• Google 
• Yahoo
• webmail@stanford
• yahoo mail

• webmail@variman
• Merck Manual
• Sify mall  | Amazon 
• oswd

Intro

Professionally (stuff I do to pay my bills) I am an Enterprise application developer with over 13 years of development experience, specializing in Java EE. I hold a Masters and Bachelors in Computer engineering, from Anna University and Madras University respectively, both from Chennai, India

Computer Science, Mathematics, Cosmology, Drawing, Flying, Aero modeling, paper modeling, Music, Astronomy, Advaita, Particle Physics, Animating .. gosh, we are so darn lucky to be alive..!

The point of these pages are to share a few of my interests, and possibly useful information about them. Those who have similar interests are welcome to drop a line, send your thoughts. 

I salute the (now) infinite number of folks around the planet for creating truly useful, wonderful, amazing, detailed accounts of the countless faculties of the mind. their great effort in putting them on the web, has opened up unlimited possibilities for every one to learn, understand, share, feel and realize.  This web truly reminds me of the Vishavaroopa dharshan of god almighty, which Oppenheimer quoted elsewhere to describe what he felt when he began to understand the unlimited power of the nuclear energy.

 

Spirit

"athato brahma jijnasa"

There is more than what meets the Eye.

We all have a lot of questions. Mostly more questions than we have answers. lots of them. some are sociological, why there is social imbalance, will it ever get solved, would it make sense to get it solved, is it good to get it solved, why do tragedies occur? why only to some? how do I know I will or will not be struck with a tragedy?, why do I have fear? why there is imbalance in so many things?, why are some kings and why are some not? why are some intellectual and why are some not? Endless questions.

Similarly the understanding of the physical reality is a great challenge. so much has been learnt indeed, the laws of nature, properties of matter, forces, energies and so on. Yet more questions than answers. Such phenomenological understanding such as physics, or more soul-searching acts such as music and other arts etc give us some solace in that, they give answers for some localized questions, such as when we are depressed, some music cheers you up, etc. but questions remain. take cosmology for instance, take the space is curved thing, now if we were to ask is a line on a curved thread curved? what do we say? is it curved? can we say the thread inside which we live is itself curved, can we assert this without the existence of a space 'outside' the thread? it does seem that we need extra dimension to understand a specific dimension.

Now, we all need a philosophy. Life is mysterious, we are mysterious creatures, there are way too many things that we have no clue about. Life is short. I like Adi Sankara's poem, Baja Govindam.

The Advaita philosophy is the essence of all of Hindu thoughts, all the Vedas, Upanishads, Epics and Mythology attempt to explain the simple and true nature of the reality, in different depth to be understood by different types of people. What is this essence? It is simply that 'Every thing is One'. sounds incredibly similar to what Feynman says about the most important single line about all that has ever been learnt as 'Everything is made of atoms'. This he says is the more densest form of information, since every other information can be discovered from using this as a premise. Everything is One says the Vedas. And all the various texts are nothing but elaborations, and expositions on this single idea. everything is One. there is no space, no time, no event, no nothing , these are the play of the mind.

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi teaches one of the most direct and simple approach to realization. He says, keep asking Who Am I? Who is it that is doing all this, To Whom is all these things happening, where is the root of this 'I' ? keep focusing on this, and realization will occur. Concentrating (not on anything, but just concentrating) the mental energies will lead us to liberation.

Who Am I? I am That! - I don't know what is . I don't know what/who is? why we are what and where we are. But there is this feeling that there is more than what meets the eye. I am beginning to feel that Vedanta, Advaita, Saivam seem to be very well in tune with what my mind seeks. I like Monism. I think it is the truth. may be its just a temporary thing, or maybe its a profound truth, and maybe its the essence. someday I ought to find it out.
The theme of letting go of your mind recurs often. Particularly when we hear great masters speak of art, to create art one has to loose the mind, meaning loose the conscious, and careful nature of us, only then great creations come about. when we stop being too analytical, when we stop seeking only through what meets the eye, there is an unseen force that elevates what we create to great heights. For example the gesture drawing/contour drawings that beginning artists do as an exercise trains them to seek what the conscious/intellectual does not see. what happens is almost subconscious, and what results is fascinating, when you see the art work of an infant or a toddler, there is something natural about it, like the nature itself, whereas when as adults we try to draw something, it gets too stiff, too artificial. I believe such things give us a clue as to how there is more than what our senses and intellect tell us, and how illusory and unreal what we believe reality is. let go off ourselves, get into the mystic realm where the true Self can be felt and realized! Some great souls who show the light..

