Thus Spake Swami Vivekananda

Here’s a Quote on the internet media to claim that according to Swami Vivekananda , “HInduism preaches beef eating’  (Vol - 3 page 536)

..................You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to the old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef............

This is how the entire paragraph goes...

You will be astonished if I tell you that, according to the old ceremonials, he is not a good Hindu who does not eat beef. On certain occasions he must sacrifice a bull and eat it. That is disgusting now. However they may differ from each other in India, in that they are all one — they never eat beef. The ancient sacrifices and the ancient gods, they are all gone; modern India belongs to the spiritual part of the Vedas..

Swami Vivekananda spoke on a whole range of subjects to varied class of  audience across the continents. He spoke to the common man, academic scholars, religious heads , students , devotees , friends and fellow monks. He spoke his mind, be it in jest or be it in pain. He wrote to his brother-monks and disciples to motivate, coax or chide.

And most of his speeches and epistles have been compiled as the complete works of Swami Vivekananda. I started with the first volume in my teens and read up most of his works over a few years; and I still read. I  am always fascinated by the fluidity in his ideas. There is always a firm foundation of conviction in is beliefs, confidence in his ability to think and act, and yet he never took a rigid stance on issues pertaining to day to day living; for example ,he never advocated a ‘right’ language to adapt, a ‘right’ kind of food, ‘right’ way to dress though he gave his opinions freely on any issue.

May be , because of his liberal ideas, and the sheer range of material available of his thoughts, it is  possible to  quote or mis-quote him in support of any theory. Of late both RSS and anti-RSS groups quote freely from Swami Vivekananda to prove their points. The easiest way to spread the word , today, is to condense the ideas into one picture or one sentence and shoot it into cyber space through whatsapp or facebook. Then you can trust the Whatsapp Wits and Facebook Philosophers to mindlessly forward the matter and the whole world consumes it , till the next big post comes up , may be ‘something about Virat and Anushka’.

The lines in the first paragraph is taken from an address to people in California, in 1890.(It was an American who would be astonished as an Indian would know that vedic Brahmins did eat beef.) The subject for the talk was Buddhism and the Swamiji was highlighting the aspects on how  Buddhism  had a reforming effect on  Hinduism.

In the same volume page 175, in an address to Indians at Madurai, the same subject is elaborated in a different way, as applicable to Indians at that time and space..


............. But the Smritis speak generally of local circumstances, of duties arising from different environments, and they change in the course of time. This you have always to remember that because a little social custom is going to be changed you are not going to lose your religion, not at all. Remember these customs have already been changed. There was a time in this very India when, without eating beef, no Brahmin could remain a Brahmin; you read in the Vedas how, when a Sannyasin, a king, or agreat man came into a house, the best bullock was killed; how in time it was found that as we were an agricultural race, killing the best bulls meant annihilation of the race. Therefore the practice was stopped, and a voice was raised against the killing of cows. Sometimes we find existing then what we most horrible customs. In course of time other laws had to be  made. These in turn will have to go, and other Smritis will come. This is one fact we have to learn that the Vedas being eternal will be one and the same throughout all ages, but the Smritis will have an end. As time rolls on, more and more of the Smritis will go, sages will come, and they will change and direct society into better channels, into duties and into paths which accord with the necessity of the age, and without which it is impossible that society can live. Thus we have to guide our course, avoiding these two dangers; and I hope that every one of us here will have breadth enough, and at the same time faith enough, to understand what that means, which I suppose is the inclusion of everything, and not the exclusion. I want the intensity of the fanatic plus the extensity of the materialist. Deep as the ocean, broad as the infinite skies, that is the sort of heart we want. Let us be as progressive as any nation that ever existed, and at the same time as faithful and conservative towards our traditions as Hindus alone know how to be.............

The import of this speech was to warn  fellow hindus aginst dogmatic beliefs and fanaticism based on some 'smritis' bound by time and space.

 Thathastu.

Genesis of an innovation

What sparks an innovation ? Does it always require a genius ?

The other day, I while scrolling through an endless stream of facebook jokes, and I came across this.

“ A lady (could have been a gentleman) complained at a computer shop, claiming that the new laptop computer she had bought would not carry out even the basic functions. On enquiry she explained that she was not able to copy a file from her old laptop to the new one. When asked how exactly she proceeded to carry out this task, she explained,

“I right clicked on the file icon on the old laptop, unplugged the mouse, carefully took it to the new laptop and plugged it and did a right click paste”

The salesman fainted.

