A Panchatantra Story(with a Difference)

Information Technology is quite a stressful field to be in. In spite of that, the creativity of engineers has been irrepressible. One of the most unusual outlets that it has acquired is through the refinement of old Panchatantra moral stories that our elders used to narrate to us, the Indian equivalent of Aesop's fables.The most famous among them is the variant of the wood cutter's story doing the rounds. It even has an exciting and very true moral at the end.
The original Panchatantra story :
One day, while a woodcutter was cutting a branch of a tree above a river, his axe fell into the river.When he cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, "Why are you crying?" The woodcutter replied that his axe has fallen into water. The Lord went down into the water and reappeared with a golden axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked.
The woodcutter replied, "No."
The Lord again went down and came up with a silver axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked.
Again, the woodcutter replied, "No."The Lord went down again and came up with an iron axe. "Is this your axe?" the Lord asked.The woodcutter replied, "Yes."
The Lord was pleased with the man's honesty and gave him all three axes to keep, and the woodcutter went home happily.

The modern Panchatantra story :
Once upon a time, there was a software engineer who used to develop Programs on his Pentium machine (of course a lap top),sitting under a tree on the banks of a river. He used to earn his bread by selling those programs in the Friday market.
One day, while he was working, his machine tumbled off from his lap and fell in the river. Encouraged by the Panchatantra story of his childhood (the woodcutter and the axe), he started praying to the River Goddess.The River Goddess wanted to test him and so appeared only after one month of rigorous prayers. Poor Engineer, he waited for a long time and at last Goddess came!
The engineer told her that he had lost his computer in the river. As usual, the Goddess wanted to test his honesty.She showed him a match box and asked, "Is this your computer?" Disappointed by the Goddess' lack of computer awareness, the engineer replied, "No." She next showed him a pocket-sized calculator and asked if that was his.Annoyed, the engineer said "No, not at all!!"Finally, she came up with his own Pentium machine and asked if it was his. The engineer, left with no option, sighed and said "Yes." The River Goddess was happy with his honesty.

She was about to give him all three items, but before she could make the offer, the engineer asked her, "Don't you know that you're supposed to show me some better computers before bringing up my own?"The River Goddess, angered at this, replied, "I know that, you stupid donkey! The first two things I showed you were the the latest computers from IBM!"

So saying, she disappeared with his Computer!

Moral for Information Technology Professionals(and also for would be professionals):
If you're not up-to-date with technology trends, its better keep your mouth shut and let people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Tare Zameen Par

Today i went for Tare Zameen Par. I wanted to see this movie beign a Aamir fan. But could not go. Finally today the chance came through. But when we went to the theater we found that the film had shifted to another theater. Shit!!! But somehow we were able to get there in time and get the tickets as there was not much rush.

The story is about a child, Ishaan, who suffers dyslexia . But he suffers a lot because no one around him recognizes that he is a slow learner. He is a good painter but his parents are always thinking about his marks. One day he bunks school and gets his brother to sign the leave note. but parents somehow come to know and he is taken to task by his father. They move him to a boarding school so that he learns discipline. A very emotional scene ensues.

In boarding school also its no different for ishant. He is labelled idiot, crazy, duffer and all sort of things. all students , except his friend rajan, make fun of him. Then comes a new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, played by Aamir khan. He understands the symptoms shown by Ishant and also goes to his home to know more. As he too was a Dyslexic he helps Ishant overcome his troubles like making him understand letters, shapes etc. Finally Ishant is able to overcome his problems . he wins a painting competition organized by Ram and also does well in academics. His parents are surprised when they came to collect his repost card.
The film is excellent according to me. How can u not love a film which is made with so much compassion.An issue based movieis hardly made in India and Aamir Khan has broken all the norms by deciding tomake his directorial debut with such a drastically different film and kudos to him and his creative team of writers. The Scenes are excellently taken for example the starting scene in which Ishant is picking fishes from the gutter, the sequence in which he bunks class,the scene in which his parents leave him in boarding school and many more to say about.

Overall 'll give it 9.5 out of 10. The songs are narrative( well placed and have a meaning in the movie) and the the lyrics have meanings. Music is good. A must watch and for me one of the movies of 2007 along with Chake De India!!!

On a High

Its been a month since i have put something in my blog. After been very frequent in posting in November i somehow could not find time to write anything in December until now cos as usual i have been busy :(
December had a high point in my college life. I was unanimously selected to be the next IEEE chairperson. The thing is that it was not unexpected but i thought atleast 'll have some competition so that it will be a challenge for me so that i can they can complain about where i went wrong. Its always good to have an opposition.
But the job started only after the appointment cos i had to hold a membership drive which i did and got new members registered them and sent the details to HQ. now 'm free and with lots of time in hand going to relax for the rest of the hols....
In between i had gone for an All kerala IEEE Student Meet in Universiy College,Thoduphuza. I along with 3 of my friends went there for a day. it was interesting and also met ppl from other colleges, shared ideas and stuff.
Thats all for now. More to come later!!! till then ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!