The greatest villain in Mahabharat or .. was he not?

Few weeks back, I came across the Economic Times supplement, Corporate Dossier. This usually carries an article by Dr. Devdutt Patnaik. Its called Management Mythos.
Its one of the most interesting columns to read, specifically because how he weaves different story lines into the present world context. Its pretty much about how we could look to our rich mythology for inspiration.
Well, for the title of this blog, it is to share a story which I learnt recently courtesy, Dr. Devdutt Patnaik.

One of the most hated characters in Mahabharat is the maternal uncle of the Kauravas, Shakuni. He is the one who instigates Duryodhana, and keeps influencing his decisions in a way that he was meant to doom!!! Why??
The reason could possibly be in a small story which is told in some parts of Andhra Pradesh. It goes something like this.
Before Gandhari was be married to Dhritharashtra, she was married to a sacrificial goat, so as to avert some calamity. Of course the goat was sacrificed promptly. This was supposed to be a secret. However, elders in the Kaurava clan got to know about this information. So as to avoid any scandal they put the entire family of Gandhari, except Gandhari under house arrest. Under house arrest, they were served food which would be barely sufficient to sustain a single individual. Shakuni was the youngest of this family which was under house arrest. The head of the family realizing that this was a ploy to get them all killed, made sure that Shakuni got all the food that was being given. Eventually the entire family under house arrest, except Shakuni dies. This is where Shakuni uses the bones of his father and brothers to make the enchanted dice, and swears that he would destroy the entire Kaurava clan. This dice is what he eventually uses to defeat the Pandavas in a gambling contest. If you look at this fable, it portrays Shakuni as an avenging angel, as compared to what we generally perceive him.

This is one of the many stories which Dr.Devdutt Patnaik puts across in many of his columns he writes for.

You can check out his website, which has a lot of other such snippets.
http://www.devdutt.com/

The Anti Java Professor

This is what I came across as a blog link when searching for some data..

Its pretty interesting ...

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3761921/The+Anti-Java+Professor+and+the+Jobless+Programmers.htm

Its similar to what we observe when interviewing candidates... And I felt that this was just a localized phenomenon.

iPhone... worth it???

Following is an analysis on the iPhone phenomenon, done by a person I know. The views are entirely his own and not mine. For his credibility, I would say that he works in the mobile phone development industry and of course needless to say that he doesnt work for Apple...
Here we go....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends .....those of you in India planning for iPhone... THINK TWICE BEFORE MAKING A DECISION... The short comings of iPhone are endless...No video calling,no AD2P on the Bluetooth,CAN'T share ANY (mp3, images,videos....) files via bluetooth, can't use as a wireless modem, (you pay ridiculous data charges to activate internet on your phone, but cannot connect it to your PC and browse when you are at home) no copy and paste,(cannot copy a part of a.... say.... email & send it....have to type it out yourself)no 3.2 or 5 megapixel camera,(the 2MP camera it carries is worst camera i've ever seen..... photos look like they have come out of a VGA camera) no video recording with camera,no front camera,no flash.no JAVA supportNo physical keyboard (BELIEVE me! this alone is a dealbreaker...touch keyboard as good as it looks...once you use it then only you come to know about the importance of having a hard keypad)No 3G network yet in India..so why pay for expensive 3G phone if you cant use its 3G services ... so, for India, iPhone 2.0 is no better than its first versionNo removable battery. (You cannot change battery. Have to send it to apple outlet.. Come on now!!!!...This is not an iPod. Its a bloody phone. You cannot live without phone for 2-3 days) No haptic feedback andcannot send MMS,can't use as external storage device (16 GB of utter waste..next time you go to your friend's house & find some interesting songs, movies, etc...sorry you cannot connect your '16 GB' phone and share it!!!! Apple apparently has a solution.. " BUY MUSIC & MOVIES FROM iTUNES STORE "..... Give me a break will you APPLE!!!)no FM radio,can't use your mp3 files as ringtones,(This is heights man!!!) cannot insert any other SIM card….completely tied to iTunes... Connect to your friend's iTunes & you risk erasing everything on your phone.list goes on & on & on….We Indians are used to these features. Most of our phones already have these features. & we cannot do with out them.... i mean can you imagine paying so much for a phone with which you cannot transfer files via bluetooth. what age is this ...STONE AGE??? Some features may be activated by jailbreak.. But why the hell should you risk losing your warranty after paying so much.And want to add third party softwares??.. YOU HAVE TO BUY THEM FROM iTUNES STORE ONLY!!! . (Shell out more money). Apple is a bloody control freak. Dont surrender your freedom to it.Its good for american market (who have no idea what mobile freedom/choice is) which is in stone age compared to asian/european markets. When they want to buy a phone, they have to go to network operators and buy only those phones that are available on that network. & stick to that company till their contract expires. You want to change carriers? Not before paying damages, & buying another phone on the other network again. On the contrary, we in India have so much freedom. We go to handset shops & buy which ever phone we like. Then go to carriers.. checkout the plans & buy SIM.. Dont like the plan or rival carrier came up with a better plan???? EASY .. just remove & replace the SIM. Apple are trying to IMPOSE THEIR MODEL ON US riding on the hype iPhone has created in the US (yes it was a flop in Europe ..thats why Apple never talks about its sales in Europe).Dont fall for the subsidized price of iPhone... CHECKOUT THE DATA PLAN ATTACHED TO ITS SIM ..they will recover the cost through ridiculous data plans. Bill might come to around Rs 2500/month.(ATLEAST AMERICANS PAY THAT MUCH)Let me clear one thing though.. iphone is the best looking phone (its touch interface is nothing like you have ever seen ), & best browsing experience out there no doubt .... (& others are fast catching up..check out the android demo at Google IO 2008).... BUT AFTER A FEW DAYS IT ALL COMES DOWN TO FUNCTIONALITY...Those of who buy it... You will be most happy for atmost a week... & then, MARK MY WORDS...YOU WILL START REGRETTING IT!!!My advice...WAIT FOR HTC DREAM!! (powered by android). Still not convinced by then...by all means go for iPhone...So friends lets spread this info to all our friends and help them in making a wise decision..... & those of you who have bought unlocked versions already please share your experiences with others THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.... GOODLUCK!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apart from that another aspect is that the service providers in India are yet to launch 3g services in India...
So this was the info I had. Its upto you to make an informed decision...
CIAO!!!