To dream, to think, to go on Shashi Tharoor, UN, New York

To dream, to think, to go on Shashi Tharoor, UN, New York

Defeat is never easy to digest, in any endeavour in life all the more so when the loss is both personal and, in a sense, national...

AS I write these words the weekend before they appear in print, I am contemplating the imminent prospect of defeat in the race for the Secretary-Generalship of the United Nations. A ballot on Monday (whose results will be known to readers today) seems likely to end my participation in the contest.

The ones that were won

Until now I could truthfully say that I had never lost an election. But that is also because I had only run in three. The first was for the Presidency of the St Stephen's College Students' Union back in 1974. Friends coined the slogan "Shashi Tharoor jeetega zaroor," and it turned out to be prophetic. (My most memorable achievement as President, unfortunately, was improving the quality of the vegetarian food in the college mess, though I also kept my Union out of the JP movement, a stance I later regretted during the Emergency.)The second was a considerably less intense contest that saw me elected as the student representative on the Admissions Committee of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy two years later (in which capacity I helped gain admission for a pair of Indian applicants). And the third, my first worldwide election, was in 1985, when officials of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees chose me to head the staff association. (We were a trade union with a difference, because we were more concerned about the well-being of refugees than about ourselves, and during a financial crisis for the organisation we led a drive to donate a day's salary to the office.) The fourth time has turned out to be less lucky.

Facing up to defeat

Defeat is never easy to digest, in any endeavour in life all the more so when the loss is both personal and, in a sense, national, since I was the proud standard-bearer of the official nomination of the Government of India for this post. I wasoverwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of strangers from across the country and throughout the diaspora who wrote to me to express their support and promise me their prayers. The letters came from people of every caste, religion and region in our vast country, and many from NRIs scattered across the globe; half a dozen even came from Pakistani citizens, which points to a human affinity that transcends the subcontinent's political divides. I was humbled to be the repository of the good wishes and hopes of so many people, and it is impossible to escape the feeling that, by losing, I have let them down. Friends have been quick to call and write to assure me, on the eve of defeat, that I have nothing to be ashamed of, and that my performance in the contest has more than vindicated their faith in me. Frankly, I find little consolation in this: in any race, second is never as good as first. Those who tell me that victory would have saddled me with a thankless job are also barking up the wrong tree: the thankless job is, after all, the one I sought. (The Duke of Wellington famously said that victory was the greatest tragedy in the world, except for a defeat. But he could say that because he kept winning.) And yet, I have no regrets in defeat. This was a battle worth waging: throughout the process I have been sustained by my strong faith in the values and principles of the United Nations, in its achievements and its potential, and in the quality and dedication of its staff around the world. It has been a privilege to articulate and defend my vision of this indispensable organisation, to which I have devoted my professional life (and most of my adult life). Debt of gratitude The Bhagavad Gita tells us that we must do our duty without regard to the outcome. If something is worth striving for, the striving is its own reward. There are only two mistakes in life, the Buddha once said: not going all the way, and not starting the journey. I would never have forgiven myself for not having tried to go all the way, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to the Government of India for having given me the opportunity to start the journey. Ultimately, all sense of victory and loss are personal. The poet Longfellow put it best: "Not in the clamour of the crowded street, / Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat". My regular readers know that I am not a great fan of Rudyard Kipling, but amongst the finest lines he ever wrote were contained in his magnificent poem "If": "If you can dream and not make dreams your master; If you can think and not make thoughts your aim, / If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/ And treat those two imposters just the same." It is a curiously Hindu idea for that arch-imperialist to express, but in recognising that victory and defeat are both part of life lies the insight that enables each of us to go on. And go on I will.

Jeffrey D. Ullman and Anand Rajaraman

Dragon book: Compiler Guru

Anand - Junglee fame!!

Roy nechoor

.NET 2005 BOOK LIST

Please see the list of books hand picked by .NET expert Manu Jacob of Bangalore.
Anyone wants to switch to .NET 2005, please check this out!!!

1. Visual C# 2005 Step By Step
2 Visual C# 2005 : The Language
3. Jump Start Design Patterns
4. ASP.NET 2005 Step By Step
5. Design Patterns in C# - Steven John Metsker

6. Practical .NEt 2 and C#2 - Patrick Smacchia

Thanks Manu!!...

നെച്ചൂരില്‍ കൂടി ഒഴുകുന്ന പുഴ

മലയാളം ബ്ലോഗ് : ഒരു പുതിയ അനുഭവം

മലയാളം ബ്ലോഗ് : ഒരു പുതിയ അനുഭവം...................
നന്ദി ..... ഇതു സാധ്യമാക്കിയ എല്ലാവര്‍ക്കും

Blink : [sound recording (unabridged audiobook)] the power of thinking without thinking / Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-

Indian love poems / Alexander, Meena, 1951-

Competing for the future / Hamel, Gary.

The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid / Prahalad, C. K.

How would you move Mount Fuji? : Microsoft's cult of the puzzle : how the world's smartest companies select the most creative thinkers / Poundstone, William.

Blank : the power of not actually thinking at all / Tall, Noah, 1966-

The tipping point : how little things can make a big difference / Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-
Multicultural mathematics / Nelson, David.

alex pikada!!!!

http://www.dunganbooks.com/alex.htm

RAJU NARAYANASWAMY IAS

.....still there is hope in kerala!!!!!

