Movies : Also watched ” Lage Raho Munna Bhai” yesterday ( yea, only yesterday) and was ROFLMAO!

Blogger Buddies : Here are some my new friends with existing blogs and old friends with new blogs.

Rush Ajax” by Brett McLaughlin is THE book for you. Its written in an very stylish manner and is full of easy to understand examples. Let me know if you wanna discuss this overa cuppa at Barista.

Example 1 : Non Ajax based | Ajax based

Notice, how a “Page Refresh” is avoided and how only relevant parts of the page are updated.

Books : Currently reading ” Blue Ocean Strategy” by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne. This book talks about ” How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant” and “Positive Health”

Cool Stuff: Here’s an awesome animation thats worth a dekho.

Screenless Phones : Talking Caller ID is one of the cool features of this screenless phone designed for the blind.

Yoga : Making slow but steady progess with Yoga. 18 rounds of Surya Namaskara everyday seems to be working against the temptuous Bangalore weather, keepin me active. Off late, I try and finish eating dinner before 7 PM and drink atleast 2 litres of water a day. Free Yoga ebooks

UX 2.0 : The latest Morae/Tech Smith white paper argues that with the evolution of Web 2.0, the fields of design and usability will continue to merge… Take a dekho at Tech Smith’s white paper in PDF format.

7th Century South India :
This Tamil novel written by Kalki was set in 7th Century South India when Buddhism, Jainism, Saivaism and Vaishnavism were quite prevalent. The Pallavas were ruling a major part of the South India. The Chalukyas were ruling upper South India and North India was then ruled by King Harsha Vardhana. The Cholas and Pandiyas werent that hot then.

It was also a time when art, architecture, dance, drama, bhathi movements, sculpture were promoted and were at their heights. The secret behind the longetiviy of Ajanta’s paintings is also mentioned in this novel The rock-cut temples of Mamallapuram & the awesome temples of Kanchipuram were built then. It was also the time when Heung Tsang, the Chinese scholar visited India.

Narrative Synopsis :
The first part of the story is all about how Pallava King Mahendravarman ( whose a connoisseur of arts) defended Kanchipuram when it was invaded by King Pulikaesi of Vatapi. The parallel plot is about the love affair between the beautiful dancer Sivagami and Prince Narasimhavarman. The second part of the story is how Sivagami finds herself in Vataphi, how she vowed to burn the city and how King Narasimhavarman invades Vataphi and fulfills his father’s wishes.

Think this novel is a prequel to பார்த்திபன் கனவு ( Pathiban’s dreams)

Read English Translation | தமிழ் Version in Unicode

Also finished reading Issac Asimov’s Foundation

The Indian Movie Industry has finally ARRIVED!

‘Rang de Basanti‘ is undoubtedly one of the best Indian films that I ‘ve eva experienced. Aamir Khan with his infinite wisdom, has used the media to effectively evoke intense patriotic feelings from the the Next Gen audience. Well timed comic-reliefs, balances the seriousness of the topic, in this 3 hour movie.

The cast was carefully picked to appeal to a variety of audience across India. The story is about an English documentary maker who ropes in a bunch of Delhi college students to re-create the account of freedom struggle as mentioned in her grand dad’s diary.

K, I ”ll shut my gob now, before I am tempted to narrate the whole story.

Jethro Tull
Uncle Anderson ( or is it Grand pa Anderson) had an awesome stage-presence. I couldnt relate much to Tull but it wasnt bad either. Think Ilayaraja got some influences from Tull. Could hear a lota influences from Tull, Mozart in “Nothing but Wind”

TAAQ
Only the Lead Singer of Thermal and A Quarter seemed to be enjoying their cacaphony. I ‘ve neva seen such a dull show in Bangalore.
Radia Gaga was the only decent number they played and their own numbers failed to rock the crowd.

Books
I spent coupla hours at Landmark and this picked up these books.

Went
to Blossoms on Church Street and picked up
Nemesis
by Issac Asimov

Also
reading ”
The Art of Innovation” by Tom Kelly.
Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm