[work] Student Feedback

It always feels great to know what my students think about the course and teaching methodology after completing a course.
I thank all my students for this and I will try my best to correct most of the issues that they pointed out.

"Most important thing is, you was really friendly while conveying ideas & speaking with us"

"I never see such standard you follow in handling class, setting question papers. I like your style, you are my role model if I become a teacher"

"Sitting in your class was fun, interesting and enjoyable"

"A very new way of teaching the course and it was really enjoyable."

"What I really admired is your personal living style. -coming to class on time -putting a Tamil name board in front of your cabin -Teaching things very practical"

"Handsome. Good Communication Skills, Student Friendly, Social Person"

"Your way of testing a student's knowledge in just 2 or 3 words is really excellent. Your questions made us think in the exam hall"

"The only thing is the time management. Please handle the sessions in time"

"You have learnt our mentality and left us free in our own way. Your way of delivering the opinions are good. You made the class lively and gave us freedom"

"It would be great if you can follow university exam question paper pattern for our internals"

"Sir, little more audible in the class"

"The class was fast paced, short and sweet"

"We enjoyed the Top 10 Inventions of the year. Very Informative"

"Setting of the Question paper was novel, but giving too many marks for single word answers could be avoided"

"Very happy to get a staff like this. Very polite human and soft in nature. Punctual"

"Please go for something like problem solving after completion of each topic"

"<2 style="text-align: right;">"But till the last you didn't tell us the story line of ENDHIRAN"

"It was really exciting experience in your class. we liked your classes about current trends in technology"

"You never handled an hour more than 30 minutes. I hope all your classes were last hours. All the best for your future in Film Industry"

"I studied 2,3 Software Engineering papers in my B.E. I did not know anything about the subject. I read the heading and diagram and write 3-4 page story in exams. But now from your assessments I learnt a lot to think. Thank you"

"Please give notes in class. Please speak loudly"

"I think you have to prepare more for taking the class. This paper is more theory oriented"

"This is the first time we had different experience in exams"

"Your motivation is energetic for me. Your encouragement gave me somewhat interest to study. Thank you sir"

"Your presentation was good. Please try to keep the class for more than half an hour to cover the entire syllabus"

"This subject is very easy to learn. But the way of teaching was not up to the mark. I can't understand the concept what you say. Not audible. Please leave pauses between words you speak. "

"You could be little slower."

"I does not feel any pressure to get marks in your subject. In my UG course I feel software engineering is only for exam and dry theory subject. But now I can apply that"

"Your assessments were a bit tragedy"

"You allowed us to submit assignments via email. That reduced the burden of writing. It was a different experience answering your question papers"

"Asking us to write answers in less than or equal to two words is very different"

"You should spend more time in class and take the portions in more detail. Your classes are super, exam assignments are all super."

"I personally like your classes and you. Your exam pattern is really good. It tests the understanding of students and not memory. When you converse important points/words your voice becomes feeble. please try to note it seriously"

"You gave a lot of freedom with your kind nature.... the other day when you took class in the lunch hour, you said 'if some one feels hungry or tired you can leave the class'... i learnt a lot of manners from you."

"You gave a single deadline for ALL our assignments"

"Your teaching was not only centered around the book."

THANK YOU FOLKS!!!

[lyrics] Lyric Engineering

Not just because i hate to stand behind a long queue of 'lyric writers' in Tamil films, have I invented this term! This may be something totally new that I am doing. At least first time in Tamil :-)

Before discussing anything about the topic, some confessions.
I am not a very 'Tamil' person.
I am not a big reader.
Thanglish was my medium of Instruction throughout my school.
So my English is not that great too.
I am not a poet.
Whenever some one asks me for a poem for a magazine, i tell them this. 'I am not a poet'.
The instant question they ask is 'how do you write lyrics?'
I find it extremely difficult to explain it to them that you need not be a poet to write lyrics.

When i met Naa. Muthukumar, Lyricist, sometime back he congratulated me for writing lyrics and asked me how many poetry collections have I published?. I said none. At that time, I did not know that publishing poems was the key criteria for the post of a lyric writer. After this serious disqualification, I found sometime in a cafe alone to sit and think what makes me different from these lyric writers? The answers i found are very much what follows:

I have developed a system. A system comprising of me and a few software. A system that can engineer lyrics.
I call this system 'karky'.

