on behalf of Volunteer In Dubai

10th April

Times Square Mall
Feline Friends Book Sale
Job: Selling books to the public in aid of Feline Friends. Morning and Evening Shifts Required.

Please email all your details to:

17th April 2009

Dubai Festival City
Job: supporting the wonderful pianist Mr. Johnny Miller (the guy who plays in Mercato) who is completing a 12 hour painothon in aid of Dubai Autism Centre. We need your help to hand out flyers on the day to inform the public of this wonderful appeal.

Please email all your details to:

Pretty neat :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYiEkQYhWY

कुछ ऊँचे रिश्तों की खातिर
कुछ ज्यादा खुशियों की खातिर
कुछ ज्यादा पैसों की खातिर
कुछ हंसते लम्हों की खातिर,

मैं छोड़ चला था दुनिया को,
मैं छोड़ चला था उस आँचल को,
और घर के प्यारे आँगन को,
और बहन की हंसती आँखों को,
राखी से सजी उस थाली को,
और छोडा अपने यारों को,
गम में तडपते प्यारों को,
मुड के भी ना मैने देखा था,
दर्द भरी उन आँखों को,

जिस दुनिया को मैने पाया,
वो दुनिया नहीं एक धोखा था,
एक गरम हवा का छोंका था,
आया और आ कर चला गया,
फिर भी पैसा खूब कमाया,
और कुछ सम्मान भी पाया,
पर सच नहीं वो धोखा था,
जब आज जोड़ने मैं बैठा
देखा कुछ तो न पाया था,

जिस राखी को मैने तोडा,
जिस आँचल को मैने छोडा,
naa मिलेंगे वो राखी, आँचल,
मैं छोडूँ चाहे दुनिया को,
सब छोड़ चला था मैं जैसे,
उसमे तो कुछ तो मुझे दे दो,
मुझको तो "आप" से 'तुम' कर दो,
मैं छोड़ चला था दुनिया को,

'मुझको मेरी दुनिया दे दो'

-शांडिल्य

Thanks Shandily :)

Will provide a translation shortly.

From March 30th, Google has enabled its transliteration service for Indic languages to its Gmail users, if you have been waiting to compose emails in your native Indian languages (well, for now they support Hindi, Kannada,  Gmail is all game now .

Head over to your Gmail settings, and enable the transliteration service along with specifying your default preferred language and you are all set. By the way, if you are looking into transliterating some arbitrary text without sending it as an email, you can use the transliteration service available at http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic

I have been thinking of using this service for few things, lets see

Woke up very early today, and was going through a walk down the memory lane … came across this song sent to me by an old friend … such a beautiful song, great lyrics, nice choreography, smoothing music and rain yea rain! …  Whenever I see rain I remember the home days when me and bro used to pay no heed to mom’s warnings and get going out for enjoying the rain, really worth the cold and fever that follows for the next few days

miss you!

Parijatham – Unnai Kandena

By the way, an update to my Downloading YouTube videos as mp4 post, there is an easier way to do this. For any YouTube video that you would like to download just add “kick” to the YouTube.com part of the url, for example the above video is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Iz5_Xgw35A and so you can download this video by going to url http://kickyoutube.com/watch?v=4Iz5_Xgw35A and from the top after selecting your needed file format press “GO”.

Have a nice weekend :)

Effects : A+

Action : A+

Music : KickAss+ :)

Expectation : Very High :)

Love the trailer!!

Every sentence is a gem…

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

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;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

On behalf of Volunteer In Dubai

Dear All
“Reaching U” are organising an event at Jumeirah Beach Park on Saturday the 14th March from 2 – 6 and are looking for the support of both the business and citizen community.
This year HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has kindly offered her patronage and her presence for this event.
The aim of the reaching u Family Fun Day is a FREE day full of fun for children with Special Needs and main-stream children, to interact and to spread “awareness”; representing many nationalities of the UAE residents (Emirati as well as expatriate). The day is full of activities, including – DJ, Bouncy Castles, Obstacle Courses, Climbing Wall, Drumming, Art Work, Magic Shows, Theatrical Shows, Playing Games, Face & Henna Painting and many more...
If you wish to participate in the event we are looking for the following:
- Children’s Entertainers (Magicians – Clowns – Jugglers – Face Painters - etc)
- Corporate Sponsors (incl F & B)
- Volunteers to help on the day
- Photographers
- Families to come and participate!! (no need to email for that though just turn up on the day!!)
If you wish to get involved please send us an email on

Many thanks!
LOLA

It was long over due recognition :)

Best Original Song: A.R.Rahman for Jai…Ho

Best Original Score: A.R.Rahman

எல்லா புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே! (All the praises / credits to God)

Been long since the last post, had been busy but also was not in the mood for blogging. It seems all bloggers get into this phase once in a while, something like a writers block. Anyways, let get the post started

Below are few of interesting stuff that I came across recently:

No 'one villa, one family' rule in Dubai

There is no "one villa, one family" rule in Dubai and the campaign against overcrowded villas has been misunderstood, a top civil official said on Sunday.

