My Top Songs for 2009

Continuing my tradition of listing my favorite songs for a year, I'm presenting 'My favorite songs' for 2009... As always my criterion is worth being listened to again and again

1. Panchadara bomma - magadheera

2. Uppenantha ee prema ki - Arya -2

3. Povodhe prema - Oy

4. Neetho unte- Josh

5. Ila entha sepu - Sashirekha parinayam

6. Anandama - Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam

7. Naalo nenena - Baanam

8. Tanemando ando ledo - Ganesh

9. Atu Nuvve Itu nuvve- Current

10. Muddugare yashoda - Village lo Vinayakudu

Other very good songs.. :)

1. Seheri - Oy

2. Bommalee - Billa

3. Oy oy - Oy

4. gundello guitar - Ek Niranjan

5. amma ledu - Ek Niranjan

6 Meghama -prayanam

Top songs for 2008

The Year that was - 2009 .. And a Happy New Year 2010

Image by b. inxee♪♫ via Flickr

2009 is a very eventful year for me. I have much to thank for and much to learn from this year.

Personally, it was a roller coaster from happiness to sadness to grief to happiness again. I got married this year and career wise also it was good growth. More than ever, there is more clarity that you have no excuses for not doing what you want to do. I am thankful for a loving wife, and wonderful friends in my life.

I have vacillated between contributing back to the society by various forms like volunteering for teaching, contributing money etc and going back on it due to lack of time or interest. And my new year will be the year of learning and sharing where the emphasis will be more on giving. And as on every Jan 1, the resolution of exercising daily does make an appearance. I hope I would be able to act on it this year. I think I will find more time for personal growth this year to run marathons, join new degree or venture into raw foods.

Regarding the other things which capture my mind, there have been quite a few wins like the introduction of nano car, Indian team becoming the number one test team. In Hyderabad, the PVNR express way was opened which gave me some cheer. As PC, the home minister said we were really lucky to get away in this year without a terrorist attack on any of our cities. This year will be remembered as the year of economic recession, but there are very good signs that economy is back on track. Even as the Indian govt says that inflation is reducing, the cost of food grains especially rice and pulses is steeply rising, which is a cause for concern. This year saw the reelection of congress both in center and in the state. But what I have been disappointed is the apathy of the voters in rejecting good parties (LokSatta) by staying away from voting and allowing the other parties a free run to run their corrupt show. The GHMC elections later this year was also a rude shock to me and to LokSatta as it proves that clean politics doesn't have a place. But I being eternally hopeful, am hoping that Loksatta will learn from its mistakes and grow its grass roots support. This year saw Chiranjeevi entering politics and is just learning. This year saw the end of YSR, who was a man of the masses but despised by many. The Telangana movement, which was down due to the strong leadership of YSR, came back to haunt the congress and the centre which has done flip flops and now it is seriously hurting the prospects of a United AP. The BJP has gone from bad to worse and is facing a serious leadership crisis. Google's Android continues to capture mindshare and market share from other mobile platforms. Google's wave launches but fails to gather mindshare. Twitter matures and I also have become a little more active on twitter in sharing links.

After living through the year, I somehow feel I am coming closer to the 'SthithaPragna' state defined by Sri Krishna in Geeta. As I have written elsewhere in this blog, the amount of goodness and badness in the world is same, if you feel that you can change the world it is just your innocence. It is that in helping the world to change, you are helping yourself. Hence I have already started to take all what comes with equanimity but ofcourse always working to get a desired outcome.

I want to end this post with serenity prayer which was told to me by Ketan in his comment to the 2009 new year post

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Wishing you a happy new year 2010

My New Year Resolutions

Its new year time again and it is time for resolutions.. :)

1. Health:

wake up at 6 am daily

Exercise and run daily

Run a half marathon

Drink a smoothie daily (almost)

2. Career

Avoid multitasking as much as possible

Do the best with what you have - not a smart goal - just qualitative ( Should have zero issues with my work )

Join another degree - either political science or Green energy

3. Relations

Strengthen relations with existing friends with emphasis on giving

Develop relations with people in fields of interest ( alt energy, raw foods, music, pd)

Go to a trip with family once

4. Finances

Earn 30 lakhs :)

5. Personal

Write 60 blog posts atleast

Write a short story and publish it.

Read atleast 10 books this year and write the reviews

Apply and use 'Ten faces of innovation' in work to have atleast one innovation.

Avatar - A visual Treat

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Yes, I watched the much awaited James Cameroon movie Avatar and true to it stands true to what has been said about it. It is a visual masterpiece. The story premise is simple. There are lot of themes in the story but that is not what makes it a must watch.

He created an absolutely believable CG world. There are Navis and other fauna of the jungle, the modified dogs, which look villianous, some other varieties of animals, the birds on which the Na'vi people fly are also amazing. But the most wowwwwwwwwing things are the flora on the planet. The plant life showed will take your breath away. The glittering plants, the tree where the souls of the dead Na'vi lie is superb. The mountains and waterfalls are also amazing.

In the middle of the movie, humans attack the planet and there is destruction everywhere and the resemblence of the damaged Pandora to earth is unmistakable. Cameroon hits his point home with the appearance of the planet before and after the war. By the time the first strike happens, you will be rooting for the Na'vi and their breath taking world and earthlings feel villians to us.

The hero after a few visits to the Na'vi world says " The forest looks so real , whereas this world (The world of Humans) looks fake to me". After the movie ends I was having the same thoughts craving for more of Pandora and their beautiful environs:)

I watched it in a 2D theatre and definitely plan to watch it in 3-D.

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Book Review: Hyderabad - Narendra Luther

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With the issue of Telangana boiling in Andhra Pradesh, I just chanced upon a book called Hyderabad, a biography of Hyderabad written by Narendra Luther.

It is an account of Hyderabad from its beginnings till now. It starts with the building of Golconda fort till the debacle of the IT chief minister of the state ChandraBabu naidu.

I learnt a lot of interesting things about Hyderabad from that book.

> Md. Quli was the person who built Hyderabad. There was just a small settlement at the banks of river Musi before that. He built it exactly where he saw and married Bhagmati, his lover.

> There were two dynasties who ruled Hyderabad. The Qutb-Shahi and the Asaf-Jahi dynasty.

> Quli's city was one of the best in the world. There were lot of garden's in and around the city. All the Baghs in Hyderabad were all gardens from his time.

> Most of the modern development in Hyderabad happened in the prime ministership of Salar Jung.

> Hyderabad was a very beautiful city even till independence. It was after independence that city expanded rapidly.

You can read some of the poetry written by the Nawabs of the time. It was a breeze to read through the book and its like a whirlwind view of that society. But I was saddened to see the the last Nizam actually didn't do much and was sidelined by the Razakars and how the last Nizam was very stingy that he offered biscuits himself that to one by one and put in them in the locker!!!

Not a must read, but you can pick it up if you want to know about Hyderabad or particularly interested about history of Golconda, Charminar.

For the telangana issue, seeing by the history, the chief ministers who ruled A.P have violated the provisions of Gentlemen agreement and hence it makes a strong case for a separate Telangana.

Separate Telangana or United Andhra - The Way Forward?

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When on Nov 29th, KCR started an indefinite fast for separation of Telangana from AP, no one would have thought that he will get it. But the congress govt. surprised everyone by announcing the formation of Telangana state on Dec 9th. All the parties namely TDP,PRP and the left except the Congress were supportive of the Telangana cause then. All the parties have done a volte face and started working towards Unified Andhra pradesh...

Assembly is adjourned sine die and there is no work that is going on in the state. Most of the MLAs from Andhra and Rayalaseema region have resigned and they are working towards a united Andhra Pradesh.

Looking at the historical facts that surround Telangana, it is clear that having a separate state is good for Telangana and the need is also there. Time and Time all the promises made to Telangana have been violated and the situation is right for a separate Telangana.

