सपने हैं

उभरती हुई सूरज की किरणों में
आशा भरी हर एक लड़की की आँखों में
ओस की बूंदों की चमक में
हर नदी की ऊर्जा भरी लहर में
दौड़ते हुए बच्चों की खेल में
अन्नदाता किसानो की पसीना में
सपने हैं सपने हैं..
गैर लोगों से क्या लेना,
स्वशक्ति से है दिखाना
हर एक भारतीय की निष्ठा से
कर्म योगी महानेता की प्रेरणा से
हम सब लायेंगे अछे दिन,
निभाएंगे अखंड भारत की सच्चे वादे

सपने हैं सपने हैं..
सपने हैं सपने हैं..

-अनिल कुमार रेड्डी

Expanding power capacity through solar panels

An idea of increasing power generation and feeding to the national grid: why can't we make the public a partner in power generation by encouraging them to rent out or lease their rooftops for solar panels that generate power and feed to the grid? Let the public invest in setting up the panels and let the govt pay them back by discounts in bills.
This policy is already encouraged in some states like TN and karnataka and it would be good if it is promoted on a national scale.

The advantages of the above policy would be many:
1. Zero pollution: It is completely noiseless, without any exhaust gases.
2. The public will take ownership of the solar panels since it will be their investment of their space and thus a culture of partnership can be promoted. They become partners in nation building since they provide any extra power to the national grid.
3. Consistent and wide spread potential for power output unlike the wind mills which work only in certain windy areas.
4. Virtually infinite source of energy: the sun.

One of the detailed articles is here.

With love.. Anil

Team Modi's time starts!

Good morning all! This fresh day feels like a new start, a new beginning. Now that the new NDA government lead by the 15th PM of India Narendra Damodardas Modi is ready to take charge
today morning at 9am, one most important phase of democracy has started that will and should involve people's active participation:
Things I will be tracking of the new government:
1. How punctual will it be: Are the ministers going to deliver the promises on time?
2. Timely updates about the new policies of the new government: There have been so many times in the past when we were left groping in the dark as to what is happening with the bills
in parliament, what are they doing there and why are they shouting at each other.
3. How clean the ministers remain: One big issues have been the thousands of crores of public money lost in the face of huge scams all throughout the last 10 years. This needs to
change.
4. Impact of government schemes on the economy(+ve or -ve): Though we expect a positive effect on the overall economy, there will be a bitter side to face as a side effect. The ailing
economy does need a bitter pill to recover and I guess we need to brace up for initial hard times to reap the benefits later.
5. How much will they improve the infrastructure: The various infrastructure projects that are being implemented do have so many bottle necks that need to be cleared on a war footing.
One example is the Bangalore Metro which was never able to beat a snail!

Why all the above concern? Because I have invested the next 5 years of my trust in this new govt! So I do feel anxious how my investment is going to perform!

Anyway, wishing the Modi Team all the best in their quest to full fill the promises!

With love.. Anil

Uurvashi vs PVR, courtesy Godzilla!

This weekend was a smokey, enormous one with a visit to the latest Godzilla in the town which is wreaking havoc in theaters across the world! For a change, this time its not in my default choice for imax-like experience of Bangalore: Uurvashi, but in the top multiplex in India: PVR. For a change, there is not much difference in ticket price due to the morning show, but the experience was completely different and as similar as chalk and cheese.

Now coming to Godzilla, I can imagine how it would have felt in 3D, on the large screen  of Uurvashi and the sound effects that it has, but at the same time, PVR excels in other departments that make movie watching comfortable, like better seats, better ambience and better rest rooms.

Uurvashi has a much better Meyer sound that is used in music concerts the world over and a much better and bigger screen, but has the feeling of a low quality ambience. Of course watching with a larger audience(1161 seats vs PVR's 

) will be thrilling to some, so that they can hear their comments and enjoy too!

So as expected, PVR is for those who doesnt want a earth-shattering sound system but want a comfort. Just hope PVR can upgrade its sound and screen to the levels of Uurvashi! 

Finally, as always, change is the only thing constant in this world of entertainment and we can surely hope that Uurvashi and PVR will improve things that they lack in their respective theatres right now!

-With love,

Anil

देश केलिए जीओ!..దేశం కోసం బతుకు!.. Live for the nation!