"The municipality has started a campaign against overcrowding in villas to ensure the safety and security of residents," clarified Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of the Dubai Municipality.

He said the campaign was targeted against high numbers of people living in villas meant for smaller numbers

Abu Dhabi to Debut Personal Rapid Transit “Podcars” Later This Year

The designers of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's new post-petroleum city, are not bound by the usual set of rules and constraints. Money is not really an issue, and the political leadership is always willing to try out innovative ideas that the rest of the world regards as unproven, unorthodox or just plain fantasy.

One of them is PRT, personal rapid transit, a system of transportation featuring compact, driver-less “podcars.” In Masdar, where the streets will be entirely free of automobiles, a network of these compact electric taxis will provide clean and quiet transportation to the city’s residents, as well as commuters. The first PRT cars are set to begin running later this year. Admittedly intrigued, TreeHugger sat down with one of the system's designers recently at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi to hear more about the project.

Go Abu Dhabi Go!!

UAE (Dubai?) had denied visa for entry for Israeli player Shahar Peer for the Women’s Tennis Championship that's about to start in Dubai, because of this Wallstreet Journal Europe had revoked its sponsorship for the game and Tennis Channel had opted out of broadcasting the event, after that everybody was eagerly awaiting if Andy Ram would get his visa. It happens that he has been allowed entry.

News Items From: The UAE Community Blog

One of the thought provoking gems from Seth’s recent blog post:

Having goals is a pain in the neck.

If you don't have a goal (a corporate goal, a market share goal, a personal career goal, an athletic goal...) then you can just do your best. You can take what comes. You can reprioritize on a regular basis. If you don't have a goal, you never have to worry about missing it. If you don't have a goal you don't need nearly as many excuses, either.

Not having a goal lets you make a ruckus, or have more fun, or spend time doing what matters right now, which is, after all, the moment in which you are living.

The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run.

It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact... those people have goals.

The formula for happiness is to find the right balance between the two perspectives :)

Happy Weekend Everybody!

There are things in life that makes you feel warm and cozy; like the memories of your childhood, feeling you get when with mom, hugs from friends, photographs from way past, time you spend learning stuff from dad and so on. You tend to experience joy and sorrow randomly and you deal with them according to the current situation, there simply is no “Happily ever after” in real life. Its hard to make others experience your feelings the same way you have gone through them, maybe the best anybody can do is relate to similar incidents and try to relate.

Very few films comes closer to getting you relate to similar feelings as the characters have gone through. We love those films and that’s makes them special, without considering the fact that if they are a hit or miss in the box office.

My interest in Gautham Menon’s other movies were quite mixed, though I liked Minnale and loved Kaaka Kaaka, I totally hated Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu. Then after I came across the news that Vaarnam Aayiram was inspired by Forest Gump, which is one of my favorite movies of all times, I was more skeptical about the whole thing. As such if anything my recent experience has thought, that is to not expect anything from anywhere . But I wanted to watch the movie very badly for 2 reasons, firstly the effort put in by Surya in shaping up for the film; Its quite an inspiration to have such dedicated visual professionals and to know the work they put in for getting up in their respective fields. secondly, Music! yes! It’s been quite a long time that I have repeatedly heard the same songs again and again after Roja, Pink Floyd’s - Coming back to life, and few other favorites close to the heart. And this time Harris Jayaraj has hit the right spot and has done a fantastic job.

It is really painful to know that this movie would be the last one made in the partnership of Harris Jayaraj and Gautham Menon. Common guys! You should think over it again.

Vaarnam Aayiram, has two possible meanings in Tamil. First, if literally translated would mean 1000 elephants. Secondly, it may also refer to one of the 143 verses of Nachiar Tirumozhi. In her restlessness and eagerness to join with Kannan, Sri Andal attempts various methods by which she can attain union with Kannan which forms the major part of Nachiyar Thirumozhi. Among the Thirumozhis, Vaaranamaiyiram is very well known and has a special significance. It details Andal's Narration of her dream of being married with kannan to her thozhi's(friends). I for sure don’t know which of this two meanings is implied for the movie, though the second meaning maybe more apt as it depicts “what we see at display is the intensity with which this effort should be undertaken, and the impatience that the jIva should feel in achieving this objective at all costs, until the objective is realized”.

The movie on a general level deals with the life of Surya, and about how various persons in his life including his parents, friends and all play a vital role in in various stages of his life. Maybe this is the part that others refer to as “inspiration” from Forest Gump, but for me that doesn’t make a sound argument. I liked the pace the movie has selected, I for one think that it very well suits the atmosphere the movie is trying to create. The speed actually allows you to go through the characters thought process, perspective and emerge out attached to their feelings which makes relating to them a lot easier. But at the same time the second half of the movies tempo could have been hiked a bit. Surya does a wonderful job of portraying the character of Father and Son in his various stages of life. Sameera Reddy as usual is very beautiful and has done a toned down role which suits her character a lot. Simran was smart and talented, I for sure thought that the make-up didn't suit her for the old aged role, and also her voice was too young for a character she was portraying, other than that she was very comfy and doing great. Divya was fantastic, though not much of a screen presence, she was pleasant.

