Manikarthik.com

Well, I was away for a while, for one week to be honest. Last week, on the third of May, I was at the BarCamp Kerala, which was at the TechnoPark premises, and soon after went on a one week long quick vacation at my wife’s native.

Kerala BarCamp was fun. Met a bunch of enthusiastic, really interesting guys there. It was nice to see the spirits up and lots of activity among the crowd. Here are some pics from the event.

From what it looks like, Kerala is steadily growing up to more events, more opportunities and a lot of buzz and the youth here plays a crucial role in it. Geeks here have already embraced the idea of BarCamps and BlogCamps which though slowly, have become a standard. Commendable efforts by minds like Kenney Jacob and Anand.

Here’s three cheers to the geeks and BarCampers in Kerala !

And yea, on the way back from BarCamp Kerala, my car got a flat tyre and we fixed it in less than 5 minutes. That’s some serious “crowd sourcing” yea ?
Thanks to Juwal Bose, Eldhose P Mathew, Albin and Binoy Xavier – seen in the photo below.

This time around, its going to be a damp Vishu, or so does it seem from the marathon rain. (Implied as continuing showers).

Vishu is like the “New Year” at this part of the world, according to the Hindu religion. It basically means a lot of exciting stuff to me. Crackers, Vishukani and “Kaineettam”, the two main things that top the charts. We crack a lot of crackers through the night and literally burn the floor. You know, even after you grow up, there are these little things that you fancy about, that you carried over from your childhood.

Any ways, it might be the rains or the lifestyle change, not too many crackers are “heard” these days, despite new crackers being imported from China.

As I’m writing this, its almost 7.30 pm and the rain is still “On”. Contrast to the vishu of my childhood when there were no rains and only crackers.

I’ve bought crackers too, yeah the chinese ones and I’m waiting for the rain to stop. Hopefully, I’ll crack them tonite, or its a postponed Vishu.

Hope Vishu (Or baisakhi) at your place is fun and there are no rains out there.

Those video clips on TV where the girls are being beaten in public, reminds me of nothing less than the barbaric Hitler days.

The only reason why this has occurred is because the people (alleged as prostitutes and immoral activists) are from the “public” and they don’t have any one backing them up. Had there been any VIP there, this wouldn’t have happened.

How pathetic – Is it not ?

I do have a few questions to the so called “Protectors of the Indian Tradition”, whatever sena they belong to.

If you have the balls to it, would you dare go destroy all the swamis and gurus hubs in India who travel in Benz and Caravans ? 

I have never read or heard of anything in the Hindu scripts where it says “Sanyasis” have to take the easy or the luxury route. They are supposed to walk. ( If they have a health problem, they can take autos or buses or even cars, that’s understandable.)

But why should the swamis live in seven star hotels, travel in caravans and sit in air-conditioned rooms only ?

A Sanyasi is supposed to – Develop vair?gya, or a state of dispassion and detachment from material life.

“Your” swamis are completely against it. They are living against the scriptures or the so called “tradition”.

If they can do it, I can go to a pub too. And that’s not as stupid as a faking swami. Or do I have to be a swami to do it ? I don’t know, it’s confusing.

If you cannot do it, and still believes that the “swamis” exist for their passion to uplift Indian tradition and “good living”, I pity you. The incident tells the world that you are doing it just because you are insecure and frustrated about we living a life, and you a dreaded one.

As part of its Entrepreneurship Summit 09, IIT Kharagpur is organizing  Startup Camp on Sunday January 11, 2009.

The sessions will cover

* Compensations available in start-ups
* Sustenance of start-ups
* Funding: The advantages of getting an angel fund or venture capitalists on board
* What to look for in a start-up before joining them as interns or employees?
* Avenues that open up for students employed in start-ups
* Dealing with peer pressure.
* What are start-ups looking for?
* And above all, why start off on your own.

The event will take place on Sunday – January 11, 2009 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM at IIT Kharagpur.

Visit their website for additional details: http://www.ecell-iitkgp.org/esummit