What a slogan it is! There are people who incite innocent people into dying for a region, which is stupidity. But here is a new thought that needs to be strengthened. Why don't we think in terms of how precious is this life and what we can do in our lifetime? A simple habit of giving a whole hearted "thank you" to a customer care or a car driver or anyone who is serving you, can make a difference. I always believe progress starts with compassion and destruction starts with anger and indifference. A small contribution from every citizen would make a great society and a better world. A speech by a proven leader makes a huge difference to a society. It's similar to how pumped up a whole cricket team gets when one of their top players inspire them to do better! A team will achieve greater heights when the leader leads from the front and this is true even in administration of a large and diverse nation like India. Yesterday's  parliamentary meeting of the NDA was like a team lead by a man of conviction, determination and who believes in taking pride of being a citizen of an independent India and I hope this energy continues while going forward.

Lessons to be learnt for the Congress and its allies

Finally the election euphoria is over and the results are out. the biggest question now is why and how did a large party like congress lost along-with its allies. There are so many reasons for this and my analysis is given below:

Never underestimate the power of a well-informed, common man:
If you think that you can cover up the weakness in leadership and governance by playing dramas in front of national media by claiming to tear off ordinances or use their father's or granny's death for sympathy, wake up as the public knows the real story and the plot, thanks to the vigorous debates on so many news channels. It even applies to those allies who joined hands with the congress.

Never take power for granted and misuse it:
During the AP Reorganization, the way the central leadership brushed aside the people's movement is too much for the people to digest. Congress tried to play politics with the emotions of the people and it paid the price. They wanted 10 more seats by splitting the state? They got the answer where they were wiped off completely on the coastal part of AP and dropped to a pathetic #3(not even in the position to be an opposition) in the hyderabad area.

Discard bad apples or else the whole basket decays:
When people are corrupt or when someone was convicted clearly by credible investigation agencies, the leadership should acknowledge the fact and take a strong action against them. Instead what the UPA has done is try to shield its tainted ministers with some ridiculous arguments. People saw the facts and taught them the lesson that they need to learn atleast now.
The APCC too committed a suicide by giving in to anti-social elements, encouraging corrupt leaders and passing the AP reorganization bill against the people and got wiped off in the state.
This holds true even for BJP Karnataka as it could have been in power if it had took a strong stand against tainted leaders, dismissed them and gave a stable govt at the state. They tasted the result in 2013.

Take note of the early warnings:
In the 5-state assembly polls in december 2013, BJP swept almost all the states and congress was routed in some key areas. And what was the response from the congress? We will analyze the results. What will be effect on the national polls next year? They claimed the national polls are independent of assembly polls and went ahead in the same denial mode.

Do not play the exhausted pseudo-secularism cum minority card:
The nation didnt vote for people who continuously split the people by claiming to be the saviors of minorities and nothing else. Ever since the campaign started, the congress kept running behind minorities and their president even went to the extent to say to few minority leaders: "...do not split the secular vote...". Does that mean the majority population are not secular?

And yes on a closing note, in one of the shows on the CNN-IBN, how can we ignore the Majlis's claim that by not having a muslim candidate from BJP, it is against secularism, here is my response:
If they still live in the illusion of this so called pseudo-secularism, then they are going the congress way. In fact I would call it reverse secularism where the majority feel threatened by the minorities. If having muslims as their party candidates means secularism, then its medieval thinking. I for example never saw the caste/religion of any candidate while voting. If the Majlis feels that muslims are not represented only because BJP didnt select any muslim candidate this time, the simple answer is: The door is open to everyone. Those who genuinely want to work towards development can come on their own but there should be no reservations in the field of religion atleast. In any case there are parties who are exclusive to muslims and let them play the minority appeasement game instead of a nationalist party. The problem is they feel religion is more important to them than the country and that is where the main problem is. In fact, religion should be a personal choice and cannot be a scale on which secularism can be measured. On a personal level, I would say "worship your religion and respect the others but not the vice-versa".

With love.. Anil

#SuperNDA and the #patheticUPA?