A tune, a situation and optional visuals are usually inputs to this system.
Every input is thus a problem/puzzle that this system attempts to solve.
the output of the system is a set of lyrics that match the tune, suit the situation and visuals.

This is very much an optimization problem.
Problem Definition:
For a given Tune, find suitable words that exactly match the template provided by the tune, such that the following conditions are satisfied :
1. The words form meaningful sentences that suits the situation provided.
2. The phonemes in the words to suit the mood of the tune and situation.
3. Maximize edhugai monai and iyaibu properties of lyrics without compromising conditions 1 & 2.
4. Find words and phrases that are simple, not been used before and semantically related to each other."

It may sound weird to 'mathematically model' a process such as lyric writing. I see this as a structured process.

Apart from me, I also mentioned about a few software in the 'karky' system.
I have developed these small software(in Java) for supporting various activities in this lyric writing process.
Software that cluster meter matched words (மாத்திரை அளவுகள்)
Software that clusters words based on multiple rhyme parameters (எதுகை மோனை இயைபு).
Software that breaks down a tune to appropriate templates (தனனன தனனன தனனன தானா).
and a few more...

This is a very small start.
To develop a WordNet exclusively for lyric engineering will be a great addition to this system.
Meaning analysis of lyrics will be extremely challenging to be automated.

Dreaming to build a Fully Automated Lyric Generating System by slowly removing myself from it.

Until then, I like to be called a 'Lyric Engineer' and my process 'Lyric Engineering'.

[Mellinam] iPaatti Reviews

Thanks : Kumudam



Thanks : Vikatan



Thanks : Dhinathanthi

[iPaatti] Young World Review

Poems of the new age

SUBAJAYANTHI
Learn Tamil the easy way, through poems that explore this beautiful world.

Here is something totally new for Tamil readers. Thirty-five children’s poems in Tamil in one book! Call them rhymes or poetry, ipaati is the original work of Karky, an educationist by profession and poet by passion. The poems are a sure departure from the likes of the age-old “Nila nila odi vaa”, for they are built on themes ranging from geography to history, science, entertainment, sports and technology. Even concepts like family and time appear in verse.

Poems and pictures
The book’s editor Nandini Karky has designed it keeping in mind the young learner whose knowledge of the language could be anything but perfect. Helpful tools like a picture dictionary and English transliteration of all the 35 poems are an added attraction to the hardbound book with large pages of computer generated illustrations.

To top it all is the audio CD that comes with the book. More than 10 singers have given life to the poems with their voices in Rizwan’s music. The rap interlude in Chutti Ponnu and the modulated narration of the Helen Keller story stand out. Impressive poems on the moon, cricket, sunshine, mobile phone, trees, rain and even Gandhi thatha and comedian “Mr. Bean” present with finesse the author’s perception of a child’s world. The positive attribute to every theme, finger-snapping music and fitting voices make ipaati from Mellinam a truly commendable product of some well-conceived ideas.

ipaati, Mellinam Education Private Limited, Rs. 499

Thanks : The Hindu
Link : http://www.hindu.com/yw/2009/10/27/stories/2009102750130700.htm

Contact :
Mellinam Education
A4 Green Inns Apartment
#104 Seventh Avenue
Besant Nagar Chennai 600090
Tamil Nadu India
www.mellinam.com
contact@mellinam.com

[Mellinam] iPaatti Promo 2

[song] வானம் புதிது

பாடல் : வானம் புதிது

படம் : இளமை இதோ இதோ

தயாரிப்பு : Arunai Films

இசை : வித்யாசாகர்

இயக்கம் : ராஜா

_____________________

வானம் புதிது

வாசங்கள் புதிது

வாழ்க்கை வரையும்

வண்ணங்கள் புதிது

சாலை புதிது

சாரல்கள் புதிது

இதயம் உறையும்

சப்தங்கள் புதிது

கடவுள் உணரும் தருணம் புதிது

அடிக்கடி நேரும் மரணம் புதிது

______________________________

மௌனம் கொள்ளும் நீளம் என்ன

பார்வை செல்லும் ஆழம் என்ன

உண்மை சொல்லவா - மெல்ல

உள்ளம் சொல்லவா?