Raju Narayanaswamy

I had heard about this guy before.And its the first of the forwards that iam putting in blog.It makes lot of sense and pain to put this:

RAJU NARAYANASWAMY IAS

First Rank in State in Secondary School Examination
First Rank in University in Plus Two
Tenth Rank in IIT Entrance Examination
First Rank in All India IIT Computer Science
First Rank in IAS Entrance Examination
First Rank in IAS Training Institute

On passing out from IIT Chennai Mr. Narayanaswamy was offered scholarship by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He who came from a middle class family believed that he had a moral obligation to give something in return for the lakhs of rupees the government spent on him as an IIT student. He had the intelligence and conviction to realize that this money came also from the poorest of the poor - who pay up the excise duty on textiles when they buy cloth, who pay up customs, excise and sales tax on diesel when they travel in a bus, and in numerous other ways indirectly pay the government. So he decided to join IAS hoping he could do something for the people of this country. How many young men have the will power to resist such an offer from USA? Narayanaswamy did never look at IAS as a black money spinner as his later life bears testimony to this fact.

After a decade of meritorious service in IAS, today, Narayanaswamy is being forced out of the IAS profession. Do you know why?

A real estate agent wanted to fill up a paddy field which is banned under law. An application came up before Narayanaswamy who was sub collector the, for an exemption from this rule for this plot of land. Upon visiting the site he found that the complaint from 60 poor families that they will face water logging due to the waste water from a nearby Government Medical College if this paddy field was filled up was correct. Narayanswamy came under intense political pressure but he did what was right - refused permission for filling up the paddy field. That was his first confrontation with politicians.

Soon after his marriage his father-in-law closed down a public road to build compound wall for his plot of land. People approached Narayanaswamy with complaint. When talking with his own father-in-law did not help, he removed the obstructing wall with police help. The result, his marriage broke up.

As district Collector he raided the house of a liquor baron who had defaulted Rupees 11 crores payment to government and carried out revenue recovery. A Minister directly telephoned him and ordered to return the forfeited articles to the house of the liquor baron. Narayanswamy politely replied that it is difficult. The minister replied that Narayanaswamy will suffer.

In his district it was a practice to collect crores of rupees for earthen bunds meant for poor farmers, but which were never constructed. A bill for rupees 8 crores came up before Narayanaswamy. He inspected the bund. He found it very weak and said that he will pass the bill after the rainy season to ensure that the bund served the purpose. As expected the earthen bund was too weak to stand the rain and it disappeared in the rain. But he created a lot of enemies for saving 8 crores public money.

The net result of all such unholy activities was that he was asked to go on leave by the government. Later such an illustrious officer was posted as "State Co-Ordinator, Quality Improvement Programme for Schools". This is what the politician will do to a honest officer with backbone - post him in the most powerless position to teach him a lesson.

Since he found that nothing can be achieved for the people if he continued with the State Service he opted for central service. But that too was denied on some technical ground. What will you do when you have a brilliant computer career anywhere in the world you choose with the backing of several advanced technical papers too published in international journals to your credit? When you are powerless to do anything for the people, why should you waste your life as the Co-Ordinator for a Schools Programme?

Mr. Narayanaswamy is on the verge of leaving IAS to go to Paris to take up a well paid United Nations assignment. The politicians can laugh thinking another obstacle has been removed. But it is the helpless people of this country who will lose - not Narayanaswamy. But you have the power to support capable and honest bureaucrats like Narayaswamy, G.R.Khairnar and Alphons Kannamthanam who have suffered a lot under self seeking politicians who rule us. You have even the power to replace such politicians with these kind of people dedicated to the country. The question is will you do the little you can do NOW? At least a vote or word in support of such personalities?

Maharajas Marikkatha Ormakal

Maharajas Ormakal

maharajas college ernakulam

Maharajas College, Ernakulam - Pre Degree 1st Group 'A' Batch1973-75

the saddest lines............................

Saddest Poem   - Pablo Neruda

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.

Write, for instance: "The night is full of stars,
and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance."

The night wind whirls in the sky and sings.

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

On nights like this, I held her in my arms.
I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her.
How could I not have loved her large, still eyes?

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.
To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.

To hear the immense night, more immense without her.
And the poem falls to the soul as dew to grass.

What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her.
The night is full of stars and she is not with me.

That's all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.
My soul is lost without her.

As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her.
My heart searches for her and she is not with me.

The same night that whitens the same trees.
We, we who were, we are the same no longer.

I no longer love her, true, but how much I loved her.
My voice searched the wind to touch her ear.

Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once
belonged to my kisses.
Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her.
Love is so short and oblivion so long.

Because on nights like this I held her in my arms,
my soul is lost without her.

Although this may be the last pain she causes me,
and this may be the last poem I write for her.

Oh! see this

Reminds the data structure classes ...
must see http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/

very good link on design windows form

A must for .net developer: Exception handling in .NET
Clarity Consulting: Bear Stearns Architecture

books to read

1. Freaknomics
2. Startups that works Joel Kutzman
3. How Dell Does it. Steven Holzner