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Wanderlust — No Comments
25
Apr 10

Pura Vida!

Here is an album of photos from my visit to Costa Rica in March, with wishes for a Pura Vida!

Pura vida literally means "pure life", but the meaning is closer to "full of life", "purified life", "this is living!", "going great", or "cool!" It can be used as a greeting, as a word of farewell, to express satisfaction, or to politely express indifference when describing something. The phrase has become widely known; this highly flexible statement has been used by many Costa Ricans (and expatriates) since 1956.[5] Some foreigners view the phrase as an expression of a leisurely lifestyle, of disregard for time, and of wanton friendliness. However, Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike. (Source: wikipedia)

Rajini Kan’t? Connors Can!

Watch these two videos below:

The play by Jimmy Connors should be proof that some of the Rajinikanth stunts are actually possible!

Dravidam / Wanderlust — No Comments
23
Jan 10

Heaven’s no comparison to home!

Headed for a couple of weeks to the place I used to call home ..

A photomontage of vignettes from my home state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India. Made from pictures taken from my many trips between 2001 and 2008 to the place I used to call home. Set to the film song sorgamay endrAlum by I.Ilaiyaraja from the Tamil movie Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu (read, left one place to be at another) that basically tries to say, “Heaven is but no comparison to home!”.

Lyrics (Tamil) of the song:

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

yerikarai kaathum yelelelo pattum inge edhum ketkavillaye
paadum kuyil satham aadum mayil nitham pakka oru solaillaye
vethalaya madichi maaman adha kadichi thuppa oru vazhi-illeye
odi vandhu gudichu mungi mungi kulichu aada oru odayillaye
ivvoru enna ooru nammoru romba melu
ada odum pala kaaru veen adambaram paaru
oru dhaagam theera yeedu moru

sorgamay endrAlum, adhu nammoora pola varuma
ada ennAdu endrAlum, adhu nam nAttukkEdaguma
pala desam muzhudhum pesum mozhigal, tamizh pol inithiduma ..

mAdu kannu meikha meyuradha pArka, mandaiveli ingu illaiye
Adu puli Attam pottu vilayada, arasa maram medai illaiye
kAla rendu pUti katta vandi Oti, gAnam pada vazhi illaiye
thOzhigalai azhaiccu solli solli rasiccu, Attam pOda mudiyalaiye
oru yandhiratha pOla, ada inge ulla vAzhkai
idhe enge pOyi solla, manam ishta pada villai
nam oora pOla, oorum illai

ohEYEsee — No Comments
24
Dec 09

What is Brahman?

From the Upanishads:

What cannot be seen with the eye, but that whereby the eye can see; Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore.

What cannot be heard with the ear, but that whereby the ear can hear; Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore.

What cannot be thought with the mind, but that whereby the mind can think; Know that alone to be Brahman, the Spirit, and not what people here adore.

dhanyasy.org — No Comments
8
Dec 09

dhanyasy.org – release 2.0

Visit the new and enhanced site http://dhanyasy.org/

It is now independent of inderstadt.net and will be limited to and focused on carnatic/music communications from Dhanya Subramanian.

ohEYEsee — No Comments
14
Nov 09

Marketing too important to be left to the marketing department?

An über brilliant talk by Seth Godin ..

.. on why marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.

Vetti Peichu — No Comments
13
Nov 09

Not to be sold before midnight, 3rd Thursday each November

It began as a subterfuge, in the early 1950′s, with the objective of “beating the system” to get labeled wine ahead of its regulated release date. In the 50+ years since, it has been successfully monetized, with a sales growth of nearly 8000% (80M+ bottles). Thanks to extremely clever mass marketing (talk about demand generation) primarily by Georges Duboeuf that has made the annual release of this wine primeur (read, early wine), a frivolous event in itself, an impressive money-making venture.

Yes, I am referring to Beaujolais Nouveau, the annual “early” wine from the Beaujolais region in France, that is technically not to be sold before midnight on the 3rd Thursday each November.