The visuals were really great, if I could meet Rathnavelu personally I would sure thank him for the wonderful treat! He is the man handling Rajinikanth’s Endiran, and I am very pleased to know that news. Kudos sir!

No need to talk about the music, I am in love with the music. One of the inspirations to continue the Guitar classes, I can easily say that this years best music is from this movie. The lyrics were really done very well. I loved Nenjukul Paithidum song mainly for the lyrics

All said, I liked the way the movie was handled. Gautham has done a nice job and I had a wonderful evening with friends watching and sharing the movie. Would I recommend the movie to others? Sure, I guess if not for anything you should see the movie for the music and cinematography.It sure is a winning movie for the whole team. Worth the time spent.

As Arun would like to repeat:

Whatever happens, Life always goes on!

Cheers everyone!

Quite an interesting video

The below post will provide a "hello world" kind of introduction to connecting to a remote IBM WebSphere Message Queue server using client application written in C#.

Points to note:

• Server and client should have a common OS login name. The passwords can be different between the server and client, what matters is that the login name should be identical.
• The login name you have selected to use should be part of the MQM group on the MQ server, or it should be explicitly given permission for querying the Queue manager and the queue.
• I have come across code on the web where they have mentioned how to connect to MQ server even with a different OS login name from the client side by explicitly setting the login and password onto the MQEnviroment class static properties, but it has not worked for me till now. So, my example code would be assuming that there is an identical login name between the client and server.
• Make a note of the Server-connection channel name (case sensitive), queue manager name (case sensitive), queue name (case sensitive) from the server side.
• You would need to install at the least the client package of MQ onto the client machine, the client code would be using the library from this installation to connect to the server.
• A reference to amqmdnet.dll would have to be added to the client project, its located in <MQ Installation Path>\bin\amqmdnet.dll

Now for the code

   1:  using System;

   2:  using System.Collections.Generic;

   3:  using System.Text;

   4:  using IBM.WMQ;

   5:   

   6:  namespace RemoteMQTest {

   7:      class Test01 {

   8:          static void Main(string[] args) {

   9:              MQEnvironment.Hostname = "My_Server";

  10:              MQEnvironment.Channel = "My_Channel";

  11:   

  12:              string mqQueueManagerName = "My_Q_Manager";

  13:              string mqQueueName = "My_Queue";

  14:              int openOptions = MQC.MQOO_INPUT_AS_Q_DEF;

  15:   

  16:              MQQueueManager qMgr = new MQQueueManager(mqQueueManagerName);

  17:              MQQueue q = qMgr.AccessQueue(mqQueueName, openOptions);

  18:   

  19:              MQMessage message = new MQMessage();

  20:              message.Version = 2;

  21:   

  22:              q.Get(message);

  23:   

  24:              Console.WriteLine("I got the message : {0}", message.ReadString(message.DataLength));

  25:              message.Seek(0);

  26:   

  27:   

  28:              q.Close();

  29:              qMgr.Close();

  30:              Console.WriteLine("done!");

  31:          }

  32:      }

  33:  }

Note that in line 25, we are explicitly making the message to seek back to 0th byte.

Happy coding

The Opera browser is my preferred browser as of now, with its low loading time and in-built support for mouse gestures and so many other small good things; it has established itself as the best choice for my taste. Even though it is great as it is out of the package, it helps a lot to customize it to iron out some quirks.

1. Adding Wikipedia quick search option

One of the neat things of Opera is that you can provide a quick search option, using which you can just provide a prefix letter and type your search term straight from the address bar; no need for any specialized area for making your search. Want to search google? or Yahoo!? or Answers? you can do just all this just by providing the appropriate prefix and typing your search term from the address bar (e.g., just typing "g vijay shankar ganesh" would search the term on google whereas providing "y vijay shankar ganesh" would search the same term on Yahoo!).

But, what escapes my logic is that how come they missed adding Wikipedia to the pre-built quick search options? Well, anyway its not much of a problem, all you need to do is Tools -> Preferences (Ctrl + F12) -> Search and then add the following details:

Name: Wikipedia Search

Keyword: w (w is by default used for download.com search, I seldom use it so I change w to use Wikipedia instead)

Address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s&go=Go

That's it, press OK and now you can just type "w" proceeded by your search term and you will be directly taken to the appropriate Wikipedia article if that's found or else it will take you to the result page of Wikipedia Search.

2. Open Folder option for transfers

Another one of those options which obviously needs to be present by default, it makes you wonder why it's the not the case though. Once your download / transfer has finished downloading / transferring, the right-click option on the transfers screen only provides you with option to directly execute / open the file. I most of the time prefer opening the folder where the download has taken place and then do what's needed of the file. This can be accomplished by following the method described in the following blog post:

http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/open-folder-in-transfers-right-click

Cheers!