But there is no movement on the issue, what can be done - The Centre has to invite TRS and the leaders from the united movement to come for a discussion. As TRS leaders say that they will wait till 2014 elections for Telangana, the Centre can ask for certain demands of Telangana which will be fulfilled by 2014 and implement all the guarantees of the 'Gentlemen Agreement' given during the formation of AP. Centre can broker that peace deal such that if those conditions are not met, the United leaders have to peacefully agree for separation and if all the guarantees and safeguards are implemented, then I think the Telangana movement will die down peacefully.

Its time of redemption for Telangana people and they have to be convinced that staying together will be best course of action for all involved and not only for Andhra people who have invested in Hyderabad. That way the situation can be resolved amicably.

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Music Reco - Leader

It has been a long time since I have shared some good music with you. Arya-2 provided some good music and after that there is no good music in the market.

Now Shekar Kammula is back with a new movie called leader and the music of the movie is very good..

Enjoy the songs :)

What can LokSatta learn from Telangana Movement?

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Sorry folks it has been a long time since I wrote a blog post.... Just got married and hence took a small break from blogging. Not having an internet connection at home also made blogging difficult.

Anyway I am back to blogging with more passion than ever. Start reading..

Leader A:

He wanted to bring democracy back to the people. He wanted to clean politics of its murkiness. That person who left a most coveted government job of Collector to make our place corruption free. He has the best solutions to the current system's problems. He gave a guarantee that he will pay you a fine if government services are not rendered in the SLA specified. He wanted to change the face of politics as it is played now to ensure that money power cannot silence vote power. He started a movement called the second freedom movement to prove that democracy is indeed the government - by the people, to the people and for the people.

Leader B:

His record is murky. After being denied a bigger role, he came out of a party to form his own party. He just demanded for a separate state without telling what will he do if he comes to power. He became a laughingstock by talking utter gibberish. He once said he will start a fast-unto-death and had taken food by the end of the day. He broke all the promises he made to himself and to the people. He had no real agenda. Even this time, he was about to break his promise of fast-unto-death but being cornered by all the people who supported him had to undertake it.

By now you would have guessed who leader A and leader B are... Leader A is Mr.Jayaprakash Narayan(JP), the LokSatta leader and leader B is Mr. K.ChandraSekhar Rao (KCR), The TRS leader. These two leaders faced two tests.

Leader A, JP went all out in the recently concluded GHMC elections. But he was not able to win atleast one seat in the elections and hence he failed in the test.

Leader B, KCR had no options having got a drubbing in the recent general elections, didn't even contest in the GHMC elections. He took a way out in doing fast-unto-death. And he turned into a hero for a yet to be formed new state.

How did this happen? Person who looked credible in implementing an agenda got nowhere but a leader with the least credibility was able to achieve a big thing. Though I know that Telangana is a cause whose time has come and it was just crystallized because of KCR's efforts and it was not created just because KCR fought for it is one thing. I think there are a couple of things which LokSatta can learn from the success of KCR.

1. Elections are won on charisma: In the general elections, JP won because he had the charisma in LokSatta. No other leader had that charisma except Rathiah of Vignan, who had lost too we will see the reason in a minute. If someother person other than KCR would have done that fast-unto-death, I am not sure if the Delhi Durbar would have responded so promptly with the announcement.

2. An Emotional Connect is required: KCR had an emotional connect with the people of Telangana on the issue whereas, though each person hopes to get all the above in the agenda of Loksatta, nobody was really hopeful of getting it and was not really emotionally invested in its success. Loksatta needs to do more grassroots work to build up that emotional connect by telling how implementing each can change their lives.

3. Market it so that people make it their cause: KCR had to do just a little, most of the work was done by the student unions who created a war type situation in the state as they identified Telangana as their cause. So Loksatta has to market itself in such a way that people feel good governance as their cause. I couldn't but quote Seth Godin here - 'You are a marketer whereever you are' KCR is a better marketer than JP.

Hope LokSatta learns these lessons and grow from grassroots now so that it can win in the next elections.