22 Yards, 24 Years

The mist of doubt couldn't block it.
The clouds of adversity didn't slow it.
The hills of injuries couldn't stop it.
The burning sun couldn't crack it.
The thundering lightnings couldn't burn it.
The winds of change couldn't erode it.
The pacy cricket balls couldn't soften it.

Its the determination to excel.
Its the inspiration to drive ahead.
Its the oxygen to live immortal cricket.
Its the endless desire to play.
Its the endless sky of love of the game.
Its the large emerald that never loses its sheen.
Its the living room of cricket's Kohinoor diamond.

Its the 22 yards, 24 years!

Dedicating the above poem to the maestro who ruled cricket for 24 years and his equally best partners in batting: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

Many say there is no one better than sachin. True, but lets not ignore the contribution of Rahul, Ganguly and Laxman in Sachin's long journey. I am sure that all of them played like a team and supported each other in times of adversity. In short, I believe Sachin would not have achieved so much and created so many records without the help of his team-mates.

With love.. Anil

The Path Together

The sky opens up to both sun and moon.it witnesses both day and light.so the same way life is also like a sky that shows both sides of the coin.and in that life, when two souls walk together, even though the tastes vary, they both have a similar sense of determination to go ahead by facing the challenges posed by life, circumstances,and society. No matter what happens, we shall overcome the tough times and withhold the respect of everyone. just like we two. Despite the usual differences, there is a deep sense of determination to not get bogged down. the below poem is dedicated to my soul mate on the occasion of our second wedding anniversary. I don't believe in God making match in heaven but there is something greater than it that keeps us bonded in a most unique manner and you have been and will be a crucial part in the life ahead without which there is absolutely nothing. As said by big b in bagban the movie, "tum ho toh hum hain.tum nahi toh kuch nahi.kuch bhi nahin"

There was a rose thats exotic
and a leaf under it thats least exotic.
The thorns between them seem to widen the gulf,
but the flower never leaves the glimpse of her leaf.
One day a priest arrived to pluck the rose,
and the leaf's worry arose.
As each rose branch gets pulled,
the priest's basket of flowers gets filled.
sharp remains the thorn between rose and leaf,
however far they may be.
As the rose gets pulled apart,
the leaf watches his flower depart.
The leaf sheds a tear of dew,
which can be seen only by a few.
"I'll join you" says leaf,
as he sheds it's greenery.
As the rose reaches the foot of the lord's light,
leaf falls to the earth and takes flight.
Wind takes the leaf into temple,
rose's hopes takes one more tremble.
The wind pushed them both like an airline fleet
and all join the service of lord's feet.

With love.. Anil

The Amazing Lunchbox!

Just watched The Lunchbox which was a unique experience. The first thing that strikes us while watching this movie is its simplicity. The script is so well written that we get lost in the worlds of the main characters so easily that we start believing we were also present next to them!
The next thing that strikes us is the natural performance of the actors in the movie! Never do we see the actors in the movie. We only see characters! Before watching the movie, I didn't know any of the actors' names except for Irfan Khan!
I even have a personal liking and admiration for Mumbai city in general, thanks to the 2 years of association I had with it, but this movie took me into the lonely lives of the main characters in this highly urban city.
Its true: In this age of google, fb and twitter, when two unknown people become close friends due to a simple misplacement of a lunchbox(thanks to the dabbawala!), the way they deal with the loneliness in their respective lives echoes the lives of so many people not just in Mumbai, but everywhere in the urban settlements across the nation.
I was expecting a small twist in the end and may be a better climax, but the movie was intended to be open-ended! No doubt it won several prizes in film festivals!.

With love.. Anil

Bollywood movie promotions.

There is a stark difference in the way movies are promoted in the Tollywood and bollywood.
Audio releases are one of the biggest means of promoting a movie.
I dont know why there isnt a single open air function for an audio release function in Bollywood with huge crowds, covered live by top hindi channels like star plus/star gold/sony/max/zee.

If one looks at the movie functions, there are so many of them in South India, especially in Telugu movie industry: Audio Launch, platinum disk, 50-days function, 100-days function, etc. And the range of movies that have such audio functions/promotional events is wide. It spans low-budget movies, medium and high budget movies.
If there is one such event that was telecast live in Bollywood, you are welcome to share it!

With love.. Anil

Chromecast: The beginning of an entertainment revolution?

Bringing TV closer to digital devices and interconnecting them is not an easy task.
Google seems to have solved this puzzle in a way that caught the attention of the gadget world!
No doubt there are many similar devices that do what Chromecast does, but the sheer price of this small device makes it worth.
There are so many ways that it can be used:
1. Watch online videos on Youtube, Netflix, etc. More apps coming soon to the party.
2. Share anything through phones/tablets/laptops/desktops. Through Chrome web app, we can display any Chrome tab on our TV.
3. Not just any tab, an experimental feature makes it possible to display the whole desktop on TV.
4. Play phone's local files on TV.

With love.. Anil

Compassion..

These days the relationships have gone virtual online and people believe that money is everything.
But there is a side to any relation, be it friends or family that cannot be complete without interacting with others in-person. Compassion cannot be gained by just donating money. Donating money to the poor and needy or orphans may only help bring some satisfaction to ourselves, but a true compassion will be experienced only when we contact the downtrodden in person and spread love and positive energy in them.

