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Computing, Libraries, Tennis, India & other interests of Vikas Kamat
| iPad Humor |  | | As they said on NPR, Apple forgot to involve a woman in decision making before they came up with the name iPad. Oh brother.
Sometimes, the cultural differences yield embarrassing meanings, but it was not the case with iPad. Think Before You Name a Brand There is a beauty store near my house called "Ulta Beauty" and I never stop to smile as I drive pass it. See, in most of India, "Ulta Beauty Store" would mean "Ugly Store." I also remember a visit to a town in Karnataka where the entire town was painted by the brand "Hutch". Except that it didn't occur to them that it meant "A Crazy Man" in the local language, and everybody would make fun of the campaign. Hutch spent a lot of money, only to become the butt of jokes and ridicule.
| Comments (0) | First Written: Saturday, January 30, 2010
Last Modified: 1/30/2010 10:19:52 PM |
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| Some Deep Thoughts on India and Indians | | | Fire Accident in Indian Owned Motel Sparks Debate AL.com:
Motel Tragedy in Birmingham -- Superstitious Hindu man burns incense in room
unattended, it starts fire and kills four young girls. This unfortunate accident
has been complicated by the man's stupidity, the negligence of the owner (I
assume also of Indian origin --I was told by a hotel supplies vendor that about
80% of all motels in USA are owned by Indians), legal status of the maintenance
man, and the current anti-immigrant feelings in USA. Read the comments to
get a pulse. Polio in India
Over my lifetime, I have seen India grow from a hopeless third world country into a proud
and prospering country.
Now everybody has cell-phones, lots of people have Twitter and Orkut accounts. My family and friends take pride in thinking that they are world-class citizens.
It's all good.
Then someone sends a painful link. Today it was from Dr. Abhishek Arora who said
India is the last four countries (with Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan) where
polio virus remains active. So I read up on it. It's a painfully embarrassing
matter to read. I was really under the impression that polio was gone from the
world.
I also learned today that some of those graphic pictures in our
Beauty is Skin Deep were actually
survivors of the horrible decease Poliomyelitis, commonly known as Polio
Link to Polio Free India Website Amma's Keynote on 60th Anniversary of Indian Republic All India Radio will broadcast some of Amma's Musings on the Occasion of India's Republic Day - Jan 26th, Chintana, Bengaluru Station.
| Comments (0) | First Written: Saturday, January 23, 2010
Last Modified: 1/23/2010 7:21:07 PM |
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| Google Got Balls | | | Pardon my attempt at some crude humor, but best said with this graphic: 
In standing up to Chinese Government, Google showed a lot of courage, a lot of character and leadership.
I commend Google on this move.
Now if Walmart can make a similar move, there will be real change and reform in China, and who knows, Americam Economy will come out of recession.
| Comments (0) | First Written: Saturday, January 16, 2010
Last Modified: 1/17/2010 12:17:40 PM |
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| Roll Tide, Roll | | | How about them Crimson Tide! Alabama, this year's National Champions!! ESPN: Alabama 37, Texas 21 In true Alabama tradition, the trophy will be displayed in local Walmarts. Lots of jokes about it here. In Alabama, we have a saying -- "If Walmart doesn't have it, we don't need it". Quote from SBNation: 
Before you start making jokes, fool, read that again: a Wal-Mart Supercenter, y'all, not just any Wal-Mart. You won't just be going to look at the BCS Championship Trophy and then buying some lightbulbs. You'll be getting yourself a new set of radials, gassing up the car, and possibly getting your taxes done all in the same place, man. What other college football team offers all that with the chance to see the title trophy? No one, that"s right. Alabama doesn't just deliver championships. They deliver value. 
| Comments (0) | First Written: Friday, January 08, 2010
Last Modified: 1/9/2010 8:56:49 PM |
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| Praise of Bidiramma -- Goddess of Bamboo | | | The other day I saw the pupils of Akshaya Orphanage in the village of Karki sing and dance to a folk song in praise of Bidiramma, the goddess of Bamboo. I found it very inspiring for several reasons -- the way bamboo plays an important role in the Indian life as well has how we have to rely on the poor and destitute to preserve elements of our heritage in the modern world. Modern Indian kids will never hear this song, nor does it makes sense to them. Afterall, when's the last time you saw a bamboo cradle, a bamboo fishnet or even a bows and arrows ? Their performance prompted me to translate the song, as well as build a section on Bamboo in Indian Culture. I present you Bidiramma, the Goddess of Bamboo. 
