Whats that?? Atleast the title is not tamil, hindi or english?? Its the
latest (i saw it two days back but was released 100 odd days back)
telugu movie directed by Selvaraghavan (our own tamil director) known
as Sri Raghava in Andhra.. Venkatesh, Trisha, Srikanth have performed
in the movie.. Whats so special to write abt that movie??
Selvaraghavan's movies will have some social message mixed with sexual
aspect primarily
targeted at youngsters.. But Venkatesh is known as a family hero?? What
did he do?? To everyone's surprise, Selvaraghavan has taken a pure
family movie with no social message, no vulgarity.. To simply put, its
a love triangle but the way he has moved the screenplay has made a huge
difference.  The performances of all the artists are good.  Its one of
the few movies where Trisha has been given a scope for acting which she
has grabbed with both hands.  Vishwanath (one of the old tamil
director) has given a stellar performance.

Selva's
touch is seen in every frame well supported by excellent background
music by his friend Yuvan Shankar Raja.. Yuvan has given a blockbuster
performance in songs (Oh Baby & Yemaindi Ee Vela stand out).  This
has been vindicated by the fact that the movie is running for more than
100 days in Hyderabad.  I dont want to break the interest by revealing
the story but according to me, its one of the must watch movie for all
sections.. You can get a hint from the title of the movie which means
that women differ in the meaning of their words..

What if
someone doesn't know telugu to understand?? There is nothing to worry..
This movie is being taken in Tamil in the name Yaradi Nee Mohini
(Dhanush & Nayanthara) by Selvaraghavan's assistant.. Then the big
question arises?? Do i know telugu?? Nope.. I understand telugu to some
extent since its almost similar to tamil but was supported by my
friend in understanding the dialogues..

Do write back with the comments abt the movie..

Where was I?? This is the question i ask about myself whenever i refer to Rediff Iland.  It is not that i wanted to absent myself but the situations forced me out of this.  Can i call it due to laziness?? Yes to certain extent, but not the full reason.  But why this sudden interest in writing back?? Bcos i've started reading a lot which made me think why cant i share something interesting with all of my friends.. Is the renewed interest only due to reading? I cant say so bcos apart from reading, i've started experiencing many good things in my life. In this return, i'll write abt stock movements (which i think i've learn to a certain extent), movies (experience in watching lot of movies across languages), politics (one of my fav subject), economics (which i've learnt in MBA), music & many more.. This comeback is sure to help me gain knowledge.. Hoping for that..

This time we will analyse the Southern Districts which has a large number of assembly constituencies under it. It consists of Madurai, Theni districts.

AIADMK is considered to be very strong in these southern districts. This time also AIADMK is contesting most of the seats in these districts. Thevars (one of the caste), very prominent in these districts have always been a supporter of AIADMK right from MGR period. MDMK is strong in some of the places & will certainly help AIADMK. DPI is not present strong over here. The other small party MMK, a thevar party will help AIADMK to a smaller extent.

DMK is not that strong in these districts. PMK is not present over here at all. Congress & the Left Parties will contribute some votes.

DMDK is strong in some of the constituencies in Madurai district because of his birthplace but there is very little chance for them to convert the votes into a victory.

Karthik's Forward Bloc is strong in these districts. They will garner AIADMK's votes but Karthik is facing huge rebellion in his own party & most of his party members are not satisfied with him in opposing AIADMK their prominent friend.

Overall, AIADMK appears to be very strong in these districts. Apart from that, Jayalalithaa is contesting from Andipatti that is in Theni district. AIADMK government's work in these districts will help them to win many seats.

Let us analyse the Western Districts this time.

Western Districts consists of Coimbatore, Nilgri Districts etc.

DMK is strong on its own in some of the pockets. PMK doesnt have a presence over here. Due to the large number of mills operating in this area, left parties have a strong hold in some of the constituencies. Congress has its own traditional vote base.

AIADMK on the other side is very strong in many of the constituencies. In the last assembly election, they literally swept these districts. MDMK's presence will help AIADMK in many places. DPI, the dalit party doesnt have much presence over here.

DMDK, though is present, is not in a position to win a seat on its own.

BJP has some presence but none of their major leaders are contesting from these districts. AIFB doesnt have much of a presence over here.

On the overall, AIADMK appears to be strong over here. Many well known leaders like the former mayor Malaravan, ministers are contesting the elections this time which seems to favour the ruling party.

AIADMK is in a strong wicket to win many of the constituencies in these districts.

