Story of America: Westward; Revolution

Continuing the journey of discovering how the America came in its current state from the wilderness of 400 years ago, I saw the next two episodes of the documentary America the Story of Us. The second episode showed the ongoing war between the independent colonies of US and the British empire at its full extent.  It depicted how George Washington lead his army to win the impossible battle. On one side were the amateur militia of America while the other side had the professional army of the strongest empire of the world at the time, equipped with the modern weapons. But there was one difference, unlike the British troops, Americans were fighting for the independence.

The Declaration of Independence crafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by congress on July 4, 1776 was filled with rhetoric like "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". This motivated the people and was one of the most important events in the revolution. The new kind of warfare tactics developed by Washington and his sub-generals also struck the British by awe.

The next episode 'Westward' describes the journey of people from East end of America to the West and thus exploration of the whole mainland of America. This phase describes the early problems faced by the people in their exploration, but the continuation of this race due to the indomitable will of humans. It describes how the civilization discovers the uninhabited lands and the tracks used by the explorers then have now become national highways. The California Gold Rush in 1848 drew ambitious people who had dreams to become rich and the will to follow their hearts from all over the world.

The episode also mentions the expansion of US by narrating Louisiana purchase in 1803, in which US bought the territory of Louisiana from the French and which more than doubled the area of the young nation of America. The Texas revolution further increased the territory of America by adding Texas.  The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the United States the Rio Grande boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of California, and a large area comprising New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. 

The documentary is not that much detailed but provides an overview of the main events in the American story of civilization. The documentary is filled with well known American people giving their views on the events of history. But sometimes it feels like a rhetoric to make the American people proud about themselves. The overall viewpoint about America is too much positive till now, no negative side of America is being discussed and  the documentary feels totally biased.

Story of America: Rebels

Today, I saw the first episode of the famous documentary America:The Story of US. It is a 12 part documentary showing how America became the most powerful nation from one of the most remote places in world. The first episode titled rebels tells how America was first settled by open and courageous people from Europe who came there to start a new life. The success of these people motivated others of their kind to come and join.

The documentary shows how Tobacco crops made the migrated people rich and made America the land of opportunity for the people who had dreams and the courage to follow them. But the increasing wealth of America also attracted Britain who quickly created 13 colonies there and imposed taxes.A third of all British shipping is made in America. But the natives were not happy with this new and biased law and governance of Britain and decided to revolt. In Philadelphia  First Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774 which included 56 delegates from 12 colonies. The delegates included John Adams, George Washington, Patrick Henry and many more.

The revolt started in Boston after a small fight between the guards and mob, but the news spreads quickly due to the revolution in postal delivery system by postmaster Benjamin Franklin. The newspapers spread the news of revolt quickly around the 3 colonies.After the tea taxes by British, people threw the tonnes of cargo in sea. British respond by closing down the Boston harbor; hundreds lost their jobs. The American rebels started forming the local militia by training them and then attacked the British army which came on the news of rebellion to suppress it and to take the arms and ammunition of rebels. When the smoke cleared, a third of the army was down or wounded.

Too Much of Focus??

It is an old saying that ‘Focus is the key to Success’. But my recent observations of my life have led me to ponder over the viability of this scenario every time. Focus means concentrating all your resources on a single point. Focus can provide one the energy required to complete the work quickly. The example of using a lens’s focus to burn a paper through sunlight has become a cliche  but it is true even now. But, real life is not just a single task, it is a tangled web of intermingled responsibilities, opportunities, dreams , aspirations and some bitter facts. I feel focusing too much on something leaves you unguarded on the other fronts. The real question is ‘Is it worth it?’. Now I am getting confused here due to a dilemma.

One side of my brain says that focus is very important to achieve your goals. This group believes that concentrating all of resources on your primary goal is very important and will lead one on the path of success. But meanwhile the other half is pulling me back, stating that even after achieving the goal, there would be no success because when you would be focusing on the goal, you would have lost the battles on other front. Focusing too  much can make you isolated from your social circle.