The joke was followed by typical facebook responses ; ‘haha’, ‘LOL’, ‘ROFL’ etc. Amidst all that what caught my attention was the comment “That’s an interesting idea, a mouse with a memory”.

It got me thinking.

People who were very comfortable using the command line interface  designed the Graphical User Interface for the not so tech-savvy users to click their way through the digital world. Till today, many Unix/Linux users cannot understand how 'ten clicks' can be easier to do than a simple command on the terminal.  The  aim is to design a  'user-friendly' device.

Find out what an user is doing , and make your device work to such behaviour, and you have the ultimate user-friendly device.

Why can’t we have a mouse with a memory? After all we have an internet dongle with memory and storage space of its own? Make it a wireless mouse and it would be a ‘wow’ gadget. Point at a file, do a right –click copy , put it into your pocket and now you are ready to do a right-click paste – transfer to any other PC !

As for the cyber-security police , it would mean a terrible nightmare.

Coming back to the question what sparks an innovation, may be it does not need a spark of genius, even a spark of acute idiocy would do.

MIGRATION TO LINUX

MIGRATION TO LINUX

An article originally I wrote for Indian Army..

INTRODUCTION

1. Today, we are in information age and we use many electronic devices to meet our information needs. The core component of any electronic device is its operating system. Though there are many types of devices used for computing, Computers have become synonymous with PCs and Operating System(OS) has become synonymous with Windows, at least in India. Even IT professionals feel that we have come too far down the road and now it is fait accompli to maintain the status quo ?

2. The question is, can we ever switch to a liberated world of Open Source Software (OSS) or are we condemned forever to a Digital World, controlled and manipulated by a few multinational software giants. OSS in general and Linux in particular offer great opportunities to individuals and organizations alike to make the Digital world far more friendlier, far more creative and definitely lighter on the wallet.

3. The scope of this paper is not restricted to just Army, but to any individual or organization dissatisfied with Propriety Software. Migration to Linux, is nothing but pure liberation. This paper addresses need for the migration, away from all propriety software, be it for exercising the right to choose or for attaining strategic self dependence.

AIM

4. The aim of the service paper is to evaluate the case for individuals and organizations to migrate to Linux from Microsoft Windows to meet all their computing requirements. The paper is divided in three parts as under:-

1. Part – I . Review of Operating Systems over the past three decades.
2. Part – II Why we need to migrate to Linux.
3. Part – III Seven Steps to Software Liberation.

PART – I : REVIEW OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES.

A Historical Overview of Operating Systems

5. Though there are many operating systems, they can be broadly categorized into three basic families viz, Mac family including all shades of iOS , Microsoft family from MS Dos to Windows 10 and the Linux family that would include all flavours of Linux, like Red Hat, Inux Mint OS, Ubuntu and so on. When we come to the hand-held devices like phones and tablets, we have iOS, Android, and Windows as the market leaders. There is definitely a convergence taking place with availability of Ubuntu phones and android laptops.

6. Till the advent of Open Source Software, the IT fraternity was vertically divided into two schools of thought, the Mac way and the PC way. The Mac products believed in tight integration of hardware and software. Quality was of utmost importance and it was propriety all the way, be it the hardware or software or the formats used . Even the styling of icons mattered as the bitterly contested copyright case between Apple and Samsung showed. As for PC was concerned, IBM had freed the hardware part, resulting in mushrooming of IBM clones, while the marketing genius, that young Bill gates proved to be, kept a tight hold over the OS , which ironically he had bought for a pittance. QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) was bought from Tim Patterson, rechristened as MSDOS and loaded on an IBM PC. With a series of outright purchases and repackaging MS Office was born and today we have MS Windows and MS Office dominating the market in India.

7. End of cold war gave a big boost to Internet which led to extensive collaboration over the net. It was not just a software, but an entirely new philosophy was born. Programmers could download source codes for free. They were free to look into other programmers' codes; they could make modifications and propagate their products as long as they too kept it free. It was called not copyright but copy-left. With that software got liberated from the clutches of multinationals. Today, you can buy a PC without any Software and load your own OS and applications.

Present Environment

8. Most people and organizations today go for a hardware software bundle and in India, most of the additional software is available for free due to non-implementation of laws on Intellectual property rights.

9. Of course there is a small percentage of users who scrupulously use licensed software and an even smaller percentage of users who are aware that there is enough resources available under open source and there is really no need buy any operating system or applications leave alone the compulsion to break any law of the land to procure one. This last category of users, to begin with were hard core geeks, but over a period of time even not so tech savvy users have also joined this fold. There are children who have grown up using open source software and don't use any other unless forced to do so by their schools. If some users can benefit from OSS, then why not the whole world benefit.