தன்னந் தனிப்படத் 

தவித்ததும் துடித்ததும்

எண்ணக் கிறுக்கலை

இருட்டிடம் படித்ததும்

ஒற்றைப் படுக்கையில்

உனக்கிடம் பிடித்ததும்

எந்தன் தலையணை

உனக்கிணை நடித்ததும்

எந்தன் கண்ணிமைகள் பாரமுற

உன் நினைவு தூற வர

ஓர விழி ஈரமுற நேரும் போது

( வானம் புதிது ) 

_______________________________

அன்று கண்ட கானல் எல்லை

இன்று கண்ணில் காணவில்லை

காதல் கொண்டதால் - கொஞ்சம்

காமம் கொண்டதால்

உந்தன் விரல் படக்

குரல்வளை அடைத்தது

எந்தன் பரம்பரை 

வரம்புகள் உடைத்தது

உன்னை நெருங்கிட

நரம்புகள் புடைத்தது

ஏதோ இடித்ததை

விபத்தெனத் துடைத்தது

இந்தப் பாதை தடம் மாறியது

போதை தலைக்கேறியது

நீயிருக்கும் தூரம் அது தீரும் போது

( வானம் புதிது )

______________________________

[song] Sangathamizh Rap

பாடல் : அங்கதை அரம்பை

படம் : இளமை இதோ இதோ

தயாரிப்பு : Arunai Films

இசை : வித்யாசாகர்

இயக்கம் : ராஜா

__________________________

அங்கதை அரம்பை

காந்தை காரிகை

தையல் தெரிவை

அதோ அதோ

பாமினி பாவை

மானினி மங்கை 

பதுமினி வனிதை

அதோ அதோ

வஞ்சியும் வல்லியும் 

அதோ அதோ

நங்கையும் நீலியும்

அதோ அதோ

இணங்கியும் எலுவையும்

எதோ எதோ?

இளமை இளமை 

இதோ இதோ!

[Work] Escape From Randomness

After my schooling, I've never really experienced this. 

Randomness and I have been like Siamese twins all these years.

Now, I wake up every morning to see my clock blink 7:10

Breakfast at 8:15. 

Nandini waving bye from our balcony at 8:25.

Driving my spark via Kottur to see the same school bus turning at the same corner at 8:30.

Sign attendance register at 8:40.

I see more positives here.

-Now I get enough rest being inside campus.

-Driving 100kms every day around Chennai's scenic roads : no more :-)

-Nandini is busy with Mellinam Education

-More time for Tamil related research.

-I get to see energetic students with smiles all around the campus.

-The feeling I get after a good lecture.

-Three large cups of green tea every after noon.

-Snacks from Krishna Sweets during every PhD viva.

-Organizing events.

That list can run even longer I guess.

I should find some time in evenings and weekends for other creative activities that I have been doing 24/7. 

I still cannot believe this has happened to me.

Quite unable to see myself as an Assistant Professor here in this University.

The place where I used to be the 'naughtiest' student ever [Thanks: Dr. Ranjani Parthasarathi].

The place where I convinced most of my lecturers to cancel classes for exams/movies.

The place where I fell madly in love with Nandini. 

I never try to predict where life is going to take me next.

Now that I have a role to play with huge responsibilities, I am going to see what's the best that i can do.

omg!.. its 3:00 now.

Green Tea Time. :-)