The first half replies back that everything can be achieved back. Life is a kind of mesh topology, with multiple nodes(current situation) interlinked to each other through multiple paths(choices we make). The end result is that the complexity of this mesh gives us the ability to have multiple options every time. As Aragon says in LOTR, “There is always hope”. Even if we don’t succeed in one thing, another opportunity springs up. But it won’t be the same as before. But isn’t this argument ambiguous. Why to focus on the opportunity if we always have the chance for next.

I don’t know the end to this argument. But I can only decide that it is always better to be in balance(Is it?? Maybe next time). So, we can conclude that it is good to be focused on a topic. Yet, it is better to un-focus for some time and enjoy. This will increase our concentration and motivation for the task. The Success lies in finding the way back to focus.

Recent PC Games

Today, I completed the famous and popular game by PopCap Games: Plant Vs Zombies. The game is a tower defense game where the main aim is to defend our house from various types of zombies by planting different kinds of plants. There are three main areas: Front yard, Backyard and Roof. Each round introduces a new plant and zombie. There are three playing conditions: Day, night, fog and rain. The user can plant new plants after gaining a specified limit of sunlight; which can be usually taken by Sunflower plant.

Another game, which I am playing right now is Halo: 'Combat Evolved'. I am playing this game again. The game is First person shooting game originating in future battle of Humans and Covenant(An Alien race). The series is very successful and have sold copies worth 3.4 billion. The story of the game is very captivating and keeps the user engaged. There are variety of weapons and vehicles the gamer can use. The game's success can be interpreted from the fact that there are novels written on the plot. One of the most sensational breakthrough in the game is the entry of Flood. Play the game to know it. After completing Halo, I am planning to play some another genre of game like a Fantasy game. Maybe I will try Dragon Origins.

P.S: Finally I completed the Halo last night and I am really feeling satisfied now. The ending sequence becomes enthralling, when the Pelican crashes and Cortana figures out a new way; all of this happening when time is running out. But, it was easy due to Warthog.

Movies@2013

1. Silence of Lambs ****
2. Polar Express ***
3. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola **
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ****
5. Race 2 **
6. The Prestige ****
7. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ***
8. The Switch ***
9. Quantum of Solace ***
10. Good Luck Chuck **
11. Silver Linings Playbook ***
12. Mere Dad Ki Maruti *
13. Law Abiding Citizen ***
14. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ***
15. Insomnia **
16. Chashme Baddoor **
17. Se7en ***
18. Super Size Me ***
19. Iron Man 3 ***
20. A Good Year **
21. The Road ****
22.Go Goa Gone ***
23. Panic Room ***
24. 50/50 ***
25. Jack The Giant Slayer **
26. Battleship **
27. Argo *****
28. Django Unchained ****
29. Antitrust **
30. Schindler's List ****
31. Frozen ***
32. Looper ***
33. Brave ***
34. Book of Eli ***
35. Body of Lies ****
36. The Terminal ****
37. Bhag Milkha Bhag ***
38. The Wolverine ***
39. Underworld : Awakening **
40. In Time **
41. Conjuring ****
42. Life of Pi ***
43. Objectified **
44. Shakespeare in Love ***
45. Dil Dosti Etc **
46. Madras Cafe ***
47. The Boy In Striped Pajamas ***
48. Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji **
49. Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows ***
50. Oblivion ***
51. Shuddh Desi Romance **
52. Inside Job ****
53.Margin Call **
54. Monsters Inc ****
55. Taken 2 ***
56. Chennai Express ***
57. The Kiterunner **
58. Grand Masti *
59. Dev D ***
60. Sunshine **
61. Inside the Living Body ****
62. Deep Impact *
63. Fahrenheit 9/11 ****
64. Seven Samurai ****
65. City of God ***
66. Surviving Progress ***
67. In the Shadow of Moon ****
68. Into the Wild ****
69. Earth ***