PART – II WHY WE NEED TO MIGRATE TO LINUX.

Why Migrate to Linux

10. Some of the compelling reasons for switching to Linux are as follows:-

1. Freedom to Use .The software is completely free as in Mukt and completely free as in Muft.

2. Stability The OS is rock solid and absolutely stable. Of course there are beta versions, on the leading edge, available to all for download; and one needs to ensure that he uses only a stable version.

3. Choice of Applications. Entire set of productivity applications are available for Linux and there is really no need to go for an OS if only to load a specific application software.

4. Security Security is better in OSS as the source code is available for any one. So any organization wishing to make their computing environment absolutely secure does not need to look to Redmond for assistance but can do it in their own laboratories. It is in this context that our former President and an eminent scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam called up on Indians to use OSS.

Some Myths About Linux

11. There are many myths about Linux which we shall analyze one by one as follows:-

(a) Linux is not user friendly. There is not a single step in installation, configuration and use of the OS that does not have a user friendly, graphical User Interface in Ubuntu, Red Hat, Open Suse or Linux Mint. Of course there are provisions to get anything done through Command line Interface , which is only an added advantage and definitely not a disadvantage. A Class VIII student can comfortably install Ubuntu from an Installation CD or an USB Drive. Of course any child who can handle a mouse or a touch pad can use an Ubuntu machine.

(b) No applications are available for Linux. There are users of the view that it is okay to have Linux as OS, but for running specific applications, one needs Windows. This may have been correct about 10 years back. Today we have open source applications in every area of computing like Office Software, web browsing, IDE for Programming, graphics , video and audio editing, database management systems.

(c) Installation of applications is difficult. Nothing could be far from truth. While Software like MS office, Adobe Photo-shop, need registration and dedicated efforts to get regular updates, anyone using open source software like Ubuntu or Libre office gets regular updates automatically. It is easier as there is no need to guard against piracy issues. The repository system for installation or upgrading of software is akin to the istore of Apple devices or Google Play of Android phones. You just need to pick the applications and click 'install'.

(d) Version compatibility Issues Ubuntu has the best organized system for storing of libraries. Canonical, the company supporting Ubuntu has dedicated servers to keep track of all the software and the compiler libraries used by these software applications. Ubuntu brings out a version every two years with Long term support. Then there are six monthly update versions of the OS. The security updates is on a daily basis.

5. Inter OS Interoperability is difficult. A Linux server can easily handle any Windows client, though the converse may not be true.

6. Lack Of Commercial Support In the past, businesses used the lack of commercial support as the main reason for staying with Windows. Red Hat, Novell and Canonical, the "big three" commercial Linux providers, have put this fear to rest. Each of these companies offers 24x7x365 support for your mission-critical applications and business services.

7. Lack of .Net Support Businesses that have standardized on Microsoft technology, specifically their .NET web technology, can rely on Linux for support of those same .NET applications. Novell owns and supports the Mono project that maintains .NET compatibility. One of the Mono project’s goals is to provide businesses the ability to make a choice and to resist vendor lock-in. Additionally, the Mono project offers Visual Studio plug-ins so that .NET developers can easily transfer Windows-based .NET applications without changing their familiar development tools. Why would Novell and others put forth the effort to create a .NET environment for Linux? For real .NET application stability, Linux is a better choice than Windows.

Organizations That Have Migrated Or In The Process Of Migrating To Linux

12. If Linux is so good why are people not using it ? The answer is that most computer users are not fully aware of the possibilities. Let us see some informed organizations that migrated from Windows to Linux :-

(a) The White house

(b) US Navy in the US Submarine Fleet

(c) NASA , USA

(d) Amazon Inc , USA

(e) City Govt of Munich (Germany)

(f) Kerala State Govt

(g) Tamilnadu State Govt

(h) IBM Inc

(j) Indian Navy

13. You can see the wide diversity in the type of organizations using Linux. The next question is, have any of these organizations reverted back to Windows ? There is no evidence of any such moves. Okay, has any organization that started a business with Linux and migrated to any other operating system. A cursory Google search draws a blank. Then why are more individuals not in Linux world ? At least as for as India is considered, the answer may be :-

(a) In India, very few users buy software, at least not for personal ownership. The day, people who use MS office are forced to pay for the software they use at home, Open office downloads will multiply. (This paper is written using Libre Office Version: 4.3.3.2.)

