times .. I saw almost the whole Mumbai rushing home early yesterday - and the Indian captain says 'IT DIDN'T MATTER!!' Yes, I agree that this team won because it went without expectations a