New Year

The New Year of 2013 has finally arrived, leaving all the speculations of end of world behind. As usual for me the new year eve was blank and cold. I was in Bangalore this time, unlike last year when I was in Yercaud. We went to a restaurant 'Chalo Punjab', which was disappointing as the food was not up to our standards; At 11:40 we left for Bellandur as we thought we will celebrate outside Central Mall. We reached at 12:02, so basically we celebrated in the Auto. After that we all hugged and wished each other and people started to disperse to talk to their dear ones. I was feeling very alone that day; no one called me and there was none whom I could have called. My family was sleeping tight and there were no special friends to call.

Somehow, the time passed and we headed back to home. The roads were full of people, like they were echoing the proof that India is full of people. I don't know what this year will bring for me. It is 2013 and I am 23 years old. I can't imagine how my 22 years are lost. Sometimes, I feel I haven't achieved anything. Don't know what to do. This year I am planning to move to Canada to start a new life and a new career. I am trying to get admission into M.Sc Computer Science.

Sometimes I feel was I wrong to live  the way I have lived; always focused on future and career. Now, I repent sometimes that I should have lived in present as I feel I have lost my past to useless things. This was the main reason to start this blog. But old habits are very difficult to change. I am still too much introvert and not able to talk to people much especially girls. But everyone's life is different, we cannot copy anyone's life. Hope this year would bring some happiness and achievements.

Big Bang Theory

Big Bang Theory is my one of the most favorite TV shows ever. So, it was obvious, that it needed an entry here. I started watching it in my college times, when Amit gave the first two seasons to me. I was astounded by the show and completed the both seasons in the weekend; even as I was having my exam on the Monday.

The show basically encompasses the lives of four nerd scientists living in Pasadena, who encounter a socially well connected girl, Penny when she moves into their apartment. The main characters are Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstader, Penny, Howard Wolowitz and Rajesh Kuthrapalli. Sheldon is very intelligent scientist, but is socially awkward, Leonard is the linchpin of the group and loves Penny, Howard is a womanizer and is the only guy in group, not having a PhD, Raj is an Indian immigrant who is working as an astrophysicist who has problem talking in presence of women. In contrast to guys, who like playing MMORPG, comics and are fans of Starwars, Penny has a very social life. But, she finds herself comfortable in their presence and she also loves Leonard. Later, in the series Howard makes Bernadette, a friend  of penny as his girlfriend and they marry also later in series.While Sheldon also meets Amy Farafowler through a dating site.

The show is a total comedy and once we start, it is very difficult to stop. The way in which the lives of these people are displayed is very fun loving and enjoying. They eat various types of cuisines from Thai to Italian and play various games from Paint Ball to Kinect. It is also kind of inspiring to watch this series as it teaches us to live a fun life. It also portrays that geeks and nerds also have a fun loving life of their own, we just have a belief that they are boring.

Supernatural : Good. Evil. And everyone in between.

I had watched the advertisements of the famous TV Show Supernatural earlier, but never got the chance to see it. It started when we took a PG in Bangalore and my friend Soumen recommended me to watch this show. The earlier seasons used to air on Star World and I watched few of them. I liked the show and decided to watch it from first season. So, I took all the episodes from a friend and started to watch from first season. But, as I watched the show more, I came to an opinion that it becomes boring in the middle of the season. The underlying story doesn't catches up in every episode and for few episodes they just hunt another supernatural entity. It is like watching a same kind of wrestling match everyday with results known to you.

But I liked the connection of stories to our real world myths or legends. Each episode can be tracked to some legend and later reading about it makes it more interesting. Erick Kripke has taken the legends from every part of world. But after watching the first three seasons, I am now bored of the series and have decided to watch no more. The characters of Sam and Dean are really well crafted. I especially liked the macho, daring character of Dean. But, after watching 58 episodes, a sort of redundancy starts to arise.