[song] ஓடோ ஓடோ : வரிகள்

பாடல் : ஓடோ ஓடோ

படம்: கண்டேன் காதலை   

தயாரிப்பு : Blue Ocean Entertainment

இயக்கம் : கண்ணன்

இசை : வித்யாசாகர்

_________________________________

ஓடோ ஓடோ ஓடோடிப்போறேன்

காதல் பாதி தேடோடிப்போறேன்

கனவெல்லாம் விரலோடு

உலகெல்லாம் அழகோடு

இனியெல்லாம் அவனோடு

பூவாகும் தாரோடு
காற்றாகும் காரோடு

மாற்றங்கள் வேரோடு

ஹோ ஹஹோ 

என் கூடு மாறப்போறேன்

ஹோ ஹஹோ

என் வானம் மாத்தப்போறேன்

______________________________

ஏய்

என் புதுச் சிறகே

நீ ஏன் முளைத்தாய்

கேட்காமல் என்னை

ஏய்

என் மனச் சிறையே

நீ ஏன் திறந்தாய்

கேட்காமல் என்னை

ஒற்றைப் பின்னல் அவனுக்காக

நெற்றிப் பொட்டும் அவனுக்காக

இன்னும் என்ன என்று என்னைக் கேட்காதே

இதழின் ஈரம் அவனுக்காக

மனதின் பாரம் அவனுக்காக

இன்னும் என்ன என்று என்னைக் கேட்காதே

ஹோ ஹஹோ 

என் கூடு மாறப்போறேன்

ஹோ ஹஹோ

என் வானம் மாத்தப்போறேன்

_________________________________________

ஏன்? 

நீ சிரிப்பது ஏன்?

நீ நடிப்பது ஏன்?

கேட்காதே என்னை

ஏன்?

நீ குதிப்பது ஏன்?

நீ மிதப்பது ஏன்?

கேட்காதே என்னை

தானே பேசி நடக்கும்போதும்

காற்றில் முத்தம் கொடுக்கும்போதும்

எனக்கென்ன ஆச்சு என்னைக் கேட்காதே...

கண்முன் சென்று நிற்கும்போதும்

கட்டிக்கொண்டு கத்தும்போதும்

எனக்கென்ன ஆச்சு என்னைக் கேட்காதே...

ஹோ ஹஹோ 

என் கூடு மாறப்போறேன்

ஹோ ஹஹோ

என் வானம் மாத்தப்போறேன்

___________________________________________

[Education] Acknowledgments from my PhD thesis

It is with immense pleasure I begin to write this section. If not the reason for this being the last section I wanted to fill in, it is the pure pleasure of thanking every single heart, that helped me get to this stage, with a few drops of tears of happiness. 

From October 2007

It was a pleasant spring evening when Jacarandas were rendering Brisbane into a paradise. On the verge of completing our masters degree, Sudarsanan and I were seriously discussing our future with a warm cup of tea in our school's terrace. ``Hello boys" - the voice of Prof. Maria Orlowska removed the seriousness in the air. At that point in time, she was nothing more than my favourite lecturer who is capable of performing a concert singing nothing but databases. The next few minutes of our talk, that evening on that terrace, changed not only what I use to think about her but also about myself, the world and life. Her simple words and that enthralling polish accent have made my three years a magical journey into computer science research. Her words never failed to throw me ropes whenever I fell in abyss or nailed me to the ground when I was flying high. I would like to thank her for everything she has done to me.

From Jan - Apr 2007

With all the magic going around on one side, Assoc. Prof. Shazia Sadiq was always pointing me towards reality. For without her, I would have still been thinking that I was at Hogwarts. She taught me various aspects about the research community, she made me meet most of my deadlines, she was always available for help and suggestions. I would like to thank her for all the support and motivation she has provided towards completion of this thesis.

From Madhan Karky Graduation

I can never forget those sleepless nights working on various problems with Sudarsanan. Arguing over our solutions, implementing, analysing results, we suddenly realising dawn and walk along the lake behind our school to have coffee with ducks and turtles. It is paining now to realise that all those times have gone. I would like to thank Sudarsanan for his company throughout, for making me not miss home, for his support and advise, for sharing moments of highs and lows, for his chicken and fish curries, and much more. Finishing writing our theses together is a great way to mark ten years of our friendship.

From Anna University

I would like to sincerely thank The University of Queensland and School of ITEE for financial, technical support and the infra structure provided for doing research. I would like to thank head of school Dr.Paul Bailes, for supporting my travel to conferences and workshops. I would like to thank Prof. Xiaofang Zhou, Dr. Xue Li and Dr. Guido Governatori for their suggestions and support regarding various issues during my research. I would like to thank Ms. Kath Williamson and Ms. Kate Williamson for their wonderful help and support with regards to various official matters. I would like to thank all staff and students of my Data and Knowledge Engineering group and EII research group, especially Dat Ma, Joe, Juggapong, Alex, Hoyoung and Son, for their support and advise throughout these three years. 

