The [Re]public of India
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The 26th day of the year does mean something for folks who hail from India; the country celebrates its Republic day. Many things come to my mind when I think about how things used to be this very day some 10-15 years ago, celebrations if you may call it.
Schooldays was fun - we never thought of it as just another off (chutti) day, rather there was an eagerness to get up early and participate in the activities organized at the school. Feeling proud looking at the fluttering flag, hoisted way up in the sky and a bright sun rising in the east, shining in the sky was how the day used to start. The chill in the January air just gave it a special feeling making the walk to the school a special one.
Now, the parade that's organized at the capital is something special too. The parade that troops down from Raisina Hill to Rajpath every 26th Jan is simply amazing and now matter how cold it is at the capital, you would see scores and scores of people gathered to watch the spectacular display of our military pageantry and the state tableaux.
The very meaning of this day, I'm afraid though, has been put to test quite a lot of times over a period of these 58 years. What used to be a celebration, an occasion to pay homage to the often forgotten martyrs, is being looked by many as just another day in the year to catch up on some ZZZs or party the night before to make use of another off day :). Little do they know that the world has changed their perception of the country, the world is taking notice of India and all this - while they were asleep.
Not only have we taken the bull by its horns, we are trying to change the fear many have when it comes to facing the bull itself. But there's lots to be accomplished, lots to be thought about for the present and for the future generations. A world class infrastructure, consistent growth in the tough times that we could face in the future are a few things to be kept in mind as we open up the gates to enthusiastic onlookers who consider the Republic as the next place to invest and to expand.
May this symbol of national integration stay alive in the years to come and may the 'Unity in diversity' that we boast about - live up to its expectation.
Schooldays was fun - we never thought of it as just another off (chutti) day, rather there was an eagerness to get up early and participate in the activities organized at the school. Feeling proud looking at the fluttering flag, hoisted way up in the sky and a bright sun rising in the east, shining in the sky was how the day used to start. The chill in the January air just gave it a special feeling making the walk to the school a special one.
Now, the parade that's organized at the capital is something special too. The parade that troops down from Raisina Hill to Rajpath every 26th Jan is simply amazing and now matter how cold it is at the capital, you would see scores and scores of people gathered to watch the spectacular display of our military pageantry and the state tableaux.
The very meaning of this day, I'm afraid though, has been put to test quite a lot of times over a period of these 58 years. What used to be a celebration, an occasion to pay homage to the often forgotten martyrs, is being looked by many as just another day in the year to catch up on some ZZZs or party the night before to make use of another off day :). Little do they know that the world has changed their perception of the country, the world is taking notice of India and all this - while they were asleep.
Not only have we taken the bull by its horns, we are trying to change the fear many have when it comes to facing the bull itself. But there's lots to be accomplished, lots to be thought about for the present and for the future generations. A world class infrastructure, consistent growth in the tough times that we could face in the future are a few things to be kept in mind as we open up the gates to enthusiastic onlookers who consider the Republic as the next place to invest and to expand.
May this symbol of national integration stay alive in the years to come and may the 'Unity in diversity' that we boast about - live up to its expectation.
Labels: 2008, 26, India, January, Republic
Posted by Rajesh @ 8:38 PM; PERMALINK,
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Did you notice
Saturday, January 12, 2008
... that Flickr was down today? Their homepage had a reference to Flickr blog where I found the following -
2:30pm PST: We started on a database upgrade and a few alters to the database structure last night. Given our scale, work like this takes a long time, and makes a definite impact on site performance.We’re anticipating a couple of hours is all we need at this point, so, we’re hoping to be back online around 4:30 PST.
4:13pm PST: Anyone who’s ever worked in software probably knows that time estimates are tricky. Given that we’d prefer that Flickr be as close to 100% stable as we can make it before we go back online, we’re going to take more time to make sure that’s what happens.
6:07pm PST: We’re almost back folks. Just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s before we throw the big switch. In the meantime, why not get outside and take some photos?
7:08pm PST: Do you remember when we said we were almost back online? Well, that time we were joking, but this time is for real!
7:34pm PST: And we’re back. Flickr is open again and ready to receive your photos. Get uploading!
In short a database upgrade that was supposed to be done within 2 hours took more than 5 !! They probably said that right about the software industry, but didn't they get it all wrong by about 150%? I'm not sure thats acceptable even in the software industry isn't it? Especially with popular sites like these :)
But I liked their statement - 'In the meantime, why not get outside and take some photos?' :P
Above updates - From the Flickr blog
My Flickr experiments
6:07pm PST: We’re almost back folks. Just crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s before we throw the big switch. In the meantime, why not get outside and take some photos?
7:08pm PST: Do you remember when we said we were almost back online? Well, that time we were joking, but this time is for real!
7:34pm PST: And we’re back. Flickr is open again and ready to receive your photos. Get uploading!
In short a database upgrade that was supposed to be done within 2 hours took more than 5 !! They probably said that right about the software industry, but didn't they get it all wrong by about 150%? I'm not sure thats acceptable even in the software industry isn't it? Especially with popular sites like these :)
But I liked their statement - 'In the meantime, why not get outside and take some photos?' :P
Above updates - From the Flickr blog
My Flickr experiments
Labels: Flickr, Photography, Photos
Posted by Rajesh @ 11:28 PM; PERMALINK,
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