A sad day for the memory of Jamshetji...

Jamshetji Tata was a visionary - he wanted India to be a leader in technology,science and research too and spent a considerable amount of effort and money to lay the cornerstone for Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore at the turn of the century.

Have we made progress? yes, to the extent of releasing the world's cheapest car. Very unfortunately. Tata Nano is released to the market recently. No doubt Nano may be better than some of the two wheelers and autos that ply on the streets of India, it is a far cry from a eco-sensible car that is the need of the hour in the world today. This applies even more so in asian countries, where possession of car is identified with a status symbol, a Nano is exactly what lot of people are waiting for but that, as usual, is far from what is really needed in the world today. I am not even going to talk about the lack of security here(of course how much can you give for 1 lakh?)

The rest of the world is working away on other things:
Loremo car - 150mpg. for less than $13,000 same price as normal compact/subcompact car in US!
Piagio hybrid scooter!
Aptera - 300mpg car! You can preorder today in California.

May be India can become a leader in pollution too!

If Tata had spent time in making Indica an equivalent of Toyota Prius or better with indigenous technology, that would have made India proud! And to promote that, could have asked the government for subsidies so it could be sold cheaper to people...And those who can afford 1 lakh to buy Nano could be persuaded with a loan program by Tata (e.g. 1/3 down and the rest in monthly payments or whatever) for such a car.

PS: Disclaimer and : I do own a SUV and regret it every day...I do avoid driving it whenever I can..

Sevalaya - A Gandhian dream come true!

(meaning to write this for a long time, and finally here it goes...)

It all started more than 30 years ago; Murali was then an undergrad student in Chennai. Since there was hardly anything to read (!), he spent most of his time in various social service activities, and writing poetry etc.

And this continued when he moved to Bangalore, doing his engineering under graduate course in Indian Institute of Science. I was one of the fortunate few who were co-volunteers in several activities that followed in the next 3 to 4 years - ranging from yearly red cross blood donation camps in the campus to recording studies and other books in audio cassettes for a blind school, to teaching English to a bunch of orphanage kids in Hebbal, to teaching both math/science and social studies/hygiene to a nearby slum kids.

After graduation, Murali was again involved in serving/supporting another orphanage while working full time as a software engineer.

It was summer of 1988, when several good things happened - Murali got married to another social worker and Sevalaya was born in a village near Thiruninravur (on the rail road between Chennai and Arakonam) - in a rented house - with five children and one full time social worker and a couple of employees to help run it.

Today Sevalaya is in a campus of its own in a 1.5 acre land, housing more than 150 orphanage children, more than 50 elders in a old age home, a few cows in a gosala, playgrounds, school buildings (from elementary to high school), a library and a resident nurse and other employees, social workers/volunteers. There is also a facility for providing a certificate course in tailoring to nearby village women so as to enable them to become self supporting (or help their families financially). The school provides (absolutely) free education to all children for the nearby villages and currently provides education to more than 800 students from elementary to high school.

All this has happened largely with public support - from people who have known/felt the dedication of the organization/people behind the organization over several years, from people who have seen the marked change in the entire landscape around Sevalaya, and not only out of large grants or other solicitations. That is the most commendable thing to say of any non-profit organization.

Mahatma's ideals of rural upliftment and religious harmony, Swami Vivekananda's selfless service to humanity, and the great Tamil Poet Bharathi's works on social equality and women's rights (as well as patriotism) are the ideals and motivation behind Sevalaya as an organization.

Sevalya has already achieved quite a few things in its 20 years of existence. To name a few things:

Self reliance/sustainable development efforts: Sevalaya has a gobar gas plant for its old age home needs while the cows also give enough fertilizer to the vegetable garden. Sevalaya produces enough vegetables for its own orphanage/old age home needs and produces enough surplus to sell to outsiders at a nominal price. The inmates of orphanage are supported for their college education or vocation training too.

Rural upliftment: Sevalaya trains and gives certificate course to the local village women (mostly uneducated) after a six month free course in tailoring. The graduates get a job very easily in the nearby cotton/clothing industries (within 30 miles from Kasuva). The economic climate around Sevalaya has improved over the years mainly because of such efforts by Sevalaya and this has also resulted in more emphasis on education in the local surrounding villages.

Education to the under-privileged: The results speak for themselves - Sevalaya has been achieving 100% results in the district for the past few years, and Sevalaya students score big and some are rank holders in the district. At Sevalaya, education is not just memorizing the course work and scoring marks in the final examination, but overall shaping of intellect and body, an all round growth of personality of students.

There is more to be done. Murali and rest of the people at Sevalya are looking forward to building a Gandhian university with special emphasis on eco-friendly/self sustaining technology.


Now all we need is one Sevalaya per district!

Please visit http://www.sevalaya.org for more information.

Arnold the fortune teller!

Was hearing the local news yesterday and there was a mention of "you can clone your dog now; but do you want to?".

Deja Vu: The sixth day - Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie (2000) - in which he gets a clone for his dog (and gets cloned without his knowledge!). Scary thought!

This also reminded me of a another (albeit funny) movie fortune telling thing: The demolition man (Sylvester Stallone,Wesley Snipes movie released long ago in 1993). In one scene, Sylvester notices "President Arnold library" and asks Sandra Bullock about it. Sandra says "Oh, Yeah, he entered politics and became the President of the United States" for which Sylvester's response goes like "this guy??? President???"; was funny at the time when these 2 were the competing action (read "muscle") heroes. Later Arnold really entered politics and has become a Governor now.

Hopefully, Terminator may never come to pass..(let me start praying now..)

Update from CES 2008, LV - Face detection security!

Finger print security is old fashioned now... we have a face detection based security. So all you have to do now is to show your face to your webcam on your computer to login...

Shoot, I need to shave every day now...

Those who have had rough nights better take a sick leave till they remove the bandages off their face... they can't login anymore...

If you still have an issue with logging in, may be you can call Tom Cruise for help; he might have your mask! (from MI sets...)

(haven't seen this system and just read about it on CNET.....)

Friends, family, acquaintances and now....netizens!

God help them! (from my blogs!)
I was thinking what have I done in my long journey? have I reached a destination? no - it is never ending. Is there anything I am particularly good at that I want to share with others? the more you know about something, the less you know...but then most of the world is at the same stage, a little more or little less, as you, and so who cares! Let me also start blogging!
This might end up as an odd collection of thoughts/information on various things that I like - technology (software), paintings and photography, music, social service organizations that I trust and deal with (Sevalaya for one) and all sorts of random things that happen day to day..

And by the way, I am not one of those "braindead Aoler" (as per wikipedia !)