Yahoo Open Hack Day 2009

I was one of the invitee to the Yahoo! Open Hackday 2009. I felt glad as I heard there were around 900 applications and I was one of the 350 guys who got the final invite. And what's best, it was on the 14th of Feb. I know, many of you would think, "what an unromantic way to spend the Valentines Day!" I'm not yet qualified for the V-Day celebration as I'm still single :)

It was indeed a great event. Some of the highlights of the events as seen by iRaveesh

• The sessions were really cool. I got to know about some of the coolest technologies available.
• This was followed by the 24 hours hacking contest. Our hack was not that hot, yet the learning involved was tremendous.
• I had a chance to interact with David Filo, the founder of Yahoo! Answering one of my questions, he said, "If you start a company because you like doing it, even if the company fails, you won't curse yourself because you liked doing it. But if you start a company just for profits, the failure of the company will put you in a worst mess"

David Filo, the co-founder of Yahoo! holding my shoulders :)

• As a V-Day entertainment, there was a Dance show by Shadow One group. After their dance performance was over, they called the hackers on stage and perform impromptu dancing. I just jumped out of my table, ran to stage and danced!
• The professional dancers were supposed to teach us dance, but as in the photo, I was teaching them some steps (LOL).

• As I was the best dancer among the hackers, I won an iPod! (OMG)
• Awesome food 24 hours a day with unlimited drinks.
• My photo came in the Metro Edition of Deccan Herald on 19th Feb. I look like I am hacking very seriously :)

Find me - Bottom Left

It was a great event and I enjoyed every bit of it. Looking forward for the same next year as well. Next year, I hope to win the event

I am an intern at Microsoft

Feels great to have secured an internship at Microsoft Acad Team. I will be working there for 3 months driving a couple of Academic Initiatives like Live @ edu. 

The work has already started and I'm loving it. I would be interacting with academic folks, fellow student partners across the country. Always liked interactive work, let's see how much I love by The end of my 3 month internship. :)

Hoping to do my best. 

End Note: there might be some formatting issues for this blogpost. I am using BlogWriter to blog using my iPod Touch. 

Slumdog Millionaire : A great Concept but...

It was when Slumdog Millionaire won Golden Globe awards for Best Movie (drama) that I decided to watch the movie. As told by few of my friends, this was one of the best/realistic movies that they ever watched and that it deserved Golden Globe awards and even the Oscar. 

I ended up watching the movie that evening itself and I was thrilled. What a concept !! A slum boy, abusively called, "the Slumdog" goes on to win a huge fortune and also finds his love. What I loved the most about the story was the author's ability to link all the answers he gives to Real-Life incidents. I must say, awesome work Mr Vikas Swaroop..

Great Story, But....

India's one of the fastest developing country which has a history of about two centuries of poverty. Its natural to find slum areas in India. But its really not the way how one would picturize this great country. I seriously felt ashamed of the way India is portrayed. Every element of the movie is true but to what extent? The explicit audacity filmed in the movie is quite an exaggeration if you ask me. 

Had to happen when a British Director comes forward to direct such a movie. Is it bloody possible for a non-Indian to understand the intricacies of Indian way of life. Thats the reason, the movie is so rudely candid and cruel. We've had enough from British for 200 years, physically. I am furious about this mental torture that we're expected to face. Just to quote 1 instance where the protagonist gets beaten up for robbing the foreigners and he audaciously says, "This is India" and that American lady hands him a 100$ note and says, "Son, this is America". I don't know about you but it got on my nerves! I mean, What the hell?? No Indian director would take the movie like that. But again, no Indian director would get the movie "The Oscar Nomination"

Ask yourself a Question :

Is this the story about India you'd want to tell the world?

If your answer is, "I don't care as long as movies based on India end up getting Golden Globe/Oscar", I have no answers for you. 

If you are still open for ideas, I want to inform you that, most of the world, including USA and Europe has a picture of Indians as the snake charmers of Alladin cartoon. They can't just take the fact that a snake charmer's country can do so much of growth and achieve such level in mere 50 years. Rarely Indian movies reach the global audience. Thanks to Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar, Its reaching every corners of the world but the not the foreign crowd. 

This clearly means that the only "Indian Lifestyle" movies that they end up watching is movies like Slumdog Millionaire. Now I'm sure this fact would have pricked you. Those guys, watching the movie probably sleeping happily with a satisfaction that "India is LIKE THAT ONLY"

Guys, India once upon a time used to just export goods, now its exporting CEOs. I was discussing the movie with my friend Rohit. Quoting his words, "Dude, look at us. We're two young guys, going in an AC car to host a Quiz Show at a reputed college and as I drive, I'm speaking to you about the kinds of services we need to include in our Quiz Firm. This is the story you gotta tell the world". Can he be more true?

As an Indian, everyone ought to feel proud when a Music Wizard from our country is about to win an Oscar for one of his best composition. Hats off to A.R. Rahman for his wonderful music. I feel, movies like Roja, Bombay had equally great music (or even better) and equally intense story-line. But it was not Danny Boyle who was the director of Roja, so no international fame. It makes sense right? 

To conclude with, when Slumdog Millionaire got Oscar nominations for Best Movie against Dark Knight and Seven Pounds, I couldn't help but laugh. I am sure, the Oscar committee must have been filled with Indian Fearers.