Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer 2012 - Cuteness won against Talent

Sukanya is my choice of winner
for the Airtel Super Singer 2012

Here is my take on Vijay TV's Airtel Super Singer 2012 results -  UNFAIR.Unfair because it finally became Cuteness Vs Talent and the former won.

I have been watching this program regularly and if I ever sit before TV, it is to watch this.

Regarding the Contest Results:

• According to me, first place should go to Sukanya, 2nd place to Yazhini and 3rd place to Pragadhi
• Aajeeth too deserves a place - but his was voice is yet to develop for a contest singing.  He is certainly good singer for his age. 
• Gautham is good but he should not be disappointed given his wrong choice of songs and lack of some confidence.  
• Sukanya reminds me of previous year's singer Alka Ajith;  her choice of songs and demonstration of talent deserves her a place in Tamil Music. She said she comes from a remote village. I am sure some one like her coming this far will never be stopped by a contest result. 
• Online voting and SMS voting concept is absurd and 'any one can vote any number of votes' is hampering the talent.

Regarding selections for Finals:

• There were some good kids like Anu who deserved a place in the final. I was amazed at her husky voice.
• Its a incompatible combination of junior and senior kids; carnatic and non-carnatic.
• If the selection intent is 'chella kural' (young sweet voice), Anu, Yazhini and Aajeeth can be in the finals. There were few more kids whose name I dont remember handy. 

What this program mean to me?

• Just wonderful!  Such grand programmes are really great and gives a new experience to the budding singers. 
• While some may think that the participation could impact their studies, I feel education need not always be the mainstream - it could be other way round.  Music first, studies next.
• It is really good, this program continues year on year.
• Regarding the prizes, I agree the prizes should be grand - but not sure if  3 BHK house is suitable. 
• The kids get a stardom and will be on stages in the coming days.
• The presence of AR Rahman gave a God like presence, especially when he entered. I wished he could have spoken little more. 
• Regarding the judges, I would say Chitra always gave sincere and serious comment.  Other judges like Shubha and Mano are bubbly and friendly - I think given that its a kid programme, they also should be around.
• Was there something wrong with Audio in the Finals?  I do not know -  for Aajeeth, I could hear the special effects for his high pitch singing for the first song.  For Suganya, 'minsara poove' was affected by lack of music synchronization. Gautam's esteem had something to do because of poor orchestra, I guess. 
• The comperes Bhavana and Anand did a good job.  Bhavana's lipstick and Anand's 'mokkai' is too much :-).   It will be a good idea to have singers as comperes like we had Chinmayi in the past.
• The episodes were going on and on, sometimes gave a feel 'when this would end'. Even the finals was close to midnight that I went to bed after Sudha Ragunathan's performance. 
• By the way, what was "Airtel" doing here?  Did I hear their name in the sponsors?  
• I felt good for the parents who come from middle class background.

The money, fame and grandness will motivate the schools and parents to put their children into this program. Parents should NOT encourage to participate in such contests and make them fail unless they are serious its only for the experience and NOT for the winning.

How I solved lesser internal space issue in my android mobile

my HTC Explorer  desktop

I bought HTC Explorer few months back.  A very good Android mobile and has lesser internal memory and storage. I consciously decided not to invest in high end mobiles given the everyday mobile war and launch of phablets (phone+tablets).

However, the real issue came when I started downloading the apps which by default stores in internal memory and the updates would fail due to insufficient storage space.  I was left choice of uninstalling or moving the apps to SD card.

I guess most of the Android mobiles have this issue and buyers generally compromise for the cost. Instead they buy a 8 GB or 16 GB card.  Only thing they dont realize is the apps gets downloaded into the phone and not the SD card by default.

Fortunately, I came across this article on How to install Android Apps in SD card by default which saved my problem.

If you spend about 10-15 minutes, you can make the SD card as the default location for installing apps.

The simple steps are:

1. Enable USB debugging in your Android mobile
2 (a). Install the Java JDK in your computer (if not already installed)
2 (b). Install the Android SDK in your computer
3. Using the ADB utility, issue the following command -
           adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2

Now two magics would happen -
a) You will be able to move some of the adamant apps to the SD card
b) All your new downloads will happen to your SD card.

I found the instructions very useful!