One such idea is celebrating special events with an orphanage. I came across an orphanage in Bangalore while browsing online and that is called Abhaya Ashram.
One can spend a lot by donating them online but as important to it is to build such a relationship with them where they dont feel alone and participate in such activities which can put a smile on children's faces.

It could be a simple sweets-distribution or books or essentials like blankets, dresses, etc and make a long-lasting friendship with them. Taking the young ones along-with you can be doubly good as your kids will ingle with all the children and get a compassionate approach towards children irrespective of religion, status, language, etc. Many times we hear small children quarreling based on their status in the society or people making fun of orphans. For this to stop, children should be sensitized right from the beginning by taking them to the downtrodden and making them mingle with other children.

With love.. Anil

Make Android even more amazing!(part-2)

Continuing the post about Android, and smart phones in general, I would like to see the following features in a smart phone and in a free open source OS like android. I am concentrating mostly on the hardware side:

1. Smart phones should actually work smart by having more sensors:
For eg., they can have temperature sensor and water/moisture sensor so that the phone can adjust itself and let the user know that it is warm/chilly/humid outside. As we know, humidity is when water content is high in the atmosphere and the smartphone should be able to detect this as tell us if it is going to rain soon or not. It can even tell us if we are sweating based on the humidity/water content around it! The latest Samsung S4 already has a temperature and pressure sensor, so it is very much possible to bring it in all phones, build a whole new level of API(software) around it and integrate it within android's next major version!

2. Proactive activities like warming up when it is chilly outside!
Imagine this: Your smartphone warms itself to keep you warm! This can be done by having a small heater inside. Even better, it would be fantastic if there is an air-blower that tries to either blow cool air or hot air depending on the surroundings and your preferences! So you have your personal weather control device in your hands! If it is too hot outside, it tries to keep you cool by becoming a portable air conditioner. If it is too chilly outside, it tries to warm you up by blowing warm air!

3. Make smartphones check your health!
A sensor that they can integrate is a health sensor that can accurately check your heartbeat and blood quality, which are two of the most important parameters for a person's health. We already have devices checking diabetes and it shouldn't be difficult to advance it to include many other parameters to do a complete blood test inside the device, and integrate it within a smartphone! If this happens, the retired Google Health service may come back!

4. UV scanner and 3D radar
Imagine there is complete darkness around you and your smartphone automatically sensing a soft, warm, organic object moving towards you! This can be done by having your phone see in the darkness using UV and 3D radar similar to those found in some jets for night vision. The technology is very much there, and it just needs to be put into a smaller form and fit inside a slim Nexus phone! the applications for this feature can be unlimited!

With love.. Anil

A touching poem...

Just read a tribute of love in today's Deccan Herald(15 Mar 2013). Just felt like sharing with everyone.

Those we love dont go away
they walk beside us every day
Unseen, unheard, but always near
Still loved, still missed and very dear

Always a smile
Thoughtful beyond measure
He left us a memory
We are so proud to treasure

He has gone across the river
To the shore of evergreen
And we long to see his dear face
But the river flows between
Someday, sometime we shall see
The face we loved so well
Someday we ll clasp his hand
And never say farewell


With love.. Anil

Make Android even more amazing!

First things first.. This isnt an article to praise android nor am I a hardcore fan of android, but a happy android user and a technically curious one at that! So I like android not just because of Google, or the universality of the OS, but because of the trust, reliability, simplicity and the customizability that it gives me.
So this article is about what I dream about in android, which may become a reality in near future!.
This is with an intention to make android even better!

1. So, first thing is a concept called "Customization Center" where you can completely customize your phone from the default version that you get. This has been rumored to be coming in 4.2, but alas, it didnt.
It should have one option to set the software of the phone to stock android version(Google Nexus) and another to set to the OEM's version(Sony's Timescape ui, Samsung's Touchwiz, HTC's Sense, etc) your own launcher.
Basically this is perfect if you want a stock android experience on your phone, that is fast and simple. A nexus like experience which gets the latest updates directly from Google! Of course this isnt just about the UI, its also about software the way Nexus devices handle. We know every manufacturer has their own drivers, so those drivers need to be optimized to be used with Nexus software.

2. Option to backup and sync complete settings and data of apps: This is perhaps a very interesting and usefull feature. Imagine that you are on android 4.0, playing the angry birds 15th level, and somehow you get an update to 4.1 or 4.2 and update to it. You will get back the game app due to the sync and thats fine. But will you play all the 14 levels to get back to where you were? The real complete restore will be to upgrade to 4.2 nd start Angry Birds on the level you were previously in! You can even play 14 levels on your Xperia J and play the 15th level on your Nexus 7 immediately! Thats the perfect sync and storing all the app data in the cloud!

3. New android update to older phones with lite versions of latest features.
Imagine a phone running Android Eclair(2.1) having the Google Now feature in a lite version thats light on phone resources! Why dont Google give a surprise to owners of older phones by giving such small goodies like Google Now Lite, Chrome Mini and bug fixes or security updates? I know it is wishfull thinking, but it makes older phone owners feel good and improve the brand image, showing that Google doesnt forget older phones.


With love.. Anil