| Comments (0) | First Written: Saturday, January 02, 2010
Last Modified: 1/2/2010 1:29:10 PM |
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| Vishnuvardhan Fans Vs Rajkumar Fans | | | Before I begin, Indian actor Vishnuvardhan passed away. He gave us so
many good movies. My respects. As I expected, there is violence. Here's
why (Notes made when Rajkumar passed away) 
"Sahasasimha Vishnuvardhan" (1950-2009)
Vishnuvardhan Fans Vs Rajkumar Fans I want to tell you about the contests of Vishnuvardhan fans and
Rajkumar fans. Both these are prominent actors of Karnataka and actually were
fine gentlemen, their respective fans not so!
Rajkumar was a much bigger cult figure and had these "fan
associations" everywhere. Not to fall behind, Vishnuvardhan's fans also
started "Sahasasimha Fan Associations". Every time there was a movie
release there would be a contest of how tall a cut-out
was made or how many fans showed up for the ticket lines etc. It was paranoia
and marked a phase in India's film industry, just before television became
affordable in India. Anyway, some university awarded a honorary doctorate to Raj Kumar. Boy, that
changed the game! Rajkumar's fan's would forever refer to him as Dr. Rajkumar
(obviously inspired by Dr. MGR in the neighboring state, only in India you will
see a university whose name starts with a Dr. and referring to MGR or Rajkumar
without that prefix would amount to blasphemy in the society), almost to the
point of teasing Vishnuvardhan fans. Poor Vishnuvardhan fans had to wait
lots of years till another university offered a honorary doctorate to
Vishnuvardhan and then they also added Dr. to his name as if that's his first
name. Legends of the Rivalry There were all these stories and rumors about
how Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan and their respective coteries hated each other.
How one gang stole a role from the other or booked a leading heroine from
another camp. When Rajkumar started singing, there was tremendous pressure on
Vishnuvardhan to start singing. There was this landmark movie "Gandhada Gudi" -- starring both
these superstars (probably the only one such movie) -- in which the two were
supposed to have a fight. The legend has it that unknown to the actors, the guns
were loaded with real ammunition. Oh, it was so much fun to hear the different
versions and derivatives of that legend! Now both these actors are gone. I wonder what they are talking about in
heaven. I feel that even the violence after their passing is like the contest of the fans. It's like they are discussing -- "How many buses and trains did the other camp burn?!"
| Comments (0) | First Written: Thursday, December 31, 2009
Last Modified: 12/31/2009 11:23:54 AM |
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| When the Chicken Swallowed the Monkey | | | Lyric and Translation of Shishunal Sharif's "Kodagana Koli Nungitta"
Shishunala Sharif was a saint-poet of Karnataka. His songs are both melodious and philosophical. "Kodagana Koli Nungitta" is especially a lot of fun. It is really hard to translate the song, because the poet plays with the rhymes and reasons in a clever way, but I thought that as someone who has enjoyed the song tremendously, I must attempt to translate and share it with others. There are many renderings of the song, which I have provided below. Lyric of the song "Kodagana Koli Nungitta": 
Translation of Shishunala Sharif's Kodagana Koli Nungitta
Look sister!
The chicken has swallowed the ape!
and Amazing things are happeningThe goat has swallowed the elephant
The wall has drunk up the whitewash
The Amazing thing has eaten up the tabor of the actress who came out to play!
The sesame seeds have eaten up the pounding stick
The rock has swallowed the peg
The Amazing thing has swallowed the old lady who came to relish the seeds! The thread has eaten the loom
The loom has swallowed the reel
The Amazing thing has swallowed the owner of the loom! What Amazing thing has happened sister!
The mountain has engulfed the cave
Like the cave has engulfed an ant!