So we have the latest term "superNDA"(#superNDA) after the UPA1&2(#patheticUPA) gave us the "superPM"! Anyway, #superNDA vs the #patheticUPA, especially on the TV is an amazing duel. I feel this aggressive and non-complacent approach of the BJP is surprising even for its supporters. Of course the counting is still nearly 24 hours away, but the way the media is creating hype about this whole 2014 elections is good for the public's senses and healthy for the TRPs! I personally feel nice to believe that BJP is trying to make the new NDA stronger than ever so that crucial decisions relating to governance could be taken without hiccups and delay-free. As Narendra Modi has time and again: Minimum Government, Maximum Governance, and what I believe is that the ugly flab and wasteful expenditure of the govt should be trimmed and made lean and make it work more for the people. The latest trends where the experienced leaders of BJP went into a huddle seem to suggest that it is planning something big, really BIG.
Watching a timesnow debate, I heard a comment from one of the panel members: "...Congress house is full of scams and snakes!.." That was a good humour for which even the Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak gave a full-mouthed gaffe with the mouth so wide open that an anaconda can easily slip through! And for the next few minutes, she didnt speak. Yes. Instead she underwent a verbal diarrhea of the most severe levels until Arnab came to her rescue!

With love.. Anil

My reactions to news..part 1

Over the past weekend or so, there have been some news and statements which actually has a lot of things not said. Look below:

News: Rajnath Singh offering an olive branch to the fiery, cat-on-a hot-tin-roof TMC's Mamata, and Mamata says: "...We will never, ever have an alliance with the BJP.."
My Reaction: OMG! Mamatha ate away the BJP's olive branch! You don't get a chance to ally with Modi often and it would be an opportunity of a lifetime! Anyway since she says she cannot ally in her lifetime it means she is going to take a new incarnation(avatar) and join with the BJP! Remember Mamata n Modi both start with M! After all friendship involves lots of friendly fights! There is certainly a bigger story unfolding behind the bars which will unfold after May16!

News: DD claims that the Narendra Modi interview was edited due to "technical" reasons:
My Reaction: When loksabha tv got blacked out during the Telangana bill(remember that ill-fated, conspiracy-filled day of 18Feb2014?), it was a technical issue, and now when Modi's interview got edited it was again a technical issue?

News: Priyanka Gandhi says "My father is Rajiv Gandhi. He laid down his life for the country. He cannot be compared to any other person"
My Reaction: Of course Priyanka is and should be Rajiv's daughter to make all those speeches. Who denied that and who can stop that? If not for her father, will anyone even care about her? What are her individual credentials? Born in the gandhi family. And the way congress behaves, they always take advantage of their ancestors' death. Rajiv's death benefitted the congress the most and it will always reap rich rewards of the same by labeling him as a "martyr"! Same is the case with YSRCP who keep calling YSR the martyr or a kind of God after an ill-fated helicopter crash. Wonder who else will sacrifice their life for the nation next!


With love.. Anil

Amazing Emma Stone-Jimmy Fallon lip sync battle!

Just amazing to see the talent of the leading lady of Amazing Spiderman 2 as well as the perfect pronunciation of words! Loved the video below. #amazingspiderman #spiderfans #spiderman #emmastone

With love.. Anil

Akshaya tritiiya: misconceptions and marketing

I know this article will ruffle some feathers, but its my view that everyone is given a right to express.
Ever since the medieval ages, there has never been a special festival called "Akshaya Tritiiya". On the FM Radio today, I heard something like: Whatever you buy today will increase/appreciate over time, so people buy gold! What a logic!
By their own above logic, anything bought today should increase: buy a phone worth 25k and its value will grow to 30K in a year, buy a cow today and it will become 2 cows next year, so on and so forth! But why do they insist upon buying only gold? Is it the most auspicious metal in the world or in the whole universe?
Whoever try to bring the religion into this festival is doing a big mistake. There was never a festival called "Akshaya Tritiiya".
A huge marketing cloud is being created every year to push gold down the people' throat. It never was a festival about gold at all, but rather an auspicious day to start any new work.
And who will be the ultimate winners? It is the jewelers who create an environment where anyone with gold is going to become legends and prosper forever. In fact the hype over this festival is nothing different from hype over a new iPhone or a new movie.
Yes, marketing tactics are not bad and in fact good for the economy, but creating a false link with religion is an absolute mockery of ethics. And people who fall into their trap will ultimately realize that its not what they imagined to be. Its not about gold but about starting any new work, whether it is a new business or a new job that would have been beneficial to the family and society at large. Pity them.