I also like the role of Yellow Eyed Demon - Azazel, who went on to be a fuzz rather than the mysterious powerful demon I thought he would be. Actually, I am disappointed by the series; I believe it could have been better.

The Tale of Two Books

As usual I had planned a lot for this vacation; I will do this and that, but again as usual, I was unable to see the unforeseen circumstances I am facing now and thus all my planned activities are in backdrop.  I haven’t done any reading except Kite runner which I started when I boarded the train from Bangalore; I am not able to catch up on the subscription magazines of Forbes India which I brought here, thinking that  I will finish these here; but all in vain.

The first book which I mainly read on train was "The Kiterunner" by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story of how Amir matures from a young boy to a man and the changes in his life in the middle of Afghanistan. Amir who is son of one of the richest person in whole of Afghanistan has a childhood friend and servant named Hassan. Hassan likes Amir and serves him as a master, and stands up for him in front of local guys. But when the day comes for Amir to return the favour, he is not able to gather enough courage. This incident causes a great dent in the relationship of two boys. Even after knowing the betrayal by Amir, Hassan tries to reform his friendship, but Amir couldn't and finally Hassan leaves the home. After this incident, Afghanistan's atmosphere starts to change rapidly. The country gets stuck in between a fight of Soviets and local warlords which completely torns it apart.

Amir and his father leave for Pakistan and from there to US where they start a new life. Amir becomes a writer and marries another Afghan girl relocated there. But then the story takes a turn when his father dies due to cancer and he has to go to Pakistan to meet his father's best friend for one last time. There he knows that Hassan had come back to his home after they left to safeguard it and still remembers Amir. Hassan has married and has a son now. But Taliban kills Hassan and his wife and now their son Sohrab is living in an orphanage in Kabul. The same Sohrab who was named after Amir's favourite chrachter in the Persian epic Shahnama. This time Amir gathers the courage and goes back to Afghanistan to bring Sohrab back, but this time he finds the same Afghanistan he grew up, very different. The story is very well narrated and sometimes one can feel nostalgic. I found it to be a good read.

And finally after lots of time wastage i read three stories from a book I borrowed from my cousin in the last two days.The book is "I have a Dream" by Rashmi Bansal. This is the third installment by Rashmi Bansal in this series of books written by her on success stories of some of the famous entrepreneurs of India. I read the first book two years back - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, which compiled the stories of 20 people having MBA from IIM-A, which have created successful companies from scratch. The second book "Connect the dots" is about people who have been successful entrepreneurs without any MBA degree. I haven't got the chance to read it yet. This third book is on people who have centered their endeavors around the social cause rather than money. 

The book is same like the first one, inspiring;even better in some aspects. Till now I have read stories of three people - Anand Kumar (Super 30), Arvind Kejriwal(Parivartan) and Bindeshwar Pathak (Sulabh). One interesting feeling I got is that as I moved from the first story to the third, the level of inspiration and awe was increasing. Super 30, an innovative approach  by Anand, a cognizant of mathematics to teach poor but intelligent children and train them for IIT-JEE is a splendid and heart moving approach. Moreover, the results  show the effectiveness. This is a perfect example of the potential held by the poor section of society, how if they can be provided with correct resources, they can excel. The second case of Arvind Kejriwal, now famous in news everyday for taking on government head on is even better. It narrates the story how a bureaucrat challenges the government for accountability. It shows the live example how accountability and transparency can bring a revolution in the lives of people. Before reading this, I had heard about 'The Arvind Kejriwal', but now I came to know really about his struggle and constant endeavors to bring a  change in our society.

The third story I liked was the best, the story of Bindeshwar Pathak and his journey to change one of the most gravest problem of our society - casteism. It is a story of how a small town guy creates Sulabh International to change the lives of scavenging people and changed the toilet model all over India. How he not only relieved the low cast people of this menial job, but even gave them self esteem. In his words, ' you cannot put a price tag on such an intangible thing called feeling'. I am really impressed by his model. 