(b) So many applications are available, mostly pirated, and users have attained a certain degree of proficiency in these applications. There is a reluctance to learn any new applications available in the open source arena. How else can you explain anyone be using Internet Explorer ?

(c) Despite the progress made in the IT field, Internet penetration is very low. In India we have only 15 to 20 PCs per 100 and out of that only - only 1.1 use Internet broadband. Most users still load software through CDs and DVDs, pirated of course. Open source means global collaboration and Internet broadband is a pre- requisite. Any expenditure made by a Govt or any private organization or an individual in broadband connection is money well spent. It is an investment to break the shackle of propriety software and propriety education and will prove a great money saver in years to come.

PART – III SEVEN STEPS TO SOFTWARE LIBERATION.

How To Migrate

14. Here is a suggested model for an individual to switch over to Linux over a period of six months to one year. When individuals embrace Linux, it would be a smooth migration for an organization as IT products work on the principle of 'Winner takes all'.

(a) Step 1 identify the applications you actually use under windows, leaving out the ones that have been preloaded free of cost by the vendor, but never used.

(b) Step 2 Identify the Linux equivalent of these applications.

(c) Step 3 Download windows versions of these applications. Some of them would be very familiar for example, Mozilla Firefox Browser.

A Table Showing These Applications

Application	Propriety application in Windows	Open Source Applicatin in LInux
Browser	Internet Explorer	Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Chromium, Ubuntu Browser.
Office Suite	MS Office (Word, excel and powerpoint)	Open Office or Libre Office (Writer, calc and Impress)
Email Client	MS Outlook	Evolution or Thunderbird
Graphics	Adobe Photoshop	GIMP
Video Player	Windows Media Player	Amarok, Rhythmbox,Yarock
Video editing	Movie maker	Open Shot Video Editor PiTV
Audio Editing	Adobe Audition	Audocity
Database	Oracle, Sybase	Mysql, Postgresql

(d) Step 4 Keep booting into the widows machine, but get used to open source applications like Mozilla Firefox browser, Libre office, GIMP, Kompozer, VLC Media Player, and so on. In case of any problem a simple search on the net for open source application for windows will give a huge choice of apps. As a rule anything available for Linux will be available for Windows , but not vice versa.

(e) Step 5 Use a bootable Linux CD, Ubuntu preferably, and try the OS, without actually installing. No change is made in the Operating System. This is one feature which is new to Windows users, who are used to formatting and re installation at the drop of a hat. There are also Packages available which can be installed under windows just as another software.

(f) Step 6 Once you get used to the Open Source Applications in windows environment, using the same in the native Linux environment can only be smoother.

(g) Step 7 Boot into Linux and work in Open Source Applications. Let Windows be available in the system , particularly to work on an odd document or graphic received from a colleague or from another organization, which requires a specific Windows application. One day, one finds that neither is there a need to boot into windows nor is it a peasant experience to do so , at times when you are forced to do so,.That is the time delete your windows partition and that would be Software Nirwana.

CONCLUSION

15. The Information age has seen so much development in three decades that has not happened in industrial age for three centuries and agricultural age for over three millenniums. Open Source Software has evolved to become a viable alternative to propriety software. The main reason why users have not switched over to Linux is that they are not aware of the developments that have taken place in the Open Source arena in the past decade. We need to spread that awareness, for the benefit of all users, individuals or organizations.

My E-Bookshelf

I have often wondered as to why is it that we see no icon on the desktop called ‘My Book-Shelf. ’when ‘My computer‘ is so universal. Is it because computers have replaced books ? Can they ever do that?

In my own case, the very first computer, I owned was an AT286 Machine, which just displayed a DOS prompt. Even then, as I recall, I had one folder (called a directory , those days) where I kept such files which was for any kind of reference. Since Windows 3.1 days then I have always had an icon on my computer desktop, which took me to my digital resources like Dictionary, Railway Time table, CDA Hand Book , a few Tamil books etc. Today, I have a Linux Machine with the “Calibre’ meeting all my needs of 'reading off the screen', which includes some reference material, some fiction and some news feeds.

While it may be true that we do not need a book shelf in every office or home PC, a E-Bookshelf on every computer is not only necessary, but very much practicable. Today with the rising popularity of open source resources, we have a huge volume of rich contents in the public domain. To manage all these resources we have open source e-book management software applications like Calibre. All you have to do is to download an application, configure it and start surfing the net for resources of your interest. Mind you, not for a moment, am I suggesting piracy. There are any number of projects like Project Gutenberg which are involved in digitizing classical works. There are sites like it-ebooks.info which are giving away good E-books for free and they charge only for the print edition.