Mindfulness with Trees

What is Mindfulness ?  Being there where ever you are!

Trees seem to be literally manifesting Mindfulness through times.
The sight of trees remind me of wisdom, experience and magnanimity.
The bark of trees reminds me of the skin of a elephant.
The branches of trees resemble a nervous system.

The vigour in the branches tell me of strength and vitality, courage and confidence.
The web of branches remind me of harmony.
The entangled branches represent art form of life.

Talking of advaitam, Thirumular says

marathai maraiththathu  maamadha yaanai
marathil maraindhadhu maamadha yaanai
மரத்தை மறைத்தது  மாமத யானை
மரத்தில் மறைந்தது மாமத யானை 

(Translation - the huge carved wooden elephant hides the tree; the huge carved wooden elephant is hidden within the tree.  When you see the elephant, you dont see the tree; when you see the tree, you dont see the elephant).

When you live next to a tree, you become its neighbour.

Next time, when you see a tree, see if you can say Thanks from your heart.

Photo Credits:  Ganesh Subramanian @ August Minds

Colours of Kitchen

Photos clicked by me in my kitchen and also in other's kitchen's as well. Colourful indeed!

A Resting Week for me

Everybody needs a rest and I seem to getting it this week!

Photo Credits:  Boots clicked by Ganesh Subramanian on a field.  (c) August Minds

Life's Essential Ingredients!

I was reading Director Bala's interview in Anata Vikatan weekly on his upcoming movie Paradesi.  Some of his words inspired him. Then I thought, what could be life's essentials -

Here is my list of Life's Essential Ingredients -

• one or more strong Love
• one or more Rejections  
• one or more Betrayals
• one or more Rivalry
• one or more Pain
• one or more Success

Nothing else matters!  If we have all these, realize your life is already full and complete and start celebrating. Without the above, you cannot have life experiences.  I feel I already have all these and I feel fulfilled. As you read, you too have already this list of experience in your life.  So, start celebrating.

Recent books purchase on Linguistics

I ordered these books on Linguistics from Flipkart recently -

Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication  and  Linguistics for Dummies.

Both are very good books for beginners.  The Linguistics book is also co-authored by Ann K Farmer, Information Engineer at Google.  I also bought the book A Linguistics Workbook, which is a companion to Linguistics book.  I feel this will be a great start to understand Linguistics and do justice for my new found love for Linguistics.

Metaphors in every day news 13-Oct-2012

Today's Times of India carried the following news headlines.

• Denied more time, Chargers on thin ice
• SC frowns on erratic water release to TN
• Sparks fly as Biden, Ryan cross swords at TV duel

English is a crazy language

Source: fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net via Deysa Jean on Pinterest

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies (TED Video)

Confidence in accent

Next time when some one speaks a wrong accent, do not laugh or criticise.  It could restrict their confidence to build their language and also can impact self esteem.

Rufous Grasshopper

Clicked this Grasshopper on top of a car in office car parking.  Got to know it is called Rufous Grasshopper.  The way he landed himself on the car, reminds me of Spider Man.

I did a little bit Googling on it, and it was very interesting to read about its 'courtship song'  (link)

Sometimes I feel struck in awesome looking at some of the very common insects / creatures around us. Every creature has some place on this earth!

Photo Credits: Ganesh Subramanian @ August Minds

Anthony Robbins Pictures

Anthony Robbins is my all time favorite author and motivational speaker. His photos and powerful words are good enough for me start off my day

BESCOM Helpdesk is professional!

If you ever complained of BESCOM in the past, you would have noticed a lot has been improving in the BESCOM.  I would like to highlight my experiences with BESCOM customer support.  Anytime the power goes, I immediately call 080-22873333 which is a 24 x 7 customer care support. Someone always picks up - they take all the details like the time power went, address, contact details and provide the complaint number.  Once the power is restored, they call back and ensure we are satisfied.

Today, I had to call due to a power cut. I also gave feedback that while I am happy that the complaints are immediately attended to, the short power cuts have been happening very frequently in our area.  The executive (yes, she is one!)  suggested that I write to bescomconsumer@gmail.com so that all the complaints are reviewed by the senior officers.

This is really professional and I am very glad to write about this in August Minds.

Hearty Appreciations to BESCOM HelpDesk.