Miracle of Finland

Finland is a beautiful Scandinavian country famous all over the world for its natural lakes. The huge count of lakes has earned it the sobriquet of “Land of Thousand Lakes”. However, the country is in news nowadays for another reason – Education. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is one of the most challenging assessment exams all over the world. It assesses 15-year old children’s capabilities in reading, science and mathematics. From the last decade, Finland has shown top results consistently, while the biggies like US, France and UK have performed average. This has led to studies into the education model of Finland so that some lessons learnt there can be applied elsewhere.

Studies have revealed that the Finns have a very eccentric but effective model. In Finland all the education is state owned and there are no tuition fees for education. Children join the school at a much later stage than the children in other countries and are not assessed till 16 years of age. There is rarely any homework provided to children. But still they are able to sustain top rankings in the assessment.

The seeds of this model of education were laid after the World War II, when Finland emerged from the war economically shattered. The people of Finland quickly came to know that the only resource that they had was their people and they can only take them out of the recession. So, they invested heavily in education. The results were dramatic; the economy of Finland started to recover rapidly. The education revolution has also made the nation a knowledge based economy and it is now one of the most developed countries of the world.

I recently watched a documentary on this “The Finland Phenomenon”. The documentary describes the quest of a professor from Harvard to examine the school system of Finland and what lessons can US learn from this. He travels to various schools and colleges of Finland and is astonished by their way. The teachers are very interested in their job and focus on the children in a major way. They want their children to think how they can solve the problems of future rather than rote learning. I am really impressed by the Finn’s paradigm and hope the world learns something from it as the education model of world needs a revolution. 

A Visit to Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur, a small city nestled in the heart of Western Ghats is famous all over Karnataka for its serene environment and pleasant climate. I had planned to visit it from a long time, but never got the chance to be there. This time my wish came true, when Bindu’s marriage came up. She is my supervisor and a good friend. She invited us all on 21’st October for her marriage in Bangalore, but we couldn't be there, which made here angry. So, we decided to go to Chikmagalur and be there in her wedding reception. But due to project constraints we all couldn't go there. In the end, after a long planning and some tough decisions we four people – Me, Sankara, Swati and Sushma started on Thursday night (25^th October) from Bangalore. We hired a Tata Indica Vista for the trip.

We started around 12 am and reached Chikmagalur around 6:30 am. The morning was really peaceful and cool in Chikmagalur. We went outside and had a brief photo session. From Chikmagalur it took us further one hour to reach her native town Koppa. There we met Bindu; she had arranged our stay in a Forest Guest House. The guest house was situated in the middle of woods. It was a nice place with hot water for bath. We took a bath and explored the nearby area. After a lot of time, I was seeing the perfection of nature; the serenity of morning was embellishing the whole view. It was greenery anywhere eye could see. The trees were laden with the morning dew like they are welcoming us. From there we went to Bindu’s home and had a nice breakfast. She served us the food on banana leaves and we had to eat with hands. I don’t like eating with hands, it makes them messy. But I was little shy to say that, Sushma helped me in this.

After some chit chat with Bindu, we went for some sightseeing nearby. There was home of the famous national poet ‘Kuvempu’ nearby; we went there. It was a nice home placed in the foot of the dense woods. The home was entirely made up of wood and was kept in a good state by the organisation. The home was full of souvenirs of the poet ranging from the daily household items he used to various prizes he earned in his lifetime. I was clearly astounded to see the ‘Padma Vibhushan’. It was the first time I saw that, it was clearly radiating the value of the award. Every year some individuals are honored with this prestigious award by the Government of India to recognize their excellence in their fields. The medal was enclosed in a red box with Padma Vibhushan emboldened on a betel leaf. A one KM walk from there took us to a place on the hill where the poet wrote some of his best poems. It was a quiet place on the hill, but it was too hot that day. So, we quickly came back from there.