Some interesting things about Beaujolais Nouveau:

It is made by the process of Carbonic Maceration that keeps it fruity and low in tannins. Essentially the juice is fermented while still inside the grape that is in turn in a carbon dioxide-rich environment. Don’t be surprised to see some bubbles when you pour this wine into a glass
It has the fastest “gait” for a wine from (gamay) grape to glass (G2G) with a decent “glugability” (what I gather is winespeak for how easy it is to drink this wine on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being most easy and favorable to the wine). This wine can go G2G in less than 6 weeks!
It is perhaps the closest to a white wine that a red can ever get (clever marketing spin?)
Served chilled, it is recommended as the “fun” wine that should be gulped rather than sipped (A cynic’s view could be: Gulp it in large quantities so that you can quickly reach an inebriated state where you do not need to worry about taste or sophistication)
It is technically a primeur and not a noveau. “By French and European rules, a wine released during the period between its harvest and a date in the following spring, is termed primeur. A wine released during the period between its own and the following years harvest, is termed nouveau. Source: intowine“
Per French law and tradition, the annual primeur is not to be sold anywhere before midnight on the 3rd Thursday each November. However, don’t be surprised to see bottles stacked up in your neighborhood world market couple of weeks ahead of time.
It used to be marketed (not sure, if anymore and if so, how) in the US as the perfect chilled table wine for your Thanks Giving Dinner. Perhaps, messaging is now more through Social Media (as in this blog post). In the interest of full disclosure, as much as I can wish au contraire I have no connection or affiliation to any winemakers, distributors or retailers of Beaujolais Nouveau.
It is to be drunk as close to the label date as possible. Definitely not one for your cellar!

Each year, arrival and availability of this wine begins with the proclamation: Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!

My own introduction to the nouveau experience was in 2001 over a fondue dinner with friends in Stuttgart, Germany.

Label for Beaujolais Nouveau 2009 from Georges Duboeuf:

GD_BeaujolaisNouveau_09_750ml_LBL
image source: W.J.Deutsch & Sons

Sources:
Alliance Francaise Brisbane – Beaujolais Nouveau Day
Beaujolais, Alternate Takes
Beaujolais Nouveau: History Behind the Third Thursday in November
Beaujolais Nouveau Wikipedia Entry
Gamay Grape Wikipedia Entry
Glugability Index
thumbshot image: pointsdactu.org

Vetti Peichu — No Comments
5
Nov 09

Space-Moon Conundrum

These days, the 4-yr old is extremely curious about sun, earth, moon, and the stars. She now understands why we cannot see the earth much the same way how we can see the sun and moon, viz., as a ball in the sky. The analogy we used to help her understand is that we cannot see our own car – how it looks – when we are sitting inside it and driving on the road. We can see other cars but not our own – for which, we will have to get out of the car. And, this is very similar to why we cannot see the earth as we are living in it and we will have to go to space to be able see earth.

Last night as we were about to turn in, the lil one asks, “Is Moon in space or space is in Moon?”. To which I reply, “Moon is in space”. Pat comes her next question, “So no space in Moon?”. xD

Me wonders, if not a scientist, she just might grow up to write for sitcoms about astute nothings! Now, not that there is anything wrong with that (is there?).

Image: NASA

tEch kNOwMAD — No Comments
16
Oct 09

Media convergence, sarvam mAyam

Makes me wonder if this video is an early documentary for the technology-enabled journey of humans to look inward, deeper and deeper, and realize that all ephemeral, identity-based expressions (atman) will eventually mature and converge into the realization – aham brahmAsmi – of a single, universal conscience (brahman) that is as within each one of us, as much as it is everywhere outside.

Watch the “Did you know?” video (v4.0, 2009) from XPLANE and The Economist:

There is a reference in this video to a quote by futurist, Raymond Kurzweil:

What used to fit in a building now fits in your pocket,
What fits in your pocket now will fit inside a blood cell in 25 years

What then can fit within a blood cell can in turn be hardcoded into your DNA, only to be later worked in to the sub-atomic void at which point there is no differentiator in identity. There might be spiritual paths to explore into these depths and realize the connected oneness. Many such journeys of self-realization and enlightenment documented in mythology, religious scriptures, and by new age gurus. Such divining is however not for everyone, at least not in a single life time, as sincere as the endeavor might be.

Perhaps, it is for this everyone the long winded path through technology (here, media convergence) where we eventually realize this connected oneness. When that happens we won’t need transportation vehicles and communication tools to connect. Pursuit of material objects will be irrelevant. For what we sought, wanted to be, and where we wanted to go we would have found them all within. The big nothing!

Everything else is pure illusion, sarvam mAyam.

Image source: aejmc.org

vBlog / Wanderlust — No Comments
15
Oct 09

My Starbucks VIA Experience @North Dome, Yosemite

A short description of our Starbucks VIA experience on the summit of North Dome (Yosemite National Park, California), as provided by my hiking buddy, Shyam:

On October 2nd 2009, two brave photography (and coffee) addicts set out to hike to North Dome in Yosemite for a sunset/moonlit view of the Half Dome. On our way we stopped at Starbucks in Oakdale, CA for some bean juice and was challenged in a taste test between Pike’s Place and the VIA (what?). We won and left with a few packets of Starbucks Via in our pockets.

This is what happened next…