From Jan - Apr 2007

Special thanks to Ruopeng Lu and Belinda Carter for being wonderful room mates and putting up with lot of things especially my Tamil film music collection and never ending phone calls.

From 2006

I would like to acknowledge Mr. Andris Krumins and Mr. Sashi Mallappa of Brisbane City Council's Brisbane Water team for their kind cooperation towards sharing knowledge regarding water distribution system and current monitoring  methods in and around Brisbane. 

From 2006

I would like to thank all my Tamil community friends and their families in Brisbane for making me feel home with their warm hospitality, exotic food and above all their care and love. 

From Return to Chennai

I would also like to thank all my friends from different parts of the world for wishing me luck towards this research.

From 1990 - 1994

I would like to thank all my teachers from Loyola Matriculation, Bharat Computer Training Centre, Anna University and The University of Queensland for preparing me for this long journey towards research. 

From January 2008

Finally, I would like to thank my family members for their support and love. My father Mr. Vairamuthu, one of the leading poets in India, has been a great inspiration for me in life. Amidst his super busy schedule, he always remembered to call me every week to discuss my progress. I was a mischievous kid when my mother Dr. Ponmani was writing her PhD thesis. I remember making her cry after most parent-teacher meetings during my primary school, when my teachers lose hope in me and at a stage even declared me fit only to act in movies. I hope this thesis would be a great consolation to her. I also acknowledge efforts of my younger brother Kabilan for entirely taking my responsibilities and duties back home during the course of my research. 

From 1985 - 1989

For a person who truly believed he is going to be a high school drop out, I think this attempt is a decent achievement. It would not have been possible without support and guidance of so many people. I would like to thank them all once again. 

[Random] Lim Ling

She keeps coming frequently in my thoughts these days.

It is not because of how I visualise this pretty chinese girl.

It is her personality. Something really unique about that.

Her apartment's interior dominates my thoughts often.

Every single object in her drawing room is either black or white. 

The golden apple juice, she fills in a glass, disturbing the entire b/w frame is jarring. 

I met her in 'boomerang boomi', just a few months back. 

I thank Kabilan, the author of this novel, for introducing Lim Ling to me.

[Media] குங்குமம் பேட்டி

Kungumam Link

[Media] My Kangaroo Days

A few days back I published here the scans of two articles from kumudam & kalki. I received some mixed comments from friends. I think I should clarify this here. I spoke to reporters from both these mags for over an hour. My first statement to them was this. In my six year stay in Aus, as a foreign student, part time waiter, researcher, traveler and tutor, I have never ever experienced racism. Australians are in general the most friendliest of people I have seen. But, some of my Australian friends have shared what they feel about Indians and Chinese in Australia. That will be relatively a very small group. With that it is not a wise thing to generalise Australians are racists. It was unfortunate that my statements were interpreted as generalised ones. I hope to see such accidents are minimised in the future.

[poem] வாஸ்து

முகப்பில் உள்ள கருப்பு,
உரியோனுக்காகாதாம்.
விழிவலிக்கும் மஞ்சள் ஒன்றைத் தேர்வுசெய்தார்.

உள் பக்கத்து சுவரோவியங்கள்,
செல்வம் அழிக்குமாம்.
திருஷ்டி ஓவியங்கள் ஆங்காங்கே சிருஷ்டித்தார்.

தென்கிழக்கு மூலையில்
அஞ்சல் பெட்டி,
அழிவின் ஆரம்பமாம்.
தென்மேற்காய் நகர்த்தினார்.

தளத்தில் ஓடும் கோடுகள்,
தடைகள் கொண்டு சேர்க்குமாம்
செங்குத்தாய் கோடுகளிட்டுக் கட்டம் கட்டினார்.

இப்போதெல்லாம்...
என் இணைய தளத்திற்கு
தவறியும் யாரும் வருவதில்லை.

ஹவாயில் சூரியக்குளியல் எடுத்துக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்
என் வாஸ்து ஜோசியர்.
ட்விட்டர் சொல்கிறது.