After returning to the guest house we got refreshed up and went to the main event – Bindu’s reception. It was arranged in a typical South Indian way; the bride was dressed in traditional attire and the stage was decorated beautifully with flowers. We congratulated them for their wedding and had a tasty lunch there and then we moved on for some more sightseeing. From there went to see some waterfall; the name of which I am unable to recollect. Our filled bellies took over our interest in the sceneries nearby quickly and we all were slumbering in few minutes. I woke up after half an hour; the sharp turns were making me uneasy and I was desperately waiting to reach the destination. Finally, after what seemed ages filled with uneasiness we reached the spot.

I think the name of the waterfall was ‘Srirangana Falls’, but I’m not sure. The waterfall was splendid. The drop was around 18-20 feet. The water was chilly and it was fun to be there. We enjoyed the chilled water of the waterfall and the natural beauty of the place for around half an hour. It was great to watch the water falling on the rocks and then split into countless crystal clear drops. It was a reminder of nature’s ingenuity in spite of its simplicity. It was amazing to see how the simple act of water falling from the rocks was a wonder to the eyes. The world is full of such feats of nature which can never be repeated by any human. Every great artist has found the inspiration from the nature. It is like a bottomless pool of creativity, filled up to brim. Regardless of how much we take from it, it will never dry.

After spending some valuable moments we went off for Chikmagalur. We reached Chikmagalur around 9 PM. There we found ourselves a hotel to spend the night. We had dinner in a nearby restaurant and then went to sleep. As we had traveled so much, we slept quickly and comfortably. Next morning, we woke up early and went to see Mullayanagiri peak, the highest peak in whole of Karnataka. The way to the peak was filled with the vista of Western Ghats, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I took many panoramic shots of the view through my camera. But even my 10-megapixel camera was unable to catch the details that my eyes were able to catch. The overlapping silhouettes of mountains in the distant view were really mesmerizing. Far away nestled in the middle of two mountains I saw a lake which left me spell-bound. I had just seen such views in movies and wallpapers, but seeing these in front of me was like a dream come true.

We reached a base point on the peak, from where we had to climb on foot. The winds were blowing too fast here. I stood on a rock for a pose, and the force of wind was so great that I was being pushed away by it. The cold gale left my whole body shivering. After trekking for about 1 km we finally reached the peak. It was a really great achievement for me as I was feeling like I whole of the Karnataka is below my feet. There was no snow on the peak, but the gale was blowing in such ferocity like it was compensating for it. We spent around half an hour on the peak. Then we climbed down and went to Kemmengudi. The way to Kemmengudi was full of sharp turns and narrow roads. By this time the sun had also risen up high in the sky. The hot weather was contributing to the uneasiness and I felt for some moments that I will have nausea. But fortunately, I overcame that by distracting my thoughts on other topics. We started to play ATLAS and it was fun. The main attraction of Kemmengudi was a famous waterfall ’Hebbe falls’. But after reaching there, we came to know that it has been banned due to an order by Supreme Court order to ban tourism in the wildlife areas. It was really disappointing to miss out the falls after coming such a distance for them. By this time we were hungry also, so we decided to have a quick brunch in a nearby canteen.

After having this brunch, we went to another nearby waterfall that came out to be a fuss. It was a little stream of water falling from 5 feet and a throng of people were bathing there. We decided it was better to go back only. So, we went back to the cab and told him to take us back to Bangalore. After that, we didn't stopped anywhere except some short breaks for rest and tea. Around 9 PM we reached the Bangalore. It was feeling great to be back in Bangalore. It was like this was the place where I will find the comfort I will feel. All I wanted now was to go and relax on my bed and I will be fresh again. I went and got a quickly got asleep. I got a good sleep, actually was enjoying the sleep after many days.

In the end, it was a good trip; we enjoyed the cool weather and the serene environment of Chikmagalur. We badly needed a break from this busy life of Bangalore. But the weekend has ended and I have to go to office tomorrow. I can’t imagine why time flies so fast when we trace it back in past.