With love.. Anil

The Thrilling Spiderman!- My review of Amazing Spiderman-2

In many ways, The Amazing Spiderman-2 could have been named "The Thrilling Spiderman"!
After yesterday's evening show at Uurvashi with the cosmopolitan audience of Bangalore, it was evident that the movie certainly meets the expectations of the public and gives complete value for the money spent. Despite not being as luxurious as a multiplex, the quality of the sound system and the larger screen certainly makes it one of the most loved theaters of Bangalore and on the international workers' day it was nothing different. The full house applauded each and every stunt that spiderman did and there were many whistles and "woowww"s and "ohhhhh"s during the movie that was as good as a roller coaster ride, taking the audience into the world of spiderman! The director's way of making us experience the heights that spiderman takes were nothing short of awesome, with his now trademark style of super-slow shot that shows spidey almost stop mid air during high-octane chases!
With the first shot of the "sony" logo on the big screen, young crowd reacted in their own way by screaming other mobile brands like "samsung", "apple", "moto g", "moto x", "nokia" that were popular in India too!
I personally felt that the movie looked much more colorful compared to the first part.
Coming to the story and the treatment, it lacked a certain emotional connect, but still manages to hold up and justifies the reason why people come to see spiderman films: the action scenes and witty spidey dialogues.

Though some people may say this movie resembles spiderman-3 in the sense that too many villains were packed against the wall crawler, it doesnt too heavy, because the story cleverly uses them to introduce spiderman, open up his vulnerabilities of being a superhero, the epic climactic battle with the electro and goblin and finally laying the foundation for the next installment 2 years from now(planned on 10 June 2016).

My personal feeling is that Spiderman's fights can actually move to other cities or new landscapes to keep the movie series interesting. Maybe a sequence in front of the Egyptian pyramids or a Taj Mahal or atop Eiffel Tower or India Gate? That would give a break for the audience from the New York's skyscrapers! Not that they seemed boring, but fresh content in fresh locales will certainly be welcome, like how the Transformers series went to the deserts of Egypt from cities of America!

Overall, the movie is a complete entertainer with amazing action sequences, funny one-liners, thrills,etc which all make up for a good cocktail of a near-perfect movie for spider fans like me (and even for those who arent), even though the original movie series starring Tobey Maguire was my personal favorite! The original series has a boyish charm of the 2000s but after watching this movie, I feel the movie franchise can go to greater heights from now on with a transformation of Peter's character with the personal tragedy that he encounters(there are enough spoilers on the web to check for yourself!). The platform has been well laid for the next part and has interesting to see how Peter's personal life goes from here(an expected return of Mary Jane) and how many villains he has to fight in the future! Go spidey go!

With love.. Anil

The Newshour on Times Now(29Apr2014)

Looking at the way yesterday's Newshour progressed on Times Now, I can easily say that the topics were well selected and the party in power remains exposed to the hilt.
Some of the debates that I personally felt on this program was the one about Priyanka gandhi getting more mileage than her brother Rahul, who is on the backfoot these days. Infact it seems to be a silent time for Kejriwal as we didnt hear much from him about either Rahul or Modi!
So why did Priyanka come to the stage and why was Rahul taken away from the scene completely?In simple words, I would say: Congress is out of petrol and thus using kerosene. It has run out of genuine heroes and falling back on item numbers not to shore up some seats but to save their modesty. Priyanka(whether Gandhi or Vadra, its her choice) is a clever, homely lady who can churn out huge crowds through her glamour once every 5 years! Rahul might have lost some of his looks but Priyanka looks fresh to pull the crowds. After all, if someone comes out so rarely, their glamour will obviously be intact! Anyway in Rae Bareli and Amethi, any living thing with Gandhi in its name will win!

With love.. Anil

Spiderman in Indian Elections 2014!

Just wondering where would Spiderman stand in this largest human drama called "The Great Indian Elections 2014"..And it goes like this:
Our friendly neighborhood spiderman decides to contest this elections and nominates himself under a new red-blue color party called "Spiderman Party", with the abbreviation SMP.
What would be the reactions of some parties?

Congress: "His web is going to be a threat to the indian society and disturb India's secularism!"
CPM/CPI: "His roots lie in the capitalist USA and thus a bigger danger to India than Modi!"
BJP: "SMP is helping the minority appeasement by signing a secret deal with congress!"
AAP: "SMP is funded by Ambanis and Tatas in a joint venture and Spiderman will be used to market their products. This will increase the prices!"
TRS: "Endi raa bhai veedu. Godalekke vaadiki mana kashtaalem telusthaayi? jai telangana"

So our spiderman keeps campaigning under the spider symbol with the Red and Blue color flag and gets a huge applause and huge crowd for all his meetings.
And lets say he wins the elections. What will be his priorities then?
* Make spider the national animal of India!
* Spider Universities to improve their breed and a spider serum will be created that will improve people's health!
* A spider force that will impart spider sense to the investigators of crime and corruption.
* Encourage more skyscrapers so that people can swing through them using their webs!

As the spiderman mania peaks, lets hope we dont hear our netas pumping out spiderman slogans like "with greater power comes greater responsibility".
#amazingspiderman #spiderman

With love.. Anil

Laddu babu: An under rated movie

Watched Laddu Babu yesterday and it was an amazing movie which was well handled by the director Ravi Babu. The film brings to the fore a new Allari Naresh who seems to have got into the role with ease.
It may not be the comedy that we expect from Naresh, but it certainly has a different feel to it.
I disagree with some reviews which said the story is too predictable. Sure the story is not completely new, but the way the story was told is good. It has a good message to the society.
Music is a letdown, but I dont think it matters anyway since songs doesn't suit this type of genre.
Missamma(2003) was a movie in similar genre and Laddu Babu in comparison is better in terms of comedy.

The way Naresh transforms into the insanely obese character is worth appreciation and applause.
I dont think this is an experimental movie, but certainly a fresh movie.
It may not be the movie which can draw crowds to the theater, but maybe an official DVD release would do well.

With love.. Anil

Banyan Tree vs Coconut Tree

Last evening, I was reading an article on banyan tree from a blog at http://drgauravpradhan.blogspot.in/. I liked the way the author described the world. I would like to take it further:
I realized that people have different ways of growth. Some like to grow as banyan trees: Spread their roots all over and shelter many others in their shadow. They may not have much height but the roots are strong that not even a massive tornado can destroy them.
Others like to grow like coconut trees: They may not hate or destroy others but would like to grow up to larger heights alone without giving shelter to others by the way of love, support and respect. They may grow tall or taller, but fail to live up in times of adversity. And when I mean "alone", it doesnt mean alienating themselves from the society, but it means keeping their interests at the top and always suspecting others. They even hate being under the shelter of the banyan tree, since they feel they are being dominated and choose to grow away from it. But the fact is that the banyan tree is not a hinder to their growth at all and in fact it helps them in being rooted and remain strong during the times of adversity.
This is not to say that coconut tree is inferior to banyan tree. In fact coconut tree has more uses than banyan tree, especially its commercial value is higher, signifying a higher status in the society by reaching greater heights, even though people use banyan tree's shadow to relax.
Ultimately, it is a matter of personal choice as to how one wants to live their life.

With love.. Anil

EVMs: How rugged are they?

A thought came across my mind:
So more than half the nation has voted for the 2014 Parliamentary Elections by the time I have written this article.
Are the EVMs(Electronic Voting Machines) being used water proof, Dust proof, shatter proof, bullet proof and theft proof? Is there any testing done by banging it with a large hammer? This type of ruggedness is important in a nation like India where conditions can go to extremes like ink/water being thrown, EVMs being stolen, etc.
Lets take a situation where a person, angry with the elections goes in and tries to damage the EVM with H2SO4(sulphuric acid), failing which he/she bangs it hard with a hidden hammer, or steal the EVM as a final option. Who knows, there might even be a gang around the polling booth just waiting to destroy it by shooting it with a gun by expert snipers. This might not have happened yet, but may happen anytime and the EC needs to be prepared for the worst.

1. Does the EVM withstand acid attack of the highest intensity? If so for how long can it withstand immersion in water or acid?
2. How are the results stored? Are they stored locally inside their circuitry? If so is the storage medium a sensitive hard disk or the latest SSD(Solid State Drive)?
3. Is there any backup storage like saving in an encrypted form in the cloud?
4. How will the police track a stolen EVM? Does it have GPS that cannot be turned off and with an embedded battery that is always on and how long can the batteries survive before draining out?
5. How secure are the databases and the memory that store all the votes? Any AES-256 bit encryption?
6. What is the body made up of? Cheap plastic or unbreakable carbon fibre that can withstand even a bullet attack?