Music

I think everyone is musical. The cosmos is musical. everything is rythmic. there are tones in everything. Some are aware, some do not dwell deep. Music is more for the soul than the intellect. It is the realm of the subconscious. Music soothes, music inspires, music energizes, music strengthens, music melts. I love listening to film music, having grown up listening to Illayaraja,  some carnatic music, some western classics. But my knowledge is very limited. I did not /do not believe that I have a deep inclination towards learning music or learning to appreciate music. But I always had the basic curiosity to understand it and appreciate it. I remember as a kid trying to learn sheet music. but that stopped after a basic understanding. Of late I have developed an interest to learn carnatic music, not to become proficient in it or anything, but most of south indian film music is somehow based on carnatic music, that is melodies, and would love to play them on my keyboard. As I go about doing it, the deep ocean of carnatic music is alluring.. either way it is sheer nectar, either you sip it or simply jump in it.

I bought a few books containing lessons on traditional carnatic music, been learning ... swaravali varisai, jantai varisai, melsthai varisai, alankaram, geethams, swarajathi, notes, varnams.  I have been practicing them on my keyboard.. its amazing. I can play few varnams now, in shankarabaranam, mohanam and abohi. its truly amazing.. I need to understand thalams better. maybe I will learn the thabala or mirudhangham someday.

 
 

Art

Drawing is a natural instinct. I try to draw whenever I find time. I am learning from the writings of such greats as Kimon Nicolaides, Andrew Loomis and Glenn Vilppu. Quite frankly, story illustrations and comic books, are my inspiration, though the paintings of great masters do attract my attention, its mostly illustration that I am into. Drawing from Life, Figure Drawing are some of my interests these days. Classical 2d cell-animation is something that interests me. Architecture is something that I always wanted to learn. Building architecture, City design, and the whole lot of artifacts associated with the detailing of a building.

Drawing is more than a skill. It is of course an art. Art is one of the approaches to take your consciousness to different levels. As several philosophers both west and east have said, seeing is actually becoming., drawing is nothing but seeing, the actual drawing itself is a triviality. It took me several years to understand that. Now I am learning to see, essentially hoping to become a better artist. Anyway this is one of the stuff I do with the least of the efforts, and I love it.

I recently bought a set of Glenn Vilppu's DVDs. They are awesome!! Like taking a real class in figure drawing. suddenly I am able to connect the dots. Though a bit expensive, they are truly worth it. Vilppu teaches for animation artists from studios such as Disney. And hence his approach is very effective and immediate. Though he derives heavily from the classic renaissance methods, he has come up with a more effective training methodology, due to the demands of the animation industry. This out to be the right starting point, if affordable. It is one thing to read and read and read. But totally different to see the artist really go about drawing the gesture, forms etc. Its a giant leap in terms of learning. Now I think I have got a more concrete goal of 'learning to draw the figure completely from imagination' as my near future goal in art. After having spent quite a bit of time with Vilppu's lectures I am totally convinced that learning from a teacher is a must. No books can compensate for the live action teaching. I have been trying to learn to draw for years, and the few weeks I spent watching Vilppu's has worked wonders! In terms of books, Kimon's Natural way to draw is the only one I would recommend. Others can be references but for learning these are probably the only ones.


Other stuff I would love to do includes, 3D modeling, character animation, Virtual sets creation and so on..

You can find a workbook on 3d modeling here, which will help a beginner get started in the fascinating art.

 

Science

A physical analysis and investigation into what we perceive is what constitutes Science. Observation, physical observation is the premise
Astronomy - The ancient pastime is so easy to get hooked to. Helps you connect with the rest of the universe, tells you that you are part of a much bigger and grander thing. I am an amateur, learning to observe the sky. I own a 60mm refractor, a good pair of 16x50 binoculars, and a moderate set of eyes. My goal for the near future is to complete the Messier objects. After spending around 3 yrs studying the sky at irregular intervals, I feel the need for aperture. soon I will be migrating to an 8 inch reflector, with Eq mount, motor drive.