[Media] On Melbourne Attacks : Kumudam & Kalki

நன்றி - குமுதம் மற்றும் கல்கி

Mellinam Education : iPaatti 1.0 Youtube Promo

[movie] My little role in Endhiran : The Robot

I've been working with Shankar's Endhiran since August 2008. I would like to share how it all happened. Around May 2008,
I Introduced myself to Mr. Shankar as Dr. Karky, working as a scientist in Anna University with fair knowledge in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. As my father was not very much interested in me working in films, I tried my best to shadow my other identity. I SMSed Mr. Shankar asking if I could take up Sujatha's role in Endhiran. I waited for a week, and then called him regarding the same. A few weeks from then, he invited me to his office. He was taken by surprise when he got to know that I was Poet Vairamuthu's son. After an hour's discussion he asked me to be the technical coordinator for the movie. There it all started. In this last one year, I have contributed a little to this huge project in a few areas. I also penned my first song, to AR Rahman's tune, for this movie. I thank Mr. Shankar whole heartedly for giving me this opportunity to work in his magnum opus with some of the world's leading technicians.

[research] FlowScore v1.0 for Tamil Lyrics

FlowScore is an algorithm designed by me to give a score to a lyric based on the musical property of the letters, words, lines & sections of that lyric. Apart from a classification of Tamil letters based on their phonetic stress, the algorithm also takes into account the மாத்திரை அளவு of letters, meter length of words, எதுகை, மோனை & இயைபு properties of a section and inter-line word flow. The algorithm gives a score between 0 & 1 for a given lyric. Some popular Songs & their scores are listed below.

ஆலய மணியின் - 0.3153
என்னை யாரென்று - 0.2537
காதல் சிறகை - 0.2947
நான் பேச நினைப்பதெல்லாம் - 0.2947
பாலும் பழமும் - 0.2409
போனால் போகட்டும் - 0.2330
அன்று வந்ததும் அதே நிலா - 0.4541
நினைப்பதெல்லாம் நடந்துவிட்டால் - 0.3556
கண் போன போக்கிலே - 0.3977
பார்த்தேன் சிரித்தேன் - 0.2191




Songs that have very rich musical properties may get a low score if they use more hard letters and doubling of hard letters.
the word அக்கா will get a score much less than the word அம்மா, which will get a less score compared to ஆமா.

Planning to include more properties to compute the score.
Will keep you updated.

[song] Hola Amigo

பாடல் : Hola Amigo
படம் : இளமை இதோ இதோ
இசை : வித்யாசாகர்
இயக்கம் : ராஜா
சூழல் : கல்லூரி திறந்த முதல் நாளில் நண்பர்களின் கைகுலுக்கல்
________________________________

நாலு சுவரும்
நாப்பது பெஞ்சும்
எல்லாம் தெரிஞ்ச
ஏழு பெருசும்
class room ஆனது எப்போது?

வறட்டி வடையும்
ரப்பர் தோசையும்
ஆட்டம் ஆடும்
கிழட்டு ஸ்டூலும்
canteen ஆனது எப்போது?

அடுக்கி வைத்த
ஆயிரம் குப்பைகள்
library ஆனது எப்போது?

பொட்டல் காடும்
மெட்டல் கேட்டும்
campus ஆனது எப்போது?


நீயும் நானும் நீயும் நானும்
நீயும் நானும் நீயும் நானும்
Hola Hola Hola சொன்னோம்... அப்போது

Hola Amigo.... Hola Amigo
Bailar Conmigo.... Nos Partido....
_________________________

மயக்கம் ஊட்டும்
professor குரலில்
தூக்கம் சொல்லும் Hola!

மதிய நேரம்
திரையில் கோடம்
பாக்கம் சொல்லும் Hola!

Tattoo போட்ட
Fundu கூட்டம்
Fashion சொல்லும் Hola!

Bottle போட்ட
பண்டுக் கூட்டம்
Tension சொல்லும் Hola!

Motor Bikeஇல் Harry Potter... Hola Amigo
Corridorஇல் Mary Peter... Hola Amigo
Exam Hallஇல் Thermometer... Hola Amigo

Arrearஇல் ஞானம் சொல்லும்

Hola Amigo.... Hola Amigo
Bailar Conmigo.... Nos Partido....
______________________________________________

கண்ணில் தோன்றும்
Rainbow மீன்கள்
இளமை சொல்லும் Hola!

Weekend விரதம்
முடிக்கும் திங்கட்
கிழமை சொல்லும் Hola!

