The only Victory that counts is the one over yourself

The legendary coach Charles Riley uttered these words to ever famous Jesse Owens, who broke Hitler’s theory of Aryan Supremacy. Jesse Owens, grandson of a slave imported to US for the benefit of the white man, disproved the racists that merit eliminates everything and anything. Owens won an unprecedented four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4X100m relay and long jump. His stunning achievement came when the New world (US) was reeling under the racist discrimination and India fighting for the rights of the untouchables.
69 years have passed since and much has changed in the United States. An Afro-American has been selected as a President whereas India is still to find a PM from the socially deprived Dalit Community. Parts of India are still reeling under racist discrimination in the name of caste. Both India and US were colonies of Britain and faced discrimination by the crown. One country rose to be the “world super power” and the other to be “poorest of the poor”.
Today whether the Afro Americans or the backward castes in India lack is nothing but the will to win over oneself. The burgeoning middle class in India does not seem to understand that there is so much of poverty and discrimination in their streets but have to compete for whatever is available to grab.
Owens humiliation under the Americans was much worse than what Hitler did to him. Though he created history in the Olympics, he was neither appreciated nor invited to the White House by the then US president Franklin D Roosevelt or Harry S Truman. The worst came when he was asked to use the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria. On the other hand one lakh Germans cheered him and sought his autograph. He was also allowed to stay in the same hotels as any other white man.

May his light shine forever as a symbol
for all who run for the freedom of sport,
for the spirit of humanity,
for the memory of Jesse Owens. – Charles Ghigna.

Stop Selling MS Word in U.S.

This is what US District Judge Leonard Davis told Microsoft on 11th August 2008. In his two page judgment the judge says “Defendant Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”) is found to have unlawfully infringed U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449 (the “‘449 patent”). Defendant Microsoft is found to haveinfringed the ‘449 patent willfully.Damages, post verdict damages, enhanced damages is worth $277,241,092 and $21,102 per day thereafter until the date of this Final Judgment”. iei, the owner of U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449 is very happy about the out come.

This is a significant judgment having in mind the millions of users all over the world. This could affect Microsoft’s applications like word, excel and powerpoint. The fight is not over as there is another 60 days for Microsoft to appeal the judgment.

Microsoft is obviously unhappy about the judgment and wants to fight the case.
Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz says that “the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict."XML is part of the open consortium. i4i in its patent petition says, “The invention does not use embedded metacoding to differentiate the content of the document but rather, the metacodes of the document are separated from the content and held in distinct storage in a structure called a metacode map,
whereas document content is held in a mapped content area”

If this order should be applied to other applications and parties who are using it, for sure this will have a wider range of application. So what about ODF? Though the open document format (ODF) and custom approach yield the same result, ODF method is different hence it is not affected by this judgment. The XML form came into existence primarily because of the monopoly the software companies had over the older binary file formats. They were their proprietary.

Amgen, Merck and Bayer use XML to drug label data. Interestingly US patent office also uses iei’s XML. Ironically microsoft got a patent through Patent # 7,571,169 for word processors who use XML format. The judgment affects
this patent.

Let us wait and watch the appeal for the final outcome. Industry players
feel that Microsoft may win the legal battle but time will answer for sure.

சுடலை மாடன்

The lone deity Sudalai Maadan standing tall beneath a Palm tree is a
common scene in and around the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
He is the guardian and protector for the farmers and peasants
cutting across caste, creed and status. Every village has a
Sudalai Madan temple and sometimes more than one, though without any building around him.

Sudalai Maadan hates a building around him. He stands with his
younger brother all alone in the woods. He is offered Kodai(Festival)
every year during the month of Aadi (July-August).
Depending on the popularity of the Sudalai, the number of animal offering can
vary. Near Vijayanarayanam, as a boy I have seen hundreds of Goats, pigs
chicken, cocks etc., slaughtered to appease the Sudalai. The Chaamiyaadi soaks the banana in the bubbling blood and eats it just like that. One should have guts to watch that! Watching this as a small boy I did not get sleep for several days along with the fever. Thanks to my elder brother who took me with him. Too much of violence seems to be occupying these festivals but that was how the life was in those days. Little primitive though!

Sudalai Maadan enjoys a two days festival with grand Kaniyaan Koothu. Men draped in saris dance to the drum beat in a very unique style. Drums are accompanied with age old Kombu, Parai, Melam etc., My mom says that the Kaniyaan is not an Eunuch but a perfect male who works in the farms during the monsoon and does these stuff during the festival alone. He has a tough task as well. He has to observe some rituals for months and prepare for the festival. His blood is dropped in 21 banana leaves for the Chaamiyaadi to lick them before his dance.

The best part is his journey to the Graveyard where he has to pick up some bones and display it to the crowd on his return. I have heard among the crowd a disbelief on the credibility of the Chaamiyaadi if he fails to bring some buried remnants from the graveyard. He also offers solution to the mass’s
problems and give them hope. He acts as an astrologer. His attire is the best. A
black shorts kind of waist cloth rolls till the knees and has several bells hung around the waist and legs. With a torch in the hand his looks invite fear and reverence. Chinnathaayi movie in Tamil language has done a decent job in portraying Sudalai character.

Post the graveyard visit starts entertainment for the young men and elderly by the Karakaattakari and Kattiyakaaran. Karakaattakaari is a woman who balances a decorated pot on the head and dances for the fast beat. Kattiyakaaran is the modern day compere. With a sexy make-up and sexually
inviting gestures the Karakaattakaari receives rupee notes pinned on her jacket by even the old and young alike. The Kattiyakaaran, delivers double meaning
dialogues to kick-up the men's mind.

Due to the conversion of Dravidians to Brahminical Hinduism and Christianity, Sudalaimadan is not attractive to many southern Tamils as he used to be. Moreover Sudalai madan in most places was a family diety rather than a village one. Along with the families Sudalai's fortune also comes down in many cases. Above all the Real Estate hype has forced the locals to desecrate the Sudalai, Ooiykaatu Sami, Isaki etc., Still I could see some temples conducting the festival on an yearly basis with some foreign aid or those migrated to cities coming back to cherish their nostalgia on their birth places.