Timeline of Life

Check out Rise of Life at National Geographic!!

Loving my new LIFE!!!

Lost all my free time.. lazy-nap moments, and my stay-idle minutes!!! Well... thats coz I got MARRIED ;) The previously wasteful minutes are now filled with entertaining and romantic moments. No wonder I did'nt update my blog for a while... forget about uploading my wedding pics. I am loving my new post-marriage life :) Btw, its my first month!

My wedding with Preethi went on very well as planned on April 9 in Chennai (India). Thanks to all my friends, relatives and well-wishers! My wife and I had a quick temple-tour in that week.

Following that was a week-long trip to the island of Mauritius for honeymoon. This island is just superb... and a perfect destination for honeymooners!! We had a lovely weather which compliments the luxuries of a 5-star resort where we stayed. Sooo many memorable moments that we had together... the water-sport activities, stroll by the beach, drive thru the sugarcane-plantations and getting wet in the rain while holding hands...

We went back and stayed in India for my third week. On April 27, my wife and I returned to USA. She loved my appartment, the location and this country too. She's been a great wife to me... and I feel sooo lucky for having married her :)

I Love you Preetums :)

Dedicating this song to my fiancee!! I Love you Preetums :) Well... I knew I loved you even before I met you....

A special ring from a special person

Last week (Jan19 - Jan26) has been the most memorable week of my life. On Jan19, I discovered the love of my life, the one I always wanted to know ever since I was a teen. She's my mom's friend's daughter and lives just 10-min drive away from my house. Its funny how I did not get to meet her all these years.

On Jan20, I asked her out for a special dinner at a roof-top restaurant. Under the stars and a backlit blue light, I got down on my knee, proposed to her and asked her to marry me! You know wot... She said YES! It was a romantic evening and the most memorable of my life:)

The next day (Jan21), I got engaged to this lovely girl with the grace and blessing of my parents, relatives, friends and all our well-wishers. We exchanged our engagement rings in a conventional manner. Thats the moment when my status changed from "Still looking" to "Commited". Hmmm! Thinking of my new status, am happy and sad at the same time ;)

We went out together on all other days of the week and enjoyed our time in each other's company. You can find some of our photos on my orkut profile!

Also check out the countdown for my marriage :) Not many days left...

New-Gen Marriages in India

Analysis vs Instinct! Whats ur pick? For a girl in love marriage, she has to love the guy n thats all it takes to marrying him! But in arranged marriage, she usually considers the guy to be a part of the package deal (family, location, job, etc). She will go ahead with the marriage if she likes the package. A question to ask is if she will still be willing to marry him without the package deal and just for him... If so, that will be the best of both worlds:) Ofcourse, same applies for a guy too!!

Its instinct vs analysis! Love marriage is more of instinct n infatuation... while arranged one is based on analysis n prediction. Both have their plus n minus~ Luckily, the current gen in India is adopting a hybrid culture to bring out the best in both worlds - "Instinct after Analysis"...

Its similar to arranged marriage, except for the concept of platonic dating prior to engagement. Its a perfect time to break the ice, build a rapport, exchange flashbacks and build confidence in one-another. If things go good, the next step will be marriage. Otherwise, the search continues... It all sounds like an algorithm for a happy marriage :)

Couple of Love quotes I'm impressed:
You don't marry someone you can live with - you marry the person who you cannot live without. - Unknown Author

If you love somebody, let them go; for if they return, they were always yours.
And if they don't, they never were. - Kahlil Gibran

Related posts: Logic and emotion in decision making of a marriage

Aim of Life for Wanna-preneurs

Here is a very good pic I found while browsing the web. This pic represents my true intent and that of several other wannapreneurs... Click to enlarge!

5 Ways to Scale Your Web Application

Writing web applications is a time consuming process, and when the application begins to get popular, it may not have been built to scale and handle volume. A great example of this is Twitter, a popular web 2.0 application that often has downtime. Here are some ways you can build your application with scaling in mind.