வெட்கம் ஒளியும்
வளையல் ஒலியில்
கவிதை சொல்லும் Hola!

வோட்கா வழியும்
கிளிகள் விழியில்
போதை சொல்லும் Hola!

துப்பட்டாக்கள் தொட்டுச் சொல்லும்... Hola Amigo
பட்டாம்பூச்சி கூட்டம் சொல்லும்... Hola Amigo
ஆக்ஸிட்டோசின் ஆட்டம் போடும்.... Hola Amigo

முதன் முதல்... காதல் சொல்லும்
Hola Amigo.... Hola Amigo
Bailar Conmigo.... Nos Partido....
______________________________________________

[events] my mother's take on my iPhone

she asked me what i can do with my iPhone, that she can't with her nokia 1100.
no one in the world i think can insult my iPhone better than that.
i suppressed my variety of emotions and explained to her for over 30 minutes.
i lectured patiently, the touch interface, app store, and the variety of applications.
how you can watch movies, listen to music, manage contacts, email, internet, using maps, weather and more...
i also demonstrated how to type with the touch keyboard. rotate and zooming pictures. geo tagging.
after 30 minutes of patient listening, she replied...
"you never pick your calls. you always have a low signal where ever you go. what is the point of calling it a phone?"

within 48hrs of this conversation, i switched my mobile network. That is helping me a bit to get out of my depression.

[research] Automated Tamil Name Generator

creativity & innovation - a course i loved doing in my final semester bachelors.
i designed a small program in perl to generate tamil names based on tamil phonetics.
recently I found myself sitting and programming the same in java, something i've been missing for long.

it was a very simple idea. just to classify letters based on their positional frequency and to add some randomness.



some names it generated are amazing.
it will be great if the system can tell what these names mean.

female names : நசி, பானிலா, ஈயுறை, நெல்லகை, சானதிசகை, ....
male names : வாலு, நித், சப்கு, விறைன், சுனான் , மகான், வாற்றாடன், ...

where am i going to use this?
what will happen to this system if i am to introduce numerology ? :-O
will it be possible to give a score to a name based on its pronounceablity(?!)

can i sell this to political leaders who are being tortured to name babies instantly?

so...
thats my threshold.
thats exactly the point where i stop programming.
i cannot handle more than three questions at a time.

no clue on what i'll be programming next.
i'll let you know.

[project] iPaatti 1.0

http://www.mellinam.com/iPaatti/Home.html

nandini & I were brainstorming for our mellinam's pre-school program.
we ended up with a cute little design.
we wanted to have our own syllabus with new stories, new songs, new games....
she asked me to write songs for new generation kids.

the main idea was to introduce Tamil to kids as a 'cool' language.
not to torture them with heavy diction and complex messages.

we sorted out 35 songs under 10 topics.
home, family, time, season, science, technology, history, geography, sports & entertainment.

rizwan composed music for all 35 songs.
he gave quite a variety. we have some rap, hip-hop, folk and more....

From May 2009

we had over 15 different voices for these songs.
'where is the party' fame mukesh has done a couple of tracks.
rizwan also got a few little ones to sing some numbers.

rizwan reworked on most of the songs after nandini tested the songs with kids around the world.
she received feedback from kids' parents in US, Aus and also from many parents & teachers in and around Chennai.

saravana kumar, a freelance graphic artist, is working on the illustrations.
a few samples of his work are on our site.

and yeah... we wanted to name this project something cool and new.


the following were few of our options :

என் குட்டி ஐபாடு : not sounding right for a book & cd.
தொப்பக் குட்டியும் ராக்காச்சி பாட்டியும் : too old
ஙேஙே பாப்பா முதல் ராக்காச்சி பாட்டி வரை : no coolness factor

we then thought in lines of iPod & iPhone.... iPaatti
that sounded trendy and catchy.

so iபாட்டி.

why version 1.0?
we are planning a series of iPaattis.
version 2.0 will have stories.

iPaatti is almost 6 months old now.
Planning to launch her in a month's time.

hope she will rock.
atleast a few cradles.

[song] ஓடோ ஓடோ

From Blogger Pictures

jab we met is being remade in tamil as கண்டேன் காதலை.
kannan's second film after ஜெயம் கொண்டான்.
vidhyasagar is scoring music.
moser baer producing.