TN elections is going to be interesting this time. There are vital fronts - one under AIADMK & the other under DMK. Other parties like Vijayakanth's DMDK, BJP, Karthik's AIFB (is he the leader??) are also in the fray.

TN can be divided into three different parts - Northern Districts, Southern Districts & Western Districts.

Let us analyse the Northern Districts first, as i belong to that region.

It consists of districts like Chennai, Cuddalore, Kanchipuram etc as a part of it. PMK, the vanniyar party, is strong in this belt because of a large number of Vanniyar population (a caste) & this will help the DMK led front. PMK is contesting most of their seats in these districts. DMK is strong on its own in some of the constituencies & will garner more seats in this area. Congress & left parties have small presence in some of the constituencies.

AIADMK, on the other side is strong in very few constituencies & DPI is strong in many constituencies. MDMK has small presence in all the constituencies & this front is expected to garner fewer constituencies.

DMDK, has presence across all the constituencies & is not strong to translate those votes into an assembly seat.

AIFB, doesnt have presence over here. BJP is also not strong to win a seat on its own.

Though the DMK led front is well positioned to win many constituencies, the following factors will hugely affect their chances.

i) AIADMK government has done lot of work during Tsunami, Floods which have affected these districts hugely. Apart from this, CASH relief by the government has directly made an impact on the voters.

ii) Even though DMK is considered to be strong in chennai (accounting for 14 constituencies), AIADMK government's work has been really appreciated & they are growing strong day by day.

iii) Northern districts is well known to be a place where Vanniyars & Scheduled caste people fight each other regularly. But during these five years, very few incidences have taken place.

iv) & finally the Free bicycle scheme to the school going students have really made an impact in these districts.

My guess is DMK has a slight edge over AIADMK in these northern districts.

Yesterday, i had an opportunity to participate in FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) Expo in Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai. As an unregistered member of INLUGC (Indian Linux User Group - Chennai), i went to the college in the morning to manage a stall which was titled "Internet Tools". There were about 14 to 15 stalls which was meant to explain students about various Open Source Products like Internet Tools, Open Office Products, Scripting Languages like PHP, databases like MySQL etc.

My stall was to explain students on Internet tools like Mozilla Firefox Browser, Konqueror Browser, Evolution Mail Client etc. My initial thought was that about 100 to 200 students will turn up for the expo.

But as the day progressed, more & more students came calling to all the stalls. I hope about 1000 students from nearby colleges & schools would have turned up at the expo. Many of them asked some interesting questions about the Open Source Products & particularly the Operating System, Linux.

Infact some of them are already using Mozilla Browser in Windows (it is possible to use Open Source Products in Windows) & some of them have already started using Linux. One Student has even tried to use a Dial-Up Internet connection in Linux.

This expo clearly demonstrated to us that even in a town like Tiruvannamalai people have started using Open Source Products which augurs well for the future.

This kind of expo, if conducted in Chennai will generate a lot of interest among the city students who have many resources at their disposal. Spreading the knowlege about Open Source Products is very important to encourage the usage of them. I hope INLUGC takes the lead to conduct an expo in a college in Chennai.

If you are interested to work with Open Source Products, you can start with any of the following practices.

1. Download Mozilla Firefox (a browser) from www.mozilla.org & start using it in Windows.

OR

2. If you are a technical person, please log onto www.ubuntu.com & order free copies of Ubuntu Linux (a flavour of Linux) & you will get the same shipped directly to your home from USA.

Usage of Open Source Products at home will promote the knowledge about them to the young generation which augurs well for the IT future!!!!

Mirattal Adi - 2, the tamil version of the movie directed by Stephen Chow is literally making waves.

The film starts with a famous football player being cheated by his teammate & thrown out of the team. This player goes out with an avenge that he will form a team which will become the best team in the country. The entire film is shot in China.

The former football legend finds an young man showcasing his skills by using Kung Fu which is none other than our hero (played by Stephen Chow). He kicks the ball to a greater height that it takes more than 3 to 4 minutes to reach the ground!!!. He decides to use the martial skills in the football & forms a team with the hero's friends who are all trained in the martial art after lot of persuation.

They get trained by the football legend & the way these scenes have been shot are extremely interesting. They enter into a football tournament & showcase their skills. Mirattal Adi is the name given to the football team.

This team members fly high to kick a ball, kick a ball from one end of the goal stand to the other end directly, pass the ball without much effort etc. The scenes to be frank enough to you cannot be described in words & have to be enjoyed on the screen. By using these skills, they win every match by a huge margin & become famous too..