I just wonder how they are all built and how well are they tested and if tested, by whom.

As an after-thought, India is still awaiting internet voting and it remains a dream(Gujrat has implemented it in 2011 for the Municipal elections in Gandhinagar, but nothing was heard since then).

With love.. Anil

Amazing Photospheres!

Photospheres are a tricky form of photos. Even though I took only 1 photosphere, I still feel a lot can be done to enhance the app and improve the stitching logic used by Google. It is a good one nonetheless and once we get a good hold of the shooting procedure and follow them meticulously, we can be rest assured of a good photosphere.
Some of my favorite photospheres are shown below:

Views: Ceremonial South Pole by Google Maps

Views: Lake Lure, NC by Tamjit Kumar

With love.. Anil

Main tera hero..A good rehash of Kandireega!

A couple of days back, I was watching the Hindi movie "Main Tera Hero" and was surprised to see that it was a remake of Telugu hit film "Kandireega". the storyline of the film and the setting is obviously different, having a David Dhawan look to the film, but overall, the story closely resembles that of Kandireega. The comedy that goes alongwith the story is good to watch and makes you want more.
The interval twist was a good one and keeps the audience guessing. Production values are good as expected and the director has used the actors well.
Coming to the actors, when we see the hero's characterization, we get reminded of Govinda for whom these kinds of roles would have been a cake walk. Dhawan's obsession with Varun's body makes us feel if we are seeing the rise of another young Salman Khan, with so many shirtless scenes! Illeana feels short of energy as she looks to have lost too much of weight and it is visible even in her expressions. Nargis Fakri looks like a wooden piece with not much scope for performance, similar to the role in the Telugu original.

Overall, when we compare these two films, we feel this is a lot more better and well adapted to the north-Indian audience. The film has been narrated very well with no boring scenes at any point of time and kept the story crisp and entertaining with witty dialogues. Music is so-so and nothing much to write about.

With love.. Anil

Media's new habits.

There is this strange habit in the media that when Kejriwal criticizes Modi more than Rahul, they start talking of a secret deal between AAP and Congress. AAP is like an honest child. Its nice, good choice but not the right choice to vote(atleast not in the present circumstances) for if we want a strong, stable govt at the centre. After what happened at Delhi, AAP needs to mature. Once it matures in the right direction and grows in strength, no one can stop it since it's basics are solid: it's candidates are corrupt-free, and I admire it for that. It is more like a beta version of the latest android OS. Needs more testing and stability trials before making an impact at the national level.
As far as BJP is concerned, this has to be their best chance at the centre. Any mistake or loss in 2014 would be a big blow to not only Modi but the whole party. 2009 was the last chance for Advani and 2014 will probably be the same for Modi. It is not because of his age but due to the analysis that will most probably happen in case of a failure.
I just hope there is a change at the center and Modi seems to be the best option right now. As usual there will be the so called secularists who know nothing about civic sense. Appeasing minorities is not secularism and in fact any undue appeasement just negates the meaning of secularism, which in any way cannot be considered real. As long as all religions co exist peacefully, secularism really doesnt matter and the media needs to explain to the public the real meaning of secularism.


With love.. Anil

The fake concept of "Mr. Perfect"

Yesterday I was watching the movie "Mr. Perfect" in the evening and a few thoughts came to my mind:
The logic shown in Mr. Perfect is nonsense. Pure nonsense. No one can change for someone in this world and feel the same after years of relationship. A compromise can never be a basis of any strong relationship.
The movie is good for the glamour of Prabhas, Kajal and Taapsee but people who take examples of sequences from that movie should stop the stupidity of taking useless
examples from fictitious stuff. Emotional blackmail and emotional games just dont make the world. True, some compromises are necessary, but both need to
compromise without any internal disappointment or an empty feel. Else what we get is fake smiles, show-off parties and master-slave combos. If the relationship was born out of compromise, it will either disintegrate in a short time span or it will perpetually remain in the master-slave model, where one of them will continuously fire the shots and the other just obeys, and get used to it over a period of time. That is dangerous for the family and society at large.

With love.. Anil