'ye ishq hai' is the original song.
girl fleeing away from parents to join her lover.
her road trip.

this is my third film as a lyricist.
first film - i'll write sometime soon about that
second film - not yet named
this is third...

vidhyasagar introduces me to kannan.
kannan, calm and composed, plays me the video clip of original version,
explains in a minute, the situation and let me go.

we meet back in two days.
i hand them a copy of my lyric to the situation.

the song starts
மிதவை மனமே.. மிதவை மனமே..
என்னை முந்திச் செல்லாதே

what i learn with this industry so far is interesting.
they have so many creative ways to tell 'no' to something.

vidhyasagar at his first glance told me that this is pretty high
wanted something more light for easy audience.
kannan seconded his thought and wanted something simple and catchy.

next day we met again.
i went with five different starts (பல்லவி to be more technical)
vidhyasagar loved them all.
kannan picked two.

ஓடோ ஓடோ ஓடோடிப்போறேன்
காதல் பாதி தேடோடிப்போறேன்

கனவெல்லாம் விரலோடு
உலகெல்லாம் அழகோடு
இனியெல்லாம் அவனோடு

பூவாகும் தாரோடு
காற்றாகும் காரோடு
மாற்றங்கள் வேரோடு

in just under fifteen minutes, vidhyasagar tuned the complete song.
the tune was simple, catchy and sticks to you for some time.
i recorded his saranam on my younote.

by next day the complete song was ready.
two days later we met for the third time.
finalised bits and pieces.
it was all done.

i am enjoying my new role / new hobby / new casual job - how ever i may see it.
it gives a lot of fun and also some money.

thanks again to vidhyasagar.

[Photo] B.Tech IT Advanced Database Students

From Blogger Pictures

One day we were discussing data mining concepts with Idli, Vadai & Samosa. I asked what is the 'most frequent item' with samosa in our college canteen. majority of this crowd replied in perfect sync : 'juice'

ten years gone. same class room. same feeling.
just the difference is that i was a student then.

[Education] Final Year Projects for Sale!!!

these are amazing ads i see these days in chennai streets.
wow.

for those who feel 'what on earth?'....these are small IT companies who download journal/conference technical papers, implement the algorithms and sell to final year bachelor degree students.

six months ago...
i was in an interview panel. we were asking this guy what kind of work he had been doing. he confidently replies with a serious head that he will be given an IEEE standard paper and he has to understand and implement the algorithm within 3 days.
yeah.. he got selected.

more than a year back...
i was visiting my friend's place.
she introduced her sister as a final year computer science student in a reputed institution.
i asked her what her final year project was about.
'no clue' she smiled.
my puzzled face.
'actually i am buying it'
my puzzled face.
'i have ordered my final year project. it costs Rs. 7500 to 10000. its cool'

things change pretty fast.
i am expecting banners in chennai for m.phil & phd thesis from Rs. 50000 onwards.
may be the government should fund these agencies.

[research] concept based searching in Tamil

this is pretty young to tamil research.
you google for மும்பை தங்கும் வசதி and you get 780 useless documents.
google expects you to be more intelligent than just knowing how to type in tamil.
who tells a search engine that மும்பை, பம்பாய், பாம்பே, மும்பே all refers to the city of mumbai.
how can a search engine understand that தங்கும் வசதி refers to motel.
concept based search aims at 'understanding' the web.

i am working with a small team here.
we are trying our best to make a search engine 'understand' tourism documents in tamil.
hoping to extend it to other domains.

go to powerset.com
type 'who directed roja?'
explore to get a feel of concept based search.

a long way to go....

[project] mellinam education

bachelors. first year lab.
i was programming c with a bunch of mates.
i wanted my programs to have a professional feel.
so i created this company named it mellinam.
all my programs, including 'hello world' ones start with 'mellinam presents'
mellinam was growing along with my programming skills.
c++, prolog, vb, perl, java.... and suddenly stopped when i was done with my bachelors.

a decade rolled by.
suddenly this girl, nandini, who i was madly in love with ten years ago, was sitting next to me in 'our' car.

she asks randomly, 'what do we name our pre school project'?
the first seven lines above scrolled before my eyes.
'mellinam' , i said.
she loved it.

mellinam is four months old today.