1. If you can, build your application with scaling in mind from the ground up. Write tighter code, test it against perceived loads, and continually try to lower the amount of time and resource usage required to run the application.
2. Build your application on cloud computing. Services like Amazon's Cloud computing service allow you to host your code, databases and files on their servers, and can scale instantly with your demand. It also saves you money in the long run, as you don't need to constantly plan to build new servers, database clusters and bandwidth.
3. If you're not using cloud computing, try using a grid hosting company. These are companies that can give you instant access to more resources as soon as the demand rolls in. The difference primarily lies in the pricing – cloud computing companies charge based on actual usage, while grid hosting companies will charge based on the amount of "slices" you need to meet your requirements over a month.
   
4. Optimize your databases and queries. If you're not a true expert in Databases, hire a freelancer to optimize your code. Correctly writing queries, caching queries that are run often, and correctly building the structure of your database can make or break a web application.
5. Use reusable, well documented code. Try not to reinvent the wheel –find classes and functions that have already been proven in the field, and use them for the heavy lifting part of your projects. Use frameworks and coding methods that have already been proven, and don't try building a heavy use platform on new or untested code.
   

This is a guest post authored by Maya Richard, who writes on the topic of high speed internet. You can email her at mayarichard@gmail.com with any feedback.

Mind Matters

I just heard the discourse by Swami Swaroopananda on "Mind Matters". Its an excellent speech as you can expect from the great master. Here is a snippet of his teaching. Please listen to the original discourse on CD if possible.

When matters matter, matters mind; When mind minds, matters don't matter.

If the body is unattended... it stinks! does'nt it? It needs daily bath, deos, etc...
What would happen if the mind is unattended. Mind is the real treasure, and the body is just a casing around it. So, Mind Matters!

Why is that we want anything that we want. In my case and most others, it starts with Education.
Why Education? To get a Job
Why Job? To earn Money
Why Money? To buy Things
Why things? To get Happiness!
Why Happiness? ? ? No answer. Thats final!

We only want something, so that we can finally be happy. Afterall, we are all seeking anything that can lead to happiness.
Education -> Job -> Money -> Luxury -> Happiness!
Music -> Melody -> Peace -> Happiness!
...

In this ever-changing world, can there be permanent happiness? As a child, we seem to be happy but cry all the time. As an adolescent, we live with a hope of happiness. Finally as adults, many sadly conclude that there is no happiness.

There cannot be ONE situation in life that can give happiness to everyone on the planet. So, When matters matter, matters mind.

Our wisdom gurus (rishis) have taught us the art of right contact of the mind with the world. Happiness and Joy does not depend on the objects and situations in the world, but it depends on the condition of our mind. So, When mind minds the mind, matters don't matter.

As our mind, so is the world.
The world we experience is according to the condition of our mind. If the mind is joyful, the world appears beautiful; If the mind is depressed, the world appears gloomy. You can compare it to perspectives of a man who has fallen in love, and the man who just got dumped.

Life is a series of experiences, and the whole world is a pair of opposites (Heat-Cold, Joy-Sorrow, Beauty-Ugly, etc). Even if sorrow comes, it is not permanent and it has to change. Nothing is permanent and everything changes. Whatever happens, consider it as the lord's wish and it happens for the best. If we can fine-tune our mind around this concept, we can have a positive perspective towards Life and stay happy all the time.

Attitude of our mind is very crucial. An optimist/realist will look out for opportunities, while a pessimist looks out for calamities. Everyone of us have a limited self image. When the mind decides that we cannot do something, we will not even try it. Only when we break the barriers in our mind, we can shoot for the stars.

Here is a famous joke. According to laws of aeronautics, flight is impossible for a bumble bee due to its huge body and tiny wings. However, the bumble bee does not know about this and continues to fly. Like the bumble bee, we should forget the constraints and "Just Do It". On a similar note, watch out for the movie YesIsTheNewNo by Jim Carrey.

Eventful trip to India

After my return from a fabulous trip to India, I find myself in doldrums. I had a great time during my sister's marriage (in India)... Though two weeks is too short a trip for this joyous occassion, I still had a blast. The only stuff I did during my trip (Sep 27 - Oct 12) was to eat, have fun, and sleep. Good times~

Check out my Sister's website for updates on her wedding photos, and the rest.

We like in circles!

We all want something... As mentioned in pluggd.in, its the Circle-of-Life. A wants B, B wants C, C wants D, and you know... D wants A. Here is a good AD.