My teacher Govinda's feet have completely engulfed my ego, sister
Amazing thing has happened
Links to Musical Videos
• From Movie
• By C. Ashwath himself -- see thousands dance to the tune
• A nice rendering by Mayur (except for emphasis on Govinda, see below) Notes Govinda as referred in the song is not Lord Krishna, but a local brahmin bearing the name, who accepted Sharif as a disciple. This song is really a tribute to the magnanimity of the teacher, who the poet says cured his ego --"His grace swallowed me".
It might not be obvious, but Sharif was a Muslim. Sharif stands as a pioneer of in Kannada Islamic literature as well as a Muslim trying to reach God via music (it's a rarity in Islamic cultures; only Kabir comes to mind). See Also:
• Shishunala Sharif Sahebaru
• Indian Muslims
 Postlog: A few minutes after this entry was written, I was told that C. Ashwath in whose rich voice this song is best heard, passed away. What a loss.
| Comments (3) | First Written: Monday, December 28, 2009
Last Modified: 12/31/2009 1:36:04 PM |
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| Sexcapades of 86 Year Old Governor | | | N.D. Tiwari, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh resigned today after getting caught in a sex scandal in the Governor's bungalow. Link to Story at Rediff
This guy is a shameful character. He is a disgrace to all elderly men, all Indian men, and all Congressmen. Those of us old enough, remember that Narayan Dutt Tiwari was a great buddy of Sanjay Gandhi during the excesses of the Emergency. It is people like him that have ruined India. What I want to know is whether he was taking Viagra or Cialis. Perhaps this is his distraction strategy to keep the state together -- you know, there have been moves to split the state of Andhra Pradesh.
| Comments (0) | First Written: Saturday, December 26, 2009
Last Modified: 12/26/2009 10:18:25 PM |
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| Navigation for Content Forests | | |
Merry Christmas to our readers, friends, and advertisers. Improving Navigation of Kamat's Potpourri 
People still give me a hard time about how difficult it is to navigate the vast contents of this website. What they don't give me credit for is that nobody has even attempted such a complex task as to come up for a "Table of Contents for a Country as Complex as India". Wikipedia, the closest content forest to Kamat's Potpourri that I can think of, deals with this problem with excessive hyper-linking. I call it the link-fatigue. Flickr, also the closest picture forest to Kamat's Potpourri that I can think of, deploys the tags excessively -- to the point that there are really inadequate to find a needle in a haystack. Google's solution of course is to search. But search is not adequate for content discovery; it is great for re-discovery. Ask a librarian, and they will tell you an earful about that problem. Some years ago, we came up with the "poker face", which allowed me to embed lots of associated pictures in a small area of screen real-estate (shown below). But it is not obvious to a casual viewer that clicking on a red dot can take you to a related picture. 
You know, we have implemented all these on Kamat's Popourri. We have the tag clouds, PICTURESeach, Full Text Search, TOCSeach (Search meta tags), Categorization performed by humans, categorization by Library of Congress subjects. We have the toolbar (on left); we have the bread or cookie crumbs; we have the Wikipedia-like hyperlink navigation (every relevant opportunity to link is utilized), and we have the mind-map (although it is outdated). Wow! And yet, I myself find it difficult to navigate our website and find contents. I have to keep track of 333 languages, 85 castes, 350 famous people, 57 gods, some 300,000 hyperlinks, and myriad of other things. Nobody wants my job. So this Christmas, I am spending time to improve on the toolbar (preview shown on right), and implementing Flickr-like stub navigation. Flickr seem to use Flash for their widgets. I don't know Flash and I don't like Flash. So I am playing with AJAX and just old fashioned HTML(an attempt to fit 500 stubs in one page). My dream is to implement a Navigator like this at Stanford University that the software automatically figures out as the user drills deeper and deeper. I don't think that day is far away. If you have a clever idea about creating a new type of navigation, please contact me. Meanwhile, enjoy these experimental collections on: Faces, India Stubs, Misc.Pictures of India
| Comments (0) | First Written: Friday, December 25, 2009
Last Modified: 12/26/2009 12:49:41 PM |
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About Me:
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| This is how I surf the web. Turns out
creating your own start page beats all portals, back-flipping,
personalized corporate pages, and book-marking tools. |
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Vikas Kamat
