Deepanjan Nag's Magnum Opus

India has launched its 1st mission to Mars. The launch was a success. I hope the long trip to Mars stays on course. It won’t be easy. Most missions to the red planet have ended in failure. All the best, Mangalyaan!

I was stunned to learn today that Google will be shutting down its Google Reader. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read it. How could this be? Has Google gone insane? Why did Google have to abandon its loyal ‘reader’ users? Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed to using Reader for virtually everything technically possible – reading the news and blogs, keeping an eye on comments, house hunting, job hunting, video searching for Indian Railways…the list was limited only by my imagination. Unfortunately, RSS requires a populace that’s a little more tech savvy than the current load of iCrap fed retards. RSS fell victim to an entire generation too used to a brain-numbing social-networking and share-everything phenomenon. My heart is broken. Goodbye, Google Reader. You will be dearly missed.

Aaron Swartz was just 14 when he co-invented RSS.

This is huge. I remember his debut and a journalist asking him just before the tour if he was nervous. He answered, “Not at all!” There was something about him from the very beginning that said he was destined to be a legend. He truly was the greatest cricketer of our era. Sad to see him go. All the best, Sachin.

Pandit Ravi Shankar is no more.

Neil Armstrong passed away today.

Live on air: Graho Ka Khel (on India TV) Ratna Rahasya (on Star News) Ratna Rahasya (on Aaj Tak) If Hindi news channels in India spend valuable air time on such programs, I can well imagine how informed the viewers must be. It’s hard to hold on to the hope that rational thinking will ever be a way of life for us and that we will ever be a progressive nation. We are seemingly condemned to an eternity of irrationality, ignorance and illiteracy.

India Ink: Hot Jazz and the Cold War in 1950s Mumbai My comment: Fascinating stuff! When talking about how the Americans tried to influence the world with Jazz, one cannot afford to miss the legendary Willis Conover. People in many parts of the world knew Jazz only because of him. Indeed he was the greatest Jazz arsenal America ever had. American hegemony owes a lot to this man. This article brings back fond memories of growing up listening to Jazz Hour on the Voice of America. The radio had a hold on us like nothing else. The experience has yet to be rivalled.

I’ve seldom been in awe of holy men. More often than not, they are little more than clever people who tap into our gullible side and earn an easy living out of it. Vivekananda is a splendid exception. Though I don’t agree with all of his ideas, most of his philosophy is generally praiseworthy. It was Vivekananda who introduced the essence of Hindu philosophy to the West, which was largely dismissive of the shrouded-in-mystery religion. It was at the Parliament of Religions that the Swami lifted the curtains off Hinduism and showed how stupendously ignorant the West had been. An article from the venerable New York Times sheds more light on the great man. I was surprised to learn how Leo Tolstoy and Igor Stravinsky were associated with his works. It just goes to prove what a small but beautiful world we live in. Life is worthy of a celebration everyday.

Don’t we Indians trust our indigenous missiles? We need to conduct test launches every other day.

I love reading news. More than that, I love writing comments, though it’s more labor intensive. Here’s a sample: Android May No Longer Be Free, Thanks to Apple

The article

You think being backward is not a good thing? This community is fighting to be labeled backward so as to gain reservation benefits! On one hand, we are supposedly fighting caste-based discrimination. On the other, we are fighting to be called backward! This is India. The protests have led to a complete disruption of railway services in Northern India. The Jats are now threatening to turn the standoff more violent if their demands are not met. The government, true to its tradition, remains a mute spectator. It’ll try every possible effort to appease as many people just to remain in power.

Barber gets Rs 2.5L in big, fat Gujjar wedding

The number of posts has been on the decline steadily over the past few years. Things have now come to such a pass that I’m really stretching myself for the 100th post of the year. I have been eagerly following people’s comments on India’s recently failed GSLV launch on CNN, Slashdot and Yahoo! News. I’m appalled at all the bilious posts and took the liberty of lashing out at some of them. I’m a tad ashamed at my cheap-talk but I’ll excuse myself this time. TeaPartyImposter: great light show. for the good really. possibly the only thing standing in the way of world nuclear annihilation, and not, these days, is the fact that these third world nuclear powers can't build rockets much better than i can get out of a hobby kit.. Me: An American hobby kit that helps ppl build rockets is very much possible...only that this 'kit' must be nothing more than a video game for the XBox. And the way the American economy is tanking, it's only but natural that these retards will pr...

The launch of the cryogenic Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-F06, from Sriharikota failed today.

The New York Times app on the Google Chrome Web Store had me drooling all over it!

I came across this article on Yahoo! and was instantly reminded of Santosh…who recently joined Akshaya Patra. Way to go, champ!