In the final match, they take on the best team (coached by the legend's former friend). The villain injects a medicine from an american company to these players which makes them play better than the kung fu team. Many players of the kung fu team get hurt & finally they are assisted by the heroine (hero falls in love with this girl who makes the cakes in a shop by using martial art skills) & they finally win the match.

In the end, they show scenes wherein most of the team learn Kung Fu to be utilised in their day to day activities.

The way this movie has been taken is awesome. Graphics has been used extensively & we dont feel the pulse of it because of the way they have shot it. The kind of planning which the director has done is great & we wont feel bored for even a single minute. Two popular tamil songs (a part of it) added into the movie gives it a huge lift & creates humour among the tamil audience. Dubbing in tamil is also good.

I have seen some part of Mirattal Adi - 1, the first movie of the series & is looking to buy the DVDs of both these movies.

This movie runs for about 90 minutes & is a must watch.

Add your feedback after watching the movie..

Let us talk about the hottest topic in the town.. Assembly Elections. It creates more fever than the general elections because many small factors come into the picture unlike the general one..

Small Parties create loud noise, some parties break, some new parties are formed, a group of people will demand reservations etc. In this scenario, everyone forgets about the impact of the elections in the economy.

In a constituency, a minimum of two big groups (a combine of many parties) fight the elections. Each Big group will spend approx Rs. 50 lakhs per constituency which will take the min total expenditure to Rs. 1.25 crores (if we calculate the amount spent by other parties too).

The total expenditure will be approx Rs. 300 crores in tamilnadu alone which has 234 constituencies. If we include other states like Kerala, Pondicherry, West Bengal & Kerala, the total expenditure will be approx Rs. 1000 crores.

It is not a small amount. If provided with, we can do a lot of welfare activities for the rural india, which will increase our growth rate.

Most of them are black money which is used to lure people to gain votes. Will we be able to provide an alternative or provide a stricter control over this??

A report recently published by a well-known company states that the Multinational Companies which have their development centre in India wouldnt mind shifting it to China, Pakistan etc. since the cost of operation is less over there when compared to India.

In an interview, an MNC Head has mentioned that the development cost (of the software) in India is increasing day by day. i.e. the Salary of the developers are increasing at a fast pace & they will start looking at alternatives.

Let us look at the reasons for that.

From an Employer perspective: The cost of operations are increasing day by day. A Fresh Candidate (Developers/Programmers) is being offered about 14k - 15k (min package) in the software industry & they are expecting about 20-25% increase year on year. If they dont receive that expected package, they leave that company to join another. The other company gives him a hefty package which increases his pay from 30% to 50% (I have seen 100% increase too). Due to this, the cost increases & the same cycle starts over here.

From a Customer perspective: The customers would like to reduce the expenditure on software over a period of time. An Indian/MNC company, if it takes up the contract will have to reduce the price over a period of time so that it keeps the contract with itself. Otherwise another company will quote at the customer place & take away that contract at a lesser price. So the existing company has to reduce their price year on year which will affect their topline as well as bottomline.

Since the companies would like to maintain their growth in topline & bottomline, they would like to reduce their cost of operations. Thats why they outsourced most of the development from USA to India. Now if the cost increases over here, they will start looking at alternatives which is well provided by China to a greater extent and Pakistan, Bangladesh to a smaller extent.

China, in particular, is seen promoting software at a brisk pace. A new Joint Venture formed by TCS & Microsoft with the Chinese Government is an indicator to this. They are also training their people in English which was seen lacking by them.

The Indian Industry has to look at alternatives to minimise the effect of this or otherwise the Software Industry which has made many middle class people turn into lakhpathis will migrate to other countries in the near future.

Somedays back, i read a news item where Mr. Laloo Prasad, our Railway Minister flagged off a test train between Patna & Delhi. The special thing about this is that the train runs at a speed of 150km/hr. This is in principle whatever i have written in my previous blog (under the topic "Travel").

As a part of the improvement in the infrastructure, Indian Government in co-operation with the respective state governments has to work to improve the travel infrastructure. Railways form an important network in the indian travel. New initiatives such as this will reduce the time taken to travel which will have a positive impact of the economy (for detailed info, please refer to my previous blog under the heading "Travel"). I'm happy to note that we have taken the first step, the much needed step in moving towards the next phase in our growth. Though this is a small step, it is a much needed one which i hope will make other railway divisions to plan for this..