I heard about another movie (I forget the name The War Within) that portrays the life from a viewpoint of a suicide bomber. I haven't seen it, but such efforts will go a long way in understanding causes of terrorism -- namely fanaticism, ignorance, and injustice.

Weddings planned to coincide with the foliage especially provide a spectacular opportunity to enjoy the season. Typically set in the backdrop of yellow and orange mountains and serene lakes, they are a visual treat as much as an introduction to the southern culture.

© Vikas Kamat

Autumn Symbolizes Change of Guard

© Ralph Anderson

Bride and Father arrive for Giving Away Ceremony
Notice the lush yellow foliage in the background

© Ralph Anderson

Exchange of Vows in the Backdrop of Fall Colors

I've named it after Alan Turing, the father of computer science. It's also the name of the very first computer Kim and I bought when we started our company many years ago. From the graphic below, you know it is in good company

As you can see, I am implementing Best Practices in Blogging as advocated by Jacob Nielson.

One habit that I practice, but don't see other do, is telling the readers if an entry was modified subsequent to its publishing. For every entry, I maintain the time of original post and the time it was last updated.

If you haven't seen them yet, I have been adding beautiful pen and pink portraits of accomplished Indians, drawn by V.N. O'key.

From a Job Advertisement at Institute for Social and Economic Change in India: "Candidates are required to produce caste certificate establishing their caste."

Band Bajao has new answers to many of the questions asked and answered on this site about Indian Culture. hilarious!

We get so many questions. Many times they are amusing, and a few remain in my mind because I can't answer them.
Examples (I paraphrase).

• How do Indian women have sex?
• If elephant is a god (in India) why did they chain it to the building?
• Could a pregnant woman commit Sati? even if it were by her own choice?

See Also:
• Vikas the Ombudsman
• Women of India -- Frequently Asked Questions

The superstitions perhaps have been healed, but the status of the descendants of the community who practiced this cult, is pathetic.

Anyway, I found this beautiful toy depicting a lost way of life, and thought I'd blog about it.

© K. L. Kamat

A wooden handicraft depicting Durga-Murga cult

See Also: India's Street Culture

They are complaining that M.F. Husain has painted Hindu deities in nude.

Guys, cloth is man-made!

Showing men, women (and gods) in nude is a honest and most natural way to depict them.

What is so offensive about nudity anyway? Hindus are ones who invented nudism. Aren't we the culture that worships genitals?

The accusers say Husain's paintings are disgusting, instead of stunning. They say Husain is insulting Hindus.

Do you know the difference between Islamic fundamentalists and Hindu fundamentalists? The answer is none. They are both intolerant, ignorant fools.

Specimen Example:

This picture shows Hanuman burning the island of Sri Lanka with a torch as Sita hangs on to his tail. The accusers are saying Husain meant to depict Sita masturbating. Perversion is indeed in the eyes of the beholder.

Perhaps M.F. Husain is guilty. He is guilty of being a Muslim. He is also guilty of being a genius.

Considering that Microsoft had the attention of the audience for a whole day, I must say that they didn't utilize it very well. There was too much hype, almost unbearable.

But I am excited about the new possibilities. There is a lot of new stuff and to me it looks like Microsoft has bet much more on these products than meets the eye. Anything less than spectacular success of these products could spell trouble for Microsoft.

Overall, I thought it was a day well spent. Thank you Microsoft, for the free copy of the Visual Studio and SQL Server. Also for breakfast and lunch.

Suggestions on Improvement - The event is like preaching to the choir; so please reduce the hype. "Server too busy" error doesn't go well when you are claiming "high availability".

Discaimers:
• I own Microsoft shares, and after this event, I am tempted to buy more.
• I dislike Microsoft --- especially their behavior in the antitrust case.

See Also:
• Microsoft Coterie
• Microsoft and Stuff