Even if one is not interested in classical poetry or for that matter any kind of serious literature, a book shelf is required even if it is purely for resources of utility nature, like CDA Hand Book, Railway Time Table, Dictionary, or may be ‘Golf made Easy’ .

I only wish, a ‘My Book-shelf ‘ Icon becomes a reality, at least in Schools and other Educational Institutions even if it is not as omnipresent as ‘My Computer’.

Booklet printing and The Spirit of Ubuntu

These days we tend to do more screen reading than traditional book reading. While it is okay to read blogs, news-feeds etc off the screen, certain materials like tutorials and how-tos need to be studied leisurely.

Taking printout on A4 sheets is ok, but it is still not so convenient. To have a good feel of reading, the material should be of book-size, with ample margin for binding and  should be held open with a thumb or thumb and the little finger. I have always been loking for an app which can do booklet printing. The other day I found just that.

You can just right click on a file and generate a booklet in a size of your choice. what's more , you save a lot of paper.

There are many apps which only a minuscule few may want, and big IT companies don't care. An open source software enthusiast, who needs such a feature, looks  around, to see if it is available. If not available  he proceeds to develop one, alone or with other like minded people.

And once a facility is developed, the real fun is in freely sharing it with the whole world. That is the spirit of Ubuntu, a far cry from the software giants who toil hard to produce stuff people don't need and toil harder to sell it to them at exorbitant prices.

Moga Mul (மோக முள் )

      Saw the movie mogamul   . Sure it is slow moving , but makes you think at  every twist and turn. The song 'sollayo vai thiranthu just about sums up the main theme . Archana Joglekar looks beautiful and the mother daughter duo live their roles as  tamil-thanjavoor marathi caught in a cleft.

      

       If a movie can be so  touching, the book has to be more so. Whoever said, 'a picture is worth a thousand words' ? after all a picture also has to give rise to words, or can we think or appreciate a picture without words, with just visuals; may be the youngsters these days can.  Words let you imagine a picture, may be a different picture every time you read the words or reflect on the words, depending on the mood , and your own stage of growth. This is one book of Thi jaanakiraman I had not read. Thanks to flip cart, it is so easy to procure tamil books, even from a town like Mhow.

        I took a week to finish the 600 odd pages. In fact , I deliberately read slowly, so that it can be savored for a longer time. A book has to be 'put downable' so as to let you chew the cud leisurely, relishing  and reflecting on  every chapter. Each character has been portrayed so live, complete with warts and all. It is total Thanjavoor and Kaveri; a place I have never been to , yet I feel so much part of. In fact my thanjavoor is as seen through Thi jaa's books and of course from my father. Some of the words and phrases you come across in the book are no more in vogue. After a long time I came across 'haithari kodagal' an exclamation that I have heard only from my father.

        Kaveri and Carnatic music  gently flow all along the story. There is that subtle humour, characteristic of the region. One can sense the spiritualism, talent  and  brilliance in individuals and also the appalling cruelty in some of the social customs and  practices.

       A young girl is married to an old man; then there is the character 'thaiyyu paati' who steps off the road, every time someone approaches to avoid bringing bad luck to people. She was married at three, widowed at four and for the next seventy years she has lived like this. This one sentence brings to mind a thousand pictures of cruelty to women in this society.

      Predictably, the book is better than the movie. While there is lot of romanticism in the movie, the book is more realistic, may be a little pedestrian, which is what real life is.

 
      Another book that can be read more than once.

      

Magnificent Mary

'Magnificent Mary' ; Five times world Boxing Champion is hardly known in her country. Can it happen in any other country ? I heard of her only during the Summer Olympics in London, long after she became a world Champion while I can easily the number of runs Srikant scored in the 1983 World Cup. I feel ashamed.

Even after the Olympic medal, it requires a Bollywood film 'Mary Kom' to make her a household name today. While it is great that the champion , her sport and her home state Manipur, are better known today, through the movie, it is sad that it would be Priyanka Chopra's face that would be associated with the name 'Mary Kom' , at least among the general public.

Boxing probably is the most demanding sport. Any shortcoming in training or technique is severely punished, physically and emotionally right in the ring.

Mary Kom is in the wrong country, wrong sport, wrong gender, wrong Region and Wrong social class , to achieve any feat; well that is what is 'Against all odds...." .   I salute !

See what google suggests .........