Astronomy is a great pastime, its so interesting to learn a variety of things, observation methods, recording the observations and trying to find out any relationships. Its indeed one of the most imaginative of all sciences. Imagine this, there are some tiny dots of lights moving about at unnoticeable pace, mostly randomly, and people begin figuring out that there is after all a pattern to all this movement, and then come up with dramatic thoughts of those tiny dots being as big and bigger than our whole world.

Cosmology takes off where astronomy leaves, and it is on the borderlines with philosophy.

Hard to understand and hence fun. What are we made of? where do we come from? where do we go? fantastic questions, no answers yet.

Particle physics digs in the opposite direction to find the small, smaller and ultimately the smallest thing. the simple model of electron, proton, neutron has given way to an amazing array of subatomic particles. particle physicists are after the ultimate particle.

There is a legend in south India about how two of the trinities, Brahma and Vishnu got into an ego problem with the other member Siva. Siva in order to make matters clear for the two, manifested himself as an infinite column of light, Brahma and Vishnu failed to find neither the bottom nor the summit. Particle physics and cosmology are the two extreme ends of this physical reality, which we are trying to understand. may be we should let go of our individuality (Vishnu) and mentality (Brahma) in order to realize the truth (Siva).

There is a great amateur(?!) astronomer living in Chennai by name P Devados, he manufactures telescopes ( Newtonian )  of all sizes at his own workshop. He introduced me to a more structured study of the skies. He gives lectures, conducts workshops and motivates and encourages young would-be astronomers.

Certificate in Astronomy from Periyar Science and Technology Centre, Chennai.
Certificate in Particle Physics at Stanford, California

 

Aviation

The Fantasy of flight is an age old thing. The last century witnessed its realization. Be it model flying, simulation, or the real thing, learning about aircrafts, how these heavier than air objects defy gravity and soar great heights, to give breathtaking views is indeed a fascinating exercise. After dreaming about it for a long while, I eventually got my place in front of the stick and flew all by myself. I learnt to fly in the beautiful San Francisco Bay area. Goal for the near future, get that Private pilot license.
Flying is a sport as well as an avenue to learn a lot of stuff such as physics, engineering, weather, aeronautics. truly an engaging activity.
And on those days you cannot really fly, I am a great Flight Sim Addict. Where else can I fly a DC3?


I Hold a Solo Flight Certificate, with about 50 hours of flying tailwheel airplanes, at the famous school Amelia Reid Aviation, California .
 

Computing

Computing, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Hardware technology... these set of amazing innovations and inventions have truly transformed the way humans live.  Like language, like cultivation, this is indeed a fundamental transformation... beginning from the days of counting, arithmetic, algebra, rational thought, logic .. going thru a series of inventions .. measuring devices, calculating devices, automated loom, analytical engines, electronic computer .. semi conductors .. on and on .. culminating in the omni present, omni potent internet.

To me computers are more than 'yet another tool'. it is the tool of all tools. the highest possible abstraction. infinitely recursive, living mathematics.

I still recall the first time I got my eyes set on the green-phosphor monitor, blinking its cursor, inviting me to a whole new digital world. world of digits..0s and 1s.  If we seriously think about it, it all boils down to those two numbers, or rather two things. yin and yang, shiva and shakthi, infinity and void, male and female, mental and physical, wave and particle, matter and energy....duality. we really need only two things. nothing more, nothing less. with two we can create the entire universe. when we make them one.. we simply dissolve the universe.. we get the One! Aum. 

Feynman thinks the whole universe is nothing but a computer, a digital entity moving from state to state... click.. click... click.. clicking from state to state.. one humungous state machine. I like the idea.

Physicists say that Physics when it deals correctly with information (other than matter, energy and force), will be able to explain reality completely. Computing hardware is reaching its limits as per Moore's law. its hitting the limits of classical physics.. entering mysterious and sometimes mystical Quantum world. It will be interesting to see these two fields of study going towards each other for deeper answers.

Now to more practical things.. this article on software design by Jack Reeves is probably something all people concerned with software should read. I agree with this a lot. Click here to read.